Humanities (HUMN)
HUMN 1 • CULTURES, CIVILIZATIONS & IDEAS: THE ANCIENT WORLD
| Units: | 4 |
|---|---|
| Hours: | 4 lecture per week (48 total per quarter) |
| Advisory: | One of the following: ENGL 1A or ENGL 1AH or ESLL 26; not open to students with credit in HUMN 1A or HUMN 1H. |
| Degree and Credit Status: | Degree-Applicable Credit Course |
| Foothill GE: | Area I: Humanities |
| Transferable: | CSU/UC |
| Grade Type: | Letter Grade (Request for Pass/No Pass) |
| Repeatability: | Not Repeatable |
An interdisciplinary and thematic approach to the history of human culture and ideas. Major eras covered include Mesopotamia, Egypt, China's Han and Tang Dynasties, India's Gupta Empire, Japan's Nara period, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, and the flowering of world religions. Class discussions, projects, and lectures address the development of worldviews, moral and ethical values, and the arts in civilizations across the globe and throughout time.
HUMN 1H • HONORS CULTURES, CIVILIZATIONS & IDEAS: THE ANCIENT WORLD
| Units: | 4 |
|---|---|
| Hours: | 4 lecture per week (48 total per quarter) |
| Advisory: | One of the following: ENGL 1A or ENGL 1AH or ESLL 26; not open to students with credit in HUMN 1 or 1A. |
| Degree and Credit Status: | Degree-Applicable Credit Course |
| Foothill GE: | Area I: Humanities |
| Transferable: | CSU/UC |
| Grade Type: | Letter Grade (Request for Pass/No Pass) |
| Repeatability: | Not Repeatable |
An interdisciplinary and thematic approach to the history of human culture and ideas. Major areas covered include Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, China's Han and Tang Dynasties, India's Indus Valley Civilization, the Olmec Civilization of Meso-America, Ancient Greece, and Ancient Rome, as well as the flowering of world religions. As an honors course, this is a full seminar with advanced teaching methods focusing on major writing, reading, and research assignments, student class presentations, group discussions and interactions.
HUMN 2 • CULTURES, CIVILIZATIONS & IDEAS: OF EMPIRES & CONFLICT
| Units: | 4 |
|---|---|
| Hours: | 4 lecture per week (48 total per quarter) |
| Advisory: | One of the following: ENGL 1A or ENGL 1AH or ESLL 26; not open to students with credit in HUMN 1B. |
| Degree and Credit Status: | Degree-Applicable Credit Course |
| Foothill GE: | Area I: Humanities |
| Transferable: | CSU/UC |
| Grade Type: | Letter Grade (Request for Pass/No Pass) |
| Repeatability: | Not Repeatable |
An interdisciplinary and thematic approach to the history of human culture and ideas. Major eras covered include India's Pala Empire; China's Song and Ming Dynasty; the Mongol Empire; Japan's Muromachi period; culture, people and empires of North, Central and South America; the Islamic Golden Age; and the European Middle Ages. Class discussions, projects and lectures address the development of worldviews, moral and ethical values and the arts in civilizations across the globe and throughout time.
HUMN 3 • WORLD MYTHS IN LITERATURE ARTS & FILM
| Units: | 4 |
|---|---|
| Hours: | 4 lecture per week (48 total per quarter) |
| Advisory: | One of the following: ENGL 1A or ENGL 1AH or ESLL 26 strongly recommended; not open to students with credit in HUMN 3H. |
| Degree and Credit Status: | Degree-Applicable Credit Course |
| Foothill GE: | Area I: Humanities |
| Transferable: | CSU/UC |
| Grade Type: | Letter Grade Only |
| Repeatability: | Not Repeatable |
An in-depth study of myths and legends, including, but not limited to, those from ancient Mesopotamia, classical Greece and Rome, Asia, India, Africa, Europe, and the indigenous Americas, and their adaptation in literature, art and film. The course traces both the function and influence of myths from diverse cultural contexts on our understanding of the past and our experience of modern/popular culture.
