For current Graduate Humanities Seminars, see here.
Spring 2024
CULS 600: Selected Topics – Appalachian Studies Research, Arranged (contact Director)
For students enrolled in the Appalachian Studies Certificate who are working on research projects in the Appalachian region. Registration by permission only. Contact the Director.
HUMN 602: Historical Studies (Lassiter), Wednesdays, 7 – 9:50 PM
Core course acquaints students with problems of historical knowledge, changes in the interpretation of history, nature of historical forces, and methods of historical research.
This course will include a virtual option.
Luke Eric Lassiter is director of the Graduate Humanities Program and professor of humanities and anthropology.
For students who need to conduct independent research and/or reading in a specific topic in the humanities, the Program will offer independent studies in those topics as funds allow. Contact the Director for more information. Examples of Special Topics might include:
* Museum Studies
* Film Criticism
* Studies in Appalachian Music
* Studies in Poetry
* Language and Communication
HUMN 680 – Independent Research Symposium, Arranged (contact Director)
A pro-seminar required of all Humanities degree students who are beginning the thesis or final project. Arranged with the Program Director.
In this course, students will read classic Appalachian texts and encounter old traditions and new visions revealed within the region’s fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Within this literary exploration, students will explore perceptions of Appalachia to discover, and perhaps, uncover what comprises the soul of this vast region.
Cat Pleska holds an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Goucher College in Baltimore. She teaches Creative Writing for the Marshall English Department. Her publications include Riding on Comets: A Memoir, as well as personal essays and fiction in many literary magazines.
Fall 2023
CULS 600: Selected Topics – Folklife in Appalachia Today (Hilliard), Tuesdays, 7 – 9:50 PM (VIRTUAL)
What is folklife and what is its relevance to everyday life today? How can a folkloric approach help us understand grassroots culture as it evolves in community and place-based contexts and how might that lens be beneficial to work in the public arts and humanities? In this seminar we will study the history, discipline, and methodology of folklore as it applies to a diverse range of cultural forms in contemporary Appalachia, from teachers’ strike signs to local pro-wrestling, gospel music to hot dogs. After being trained in collaborative ethnography and documentation methods, students will carry out their own fieldwork in collaboration with a cultural community, artist, or practitioner living and working in Appalachia. The course will rely on active participatory critical analysis and discussion, a general curiosity for research and community engagement, and deep listening skills.
Emily Hilliard is the Program Director for Folk and Traditional Arts at Mid Atlantic Arts, managing the Central Appalachia Living Traditions program. She is also a 2020-2021 American Folklife Center Archie Green Fellow, for a project documenting rural mail carriers in Central Appalachia. From 2015-2021, Hilliard worked as the West Virginia State Folklorist and Founding Director of the West Virginia Folklife Program at the West Virginia Humanities Council. She holds an M.A. in folklore from the University of North Carolina, and a B.A. in English and French from the University of Michigan. Her book, Making Our Future: Visionary Folklore and Everyday Culture in Appalachia, was published by the University of North Carolina Press in November 2022.
HUMN 604: Expository Writing for Research (Hatfield), Thursdays, 7 – 9:50 PM
This core writing course develops proficiency in writing for research.
This course will include a virtual component. Contact the Director for more information.
Trish Hatfield is the Assistant Director of the Graduate Humanities Program. She holds an MFA in creative nonfiction from West Virginia Wesleyan College. She is the editor of Graduate Humanities, our Program newsletter in its 46th year of publication; a co-author of the award-winning I’m Afraid of that Water: A Collaborative Ethnography of a West Virginia Water Crisis, and editor of the recently published Octopus, Elephant, Beehive: An Appreciative Inquiry into a Thriving Step By Step, among other works.
For students who need to conduct independent research and/or reading in a specific topic in the humanities, the Program will offer independent studies in those topics as funds allow. Contact the Director for more information. Examples of Special Topics might include:
* Museum Studies
* Film Criticism
* Studies in Appalachian Music
* Studies in Poetry
* Language and Communication
HUMN 680 – Independent Research Symposium, Arranged (contact Director)
A pro-seminar required of all Humanities degree students who are beginning the thesis or final project. Arranged with the Program Director.
LITS 600: Selected Topics – Memoir (Pleska), Mondays, 7 – 9:50 PM (VIRTUAL)
Memoir (from French, meaning memory or reminiscence) is a collection of memories that an individual writes about moments or events that took place in one’s life. Memoir has been with us since the times of Seneca and St. Augustine’s Confessions, but it has only been in the last several decades that the genre has stepped up in its rightful place next to poetry and fiction. This class will explore this literary nonfiction genre via readings of major texts and selections. You need not have extensive practice in writing to take this course, but you will be asked to explore your own experiences to capture a true revelation of what it means to remember, to reflect, and to shape those memories in your own voice. The course may be taken by non-degree students.
Cat Pleska holds an MFA in creative nonfiction from Goucher College. She is a 7th generation West Virginian and her memoir, Riding on Comets, was published in 2015 by WVU Press. She is a former book reviewer and radio essayist, and is currently working on a collection of travel/personal essays, The I’s Have It: Travels in Ireland and Iceland.
Summer 2023 (B TERM: MAY 15-AUG 4)
CULS 600: Selected Topics – Appalachian Studies Research, Arranged (contact Director)
For students enrolled in the Appalachian Studies Certificate who are working on research projects in the Appalachian region. Registration by permission only. Contact the Director.
CULS 612: Time & Place in Appalachia, Mondays, 7 – 9:50 PM (VIRTUAL) (Lassiter)
This interdisciplinary course orients students to the importance of geography, topography, and geology to the history and development of the Appalachian region.
Luke Eric Lassiter is director of the Graduate Humanities Program and professor of humanities and anthropology.
HUMN 600: Introduction to Graduate Study in the Humanities, Tuesdays, 7 – 9:50 PM (Lassiter)
Interdisciplinary core course addresses questions/concepts central to the humanities. Texts from philosophy, history, literature, the arts and the sciences provide insights into selected historical periods.
This course will include a virtual component. Contact the Director for more information.
