2016-2017 Graduate Calendar

Interdisciplinary Humanities

 

PhD in Interdisciplinary Humanities

Field of Specialization

Critique and Social Transformation

Culture and Aesthetics

Technology & Digital Humanities

Ways of Knowing

Dean

Carol U. Merriam

Faculty of Humanities

Acting Associate Dean

Michael Carter

Faculty of Humanities

Core Faculty

Professors

Irene Maria F. Blayer (Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures), Leah Bradshaw (Political Science),Wing-Cheuk Chan (Philosophy), Christine Daigle (Philosophy), Martin Danahay (English Language and Literature), Corrado Federici (Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures), Barry K. Grant (Communications, Popular Culture and Film), Rosemary Drage Hale (Mediaeval and Renaissance Studies), Jane Koustas (Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures), Jack N. Lightstone (History), Mathew Martin (English Language and Literature), Carol U. Merriam (Classics), Joe Norris (Dramatic Arts), John Sainsbury (History), Elizabeth Sauer (English Language and Literature)

Associate Professors

Michael Berman (Philosophy), Gregory Betts (English Language and Literature), John Bonnett (History/Digital Humanities), Keri Cronin (Visual Arts), Michael Driedger (History), Ifeanyi Ezeonu (Sociology), David Fancy (Dramatic Arts), Margot Francis (Women's and Gender Studies/Sociology), Allison Glazebrook (Classics), Elizabeth Greene (Classics), Scott Henderson (Communications, Popular Culture and Film), Leah Knight (English Language and Literature), Brian Lightbody (Philosophy), Ingrid Makus (Political Science), Behnaz Mirzai (History), Elizabeth Neswald (History), Trevor Norris (Education), Olatunji Ojo (History), Catherine Parayre (Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures), Brian E. Power (Music), Daniel Samson (History), Cristina Santos (Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures), R. Angus K. Smith (Classics), Mark Spencer (History), Linda Steer (Visual Arts)

Assistant Professors

Stefan Dolgert (Political Science), Jason Hawreliak (Centre for Digital Humanities), Donna Szoke (Visual Arts)

Adjunct Professors

Hans Skott-Myhre (Child and Youth Studies)

Graduate Program Director

Christine Daigle

cdaigle@brocku.ca

Administrative Assistant

Michèle Black

mblack@brocku.ca

 

Program Description

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Brock University's Interdisciplinary Humanities doctoral program provides students with a focussed context in which to engage with topics integral to the contested notions of knowledge, values, and creativity, as reflected in the specific fields of Critique and Social Transformation, Culture and Aesthetics, Digital Humanities, and Ways of Knowing.

The program is committed to providing a rigorous interdisciplinary teaching and research environment that nurtures scholarly and creative activity. Such endeavours aim to investigate the past as well influence the ways in which reflection and creation contribute to the further unfolding of society and culture.

Students pursuing Brock University's Interdisciplinary Doctoral Humanities Program will have the opportunity to collaborate across disciplines.

 

Admission Requirements

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Successful completion of a Master's degree in a humanities or cognate discipline, normally with a minimum average grade of 80%. Agreement from a faculty member to supervise the student is also required for admission to the program.

The Graduate Admission Committee will review all applications and recommend admission of a limited number of suitable candidates.

Part-time study is not available.

 

Degree Requirements

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Students are required to take HUMA 7P01, 7P02 and four additional half-courses. Students may take a maximum of two half-course electives at either the MA or PhD level selected from the Faculty of Graduate Studies course bank. One of these two half-courses may be HUMA 7P90. (HUMA 7P05 may not be used to fulfill HUMA degree requirements. All electives must be approved by the course instructor, the student's supervisor and the Graduate Program Director.

Language Requirement

Students will be required to demonstrate reading competency in one language other than English by

means of a written examination. Students will translate a passage into English. Students are required to take the exam in the year of their entry into the program and each September thereafter until they pass, to a maximum total of three attempts.

The language chosen is to be related to the program of study and must be approved by the supervisor.

Evidence of passing a similar language exam in an MA degree may take the place of the PhD language

exam with the approval of the Graduate Program Director.

Students are required to take a non-credit research seminar in both first and second year of the program (HUMA 7N07).

Students will be required to write and defend a thesis that makes a substantial and original contribution to existing scholarship and must be interdisciplinary in approach and scope, drawing on studies undertaken in coursework as well as in the comprehensive examination.

Students must take two written and one oral comprehensive examinations, demonstrating knowledge of at least one specific discipline and two fields of interdisciplinary humanities. These examinations must be taken by the eighth term of enrollment (end of April in Year 3). Students must complete all of their course requirements, the language exam and the thesis proposal before they take the comprehensive examinations. The specific exam will cover the student's proposed area of research. This examination committee consists of the student's supervisory committee. The general exam will cover two of the four fields of specialization and will be based on a reading list provided by the Graduate Committee. This examination committee consists of the student's supervisor and two additional members from participating faculty or the program committee. A participating faculty member who is not on either of the written exam committees will chair the oral exam. The oral examination committee will consist of the examination committees of both written exams. If failed, the student must repeat the examination within three months. A student who fails twice will be withdrawn from the program.

 

Course Descriptions

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Note that not all courses are offered in every session. Refer to the applicable timetable for details.

Students must check to ensure that prerequisites are met. Students may be deregistered, at the request of the instructor, from any course for which prerequisites and/or restrictions have not been met.

