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.
Cultural Humanities, BLA
HALC course: core requirement/gateway into major
Students will take one course in Humanities: Arts, Literatures and Cultures (HALC) to fulfill the core requirement, typically in the second year of the program. This course will also function as the gateway to the Cultural Humanities major, and counts as one of the four HALC electives described below.
The major in Cultural Humanities requires ten (10) courses as follows:
Foundational Courses (3)
- Critical Methods in the Cultural Humanities: A survey of critical methodologies and theoretical orientations from across cultural humanities disciplines.
- History of Literature, Media, and Culture I and II: A broad, two-course, interdisciplinary historical survey. Modeled on the History of Literature, Media, and Culture sequence in the English major, but expanded to include works in the visual arts, music, and theater as well as literature, these courses will introduce a number of critical or representative texts, debates, developments and crises illustrative of the time periods studied. Texts, genres, and topics covered will vary depending on the instructor; emphasis is not on coverage but on the representative nature of the texts and topics covered.
HALC Electives (4)
Students will take at least four HALC electives, inclusive of the first course taken to fulfill the core requirement. These courses can be drawn from any of the participating departments/disciplines, and are designed to give students significant breadth of experience across the cultural humanities.
A non-exhaustive list of courses that fit in this tier and fulfill the HALC elective requirement:
- Any of the introductory or intermediate courses in Art (e.g., Design I, Drawing I).
- Any of the introductory survey courses (Ancient to Medieval; Renaissance to Modern; Modern) or intermediate electives in Art History.
- Any lower-level electives in English.
- Any of the core courses in music history and culture (Western Musical Tradition, Music in a Multicultural World, Jazz History; Rock History) or electives in music history and culture.
- Any of the core methods courses (Play Analysis, Improvisation for Social Change, Adaptation and Performance of Literature), comparative studies courses (Cross-Cultural Performance Studies, World Theater History), or intermediate electives in Theater and Performance Studies.
- Intermediate electives on literature and culture in translation from across FLL departments and programs.
- Intermediate electives from College interdisciplinary programs with a significant focus on culture and cultural production (e.g., Intro to African American Studies or any of the intermediate electives within the Language, Literature, Arts, and Culture concentration in African American Studies; Intro to Women’s and Gender Studies, Introduction to Sexuality Studies).
Advanced Seminars in the Cultural Humanities (2)
Students take at least two advanced seminars in the Cultural Humanities. Roughly equivalent to 400-level courses in many of the main campus major programs. Potential for significant interdisciplinarity in themes or topics. Students may substitute additional advanced seminars for HALC electives with permission.
Senior Capstone (1)
Emphasis on mentored research, sharing of work in progress, and integration and reflection.
Distribution Requirements
In addition to the above 10 courses required in the Cultural Humanities major, students must also fulfill the following distribution requirement through HALC electives and/or advanced seminars.
Students must take at least one course in three of the following four areas:
- One course in art, art history, or visual culture.
- One course in music/sonic culture.
- One course in theater and performance studies.
- One course in creative practice/design.*
*To be understood broadly, to include courses in creative (fiction or non-fiction) writing, acting or improvisation, design or drawing, etc.
Courses fulfilling these distribution requirements will be designated with attribute tags; it is possible for a single course to fulfill multiple distribution requirements if there is significant interdisciplinarity in focus or methodological approach. The distribution requirement is designed to ensure that students achieve breadth across the various disciplines in the cultural humanities.
The BLA Core curriculum is designed to mirror as closely as possible the core curriculum of the main campus undergraduate programs in the College. As such, the BLA core requirements match those of the University and College Core curricula, with only minor modifications (e.g., an expanded BLA writing curriculum and a slightly modified foreign language requirement).
The BLA Core curriculum consists of 18 required courses, as follows:
- Three courses (12 credits) in Writing, plus integrated writing requirement in the major*
- WRIT 1143: Life Writing
- WRIT 1150: Writing and Culture Seminar
- One additional course in Writing, with emphases on problem- or project-based strategies, persuasive or professional writing, etc.
- Two courses in Philosophy
- PHIL 1902: Philosophy and Intellectual History
- One PHIL elective 2000+
- Two courses in Theology and Religious Studies
- THEO 1000: Problem of God
- One intermediate THEO elective, 2000-3999
- Two courses in History
- HIST 1099: History Focus
- One survey course from the following list: Intro to Early (1401), Intro to Late (1402), Indian Ocean World (1104), Atlantic World (1106), Pacific World (1107), Africa I (1200), Africa II (1201), South Asia I (1307), Modern South Asia II (1308), Americas I (1501), Latin America I (1503), Latin America II (1504), Middle East I (1601), or Middle East II (1602)
- One course in Mathematics/Computer Science
- MATH 1040: Probability and Statistics
- One course to satisfy the Science For All (SFA) requirement
- One course in HALM (Humanities: Arts, Literature, Music, & Media)
- Two courses in Social Science
- IDSS 2010 and 2020, Introduction to Interdisciplinary Social Science I and II
- Three courses/12 credits of foreign language**
- UNXD 1200 Race, Power and Justice at GU (2 credits), plus two additional “overlay” courses to fulfill the University-wide Pathways to Social Justice requirement***
NB: Consistent with College regulations, a course can fulfill both a core and a major requirement, but no course may fulfill two separate core requirements, with the exception of the Pathways to Social Justice “overlay” requirement explained above.
*As in main campus undergraduate programs in the College, the integrated writing requirement is “an intensive writing experience located within the student’s chosen major” designed to “prepare students to use the relevant forms, styles, and conventions of their chosen area(s) of study.” While writing will be integrated throughout all three of the major programs in the BLA degree, the capstone course in each of the major programs will be designated as the course that fulfills the integrated writing requirement.
**Unlike in main campus College undergraduate programs, where the foreign language requirement is a proficiency requirement, and it is possible to place out of the requirement via examination, all students in the BLA program are required to complete 12 credits of foreign language coursework. Languages will be offered in an intensive summer session, and the language(s) offered will vary.