The Humanities Program & Major
The interdisciplinary program and major in Humanities is designed to
contribute to an integrated understanding of the Western cultural tradition. Selected
works of literature, music, philosophy, and visual arts are studied in relation to each
other and to the history of ideas and political institutions. The varied program of
study offers a wide range of options for students in all years interested in
interdisciplinary and broad-based work in the humanities, from special seminars for
freshmen to the Whitney and Franke Seminars for senior majors. Most courses are
open to non-majors.
The major in Humanities offers three areas of concentration: The Arts in the
Humanities, Intellectual History, and The West and Its Encounters. Five sample
courses are included for each, among many possibilities.
A. The Arts in the Humanities
R. Howard Bloch, Feminine Voices in French Literature (HUMS 162b)
Francesco Casetti and Mallory Ahern, Media Archaeology (HUMS 209a)
Gary Tomlinson, Opera (HUMS 215a)
Harold Bloom, Hamlet and King Lear (HUMS 219a)
Richard Prum, The Evolution of Beauty (HUMS 241a)
B. Intellectual History
Charles Hill, Oratory in Statecraft (HUMS 300b)
Cecelia Watson, Readings in the History of Western Science (HUMS 307a)
Norma Thompson, The Making of Character (HUMS 315a)
Karsten Harries, Heidegger, Wittgenstein, and the Future of Philosophy (HUMS
341a)
Steven Smith, The Idea of Statesmanship (HUMS 355a)
C. The West and Its Encounters
Matthew Croasmun, Life Worth Living (HUMS 411b)
George Syrimis and Langdon Hammer, Modern Literature and the Eastern
Mediterranean (HUMS 428a)
Peter Cole, Judaism through Poetry (HUMS 429b)
Kathryn Slanski, Mesopotamia’s Literary Legacy (HUMS 434b)
Ivan Marcus, Medieval Jews, Christians and Muslims Imagining Each Other
(HUMS 443a)
Summer Program in Rome. Humanities majors who take the spring course “The City
of Rome” and develop individual research topics to be pursued in Rome may apply
for admission to the summer course “Humanities in Rome” (2 credits). Museums,
archeological sites, churches, piazzas, libraries and the city itself will become the
classroom for this course that will address key issues relevant to all three areas of
concentration. These on-site visits in Rome and the environs will be coupled with
classroom discussion and presentations of independent research projects.
Contacts for Further Information
Norma Thompson, DUS Humanities
Whitney Humanities Center, 432-0675
norma.thompson@yale.edu
Howard Bloch, Director, Humanities
Whitney Humanities Center, 432-1313
howard.bloch@yale.edu
To Prospective Humanities Majors:
Professor Norma Thompson,
DUS of the Humanities major,
&
Professor Virginia Jewiss
will host an informational session
Wednesday, January 14, 2015: 5:30
Whitney Humanities Center Auditorium
53 Wall Street
Information for Prospective Humanities Major
Most Humanities courses test the boundaries of academic disciplines, and it is the
goal of the major to assure that students pursue these interdisciplinary studies in a way
that fosters creativity and imaginative breadth without sacrificing rigor. The major is
structured around three areas of specialization, but the overall goal of the major is this
same one, and in each case the Senior requirement is critical. Whether students are
concentrating in “The Arts in the Humanities” and take courses in paradigmatically
humanist courses (on the Renaissance, for example, or literature in its historical context),
or in “Intellectual History” (including rhetoric, oratory, and history of science), or “The
West and its Encounters” (imagining and representing “the other”), they are
immediately challenged to articulate a coherent plan. The DUS enforces this exercise,
beginning as early as the students’ sophomore year, demanding that the student account
for the relevance of proposed courses, in light of the intended Senior essay. Even though
they are typically unprepared to say much at such early stages, students can at least come
up with a keyword or phrase to suggest possibilities. Most crucially, they become
accustomed to thinking in terms of a long-term creative project and to justifying their
course selections in terms of intellectual coherence. The result is that the “Records of
Study” of Humanities majors exhibit an amazing variety of courses but also reveal
careful direction and planning. A sample Record of Study is included here.
