Histories and Theories of the Academic Humanities

This course introduces students to the humanities as a field of knowledge within the academy. What are the forms of inquiry that have traditionally defined the humanities, and what is the place of these forms within the architecture of the modern research university? In pursuit of answers, we will range from histories of individual humanistic disciplines to publications within the expanding field of critical university studies. We will also examine the local history of humanistic study on Princeton's campus, and its alignment with (and divergence from) national and international trends in the development of the humanistic disciplines.