#HUMA 5P71

Humanities Computing

(also offered as HIST 5V71)

Use of the computer for research, teaching, and expression in the Humanities to support teaching and research, including topics such as text analysis, high performance computing, Geographic Information Systems, quantitative methods, photo-editing and animation, simulations, and serious games.

#HUMA 5P83

Graduate Seminar in Political Theory (Political Theory for Posthumans)

(also offered as POLI 5P83)

A comparison of important and opposing contemporary approaches to the interpretation of major texts or issues in political theory.

HUMA 7F90

PhD Thesis

Preparation, public defence, and examination of a thesis that is interdisciplinary in approach and that demonstrates the candidate's capacity for independent thought and study.

HUMA 7N07

Professionalization and Research Seminar

Non-credit compulsory research seminar for first and second-year students. Forum to develop thesis research topics and academic skills.

HUMA 7P01

Interdisciplinary Research and Writing in the Humanities

The nature and academic requirements of interdisciplinary studies, including research methodologies and resources. Focus on reading, discussion, writing, and the ongoing construction of an interdisciplinary thesis in the Humanities.

HUMA 7P02

Fields of Interdisciplinary Study

Introduction to the four fields of the Interdisciplinary PhD in Humanities: 1) Epistemologies; 2) Critique and Social Transformation; 3) Culture and Aesthetics; 4) Technology and Digital Humanities.

HUMA 7P05

Teaching Apprenticeship

Participation in the development and delivery of an undergraduate course under the mentorship of a Brock faculty member. Development of a teaching portfolio.

Prerequisite(s): HUMA 7P01, 7P02 and four additional half-courses. Completed thesis proposal.

Note: This course will be evaluated as Credit/No-Credit and cannot be used as an elective to fulfill the PhD in Interdisciplinary degree requirements.

HUMA 7P32

Text, Context, Intertext in Narrative: Constituting and Locating the Self in Culture

Interdisciplinary, intercultural and comparative approach to the study of narrative as it contributes to the construction of the self and cultures. Analysis of orality, storytelling, performance, narrative, memory, and cultural identity. Authors may include Benjamin, Ong, Ricoeur, Lejeune, White, Taylor.

HUMA 7P33

Trauma, Subjectivity, and Culture

Trauma studies as a field of interdisciplinary study. The relationships among trauma, subjectivity, art, and culture studied through selected theorists, such as Caruth, LaCapra, and Scarry, and selected works of art.

HUMA 7P37

Genre and Cultural Production: Form and Meaning

Genre theory and criticism of cultural productions such as film, television, literature, print, and music.

HUMA 7P51

Hermeneutics of Personal, Social, and Artistic Transformation(s)

Theories of interpretation structure subjective and intersubjective experience. Theorists may include M. Heidegger, H. G. Gadamer, P. Ricoeur, H. Marcuse, R. Ingarten, M. Foucault, and J. Habermas.

HUMA 7P52

Feminist Thought: Constructive Revisions of the Canon

Interdisciplinary approach to the role played by feminist thought in examining and reinterpreting central notions that pervade all disciplines, such as identity, individuality, alterity, rationality, knowledge, solidarity, community, engagement. Authors may include Beauvoir, Braidotti, Butler, Cixous, Fraser, Grosz, Haraway, Kristeva, Irigaray, Benhabib, Jaggar, and Ziarek.

HUMA 7P53

Colonial/Post-colonial Histories

Examination of colonial and post-colonial history, fiction, and art in colonial and settler-colonial societies.

HUMA 7P54

Subjectivity Beyond Postmodern Global Capitalism

An examination of the possibilities of reconstituting subjectivity outside the logic of capitalist identity, through theory and literature. Writers include Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Thomas Pynchon, RD Laing, Felix Guattari, Giorgio Agamben, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and others.

HUMA 7P55

Fanaticism: Political and Aesthetic Dimensions

Analysis of texts and art related to political, religious, and aesthetic extremism, excess, passion – and their value-counterparts: moderation, balance, and reason. Discussions and debates will focus on how these conceptual dichotomies have shaped thought, dissent, and creative activity from the ancient world until the present.

HUMA 7P56

Consumerism as Worldview

Explores the origins, nature and implications of consumerism as a worldview from historical, philosophical, political, cultural and ecological perspectives. Themes to be examined include: commodification; branding; ‘McDonaldization’; citizen/consumer and modern/postmodern divide; historical progress; and technology and ideology. Authors may include Marx, Arendt, Heidegger, Baudrillard.

HUMA 7P71

Theory and Praxis of Digital Humanities

Introduction to computationally-supported methods and applications for analysis, expression, and teaching in the digital humanities. Course will provide readings on topics ranging from agent-based simulations to text analysis, and practical instruction in 3D modeling and Geographic Information Systems.

Note: No programming skills required.

HUMA 7P72

Deep Maps in the Digital Humanities

Course provides a theoretical and practical overview of evolving expressive forms in the digital humanities, with a specific focus on the deep map. Students will review extant literature on the deep map, and participate in the conception, creation and design assessment of a proposed innovation for the Deep Map, expressed in Augmented Reality.

HUMA 7P73

Principles of Interactive Media: Theory and Design

Key theoretical concepts and debates related to interactivity, games, participatory media, and design. Analysis of interactive texts including videogames, augmented reality platforms, and social networking sites.

HUMA 7P90

Directed Reading

Research course with directed study and regular meetings with a faculty member, covering topics not offered in a designated course, and with permission of the Graduate Program Director.

 
Last updated: September 6, 2016 @ 11:10AM