The Graduate Committee on Humanities offers an interdisciplinary program leading to the M.A. degree in Humanities. One of the unique features of this interdisciplinary program is that, because it uses faculty research/teaching interests from a number of academic units, a student may tailor a course of study to fit individual needs and goals. The committee is composed of members from several departments, as shown in the faculty list at the beginning of this section. At the same time, the individualized program is balanced by a required core of several courses emphasizing interdisciplinary methodology and theory. Faculty and courses are not limited, however, to the departments and schools listed, since it is understood that many fields may be approached from a humanistic perspective.
MASTER OF ARTS
The program leading to the M.A. degree in Humanities is individualized and interdisciplinary. It offers the student whose interests transcend disciplinary boundaries the opportunity to integrate graduate courses in two or more departments as a foundation for research leading to a thesis in the humanities. Two required core courses, HUM 511 Structures of Knowledge and HUM 512 Writing Cultures, offer students experience in integrative methodology. A third course, HUM 513 Interpretation of Cultures, gives students a culminating integrative experience. Students are also advised to select another course from several theoretical courses offered by individual departments. Topics for the thesis require an understanding of cultural history, particularly of times when relationships between cultural values and one or more of the arts have been especially dynamic in illuminating important questions. Generally, theses have centered upon the usual humanities disciplines, but the intention of the committee is to include humanistic approaches to topics that might be based in the sciences or engineering.
Admission. In addition to meeting Graduate College requirements, students must submit a letter of intent, Graduate Record Examination scores, and three letters of academic recommendation to the director of the program. Students whose applications are completed by February 15 should be advised of their admission status by April 1. Qualified students applying after March 1 should be admitted if openings are available. Students who fulfill general requirements of the Graduate College and have B.A. degrees in any one of the humanities disciplines listed by the National Endowment for the Humanities are usually welcomed into the program. These include American studies, art history, cultural anthropology, dance history, history, law, linguistics, English, American, comparative or foreign literatures, music history, philosophy, religious studies, and theatre history. In addition to (or as part of) this degree, it is desirable that students have a strong general education with at least introductory courses in two of the following subjects: history, literature, art, religion, theatre, music, and philosophy. Students who have bachelor’s degrees in the social sciences or natural sciences and who wish to pursue graduate studies in interdisciplinary humanities are welcome to submit their applications for consideration.
Program of Study. For initial advising, students should consult the director of graduate studies. Students, in consultation with a faculty supervisory committee, should propose individual programs of study, including courses in interdisciplinary humanities and related disciplines. Ordinarily the program consists of 36 semester hours (including six hours of thesis) and includes nine hours of 500-level core courses exclusive of thesis hours. Students also select one or two courses from the designated theory courses offered by several disciplines as well as the individualized group of courses from two or more disciplines.
A theory course or a three-hour research methods course (or both) in the student’s major discipline is to be taken during the first year of graduate study. If the major area does not offer a research methods course, a similar 500-level course in a related field may be taken with committee approval. The capstone course is HUM 513 Interpretation of Cultures, which provides an exploration of issues in the interdisciplinary study of cultures. To stimulate research and publication in the study of the humanities, each semester distinguished visiting scholars share their ideas with students and the university community.
Designated Theory Courses
| Select from the courses below (3–6) | |
| ASB 591 | S: Language and Culture (3) |
| DAH 502 | Cultural Concepts of Dance (3) |
| ENG 591 | S: Contemporary Critical Theory (3) |
| HIS 515 | Studies in Historiography (3) |
| JUS 520 | Qualitative Theory and Data Collection (3) |
| PHI 591 | Seminar (1–3) |
| SOC 586 | Contemporary Sociological Theory (3) |
| SPA 545 | Concepts of Literary Criticism (3) |
Core
| HUM 511 | Structures of Knowledge (3) |
| HUM 512 | Writing Cultures (3) |
Subject Matter Courses
| Primarily in humanities disciplines in the area of the student’s interdisciplinary interest; may include a methods course (15–21) |
Capstone Course
| HUM 513 | Interpretation of Cultures (3–6) |
| HUM 599 | Thesis (6) |
| Minimum total: 36 |
Foreign Language Requirements. A reading knowledge of one foreign language is required; however, a reading knowledge of two languages is recommended.
Comprehensive Examinations. Before concentrating on the thesis, the student writes several interdisciplinary essays as a culminating examination. Topics are framed in relation to the student’s individualized program.
Thesis Requirements. A thesis is required of all candidates. The thesis must be interdisciplinary and humanistic.
Final Examinations. A final oral examination in defense of the thesis is required.
RESEARCH ACTIVITY
A sample of recent thesis topics includes the following: The Enigma of Nikola Tesla: A Cultural Studies Analysis of His Legacy; Hot and Cold Media with New Messages: A Review and a Revision of (Herbert) Marshall McLuhan; The Boy’s Room Revisited: Masculinities in Pulp Fiction; left“I Am Marlene-Marlene Is Me”: Marlene Dietrich as Model for Social Empowerment; Anthropological Field Rites: Uncovering the Ethnographic Self in Feminist Self-Ethnography; Unreality As Condition of Life: A Postmodern View on Andrei Bitov’s Pushkin House; The Four-Seven Debate between Yi T’oegye and Ki Kobong; The Study of an Epidemic: Science, Society, and the (Re)Presentation of AIDS; Reading Space: A Question of Resistance; Social Peace, Unconstrained Consent, Social Justice, and the So-Called Liberal Tradition; Getting Around the Body: The Matter of Race and Gender in Faulkner’s Light in August; Healing Patterns in Three Ethnic American Novels; Sorcery in Colonial Peru: The Cases Held by the Spanish Inquisition at the Tribunal of Lima.
Faculty Research Interests. Social and intellectual history; British history; the Enlightenment; media studies; cultural studies; Latin America; queer theory; gender studies; subaltern studies; ideological approaches to literature; comparative literature; postcolonial studies; Chinese culture; East European and American Jews; Israel; urban studies; humor; technology and culture; intercultural perceptions; colonial Latin American identity construction; law and society in European and modern periods; narratives of European colonialism/exploitation; American studies; science and the humanities; Southeast Asian art history; critical theory; cultural anthropology; culture and organizational theory.
Omnibus Graduate Courses: See omnibus graduate courses that may be offered.
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