Objectives
This program offers students an opportunity to explore the humanities from multiple perspectives, traditionally Western as well as global, and to make connections among a variety of disciplines.
How to Become a Program Member
Please note that admissions to this program have been suspended until further notice.
Committee
Luis Yglesias, Chair
(Romance and Comparative Literature)
Tzvi Abusch
(Near Eastern and Judaic Studies)
Pamela Allara
(Fine Arts)
Joyce Antler
(American Studies)
Bernadette Brooten
(Near Eastern and Judaic Studies)
Eric Chafe
(Music)
Stephen Gendzier
(Romance and Comparative Literature)
Arthur Green
(Near Eastern and Judaic Studies)
Jane Hale
(Romance and Comparative Literature)
Karen Hansen
(Sociology)
Erica Harth
(Romance and Comparative Literature)
Patricia Johnston
(Classical Studies)
Edward Kaplan
(Romance and Comparative Literature)
Reuven Kimelman
(Near Eastern and Judaic Studies)
Thomas King
(English and American Literature)
Ann Koloski-Ostrow
(Classical Studies)
Robert Lange
(Physics)
Richard Lansing
(Romance and Comparative Literature)
Leonard Muellner
(Classical Studies)
Richard Parmentier
(Anthropology)
Nancy Scott
(Fine Arts)
Faith Smith
(African and Afro-American Studies/English and American Literature)
Susan Staves
(English and American Literature)
Maurice Stein
(Sociology)
Andreas Teuber
(Philosophy)
Cheryl Walker
(Classical Studies)
David Wright
(Near Eastern and Judaic Studies)
Palle Yourgrau
(Philosophy)
Requirements for the Program
A. HIP 20a (Imagining How We Are: East and West I) or 20b (Imagining How We are: East and West II) or the equivalent with the permission of the advisor. This requirement provides students with a sense of the humanities through its connection to the classics and the contributions of fundamental texts.
B. HIP 10b (Lyric Poetry and Drawing), HIP 11b (The Grid: In and Out of Bounds), or one semester course from category 1 below. This requirement involves students in comparative studies of specific arts and letters, exposing them to literary and philosophical texts on art, music, or theater from more than one era, culture, or discipline.
C. REL 121a (Formerly HIP 21a), or one semester course from category 2 below. Courses in category 2 explore myth, ritual, religion, folklore, and philosophy. This requirement enables students to understand how different cultures have made sense of human existence in relation to the spiritual: the realm of the divine, the realm of animal spirits, the supernatural.
D. HIP 30b (The Persistence of Tradition: An Introduction to Japanese Poetry, Drama, Fiction, and Film), or one semester course from category 3 below. These courses examine responses or alternatives to the Western tradition. This requirement thus provides most students with an in-depth exploration of a culture other than their own or with a critique of a culture from within.
E. The final course in the humanities sequence is an independent study that will focus on themes and methodologies central to the study of the humanities. This course is available only after other course requirements are completed.
F. No single course can satisfy more than one requirement.
Courses of Instruction
(1-99) Primarily for Undergraduate Students
HIP 10b Lyric Poetry and Drawing
[ hum ]
Signature of the instructor required.
Comparative study of the genres of lyric poetry and drawing with special attention to their shared formal concerns and their ability to achieve maximum expressiveness with an economy of means. Examples will be taken from different historical periods. Usually offered every second year.
Staff
HIP 11b The Grid: In and Out of Bounds
[ hum ]
Studies the meaning and function of the grid in different disciplines. Focusing first on 20th-century visual art, including the Rose Art Museum collection, we will explore examples from music, mathematics, architecture, and dance, with guest lecturers.
Ms. Dash
HIP 20a Imagining How We Are: East and West I
[ nw hum ]
Human history can be understood as a struggle between competing myths, each claiming to be the source of true knowledge. Does our present understanding of earth's history, however, point instead to a narrative that finds common ground in all cultures? This course examines the possibility. Usually offered every year.
Messrs. Stein and Yglesias
HIP 20b Imagining How We Are: East and West II
[ nw hum ]
This course raises the same issues as HIP 20a, but uses a different set of texts. Both courses draw upon foundational texts from eastern and western civilizations. Usually offered every year.
Messrs. Stein and Yglesias
HIP 30b The Persistence of Tradition: An Introduction to Japanese Poetry, Drama, Fiction, and Film
[ nw hum ]
Prerequisite: A University Seminar in Humanistic Inquiries (USEM).
This course will study traditions of fiction, poetry, and drama over the span of Japan's cultural history from about the ninth century to the present. Featured will be Lady Murasaki's Tale of Genji, great women poets, and the dramatic genres of Noh, Kabuki, and Bunraku. Usually offered every second year.
Staff
HIP 98a Independent Study
Signature of the instructor and the program director required.
Independent readings, research, and writing on a subject of the student's interest under the direction of a faculty advisor. Usually offered every year.
Staff
HIP 98b Independent Study
See HIP 98a for special notes and course description. Usually offered every year.
Staff
Electives
The following courses are approved for the program. Not all are given in any one year. Please consult the Course Schedule each semester.
Category 1
History as Theater
Topics in Greek and Roman History
The Art and Archaeology of Ancient Greece
The Art and Archaeology of Ancient Rome
Greek Epic and Athenian Drama
Sex and Sensibility in Pre-Revolutionary European Novels
Dada and Surrealism
The Woman of Letters, 1600-1800
The Body as Text: Castiglione to Locke
Lives of the Artists
Modern Art and Modern Culture
Nineteenth-Century European Painting and Sculpture
Contemporary Painting and Sculpture
Topics in French Film
French Literature and Painting
Dante's Divine Comedy
Music and Culture: From Romanticism to the Modern Era
Aesthetics: Painting, Photography, and Film
Category 2
World Religions
Symbol, Myth, and Ritual
Classical Mythology
Topics in Myth, Literature, and Folklore
Foundational Course in Judaic Studies
Biblical Ritual and Cult
The Jewish Liturgy
The New Testament: A Historical Introduction
Judaism and the Religious Quest
Ancient Near Eastern Religion and Mythology
Idea of God
Category 3
Afro-American Literature of the Twentieth Century
Comparative Race and Ethnic Relations
The Literature of the Caribbean
Non-Western Musical Traditions
Topics in New World Studies: The Empire Writes Back
Topics in Myth, Literature, and Folklore
Feminism and Film
Feminist Theory in Literary and Cultural Studies
Domains of Seventeenth-Century Performance
Inventing Tradition: Women as Artists, Women as Art
Topics in Francophone Literatures
Chinese Philosophy
Women's Biography and Society
Sociology of Birth and Death