Graduate Courses A-Z/
Subject-area course lists indicate courses currently active for offering at the University of Louisville. Not all courses are scheduled in any given academic term. For class offerings in a specific semester, refer to the Schedule of Classes.
500-level courses generally are included in both the undergraduate- and graduate-level course listings; however, specific course/section offerings may vary between semesters. Students are responsible for ensuring that they enroll in courses that are applicable to their particular academic programs.
Some courses may carry fees beyond the standard tuition costs to cover additional support or materials. Program-, subject- and course-specific fee information can be found on the Office of the Bursar website.
HUM 500. Honors Thesis in Humanities - WR3 Units
Prerequisite(s): Junior standing; admission to Divisional Honors Program.
Description: An intensive examination of a topical area in Humanities undertaken with a designated faculty director.
Note: Approved for the Arts and Sciences upper-level requirement in written communication (WR).
For class offerings for a specific term, refer to the Schedule of Classes
HUM 501. Independent Study1-3 Units
Prerequisite(s): Minimum grade-point average of 3.0 overall; minimum grade point average of 3.5 in the department; at least 18 hours credit in the department; consent of Division chair.
Description: Individualized study under the supervision of a sponsoring faculty member that is related to research or practice that is not included in regular courses in the curriculum.
Prerequisite(s): Minimum grade-point average of 3.0 overall; minimum grade point average of 3.5 in the department, and at least 18 hours credit in the department.
Description: Consent of Division chair.
HUM 505. Humanities Study Abroad - WR3-6 Units
Term Typically Offered: Occasionally Offered
Prerequisite(s): Participation in the University of Louisville study abroad program or a program approved by the Department of Comparative Humanities.
Description: Credit awarded upon demonstration of successful completion of program, including a paper or project and an oral or written examination administered under the supervision of a faculty member.
HUM 509. Interdisciplinary Approaches: Arts and Humanities - CUE, WR3 Units
Prerequisite(s): Junior standing; majors only.
Description: Methods and theories in interdisciplinary thinking and research, emphasizing 1) the interrelationships of the disciplines, 2) the importance of synthesizing art, theatre, literature, music, philosophy, and religion in a cultural context, and 3) the critical examination of issues arising from fields outside the Humanities that have significant impact on and synergy with the Humanities.
Note: Credit may not be earned for both HUM 509 and HUM 609.
Course Attribute(s): CUE - This course fulfills the Culminating Undergraduate Experience (CUE) requirement for certain degree programs. CUE courses are advanced-level courses intended for majors with at least 90 earned credits/senior-level status., CBL - This course includes Community-Based Learning (CBL). Students will engage in a community experience or project with an external partner in order to enhance understanding and application of academic content.
HUM 510. Methods and Theories in the Study of Religion - CUE, WR3 Units
Prerequisite(s): Completion of 90 hours and permission of instructor..
Description: A survey of major theories and methodologies in the academic study of religion from a historical perspective.
Course Attribute(s): CUE - This course fulfills the Culminating Undergraduate Experience (CUE) requirement for certain degree programs. CUE courses are advanced-level courses intended for majors with at least 90 earned credits/senior-level status.
HUM 511. Topics in the Interpretation of Sacred Texts3 Units
Prerequisite(s): Junior standing.
Description: Study in depth of sacred texts and commentaries selected from the major religions of the world: Hebrew Bible, New Testament, Qur'an, Vedas, Bhagavad Gita, and Buddhist sutras.
HUM 512. Topics in Contemporary Religious Thought3 Units
Description: In-depth study of selected contemporary writers from major world religions.
HUM 513. Topics in Comparative Religions3 Units
Description: A critical study of similarities and differences in ideas and attitudes toward significant themes in world religions.
HUM 514. Perspectives on Religious Coexistence and Conflict3 Units
Description: Through interdiscliplinary methodological and theoretical frames of analysis, exemplary cases of global, historical interreligious encounters will be explored.
Course Attribute(s): CBL - This course includes Community-Based Learning (CBL). Students will engage in a community experience or project with an external partner in order to enhance understanding and application of academic content.
HUM 515. Topics in Gender and the Humanities3 Units
Description: Specialized topics in Gender and the Humanities will be explored through advanced, interdisciplinary methodological and/or theoretical frames.
HUM 516. Topics in the Histories of Religion3 Units
Description: Advanced study of selected histories of individual religious traditions and/or interaction between religious traditions in different historical contexts.
HUM 518. Arabs & Jews in Israeli & Palestinian Literature & Cinema3 Units
Prerequisite(s): ENGL 101 and ENGL 102.
Description: Students explore the nexus of Israeli and Palestinian literature and history from the 1948 war to the present, exploring issues of empathy with the other, the commemoration of personal and collective trauma and dispossession, and the construction of peoplehood and national identity.
