UnSt 236 Interpreting the Past

In this cluster students explore our complex and interwoven histories. While each of the courses has its own unique focus, they all have in common the use of interpretive tools the humanities and sciences offer us to examine evidence that has come from the past: that is, a prior human culture’s literature, science, technology, and/or art. By concentrating on the pre-20th century world, we investigate the diversity of our shared human past—both the continuities in human experiences across time and space, as well as the profound differences in the lives of people in other times and places. Interpreting continuities and changes in the past give students a necessary context for understanding the present.