32 courses with the subject HU, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
HU 3043Magical Realism
This class involves a close study of novels and short stories in the genre of magical realism within the context of an introductory writer’s workshop. Magical realism engages a combination of traditional realism infused with the fantastic, the mythical, and the nightmarish. Students will read novels and short fiction from different cultural contexts in order to compare the workings of magical realism around the world, examine other contemporary manifestations of magical realism in media, and create their own writing in the style of the genre. Prerequisite: Writing and Inquiry or faculty permission.
This course embraces and explores many forms of mass communication, applying theories to see how best to create, use, and understand everything from a news photo to a video game to a TV commercial to a political website. Students apply various media theories to a variety of examples, testing the abstract with the concrete. Prior knowledge of the conventions and traditions of media design, direction, and/or production is useful. Class sessions are a mix of lecture and discussion. HU 3221 Screenings for Media Analysis
By 1900 the world had undergone an extraordinary spread of mass industrialization, mass colonization, and mass capitalism. Over the next century, peoples, nations, and ideologies struggled to sort out what 20th-century modernity would-or should-mean, and the world witnessed breathtaking achievements in contexts of ongoing inequity, exploitation, and brutality. The legacies of this global reckoning are profound, legacies with which humanity has yet to come to terms. This course will take a case study approach to exploring the major themes of world history since 1900, including: political, economic, and cultural change; the emergence of new social patterns; imperialism and colonialism; the impact of consumerism and capitalism; the significance of technological innovation; the recurrent problems of injustice and social breakdown; the tension between individualism and collectivism; and the challenges and p
For generations, the transformative and magical powers of traditional folktales and fairytales have defined and shaped identities and characters. Indeed, these literary forms have become part of everyday culture. In this course students examine why these tales have had such staying power, the controversies that have surrounded them, and how they relate to the historical, political, and social issues of their times. From the bloody chamber of Bluebeard to the coming of age of Little Red Riding Hood, students trace the evolution of these folk narratives to the c AH/HS 3875 Readings in the Graphic Novel The graphic novel is an art form that offers the best of both worlds. While gaining legitimacy as a literary/art form, it retains the excitement and unique properties of reading a comic book. Students in this course read, discuss, and analyze graphic novels, as well as engage in critical scholarship on and about the graphic novel form. Looking at graphic novels in genres like mystery, superhero, manga, memoir, history and politics, or works beyond categorization, students examine how these stories are structured: the forms of novel, novella, and short story hel
Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 or faculty permission
HU 3420Philosophy and Art
Philosophy is based on a desire to understand history, the world around us, and the human condition. By studying these ideas, students can begin to develop contemporary questions about their world and interests. This class examines the history of philosophy and current philosophies, both Western and non-Western. Students propose philosophical and historical questions to better understand themselves and the arts in the twenty-first century. Class sessions are a mix of lecture and discussion.
This course provides an introduction to literature from a global and historical perspective, from Gilgamesh to Gabriel García Márquez, and from the poetry of classical China to that of Stalinist Russia. In the four thousand years of literary history that this course covers, students read epic and lyric poems, religious tracts, philosophical dialogues, short stories, novels, and plays. Along with a survey of literature of the world, this course introduces students to the methods and concepts of literary studies and analysis. Class sessions are a mixture of lect
Theatre is perhaps the only art form which incorporates every other art: design, literature, music, dance, and film. In this class, students will meet award-winning playwrights, directors, designers, choreographers, and musicians to learn more about how each creative discipline is applied to the ultimate collaborative process of theatrical performance. We will be introduced to the basic theories of acting, directing, and design, and practice analyzing images, songs, and scenes from professional productions. Students will travel off-campus to see one or two professional productions, in addition to professional productions at the Children’s Theatre. Most importantly, students will be encouraged to develop their own point of view about the creative choices in a AH/HS 3875 Readings in the Graphic Novel The graphic novel is an art form that offers the best of both worlds. While gaining legitimacy as a literary/art form, it retains the excitement and unique properties of reading a comic book. Students in this course read, discuss, and analyze graphic novels, as well as engage in critical scholarship on and about the graphic novel form. Looking at graphic novels in genres like mystery, superhero, manga, memoir, history and politics, or works beyond categorization, students examine how these stories are structured: the forms of novel, novella, and short story help differentiate and explain the subtleties of these forms. The class focuses on social, structural, and thematic issues of these specific texts and explores the possibilities of the form itself. CPW/HU 3915 Science Fiction and Fantasy This class combines a close study of the works of classic and contemporary fantasy/science fiction writers with a writing workshop component. The primary focus of this class is the creation of altered realities-worlds that present a reality as different, yet connected and meaningful to our own. A series of assigned writing exercises give participants in the class the chance to build their own worlds and begin the process of peopling them with appropriate characters. Class exploration focuses on developing students' own unique logic, questions, interrogations, and approaches to fantasy/science fiction genre writing. Class sessions are discussion-based.
