Major

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Major

• HUMANITIES
• -- LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION --

Dr. Odile Heynders o.m.heynders_at_uvt.nl Programme
Director
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Programme
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1. Methods of Interpretation

• Lecturers Dr. O. Heynders, Prof. Dr. P. Nissen
  and Prof. Dr. H. Corbey
• This course offers the basic methodological
  strategies. reading / writing / arguing /
  legitimating
• Main question is How do we construct meaning?
• Introduction in Narratology analysis of stories
  in Novel, Film and Painting (Woolf / Rembrandt /
  La Soledad)
• Interpretation in the Historical Tradition
  (Texts)
• Interpretation of Archaeological objects
  (biological point of view)
• Final discussion What is the Meaning of Life ?

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Example What is the biblical story represented
here? How can we identify with the figures? What
was the context in which this painting was
functioning? Can we use current opinions /
discussions when we reflect on this painting?
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2. Islam and the Making of Europe

• Lecturer Prof. Dr. H. Beck
• History
• How are the three religions (Christianity, Jewish
  Religion, Islam) in Europe connected ?
• What were the influences of these religions on
  each other?
• Traces in Art, Architecture (development of
  cities) and Literature of the different religions
• Current issues
• What does it mean to be religious in a
  multicultural society?
• Does Reading of passages from the Bible, Koran
  and Torah make us understand each other?

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3. Myths of the Human

• Lecturer Prof. dr. H. Corbey
• Understanding of the Ideas on the Creation of Man
  (Traditional views of Apes, Speaking Apes)
• Darwinistic
• Approach versus
• Christian beliefs
• (Citizens and Animals
• The Monstrous Other
• Within)

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4. Exploring Rituals

• Lecturer Prof. Dr. Post and others
• What is the power of life rituals such as birth
  and death, initiation and marriage rituals?
• Are rituals new forms of engagement and
  community?
• Can we understand rituals by using clusters as
  profane/secular or inter/multi religious?
• Discussing of
• the phenomenon
• of the the silent
• march and the
• cancer forest.

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5. Politics and the European Union

• Lecturer Prof. Dr. H. Lindahl
• Main issue Are rulers the same as the ruled?
• Part 1. Models of Political Engagement
• Republicanism / Constitutional Patriotism /
  Militancy The Neo-Marxist View
• Part II. Models of Collective Identity
• Political Engagement and Collective Self-Rule /
  Co-referential Identity / Reflexive Identity
• Part III. Engagement and Identity in the Light of
  European Integration
• Foundation an ever closer union among the
  peoples of Europe
• Immigration A right to Inclusion and Exclusion?
• Conclusion Engagement as Responsiveness

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6. Imagination and Science

• Lecturer Dr. H. de Regt
• This course explores the relation between
  knowledge and imagination. Important European
  philosophers will be discussed
• Kant
• Hume
• Popper
• Kuhn
• Wittgenstein
• Peirce
• In the end the focus is on the limits of
  knowledge and the importance of imagination in
  the domain of consciousness.

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7. Identity and Language

• Lecturers Prof. Dr. S. Kroon and Prof. Dr J.
  Blommaert (UCL)
• Course is under construction
• Both lecturers are famous in the field of
  language policies, literacy and language and
  power
• . Blommaert has done research on these subjects
  in China (suburbs of Beijing) and Central Africa,
  Kroon has done research in Surinam and Eritrea.

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8. Art in Europe

• Lecturer Dr. L. Hanssen
• Starting-point is the image of Europe as it has
  developed in the arts (music, theatre, paintings,
  architecture). What is (the meaning of) Europe?
• Europe is a myth of Nations
• is a Union of Diversities
• a Museum.
• Tacit assumptions about a European identity will
  be deconstructed. For instance by comparing the
  various national hymns of the European Nations

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9. Creativity in speaking and writing

• Lecturer Dr. A. Backus
• Course is under construction
• Lecturer is a theorist of Grammar. His research
  focus is on the question how creativity is used
  by language speakers. How do we deal with words
  and their meaning, intention and rhetoric, irony
  and conventions. How can we express ourselves in
  different languages and contexts? Why do we
  misunderstand each other?

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10. Strangers to ourselves Women voices

• Lecturers Dr. O. Heynders and Prof. dr. H. Van
  Lierop
• Starting point of this course is the idea of
  stranger the foreigner, outsider or alien in a
  country and society, as well as a persons deep
  sense of being distinct from others.
• The idea of the stranger (of not being who you
  are) is worked out by the famous French
  philosopher Julia Kristeva in her reading of
  famous texts of world literature.
• We will use her concepts in discussing some texts
  by women writers in and outside Europe. Our main
  issue will be the question of borders where is
  the difference between man and woman, me and the
  other, the private and the public, literature and
  politics.
• Texts by Arundhati Roy, Assia Djebar, Gayatri
  Spivak, Helene Cixous, Hella S. Haasse, Nadine
  Gordimer, Dorris Lessing and others

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After the Major HUMANITIES

• Masters are possible both in Tilburg and
  elsewhere
• Cultural Studies Master Contesting Fields and
  grounds (UvT)
• Research Master Language and Communication (UvT)
• Under Construction 2 year Topmaster about Modern
  Europa (UvT)
• Religious Studies (UvT)
• Philosophy (UvT)
• Literary Studies (Utrecht University Leiden
  Univ., Amsterdam Univ. )
• (Journalism, Media studies, Art history,
  Musicology many more in the Netherlands and
  abroad )
• often English Masters are selective, sometimes
  it is wise to follow certain courses during the
  minor

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Profile of a Humanities Student

• You have to be interested in people and in
  ethical, political and cultural issues.
• Do not take things at face value.
• Be alert on what is happening around you, in the
  media, society, culture etc.
• You like to read and write.