BC 300: The Art of Human Experience

Overview

A society often reveals its values, beliefs, and uncertainties through its great works of art, literature, and music. By studying the humanities, we can understand more fully how people throughout history and in modern times have sought to understand themselves and the world around them. This course will explore how a variety of humanistic disciplines, including visual art, literature, music, and cinema provide a window into a society's attempt to address fundamental questions about life and the development of the individual self. You will learn techniques for studying and understanding works of different humanistic disciplines, and you will consider how a study of the humanities might be relevant to your own professional and personal pursuits.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Locate the defining characteristics of art, literature, music, and other humanistic disciplines within selected Western contexts.
• Discuss complex works of art through analysis of style, structure, and cultural context.
• Identify the similarities and differences among humanitarian disciplines that make up the interdisciplinary and holistic nature of life.
• Recognize parallel trends of development in literature, art, music, and selected works of popular culture.
• Participate in a discussion of past and present cultures and their works of art that acknowledges the plurality of traditions and perspectives.
• Build community through exposure to and discussion of historical human expression through comparison and contrast of the assumptions brought by the contemporary student.
• Analyze the connections between different themes, historical events, and works of art, not in isolation but as they relate to each other.
• Apply techniques of critical thinking, analysis, and research in exploring the ways in which the humanities both confront and reflect a culture and individual's conception of self.
• Learn how to use the Internet as a research tool that can expand and enhance a study of the humanities.

Required Texts
BC 300 texts are available from the JIU/MBS bookstore