Writing and Inquiry or faculty permission Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 or faculty permission Writing and Inquiry or faculty permission
HU 3523An Ethical Life3
What does it mean to lead “an ethical life”? This course covers the writings of ethicists from Aristotle to the present and helps students understand what they know and value. Students are challenged to realize and to act upon the principles of an ethical life in their personal and professional development. To these ends, individuals in this course explore the so-called enduring questions of truth, good, and beauty through close readings of key texts from the philosophical traditions of various cultures. Students at times employ a comparative approach, situating the Greeks as well as Enlightenment figures in relation to historical and emerging traditions, both in Western and non-Western contexts.
Rock and roll has played an essential role in the cultural history of the United States and much of the globe from the 1950s to the present. This course focuses on the evolution of this truly American art form and the way in which it has influenced and been influenced by cultures around the world. From its gospel and blues roots of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to its contemporary electronic and global manifestations, this course covers its history and variations including country and western, rhythm and blues, rock of the 1950s, Doo-wop, girl groups, the wall of sound, psychedelic, punk, and rap. Some of the material culture that rock and roll has produced is also examined. Class sessions are a mix of lecture and discussion with one 3D Shop activity. Prerequisite: Foundation: 3D
For the last half-century, the look, language, and subject matter of films have been blown wide open. This change is the work of dedicated and curious cinematic visionaries from every continent. This course explores several of their works, beginning in the 1950s and advancing to the present day. The ultimate goal is to see how these artists have challenged expectations of classical form or appropriated themes and how a globally interconnected world cinema has developed. Works by acclaimed directors are shown and compared to lesser-known filmmakers’ equally vital and influential works. Classes are primarily lecture and discussion. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 (may be taken concurrently) or faculty permission. HU 3614 Screenings for World Film: Art and Independents
In this course, students focus on non-fiction cinema. Examining different modes of documentary film which may include the expository, the observational, the participatory, the performative, the reflexive, and the poetic, students investigate how these modes shape manners in which non-fiction cinema may adopt a critical stance toward the presentation of an idea. Filmmakers and works analyzed in this course include a wide variety of perspectives from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries employing differing modes of documentary film. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 (may be taken concurrently) or faculty permission. HU 3619 Screenings for Documentary Film in Focus
HU 3635Introduction to Public, Community, and Local History3
Public, local, and community history are rapidly growing fields that combine the skills of historical research, community outreach, public and engaged art-making, and marketing and communications. Public, local, and community historians are deeply engaged with their communities over questions of placemaking, identity, authenticity, politics, and culture, and they are essential contributors to debates over the content and representation of our shared heritages, commemoration, and remembrance. This course will introduce students to some of the critical questions surrounding public history and commemoration such as the removal of problem
Art in the Cities explores the relationship between art and urban space with the Twin Cities as its primary site of investigation. This seminar-style course focuses on current exhibitions and curatorial practices in museums, galleries, artist-run spaces, and other project spaces located throughout the Twin Cities. In-class discussions examining the history and contemporary practice and politics of display in urban contexts with some emphasis on social, public, interventionist, and community-based practices is equally balanced with activities outside the classroom such as exhibition visits, artist talks, and performances. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 or faculty permission.
