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This is an archived copy of the 2022-2023 catalog. To access the most recent version of the catalog, please visit http://calendar.carleton.ca.

College of the Humanities
(Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences)

Humanities (HUMS) Courses

HUMS 1000 [1.0 credit]
Myth and Symbol

Recurring symbols in myth, epic and ritual representing the relation between the sacred and the profane, the origin of the cosmos, the basis of community, and formative human experiences. Primary sources drawn from ancient India and China, Mesopotamia, the Hebrew Bible, and Indigenous cultures.
Prerequisite(s): restricted to students in the Bachelor of Humanities program.
Lectures three hours a week and tutorials one and a half hours a week.

HUMS 1005 [0.5 credit]
Early Human Cultures

Cultural experiences of small scale societies, including kinship, rituals, magic, social structure, and subsistence. Reading may include the works of classic anthropologists such as Maine, Tylor, Morgan, and Boas.
Precludes additional credit for ANTH 1001 and ANTH 1003.
Prerequisite(s): restricted to students in the Bachelor of Humanities program.
Lectures three hours a week.

HUMS 1200 [0.5 credit]
Humanities and Classical Civilisation

The ideas which animated ancient Greek and Roman civilisation and which influenced later western cultural movements through a reading of literary, historical, and philosophical works. Authors include Homer, Herodotus, Thucydides, the Greek Tragedians, Plato, Vergil, and Cicero.
Prerequisite(s): restricted to students in the Bachelor of Humanities program.
Lecture three hours a week.

HUMS 1500 [0.5 credit]
Introduction to the Humanities: Five Books that Changed the World

A reading-intensive course on five influential books from Antiquity to the present day. Works may include the Bible, the Bhagavad Gita, Homer’s Odyssey, Plato’s Republic, Dante’s Inferno, Machiavelli’s The Prince, Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil, Marx’s Communist Manifesto.
Prerequisite(s): enrolment in a degree program in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, or the Faculty of Public Affairs. Students enrolled in the BHum. program are not eligible to register in this course.
Lecture three hours per week.

HUMS 2000 [1.0 credit]
Reason and Revelation

The origins of philosophy in ancient Greece and its pursuit in the medieval West, with special attention to knowledge, happiness, and love. Readings include works by Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, Augustine, Boethius, Aquinas, and Dante.
Prerequisite(s): HUMS 1000 and enrolment in the Bachelor of Humanities program.
Lectures three hours a week and tutorials one and a half hours a week.

HUMS 2101 [0.5 credit]
Art from Antiquity to the Medieval World

A chronological and thematic survey of the Arts from the earliest times to ca. 1400.
Precludes additional credit for HUMS 4101 (no longer offered).
Prerequisite(s): restricted to students in the Bachelor of Humanities program.
Lecture three hours a week.

HUMS 2102 [0.5 credit]
Modern European Art 1527-2000

A chronological and thematic survey of the Arts from the sixteenth to the twenty-first century.
Precludes additional credit for HUMS 4101 (no longer offered) and HUMS 3101 (no longer offered).
Prerequisite(s): HUMS 2101 and restricted to students in the Bachelor of Humanities program.
Lectures three hours a week.

HUMS 3000 [1.0 credit]
Culture and Imagination

Major forms of literary, artistic, and philosophical expression from 1500-1800. Sources drawn from renaissance humanism, reformation theology, enlightenment and romantic philosophy.
Prerequisite(s): HUMS 2000 and enrolment in the Bachelor of Humanities program.
Lectures three hours a week and tutorials one and a half hours a week.

HUMS 3102 [0.5 credit]
Western Music 1000-1850

Introduction to basic theory, harmony, history and interpretation of Western music including the Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical and early Romantic periods.
Includes: Experiential Learning Activity
Precludes additional credit for HUMS 4102 (no longer offered).
Prerequisite(s): restricted to students in the Bachelor of Humanities program.
Lectures three hours a week.

HUMS 3103 [0.5 credit]
Western Music 1850-2000

Western music from the mid-nineteenth century to the present with emphasis on the seminal contributions of Liszt, Wagner, Mahler, Debussy, Stravinsky, Schönberg and others.
Includes: Experiential Learning Activity
Precludes additional credit for HUMS 4102 (no longer offered).
Prerequisite(s): HUMS 3102 and restricted to students in the Bachelor of Humanities program.
Lecture three hours a week.

HUMS 3200 [1.0 credit]
European Literature

Major movements and works from Dante's Divine Comedy through Voltaire's Candide. Themes include the New Humanism vs. old Chivalry in the Renaissance and Baroque periods; the rise of the modern novel and drama; reason, nature, and the Enlightenment project.
Also listed as ENGL 3201.
Prerequisite(s): HUMS 2000 and third-year standing in the Bachelor of Humanities program. English students should have third-year standing with a GPA of B or above.
Lectures three hours a week.