Tracking Three Humanities Majors
As a sophomore, Student #1 focused on courses in American Studies and
Literature, and steadily pursued her interest in collective memory and American
memorials. By the time she was a Senior, she had begun to incorporate an
architectural/urban studies perspective that considered memorials in terms of built
environment and public space. In the process, she moved away from the expertise of her
original advisor (after learning an enormous amount from him), and searched out new
ones – from several different departments, including in the professional schools. (No
matter that these professors had never taught her before; they were thrilled with her ideas
and her initiative.) Her project was a truly culminating one, as she has “watched” herself
journey through various stages that now seem manifestly to have pointed precisely to her
endpoint.
Student #2 wrote a Senior Essay on the oration and democratic philosophy of
Robespierre in relation to both the French Revolution and to later democratic regimes.
This project singlehandedly makes the argument for the desirability of some one place for
undergraduates to study “Intellectual History,” where the great issues of history,
philosophy, religion, rhetoric and politics all may be interwoven. The success of this
project depended on such prior courses as the Humanities seminar on oratory, the
Political Science course on direct democracy, the Philosophy lecture on the ancients, the
History lecture on the European powers – and so on. He never took a course for the
major that did not contribute in some way to helping him put together this sophisticated
project.
Student #3 wrote a Senior Essay on post-Katrina New Orleans and its
“performance of tourism.” The Humanities major has offered several city courses over
the years, from “Toledo” to “Shanghai” to “The City of Rome.” These courses invite
study across multiple disciplines and time periods while offering the anchor of place, and
thus stand as a model interdisciplinary approach for the major. After immersing herself
in the multidisciplinary study of New Orleans in such a course, Student #3 extended her
New Orleans research into tourism theory and performance study methods. Here is an
instance, then, of her widely-ranging courses directing her to a quite specialized interest,
more or less within the confines of the major (studying closely with a few faculty
specifically associated with the Humanities major).
Record of study for the Humanities Major: Sample
Please fill out this form as completely as possible, indicating course number
and grade where requested. The DUS will not sign the schedule of a
student who fails to submit a completed form.
Name: Sample Student
Other Major, if doubling: Biology
Class: 2010
Degree expected in: Humanities
Local mailing address: PO Box 208298; New Haven, CT
College: Berkeley
E-mail address: sample.student@yale.edu
Phone: 432-8000
1. Ancient Civilization prerequisite:
HUMS 100: Genesis and Collapse of Old World Civilization
HUMS 104: Art of the Ancient Near East & Aegean
2. Core Seminars
Area of Concentration: ________Intellectual History________________
course #
seminar name
grade
HUMS 383
Rousseau, Freud, & Proust______________
___B+
HUMS 156
The Architecture of Power_____________
___A-
3. Humanities Electives: at least one in each area of concentration
course #
course name
grade
HUMS 253
Art and Magic in the Renaissance
_____A
HUMS 230
The Birth of Europe
_____A-
HUMS 229
The Early Middle Ages
_____B+
HUMS 316
Early Modern Christian Thought
_____B+
HUMS 383
Toledo: Foundations of Europe
_____A
4. Designated Yale College electives, to complement field of study:
course #
course name
grade
HUMS 331
The Hero in the Ancient Near East
______A-
HUMS 223
Oratory in Statecraft
______B
HUMS 376
Direct Democracy
______A-
PLSC 118
Moral Foundations of Politics
______A
PHIL 125
Ancient Philosophy
_______B
5: Topic of senior essay: Robespierre and his influence on oration in
democracy.
Advisor: Professor Charles Hill
Explanation of Course Requirements
Ancient Civilization prerequisite: 2
Directed Studies (Fall H/P, Fall Literature – not Philosophy, as the prerequisite is
intended to be broadly civilizational, involving the arts or literature or history) or
Classical Civilization (any CLCV course -- with the exception of Philosophy
courses) or
Ancient Near Eastern Civilization (any NELC course)
Grades for these prerequisites are not counted towards distinction in the major, so
there are no negative repercussions for taking them Cr/D/F. (This is in contrast to all
other electives that count for the HUMS major: when you take them Cr/D/F, the course
counts as a “grade” without counting as an “A.” Distinction in the major is determined
by the number of “A” or “A-“ grades.)