HUMN 3H • HONORS WORLD MYTHS IN LITERATURE ARTS & FILM
| Units: | 4 |
|---|---|
| Hours: | 4 lecture per week (48 total per quarter) |
| Advisory: | One of the following: ENGL 1A or ENGL 1AH or ESLL 26 strongly recommended; not open to students with credit in HUMN 3. |
| Degree and Credit Status: | Degree-Applicable Credit Course |
| Foothill GE: | Area I: Humanities |
| Transferable: | CSU/UC |
| Grade Type: | Letter Grade Only |
| Repeatability: | Not Repeatable |
An in-depth study of myths and legends, including, but not limited to, those from ancient Mesopotamia, classical Greece and Rome, Asia, India, Africa, Europe, and the indigenous Americas, and their adaptation in literature, art and film. The course traces both the function and influence of myths from diverse cultural contexts on our understanding of the past and our experience of modern/popular culture. As an honors course, it is a full seminar with advanced teaching methods focusing on major writing, reading and research assignments, student class presentations, group discussions and interactions.
HUMN 4 • TRAUMA & THE ARTS
| Units: | 4 |
|---|---|
| Hours: | 4 lecture per week (48 total per quarter) |
| Advisory: | One of the following: ENGL 1A or ENGL 1AH or ESLL 26 strongly recommended; not open to students with credit in HUMN 4H. |
| Degree and Credit Status: | Degree-Applicable Credit Course |
| Foothill GE: | Area I: Humanities |
| Transferable: | CSU/UC |
| Grade Type: | Letter Grade Only |
| Repeatability: | Not Repeatable |
This course applies theories of trauma to representations of trauma and violence in the visual arts, literature, film, and music, with an emphasis on the transformative potential of the creative process. Topics include the representation of war, genocide, and racism. Students will gain acuity to identify, understand, empathize, and respond to traumatic subjectivity, its images, and artistic as well as social intent.
HUMN 4H • HONORS TRAUMA & THE ARTS
| Units: | 4 |
|---|---|
| Hours: | 4 lecture per week (48 total per quarter) |
| Advisory: | One of the following: ENGL 1A or ENGL 1AH or ESLL 26 strongly recommended; not open to students with credit in HUMN 4. |
| Degree and Credit Status: | Degree-Applicable Credit Course |
| Foothill GE: | Area I: Humanities |
| Transferable: | CSU/UC |
| Grade Type: | Letter Grade Only |
| Repeatability: | Not Repeatable |
This course applies theories of trauma to representations of trauma and violence in the visual arts, literature, film, and music, with an emphasis on the transformative potential of the creative process. Topics include the representation of war, genocide, and racism. Students will gain acuity to identify, understand, empathize, and respond to traumatic subjectivity, its images, and artistic as well as social intent. As an honors course, it is a full seminar with advanced teaching methods focusing on major writing, reading, and research assignments, student class presentations, group discussions and interactions.
HUMN 5 • CULTURES, CIVILIZATIONS & IDEAS: THE MODERN WORLD
| Units: | 4 |
|---|---|
| Hours: | 4 lecture per week (48 total per quarter) |
| Advisory: | One of the following: ENGL 1A or ENGL 1AH or ESLL 26; not open to students with credit in HUMN 5H. |
| Degree and Credit Status: | Degree-Applicable Credit Course |
| Foothill GE: | Area I: Humanities |
| Transferable: | CSU/UC |
| Grade Type: | Letter Grade (Request for Pass/No Pass) |
| Repeatability: | Not Repeatable |
An interdisciplinary and thematic approach to the history of human culture and ideas. Major eras covered include the Renaissance, the Age of Encounters, the Enlightenment, the Romantic period, the Industrial Revolution and the dark legacy of colonialism. Class discussions, projects and lectures address the development of worldviews, moral and ethical values and the arts in civilizations across the globe and throughout time.
