Humanities and Justice, Bachelor of Arts

The Humanities and Justice major offers students the opportunity to explore fundamental questions about justice from a humanistic, interdisciplinary perspective. Rooted in history, literature and philosophy, Humanities and Justice prepares students for basic inquiry and advanced research into issues of justice that lie behind social policy and criminal justice as well as broader problems of social morality and equity. Its courses are designed to help students develop the skills of careful reading, critical thinking and clear writing that are necessary for the pursuit of any professional career. This major provides an excellent preparation for law school and other professional programs, for graduate school in the humanities, and for careers in law, education, public policy and criminal justice.

The Humanities and Justice curriculum involves a sequence of five interdisciplinary core courses in Humanities and Justice (designated with the HJS prefix) and seven courses from a list of humanities electives.

Learning Outcomes. Students will:

• Gain a comprehensive foundation in major concepts, underlying principles, values, issues, and theories of justice in the Western tradition.
• Gain a comprehensive foundation in non-Western traditions of justice in several historical periods through direct engagement with historical, literary, and philosophical primary texts.
• Identify and analyze the issues and theories embedded in primary texts concerning justice.
• Employ, compare and evaluate the methods of inquiry used in the disciplines of history, literary study, and philosophy.
• Produce well-reasoned, coherently written, evidence-based, argumentative analyses of primary sources.
• Investigate an original research question or research problem, and/or argue an original thesis, by engaging in a critical, rigorous, and ethical process of academic research.

 

Credits Required.

Humanities and Justice Major	36
General Education	42
Electives	42
Total Credits Required for B.A. Degree	120

 

Coordinator/Advisor. Professor Allison Kavey ([e-mail]), Department of History.  Students must review their course of study with major faculty.

Advising resources. Humanities & Justice Advising Resources (including a Sample Four Year Degree Map).. Major Checklist. 

Additional information. Students who enrolled for the first time at the College or changed to this major in September 2017 or thereafter must complete the major in the form presented here. Students who enrolled prior to that date may choose the form shown here or the earlier version of the major. A copy of the earlier version may be obtained in the 2016–2017 Undergraduate Bulletin.

Senior–level requirement. Students must complete HJS 410 Reading Scholarship in Humanities and Justice and HJS 415 Thesis in Humanities and Justice Studies.

Experiential learning opportunities. Students in the Humanities and Justice Major can participate in a variety of experiential learning opportunities over the course of their studies. During the freshman and sophomore year, students are we encouraged students to participate in experiential learning opportunities such as the Pre-Law Boot Camps. In the junior year, students are encouraged to engage in a credit-bearing n internship or practicum experience related to a career area of their choice for school credit. During the senior year, students participate in an extensive research experience associated with the capstone seminar, culminating in the presentation of original research.  Students in Humanities and Justice have interned with law firms, non-profit organizations related to social justice such as NYC Together, and participated in study abroad programs.

Part One. Foundations

Required

HJS 250	Justice in the Western Traditions	3
HJS 310	Comparative Perspectives on Justice	3
HJS 315	Research Methods in Humanities and Justice Studies	3

Total Credit Hours: 9

Part Two. Humanities and Justice Electives

Students take seven advanced elective courses in one or more of the humanities disciplines in order to explore how the fundamental assumptions, methods and general subject matter of these disciplines relate to issues of justice. These courses will be chosen by the student with faculty advisement, from the following list. Permission by the Humanities and Justice Coordinator is required for any course not listed below in Categories A, B, or C to count toward the major.

Select seven.  A minimum of 12 credits must be taken at the 300-level or above.

