Topics in Cultural History

Catalog description

This course is an introductory course on relationships between history and culture. Emphases vary whenever the course is taught. Generally, it covers three interrelated areas: (a) the history of the concept of culture and cultural practices, (b) cultural history, and (c) trans-disciplinary cultural studies. The course focuses upon signification in history, which may involve arts and aesthetics, symbols and signs, language and writing, customs and traditions, and various manifestations of culture in realms such as performances, architecture, cuisine, and apparel. The course makes connections between the place of culture in historical studies and other disciplines in the social sciences and humanities. Instructors may choose to introduce students to both conceptually-oriented readings and studies of particular manifestations of culture in various times and places across history and the globe. Offered Alternate Years.