HUMS 444, The City of Rome, may be used to fulfill one of these prerequisites
(the summer course may cover both prerequisites).
________________
________________
1. Humanities Electives: 7
a. Core Seminars
Two seminars from your Area of Concentration
Arts in the Humanities
Intellectual History
The West and Its Encounters
With the approval of the DUS, courses without a HUMS designation may count
for this requirement. For example, if your Area of Concentration is Arts in the
Humanities, the summer course FREN S305 (= two credits), Paris in the Age of
Cathedrals, would be approved for both Core Seminars; if your Area of Concentration is
Intellectual History, ENGL 249, English Literature and the French Revolution would be
approved as a Core Seminar; if your Area of Concentration is The West and Its
Encounters, RLST 290, Islam Today: Jihad and Fundamentalism would be approved as a
Core Seminar.
Your chances of getting outside courses approved are best when the course in
question is obviously interdisciplinary and/or it resembles other courses that do have the
HUMS designation.
Any “city” course is counted under the category of The West and Its Encounters.
Examples include HUMS 415, Washington, D.C.; HUMS 417, Monuments of Naples;
HUMS 423, Constantinople/Istanbul; HUMS 446, Tel Aviv; and HUMS 454, Art and
Music in Venice.
________________
________________
b. Five Additional Electives
At least one elective must be chosen in each of the three Areas of Concentration. For
example, if your Area of Concentration is Arts in the Humanities, your five additional
electives could be composed of two Intellectual History courses, two West and Its
Encounters, and one additional Arts in the Humanities.
As above, you may seek approval to get credit from outside courses. [ENGL 303,
Consciousness in the Novel from Austen to Woolf would be approved as Arts; PHIL 403,
Political Philosophy of Hobbes would be approved as Intellectual History; AMST 343,
Muslim Diasporas in America would be approved as West and its Encounters.]
________________
________________
________________
________________
________________
2. Yale College Electives: 5
Five courses from any department that advance student’s work toward the Senior
Essay, as approved by DUS. Here the relevant question about whether a course will count
toward the HUMS major is solely its relation to the Senior Essay. For example, a student who
wrote a Senior Essay on “Examining Perception of Tudor & Jacobean Panel Portraits at BAC”
included these five electives: ANTH 769, Museums and their Objects; HIST 229, London,
1560-1760; CSCC 260, Fictionalizing History; HSAR 403, Connoisseurship & Conservation;
and HSAR 466, Technical Examination of Art.
________________
________________
________________
________________
________________
3. Senior Essay: 1 or 2
The Senior Essay may be single-term or full-year, independently taken under
faculty supervision or in an enrolled Yale College course.
*Students who wish to write Senior Essays in the Fall must begin the process the prior
Spring.
Topic:_______________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Advisor _____________________________
Record of study for the Humanities Major
Please fill out this form as completely as possible, indicating course number
and grade where requested. The DUS will not sign the schedule of a
student who fails to submit a completed form.
Name:
Class:
Second Major if Doubling:
College:
E-mail address:
Phone:
1. Ancient Civilization prerequisite:
_______________________________________
___________________________________
2. Core Seminars
Area of Concentration: _______________________________________
course #
seminar name
grade
_________
______________________________________
______
_________
______________________________________
______
3. Humanities Electives: at least one in each area of concentration
course #
course name
grade
__________
________________________________
_______
___________
________________________________
_______
___________
________________________________
_______
___________
________________________________
_______
___________
_________________________________
_______
4. Designated Yale College electives, to complement field of study:
course #
course name
grade
________
______________________________
________
_________
_______________________________
________
_________
_______________________________
________
__________
_______________________________
________
___________
________________________________
________
5: Topic of senior essay:
Advisor: _____________________