HIS 214	Immigration and Ethnicity in the United States	3
HIS 219	Violence and Social Change in America	3
HIS 224	A History of Crime in New York City	3
HIS 242/POL 242/LLS 242	U.S. Foreign Policy in Latin America	3
HIS 244	History of Eugenics: Science and the Construction of Race	3
HIS 252	Warfare in the Ancient Near East and Egypt	3
HIS 254	History of Ancient Greece and Rome	3
HIS 255	Famous Trials that Made History	3
HIS 256	History of Muslim Societies and Communities	3
HIS 260/LLS 260	History of Contemporary Cuba	3
HIS 264	China to 1650	3
HIS 265/LLS 265	Class, Race and Family in Latin American History	3
HIS 270	Marriage in Medieval Europe	3
HIS 274	China: 1650-Present	3
HIS 277	American Legal History	3
HIS 281	Imperialism in Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East	3
HIS 282	Selected Topics in History	3
HIS 323	History of Lynching and Collective Violence	3
HIS 325	Criminal Justice in European Society, 1750 to the Present	3
HIS 327	History of Genocide: 500 C.E. to the Present	3
HIS 340	Modern Military History from the Eighteenth Century to the Present	3
HIS 344	Topics in Legal History	3
HIS 354	Law and Society in Ancient Athens and Rome	3
HIS 356/GEN 356	Sexuality, Gender, and Culture in Muslim Societies	3
HIS 364/GEN 364	History of Gender and Sexuality: Prehistory to 1650	3
HIS 374	Premodern Punishment	3
HIS 375	Female Felons in the Premodern World	3
HIS 381	Social History of Catholicism in the Modern World	3
HIS 383	History of Terrorism	3
HJS 215	Race and Rebellion	3
HJS 380	Selected Topics in Humanities and Justice	3
LIT 219	The Word as Weapon
LIT 223/AFR 223	African-American Literature	3
LIT 265	Foundations of U.S. Latinx Literature	3
LIT 287	Selected Topics in Literature	3
LIT 305	Foundations of Literature and Law	3
LIT 311	Literature and Ethics	3
LIT 314	Shakespeare and Justice	3
LIT 315	American Literature and the Law	3
LIT 316	Gender and Identity in Literary Traditions	3
LIT 326	Crime, Punishment and Justice in U.S. Literature	3
LIT 327	Crime, Punishment and Justice in World Literature	3
LIT 340/AFR 340	The African-American Experience in America: Comparative Racial Perspectives	3
LIT 342	Perspectives on Literature and Human Rights	3
LIT 346	Cultures in Conflict	3
LIT 348	Native American Literature	3
LIT 366	Writing Nature: Literature and Ecology	3
LIT 380	Advanced Selected Topics in Literature	3
LIT 383	Gender and Sexuality in U.S. Latinx Literature	3
LLS 322	Latinx Struggles for Civil Rights & Social Justice	3
LLS 363	Il-Legal Subjects: U.S. Latinx Literature and the Law	3
LLS 364	Ethical Strains in U.S. Latinx Literature	3
PHI 203	Political Philosophy	3
PHI 205	Philosophy of Religion	3
PHI 210	Ethical Theory	3
PHI 302	The Philosophy of Rights	3
PHI 304	Philosophy of the Mind	3
PHI 310/LAW 310	Ethics and Law	3
PHI 315	Philosophy of the Rule of Law: Theory and Practice	3
PHI 317	Philosophy of Law in Global Perspective	3
PHI 322/CRJ 322	Judicial and Correctional Ethics	3
PHI 326	Topics in the History of Modern Thought	3
PHI 340	Utopian Thought	3
PHI 423	Senior Seminar in Justice and Law	3
SPA 308	The Theme of Justice in Spanish Literature	3
SPA 335	Themes of Justice in Latin American Lit & Film	3

HIS 282, LIT 287, LIT 380: HIS 282 Selected Topics in History, LIT 287 Selected Topics in Literature, LIT 380 Advanced Selected Topics in Literature and LIT 401 Special Topics may be used to satisfy the seven-course requirement of the Disciplinary Component when the topic is applicable to the Humanities and Justice major. ISP courses should be handled similarly. To get approval for these courses to count in the major, students and/or faculty must petition the major coordinator.

Total Credit Hours: 21

Part Three. Problems and Research

Required

HJS 410	Reading Scholarship in Humanities and Justice	3
HJS 415	Thesis in Humanities and Justice Studies	3

Total Credit Hours: 6

Total Credit Hours: 36