SHUM 2750 Introduction to Humanities
SHUM 2750 Introduction to Humanities (rotating topics)
Fall, Spring. 3 credits. Limited to 15 students.
These seminars offer an introduction to the humanities through the exploration of various historical, cultural, social and political topics. Students will engage with a range of texts and media drawn from the arts, humanities, and/or humanistic social sciences. Guest speakers, including Cornell faculty and Society for the Humanities Fellows, will present from different disciplines and points of view. Students will consider local sites including Cornell special collections and archives. Students enrolled in these seminars will have the opportunity to participate in additional programming related to the Society’s theme and the Humanities Scholars Program for undergraduate humanities research.
This course is open to anyone interested in a major of minor in the humanities. You do not need to apply to the Honors Program in order to sign up for this course. If you are considering the Humanities Scholars Program and are also hoping to go abroad for your junior year, then we encourage you to take this course as a sophomore.
(SP26) SEM 101 Topic: The Good Life
also HIST 2050
T/R 10:10 - 11:25am
What does it mean to live well, both as individuals and as a society? This course addresses humanistic questions about “the good life” through discussion of political theory, history, art, and literature. Students will survey classic liberal, conservative, socialist, and anarchist political thought; explore the transformation of art and everyday life in the Paris Commune of 1871; and read utopian literature that will inform their own writing about the good life. Course readings will include John Locke, John Stuart Mill, Edmund Burke, Karl Marx, Peter Kropotkin, Emma Goldman, Kristin Ross, and Ursula K. Le Guin, among others.
--
(SP26) SEM 102 Topic: Women, Textiles, and Texts in Feminist Thought
also ARKEO 2750, ARTH 2750, CLASS 2750, COML 2750, ENGL 2750, FGSS 2750
T/R 8:40 - 9:55am
This seminar examines the interrelationships among women, textiles, and texts within feminist aesthetic theory. We will read works of fiction, criticism, and scholarship, largely authored by women, that thematize textile crafts in the stories of women’s lives from antiquity to the present. Alongside, this course trains participants in the art-historical analysis of ancient and modern textiles, fashion, and fiber arts to assess how weaving, sewing, embroidery, and related practices have inspired feminist discourses across time and space. Assignments concern the socio-political, economic, gendered, and racialized dimensions of textile culture, as well as the discipline’s struggle for legitimacy within the arts, literature, and philosophic thought.
SHUM 3750 Humanities Scholars Research Methods
SHUM 3750 Humanities Scholars Research Methods
Spring. 4 credits. Limited to 20 students.
also COML 3750
T/R 10:10 - 11:25am
This course is a seminar studying the practice, theory, and methodology of humanities research, critical analysis, and communication through writing and oral presentation. The goal of the seminar is to teach and refine research methods (library research, note taking, organizing material, bibliographies, citation methods, proposals, outlines, etc.) as well as to guide students through the initial stages of a research project of your own design.
We will be studying the work and impact of humanists, who we define very broadly as scholars of literature, history, theory, art, visual studies, film, anthropology, gender and sexuality studies, who are posing big questions about the human condition. By reading and analyzing the scholarship of humanists – critiquing them, engaging their ideas, and perhaps even being inspired by them – we will try to imagine how we might craft our own method and voice as we pose big questions for the humanities. We hope that you see this course as a journey that helps you to consider how you might do a research project.
This course is open to all students interested in writing a longer research paper, whether for a semester or academic year, and to anyone interested in a major or minor in the humanities. Enrollment preference will be given to students in the Humanities Scholars Program. You do not need to apply to the program in order to sign up for this course, and taking this course does not represent a commitment to write a thesis. If you are considering the Humanities Scholars Program and are also hoping to go abroad for your junior year, then we encourage you to take this course as a sophomore.
SHUM 4750 Senior Capstone Seminar
SHUM 4750 Senior Capstone Seminar
Fall, Spring. 1 credit. Limited to 10 students per section.
(SP25) Two sections offered:
SEM 101 Mondays 2:30 - 3:20pm (Mary Danisi)
SEM 102 Thursdays 1:25 - 2:15pm (Spencer Beswick)
This 1-credit course is designed to support seniors in the Humanities Scholars Program. Seniors will meet for one hour per week with HSP mentors to work on their capstone projects. The course has three learning goals: creating a cohort of humanities researchers, sharing work in progress, and working collaboratively and in groups.
HSP Elective Courses
Explore the slate of courses (using the SHUM prefix) that are cross-listed with the Humanities Scholars Program. Humanities Scholars must complete two electives before graduation. This list will be updated continually.