Arts and Humanities

Students complete two sections of HONR 2053 between their second and fourth years. HONR 2053 courses offer a thematic, multidisciplinary, and cross-cultural analysis of the arts and artistic expression.

Fall 2024 Courses

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Autobiography and History
The History of Coups d'Etat in the Twentieth Century

Cross-listed Honors courses

NOTE: Students must be registered in the HONR section in order to receive UHP credit. For courses that are cross-listed with another department, the UHP can add "credit" for a course to the student's DegreeMAP within the major and/or minor's requirements block. Students must have officially declared the major or minor with their respective school, and it must be reflected on their DegreeMAP at the time of the request. Students may also petition their school/major to accept HONR courses they find are relevant to their curriculum requirements. For any questions, please see a UHP Program Manager.

A cross-listed course is a course that is shared with another department, please pay careful attention to the GPAC attributes associated with each cross-listed course.

South Asian Art
The Life of Things
Democracy and American Political Culture
Other People's Bios

Upper-Level Course Substitution Option

On occasion, a UHP student may have a particular interest in a certain course or topic outside of their major which we are not able to offer formally through the UHP but which may nonetheless conform to some or all of the ideals of an Honors course. If a UHP student can demonstrate that they will benefit personally and intellectually from that course, they may be granted an exception to count one non-UHP course toward the UHP upper-level course requirements. Please review the upper-level course substitution option webpage for more information.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: A History

Professor Christopher Brick

HONR 2053:10 - 3 Credits

CRN: 84251

TR 12:45PM - 2:00PM

Fulfills:

GPAC Critical Thinking in the Humanities

Course Description: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is one of the world’s most recognizable documents, “the foundation of international human rights law,” according to the United Nations, and one of the most widely-reprinted texts in human history. While its framers theorized the UDHR as a “Magna Carta for all,” opponents and detractors have routinely cast it instead as an empty vessel, at best, and at worst a dangerous tool of oppression. Is it either of these things, neither, or something else entirely? This course will invite students to consider these questions anew as it examines the Declaration’s conceptual origins in the ancient past, the historical context that led the UN General Assembly to formalize and promulgate a human rights coda in 1948, and the UDHR’s colorful evolution into a flashpoint of controversy for activists, policymakers, intellectuals, and the international community writ large. Please note that in researching their term projects for this course, students will be required to draw upon resources from the permanent collection of the Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project, a research center of the GW History Department and archive of UDHR materials that UNESCO has designated “vital to global heritage and personhood."

Bio: Dr. Brick is an editor and principle investigator of the Eleanor Roosevelt Papers project at GW and one of the hosts of the Organization of American Historians’ podcast Intervals.

Autobiography and History

Professor Christopher Brick

HONR 2053:11 - 3 Credits

CRN: 87691

TR 2:20PM - 3:35PM

Fulfills:

GPAC Critical Thinking in the Humanities

Course Description: This is a course about American autobiography, the way it has shaped our knowledge of US history, and the key figures, texts, and events that interconnect both kinds of non-fiction across time and space. Through reference to the personal memoirs that loom largest in retellings of the American past, students will encounter works by the likes of Benjamin Franklin, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Ulysses Grant, Malcolm X, and other historically consequential memoirists and autobiographers. We will examine the context that gave rise to the publication of their life stories, the reception their work received, the nature of the audience they were creating, and the manifold ways their work imprinted American politics, culture, society, and law. As part of the coursework for this class, students will also participate in the forensic reconstruction of unpublished autobiographical materials recovered and managed as part of the The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project’s permanent collection, a special-access archive that lives here on the GWU campus and is open/unrestricted to students enrolled in Honors 2053:11.

Bio: Dr. Brick is an editor and principle investigator of the Eleanor Roosevelt Papers project at GW and one of the hosts of the Organization of American Historians’ podcast Intervals.

The History of Coups d'Etat in the Twentieth Century: A Comparative Examination of the Nature of Political Power and Violence

Professor Seth Rotramel

HONR 2053:13 - 3 Credits

CRN: 84252

M 3:30PM - 6:00PM

Fulfills:

GPAC Critical Thinking in the Humanities

Course Description: This course examines the timing and causes of the seizure of executive power by the use or threat of force by some segment of a state’s ruling class or state apparatus. By looking at both long and short-term causes of coups, we will seek to better understand the nature of political power through the lens of political violence. After defining what a coup is and investigating theoretical underpinnings, the course will take a deep dive into a number of case studies that occurred during the twentieth century. Not confining ourselves to any one country or region, these case studies provide a comparative approach that will augment our theoretical understanding with real world examples. Investigating the dramatic events leading up to and following a coup d’état will also serve as a vehicle to examine broader issues affecting humanity. Thus, by examining illegal seizures of governments, we will also be studying the political consequences of poverty, inequality, modernization, political fractionalization, and coercive production structures.