For students who need to conduct independent research and/or reading in a specific topic in the humanities, the Program will offer independent studies in those topics as funds allow. Contact the Director for more information. Examples of Special Topics might include:
* Museum Studies
* Film Criticism
* Studies in Appalachian Music
* Studies in Poetry
* Language and Communication
HUMN 680 – Independent Research Symposium, Arranged (contact Director)
A pro-seminar required of all Humanities degree students who are beginning the thesis or final project. Arranged with the Program Director.
Spring 2023
CULS 600: Selected Topics – Appalachian Studies Research, Arranged (contact Director)
For students enrolled in the Appalachian Studies Certificate who are working on research projects in the Appalachian region. Registration by permission only. Contact the Director.
CULS 611: Appalachian Studies: Themes & Voices (Pleska), Mondays, 7 – 9:50 PM (VIRTUAL)
This interdisciplinary course orients students to the significant issues and research in Appalachian studies. Important political, social, and cultural issues will be considered. Research areas are introduced.
Cat Pleska, MFA, is a 7th generation West Virginian and her memoir, Riding on Comets, was published in 2015 by WVU Press. She is a former book reviewer and radio essayist, and is currently working on a collection of travel/personal essays, The I’s Have It: Travels in Ireland and Iceland.
HIST 600: Selected Topics – Colonial Imaginings of Appalachia (Green), Tuesdays, 7-9:50 PM (VIRTUAL)
A seminar exploring how the Appalachian mountains were the first wild west. This seminar will situate and consider primary texts, read foundational scholarship, think (with care) about American Indians, and interrogate damning American mythologies that have grown around moments such as the Wilderness Road as well as scholarly mythologies that Appalachia, as a region, didn’t exist until after the Civil War. We will read and think wide and deep, from their first penetration and pillage of Native People’s lands by De Soto to Dutch rifles galore with the Iroquois, leading to the largest Native Empire in the US colonial era and their Mourning Wars. From English conquest of Ireland and the land clearances in Scotland to the Scott-Irish and German frontier buttresses for English tide water wealth, with enslaved people core to both. From Cherokee woman leaders to the scheming Ohio [Land] Company, to which our founding Fathers were core, that helped spark the French-Indian War.
Chris Green is Director of the Loyal Jones Appalachian Center at Berea College. Chris began his studies of Appalachia in 1988 as an undergraduate of the University of Kentucky, and taught Appalachian literature at Marshall University from 2004 to 2012 where he was a professor of English and Graduate Humanities. Chris’s extended bio is available here.
HUMN 605: Western Traditions and Contemporary Cultures (Lassiter), Thursdays, 7 – 9:50 PM (HYBRID)
Using primary materials from different cultural periods, as well as contemporary critical analyses, this core course explores epistemological questions that underlie conflicts between cultures.
Luke Eric Lassiter is director of the Graduate Humanities Program and professor of humanities and anthropology.
For students who need to conduct independent research and/or reading in a specific topic in the humanities, the Program will offer independent studies in those topics as funds allow. Contact the Director for more information. Examples of Special Topics might include:
* Museum Studies
* Film Criticism
* Studies in Appalachian Music
* Studies in Poetry
* Language and Communication
HUMN 680 – Independent Research Symposium, Arranged (contact Director)
A pro-seminar required of all Humanities degree students who are beginning the thesis or final project. Arranged with the Program Director.
Fall 2022
CULS 600: Selected Topics – Appalachian Studies Research, Arranged (contact Director)
For students enrolled in the Appalachian Studies Certificate who are working on research projects in the Appalachian region. Registration by permission only. Contact the Director.
HIST 600: Selected Topics – Oral History and Ethnography (Lassiter), Thursdays, 7-9:50 PM
This course will involve exploration of oral history research and ethnographic methods. Participants will work with oral history and ethnographic texts, as well as engage in research and writing on local topics.
Luke Eric Lassiter is director of the Graduate Humanities Program and professor of humanities and anthropology.
HUMN 604: Expository Writing for Research (Lassiter), Wednesdays, 7 – 9:50 PM
This core writing course develops proficiency in writing for research.
For students who need to conduct independent research and/or reading in a specific topic in the humanities, the Program will offer independent studies in those topics as funds allow. Contact the Director for more information. Examples of Special Topics might include:
* Museum Studies
* Film Criticism
* Studies in Appalachian Music
* Studies in Poetry
* Language and Communication
HUMN 680 – Independent Research Symposium, Arranged (contact Director)
A pro-seminar required of all Humanities degree students who are beginning the thesis or final project. Arranged with the Program Director.
LITS 600: Selected Topics – Fiction in Appalachia (Pleska), Mondays, 7 – 9:50 PM (VIRTUAL)
Fiction in Appalachia has a long and storied history. We have award-winning and world-class caliber authors and literature. In this course, we’ll read and discuss a selection of these fiction works. Students will also have the opportunity to write fiction as well.
Cat Pleska, MFA, is a 7th generation West Virginian and her memoir, Riding on Comets, was published in 2015 by WVU Press. She is a former book reviewer and radio essayist, and is currently working on a collection of travel/personal essays, The I’s Have It: Travels in Ireland and Iceland.
Summer 2022
CULS 610: Seminar in Appalachian Culture (Lassiter), Wednesdays, 7 – 9:50 PM
Exploration of selected aspects of culture (e.g., art, music, folklore, history, literature), emphasizing regional culture from an interdisciplinary perspective.
Luke Eric Lassiter is director of the Graduate Humanities Program and professor of humanities and anthropology.
CULS 600: Selected Topics – Appalachian Studies Research, Arranged (contact Director)
For students enrolled in the Appalachian Studies Certificate who are working on research projects in the Appalachian region. Registration by permission only. Contact the Director.
HUMN 600: Introduction to Graduate Study in the Humanities (Lassiter), Thursdays, 7 – 9:50 PM
Interdisciplinary core course addresses questions/concepts central to the humanities. Texts from philosophy, history, literature, the arts and the sciences provide insights into selected historical periods.
For students who need to conduct independent research and/or reading in a specific topic in the humanities, the Program will offer independent studies in those topics as funds allow. Contact the Director for more information. Examples of Special Topics might include:
* Museum Studies
* Film Criticism
* Studies in Appalachian Music
* Studies in Poetry
* Language and Communication
HUMN 680 – Independent Research Symposium, Arranged (contact Director)
A pro-seminar required of all Humanities degree students who are beginning the thesis or final project. Arranged with the Program Director.
