HUMA 1301 : INTRODUCTION TO HUMANITIES—WORLD CULTURES SINCE 1500
Instructor: An Nguyen, Tuan
Location: ANNA BUILDING, Classroom 03
Office: Faculty, Building VI-QTSC
Time: Tuesday-Thursday14:40—16:10; 16:20—17:50
Office hours: Wednesday 10:00-11:00; Friday 15:00-16:00- And by appointment.
Office phone number: xxx228. Phone: 0902.260703 (before 21 pm only)
Email: annt@saigontech.edu.vn (after the first day of class, I will collect and put the email of all
class member in a group-list. Most of out-class communication will be performed via email. Thus,
please check your SaigonTech email frequently since I will not answer any individual the same
what I have sent to his/her email. On the other hand, if you wish to communicate to the class,
please send emails to: humanfall07@saigontech.edu.vn )
STUDENTS ARE STRONGLY ADVISED TO READ THIS SYLLABUS CAREFULLY IN ORDER
NOT TO BE CONFUSED IN THE STUDY PROCESS! NO INFORMATION MENTIONED IN
THIS SYLLABUS WILL BE ASKED AND REPEATED.
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This introduction to Humanities surveys (as the title of the text might suggest) the culture and
values of humankind from the Italian Renaissance to the present. The "culture" to which the text
refers is synonymous with what is today considered "high culture"--i.e., painting, literature,
sculpture, symphony, philosophy, opera, architecture, etc.--although what is high culture now was
not necessarily conceived of as such at the time. This culture is a product of civilizations and of
individual creative geniuses. It gives expression to what humankind values most in any given place
or at any given time, and it frequently probes human nature itself. What does it mean to be human?
How have our ideas about our own humanity changed over time? What do we value? And how do
we express those values most dear to us? These are some of the questions we will be answering
while we plumb the depths of humanity as it has expressed itself over the last five centuries.
You will walk out of the course with several outcomes as following:
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Some concepts of the so-called “ARTS”. What does it take to be called “ARTS”?
How religion (mostly Christianity) changes during the period of 05 centuries affect to the
evolution of Western arts.
How social changes, including technology development, international conflicts and
harmony, shape human intellectuals, culture and values.
The ability of understanding several fundamental artistic genres at all angles.
The ability of philosophical and theoretical reasoning and critics.
The ability of applying humanities critics into the contemporary society, both nationally and
internationally.
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How to conduct appropriate humanity research and to write sophisticated academic
papers.
The ability of in-class academic debates and arguments.
How to conduct academic leadership in fieldtrips and in class.
TEXT(S) REQUIRED:
Culture and Values: A Survey of the Humanities, vol. II, 5th ed., by Lawrence Cunningham and
John Reich (Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 2002).
Exploring Humanities-The CD.
The Big Book of Art: From Cave Art to Pop Art, by David G. Wilkins.
And some others texts coming soon!!!
I strongly encourage any students who encounter difficulties in study to come and see me
in office hours so that I could be at help. Do not expect me to understand your problems
without you speaking out since I am NOT a mind-reader. On the other hand, those with
learning disabilities should inform me as soon as possible.
GRADING AND ASSIGNMENTS:
Your efforts made toward this course will be reflected on your grades which are interpreted bellow:
A+ : Exceptional effort; exceptional work; exceptional progress
A : Great effort; great work; great progress
A- : Good effort; good work; good progress
B : Average effort; average work; average progress
C : Low pass due to minimal work, effort, and progress
F : Fail because of lack of effort; below minimal work was completed
U : The class will need to be repeated because the student was not at a level in his or her
English proficiency where he or she could make adequate progress
Even though A+; A ; A—will automatically be converted into a merely A in your HCCS transcript, I
will personally give my accurate calculation and final grades to you with those mentioned grades in
accordance with your learning ability.
Attendance, purchasing textbook, and participation will be factored into the final assessment and
grade. You must have your own copy of the textbooks, and bring them to class with you
each day.
Also, please note that NO LATE WORK IS ACCEPTED unless we have previously made
arrangements. Please get in touch with me as soon as you can if you need to ask for an
extension. You have my e-mail address and my office phone number to contact me. Be strongly
aware of the fact that I reserve the right to immediately fail any student whose assignments
are twice not submitted; certainly, late works included.