In this course students critically examine the cultural meanings of representations of the body in art and visual culture. Organized in roughly chronological order, the course comprises a series of case studies in the history of representation of the body in art, science, and popular culture. Topics that may be addressed include the classical nude in Greek sculpture, female saints, mystical visions of the body, aesthetic dismemberment of the body in modern and contemporary art, the transgender body, and cyber bodies. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 or faculty permission
Even after the Nazis closed its doors in 1933, the Bauhaus remains a fascinating cultural phenomenon. This experimental design school challenged the relationship between art, technology, and industrial production, creating a design philosophy that has been emulated across the world. Simultaneously a school, an idea, and a movement, the Bauhaus embodies a complex narrative shaped by contradictory responses to twentieth-century modernism. While focusing on the major designers whose works and artistic philosophies shaped the Bauhaus in Germany, this course also examines the dissemination of the Bauhaus idea in the United States. Students follow these discussions with an investigation into the role of the Bauhaus idea today. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 (may be taken concurrently) or faculty permission.
This seminar-style course explores photographic culture through focused readings in the theory and history of photography, covering the period from 1839 to the present. These texts facilitate discussions of the ways in which technological transformations and concepts like truthfulness, documentary ethics, and authorship are presented and negotiated in the work of specific photographers. This course is an opportunity for students to discuss the historical and changing philosophical nature of the photographic medium. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 (may be taken concurrently) or faculty permission.
Since the 1960s, new paradigms for art, its presentation, and its discussion have emerged. In this course students consider major issues in contemporary art through reading key critical texts and engaging with a selection of museum and gallery exhibitions, while also exploring historical contexts. Class sessions consist of seminar-style discussions, some lecture, and museum visits. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 or faculty permission.
In this course students consider major issues in contemporary design across a range of design fields as articulated through critical texts and contemporary developments. Students examine contemporary design theory along with related work and processes. This course is taught as a seminar with some lecture. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 or faculty permission HU 3875 Readings in the Graphic Novel The graphic novel is an art form that offers the best of both worlds. While gaining legitimacy as a literary/art form, it retains the excitement and unique properties of reading a comic book. Students in this course read, discuss, and analyze graphic novels, as well as engage in critical scholarship on and about the graphic novel form. Looking at graphic novels in genres like mystery, superhero, manga, memoir, history and politics, or works beyond categorization, students examine how these stories are structured: the forms of novel, novella, and short story help differentiate and explain the subtleties of these forms. The class focuses on social, structural, and thematic issues of these specific texts and explores the possibilities of the form itself. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 or faculty permission.
This class combines a close study of the works of classic and contemporary fantasy/science fiction writers with a writing workshop component. The primary focus of this class is the creation of altered realities-worlds that present a reality as different, yet connected and meaningful to our own. A series of assigned writing exercises give participants in the class the chance to build their own worlds and begin the process of peopling them with appropriate characters. Class exploration focuses on developing students' own unique logic, questions, interrogations, and approaches to fantasy/science fiction genre writing. Class sessions are discussion-based. Prerequisite: Writing and Inquiry or faculty permission.
In this course students have the opportunity to read and discuss a variety of examples of children’s literature and discuss the issues and theories that drive the scholarly field. Are literary genres defined by readers or authors? By tradition, critics, or markets? Students explore these questions and others while gaining a working knowledge of the critical skills necessary to articulate in writing and presentations an informed aesthetic and critical response to literature for children. HU 3XXX Young Adult Literature This course offers an introduction into the study of young adult literature. Students will read and critique an array of young adult novels while assessing how the genre constructs and deconstructs gender, class, race, sexual orientation, and other identity categories. Students will also consider the ways young adult literature informs our understanding of audience, genre, format and critical issues from the perspectives of publishers. Genre Writing (choose three)
This course offers an introduction into the study of young adult literature. Students will read and critique an array of young adult novels while assessing how the genre constructs and deconstructs gender, class, race, sexual orientation, and other identity categories. Students will also consider the ways young adult literature informs our understanding of audience, genre, format and critical issues from the perspectives of publishers.
Most Native American tribes do not have a word in their languages for “artist,” yet the arts are a living part of both daily life and ceremonial tradition. Focusing on the works of selected tribes, students in this course look at Native American art, architecture, and aesthetics. Emphasis is placed on the nineteenth century to the present. The impact of outside forces on continuities and changes in traditional forms is also explored. Classes are primarily lecture with some discussion. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 and a 3000-level AH or HU course, or faculty permission
Duke Ellington once said, “the pull of jazz music in American culture is so strong that no one can resist it.” Jazz is truly an American treasure that has influenced other cultures around the globe. Yet most Americans know very little about its history. This class explores jazz from its roots to its most current forms. Hear the music, study its contributions, and explore the cultural patterns and trends that surround its development. Class sessions are a mix of lecture and discussion, with some demonstrations of performance styles. Prerequisite: A 3000-level AH or HU course or faculty permission.