Spring 2022
CULS 540: World Religions (Lassiter), Thursdays, 7 – 9:50 PM
Study of several religions as they developed within their individual times and cultures.
Luke Eric Lassiter is director of the Graduate Humanities Program and professor of humanities and anthropology.
CULS 600: Selected Topics – Appalachian Studies Research, Arranged (contact Director)
For students enrolled in the Appalachian Studies Certificate who are working on research projects in the Appalachian region. Registration by permission only. Contact the Director.
HIST 601: Historic Preservation (Peyton), Wednesdays, 5 – 7:50 PM
Course broadens historical awareness and provides practical applications of historical knowledge. It covers the built environment and focuses on the history, processes and legal basis of the historic preservation movement.
- PLEASE NOTE that this is a Glenwood Estate seminar, and will include work at the Glenwood Estate in west Charleston.
Billy Joe Peyton is a recently retired Professor of History at West Virginia State University. He is the author of Historic Charleston: The First 225 Years, and has researched and written extensively on the history of Charleston and West Virginia.
For students who need to conduct independent research and/or reading in a specific topic in the humanities, the Program will offer independent studies in those topics as funds allow. Contact the Director for more information. Examples of Special Topics might include:
* Museum Studies
* Film Criticism
* Studies in Appalachian Music
* Studies in Poetry
* Language and Communication
HUMN 680 – Independent Research Symposium, Arranged
A pro-seminar required of all Humanities degree students who are beginning the thesis or final project. Arranged with the Program Director.
As the director and chief editor of a small, independent, traditional literary press, Pleska will lead students through the process of publishing, from manuscript submissions to the release and marketing of a finished book. In addition, students will write creative or academic essays for possible inclusion in a collection to be published by the Press. The Press, a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit, holds the mission to seek and to publish works written by West Virginian and Appalachian writers or works about West Virginia and Appalachia.
Cat Pleska, MFA, teaches full time in the English Department. She is the Editor-in-Chief of Mountain State Press, and is facilitating the move of the Press to Marshall University. She is a 7th generation West Virginian and her memoir, Riding on Comets, was published in 2015 by WVU Press. She is a former book reviewer and radio essayist, and is currently working on a collection of travel/personal essays, The I’s Have It: Travels in Ireland and Iceland.
Fall 2021
CULS 600: Selected Topics – Appalachian Studies Research, Arranged (contact Director)
For students enrolled in the Appalachian Studies Certificate who are working on research projects in the Appalachian region. Registration by permission only. Contact the Director.
HUMN 602: Historical Studies (Lassiter), Thursdays, 7 – 9:50 PM
Core course acquaints students with problems of historical knowledge, changes in the interpretation of history, nature of historical forces, and methods of historical research.
This course will be taught in conjunction with CULS 600 and HIST 585, and students will be encouraged to apply their knowledge gained in one or both of these courses to issues in Historical Studies. It is not recommended that a student sign up for this course only: i.e., if registering for only course for the semester, then it is recommended that you register for either CULS 600 or HIST 585.
Luke Eric Lassiter is director of the Graduate Humanities Program and professor of humanities and anthropology.
HUMN 604: Expository Writing for Research (Lassiter), Wednesdays, 7 – 9:50 PM
This core writing course develops proficiency in writing for research.
For students who need to conduct independent research and/or reading in a specific topic in the humanities, the Program will offer independent studies in those topics as funds allow. Contact the Director for more information. Examples of Special Topics might include:
* Museum Studies
* Film Criticism
* Studies in Appalachian Music
* Studies in Poetry
* Language and Communication
HUMN 680 – Independent Research Symposium, Arranged
A pro-seminar required of all Humanities degree students who are beginning the thesis or final project. Arranged with the Program Director.
LITS 600: Memoir in Appalachia (Pleska), Mondays, 6:30 – 9:00 PM (VIRTUAL)
In this class we’ll read, discuss, report on, and write about Appalachian memoirs published in the past 250 years. What do they share? How do they differ from historical texts? What makes them Appalachian other than the region where the authors lived and wrote? What can the memoirs show us that demonstrate regional literature, especially memoirs, are universal? We’ll begin our discussion exploring what memoir is and how it differs from other personal narratives then we’ll dive into memoirs ranging from Lt. Henry Timberlake Memoirs (1756) to Hillbilly Elegy (2018) to discover the relevance of personal texts in a significant region. Expect to do memoir writing to explore your own connection to Appalachia.
Cat Pleska, MFA, is a 7th generation West Virginian and her memoir, Riding on Comets, was published in 2015 by WVU Press. She is a former book reviewer and radio essayist, and is currently working on a collection of travel/personal essays, The I’s Have It: Travels in Ireland and Iceland.
Summer 2021
- Per continuing COVID-19 concerns, all 2021 Summer 1 Graduate Humanities seminars will be delivered virtually.
CULS 600: Selected Topics – Appalachian Studies Research, Arranged (VIRTUAL) (Lassiter)
For students enrolled in the Appalachian Studies Certificate who are working on research projects in the Appalachian region. Registration by permission only. Contact the Director.
Luke Eric Lassiter is director of the Graduate Humanities Program and professor of humanities and anthropology.
CULS 612: Time & Place in Appalachia, Wednesdays, 5 – 7 PM (VIRTUAL) (Lassiter)
This interdisciplinary course orients students to the importance of geography, topography, and geology to the history and development of the Appalachian region.
HUMN 600: Introduction to Graduate Study in the Humanities, Thursdays, 5 – 7 PM (VIRTUAL) (Lassiter)
Interdisciplinary core course addresses questions/concepts central to the humanities. Texts from philosophy, history, literature, the arts and the sciences provide insights into selected historical periods.
For students who need to conduct independent research and/or reading in a specific topic in the humanities, the Program will offer independent studies in those topics as funds allow. Contact the Director for more information. Examples of Special Topics might include:
* Museum Studies
* Film Criticism
* Studies in Appalachian Music
* Studies in Poetry
* Language and Communication
HUMN 680 – Independent Research Symposium, Arranged
A pro-seminar required of all Humanities degree students who are beginning the thesis or final project. Arranged with the Program Director.
