2 What are the Humanities and why are they relevant?
The humanities are those areas of thought and creation whose subject is human experience. Broadly speaking, the humanities are objects or experiences created by human beings. The role of the human creator, therefore, is central to any study of the humanities since, ultimately, they are a record of human experience The humanities convey information, yet this is not their primary function. More importantly, the humanities give form to what is imagined, express human beliefs and emotions, create beauty, move, persuade, and entertain their audiences. Humanities can be seen as the history of culture and through the study of humanities, we can begin to understand the development of the human spirit. Understanding our development helps us engage in cultural awareness, critical thinking, and self-discovery. As we discover more about the world, we can discover more about ourselves.
Each chapter in this text will cover the following humanistic categories: geography and history, religion and philosophy, literature, architecture, perfomring arts, and visual arts. Please note that some chapters might not yet have content for every single genre and we encourage you to use your classroom discussion board to add any topics that you think can and should be covered in these different categories. Below, we will discuss a short overview of these humanities categories to give some context for the later content.
Geography and History
When we talk about geography and history, we consider the geographical and history context of a region. You’ll note that each section is divided up by geographic location. By understanding both the geography and the history of a location, you can better understand the developments. We need to consider trade and trade routes, colonization, climate, terrain, and other geographic influences to have context for how the humanities developed in each region and where there is influence and overlap. Geography encompasses a region’s physical characteristics but also its climate and the human influence and impact on the region.
You’ll also note that we use slightly different terms than you might be used to. Western Asia refers to the Middle East/Eastern Mediterranean, through the Persian empire. Central Asia refers to India and its surrounding regions. Eastern Asia covers China, Japan, Korea and most of South East Asia. Similarly, we divide North, Middle, and South American into district regions, replacing the term Central with Middle for the countries between Mexico and Colombia.
For a deeper and more comprehensive overview of each geographic location covered in this textbook, please use this textbook: https://oercommons.org/courses/world-regional-geography-3/view
Religion and Philosophy
When we talk about religion and philosophy, we consider the concepts and qualities that help us under the basic questions of human nature: Who are we? Where did we come from? Where are we going? What do we know? How do we know what we know?
Religion typically refers to beliefs and practices concerning divine and supernatural entities and philosophy typically doesn’t have any form of deity but is concerned with the study of knowledge, existence, and ethics.
Within this text, religion and philosophy will cover any belief or system that help people understand more about themselves and question what came before and after. Religious belief will also be covered in both visual art, architecture, and literature, as often religious belief influences where and how people worship a divine being.
Literature
When we talk about literature, we refer to the stories that are told in society, both oral and written. According to Ian Tattersall, in “How We Came to Be Human”, humans have had the capacity to produce sounds of articulate speech over half a million years before any evidence of used language. The Smithsonian website speculates that human language may date back to about 350,000 years ago. the cuneiform script, create in Mesopotamia around 3200 BCE, was the first discovered writing system that can be traced back to prehistoric origin.
This text will cover the highlights of literature around the world, specifically selected both as an example of developing thought, as well as the importance of story-telling in society. It includes both written material as well as written versions of oral storytelling. Literature will be in the form of poetry, prose, novels, short stories, and, at time, plays. Plays may also feature in the Performing Arts section.
Stories can also be told in visual images, such as in cave art, but these will typically be found in the Visual Art section.
Architecture
When we talk about architecture, we refer to the form and structure of buildings, public works, and infrastructure. We include information on building material, layout, purpose, form, and function. Often the architecture of a building highlights what is important and valuable in a culture and has close ties to visual art and to religion and philosophy. The buildings includes in this text serve private and public functions, and range from royal to communal. Architecture also ties into geography and climate as the structure and form of the building as well as the materials used often hinge upon regional materials and access.
Performing Art
When we talk about the performing arts, we refer to anything that is being performing. This includes music, theater, dance, and film. The performing arts have always been used as a moving way to present cultural practices, beliefs, and ideas. In some case, the performing arts can be ceremonial or religious, but it can also be social and cultural as it shines a light on the important elements of a time. The performing arts is typically collaborative and required a shared experience or belief, highlighting the importance of certain practices to a society.
When possible, videos or sound clips go alongside the text describing the performing arts. You are encouraged to listen to these while reading and to watch the included plays, following along with the text. The performing arts are meant to be watched and enjoyed!
Visual Art
When we talk about the visual arts, we refer to visual interpretations of other cultural and humanistic categories. The art forms included in the visual arts categories are, but not limited to, painting, drawing, sculpture, ceramics, photography, and textiles. Geographic understanding of a region is also important to visual arts, as it allows for context in understanding access to certain materials, colors, supplies, and tools.
Visual arts is also an important way to trace trade routes and to understand cultural crossover. Visual arts can be both public and personal and can represent social and historical contexts. By understanding the visual elements of a piece of art or sculpture in its historical and cultural context, there can be a better understanding of its importance within the time period and provide deeper insight to cross-cultural practices.