HUMN 5H • HONORS CULTURES, CIVILIZATIONS & IDEAS: THE MODERN WORLD
| Units: | 4 |
|---|---|
| Hours: | 4 lecture per week (48 total per quarter) |
| Advisory: | One of the following: ENGL 1A or ENGL 1AH or ESLL 26; not open to students with credit in HUMN 5. |
| Degree and Credit Status: | Degree-Applicable Credit Course |
| Foothill GE: | Area I: Humanities |
| Transferable: | CSU/UC |
| Grade Type: | Letter Grade (Request for Pass/No Pass) |
| Repeatability: | Not Repeatable |
An interdisciplinary and thematic approach to the history of human culture and ideas. Major eras covered include China's Qing Dynasty, the people and Empires of North, South and Central America, the Renaissance, the Age of Encounters, the Enlightenment, the Ottoman Empire, the Romantic Period and the Industrial Revolution. As an honors course, this is a full seminar with advanced teaching methods focusing on major writing, reading and research assignments, student class presentations, group discussions and interactions.
HUMN 6 • THE SHOCK OF THE NEW: FROM THE MODERN TO THE CONTEMPORARY
| Units: | 4 |
|---|---|
| Hours: | 4 lecture per week (48 total per quarter) |
| Advisory: | One of the following: ENGL 1A or ENGL 1AH or ESLL 26. |
| Degree and Credit Status: | Degree-Applicable Credit Course |
| Foothill GE: | Area I: Humanities |
| Transferable: | CSU/UC |
| Grade Type: | Letter Grade (Request for Pass/No Pass) |
| Repeatability: | Not Repeatable |
An interdisciplinary and thematic approach to the history of human culture and ideas. Major eras covered include: Modernity (from cubism and expressionism to jazz and film), the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, the Atomic Age, Post-Colonialism (India, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East), Post-Modernity, and the Digital Age. Class discussions, projects, and lectures address the development of worldviews, moral and ethical values, and the arts in Asia, Europe, the Americas, and Africa throughout the 20th century and beyond.
HUMN 7 • GLOBAL RELIGIONS: CONTEMPORARY PRACTICES & PERSPECTIVES
| Units: | 4 |
|---|---|
| Hours: | 4 lecture per week (48 total per quarter) |
| Advisory: | One of the following: ENGL 1A or ENGL 1AH or ESLL 26; not open to students with credit in HUMN 7H. |
| Degree and Credit Status: | Degree-Applicable Credit Course |
| Foothill GE: | Area I: Humanities |
| Transferable: | CSU/UC |
| Grade Type: | Letter Grade (Request for Pass/No Pass) |
| Repeatability: | Not Repeatable |
Interdisciplinary course that explores how religions shape our understanding of diverse topics such as human rights, war, peace, globalization and science as well as music, sport, humor, film and the visual arts. Course eschews a focus on a specific tradition (e.g., Western or Eastern religions), and instead examines the inter-relationship between religion and human meaning creation through the specific lenses of ethics, aesthetics and politics.
HUMN 7H • HONORS GLOBAL RELIGIONS: CONTEMPORARY PRACTICES & PERSPECTIVES
| Units: | 4 |
|---|---|
| Hours: | 4 lecture per week (48 total per quarter) |
| Advisory: | One of the following: ENGL 1A or ENGL 1AH or ESLL 26; not open to students with credit in HUMN 7. |
| Degree and Credit Status: | Degree-Applicable Credit Course |
| Foothill GE: | Area I: Humanities |
| Transferable: | CSU/UC |
| Grade Type: | Letter Grade Only |
| Repeatability: | Not Repeatable |
Interdisciplinary course that explores how religions shape our understanding of diverse topics, such as human rights, war, peace, globalization, and science, as well as music, sport, humor, film, and the visual arts. Course eschews a focus on a specific tradition (e.g., Western or Eastern religions), and instead examines the inter-relationship between religion and human meaning creation through the specific lenses of ethics, aesthetics, and politics. As an honors course, it is a full seminar with advanced teaching methods focusing on major writing, reading, and research assignments, student class presentations, group discussions and interactions.