Spring 2021
- Per continuing COVID-19 concerns, all Spring 2021 Graduate Humanities seminars will be delivered virtually.
CULS 600: Selected Topics – Appalachian Studies Research, Arranged (VIRTUAL) (Lassiter)
For students enrolled in the Appalachian Studies Certificate who are working on research projects in the Appalachian region. Registration by permission only. Contact the Director.
HUMN 605: Western Traditions and Contemporary Cultures, Tuesdays, 7 – 9:50 PM (VIRTUAL) (Lassiter)
Using primary materials from different cultural periods, as well as contemporary critical analyses, this core course explores epistemological questions that underlie conflicts between cultures.
Luke Eric Lassiter is director of the Graduate Humanities Program and professor of humanities and anthropology.
For students who need to conduct independent research and/or reading in a specific topic in the humanities, the Program will offer independent studies in those topics as funds allow. Contact the Director for more information. Examples of Special Topics might include:
* Museum Studies
* Film Criticism
* Studies in Appalachian Music
* Studies in Poetry
* Language and Communication
HUMN 680 – Independent Research Symposium, Arranged
A pro-seminar required of all Humanities degree students who are beginning the thesis or final project. Arranged with the Program Director.
LITS 600: Selected Topics – Growing Up in Appalachia, Wednesdays, 7 – 9:50 PM (VIRTUAL) (Green)
What does it mean to grow up Appalachia? From gestating in the womb through late adolescence (around 24), we grow cell by cell and by the age of 24 develop a high-order pre-frontal cortex. We will investigate moments and facets of this topic in light of the particular opportunities (closer contact with nature, more accessible family and elders) and difficulties (e.g. the opioid epidemic, underfunded schools) in the region and consider how those vary with time, locality, and community. We will use a variety of disciplinary view points but will ground ourselves by reading fiction, non-fiction, and poetry as well as watching documentaries. The class will work together to decide what parts of this wide and important topic we want to focus on.
Chris Green is Director of the Loyal Jones Appalachian Center at Berea College. Chris began his studies of Appalachia in 1988 as an undergraduate of the University of Kentucky, and taught Appalachian literature at Marshall University from 2004 to 2012 where he was a professor of English and Graduate Humanities. Chris’s extended bio is available here.
Fall 2020
- Per continuing COVID-19 concerns, all Fall 2020 Graduate Humanities seminars are now being delivered virtually.
CULS 600: Selected Topics – Native North America, Thursdays, 7 – 9:50 PM
This seminar will explore the historical and socio- political, economic, and cultural processes that have given rise to contemporary Native North America.
Dr. Luke Eric Lassiter is director of the Graduate Humanities Program and professor of humanities and anthropology. His books in the area of Native North America includeThe Power of Kiowa Song; The Jesus Road: Kiowas, Christianity, and Indian Hymns; and Powwow: Ethnographic Texts. His writings on American Indian Studies have appeared in American Indian Quarterly, American Indian Culture and Research Journal, Chronicles of Oklahoma, Western Historical Quarterly, Ethnohistory, and Ethnomusicology, among others.
HUMN 603: History & Theory of the Arts, Wednesdays, 7 – 9:50 PM
Core course provides chronological survey of the arts, emphasizing the social, political and/or religious motives that underlie artistic production. This seminar will explore the theory and practice of expressive arts, with consideration of visual, verbal, cinematic, public, protest, visionary, and performance forms, among others. Using anthropological, folkloristic, and arts and cultural studies theoretical frameworks, we will explore the engaged relationship of the arts to society and consider how these concepts can inform current work in arts administration, museums, public folklore, and community development. The course will rely on participatory critical analysis and discussion, with some excursions to area museums, organizations, artist studios, and public installations.
Emily Hilliard is the West Virginia state folklorist and founding director of the West Virginia Folklife Program at the West Virginia Humanities Council. She holds an M.A. in folklore from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and a B.A. in English and French from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. For over the past ten years she has worked at cultural heritage organizations including Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, the American Folklife Center, the National Council for the Traditional Arts, and Maryland Traditions. Her writing and media work has been published by NPR, Humanities Magazine, The Bitter Southerner, Southern Cultures, and Ohio University Press, among others. Find more of her work at emilyehilliard.com.
HUMN 604: Expository Writing for Research (Pleska), Mondays, 7 – 9:50 PM
This core writing course develops proficiency in writing for research.
Cat Pleska, MFA, is a 7th generation West Virginian and her memoir, Riding on Comets, was published in 2015 by WVU Press. She is a former book reviewer and radio essayist, and is currently working on a collection of travel/personal essays, The I’s Have It: Travels in Ireland and Iceland.
HUMN 650 – Special Topics – Independent Studies arranged between instructor and student (contact Director to arrange course)
For students who need to conduct independent research and/or reading in a specific topic in the humanities, the Program will offer independent studies in those topics as funds allow. Contact the Director for more information. Examples of Special Topics might include:
* Museum Studies
* Film Criticism
* Studies in Appalachian Music
* Studies in Poetry
* Language and Communication
HUMN 680 – Independent Research Symposium, Arranged
A pro-seminar required of all Humanities degree students who are beginning the thesis or final project. Arranged with the Program Director.
Summer 2020
Per ongoing COVID-19 concerns, all MU Summer 1 courses will be delivered online or virtually. Our seminars, independent studies, research, and other work will move ahead as planned, albeit for online and virtual delivery only. We will make every effort to ensure that our seminar experiences are as smooth and engaging as possible. Please contact the Program Director should you have any questions or concerns.
CULS 600 – Selected Topics – The 19th Amendment, 100 Years: The Long Struggle for Women’s Equality, Wednesdays, 5– 7 PM
August 18, 2020, marks the 100 year anniversary of ratification of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote. This is a major event in American history and a milestone in the national aspiration for the equal right of every individual to participate in a democratic society. In light of this event, this course will examine the evolution of equal rights for women from the revolutionary period to modern times. It will feature the more than 70 year struggle for the vote from Seneca Falls to passage of the 19th Amendment and the women and men who led the fight. It will analyze the women’s rights movement in terms of class and gender and promote an understanding of the dynamics of social movements.
