cultural encounters i humanities 101 fall 2015. why liberal arts?

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CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS I Humanities 101 Fall 2015

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Page 1: CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS I Humanities 101 Fall 2015. Why Liberal Arts?

CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS I

Humanities 101Fall 2015

Page 2: CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS I Humanities 101 Fall 2015. Why Liberal Arts?

Why Liberal Arts?

Page 3: CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS I Humanities 101 Fall 2015. Why Liberal Arts?

Artes Liberales

Page 4: CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS I Humanities 101 Fall 2015. Why Liberal Arts?

Quadrivium

Arithmetic

Geometry

Astronomy

Music theory

Trivium Grammar

LogicRhetoric

Artes Liberales

Page 5: CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS I Humanities 101 Fall 2015. Why Liberal Arts?

Middle Ages

The seven liberal arts were adapted to a program of basic Christian

education. Scholarship focusing on the human and art declined. Critical

thought was often restricted.

Page 6: CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS I Humanities 101 Fall 2015. Why Liberal Arts?

Renaissance

An important distinction was made between the Humanities and theological discourse.

Revival of classical literature as the source of humanism.

Page 7: CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS I Humanities 101 Fall 2015. Why Liberal Arts?

The Enlightenment

Humanities and the natural sciences as complementary and not

contradictory disciplines.

Page 8: CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS I Humanities 101 Fall 2015. Why Liberal Arts?

Nineteenth and Twentieth Century

Influence of the natural sciences gained prestige

Page 9: CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS I Humanities 101 Fall 2015. Why Liberal Arts?

Disciplinary Areas of the Humanities

• English and American Studies

• Middle Eastern and African Studies

• East and South Asian Studies• European Studies

• Cultural Studies

• Linguistics

• Other Languages and Literatures

• Philosophy

• History and Philosophy of Science

• History of Ideas

• History

• Classics and Ancient History

• Archeology

• History of Art, Architecture, Design

• Law

• Theology and Religious Studies

• Communication and Media Studies• Music and History of Music

• Film Studies

• Drama and Theatre Studies

• Studies of other Performing Arts

Page 10: CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS I Humanities 101 Fall 2015. Why Liberal Arts?

The Flood Tablet, relating part of the Epic of GilgameshFrom Nineveh, northern Iraq, Neo-Assyrian, 7th century BC

Page 11: CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS I Humanities 101 Fall 2015. Why Liberal Arts?

Paleolithic cave paintings of the Lascaux Cave in France, ca. 17,000 B.C.

Page 12: CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS I Humanities 101 Fall 2015. Why Liberal Arts?

Lascaux 17,000 B.C.

Page 13: CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS I Humanities 101 Fall 2015. Why Liberal Arts?

Göbekli Tepe, ca. 10,000 B.C.

Page 14: CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS I Humanities 101 Fall 2015. Why Liberal Arts?

Achilles and Hector

Greek Vase, ca. 490 B.C.

Page 15: CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS I Humanities 101 Fall 2015. Why Liberal Arts?

Studying Humanities Today: Fetishism of the Present as an Endpoint

1991, history ends with “liberal democracy”

-Taking today’s political system as natural, not historical - Abolition of (the sense of) history- No alternative, what we have is permanent

- Also, it is absolutely new and unique

Page 16: CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS I Humanities 101 Fall 2015. Why Liberal Arts?

Fetishism of the Present as the only “viable” economy

Page 17: CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS I Humanities 101 Fall 2015. Why Liberal Arts?

Fetishism of the New as embodied by technology (mostly)

Apple CEO Tim Cook introducing iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus and the new Apple TV in California on Sep. 9, 2015

Page 18: CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS I Humanities 101 Fall 2015. Why Liberal Arts?

Apple Cube (store) on the 5th Avenue, New York

Fetishism of the New as created and satisfied by commodities

What is the promise of each new iPhone?A new life, a new look, a new style? A new “prosthesis” transforming the whole self?

Does this ever really happen through smart-phones?What makes them camp outsidethe Cube? (just new applications?)

Page 19: CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS I Humanities 101 Fall 2015. Why Liberal Arts?

HUM101: Why read texts from 2000 BCE through 1400 CE?

35BCE

Despite our fascination with our present moment as an endpoint and with the new as represented by commodities, de te fabula narratursuggests- A deep connection across ages and spaces of the world - A much broader and longer story of humans, human social existence - Recurring clashes, preoccupations, and deep-seated structures in human history and societies - Continuity with difference; history hasn’t ended, major human questions are still with us: Justice, equality, freedom, ethical living, autonomy, relation to nature and so on

Page 20: CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS I Humanities 101 Fall 2015. Why Liberal Arts?

What is representation?

Page 21: CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS I Humanities 101 Fall 2015. Why Liberal Arts?

Definition one: a representation is “a likeness, picture, model, or other reproduction”

Definition two: a representation is “(1): an image or idea formed by the mind (2): an idea that is the direct object of thought and the mental counterpart . . . of the object [or referent] known by means of it”

(Merriam-Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary).

What is representation?

Page 22: CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS I Humanities 101 Fall 2015. Why Liberal Arts?

What is representation?

“superhuman strength,” “masculinity,” “virility,” “dominance,” “awe,” “admiration,” etc.

Representation is twofold: it involves (1) mental imagery and (2) their psychological associations. For example:

(1)possible pictorial image of Gilgamesh, as imagined:

(2) possible associated properties:

Page 23: CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS I Humanities 101 Fall 2015. Why Liberal Arts?

What is representation?

“strength,”“weakness,” “hierarchy,”“in-group/out-group,” “speed,” “social dominance,”“social submission,” etc.

Representing a text recruits your own encoded memories from experience (your background knowledge about the world). E.g.,

(2) from play, we learn about:

(1)playing embodies a sense of ourselves and others.

Page 24: CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS I Humanities 101 Fall 2015. Why Liberal Arts?

What is representation?

Page 25: CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS I Humanities 101 Fall 2015. Why Liberal Arts?

This is representation

Page 26: CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS I Humanities 101 Fall 2015. Why Liberal Arts?

And this is representation

Old myths, old gods, old heroes have never died. They are only sleeping at the bottom of our mind, waiting for our call. We have need for them. They represent the wisdom of our race. –Stanley Kunitz

Page 27: CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS I Humanities 101 Fall 2015. Why Liberal Arts?

Epic Narrative, Modern History

Romare Bearden, “Home to Ithaca” (detail), 1977

Page 28: CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS I Humanities 101 Fall 2015. Why Liberal Arts?

John William Waterhouse, “Ulysses and the Sirens” (1891)

Page 29: CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS I Humanities 101 Fall 2015. Why Liberal Arts?

Romare Bearden, detail, “Siren’s Song” (1977)“Odysseus and the Sirens,” 340 BCE

Page 30: CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS I Humanities 101 Fall 2015. Why Liberal Arts?

Romare Bearden, “Siren’s Song” (1977)