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

CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS I

Humanities 101Fall 2015

Why Liberal Arts?

Artes Liberales

Quadrivium

Arithmetic

Geometry

Astronomy

Music theory

Trivium Grammar

LogicRhetoric

Artes Liberales

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.

Renaissance

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

Revival of classical literature as the source of humanism.

The Enlightenment

Humanities and the natural sciences as complementary and not

contradictory disciplines.

Nineteenth and Twentieth Century

Influence of the natural sciences gained prestige

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

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

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

Lascaux 17,000 B.C.

Göbekli Tepe, ca. 10,000 B.C.

Achilles and Hector

Greek Vase, ca. 490 B.C.

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

Fetishism of the Present as the only “viable” economy

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

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?)

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

What is representation?

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?

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:

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.

What is representation?

This is representation

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

Epic Narrative, Modern History

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

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

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

Romare Bearden, “Siren’s Song” (1977)