Humanities Course Descriptions
Humanities studies the history and development of human thought and culture. By focusing on literature, history, philosophy, art and film, humanities courses seek a broad and interconnected understanding of the human experience.
Spring 2022
HUM 100 Section: 60224, T/TH 11:00 AM-12:20 PM, BONH-25 2/7/2022-6/2/2022, Professor Pierre Etienne
Course Title: Conquest, Consolidation, and Resistance: European Colonialism and its Aftermath
This course will focus on European imperialism/colonialism in the Maghreb (most notably Algeria), West Africa, Indochina (Vietnam) and the Caribbean. It will emphasize how the Europeans were able to conquer a substantial portion of the world and attempted to justify this not only by means of military and economic subjugation but through the use of philosophical constructs, social theory, language, religion, education, art, literature and cinema. As a corollary, we will study how the colonized countered this subjugation by means of ideology, literature, cinema, music, and, in the case of Haiti, Algeria and Vietnam, violence, in an attempt to assert their own identity. Finally, we will study, how the conquered and the conquerors are still facing the consequences in today’s world.
HUMAN 115: Survey of the Humanities I, Sec. 60246, Online, 2/7/2022-6/2/2002, Professor Alexa Dimakos
Section 60246. Interdisciplinary, multi-cultural study of eras of humanistic development from the origins of civilization to the mid-15th century through representative works of visual art, cinema , philosophy, religion, and literature
HUM 150, sec 60247, Online, 2/7/2022-6/2/2002, Professor Adam Kaiserman
In HUM 150 students trace the evolution of an idea in the humanities from antiquity and its influence on contemporary values and ideas through the reading of great works of literature and philosophy. In this section of the class, we will be tracing the evolution of the idea of utopia—the ideal society—and its inverse, dystopia. The purpose of utopia is to envision a better world; the purpose of dystopia is to warn of a worse world if we keep on the same course. Our class will focus more on utopia as a way of examining problems of leadership, economic inequality, gender inequality, racial inequality, and the degradation of the environment. How can ideas of the perfect society help us get there? How can visions of the worst world act as warnings for which we should be alert?
My goals in this class are threefold: to teach you about philosophy and literature, to teach you about the history of an idea, and to think about how we might make the world a better place. Most of the books in this class can be found online through the library and so the book costs will be relatively inexpensive.