HUMAN SCIENCES
Director G. Weiss
Columbian College of Arts and Sciences offers an interdisciplinary program leading to the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the field of human sciences. The program is administered by a committee whose members are drawn from cooperating departments and programs, which include American Studies, Anthropology, English, Fine Arts and Art History, German and Slavic Languages and Literatures, History, Philosophy, Political Science, Religion, Romance Languages and Literatures, and Women's Studies.
The program in the human sciences is part of the growing interdisciplinary trend that employs methods and principles common to the humanities and social sciences for examination of culture and meaning. Toward that end, first-year students take two interdisciplinary seminars and pursue inquiry in four core areas: language, meaning, and interpretation; historical issues in the human sciences; culture and society; techniques of critical reading. Along with human sciences courses given under these core titles, the program maintains a list of selected departmental courses that may be taken for each specific core area. In addition, each student pursues a specialization in one of the cooperating departments or in an area approved by the program.
General requirements for the degree are stated under Columbian College of Arts and Sciences. A Bachelor of Arts with a major in one of the cooperating disciplines or a related discipline is required for admission.
The program of study must include the following. (1) Two proseminar courses taken in the first year. (2) A first-year examination administered at the end of HmSc 202, with satisfactory performance necessary for continued enrollment in the program. (3) One designated core course in each of the four core areas. (4) Demonstrated advanced proficiency in one foreign language. (5) A General Comprehensive Examination that covers the core requirements and a Field Examination in the student's chosen concentration. (6) Oral evaluation of the dissertation proposal prior to advancement to candidacy for the Ph.D. (7) A satisfactory interdisciplinary dissertation. In addition to core courses, students pursue graduate course work for which they are qualified in any of the cooperating departments. Lists of applicable courses are available prior to registration each semester.
| 201 |
The Idea of the Human Sciences (3) |
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Critical inquiry into the genesis and structure of theories that seek to account for human creativity, meaning, and interpretation and their textual, cultural, and institutional embodiments, from antiquity to late modernity. |
| 202 |
Contemporary Theory in the Human Sciences (3) |
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Critical examination of major theoretical strategies employed by current practitioners of the human sciences. Topics may include phenomenology, hermeneutics, psychoanalytic theory, ethnography, deconstruction, feminist theory, postcolonialism, and critical race theory. |
| 203 |
Language, Meaning, and Interpretation (3) |
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Focus on language within a wide domain of inquiry that includes linguistics, semiotics, hermeneutics, narratology, speech act theory, language games, orality, writing, and gender, race, and class. |
| 204 |
Historical Issues in the Human Sciences (3) |
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Theoretical examination of history and the nature of historical knowledge. Topics may include philosophies and theories of history, eschatology, pre- and post-colonialisms and modernities, and national histories and mythologies. |
| 205 |
Culture and Society (3) |
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Critical examination of cultural practices and social institutions from an interpretive perspective. Selected readings in cultural theory and cultural studies. |
| 206 |
Techniques of Critical Reading (3) |
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Critical reading of one or more texts, utilizing the theoretical strategies of the human sciences. For purposes of this course, texts may include any human artifacts or constructions that are invested with meaning. |
| 295 |
Directed Reading and Research (3) |
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Supervised reading in selected fields within the human sciences. May be repeated once for credit. |
| 297 |
Special Topics in Human Sciences (3) |
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Open to master's and doctoral students. May be repeated for credit provided the topic differs. |
| 310 |
Advanced Seminar in Human Sciences (3) |
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Advanced topics, theories, and methods in different fields of the human sciences. Limited to doctoral candidates preparing to do their dissertation. May be repeated for credit provided the topic differs. |
| 398 |
Advanced Reading and Research (arr.) |
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Limited to students preparing for the Doctor of Philosophy general examination. May be repeated for credit. |
| 399 |
Dissertation Research (arr.) |
Staff |
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Limited to Doctor of Philosophy candidates. May be repeated for credit. |
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