Renate Pore received a PhD in history from West Virginia University in 1977. Her publications includeA Conflict of Interest: Women in German Social Democracy and Toward the Second Decade: The Impact of the Women’s Movement on American Institutions. Dr. Pore was a leader in starting the Women’s Study Program and the Council for Women’s Concerns at WVU. She was a feminist activist in the 1970s lobbying Congress to extend the deadline for the Equal Rights Amendment.
HUMN 600: Introduction to Graduate Study in the Humanities (Lassiter), Thursdays, 5 – 7 PM
Interdisciplinary core course addresses questions/concepts central to the humanities. Texts from philosophy, history, literature, the arts and the sciences provide insights into selected historical periods.
Luke Eric Lassiter is director of the Graduate Humanities Program and professor of humanities and anthropology.
HUMN 650 – Special Topics – Independent Studies arranged between instructor and student (contact Director to arrange course)
For students who need to conduct independent research and/or reading in a specific topic in the humanities, the Program will offer independent studies in those topics as funds allow. Contact the Director for more information. Examples of Special Topics might include:
- Museum Studies
- Film Criticism
- Studies in Appalachian Music
- Studies in Poetry
- Language and Communication
HUMN 680 – Independent Research Symposium, Arranged
A pro-seminar required of all Humanities degree students who are beginning the thesis or final project. Arranged with the Program Director.
Spring 2020
CULS 600 – MAJOR SCHOLAR SEMINAR: Mapping Human Diversity: Genetic Testing, Folk Ideologies of Heredity, and Race
The 2020 Major Scholar Seminar will focus on the writings and perspectives of Dr. Jonathan Marks, genetic/biological anthropologist whose work on the relationships between science, history, and culture has significantly impacted both academic and public discussions across the sciences and humanities. He is perhaps most well-known for his critiques on race, the genome project, and of ahistorical science. He has also been a leading critic in public debates about direct-to-consumer genetic testing and its marketed correlation to heredity. Understanding, for instance, how and why “I’m 45% Irish” is an invalid scientific claim not only requires deeper knowledge of science, but of history and culture as well. Marks has argued persuasively, then, that understanding human problems are best approached through engagement with a liberal arts that combines, rather than siloes, the sciences and humanities. To this end, students will engage some of Marks’ key works, including What it Means to be 98% Chimpanzee, Why I am Not a Scientist, and Is Science Racist? And they’ll meet with Marks in both electronic and live meetings.
More about our Major Scholar Program is here.
The seminar will be facilitated by Luke Eric Lassiter, director of the Graduate Humanities Program and professor of humanities and anthropology.
Hybrid Seminar, online and live meetings. Live meetings will be on Thursdays, 7-9:50 p.m. on January 16 & 30; February 13 & 27; March 12; and April 2.
CULS 611: Appalachian Studies: Themes & Voices (Pleska), Mondays, 7 – 9:50 PM
This interdisciplinary course orients students to the significant issues and research in Appalachian studies. Important political, social, and cultural issues will be considered. Research areas are introduced.
Cat Pleska, MFA, is a 7th generation West Virginian and her memoir, Riding on Comets, was published in 2015 by WVU Press. She is a former book reviewer and radio essayist, and is currently working on a collection of travel/personal essays, The I’s Have It: Travels in Ireland and Iceland.
HUMN 650 – Special Topics – Independent Studies arranged between instructor and student (contact Director to arrange course)
For students who need to conduct independent research and/or reading in a specific topic in the humanities, the Program will offer independent studies in those topics as funds allow. Contact the Director for more information. Examples of Special Topics might include:
- Museum Studies
- Film Criticism
- Studies in Appalachian Music
- Studies in Poetry
- Language and Communication
HUMN 680 – Independent Research Symposium, Arranged
A pro-seminar required of all Humanities degree students who are beginning the thesis or final project. Arranged with the Program Director.
Fall 2019
A&S 600: Song Traditions & Musical Experience (Lassiter), Thursdays, 7 – 9:50 PM
This seminar will explore song traditions from a variety of perspectives and cultural contexts. It will focus, in particular, on the field of ethnomusicology and develop understandings of musical experience as an individual, as well as a social, process.
Dr. Luke Eric Lassiter, director of the Graduate Humanities Program and professor of humanities and anthropology, has written widely on topics concerning anthropology, folklore, ethnomusicology, and ethnography.
Online & Face to Face Meetings on Wednesday, August 28; Sept 11; Oct 9; Nov 13 & Dec 4 (all meetings 7 – 9 PM, GC 226)
This course will focus on certain “practices” of philosophy, e.g., the creation of concepts and ideas as “guides to action,” set within specific texts and contexts comprising the philosophic tradition known as American Pragmatism. Through an exposure and introduction to the many “roots” and “engagements” of pragmatism in America, the course will focus on developing–by each participant—an understanding of
– concept creation and context,
– practice preceding theory,
– experience and belief, and
– the varieties of reasoning (abduction, deduction, and induction) informing belief, habit, and action.
Gayle L. Ormiston is Professor of Philosophy and Humanities at Marshall University. He has held faculty and administrative appointments at Marshall (where he was Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs from 2008 to 2018), Kent State University (where he was Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs and Curriculum, 2002-2008, and Chair of the Department of Philosophy, 1996-2002), the University of Colorado, and Denison University. His publications and professional presentations include works on: hermeneutics and semeiotics; science, technology, and humanities studies; various issues in 19th and 20th century philosophy; and numerous presentations on higher education administration, curriculum development and assessment, and collective bargaining in university and college environments.
HUMN 604: Expository Writing for Research (Pleska), Mondays, 7 – 9:50 PM
This core writing course develops proficiency in writing for research.
Cat Pleska, MFA, is a 7th generation West Virginian and her memoir, Riding on Comets, was published in 2015 by WVU Press. She is a former book reviewer and radio essayist, and is currently working on a collection of travel/personal essays, The I’s Have It: Travels in Ireland and Iceland.
HUMN 650 – Special Topics – Independent Studies arranged between instructor and student (contact Director to arrange course)
For students who need to conduct independent research and/or reading in a specific topic in the humanities, the Program will offer independent studies in those topics as funds allow. Contact the Director for more information. Examples of Special Topics might include:
* Museum Studies
* Film Criticism
* Studies in Appalachian Music
* Studies in Poetry
* Language and Communication
HUMN 680 – Independent Research Symposium, Arranged
A pro-seminar required of all Humanities degree students who are beginning the thesis or final project. Arranged with the Program Director.
