Humanities
[ Courses]
OFFICE: Galbraith Hall, Room 180, Revelle College
http://humanities.ucsd.edu
The Humanities Program offers interdisciplinary courses in history, philosophy, and literature, with a focus on major aspects of the Western humanistic tradition. In these courses, students examine the development of a wide variety of ideas and forms of expression that exert a major influence on modern America. Through lectures and class discussions, and through the writing of essays, students learn to interpret literary, historical, and philosophical texts and to conduct independent critical assessments of documents and ideas.
The sequence of courses, Humanities 1 through 5, meets the humanities and writing requirement of Revelle College. Instruction in university-level writing is part of all five courses, but students in Humanities 1 and 2 (six units each) receive intensive writing instruction.
Students must have satisfied the university’s Subject A requirement before registering for any part of the humanities sequence. Humanities 1 and 2 must be taken before Humanities 3-4-5.
For detailed description of the Revelle College humanities requirement, see “Revelle College, General-Education Requirements, Humanities.”
The Humanities Minor
The humanities minor consists of at least seven courses chosen from the listings of the Departments of History, Philosophy, Literature, Visual Arts, Music, and Theatre. All seven courses may be selected from the upper-division offerings, but at least five upper-division courses must be included. Students for whom Humanities 1-5 fulfill general-education requirements may use two of these courses towards fulfillment of requirements for the humanities minor.
For students who entered UCSD before January 1, 1998, the required number of courses for the minor is six courses, at least three of which must be upper-division.
Courses selected for the minor must be selected from the offerings of more than one department. They must concern themselves with more than one historical, national, or ethnic culture; and they must offer broad treatment of centrally important topics in the humanities. Thus, a course on the history of the United States since the Civil War would be appropriate for the humanities minor, while a course in the history of California would not.
Here are some examples of study lists appropriate for the present humanities minor:
Example 1:
History: HILD 2AB: United States
History: HILD 11: East Asia and the West
Literature: LTEA 110B: Modern Chinese Fiction in Translation
Philosophy 160: Ethical Theory
Philosophy 153: Philosophy of History
Example 2:
History: HILA 102: Latin America in the Twentieth Century
History: HIAF 110: History of Africa to 1880
Literature: LTAM 110: Latin American Literature in Translation
Literature: LTEN 184: African American Poetry
Music 114: Music of the Twentieth Century
Visual Arts 126DJ: African and Afro-American Art
Example 3:
Literature: LTEN 145: The English Novel in the Twentieth Century
Literature: LTEN 146: Women and English/ American Literature
Literature: LTNE 100: The Bible and Western Literature
Philosophy 175: Aesthetics
Philosophy 177: Philosophy and Literature
Theatre: TDGE 11: Great Performances on Film
Students should review their plans for the minor with the humanities advisor as well as with the advisors in their college. Before undertaking the minor, students must submit a study list for approval to the humanities office.
The Humanities Majors
Normally, students interested in majoring in humanities must choose a specific major in the humanities departments, i.e., history, literature, or philosophy. But students from Revelle and Muir Colleges may request to graduate with an approved individual/special project major in the humanities.
