HUMAN 1A-B-C Humanities Core Course 2006-2007

Associations/Dissociations: The Social Instinct and Its Consequences

The Humanities Core Course introduces students to the methods and objectives
of humanistic inquiry by example and practice. In lectures, faculty from a wide range of disciplines will exemplify the ways in which humanists approach issues from three general perspectives: philosophical, historical, and cultural. In small discussion sections, students will put those perspectives into practice in their own writing and in classroom
conversations and debates designed to engage each student intellectually in the examination of the various canonized forms of human association that are this year’s topic.

The current cycle of Humanities Core Course, “Associations/Dissociations: The Social Instinct and its Consequences,” will focus on certain standard forms of human association that have organized and classified us, directed our endeavors, and formed the broad basis for our self-understanding(s). In the Fall Quarter, we will address Family and State, investigating these categories both individually and in their interactions. To this end, we will study Sophocles and Shakespeare; Locke; accounts of found children, runaways, and tribal captives; and histories of state regulation and fostering of families. Winter’s theme is Nation and Empire, and this quarter’s curriculum explores the notion of nation, as modified and extended by imperialist “associations.” Texts include literary and historical documents of the US imperialist debates, and of the colonial experience under the British empire. A final unit on political theory and ethics will investigate the philosophical foundations for national and imperialist transactions. Spring Quarter focuses on Globalization and Society, conceiving the former category not just in terms of trade and technology, but also as the spread of religion. We will follow missionaries and study the converts and their stories, as well as the hybrid architectures that resulted from conquest and the globalization of Christianity. We will, then, study the cosmovision of the Aztecs and the imposition of the Spanish religion and culture, as a new society would emerge in what would become Mexico. We will conclude the year, by scrutinizing inter-species communication in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Throughout the year, students will write carefully planned essays on the course material and will build their research skills through a series of targeted tutorials. The final assignment will be an independent research paper.

FORMER STUDENTS SPEAK ABOUT CORE (high-speed connection recommended)
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