Rob van Gerwen

HUM 291. Approaches to the Humanities (Spring 2010)

This course, Approaches to the Humanities, is devoted to the methodologies of the Humanities.
As the head professors of the course, we are pleased to welcome both the guest professors, and the students and look forward to an exciting and stimulating semester. Please, take a few sessions to familiarise yourself with the contents of the web environment. The pages you are looking at concern the first half of the class only. We welcome your comments and suggestions. For the second half, please check the Workspace. We look forward to working with you and wish you every success with your coursework!

Jeroen Bons and Rob van Gerwen

Outline

Content

The Humanities study human expressions. A science, or a set of disciplines devoted to such a subject matter confronts particular challenges and methods, such as interpretation and the presentation of narratives that make sense of the facts. In this course, we deal with the typical subject matters of the Humanities, the typical methodologies needed to address these, and the values that motivate Humanities research activities.
Next to relatively neatly defined matters, such as works of art, the Humanities also deal with complex cultural processes, such as the ideological and historical developments that led to the holocaust, and phenomena of decolonization, cultural repression, and emancipation.
In this course, we first deal with the cultural trauma of the holocaust and the efforts of the Humanities disciplines to understand the facts. Secondly, we address Humanities disciplines that are more directly motivated by injustice and emancipation---so-called Cultural Studies. Also, the first half of the course is devoted mostly to questions of visual representation and the effects of iconicity; the second to literary representation and the interpretation of texts.

Aim

Holocaust Memorial, Berlin

Students who have completed this course have a clear grasp of the general methodological debate within the Humanities. They can distinguish between research approaches that seek to assemble and describe as faithful as possible the facts of human reality and approaches that seek to provide a voice for those excluded from these "facts" (as in Women's, Cultural, or Postcolonial Studies). In this way, students arrive at an understanding of the special status of the Humanities, both within society at large, and within the Liberal Arts and Sciences tradition in particular. Furthermore, students are able to recognize the methodological approaches that characterize research in the Humanities and to make a choice for the appropriate methodology in their own research, assuming a subject matter, and proper motivation.

Prerequisites

ACC 101: Introduction to Academia
HUM 291 is a prerequisite for HUM 301

Course proceeding

We meet twice a week for 12 weeks. In several meetings a guest lecturer speaks about one of two themes--the holocaust, or decolonization--from the point of view of his or her Humanities-discipline. In a mid-term paper students are asked to reflect on the methodological approaches that have been presented so far. In the final paper they have to apply their methodological insights and do research on an issue that is relevant to either one of the two themes of the course.
Students also write four assignments, 1. ``Degenerate art'' as exemplifying intricacies of historical events; 2. The moral witness as a crucial element in getting the historical narrative right; 3. A report on an excursion; 4. Representations of black and white in Heart of Darkness.
Students are to submit most of their work in print (in class). This includes short reading notes about all the readings (to be handed in only in the relevant class meeting), and the four assignments. The two papers are to be submitted through the Workspace and may be checked against plagiarizing software.

Time slot

The meetings are scheduled Tuesdays 8.45-10.45 AM, and Fridays 1.45-3.45 PM.

Course Material

Course material is offered in a compilation of articles and chapters. Whenever possible, students are referred to articles available on the internet via the library. Omega means: log in at the library, go to Omega, and find the article mentioned.

Students are expected to keep track of the web-site devoted to the first half of this course. Here, they can find more elaboration on the contents and goals of individual meetings, explanatory texts, and an interim list of gradings.
Through a weblog linked to this web-site any and all developments and irregularities shall be announced.

Assessment

Attendance is obligatory by the rules of University College.

Co-ordination

Weekly Overview