Humanities
The study of the human experience
The Humanities is one of the four disciplines that houses many fields in the Liberal Arts and Sciences. Fields in the humanities focus on analyzing and interpreting the human experience, emphasizing stories, ideas, and words.
Learn more about the humanities and the unique ways each field contributes to our understanding of the surrounding world.
Humanities Research Characteristics
Humanists explore how knowledge is attained. They focus on understanding how something happened or how someone attempts to draw out meaning and reactions to cultural artifacts or distinct human creations, generally referred to as texts. Examples of texts include the arts, social artifacts, films, speeches, historical monuments, photos, and the media. Texts are also examined in fields outside of the humanities, but they may be analyzed differently based on the research topics.
Humanities research uses different methods for scholarly pursuits, including historical research, or critical or rhetorical research. Historical research aims to make meaning of present and past events by interpreting facts. Meanwhile, critical or rhetorical research examines and analyzes texts described above to support an argument about how the studied texts help people understand the world.
Humanists also participate in creative scholarship, such as performance studies, filmmaking, or literary authorship. Creative scholarship involves different research methods for telling and presenting stories and draw on observed performances in everyday life, oral histories, ethnographies, or personal experiences.
Engaged humanities research also uses these different approaches to study and address societal problems.
Examples of humanities research include analyzing themes in a genre of books or interpreting the meanings behind ancient cultural artifacts.
Fields of Study
Below are the fields in LAS that belong to the Humanities. Select fields of interest to learn more and review the subfields of study. As you explore research areas, make note of themes or topics of interest.
History
What is History?
According to the LAS History Department, “History is the study of change over time, but it’s also the story of who we are as people, how our world was created, and what we value and believe.” Additionally, “History is the study of the human past. It is both a subject matter and a way of thinking—a discipline. No people, time, or place is neglected in the investigation of the human community’s historical record. And no method is alien to the historian’s quest for understanding.”
What do Historians study?
In History, there are different branches of study known as subfields, which historians specialize in and research. According to the LAS History Department, examples stem from the “permanent and changing concerns of our civilization,” including “the individual and society; the emergence of nations; the rise and fall of empires; race and ethnicity; class, gender, and status; war and revolution; science and technology; slavery and emancipation; dictatorship and democracy; rural life and urbanization; the interaction of human communities and the environment; the struggle for empowerment waged by minorities, women, and workers; the life of the mind; religion; and culture. Because every succeeding generation has new questions to ask of the past, history is constantly being rewritten.”
Resources
- LAS History: Visit the LAS History Department to read more about history and faculty research interests.
- American Historical Association: Visit the American Historical Association, a professional membership group for historians, to read more about history and explore subfields.
Hispanic Studies
What is Hispanic and Italian Studies?
According to the LAS Hispanic and Italian Studies Department, Hispanic and Italian Studies focus on “the Spanish and Italian languages, linguistics, and the literature and culture of the countries where Spanish and Italian are spoken.”
What do Hispanic and Italian Studies Scholars study?
In Hispanic and Italian Studies, there are different branches of study known as subfields, which Hispanic and Italian Studies scholars specialize in and research. Examples include Linguistics; Bilingualism; Cognition of Social Language Acquisition; Language in Context; Multilingual Phonology; Psychology of Multilingualism; Code-switching; Language Attrition; Medieval and Early Modern Italian Literature; Hispanic Literacy and Cultural Studies; Spanish Politics; Gender Studies.
Resources
- LAS Hispanic and Italian Studies: Visit the LAS Hispanic and Italian Studies Department to read more about Hispanic and Italian Studies, research areas, and faculty research interests.
Classics
What is Classics and Mediterranean Studies?
According to the LAS Classics and Mediterranean Studies Department, “Classics is the study of the history, culture, and languages of the ancient Mediterranean world, with a particular focus on the Greeks and the Romans. At UIC, the field is geographically and chronologically more expansive, also encompassing studies in the Near and Middle East and northern Africa, the medieval through modern periods, and reception.”
What do Classics and Mediterranean Studies scholars study?
In Classics and Mediterranean Studies, there are different branches of study known as subfields, which Classics and Mediterranean Studies scholar specialize in and research. Examples include Ancient religion; Classical reception in children’s media, the social history of the Roman Republic; Women’s lives in ancient Rome; Ancient Mediterranean; Byzantine Studies; Late Ancient Christianity; and Late Antiquity.
Resources
- LAS Classics and Mediterranean Studies: Visit the LAS Classics and Mediterranean Studies Department website to read more about Classics and Mediterranean Studies and faculty research interests.
English
What is English?
According to the LAS English Department,
“The field of English focuses on the study and practice of various forms of writing in English. It includes:
- the study of written works in English—whether by writers from the United States, Britain, former colonies, the Commonwealth nations, or elsewhere—whose aesthetic achievement and cultural significance qualifies them as literature;
- the study of literary criticism and theory, of the relationship between literature and popular culture, of the relationship between language and identity, and of allied narrative forms such as film, performance, electronic communications, and other new media;
- the study of the English language, its historical development, and its grammatical, rhetorical, political, and cultural dimensions;
- the theory and practice of writing, whether of poetry, fiction, nonfiction prose, technical and professional, or other academic, critical, or expository forms;
- the theory and practice of teaching English language and literature, particularly at the high school level.
Students who major in English don’t only study literature. They understand how language works, and they develop broad reading and writing skills that make possible both an analytical engagement with, and a critical understanding of, diverse fields of cultural and aesthetic production.”
What do English Scholars study?
