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Academics

Humanities

Major

The study of the humanities is the fundamentally interdisciplinary engagement of the ideas, stories, words, images, frameworks, and worldviews that help us understand what it has meant and can mean to be human, across time and cultures. Studying the humanities prepares students for numerous vocational aspirations in a rapidly changing world. The interdisciplinary major in Humanities is coordinated by the Letters Collegium wherein students complete a ten-course program that includes five courses in a core Letters discipline (American studies, classics, East Asian studies, history, literature, philosophy, film studies, religious studies, or women’s and gender studies), four courses from complementary disciplines, and HU498: Humanities Colloquium. At least five of the 10 courses taken toward the Humanities major must be at the 300 level or above. Selected Humanities thematic pathways are listed below.

Students who complete the humanities major demonstrate the following competencies:

  • knowledge of the significance of the humanities as an interdisciplinary field of study of the interconnections between the different humanities disciplines and of the intersections between humanistic inquiry and other ways of knowing across the liberal arts spectrum
  • ability to understand and use the methods of the chosen core humanities discipline
  • ability to conduct research and engage in scholarly writing, including mastery of the accepted style of documentation in the chosen core humanities discipline
  • ability to engage in effective oral communication
  • Ability to apply the methods of humanistic inquiry to at least one compelling issue and/or question of contemporary and enduring relevance

Structure of the Humanities Major

At least five courses must be taken at the 300 level or above.

  • Five courses at the 200 level or above in the student’s chosen core humanities discipline
  • Four courses in complementary disciplines, to be completed by fulfilling the requirements of a) one of the Humanities thematic pathways outlined below, or b) an individualized Humanities thematic pathway established in consultation with the Humanities discipline coordinator.
  • HU498: Humanities Colloquium

Humanities Thematic Pathways

A: Animals and the Humanities

Three of the following courses, from at least two different disciplines:

  • AS206E: Animals in Ancient Science
  • AS310H: Animals in Classical and Mediterranean Cultures
  • AZ224: Writing the Animal
  • HI101H: Making History: Animals in Modern Europe
  • LI227H: Knowing Animals through Literature
  • LI217H: The Voice of the Animal
  • PL201H: Philosophical Topics: Animals and Experience
  • PL204H: Animal Ethics
  • RE252E: Animals and Religion
  • Any 300 or 400-level course in any humanities discipline OR any other 300 or 400-level course approved by the Humanities discipline coordinator

B: Identities and the Humanities

Three of the following courses, from at least two different disciplines:

  • AS301G Identity, Race, & Ethnicity in the Ancient World
  • FI230H Film and Identity
  • HI280M Space, Race, and Place
  • HI324G Native American History
  • HI334H African-American History I
  • HI335H African-American History II
  • HI356H Black Voices in Abolitionism
  • LI104H The Stranger in Literature
  • LI218H Literature and Human Rights
  • LI244G Postcolonial Literature
  • PL244H Social and Political Philosophy
  • PL282H Philosophical Problems
  • PL349G Native American Thought
  • RE201H Understanding Religion
  • RE216H Religion and Extremism
  • RE221H American Religious Diversity
  • RE240G Religion, Po
    wer, & Difference
  • RE243H Sacred Texts and Social Justice
  • RE315H Seminar on Religion and Race
  • RE323 Gnostics, Heretics, Martyrs
  • RE388H Paul: Race, Gender, and Empire
  • Any 300 or 400-level course in any humanities discipline OR any other 300 or 400-level course approved by the Humanities discipline coordinator

C: Health Humanities and the Bio-imagination

Three of the following courses, from at least two different disciplines:

