Cultural Humanities (AB)

About this programme

The major in Cultural Humanities takes the core requirement in HALC (Humanities: Arts, Literature, and Cultures) as an organizing principle for an interdisciplinary program that draws from core and affiliated HALC disciplines/departments and programs (Art and Art History, English, Performing Arts, as well as FLL departments and College interdisciplinary programs with significant investments in the cultural humanities [e.g., African American Studies, Comparative Literature, Film and Media Studies]). In keeping with the logic of the HALC requirement, with its dual focus on the critical study of creative works and the creative exploration of critical ideas, the major seeks to integrate course offerings in creative practices, broadly conceived, with those in analysis and interpretation. The major achieves verticality through a tripartite structure: a first level of HALC electives, drawn from across contributing disciplines; a second level of foundational courses, modeled on those in the English major, including one course in critical methods and a two-course historical survey; and a third level of advanced seminars in the Cultural Humanities, with significant potential for interdisciplinarity and innovative themes and topics. The major ensures breadth across the cultural humanities via a set of layered distribution requirements; distribution requirements will be identified by attribute tag, and it is possible for a single course to fulfill multiple distribution requirements if it is interdisciplinary in its focus or methodologies.