Program Scope

The program enables students to seek understanding of cultural experience through interdisciplinary study of the humanities. Social conduct, values, and artistic insights reflecting many human communities are studied in the undergraduate and graduate programs. Humanities majors develop methods of bringing the various humanities, such as literature, music, visual forms, and architecture, into an integrative view of the world's cultural diversity.

Students who wish to base their careers on broad knowledge of American and world cultures will find this major applicable to posts in government, business, education, and the arts. Practical training in a specific professional field (library work, foreign teaching or career service, journalism, museum work, etc.) may well be taken in conjunction with the major or the minor in Humanities. Students earning the B.A. in Humanities may qualify themselves for high school teaching credentials in English or History by completing the appropriate single-subject teaching credential after completion of the M.A. in Humanities. Those earning the M.A. in Humanities are qualified to seek part-time teaching opportunities in community colleges.

For the B.A. in Humanities, students must complete a core of four courses in basic methods of understanding culture through the humanities, and then choose combinations of courses in European, American, Latin American, Asian, and Cross-Cultural Studies; in one of these culture-study areas, additional courses will be chosen, making it the area of emphasis in the major. Students must also complete HUM 690, the Humanities Senior Seminar, in their junior year. Up to three appropriate courses in related departments such as ethnic studies, English, art, and music may be included in the major with an adviser's approval.

Students minoring in Humanities must complete four core courses and three additional courses in one or more of the culture-study areas, depending upon the emphasis desired.

The department's lower division General Education courses (HUM 130, 220, and 225) or other lower division courses concerned with ideas, social conditions, and art forms are recommended for students planning to major or minor in Humanities. Study or practical experience toward mastery of a foreign language is strongly recommended along with the major or minor.

To Apply to the Program
To apply to the Humanities B.A. Program go to Enrollment Services in the SFSU homepage.

European Cultural Studies
Six units selected from the following or other appropriate courses on advisement: 365 (European great figures ) 367 , 375 (London, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Athens, Florence, Leningrad, Vienna, other European cities), 315, 401, 402, 405, 404, 405, 406, 407, 408, 410, 412, 413, 415, 432, 433, 440, 445.

American Cultural Studies
Six units selected from the following or other appropriate courses approved on advisement: 365 (American and Latin American great figures), 375 (New York, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, other North American and Latin American cities), 376 (San Francisco), 450, 455, 470, 480, 485, 490, 495.

Asian Cultural Studies
Six units selected from the following or other appropriate courses approved on advisement: 365 (Asian great figures), 366 (Gandhi), 375 (Beijing, Tokyo, Delhi, other Asian cities), 507, 525, 526, 530.

Cross-Cultural Studies
Three units selected from the following or other appropriate courses approved on advisement: 365 (great figures from outside Europe, the Americas and Asia); 375 (cities outside Europe, the Americas, and Asia); 315, 320, 345, 360, 361, 377, 390, 496, 501, 510, 520, 550.

Additional Courses
Six additional units selected from one of the above culture-study areas, or other appropriate courses approved on advisement.

Total units for major (42)

Note: Up to three appropriate courses (nine units) in related departments or programs may be substituted for departmental course work in the culture-study areas.