Summer 2019
CULS 610: Seminar in Appalachian Culture (Lassiter), four live meetings on Wednesdays, 7 – 9 PM
Online & Face to Face Meetings on Wednesday, May 29; June 19; July 10 & 31 (all meetings 7 – 9 PM, GC 226)
Exploration of selected aspects of culture (e.g., art, music, folklore, history, literature), emphasizing regional culture from an interdisciplinary perspective.
Luke Eric Lassiter is director of the Graduate Humanities Program and professor of humanities and anthropology.
HUMN 600: Introduction to Graduate Study in the Humanities (Lassiter), Wednesdays, 5 – 7 PM
Interdisciplinary core course addresses questions/concepts central to the humanities. Texts from philosophy, history, literature, the arts and the sciences provide insights into selected historical periods.
Luke Eric Lassiter is director of the Graduate Humanities Program and professor of humanities and anthropology.
HUMN 650 – Special Topics – Independent Studies arranged between instructor and student (contact Director to arrange course)
For students who need to conduct independent research and/or reading in a specific topic in the humanities, the Program will offer independent studies in those topics as funds allow. Contact the Director for more information. Examples of Special Topics might include:
* Museum Studies
* Film Criticism
* Studies in Appalachian Music
* Studies in Poetry
* Language and Communication
HUMN 680 – Independent Research Symposium, Arranged
A pro-seminar required of all Humanities degree students who are beginning the thesis or final project. Arranged with the Program Director.
Spring 2019
HUMN 605: Western Traditions and Contemporary Cultures (Lassiter), Wednesdays, 7 – 9:50 PM
Using primary materials from different cultural periods, as well as contemporary critical analyses, this core course explores epistemological questions that underlie conflicts between cultures.
Luke Eric Lassiter is director of the Graduate Humanities Program and professor of humanities and anthropology. His books include Invitation to Anthropology, The Chicago Guide to Collaborative Ethnography, and Doing Ethnography Today, among others.
HUMN 650 – Special Topics – Independent Studies arranged between instructor and student (contact Director to arrange course)
For students who need to conduct independent research and/or reading in a specific topic in the humanities, the Program will offer independent studies in those topics as funds allow. Contact the Director for more information. Examples of Special Topics might include:
* Museum Studies
* Film Criticism
* Studies in Appalachian Music
* Studies in Poetry
* Language and Communication
HUMN 680 – Independent Research Symposium, Arranged
A pro-seminar required of all Humanities degree students who are beginning the thesis or final project. Arranged with the Program Director.
LITS 600: Selected Topics – Memoir in Appalachia (Pleska), Mondays, 7 – 9:50 PM
In this class we’ll read, discuss, and write about Appalachian memoirs published in the past 250 years. What do they share? How do they differ? What makes them Appalachian other than the region where the authors lived and wrote? What can the memoirs tell and show us that make regional literature, and especially memoir, important and universal? We’ll dive into memoirs ranging from Lt. Henry Timberlake Memoirs (1756) to Hillbilly Elegy (2018).
Cat Pleska, MFA, is a 7th generation West Virginian and her memoir, Riding on Comets, was published in 2015 by WVU Press. She is a former book reviewer and radio essayist, and is currently working on a collection of travel/personal essays, The I’s Have It: Travels in Ireland and Iceland.
Fall 2018
CULS 540: World Religions (Lassiter), Wednesdays, 7 – 9:50 PM
Study of several religions as they developed within their individual times and cultures.
Luke Eric Lassiter is director of the Graduate Humanities Program and professor of humanities and anthropology.
Non-profits are organizations formed for religious, charitable, scientific, literary, or educational purposes. In Kanawha County alone, there are 2,174 of them; you might pass by 10 or more just going to the grocery store. Students taking this course will examine the history of non-profits and explore the local field using a process called Appreciative Inquiry.
Trish Hatfield, President, CharacterEthics, LLC (2000-Present, trishhatfield.com) helps non-profits articulate vision and mission statements and facilitates board development using strength-based strategies. She co-teaches Strength-Based Grant Writing (2011-Present), which includes an emphasis on developing narratives that connect non-profits with funders, clients and community. She has a MA in Humanities, is the Program Assistant for MU Graduate Humanities Program, and is Chair of the Board of Directors for Step By Step, a non-profit serving children and families in Kanawha County and southern West Virginia.
HUMN 604: Expository Writing for Research (Lassiter), Mondays, 7 – 9:50 PM
This core writing course develops proficiency in writing for research.
HUMN 650 – Special Topics – Independent Studies arranged between instructor and student (contact Director to arrange course)
For students who need to conduct independent research and/or reading in a specific topic in the humanities, the Program will offer independent studies in those topics as funds allow. Contact the Director for more information. Examples of Special Topics might include:
* Museum Studies
* Film Criticism
* Studies in Appalachian Music
* Studies in Poetry
* Language and Communication
HUMN 680 – Independent Research Symposium, Arranged
A pro-seminar required of all Humanities degree students who are beginning the thesis or final project. Arranged with the Program Director.
Summer 2018
CULS 612: Time & Place in Appalachia (Lassiter)
Online & Face to Face Meetings on Tuesday, May 15 and 29; June 19; July 10 & 31 (all meetings 5 – 8:00 PM, GC 226)
This interdisciplinary course orients students to the importance of geography, topography, and geology to the history and development of the Appalachian region.
Dr. Luke Eric Lassiter is director of the Graduate Humanities Program and professor of humanities and anthropology.
Core course acquaints students with problems of historical knowledge, changes in the interpretation of history, nature of historical forces, and methods of historical research.
This course will be taught in conjunction with CULS 600 and HIST 585, and students will be encouraged to apply their knowledge gained in one or both of these courses to issues in Historical Studies. It is not recommended that a student sign up for this course only: i.e., if registering for only course for the semester, then it is recommended that you register for either CULS 600 or HIST 585.