Bio: Dr. Rotramel has served as a historian for the State Department since 2011 and focuses on the history of American diplomacy. He recently compiled and edited a Foreign Relations of the United States documentfocused on the Carter administration’s approach to the South Asia region in response to the shifting political landscape at the end of the 1970s.

South Asian Art

Professor Mika Natif

HONR 2053:80 - 3 Credits

CRN: 87694

TR 12:45PM - 2:00PM

Fulfills:

This course has no GPAC designations

***Note that UHP students will only receive Arts & Humanities credit if they are enrolled in the HONR 2053 section (CRN: 87694)***

Course cross listed with CAH 2191.80 (CRN: 87275)

Course Description: This course introduces students to the visual and material cultures of South Asia from early archaeological settlements to the contemporary period. The history of South Asian art is remarkably rich, diverse, and complex, consisting of many distinct but interconnected traditions and practices. Working chronologically, we will sample objects and sites from some of the key periods and places in its long history. Students will acquire knowledge of different cultures and their artistic practices, as well as the corresponding geographical, political, and religious contexts. While it is not possible to cover every period, culture, and faith in South Asia, the aim is for students to gain an overview of some of the major moments and achievements in the art history of the region and an understanding that ‘South Asian art’ is not a monolithic style or culture but a complex web of ideas, idioms, and interchanges.

Bio: Prof. Natif is an Associate Professor of Art History. A specialist in Islamic art, Mika Natif focuses on the intercultural exchanges and global connections that Muslim societies forged with the European sphere during the premodern period.

The Life of Things

Professor Jenna Weissman Joselit

HONR 2053:81 - 3 Credits

CRN: 87696

M 3:30PM - 5:20PM

Fulfills:

This course has no GPAC designations

***Note that UHP students will only receive Arts & Humanities credit if they are enrolled in the HONR 2053 section (CRN: 87696)***

Course cross listed with HIST 2001.80 (CRN: 87431)

Course Description: This interdisciplinary humanities seminar takes a hard and searching look at stuff - furniture, clothing, shoes, religious artifacts, building materials, toys, tools and home décor - all with an eye toward understanding our relationship to the material world. Focused largely, though not exclusively on the United States, it explores the ways in which objects contain a wealth of ideas about authenticity, convenience, craft, faith, heritage, taste and value. This course should appeal especially to those interested in museums and public history, design and social engineering, as well as to those who enjoy watching "Antiques Roadshow," and scouring the flea market.

Bio: Dr. Joselit is the Charles E. Smith Professor of Judaic Studies & Professor of History. Among her many areas of academic study, she specializes in the history and culture of America’s Jews and also writes a monthly column on American Jewish culture for Tablet: The Online Magazine of Jewish Culture.

Democracy and American Political Culture

Professor Elisabeth Anker

HONR 2053:83 - 3 Credits

CRN: 87699

M 3:30PM - 6:00PM

Fulfills:

This course has no GPAC designations

***Note that UHP students will only receive Arts & Humanities credit if they are enrolled in the HONR 2053 section (CRN: 87699)***

Course cross listed with AMST 3950.80 (CRN: 87658)

Course Description: This class will examine major concepts, practices, and cultural visions of democracy in the United States (and in a transnational context). Democracy is one of the most widely-valued systems for organizing politics and political culture, yet there is significant disagreement about the core ideals and practices that comprise it. This class will examine a variety of cultural, literary, and theoretical texts on the promises and perils of democracy in the US. As this is an election year, we will also explore visions of presidential power. The class will make 2-3 field trips around DC.

Bio: Prof. Anker is a Professor of American Studies and Political Science. Her research and teaching interests are at the intersection of political theory and cultural studies, with a focus on practices of freedom, violence, and power in US politics and culture.

Other People's Bios

Professor Jenna Weissman Joselit

HONR 2053W:81 - 3 Credits

CRN: 85613

M 12:45PM - 2:25PM

Fulfills:

WID Course
This course has no GPAC designations

***Note that UHP students will only receive Arts & Humanities credit if they are enrolled in the HONR 2053 section (CRN: 85613)***

Course cross listed with HIST 3001W.83 (CRN: 87466) and JSTD 2002.82 (CRN: 87572)

Course Description: The lives of others, be they saints or sinners, celebrities or just plain folks, fascinates us. Sometimes we turn to them out of curiosity; at other moments, we seek inspiration, and at still other moments, we’re drawn in by the juicy bits. A mix of motivations also prompts people to write about themselves. Sometimes they attempt to set the record straight or to settle a score; at other moments, they seek forgiveness or reconciliation; and at other times, they have a great story to tell of a life well-lived.

It's to these varied expressions of the self that this interdisciplinary seminar attends. Through a series of case studies that encompass autobiography and autofiction, biography and bio-pics, memoir, obituaries and reminiscences, as well as the diaries, letters, objects, portraiture and photo albums on which they’re based, we’ll explore up close & personal what makes us tick.