HUMN 8 • EX MACHINA: THE PARADOX OF BEING HUMAN IN THE DIGITAL AGE
| Units: | 4 |
|---|---|
| Hours: | 4 lecture per week (48 total per quarter) |
| Advisory: | Demonstrated proficiency in English by placement via multiple measures OR through an equivalent placement process OR completion of ESLL 125 & ESLL 249; not open to students with credit in HUMN 58. |
| Degree and Credit Status: | Degree-Applicable Credit Course |
| Foothill GE: | Area I: Humanities |
| Transferable: | CSU/UC |
| Grade Type: | Letter Grade (Request for Pass/No Pass) |
| Repeatability: | Not Repeatable |
| Formerly: | HUMN 58 |
An inquiry into reality and human culture as a co-construct between technology and art. Through the study of film, video games and other cultural products, the course traces how social media and artificial intelligence challenge our understanding of what it means to be human and how social engagement in the digital age is altered by the acceleration of time and the collapse of space.
HUMN 9 • ONCE UPON A TIME? THE IMMORTAL LURE OF FAIRY TALES
| Units: | 4 |
|---|---|
| Hours: | 4 lecture per week (48 total per quarter) |
| Advisory: | One of the following: ENGL 1A or ENGL 1AH or ESLL 26 strongly recommended. |
| Degree and Credit Status: | Degree-Applicable Credit Course |
| Foothill GE: | Area I: Humanities |
| Transferable: | CSU/UC |
| Grade Type: | Letter Grade Only |
| Repeatability: | Not Repeatable |
Interdisciplinary exploration of the origins, structure and function of fairy tales and their enduring influence on contemporary art, film, and gaming. Examines how the fairy tale and its multi-cultural variants dynamically give voice to the universally shared human experience. Interdisciplinary strategies are employed to trace the impact of fairy tales on science fiction, fantasy, dystopia, and horror.
HUMN 10 • ON THE MOVE: THE IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE IN LITERATURE, FILM & MULTIMEDIA
| Units: | 4 |
|---|---|
| Hours: | 4 lecture per week (48 total per quarter) |
| Advisory: | One of the following strongly recommended: ENGL 1A or ENGL 1AH or ESLL 26. |
| Degree and Credit Status: | Degree-Applicable Credit Course |
| Foothill GE: | Area I: Humanities |
| Transferable: | CSU/UC |
| Grade Type: | Letter Grade (Request for Pass/No Pass) |
| Repeatability: | Not Repeatable |
Interdisciplinary exploration of artistic expressions that frame human displacement to understand the cultural, social and political aspects of global migration and immigration. The course analyzes literature, music, film, examples from the digital and graphic arts, multimedia journalism and podcasts that contextualize the responses, values and resilience in the face of humanitarian crises.
HUMN 11 • INTRODUCTION TO POPULAR CULTURE
| Units: | 4 |
|---|---|
| Hours: | 4 lecture, 1 laboratory per week (60 total per quarter) |
| Advisory: | Demonstrated proficiency in English by placement via multiple measures OR through an equivalent placement process OR completion of ESLL 125 & ESLL 249; not open to students with credit in F A 1, HUMN 11H, MDIA 11 or MDIA 11H. |
| Degree and Credit Status: | Degree-Applicable Credit Course |
| Foothill GE: | Area I: Humanities |
| Transferable: | CSU/UC |
| Grade Type: | Letter Grade (Request for Pass/No Pass) |
| Repeatability: | Not Repeatable |
| Cross-Listed: | MDIA 11 |
Overview, history and critical analysis of popular culture as a window for understanding American society. Theories and methods of analyzing artifacts of popular culture. Overarching themes: history/social theories of popular culture; popular culture as a product of American multiculturalism; the relationship between a commodity culture and intellect/artistry; philosophical/ethical issues surrounding popular culture.