HUMN 650 – Special Topics – Independent Studies arranged between instructor and student (contact Director to arrange course)
For students who need to conduct independent research and/or reading in a specific topic in the humanities, the Program will offer independent studies in those topics as funds allow. Contact the Director for more information. Examples of Special Topics might include:
* Museum Studies
* Film Criticism
* Studies in Appalachian Music
* Studies in Poetry
* Language and Communication
HUMN 680 – Independent Research Symposium, Arranged
A pro-seminar required of all Humanities degree students who are beginning the thesis or final project. Arranged with the Program Director.
Spring 2018
This seminar will meet at Glenwood, an iconic 1850s estate that stands in the hills of Charleston’s West Side. Students will get up close and personal with the past as they utilize elements of the historic Glenwood collection to examine the history of West Virginia and the development of Charleston from a small 19th century village into a modern 21st century capital city. Sponsored in part by the Historic Glenwood Foundation.
Graduate Humanities Program students enrolled in the MA Program who complete the course with an A or B will receive a scholarship stipend from the Historic Glenwood Foundation.
Dr. Billy Joe Peyton is professor of history at West Virginia State University. He is the author of Historic Charleston: The First 225 Years, and has researched and written extensively on the history of Charleston and West Virginia.
HIST 585: Coal Mine Life, Work & Culture (Workman), Thursdays, 7 – 9:50 PM
This course provides students with a better understanding of the continuing economic, political, environmental and cultural impact which the extraction of coal has had on West Virginia.
Dr. Michael Workman worked in the underground coal mines of southern West Virginia before earning degrees in political science and his doctorate in history at WVU. He has written and published on coal and labor history, and currently is Associate Professor of History at West Viriginia State University.
HUMN 602: Historical Studies (Lassiter), Wednesdays, 7 – 9:50 PM
Core course acquaints students with problems of historical knowledge, changes in the interpretation of history, nature of historical forces, and methods of historical research.
This course will be taught in conjunction with CULS 600 and HIST 585, and students will be encouraged to apply their knowledge gained in one or both of these courses to issues in Historical Studies. It is not recommended that a student sign up for this course only: i.e., if registering for only course for the semester, then it is recommended that you register for either CULS 600 or HIST 585.
Dr. Luke Eric Lassiter is director of the Graduate Humanities Program and professor of humanities and anthropology.
HUMN 650 – Special Topics – Independent Studies arranged between instructor and student (contact Director to arrange course)
For students who need to conduct independent research and/or reading in a specific topic in the humanities, the Program will offer independent studies in those topics as funds allow. Contact the Director for more information. Examples of Special Topics might include:
* Museum Studies
* Film Criticism
* Studies in Appalachian Music
* Studies in Poetry
* Language and Communication
HUMN 680 – Independent Research Symposium, Arranged
A pro-seminar required of all Humanities degree students who are beginning the thesis or final project. Arranged with the Program Director.
Fall 2017
HUMN 603: History and Theory of the Arts (Hilliard), Wednesdays, 7 – 9:50 PM
Core course provides chronological survey of the arts, emphasizing the social, political and/or religious motives that underlie artistic production.
This seminar will explore the theory and practice of expressive arts, with consideration of visual, verbal, cinematic, public, protest, “outsider,” and performance forms, among others. Using anthropological, folkloristic, and arts and cultural studies theoretical frameworks, we will explore the engaged relationship of the arts to society and consider how these concepts can inform current work in arts administration, museums, public folklore, and community development. The course will rely on participatory critical analysis and discussion, with some excursions to area museums, organizations, artist studios, and public installations.
Emily Hilliard is the West Virginia state folklorist and founder of the West Virginia Folklife Program at the West Virginia Humanities Council. She holds an M.A. in folklore from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and a B.A. in English and French from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. For the past ten years she has worked at cultural heritage organizations including Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, the American Folklife Center, the National Council for the Traditional Arts, and Maryland Traditions. Her writing and media work has been published by NPR, Humanities Magazine, Ecotone, The Bitter Southerner, and Southern Cultures, among others. Find more of her work at emilyehilliard.com.
HUMN 604: Expository Writing for Research (Pleska), Mondays, 7 – 9:50 PM
This core writing course develops proficiency in writing for research.
Cat Pleska earned her MFA in creative nonfiction writing at Goucher College in Baltimore and is an essayist for West Virginia Public Radio. She also is the Editor-in-Chief of Mountain State Press and book reviewer for The Charleston Gazette. Her latest book, Riding on Comets: A Memoir, is published by West Virginia University Press.
HUMN 650 – MAJOR SCHOLAR SEMINAR – Storying Climate Change (Crate)
More on the Major Scholar Program is here.
CLASS LIMIT: 5. By permission of the Director only.
Meetings on Thursday, August 24, 7-9:50 p.m.; Thursday, August 31, 7-9:50 p.m.; Thursday, September 21, 7-9:50 pm; Thursday, October 26, 7-9:50 pm; and Thursday, December 14, 7-9:50 pm.
Anthropogenic climate change is an incredibly urgent issue in the 21st century that transcends any political view or position, and must be addressed to ensure the perpetuation of life as we know it on the planet. Indisputable among serious scientists, the facts speak for themselves. Yet little is being done to address this world-wide crisis. Among those reasons include a naive position in which people use their own experience (such as not feeling the effects of climate change in their own lives) to evaluate a world-wide problem. In an effort to increase awareness of the experience of others around the world who are already directly experiencing climate change, many scientists are turning to story to raise awareness. This Major Scholar Seminar will explore some crucial parts of this effort, highlight the stories of people around the world struggling to adapt to rapid change, and encourage participants to understand how the power of story may be an important key to unlocking how the world will deal with this most critical issue.
Dr. Susan Crate has been documenting the perceptions, understandings and responses of change, in its many forms, with indigenous communities in Sibera since 1988. Since 1991 she has worked with Viliui Sakha, Turkic-speaking horse and cattle breeders in arctic Siberia and in 2006 she began working with them on issues of climate change as they face an increasingly unpredictable environment. She continues that work and also to document the experience of climate change in other global communities who are feeling uncontestable effects. She and her daughter, Katie Yegorov-Crate, are the subjects of a new documentary on Crate’s work titled “The Anthropologist,” a film that the New York Times called “a stealthily insightful film [that] improbably mixes that topic with a mother-daughter story to produce a distinctive study of change and human adaptability.” Crate is Professor of Anthropology in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at George Mason University.
