HUM 101 F01: Introduction to Humanities, Tuesdays, 5:30-8:15.m.
Instructor: Valerie J. Serpa, 423-1440
The class transfers to all Nevada institutions as HUM 101.
Course description from college catalogue is as follows:
“Offers an interdisciplinary approach to the humanities. Students study major works in art,
music, literature, and philosophy with historical framework.”
The humanities are those academic disciplines that study the human condition using methods
that are largely analytic, critical or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical
approaches of the natural and social sciences. Conventionally, the humanities include the classics,
languages, literature, music, philosophy, history, religion and the visual and performing arts.
Additional subjects sometimes include anthropology, area studies, communications and cultural
studies, although these can also be regarded as social sciences.
History makes one aware that there
is no finality in human affairs;
there is not a static perfection and
an unimprovable wisdom to be achieved.
—Bertrand Russell
This is an introductory class in the humanities, a broad discipline that mirrors and interprets what
humans have believed, experienced, celebrated, created and confronted—in our time and
throughout the centuries. In order to understand what it means to be human and to understand
our human experience, we must understand ourselves in relation to both the natural world and
our own history. Study of the humanities involves reflecting on ideas about ourselves, our culture
and its values, and evaluating their significance.
It may be a mistake to mix different wines,
but old and new wisdom mix admirably.
—Bertolt Brecht
The humanities include may also many other areas of study such as language (both modern and
classical), ethics, jurisprudence, linguistics, comparative religion, and the history, theory, and
criticism of the arts. Social sciences that employ historic or philosophical approaches or
humanistic methods such as cultural anthropology, archaeology, political science, and
interdisciplinary areas such as folklore, women’s studies, and American studies are also
considered humanities disciplines. In short, those academic disciplines which study people—
their ideas, history, literature, artifacts, and values.
The proper Study of Mankind is Man.
—Alexander Pope
We will utilize a historical perspective—for the most part linear—to view western civilization
using art, architecture, cultural anthropology, philosophy and music as starting points for
discussion. The intent of this class is to develop your ability to understand how cultural
expressions are reflections of the societies that produce them; to provide an understanding of how
economic, religious, political and social forces shape philosophical and cultural trends. The
nature of our engagement will focus on critical thinking—questioning, investigating, analyzing,
evaluating, and responding.
Text/Readings/Slide Lectures: Culture and Values: A Survey of the Humanities, Alternate Volume,
Eighth Edition, by Lawrence Cunningham, John Reich & Lois Fichner-Rathus. Text is required.
Additional readings will be handed out periodically. All readings assigned should be completed
prior to the class meeting. Each week, a slide overview/lecture of the period under consideration
will be presented; questions and discussion are encouraged.
Attendance: Attendance will be taken as a matter of record. As a significant amount of
information will be provided via the slide lectures and discussion, regular attendance and
preparation is extremely important. Please plan to arrive on time and to stay for the entire class.
Tardiness and leaving early (unless pre-approved) will be counted as an absence. If you miss
more than three classes, you will automatically be withdrawn from the class.
While laptops may be used to take notes during lectures, sending and/or receiving texts or phone
calls is not permitted at any time. If this occurs more than once, you will be automatically
withdrawn from the class. If you miss more than three classes (including the first), you will
automatically be withdrawn from the class.
Plagiarism: According to Webster's New World Dictionary, to plagiarize is to “take ideas, writings,
etc. from another and pass them off as one’s own.” Plagiarism is a form of academic dishonesty, a
type of stealing. If you copy another’s work you are not processing the information in any way,
you are not “thinking critically.” To understand material, you must learn to put the ideas into
your own words, and you must document where you found your information. There are several
styles of documentation, and if you have any questions about how to incorporate material or
document your sources, please talk with me. Because academic honesty is an important part of
the acquisition of knowledge, any student found plagiarizing will be expelled from the class and
given an F.
Tests/Grading: Four exams will be given on the dates indicated below. In general, you will be
asked to answer four out of five essay questions, with each weighted equally. You will also be
asked to write a report/review in which you evaluate—using 800 to 1,000 words—the humanities
content of a performance, lecture, theatre piece, etc. You must let me know what you intend to
write about no later than February 11th. The exams each represent 20% of your grade (for a total
of 80%); and the report/review, 20%. Absolutely no late work will be accepted, and exams may
only be taken on the times noted below. Exceptions may be made only under extraordinary
and pre-approved, circumstances.
If you have any questions or concerns during the course of the semester, please let me know.
HUM 101: Humanities, Tuesdays, 5:30-8:15.m. Instructor: Valerie J. Serpa, 423-1440
Schedule:
Week #1: (21 January): Introduction/class overview. Review of syllabus and class policies.
Week #2: (28 January): Read: The Arts: An Introduction; Chapter 1, Beginnings; Chapter 2, The
Rise of Greece; and Chapter 3, Classical Greece and the Hellenistic Period. Pages xxix – 115.
Week #3: (4 February): Read Chapter 4, Rome; and Chapter 5, Ancient Civilizations of India and
China. Pages 117 – 188.
Week #4: (11 February): Read Chapter 6, The Rise of the Biblical Tradition; and Chapter 7, Early
Christianity: Ravenna and Byzantium. Pages 189 – 239.
Topics for report/review handed in at the beginning of class.
Week #5: (18 February): Exam #1.
Week #6: (25 February): Read Chapter 8, Islam; Chapter 9, The Rise of Medieval Culture; and
Chapter 10, The High Middle Ages. Pages 241 – 337.
Week #7: (4 March): Read Chapter 11, The Fourteenth Century: A Time of Transition; and Chapter
12, The Fifteenth Century. Pages 339 – 415.
Week #8: (11 March): Read Chapter 13, The High Renaissance and Mannerism in Italy; and Chapter
14, The High Renaissance in the North. Pages 417 – 503.
Week #9: 18 March, No Class–Spring Break.
Week #10: (25 March): Exam #2.
Week #11: (1 April): Read Chapter 15, The Seventeenth Century: The Baroque Era; and Chapter 16,
The Eighteenth Century. Pages 505 – 593.
Week #12: (8 April): Read Chapter 17, Romanticism, Realism, and Photography; and Chapter 18,
Toward the Modern Era: 1870-1914. Pages 595 – 715.
Week #13: (15 April): Exam #3
Week #14: (22 April): Read Chapter 19, India, China and Japan: From Medieval to Modern Times;
and Chapter 20, Africa. Pages 717 – 775. Report/review due.
Week #15: (29 April): Read Chapter 21, The World at War; and Chapter 22, The Contemporary
Contour. Pages 777 – 883.
Week #16: (6 May): Exam #4
Week #17: (13 May): Final grades.
This schedule may be revised as appropriate.