GRADING: your final course grade will be determined by your performance on the following
assignments and calculated accordingly to the percentages listed.
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+Attendance:
+Participation:
+Discussion Leadership:
+Journal Entries:
+Museum Responses:
+Essays:
+Final paper:
+Total:
10%
10%
10%
15%
15%
20%
20%
100%
ASSIGNMENTS: During this course, you will have to complete several writing tasks, including field
trips projects and leadership preparations. Your writings include:
1. Ten (10) weekly journal entries with the length of around 500 words, reviewing or
explaining a certain amount of reading in the previous reading assignments.
(About 01 page of A4).
2. Three (03) essays discussing about some factors of culture and values studied in
the previous classes. Within that range, you are free to choose your own topic
(that you might be most interested in) to write. The length would be about 02
pages. MLA style required.
3. Three (03) field trip responses. Each time we go to visit a museum, you are
required to write a summary or an analysis about one or several items observed
and studied. Your explanation about that/those items should be at the length of
1½--02 pages, including data such as a brief profile of the author, date created,
possessing institution…
4. Leadership preparation including a review and a list of about 5-10 questions
related.
5. Final paper: The most important work depicting your ability of art appreciation, art
history knowledge, human values, values changes…and of course, your ability of
writing. It should be at the length of 5-7 pages. MLA style required.
1. Attendance
Class attendance and participation is vital to succeed in this class, so it is essential that you are in
class each day and on time. Your insights are crucial to the success of the course, and if you miss
class or come late, not only will you miss important information, but your classmates will suffer
without you in group discussions and workshops. Coming to class late three times will count as
an absence. I do understand that an emergency may arise, and if that is the case, please get in
touch with me as soon as possible. Be advised that one absence made will result in 2.5%
deduction of your total grade. Hard-earned grade should not be wasted unwisely!
2. Preparation and participation:
Besides the textbooks assigned, I may prepare the referent articles from different sources and
these will be handed-out prior to every next class so that you will have time for reading preparation.
I expect every student to come to class with reading-tasks completed and questions in mind. Your
contribution in the whole process will be evaluated and graded from 0% to 10%
3. Discussion leadership:
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This course is a discussion-based one, which means every class-taker will HAVE TO contribute to
class-discussion wholeheartedly. You will be assigned at the first day of class to be in charge of
some DISCUSSION LEADERSHIP. Depending on the number of students taking this course, you
might have to lead the class-discussion more than once. Furthermore, you will have to present
your own projects (field trip response) three (03) times in the class. DO NOT expect me to be
standing and talking all time in front of the class; rather, each student should be prepared to lead
the class discussion yourself. I will aid you (the discussion leader) to come up with the key parts of
the class-work but technically, the whole class will support you with their arguments and questions.
4. Writing Assignments:
Since you are qualified to take this course by completing all ESL 2304 (Speaking, Listening,
Reading, and Writing) and presumably Composition I, I do expect you to be familiar with American
College Writing. I will NOT have enough time to guide you to standard college writing styles but I
encourage you to check with your English instructor about research writing and writing guidance
handbook. If you really encounter difficulties while writing your assignment then I will be willing to
talk about that during office hours or by appointment.
All writing assignments should be in MLA style and must be typed in standard 12 point font and
double-spaced. Please bear in mind that for those papers committing too many errors,
grammatically and academically, I will simply return them to the writer without marking, and
in these cases, your second copy will be 25% deducted. On the other hand, no handwriting will
be accepted in Humanities 1301.
ACADEMIC DISHONESTY:
According to SaigonTech’s Academic Dishonesty Policy, acts of academic dishonesty can be
defined as the following:
o Cheating -- Using or attempting to use unauthorized assistance, materials, information, or
study aids in any academic exercise. Submitting substantial portions of the same
academic work more than once without permission; or using another person as a
substitute to take an examination or quiz.
o Forgery-- Altering a score, grade, schedule change form or academic record; forging an
instructor’s signature or another student’s signature.
o Bribery/Threats-- Offering a bride or making a threat to coercion related to a grade or an
academic exercise.
o Fabrication-- Falsification or invention of any information, data, research, or citation in an
academic exercise.
o Plagiarism-- Representing as one’s own in any academic exercise the words or ideas of
another including by not limited to quoting or paraphrasing without proper citation.
o Facilitating Academic Dishonesty-- Helping or attempting to help another to commit an
act of academic dishonesty.