HUMN 11H • HONORS INTRODUCTION TO POPULAR CULTURE
| Units: | 4 |
|---|---|
| Hours: | 4 lecture, 1 laboratory per week (60 total per quarter) |
| Advisory: | Demonstrated proficiency in English by placement via multiple measures OR through an equivalent placement process OR completion of ESLL 125 & ESLL 249; not open to students with credit in F A 1, HUMN 11, MDIA 11 or MDIA 11H. |
| Degree and Credit Status: | Degree-Applicable Credit Course |
| Foothill GE: | Area I: Humanities |
| Transferable: | CSU/UC |
| Grade Type: | Letter Grade (Request for Pass/No Pass) |
| Repeatability: | Not Repeatable |
| Cross-Listed: | MDIA 11H |
Overview, history and critical analysis of popular culture as a window for understanding American society. Theories and methods of analyzing artifacts of popular culture. Overarching themes: history/social theories of popular culture; popular culture as a product of American multiculturalism; the relationship between a commodity culture and intellect/artistry; philosophical/ethical issues surrounding popular culture. The honors section offers deeper theoretical content, assignments that require more sophisticated cognition/critical thinking, more rigorous assessment, and an additional summative project.
HUMN 12 • POPULAR CULTURE & UNITED STATES HISTORY
| Units: | 4 |
|---|---|
| Hours: | 4 lecture, 1 laboratory per week (60 total per quarter) |
| Advisory: | Demonstrated proficiency in English by placement via multiple measures OR through an equivalent placement process OR completion of ESLL 125 & ESLL 249; not open to students with credit in F A 2 or MDIA 12. |
| Degree and Credit Status: | Degree-Applicable Credit Course |
| Foothill GE: | Area VI: United States Cultures & Communities |
| Transferable: | CSU/UC |
| Grade Type: | Letter Grade (Request for Pass/No Pass) |
| Repeatability: | Not Repeatable |
| Cross-Listed: | MDIA 12 |
Interdisciplinary overview of popular culture as a window for understanding American history and society. Theories and methods of analyzing the artifacts of popular culture. Overarching themes: 1) the interpretation of American history via popular culture media; 2) interaction between American historical events and trends, and popular culture.
HUMN 13 • VIDEO GAMES & POPULAR CULTURE
| Units: | 4 |
|---|---|
| Hours: | 4 lecture, 1 laboratory per week (60 total per quarter) |
| Advisory: | Not open to students with credit in MDIA 13 or MUS 11F. |
| Degree and Credit Status: | Degree-Applicable Credit Course |
| Foothill GE: | Area I: Humanities |
| Transferable: | CSU/UC |
| Grade Type: | Letter Grade (Request for Pass/No Pass) |
| Repeatability: | Not Repeatable |
| Cross-Listed: | MDIA 13 |
The impact of game design and game technology on popular culture. Topics will include early history including the early hardware and software designers that emerged after World War II, the rise of the video game entrepreneurs and the resulting multi-billion dollar arcade industry, eight generations of home video game console inventors from the Magnavox Odyssey through the present day, the impact of the home computer on video games, the evolution of the handheld game console from early LCD games through the smart phone, online gaming from the first text-based games built by hobbyists through the current massively multi-player online role-playing games, and the validation of video games as an art form as evidenced by their addition to the collections of prominent institutions such as the Smithsonian and MoMA. For each historical era, the influence of video games on popular culture will be demonstrated through film, television, print, and music.
HUMN 14 • THE ART OF PEACE: NARRATIVE REPRESENTATIONS OF PACIFISM
| Units: | 4 |
|---|---|
| Hours: | 4 lecture per week (48 total per quarter) |
| Advisory: | One of the following strongly recommended: ENGL 1A or ENGL 1AH or ESLL 26. |
| Degree and Credit Status: | Degree-Applicable Credit Course |
| Foothill GE: | Area I: Humanities |
| Transferable: | CSU/UC |
| Grade Type: | Letter Grade (Request for Pass/No Pass) |
| Repeatability: | Not Repeatable |
When conflict is assumed as necessary to storytelling, how does art conceptualize peaceful revolution and resistance to war? Through the examination of literature, film, performance art, and video games, this course examines the representation of non-violent movements in the popular imagination. Via the lens of major debates in peace studies, the course traces how race, ethnicity, and class disrupt the traditional narratives of war and peace.