In English, there are different branches of study known as subfields, which English scholars specialize in and research. Examples include Literatures in English; Creative Writing; Film, Media, Performance, and Pop Culture; Professional Writing and Publishing; Race, Gender, Sexuality, and Multiethnic English Studies; Rhetoric, Public Engagement, and Language Studies; 19th Century American Literature; Critical Theory; Gender and Sexuality Studies; Early Modern/Renaissance British Literature; Visual Arts; 20th Century American Literature; Cultural Studies; Sentiment and Affect; The Novel; Interdisciplinary Economic Theory/Political Theory.
Resources
- LAS English: Visit the LAS English Department website to read more about English and faculty research interests.
Philosophy
What is Philosophy?
According to the LAS Philosophy Department, “Philosophy (from the Greek “love of wisdom”) originated as the search for understanding concerning the most basic features of reality, the natural world, and human life.” The discipline prizes and develops the skill of engaging effectively with arguments on a tremendous range of subjects. In ancient times, philosophers pioneered the study of topics from the physical cosmos to the gods to human conduct. They debated not only the character of fundamental reality but also questions of how we can attain knowledge of it. To this day, philosophy engages with questions drawn from every part of our life and experience. For example: Is there such a thing as a purely objective observation? Am I identical with my brain? Is it ever permissible to break the law? Why is there evil in the world? Is death to be feared, and why?”
What do Philosophers study?
In Philosophy, there are different branches of study known as subfields, which philosophers specialize in and research. Examples include Aesthetics, Ancient Philosophy, Continental Philosophy, Early Modern Philosophy, Epistemology, Ethics, Social and Political Philosophy, Feminist Theory, History of Analytic Philosophy, History of Ethics and Social/Political Philosophy, Kant, Logic and Philosophy of Logic, Medieval Philosophy, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Action, Philosophy of Language, Philosophy of Mathematics, Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Physics, Philosophy of Religion, Philosophy of Science.
The LAS Philosophy Department adds, “Philosophers think deeply about questions that occur to everyone from time to time. We address such questions: What is the source of happiness? Can we have knowledge of the external world, ourselves, God? What is the relationship between the mind and the body? What is the proper attitude to have towards our death? By examining various arguments that attempt to answer these kinds of difficult but important questions, philosophers develop the powerful and prized skills and qualities of reasoning, critical thinking, and ability to appreciate different perspectives.”
Resources
- LAS Philosophy: Visit the LAS Philosophy Department website to read more about philosophy, subfields, and affiliated faculty.
- American Philosophical Association: Visit the American Philosophical Association, a professional membership organization for philosophers, to read how they define philosophy and the subfields.
French
What is French and Francophone Studies?
According to the LAS French and Francophone Studies Department, French and Francophone Studies focuses on “proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing French, as well as understanding how the language is woven into diverse cultural contexts in Francophone countries throughout the world; develops a historical sense of French-speaking cultures, as well as the critical and interpretive skills that come from analytical reading, active discussion, and persuasive writing.”
What do French and Francophone Studies Scholars study?
In French and Francophone Studies, there are different branches of study known as subfields, which French and Francophone Studies scholars specialize in and research. Examples include French Literary and Cultural Studies; French Literary and Cultural Studies of 17th-, 18th-, 19th-, and 20th-century France; Francophone literatures of Quebec and Africa; Film Studies; Gender Studies; Religious Studies; Poetics; Drama; Diplomacy; Engaged Humanities; Idolatry; Politics, Religious Studies and History, Seventeenth-century French history; Seventeenth-century French literature, 18th Century, French Revolution, French theater; Law and literature, Creative Writing, Francophone Studies, Postcolonial Theory, Sound Studies.
Resources
- LAS French and Francophone Studies: Visit the LAS French and Francophone Studies Department website to read more about French and Francophone Studies and faculty research interests.
Germanic Studies
What is Germanic Studies?
According to the LAS Germanic Studies Department, Germanic Studies focuses on the German language and culture, emphasizing the development of language fluency and cultural competency. Cover a wide array of topics including film, Business German, and contemporary media.
What do Germanic Scholars study?
In Germanic Studies, there are different branches of study known as subfields, which Germanic Studies Scholars specialize in and research. Examples include, Linkages between German culture, transnational identities, and urban spaces; 21st-century literature and culture; Film Studies; Law and culture; Transnationalism; 19th– and 20th– century German and Austrian literature; Critical Theory; Film and Visual Culture; Gender; German and Austrian film; Narrative.
Resources
- LAS Germanic Studies: Visit the LAS Germanic Studies Department to read more about Germanic Studies and faculty research interests.
Polish, Russian, and Central and Eastern European Studies
What is Polish, Russian, and Central and Eastern European Studies?
According to the LAS Polish, Russian, and Central and Eastern European Studies Department, Polish, Russian, and Lithuanian Studies focuses on “language literacy skills and cultural competency in the regions of study.”
What do Polish, Russian, and Central and Eastern European Studies scholars study?
In Polish, Russian, and Central and Eastern European Studies, there are different branches of study known as subfields, which Polish, Russian, and Lithuanian scholars specialize in and research. Examples include 20th-century Slavic Studies, with an emphasis on Polish and Russian modern, post-modern, and contemporary literature and culture; Literary Modernism and Its Cultural Context; Verbal and Visual Avant-gardes; 20th-century Philosophical Approaches to Literature Contemporary Literature; Comparative Literature; Translation Studies; Gender Studies; Ideological Poetics; Russian Film; Russian Literature; Sound Studies; Heritage Language; Polish Heritage Speakers; Second Language Acquisition.
Resources
- LAS Polish, Russian, and Central and Eastern European Studies: Visit the LAS Polish, Russian, and Lithuanian Studies Department to read more about Polish, Russian, Lithuanian, Studies, research areas, and faculty research interests.