Humanities

The Humanities comprise the study of subjects that are fundamental to understanding the human experience. How do we grapple with reality and give meaning to our existence? What lessons can be learned from the past? What are our values and beliefs? What are our dreams and fears? How do we communicate these feelings and ideas?

The Humanities department at UCU offers courses in History, Philosophy, Languages, Literature, Classics, Religious Studies, Art History/Museum Studies and Performing Arts. Students gain insight into the different ways humankind throughout the ages has tried to come to terms with the nature and meaning of its existence. They acquire the basic skills of humanistic scholarship, such as critical reading, analysis, and interpretation of sources within the relevant cultural historical context.

The Humanities curriculum creates unique opportunities for students who wish to design an academic program that fruitfully links different fields of study. History, for example, is a must for any serious student of Politics or Law, as it puts their theory and application into context. The Art History/Museum Studies program combines well with Social Science courses in Anthropology and Human Geography, but also with Biology or Chemistry, if the student has a particular interest in the History of Science and/or Conservation Chemistry. The Linguistics program offers a Psycholinguistics course that uses paradigms from Psychology for studying linguistics phenomena. Students interested in Chinese language and culture can do a minor in China Studies that includes a semester abroad at Xiamen University in China. And to complement the more rational realms of human activities, courses in the Performing arts offer ample opportunities to ‘re-unite the hands, the heart and the head’.