2025-2026 Academic Catalog

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Humanities (HUM)

HUM 1024 - Introductory Humanities: Great Books (3 credits)

An introduction to the humanities through the topic of “Great Books.” Students will closely analyze primary canonical texts from the West and from the global south. Political, religious, philosophical, and literary works by important writers and communities from across the globe will be explored to understand the human condition and self-formation. Such engagement with primary texts will be put into the context of larger topics such as class, race, and gender in addition to colonialism, decolonialism, and postcolonial modernity.

Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd)

HUM 1054 - Virginia Tech Prison Book Project (1 credit)

A one-hour course with the Virginia Tech Prison Book Project. Students will complete a learning module about carceral institutions in the United States and the impact of educational opportunities on the lives of incarcerated people. They will then participate in a service learning event where they match individual requests from incarcerated readers to books and prepare the books for shipping.

Instructional Contact Hours: (1 Lab, 1 Crd)

Course Crosslist: CRIM 1054, RLCL 1054

HUM 1074 - Ghosts (3 credits)

Fundamental humanities and social scientific frameworks underlying belief in ghosts and the paranormal as sites of human meaning-making and as expressions of cultural norms and anxieties concerning human behavior and social relationships, especially in US contexts pertaining to enslavement, displacement, and gender disparity. Introduces students to key concepts and methods such as auto-ethnography, the study of material culture, historical criticism, and literary criticism via an appealing and engaging topic. Training in ethical self-assessment and assessment of human meaning-making and behavior concerning ghosts and the paranormal such as affect theory, empiricism, and experience.

Pathway Concept Area(s): 2 Critical Thinking Humanities, 3 Reasoning in Social Sciences, 10 Ethical Reasoning

Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd)

Course Crosslist: RLCL 1074

HUM 1324 - Introductory Humanities: The Modern World (3 credits)

The shifts in thought and values during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in the global imagination, including issues of commerce, scientific inquiry, industrialization, nationalism, war, labor, gender, class differences, race, and the beginnings of postmodernity. Emphasis on interpretive and analytic skills in terms of reading, discussing, and writing about the interrelationships among the arts, literature, philosophy, history, religion, and science, and their contributions toward shaping the values and aspirations of the age, including global contexts and Asian cultures.

Pathway Concept Area(s): 2 Critical Thinking Humanities, 11 Intercultural&Global Aware.

Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd)

HUM 1504 - Introduction to Popular Culture (3 credits)

The development and formation of the category of popular culture. Competing theories and methods for analyzing popular culture. Activities, objects, and ideas included under the rubric of popular culture. Critical thinking about the production of popular culture in relation to race, gender, class, and other forms of human difference.

Pathway Concept Area(s): 2 Critical Thinking Humanities, 11 Intercultural&Global Aware.

Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd)

Course Crosslist: RLCL 1504

HUM 1604 - Introduction to Humanities and the Arts (3 credits)

Explores the written, visual, and performing arts of selected periods and cultures, setting them in the context of their times. Study of these periods linked with overarching questions of cultural encounters, interactions, and negotiations. Introduces principles of each art form as well as the means of appreciation. Students taught methods in researching, writing, and presenting on these art forms.

Pathway Concept Area(s): 6A Critique & Practice in Arts, 11 Intercultural&Global Aware.

Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd)

HUM 1704 - Introduction to Appalachian Studies (3 credits)

Introduces students to the history of the Appalachian region from European contact to the present. Traces the idea of Appalachia by tracing ways in which Americans have imagined the region over time. Explores humanistic problems of cultural identity, race and ethnicity, place and globalization, and impacts of natural resource extraction.

Pathway Concept Area(s): 2 Critical Thinking Humanities, 7 Identity & Equity in U.S., 11 Intercultural&Global Aware.

Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd)

Course Crosslist: APS 1704

HUM 1984 - Special Study (1-19 credits)

Instructional Contact Hours: Variable credit course

HUM 1984A - Special Study (3 credits)

Pathway Concept Area(s): 1A Discourse Advanced

Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd)

HUM 2104 - Oral Traditions and Culture (3 credits)

Examination of the worlds great oral traditions, both ancient and contemporary. Emphasis on performance contexts, relationships among multicultural traditions, including American Indian oral traditions, and the relationships among orality, literacy, technology, media, and culture.

Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd)

Course Crosslist: NDIG 2104

HUM 2204 - The Creative Process (3 credits)

Explores ways in which creativity and design can be understood historically as well as understood and practiced in a classroom setting. Subjects include any or all of the following: theories of creativity; traditions associated with understanding and making several kinds of art; studying artworks from different cultural backgrounds, working with the limitations and possibilities inherent in design projects, and examining how and why they were created; and preparing final creative projects for classroom presentation.

Pathway Concept Area(s): 6A Critique & Practice in Arts, 11 Intercultural&Global Aware.

Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd)

HUM 2244 - Campus Free Speech (3 credits)

Historical, religious, philosophical, and legal frameworks that shape modern debates on campus free speech and academic freedom. Focusing on case studies this course offers a non-partisan examination of hate speech codes, speaker shout-downs, ideological diversity, university neutrality, the limits of academic freedom, and other issues relevant to students, faculty, and administrators at public and private US universities. Students will engage in practical training in civil and respectful deliberation about matters of law and policy, the pursuit of truth, and the pursuit of permissive versus censorious approaches to campus speech.

Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd)

HUM 2404 - Folk Cultures in Appalachia (3 credits)

Examination of the expressive genres and cultural processes of communities in Appalachia. Documentation of art and skill in everyday life, including material culture (e.g., foodways, architecture), customary behavior (e.g., music, ritual, occupational practice), and verbal art (e.g., narrative, speechplay), and analysis of how people have used these forms to shape social identities, physical spaces, and power relations.

Pathway Concept Area(s): 6A Critique & Practice in Arts, 6D Critique & Prac in Design, 7 Identity & Equity in U.S., 11 Intercultural&Global Aware.

Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd)

Course Crosslist: APS 2404

HUM 2504 - Introduction to American Studies (3 credits)

Methodology and tools of American studies, with a focus on developing analytic skills to assess discourse across varied media. Interdisciplinary investigation of histories, politics, cultures, and beliefs in the Americas, including the impacts of encounter and exchange. Intensive study of a specific topic or period.

Pathway Concept Area(s): 1A Discourse Advanced, 2 Critical Thinking Humanities, 11 Intercultural&Global Aware.

Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd)

Course Crosslist: RLCL 2504

HUM 2964 - Field Study (1-19 credits)

Instructional Contact Hours: Variable credit course

HUM 2974 - Independent Study (1-19 credits)

Instructional Contact Hours: Variable credit course

HUM 2974H - Independent Study (1-19 credits)

Instructional Contact Hours: Variable credit course

HUM 2984 - Special Study (1-19 credits)

Instructional Contact Hours: Variable credit course

HUM 3034 - Theories of Popular Culture (3 credits)

Examination of theories for understanding the ways in which popular objects and practices (such as television programs, films, or attending sporting events) represent, maintain, and contest societal norms, including norms regarding gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity, and class and place, with an emphasis on the United States.

Pathway Concept Area(s): 1A Discourse Advanced, 7 Identity & Equity in U.S., 11 Intercultural&Global Aware.

Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd)

Course Crosslist: RLCL 3034

HUM 3034H - Theories of Popular Culture (3 credits)

Pathway Concept Area(s): 1A Discourse Advanced, 7 Identity & Equity in U.S., 11 Intercultural&Global Aware.

Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd)

Course Crosslist: RLCL 3034H

HUM 3204 - Multicultural Communication (3 credits)

Exploration of communication in and among various cultural groups through an examination of communicative practices, registers, discourse, and performance. Emphasis on understanding cultural differences and similarities in the different styles and stances in communication and their meanings to participants.

Pathway Concept Area(s): 3 Reasoning in Social Sciences, 11 Intercultural&Global Aware.

Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd)

Course Crosslist: RLCL 3204

HUM 3204H - Multicultural Communication (3 credits)

Pathway Concept Area(s): 3 Reasoning in Social Sciences, 11 Intercultural&Global Aware.

Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd)

Course Crosslist: RLCL 3204

HUM 3464 - Appalachian Communities (3 credits)

The concept of community in Appalachia using an interdisciplinary approach and experiential learning. Interrelationships among geographically, culturally, and socially constituted communities, public policy, and human development. Pre: Junior standing.

Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd)

Course Crosslist: AHRM 3464, APS 3464, GEOG 3464, HD 3464, SOC 3464, UAP 3464

HUM 3954 - Study Abroad (1-19 credits)

Instructional Contact Hours: Variable credit course

HUM 4104 - Explorations in Advanced Humanities Topics (3 credits)

In-depth study of special interdisciplinary topic. Topics vary but involve a close and extensive study of the interrelationship between cultural ideas and their expressions in several of the following forms: literature, philosophy, religion, art, music, drama, material culture, and popular culture. May be repeated with different topics, for a maximum of 9 credits.

Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd)

Repeatability: up to 9 credit hours

Course Crosslist: RLCL 4104

HUM 4124 - Topics in Culture (3 credits)

Uses sociological, anthropological, as well as artistic and humanist paradigms to analyze culture. Discusses 20th and 21st century cultural trends. Analyzes the implications of social context for cultural artifacts such as art. Topics are variable. Example topics include the cultural construction of race and the cultural of the nineteen sixties. Course may be repeated with different course content for up to 6 credits. Pre: Junior or Senior standing.

Prerequisite(s): SOC 1004 or SOC 1014 or AFST 1714 or AINS 1104 or RLCL 1004 or RLCL 2004 or WGS 1824

Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd)

Repeatability: up to 6 credit hours

Course Crosslist: SOC 4124

HUM 4414 - Issues in Appalachian Studies (3 credits)

Research conducted by students on issues relevant to local or regional sustainability in contemporary Appalachia on contemporary environmental and community issues. Focus on environmental justice ethical issues expressed in or created by various forms of discourse.

Prerequisite(s): HUM 1704 or APS 1704

Pathway Concept Area(s): 1A Discourse Advanced, 10 Ethical Reasoning

Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd)

Course Crosslist: APS 4414

HUM 4964 - Field Study (1-19 credits)

Instructional Contact Hours: Variable credit course

HUM 4974 - Independent Study (1-19 credits)

Instructional Contact Hours: Variable credit course

HUM 4974H - Independent Study (1-19 credits)

Instructional Contact Hours: Variable credit course

HUM 4984 - Special Study (1-19 credits)

Instructional Contact Hours: Variable credit course

HUM 4994 - Undergraduate Research (1-19 credits)

Instructional Contact Hours: Variable credit course

HUM 4994H - Undergraduate Research (1-19 credits)

Instructional Contact Hours: Variable credit course