Duke Ellington once said, “the pull of jazz music in American culture is so strong that no one can resist it.” Jazz is truly an American treasure that has influenced other cultures around the globe. Yet most Americans know very little about its history. This class explores jazz from its roots to its most current forms. Hear the music, study its contributions, and explore the cultural patterns and trends that surround its development. Class sessions are a mix of lecture and discussion, with some demonstrations of performance styles.
Any 3000-level AH or HU course or its transferred equivalent, or faculty permission.
HU 4627Queer Media3
This course uses standards for information and media literacy (from the Association of College and Research Libraries and others) to explore issues related to queer identities, representations, methodologies, theoretical applications, and interpretations. Using the framework of literacy as a benchmark, students learn how to read "for and from the queer" in a variety of media.
Any 3000-level AH or HU course or its transferred equivalent, or faculty permission.
HU 4630Race and Ethnicity in the United States: A History3
Race and ethnicity have played significant, complicated, and more often than not misunderstood roles in the United States’ history. This course surveys the ways race and ethnicity have been constructed and understood by Americans from the colonial era to the present, focusing on the ways that class, gender, culture, and politics, as well as biology, have defined race and the way race and ethnicity have supported ideologies that have been used to both empower and subordinate the peoples of the United States.
Any 3000-level AH or HU course or its transferred equivalent, or faculty permission.
HU 4722Asian Art History
This course examines the art of Asia from its beginnings to the present day. It involves a regional approach, focusing on representative works from India, Southeast Asia, China, and Japan. While regional characteristics are emphasized, cross-cultural influences are also studied. Through a variety of media, including sculpture, architecture, and painting, students gain an understanding of the broad themes and concepts that run throughout Asian art. Students consider the role of religion, for example, and gain a basic comprehension of Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, Islam, Taoism, and Shinto. The structure of the class includes lectures, large and small group discussions, and visits to the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 and a 3000-level AH or HU course, or faculty permission
This course will examine Islamic art and architecture through religious, historical, political, and cultural practices from the seventh century to the present. Combining a thematic approach (such as kingship, gift exchange, identity, etc.) with the more traditional chronological and geographical approaches, this course will trace the visual and material culture of Islam and its global influence. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 and a 3000-level AH or HU course, or faculty permission
This course provides a comprehensive introduction to the visual art of African Americans from the Colonial period to the present. The course examines a variety of visual media from painting, sculpture, and photography to popular culture objects and mass media images. In addition, students critically examine the ways in which the constructed meanings of "blackness" intersect with representational practices of gender, sexuality, and class, as well as the training and education of artists, public and private patronage, and the history of arts criticism and art history. Class sessions include both lectures and discussions. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 and a 3000-level AH or HU course, or faculty permission.
HU 4729Art and Globalization in the Atlantic World
This course examines the impact and effects of globalization on the visual culture of the Atlantic world (defined by Europe, Africa, and the Americas) from the period of the Columbian encounter to the contemporary moment. Students examine the circulation and exchange of goods, ideas, knowledge, culture, and peoples across the Atlantic world through an investigation of visual representations, performance, and collecting practices. The course narrative is guided by thematic issues of gender, race, the politics of display, and national and cultural identities, tracing the movement of visual cultures across the Atlantic through individual case studies. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 and a 3000-level AH or HU course, or faculty permission.
This course offers students a hemispheric perspective on the study of literature, focusing on a range of works from underrepresented, marginalized, and outsider authors in the Americas from the nineteenth century to the present. Students have an opportunity to challenge conventional categorizations of writers from across the Americas-not just in the United States-by fostering transnational and transhistorical perspectives while considering concepts including identity, race, citizenship, hybridity, and nationhood. Prerequisite: Any 3000-level AH or HU course or its transferred equivalent, or faculty permission.
