Humanistic Studies is home to team-taught, interdisciplinary courses instructed across departments and divisions. These courses examine larger questions and major texts, building bridges either within the humanistic disciplines or across the humanities, creative arts, social sciences, and natural sciences.
Such courses are developed through grants from the Humanities Council, which support related activities such as field trips, materials, and guest speakers.
Known as “capstone seminars,” these courses fulfill a requirement in the Humanistic Studies Certificate. The Certificate is open to undergraduates of diverse disciplinary backgrounds, including those who are majoring in the social sciences, natural sciences, and engineering but also have a serious and longstanding interest in the humanities.
Examples of Team-Taught Seminars
Incarceration in Antiquity, Caroline Cheung (Classics) and Matthew Larsen (Religion)
When Worlds Collide: Poetry and Computation, Brian Kernighan (Computer Science) and Effie Rentzou (French and Italian)
Making Medieval Worlds: Methods and Materials, Sarah Anderson (English) and Janet Kay (Art and Archaeology)
Imagined Languages, Michael Gordin (History) and Joshua Katz (Classics)
Adventures in Ideas, Robert George (Politics) and Cornel West (Religion)
Witness: History, Memory, and Culture, Martha Sandweiss (History) and Esther Schor (English)
How Literatures Begin, Denis Feeney (Classics) and Joel Lande (German)
Medical Story-Worlds, Elena Fratto (Slavic Languages and Literatures) and Tala Khanmalek (Gender and Sexuality Studies)
How the Past Became History – East Asia and the Ancient Mediterranean, Nino Luraghi (Classics) and Federico Marcon (East Asian Studies)
Jesus and Buddha, Jonathan Gold (Religion) and Elaine Pagels (Religion)
Battle Lab: The Battle of Princeton, Nathan Arrington (Art and Archaeology) and Rachael DeLue (Art and Archaeology)
Persons, Selves, Fictions, Peter Brooks (Comparative Literature) and Brigid Doherty (German)
Voice, Jeff Dolven (English) and Majel Connery (Music)
Nature’s Nation Revisited: An Ecocritical History of American Art, Karl Kusserow (Princeton University Art Museum) and Alan Braddock (Humanities Council)
