Humanities

This course is an introduction to anthropological archeology. It first examines the history and development of the discipline along with a survey of the methods, theories, and practice in modern archeology. The course then focuses on the major developments in world prehistory. These include human origins and the evolution of culture, prehistoric technology, peopling of the globe, the domestication of plants and animals, prehistoric trade and exchange, the development of tribes and chiefdoms, and the formation of ancient states in the Old and New Worlds.

This survey course involves the study of human beings and their cultures, customs, origins and development. Specific topics examined and discussed include human origins and evolution, human cultures, race and ethnicity, religions, taboos, political systems, economic systems, kinship, sexual norms and mores, gender roles, marriage, educational systems, art, and the effects of globalization on local cultures.

This anthropological survey course covers the prehistory, history, cultural characteristics, and diversity of native peoples of North America. Culture areas investigated include Arctic, Subarctic, Northwest Coast, Plateau, California, Great Basin, Southwest, the Great Plains, Eastern Woodlands (Northeast and Southeast), Mesoamerica, and the Caribbean Islands. The course will also cover the impacts of European contact, adaptions, the revival of native culture, and contemporary issues of native peoples today.

This course will complement your appreciation of music from its basic elements through a historical reflection of music in society. The ability to discern musical examples will heighten the enjoyment and understanding of music as it is explored from the Medieval Ages through to the end of the 18th Century.

This course will build an appreciation of music from its basic elements through a historical reflection of music in society. The ability to discern musical examples will heighten the enjoyment and understanding of music as it is explored in the 19th and 20th centuries.

This overview of theater through the production process combines a history of theater with elements of stage craft, acting technique, play analysis and script writing.

A workshop-style, basic acting and scene study, this course is based on the Sanford Meisner approach, and an overview of the great theater practitioners from Thespis to Stanislavski. Students participate in vocal and movement activities, as well as theater exercises, and they analyze characters through scene studies of playwrights'92 texts.

This interdisciplinary course examines evolutions of western culture from its classical origins up through 1550 A.D. This is accomplished through the examination of multiple perspectives including literature, art, music, philosophy, politics, and theater. Classes consist of lectures, group seminars on readings and student projects.

This interdisciplinary course examines the ideological, economic, political, religious, psychological, artistic, social, philosophical, and military components involved in the cause-and-effect relationships which have molded the western cultural heritage from 1650 to the present. Classes consist of informal lectures, readings, quizzes, seminars on readings, and student presentations.

Cultural Studies is not the “study of cultures” in the way one might imagine; rather, it is an effort to understand the context of any given moment in space and time. It investigates how people'92s everyday lives are structured and organized in contradictory ways by social, economic, political, and cultural relations of power, as well as the historical possibilities of changing those lived realities—the ways one imagine(d) life could be otherwise. This is a course designed to confront many of the assumptions students may have about the world as well as the ways that different disciplines in the college teach one to think. It will demand that students think more complexly, work more collaboratively, and produce work that matters. Students will develop a core understanding of these issues by unpacking and analyzing selected readings and participating in discussions as well as completing short writings and research.

Violence, Humans in Dark Times is a course that has arisen from a series of conversations Brad Evans and Natasha Lennard have had with a wide range of cutting-edge thinkers on the intersections of violence with society. First published in the New York Times and the Los Angeles Review of Books, these conversations will frame the foundation of the course as students use it to deeply explore how violence is understood and used in modern society and ways in which to combat its presence. Students will develop a core understanding of these issues by unpacking and analyzing selected conversations through readings and discussions, but will then work to bring a practical application to these issues as they consider how to shift these theoretical conversations to real-world action

The Humanities explores what it means to be human within a contemporary or historical context. The Humanities provided us with the broad frameworks within which enduring questions of existence, relationships, values, and aesthetics can be examined from multiple perspectives. The Special Topics in Humanities course changes thematically each semester and may explore ideas around evil, love, race, gender, sport, spirituality, and those strands which connect us and make us human. May be repeated for credit when course content changes; may be taken with other topics courses during the same semester.