Cluster Two Learning Objectives
By studying and experiencing works of fine arts and
literature and by understanding their place in cultural and intellectual
history, students develop an appreciation of the human significance of the arts
and humanities through history and across cultures.
Cluster Two Structure
Cluster Two introduces students to the arts and humanities,
those expressive forms that humans have valued as having intrinsic worth.
Students complete their nine credits by choosing one course from each of three
tiers, each representing a broad area of study in the liberal arts. These three
tiers are 1) Historical, Cultural, Philosophical Perspectives; 2) Fine Arts;
and 3) Literature.
Tier One: Historical, Cultural, Philosophical Perspectives
Students will take one course from the list below that
reflects broad historical, cultural, and philosophical perspectives. The GHIST
courses introduce students to the great intellectual and religious bases of
Western, Middle Eastern, Asian, and African cultures. The three philosophical
and religious courses explore the great inquiries into human existence and the
ways different cultures across different time periods constructed their responses
to questions concerning humans’ existence and their relationship to Nature,
ultimate reality, and the universe. The GHUM courses are
interdisciplinary explorations of cultures, periods, or issues such as Human
Rights, which cross cultures. GAMST 200 focuses on questions of
American identities and how they are forged from a complex interplay of
cultural, historical, religious, and ideological perspectives. Thus, all
courses in Tier One are broadly cultural, deeply philosophical or religious,
and historical. Students will understand the varying responses within different
cultures to central issues about the human condition and ways of expressing and
determining values and beliefs as they are shaped by class, gender, race,
historical events, philosophy and religion.
Choose one of the following:
GAMST 200. Introduction to American Studies
GHIST 101. World Culture to 1650
GHIST 102. World Culture since 1650
GHUM 102. God, Meaning, and Morality
GHUM 250. Foundations of Western Culture
GHUM 251. Modern Perspectives
(such as Enlightenment or Romanticism or Human
Rights)
GHUM 252. Cross-Cultural Perspectives
(such as East Asian or West African)
GPHIL 101. Introduction to Philosophy
GREL 101. World Religions
Tier Two: Fine Arts
Students will take an art or art history, music history, or a
theatre course that will introduce them to the fine arts. The art history
surveys introduce students to the visual arts (whose history often has been
interconnected with developments in music, dance, and theatre/film); these surveys
are organized chronologically, but focus distinctly on artistic perception and
experience. The global music surveys explore history and the arts through the
study of music: its development, aesthetics, forms and styles, and its context
within the cultural communities that produced it. GART 200 and GMUS
200 are introductions to art or music in general culture; GTHEA
210 studies theatre as an art form including acting, directing, design,
costuming, lighting; GMUS 203 explores America’s musical
landscape and examines the interconnections among music, art, and literature in
historical periods. In all Tier Two courses, students will examine the
innate human aesthetic sense, sources of art and music appreciation, and the
creation of art as both an expression of human creativity and a means of giving
meaning to the world. Thus all the courses focus on the key areas of human
creativity and expressiveness through the fine arts, music or theatre -
imaginative outpourings which have form, structure, meaning and aesthetic
appeal that all students can come to appreciate.
Choose one of the following:
GART 200. Art in General Culture
GARTH 205. Survey of World Art I: Ancient to
Renaissance
GARTH 206. Survey of World Art II: Renaissance
to Modern
GMUS 200. Music in General Culture
GMUS 203. Music in America
GMUS 205. Global Music to 18th Century
GMUS 206. Global Music 18th Century to Present
GTHEA 210. Introduction to Theatre
Tier Three: Literature
The literature surveys provide students with extensive
reading experiences of representative genres and authors, various critical
approaches to literary texts, as well as opportunities to explore the complex
ways that the literature both reflects and helps change or create the cultural
and intellectual contexts of the times in which they are written.
Students are expected to learn strategies for reading and
interpreting any literary text so that they come to deepen their appreciation
of the aesthetics, rhetorical strategies, and meaning of a range of literary
texts. Through the humanistic study of literature, students will also obtain a
better understanding of themselves and their own culture as well as those of
others.
Choose one of the following:
GENG 235. Survey of English Literature:
Restoration through the Romantic Era
GENG 236. Survey of English Literature:
Victorian Era through the 20th Century
GENG 239. Studies in World Literature
GENG 247. Survey of American Literature:
From the Beginning to the Civil War
GENG 248. Survey of American Literature:
From the Civil War to the Modern Period
GENG 260. Survey of African-American
Literature
GHUM 200. Great Works
Cluster Two Learning Objectives
In Cluster Two, students read, write, and think about the
arts, humanities, and culture; they visit historical and cultural sites and
experience art, music, theatre, dance, and literature. They learn what it is to
live lives enriched by reflection, imagination, and creativity.
After completing Cluster Two, students should be able to:
§
respond in an informed way to the form, structure, and
aesthetic qualities of artistic and literary works;
§
identify and analyze similarities, differences, and
interrelationships among the fine arts;
§
apply appropriate vocabulary and concepts for the
description and analysis of artistic, literary, historical, and philosophical
or religious works;
§
explore interrelationships among historical events and
intellectual, artistic, literary, and philosophical or religious movements and
works;
§
explain how artistic and literary works from past and
present civilizations are individual expressions of cultural, historical, and
intellectual forces;
§
articulate central philosophical and religious
questions and the varying responses to them within different cultures.