In writing, probably the most common form of academic dishonesty is plagiarism. All borrowed
information and ideas from other sources—whether in quote or paraphrase form—must be properly
cited according to the MLA citation style.
Any type of academic dishonesty will NOT be tolerated in this class. A violation of
this nature will be dealt with immediately and could result in automatic failure in HUMA
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1301. Please refer to SaigonTech’s Academic Dishonesty Policy at
http://www.saigontech.edu.vn/vietnamese/Dishornesty.jsp or come see me if you have any
questions about this at any time.
TENTATIVE SYLLABUS:
(For the best result of the course, this syllabus is subject to change in several details)
9/11, Tuesday: Introduction to the course.
9/13, Thursday: The Arts; preview ch. 12 [pp. XVII-XXIII].
9/18, Tuesday: Early Renaissance. Ch. 12 [pp. 279-302].
9/20, Thursday: Humanist writers. Ch.12 [pp.302-309; internet research. journal entry 1].
9/25, Tuesday: The High Renaissance in Italy. Ch.13 [pp.313-332].
9/27, Tuesday: Castiglione and Cellini [pp.332-334+ internet research. Journal entry 2].
10/02, Tuesday: Northern European Renaissance. Ch.14 [pp.339. pp 349-363].
10/04, Thursday: Montaigne and Luther [pp. 340-349+ internet research. journal entry 3].
10/09, Tuesday: Shakespeare's Hamlet [pp. 364-367+ internet research].
(10/11 class off for Sunday Field Trip1)
10/14, SUNDAY: Field Trip 1: Bao Tang Lich Su Viet Nam [Essay 1 due.]
10/16, Tuesday: Field Trip 1 Response Presentation
10/18, Thursday: The Baroque.Ch 15 [pp. 373-402].
10/23, Tuesday: Galileo, Descartes, Cervantes, Milton, Molière, Hobbes and Locke (ch.15) [pp
402-409+ Internet research.; journal entry 4].
10/25, Thursday: The Enlightenment (ch.16) [pp.415-432].
10/30, Tuesday: Pope, Swift, Rousseau, Voltaire [pp. 433-442; journal entry 5].
11/06, Tuesday: The Romantic Era (in Europe) ch.17 [pp. 447-475.].
11/08, Thursday : Romantic Era in America[pp.475-483+ internet research; journal entry 6].
11/13, Thursday: Review chs. 15-17. [Essay 2 due].
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(10/15 class off for Sunday Field trip2)
11/18, SUNDAY:Field Trip 2: Bao Tang My Thuat Tp Ho Chi Minh.
11/20, Tuesday: Field Trip 2 Response Presentation.
11/22, Thursday: Toward the Modern Era. Visual Arts Ch.18 [pp. 489-507;].
11/27, Tuesday : Music, philosophy, and literature: Chekhov; Ibsen; K. Chopin; Freud. [pp.507519+ internet research; journal entry 7].
11/29, Thursday: Asian Civilizations into the Modern Era. Ch.19 [pp.523-541;].
12/04, Tuesday: Africa: colonialism to the present. Ch. 20 [pp.545-556; journal entry 8].
12/06, Thursday : Between the World Wars. Ch.21 [pp.561-575 + internet research].
12/11, Tuesday: High Modernism [pp. 575- 583+ internet research ; journal entry 9].
(12/13 class off for Sunday Field trip 3)
12/16, SUNDAY: Field Trip 3: Cu Chi Christian Charity and War Relics.
12/18, Tuesday: Review chs. 18-21 [Essay 3 due].
12/20, Thursday: The Contemporary Contour. Toward a Global Culture? Existentialism, PostModernism, Post-Colonialism in painting. Ch.22 [pp. 589- 602+ internet research ].
12/25, Tuesday: Contemporary sculpture, Architecture, Literature, and Music [pp. 500-17; journal
entry 10].
12/27, Thursday: Last Day: Final Paper Presentation.
Final Week: 1/01 - 1/07: Meet with me to pick up your final paper and course evaluation.
Good Luck and Have Fun with Humanities 1301!
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