Note: Cross-listed with HUM 618.
HUM 524. Special Topics in Film Study3 Units
Description: An in-depth study on a specific topic to be announced in the Schedule of Courses.
Note: May be repeated up to three times for different topics.
HUM 550. Internship in Arts and Humanities3 Units
Prerequisite(s): Consent of chair of Humanities or undergraduate advisor.
Description: An individually arranged internship that combines volunteer work experience with an Arts or Humanities organization or agency with a related academic project.
Note: Course cannot be repeated for academic credit toward the degree.
HUM 555. Independent Reading2-3 Units
Prerequisite(s): Honors standing, junior standing, consent of division chair.
Description: Readings in cultural history; oral and written reports.
HUM 561. Selected Topics3 Units
Description: Content to be indicated in the Schedule of Courses.
HUM 581. Dante3 Units
Description: Study of Dante's life and major works, and the social, political, and cultural milieu which affected his literary career.
HUM 591. Perspectives on Ancient Culture - WR3 Units
Prerequisite(s): Completion of 75 undergraduate hours.
Description: Interdisciplinary study of fundamental aspects of ancient culture by means of individual readings and critical writing projects.
HUM 592. Perspectives on Medieval Culture - WR3 Units
Prerequisite(s): Completion of 75 undegraduate hours.
Description: Interdisciplinary study of fundamental aspects of medieval culture by means of individual readings and critical writing projects.
HUM 593. Perspectives on Early Modern Culture - WR3 Units
Description: Interdisciplinary study of fundamental aspects of early modern culture (seventeenth and eighteenth centuries) by means of individual readings and critical writing projects.
HUM 594. Perspectives on Modern Culture - WR3 Units
Description: Interdisciplinary study of fundamental aspects of culture in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries by means of individual readings and critical writing projects.
HUM 595. Principles of Cultural History - WR3 Units
Description: The study of major systematic views of the development on Western culture.
Note: Credit may not be received for this course and HIST 595.
HUM 596. Selected Perspectives in Humanities - WR3 Units
Description: Interdisciplinary topics to be announced in the Schedule of Courses.
HUM 608. Queer Performance3 Units
Description: What constitutes queer performance? Is queer who you are or what you do? Is sexuality all we mean by queer? What are the historical, aesthetic, and political aspects of queer performance? Integral to our theoretical discussions will be questions of practice and production: Where is queer performance staged and how is it received? How is it produced, for whom, by whom, and with what funds? Is queer inherently or even necessarily radical? Within rigid Western notions of gender, the "Queer Performer," is a gender outlaw; an individual who pushed at the edges of gender, forcing us to recognize that gender has little to do with our biological sex. Their performances of their gender(s), race(s), and/or sexuality(ies) challenges our prevailing notions of what it means to be Queer and what it means to perform identity. This course will examine the artistic and aesthetic performances of various Queer Performers to foster an understanding and appreciation of the rich diversity of the forms of performance styles and practitioners that might be called "lesbian," "gay," "transgender," and "queer," among others. Secondly, it will motivate students to examine the broad social, political, religious, and cultural contexts in which queer performance takes place. Lastly, this course will allow students to contemplate what it means to be a spectator of performance through a queer perspective, regardless of one's identity, or sexual orientation.
Note: Cross-listed with WGST 508 and WGST 608.
HUM 609. Interdisciplinary Theory: Arts and Humanities3 Units
Prerequisite(s): Graduate standing.
Description: Methods and theories in interdisciplinary thinking and research emphasizing 1) the interrelationships of the disciplines; 2) the importance of synthesizing art, theatre, literature, music, philosophy, and religion in a cultural context; and 3) the critical examination of issues arising from fields outside the Humanities that have significant impact on the synergy with the Humanities.
HUM 610. Methods and Theories in the Study of Religion3 Units
Description: In-depth study of sacred texts and commentaries selected from the major religions of the world: Hebrew Bible, New Testament, Qur'an, Vedas, Bhagavad Gita, and Buddhist sutras.
Description: Through interdisciplinary methodological and theoretical frames of analysis, exemplary cases of global, historical interreligious encounters will be explored.
Description: Specialized topics in Gender and the Humanities will be explored through advanced interdisciplinary methodological and/or theoretical frames.
Description: Advanced study of selected histories of individual religious traditions and/or interaction between religious traditions in different historical contexts
HUM 618. Arabs and Jews in Israeli & Palestinian Literature & Cinema3 Units
HUM 635. Seminar in Humanities3 Units
Description: Content to be indicated in Schedule of Courses.
HUM 636. Seminar in Civic Leadership3 Units
Description: Introductory course in Humanities and Civic Leadership, critically exploring notions of the individual, freedom, community, and leadership. Required for MA concentration in Humanities and Civic Leadership.
