Humanities

The Discipline

The term humanities refers to the study of human intellectual and artistic creativity and the record of human experience as seen in the arts and letters. The Humanities major is, therefore, an interdisciplinary major drawing from literature, foreign languages, history, philosophy, visual art, and music, and a discipline in its own right with a methodology for the study of cultural and intellectual history and, to a lesser extent, aesthetics. The Humanities undergraduate curriculum, like single-discipline programs, emphasizes the development of skills in reasoning, critical thinking, language, writing, and library use. But the program's interdisciplinary curriculum serves students who seek more latitude than single-discipline programs offer in developing a broad and full program in the liberal arts that is not confined to one art form or national tradition. Primarily, but by no means exclusively, oriented to European, American, and Pan-American cultures, the program is founded on the assumption that an adequate understanding of the geographical West's intellectual and cultural developments, as well as its relationship with other World cultures, requires engagement with all forms of literary and artistic production. Moreover, the curriculum approaches questions of human values and expression important to all cultures—the nature of the beautiful, the meaning of human existence, the search for the divine, the nature of historical epochs, etc.—through comparative studies.

Objectives

Students who graduate with a BA in Humanities should:

Formally introduce and foster both the skills of humanistic study—analysis, critical thinking, and writing—and the philosophical underpinnings of an interdisciplinary approach to that study.
Provide students with a broad, interdisciplinary introduction to the "historical foundations" of European, American, and Panamerican cultures—that is, the history, distinctive character, and achievements of those cultures—that requires them not only to know such information as the dates, creators, and formal qualities of those cultures' texts and artifacts, but also to think critically and write persuasively about their beauty, power, and significance to the cultures that produced them and to our own.
Introduce students to the intellectual and cultural traditions of at least one "non-Western" culture.
Require students to attain reading proficiency in at least one foreign language.
Require students to emphasize one discipline within the disciplinary constellation of the Humanities to invite a deeper engagement with one aspect of humanistic study, and to ground their future interdisciplinary work in the modes and practices of that discipline.
Require students to designate at least 8-9 additional hours of coursework to augment their preparation for a specific career or for further education.
Require each student to demonstrate in each of her/his two capstone courses a mature ability to study current problems and issues in the humanities, and to produce a 10-15-pp. paper in each course that demonstrates competence and sophistication in researching and reasoning through a specific, important question regarding the history, influence, meaning, and/or significance of a particular work, artist/author/composer, or movement in the humanities.
Prepare students, whether or not they pursue a professional career in the humanities, to enjoy a lifetime of acquiring a greater knowledge of, and wisdom from, the humanities, and continually to seek opportunities to serve others with that knowledge and wisdom.

For requirements, see "Majors and Minors" below.

Career Opportunities

A major in Humanities prepares the student for further graduate work in the humanistic disciplines and in professional schools; for teaching in public and private schools; or for employment in business, government, technology, tourism, and civil or foreign service.

Majors and Minors

Humanities Faculty

Ancell, Matthew	Assistant Professor. Joined BYU faculty in 2006.
Andersen, David L.	Assistant Lecturer. Joined BYU faculty in 1985; BA Brigham Young University, 1977; MA Brigham Young University, 1979.
Burns, Mark K.	Assistant Professor. Joined BYU faculty in 2002; BA Brigham Young University, 1987; MA Brigham Young University, 1991; MA Brigham Young University, 1995; PhD Harvard University, 2003.
Call, Michael J.	Professor. Joined BYU faculty in 1983; BA Brigham Young University, 1971; MA Brigham Young University, 1976; PhD Stanford University, 1982.
Call, Michael Josiah.	Assistant Professor. Joined BYU faculty in 2006.
Christenson, Allen J.	Assistant Professor. Joined BYU faculty in 1998; BS 1984/5, Brigham Young University, 1980; DDS, University of California, Los Angeles, 1984; MA University Texas, Austin, 1996; PhD, University of Texas, Austin, 1998.
Fisher, Deborah S.	Assistant Lecturer. Joined BYU faculty in 1989; BA Brigham Young University, 1975; MA Brigham Young University, 1985.
Handley, George B.	Associate Professor. Joined BYU faculty in 1998; BA Stanford University, 1989; MA University of California, Berkeley, 1991; PhD University of California, Berkeley, 1995.
Kramer, Nathaniel T.	Assistant Professor. Joined BYU faculty in 2004; BA Brigham Young University, 1996; MA Brigham Young University, 1998; PhD University of California, Los Angeles, 2004.
Oscarson, Christopher	Assistant Professor. Joined BYU faculty in 2005; BA Brigham Young University, 1997; MA Brigham Young University 2000; PhD candidate University of California, Berkeley.
Parry, Joseph D.	Associate Professor. Joined BYU faculty in 1993; BA Brigham Young University, 1985; MA Brigham Young University, 1987; PhD University of Utah, 1994.
Sederholm, Carl H.	Assistant Professor. Joined BYU faculty in 2002; BA University of California, Los Angeles, 1996; PhD University of Utah, 2002.
Soper, Kerry D.	Assistant Professor. Joined BYU faculty in 1999; BFA Utah State University, 1992; MA Emory University, 1994; PhD Emory University, 1998.
Sowell, Debra H.	Assistant Professor. Joined BYU faculty in 2002; BA Brigham Young University, 1975; MA Tufts University, 1980; PhD New York University, 1990.
Stanford, Charlotte A.	Assistant Professor. Joined BYU faculty in 2003; BA Brigham Young University, 1993; MA University of Connecticut, 1996; PhD Pennsylvania State University, 2003.
Tate, George S.	Professor. Joined BYU faculty in 1974; BA Brigham Young University, 1969; MA Brigham Young University, 1970; PhD Cornell University, 1974.

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last modified: 10/10/06
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