Last updated: July 11, 2019 @ 09:13AM
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
Associate Dean
J. Keri Cronin
Faculty of Humanities
Core Faculty
Professors
Irene Maria F. Blayer (Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures), Leah Bradshaw (Political Science), Christine Daigle (Philosophy), Martin Danahay (English Language and Literature), 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), Brian E. Power (Music), Mark Spencer (History), Elizabeth Sauer (English Language and Literature)
Associate Professors
Gregory Betts (English Language and Literature), John Bonnett (History/Digital Humanities), Gale Coskan-Johnson (English Language and Literature), Stefan Dolgert (Political Science), David Fancy (Dramatic Arts), Margot Francis (Women's and Gender Studies/Sociology), Allison Glazebrook (Classics), Scott Henderson (Communication, 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), Matthew Royal (Music), Daniel Samson (History), Cristina Santos (Communication, Popular Culture and Film), R. Angus K. Smith (Classics), Susan Spearey (English Language and Literature), Linda Steer (Visual Arts), Donna Szoke (Visual Arts)
Assistant Professors
Alexander Christie (Centre for Digital Humanities), Jason Hawreliak (Centre for Digital Humanities), Peter Lester (Communication, Popular Culture and Film), Andrew Pendakis (English Language and Literature)
Adjunct Professors
Hans Skott-Myhre (Child and Youth Studies)
Graduate Program Director
Mathew Martin (As of July 1, 2018)
mmartin@brocku.ca
Administrative Assistant
Brittany Nagy
huma@brocku.ca
Program Description
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, Technology and 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 as 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
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. An interview may be required.
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
Course Work
All students must obtain approval of their proposed program of study from the GPD prior to registration each term. Students must take 4 courses in addition to the two core seminars (HUMA 7P01 and HUMA 7P02) and in addition to the Research and Professionalization seminar (HUMA 7N07). Except with the approval of the GPD, students may take a maximum of one half-credit course elective. Courses are to reflect the interdisciplinary nature of the program. These may be drawn from the Faculty of Graduate Studies course bank (at the MA or PhD level) or may be the Directed Reading course (HUMA 7P90). Students may only take the Directed Reading (HUMA 7P90) course once.
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 short passage of approximately 750 words into English. Use of a dictionary is permitted. The exam is pass/fail and may be taken as many times as is necessary for the student to pass the exam. The student is responsible for informing the GPD that she or he is prepared to write the exam, and the student must pass the exam before defending her or his thesis. The GPD will select texts in the language chosen by the student and their supervisor. The GPD will administer the exam. The exams will be anonymized and assessed by one examiner. Students will have 2 hours to write their exam.
The language chosen is to be related to the program of study and must be approved by the supervisor. In cases where no other language than English is relevant to the program of study, reading competence in French will be required. Evidence of passing a similar language exam in an MA degree may take the place of the PhD language exam at the discretion of the GPD and the Program Committee.
Students are required to take the research and professionalization seminar (HUMA 7N07) in both first and second year of the program.
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 examinations.
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. The general exam will cover two of the four fields of specialization and will be based on a reading list provided by the Program Committee.
Course Descriptions
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 7P21
Buddhism and Psychoanalysis
Interdisciplinary study of the relationship between Buddhism and psychoanalysis as it has developed from Freud to the present. Theorists such as Freud, Hui-neng, D.T. Suzuki, Lacan, Mari Ruti and Z︣iz︣ek.
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 7P57
Current Questions about Education, Democracy and the Public Good
Examination of current and historical perspectives on the relationship between democracy and education, and threats to the public good. Humanities approach to education that explores populism, radicalism, political apathy, individualization, academic freedom, and indoctrination.
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.