HUM 637. American Thought and Culture3 Units
Description: Introduction to history of ideas in terms of twentieth-century American thought and culture, with an emphasis on community values and the arts.
HUM 640. Graduate Reading Knowledge3 Units
Grading Basis: Pass/Fail
Prerequisite(s): Graduate standing or consent of chair.
Description: Intensive language course, designed for graduate students who are preparing for language reading examinations. Provides reading knowledge of a foreign language by focusing on fundamentals and translation.
Note: Cross-listed with M L 640.
Note: The credits may not be used as part of the graduate program.
Note: May be repeated up to 3 times for different languages.
HUM 645. Thesis Guidance1-6 Units
Prerequisite(s): Approval of chair.
HUM 650. Graduate Internship3-6 Units
Prerequisite(s): Approval of chair or graduate advisor.
Description: Enrollment limited to students pursuing the MA concentration in Humanities and Civic Leadership. An individually arranged internship, combining a volunteer work experience in an Arts/Humanities organization or agency with a related academic project.
HUM 651. Independent Study3 Units
Description: A research project directed by a member of the division faculty involving independent investigation, interpretation, and application, culminating in an academic research paper or directed study project report.
HUM 653. Doctoral Project I3 Units
Description: A series of exercises leading to the completion of four book reviews suitable for publication in journals in the student's field. The project is directed by a faculty member working with the student individually.
HUM 654. Doctoral Project II1-3 Units
Description: A series of exercises leading to the completion of an article suitable for a publication in the student's field. The project is directed by a faculty member working with the student individually.
HUM 655. Directed Study Project3 Units
Prerequisite(s): Graduate standing and approval of the chair or graduate advisor.
Description: A directed study project involving investigation, interpretation, and application culminating in a non-thesis alternative.
HUM 660. Proseminar: Introduction to Doctoral Study3 Units
Prerequisite(s): Graduate standing, doctoral students only.
Description: An overview of Humanities doctoral studies, from basic doctoral and post-doctoral procedures (seminar and conference papers, journal and book publications, the dissertation, the academic job market, jobs for PhDs beyond academe, and more) through an introduction to the general types of advanced modern and contemporary theory students are likely to encounter in courses that follow.
HUM 661. Historical Perspectives on Arts & Culture I3 Units
Description: Introduction to interdisciplinary critical analysis of the arts and humanities in their historical context providing a foundation for close examination of individual works representative of specific periods.
HUM 662. Historical Perspectives on Arts & Culture II3 Units
HUM 663. Global Perspectives on Arts & Culture3 Units
Description: Advanced exploration of contributions to thought and the arts from those sectors of global society often overlooked: indigenous peoples and peoples of the conceptual East and South. Rather than progressing through historical periods, the course materials are arranged analytically, by theme, such as "Difference," "Empire," "Migration," and "Adaptation".
HUM 671. Introduction to Public History3 Units
Term Typically Offered: Fall Only
Description: Introduction to methods and theory in the field of public history.
Note: Cross-listed with HIST 597 and HIST 697.
HUM 672. Interdisciplinary Seminar3 Units
Description: Advanced interdisciplinary research and analysis of selected issues in the Arts and Humanities. Content to be indicated in the Schedule of Courses.
Note: May be repeated up to three times.
HUM 673. Topics in Cultural Theory3 Units
Description: Exploration of advanced theory regarding the formation and maintenance of, and issues in, culture from a social perspective.
HUM 674. Topics in Aesthetic Theory3 Units
Description: Exploration of advanced theory regarding the formation and maintenance of, and issues in, aesthetics and aesthetic approaches to culture.
HUM 681. Topics in Aesthetics and Creativity3 Units
Description: Topics to be co-listed with selected departmental offerings.
Note: May be repeated up to a maximum of five times.
HUM 682. Topics in Studies in Culture3 Units
HUM 683. Exercises in Interdisciplinary Research3 Units
Description: Intensive workshop on the pursuit of research between divergent disciplines, with coverage of theories and methodologies of such work and an individual project drawn from the students' own areas of interest.
HUM 689. Reading for Comprehensive Examinations3 Units
Prerequisite(s): Restricted to students who are completing or have completed course work and are preparing for exams.
Description: Directed reading on topics of student's comprehensive exams; reading lists are negotiated between student and directors of examination areas.
Note: May not be repeated for credit.
HUM 699. Interdisciplinary Capstone Symposium3 Units
Description: Symposium for candidates completing their content course work during the current academic year.
HUM 700. Dissertation Research1-9 Units
Prerequisite(s): Graduate standing and approval of chair or graduate advisor.
Description: Dissertation research