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2017-2018 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
Humanities Courses
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Humanities
Humanities
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HUM 101 - Humanities I: The Ancient Greek World 4 credits (Fall and Spring)
A foundation for further study in the liberal arts, developing skills of critical reading, writing, and imaginative thinking through the study of selected works from ancient Greece. Readings include Homeric epic, tragic drama, Platonic dialogues, Thucydides’ History and Aristotle’s Poetics.
Prerequisite: None.
Instructor: Staff -
HUM 102 - Humanities II: Roman and Early Christian Culture 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
Major works of Roman and early Christian culture, exploring private and public paths to happiness from Cicero’s ideal commonwealth to the City of God. Readings include Virgil’s Aeneid, Stoic and Epicurean philosophy, satire and drama, Christian scripture, St. Augustine, and Boethius. Emphasis on close reading, discussion, and short essay assignments.
Prerequisite: None.
Instructor: Staff -
HUM 140 - Medieval and Renaissance Culture: 1100–1650 4 credits (Spring)
Cross-listed as: SST 140 . This interdisciplinary course explores European culture and the social and political forces that shaped it between 1100 and 1650, paying special attention to feudalism and the Crusades, the intellectual efflorescence of the 12th and 13th centuries, the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the advent of the Scientific Revolution. In our exploration of medieval and Renaissance culture we will draw on art, science, literature, political theory, philosophy and theology, music, the writings of mystics, and advice manuals for heads of households and would-be courtiers.
Prerequisite: None.
Instructor: Staff -
HUM 200 - Creative Careers: Learning from Alumni
See SST 200 .
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HUM 251 - Theoretical Approaches to Children’s and Young Adult Literature 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
Cross-listed as: GLS 251 . This course takes a theoretical approach to canonical and contemporary children’s literature. Content is variable, but may include The Young Adult Problem Novel, Dystopian Fiction for the Young Adult Reader, and Constructions of Race, Slavery, Class and Gender in Children’s and Young Adult Literature. For current course content please see the variable topic course listing below or search the online live schedule of courses.
Prerequisite: A course in English or another course in literature.
Note: Foreign language available in Russian or French.
Instructor: Staff
Humanities - Interdisciplinary
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HUM 350 - Freedom and Authority: The Control of Reproduction 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
Cross-listed as: SCI 350 and SST 350 . How do social, biological, and cultural constraints affect decisions about reproduction? How do social institutions set and enforce the boundaries of what is possible and permissible? How do practices of reproduction generate meaning for human existence? This seminar examines conflicts between the freedom of the individual to make decisions about reproduction and the internal and external authorities of biology, evolution, the family, the state, health care systems, criminal justice systems, and religious hierarchies.
Prerequisite: Third-year or senior standing and completion of a four-credit course at the 200 level or above creditable to a major in the division of registration.
Note: Not offered every year
Instructor: Staff
Special Topics-Fall
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HUM 295-01 - Special Topic: Politics of Human Thriving 2 credits (Fall)
Cross-listed as: SST 295-01 . What does it mean to live beyond mere existence–to thrive as a human being? This course, tied to the 2017-2018 Center for Humanities annual theme, the Politics of Human Thriving, will explore this question from a variety of perspectives. Topics throughout the year will include belongingness, sexual violence, race, gender, and the intersection of arts and activism. Students will read and discuss selections from visiting scholars and will attend related Human Center programming.
Prerequisite: None.
S/D/F only.
Instructor: Elfenbein -
HUM 295-02 - Special Topic: Mental Health Policy and Outreach 2 credits (Fall)
This course will examine specific issues in state and national mental health policy that are largely unknown or misunderstood by the public. We will learn how to use data analysis and digital humanities to prepare digital stories that are compelling and accessible for a general audience. Students will coordinate with Non-Profits to create materials such as brief videos, podcasts, and info-graphics, which can be disseminated through social media and traditional media outlets.
Prerequisite: Second-semester standing.
Note: Meets August 25 to October 13. 1/2 semester deadlines apply.
Instructor: Nyden -
HUM 295-03 - Special Topic: The Open Door: An Introduction to Arabic Literature 2 credits (Fall)
The course will use literature (in translation) to explore cultural, political and social developments in the modern/contemporary Arab world. We will read a collection of translated works from different Arab authors, examining issues such as identity, feminism, alienation, and encounters with the West.
Prerequisite: Second-year standing.
Note: Dates: August 28 to October 9. Short course deadlines apply. Plus-2 option available.
Instructor: Ramadan
Special Topics-Spring
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HUM 195-01 - Introductory Special Topic: Native American Performance: Playwrights + Mediamakers 4 credits (Spring)
See THD 195-01 .
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HUM 195-02 - Introductory Special Topic: The Cypher Paradigm: Hip Hop, Education, Praxis & Action
See SST 195-01 or MUS 195-01 .
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HUM 295-01 - Special Topic: Politics of Human Thriving 2 credits (Spring)
Cross-listed as: SST 295-01 . This 2017-2018 Humanities Center Seminar explores what it means to thrive—and who gets to decide—through a range of topics. In the fall this will include belonging and the intersection of race and sexual violence, and in the spring race, gender, and the intersection of the humanities and activism. Students will engage selections from visiting scholars and will attend related programming. The class meets irregularly throughout the semester based on the Center’s programming schedule.
Prerequisite: None.
S/D/F only
Instructor: Elfenbein -
HUM 295-02 - Special Topic: Intersections of Religion, Self, and Society 2 credits (Spring)
See REL 295-02 or SST 295-02 .
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HUM 295-03 - Special Topic: Journal PublishingL Building Community in the Prairie Region 4 credits (Spring)
Cross-listed as: SST 295-03 . This course will engage students as editors, publishers and entrepreneurs in creating an issue or Rootstalk, an interdisciplinary journal examining life and culture in the prairie region. The class will gather students, Grinnell visiting alumni, faculty and staff mentors to move the Spring 2018 issue from concept through publication. We will also be leveraging the journal as a tool for community-building as a form of activism. We’ll explore various outreach methods, as well as adapting some of the tools of anthropological research to our purposes. No experience in publishing or community action is required, and the course may be repeated for credit.
Prerequisite: Second-year standing.
Instructor: Andelson, Baechtel -
HUM 295-04 - Special Topic: The Season of Migration to the North: Encountering the “Other” 2 credits (Spring)
This course will use literature (in translation) to explore literary expression and critique of the politica and social developments in the modern/contemporary Arab world through encounters with the “Other” – cultural or geographical. We will be engaging with various texts written by Arab authors who try to pose and answer questions about identity and belonging through encountering the “Other”.
Prerequisite: Second-year standing.
Note: Dates: April 2 through May 17. 1/2 semester deadlines apply.
Instructor: Ramadan
Variable Topics- Spring
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HUM 251-01 - Theoretical Approaches to Children’s and Young Adult Literature 4 credits (Spring)
Cross-listed as: GLS 251-01 . In 2018, “Theoretical Approaches to Children’s and Young Adult Literature” will focus on American fantasy literature for children and teens, from A Wrinkle in Time and The Phantom Tollbooth to 21st-century successors. Particular attention will be paid to the hero’s journey and its relation to identity formation in these popular novels for young readers. Does the quest change when gender, ethnic, cultural, and sexual identities complicate the hero’s “call to adventure” and, if so, to what effect—for the child reader, society, and the genre?
Prerequisite: A course in English or another course in literature.
Instructor: Herold
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