HUMS 3500 [0.5 credit]
Ancient and Medieval Intellectual History

Examination of some of the major philosophical, religious, political, artistic, and/or literary ideas, works, and movements from Archaic Greece to the High Middle Ages.
Prerequisite(s): third-year standing in the Bachelor of Humanities program, or permission of the instructor.
Lectures three hours a week.

HUMS 3550 [0.5 credit]
Renaissance and Early Modern Intellectual History

Examination of some of the major philosophical, religious, political, artistic, and/or literary ideas, works, and movements from the Early Renaissance to 1800.
Prerequisite(s): third-year standing in the Bachelor of Humanities program, or permission of the instructor.
Lectures three hours a week.

HUMS 3800 [0.5 credit]
Humanities in Context

Designed for students studying humanities, this travel course explores art, literature, politics, philosophy, architecture, religions, and cultures in their historical and contemporary contexts in a particular geographic locale. Travel destinations and themes vary from year to year.
Includes: Experiential Learning Activity
Prerequisite(s): 2.0 credits in HUMS and permission of the department. Permission of the unit is required to repeat this course.
Hours to be arranged.

HUMS 4000 [1.0 credit]
Politics, Modernity and the Common Good

Modern and post-modern ways of thinking and doing, including revolutionary new ideas in politics, philosophy, culture, economics, and international relations. Thinkers considered include Arendt, Foucault, Hegel, Heidegger, Hobbes, Kant, Marx, Nietzsche, Polanyi, Rousseau, Said, and Taylor.
Includes: Experiential Learning Activity
Prerequisite(s): HUMS3000 and enrolment in the Bachelor of Humanities program.
Lectures three hours a week and tutorials one and a half hours a week.

HUMS 4001 [0.5 credit]
Directed Studies in the Humanities

A course for independent study and writing, under the supervision of a College designated faculty member. This course involves supervised readings and written essays.
Includes: Experiential Learning Activity
Prerequisite(s): fourth-year standing in the Bachelor of Humanities program.


HUMS 4002 [0.5 credit]
Directed Studies in the Humanities

A course for independent study and writing, under the supervision of a College designated faculty member. This course involves supervised readings and written essays.
Includes: Experiential Learning Activity
Prerequisite(s): fourth-year standing in the Bachelor of Humanities program and Good Standing in the program.


HUMS 4103 [0.5 credit]
Science in the Modern World

An introduction to the major scientific ideas of our time (such as Big Bang theory, molecular genetics, evolution, atomic structure), and the impact of technology on society (e.g. global warming, pollution, genetically modified foods, viral infections).
Includes: Experiential Learning Activity
Precludes additional credit for HUMS 4100 (no longer offered).
Prerequisite(s): restricted to students in the Bachelor of Humanities program.
Lectures three hours a week.

HUMS 4500 [0.5 credit]
Modern Intellectual History

Examination of some of the major ideas and ideologies from 1800 to the present, including romanticism, liberalism, nationalism, symbolism, socialism, Freudianism, communism, feminism, and postmodernism.
Includes: Experiential Learning Activity
Precludes additional credit for HUMS 4104.
Prerequisite(s): restricted to students in the Bachelor of Humanities program.
Lectures three hours a week.

HUMS 4901 [0.5 credit]
Research Seminar: Antiquity to the Middle Ages

An interdisciplinary seminar on a selected topic in the humanities from Antiquity to the Middle Ages. The topic will vary from year to year.
Includes: Experiential Learning Activity
Prerequisite(s): fourth-year standing in the Bachelor of Humanities program.
Seminar three hours a week.

HUMS 4902 [0.5 credit]
Research Seminar: Renaissance to Enlightenment

An interdisciplinary seminar on a selected topic in the humanities from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment. The topic will vary from year to year.
Includes: Experiential Learning Activity
Prerequisite(s): fourth-year standing in the Bachelor of Humanities program.
Seminar three hours a week.

HUMS 4903 [0.5 credit]
Research Seminar: Romanticism to the Present

An interdisciplinary seminar on a selected topic in the humanities from Romanticism to the present. The topic will vary from year to year.
Includes: Experiential Learning Activity
Prerequisite(s): fourth-year standing in the Bachelor of Humanities program.
Seminar three hours a week.

HUMS 4904 [0.5 credit]
Research Seminar: Non-Western Traditions

An interdisciplinary seminar on a selected topic in the humanities as expressed in aboriginal and Non-Western cultures. The topic will vary from year to year.
Includes: Experiential Learning Activity
Prerequisite(s): fourth-year standing in the Bachelor of Humanities program.
Seminar three hours a week.

Note: Not all courses listed are offered in a given year. For an up-to-date statement of course offerings for the current session and to determine the term of offering, consult the class schedule at central.carleton.ca.

Summer session: some of the courses listed in this Calendar are offered during the summer. Hours and scheduling for summer session courses will differ significantly from those reported in the fall/winter Calendar. To determine the scheduling and hours for summer session classes, consult the class schedule at central.carleton.ca