Why Study the Humanities?
What can you do with a humanities degree, especially in an era of quickly developing technology, artificial intelligence, and a focus on STEM careers? When we study the humanities, we develop the following skills that are vital not only to being human, but engaging in any field, career, pathway, or experience.
- Learn New Forms of Human Creation: Through exploration of the humanities, we learn how to think creatively and critically, to reason, and to ask questions. Because these skills allow us to gain new insights into everything from poetry and paintings to business models and politics, humanistic subjects have been at the heart of a liberal arts education since the ancient Greeks first used them to educate their citizens.
- See History Through a Different Lens: Research into the human experience adds to our knowledge about our world. Through the work of humanities scholars, we learn about the values of different cultures, about what goes into making a work of art, about how history is made. Their efforts preserve the great accomplishments of the past, help us understand the world we live in, and give us tools to imagine the future.
- Broaden Our Horizons: Today, humanistic knowledge continues to provide the ideal foundation for exploring and understanding the human experience. Investigating a branch of philosophy might get you thinking about ethical questions. Learning another language might help you gain an appreciation for the similarities in different cultures. Contemplating a sculpture might make you think about how an artist’s life affected her creative decisions. Reading a book from another region of the world might help you think about the meaning of democracy. Listening to a history course might help you better understand the past, while at the same time offering you a clearer picture of the future.
- Gain Perspective: Humanistic studies enrich the soul and make you a cultured individual. A humanistic education will help you understand, appreciate, and produce art, music, theatre, and literature. Humanities disciplines focus on understanding beauty and the good, and give students the opportunity to practice making good and beautiful things themselves.
- Avoid Ethnocentrism: Ethnocentrism is the term anthropologists use to describe the opinion that one’s own way of life is natural or correct. Some would simply call it cultural ignorance. Ethnocentrism means that one may see his/her own culture as the correct way of living. Some cultures can be similar or interlinked in ideas or beliefs; some people feel shocked by the differences they might experience with individuals that are culturally different from themselves. In extreme circumstances, a group of people may see a different way of life in other cultures and consider it wrong; as a result of which the group may try to convert the other group into its way of life. The catastrophic outcome could be a terrifying conflict and genocide if a group does not want to change its ways of living. We all often have instinctive reactions to the practices or beliefs of another person or culture. These reactions, however, do not have to lead to terrifying conflict or genocide. To avoid such awful things, we all have to try to be more culturally relative. Ethnocentrism hampers our understanding of other people’s customs and traditions; at the same time, it prevents us from knowing our customs and traditions.
- Form Interpretations: When you interpret a story, you are trying to find its meaning and significance. You are asking yourself both what the text means and why it is important. Like opinions, interpretations are personal, because they are informed by our own ideas, memories, experiences, and beliefs. Unlike opinions, which can be influenced by our feelings and prejudices, interpretation is based on a close reading of the story, an understanding of its contexts, analysis, and study of what others have discovered about it. Interpretation is an explicit argument about a story’s deeper meanings—its implied themes, values, and assumptions. It pays special attention to the contradictions, tensions, and ambiguities. Interpretation also recognizes how the cultural context of the story and the audience might influence our interpretive conclusions. We can form more informed, open-minded, and well-rounded conclusions about works this way.
- Develop Critical and Analytical Thinking Skills: The various disciplines in the humanities show us how to listen, how to analyze, how to argue, and how to navigate our social world. At its simplest, critical thinking is the process of thinking clearly and rationally about a subject. It takes a step back and looks logically at the ideas, asking questions about them and challenging accepted thought. By engaging in this kind of reflective thinking, you will find yourself developing new ideas and a new way of approaching the subject you are studying. You will no longer take things as they appear and will instead look deeper, ask new questions and find yourself understanding the topic at a much deeper level. Critical thinking turns you from a passive class member into an active learner, someone who engages in what is being taught and questions it, rather than simply nodding along and memorizing what you’re being told. You will find yourself challenging your own preconceived ideas, asking if the arguments around the subject are valid and if findings can be trusted. Being able to think critically isn’t just useful at university; you will find it useful in your future career, too. Without even thinking, we apply the core work of the humanities—the use of critical thinking to identify, solve, and appreciate problems both small and immense—in our daily labors.
- Employ Divergent Thinking: The word divergent is partly defined as “tending to be different or develop in different directions.” Divergent thinking refers to the way the mind generates ideas beyond proscribed expectations and rote thinking—what is usually referred to as thinking outside the box and is often associated with creativity. Convergent thinking, on the other hand, requires one to restrict ideas to those that might be correct or the best solution to a problem. In convergent thinking, we start with a question (such as mathematical equation), and we try to formulate one right answer. In divergent thinking, we start with a question, then try to formulate all the possible relevant answers. Each answer is just as “right” as another, and there may be limitless answers to the question.
Developed from Storytelling Copyright © 2021 by Pamela Bond is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.