  • AS301H Magic in the Ancient World
  • CL212H Language and History of Medicine
  • CL220G New Diseases in History and Literature
  • HI221H Women in Modern America
  • HI270H Sex and Power: European Thought
  • HP210E Science Ethics and the Common Good
  • LI218H Literature and Human Rights
  • LI240H Bioethics and the Literary Imagination
  • LI348H Literature and Film after Auschwitz
  • PL104H Introduction to Ethics
  • PL214H Philosophy of Love and Death
  • PL240H Philosophy and Technology
  • PL250H Mind and Body
  • PL260H Philosophy of Science
  • PL309 Topics in Philosophy of Mind
  • RE201H Understanding Religion
  • RE214H Cults, Sects, Conspiracies
  • RE224H Religion, Magic, Occultism
  • RE230G Mindfulness
  • RE312H Feasts & Fasts: Religion, Food, Eating
  • RE330H Being Human: Religion and Science
  • RE336G Yoga: History, Practice, Service
  • RE351E A Culture of Science and Faith
  • WG320H Feminisms and Gender Theories
  • Any 300 or 400-level course in any humanities discipline OR any other 300 or 400-level course approved by the Humanities discipline coordinator

D: Nature, Culture, and the Humanities

Three of the following courses, from at least two different disciplines:

  • AM 319E Environmental Film Colloquium
  • HI207H Florida History
  • HI225E Western Myth and the Environment
  • HI253E Environmental History
  • HI254E European Environmental History
  • HI316E Empire and the Environment
  • LI106E Southern Literature and the Environment
  • LI208E Children's Literature and the Environment
  • LI245H Regional American Literature
  • PL210E Ideas of Nature
  • PL240H Animal Ethics
  • RE201H Understanding Religion
  • RE212H Apocalypse, Utopia, Dystopia
  • RE270E Asian Religions and the Environment
  • RE283E Nature Religion
  • RE312H Feasts & Fasts: Religion, Food, Eating
  • RE381E Ecotheology
  • Any 300 or 400-level course in any humanities discipline OR any other 300 or 400-level course approved by the Humanities discipline coordinator

The Humanities Minor

The Humanities minor involves the study of a significant theme or question drawing on the inherently interdisciplinary nature of the Humanities. The Humanities minor requires five courses. These should include four courses in one of the Humanities thematic pathways or in a self-designed thematic pathway created in consultation with the Humanities discipline coordinator. These four courses should be in at least two different humanities disciplines; at least two should be taken at the 300 level. Students who minor in Humanities must also complete HU 498: Humanities Colloquium as their fifth course.

Courses

HU 102H: Writing About
This writing intensive course offers opportunities to to experiment with and practice descriptive, narrative, and expository/persuasive writing skills in relation to topics and themes in the humanities. No prerequisites.

HU 200H: Ways of Knowing
In this course we engage with complex real-world issues and problems that require consideration beyond singular expertise, collaboration across disciplines and majors, and a collective empathetic imagination. Required for the interdisciplinary problem minor. No prerequisites

HU 213H: House & Home: Shaping Identity
Humans are meaning-making animals. We organize, design, structure, label, classify, and systematize, all of which are ritualistic activities. This course will explore individual and collective ritual practices of everyday life, focusing on ideas of home.

HU 225H: Health Humanities
Examines the intersection of health and humanistic inquiry, appraising cross-cultural ideas about disease and wellness, pain and suffering, personhood, the nature of death and dying, embodied experience, and the limits of technological knowledge. No prerequisites.

HU 231: Humanities Lab: Genetics
Students will make connections between the science of genetics and humanities topics such as the history of the field, ethics, and the political and social uses of scientific knowledge. This is a team-taught seminar-style class.

HU 370H: Humanities Academic Internship
This course comprises a) pre-internship consultation and preparation; b) supervised field-based experience at an approved location; and c) post-internship reflection and peer engagement. Prerequisite: one humanities course.

HU 380H: Directed Humanities Research
Students will conduct independent humanities research projects under the supervision of a faculty member. Faculty permission required. 1-3 credits.

HU 388: Humanities Research Symposium
This seminar provides senior students interested in conducting humanities research projects a supportive workshop environment in which to address questions about the craft of humanistic research and share findings as an interdisciplinary team.

HU 498: Humanities Colloquium
This senior humanities capstone experience offers students the opportunity to connect and synthesize their knowledge bases, intellectual journeys, and research projects as an interdisciplinary learning community.

HU 499: Senior Thesis