Note: graduate course credit for this seminar is also available from MU’s Department of Sociology and Anthropology (SOC 580 and ANT 580).
HUMN 650 – Special Topics – Independent Studies arranged between instructor and student (contact Director to arrange course)
For students who need to conduct independent research and/or reading in a specific topic in the humanities, the Program will offer independent studies in those topics as funds allow. Contact the Director for more information. Examples of Special Topics might include:
* Museum Studies
* Film Criticism
* Studies in Appalachian Music
* Studies in Poetry
* Language and Communication
HUMN 680 – Independent Research Symposium, Arranged
A pro-seminar required of all Humanities degree students who are beginning the thesis or final project. Arranged with the Program Director.
Summer 2017
HUMN 600: Introduction to Graduate Study in the Humanities (Lassiter), Thursdays, 5 – 8:00 PM
Interdisciplinary core course addresses questions/concepts central to the humanities. Texts from philosophy, history, literature, the arts and the sciences provide insights into selected historical periods.
Dr. Luke Eric Lassiter is director of the Graduate Humanities Program and professor of humanities and anthropology.
HUMN 650 – Section 431 (Special Topics) Projects in the Humanities (Lassiter)
Face to Face Meetings on Tuesday – May 16, June 13, July 18, and August 1: 5 – 8:00 PM
This course provides students the opportunity to work on the earliest stages of design and implementation of their final project required for the MA in Humanities or for the Appalachian Studies Certificate. Though the seminar is primarily for students new to the program, projects can be organized at any stage of development—it might include, for example, initial explorations of larger literatures or implementing the earliest stages of an applied project.
HUMN 650 – Special Topics – Independent Studies arranged between instructor and student (contact Director to arrange course)
For students who need to conduct independent research and/or reading in a specific topic in the humanities, the Program will offer independent studies in those topics as funds allow. Contact the Director for more information. Examples of Special Topics might include:
* Museum Studies
* Film Criticism
* Studies in Appalachian Music
* Studies in Poetry
* Language and Communication
HUMN 680 – Independent Research Symposium, Arranged
A pro-seminar required of all Humanities degree students who are beginning the thesis or final project. Arranged with the Program Director.
Spring 2017
A&S 600: Belonging: Folklore and the Ties that Bind Us (Campbell), Wednesdays: 7 – 9:50 p.m.
In this era of globalization, folklore—the traditional arts, knowledge, and practices that cultural groups and communities preserve, adapt, and pass on—is as present and important as it has ever been. Folklore has always shaped and reflected the identities of cultural groups; today, as Martha Sims and Martine Stephens write, folklore “helps us to form and express identity in the midst of an always complex, sometimes confusing social context, in which our sense of who we are is frequently questioned and challenged.” In this class, participants will explore and document how American folklore helps to form, express, and connect our many identities.
Dr. Beth Campbell is an Associate Professor in the College of Education and Professional Development. She coordinates the ESL Program, and teaches qualitative research and writing, and educational foundations. Originally trained as a folklorist and ethnographer, Beth has worked with public history, humanities, and arts organizations to produce museum exhibits, local history projects, and arts and culture programs. Her research interests include collaborative research and writing, community-university partnerships, and oral history. She is especially interested in how collaborative research can work—through shared agency, shared commitment, and shared humanity—to make and remake those who engage it. She is the co-author of Doing Collaborative Ethnography Today.
CULS 611: Appalachian Studies: Themes & Voices (Cat Pleska), Mondays: 7 – 9:50 p.m.
This interdisciplinary course orients students to the significant issues and research in Appalachian studies. Important political, social, and cultural issues will be considered. Research areas are introduced. (This core course in the Graduate Certificate in Appalachian Studies may be taken by degree students in Humanities.)
Ms. Cat Pleska earned her MFA in creative nonfiction writing at Goucher College in Baltimore and is an essayist for West Virginia Public Radio. She also is the Editor-in-Chief of Mountain State Press and book reviewer for The Charleston Gazette. Her latest book, Riding on Comets: A Memoir, is published by West Virginia University Press.
HUMN 605: Western Traditions and Contemporary Cultures (Lassiter), Tuesdays, 7 – 9:50 PM
Using primary materials from different cultural periods, as well as contemporary critical analyses, this core course explores epistemological questions that underlie conflicts between cultures.
Dr. Luke Eric Lassiter is director of the Graduate Humanities Program and professor of humanities and anthropology.
HUMN 650 – Special Topics – Independent Studies arranged between instructor and student (contact Director to arrange course)
For students who need to conduct independent research and/or reading in a specific topic in the humanities, the Program will offer independent studies in those topics as funds allow. Contact the Director for more information. Examples of Special Topics might include:
* Museum Studies
* Film Criticism
* Studies in Appalachian Music
* Studies in Poetry
* Language and Communication
HUMN 680 – Independent Research Symposium, Arranged
A pro-seminar required of all Humanities degree students who are beginning the thesis or final project. Arranged with the Program Director.
Fall 2016
Seminar is Technology Enhanced, hybrid with online and live meetings. Check the Graduate Humanities Program website before the semester begins for updates on live meeting times.
This seminar is designed to explore the unique aspects of families in Appalachia. It will focus on connections to larger social contexts, but it will also touch on local connections to community. We’ll address both the joys and challenges of raising children here, and what it means to be a family in Appalachia. And, finally, we’ll talk about issues that don’t always get talked about such as literacy, disability, and poverty.
Dr. Lori Howard is an Assistant Professor of Special Education. She began her career in special education working with deaf and hearing impaired students. Subsequently, she earned a doctoral degree from the University of Virginia in educational psychology. Most recently, she received the Pickens-Queen Excellence in Teaching Award. Her current interests are including students with disabilities into math and science courses, co-teaching, and inclusion.
Seminar is Technology Enhanced, hybrid with online and live meetings. Check the Graduate Humanities Program website before the semester begins for updates on live meeting times.
Explore the digital humanities through reading of related literature and hands-on practice using various technologies to produce artifacts such as digital stories. An emphasis will be placed on experiential learning, learning through experience and reflection.
Dr. Lisa Heaton is Professor and Program Director of Elementary and Secondary Education in the College of Education and Professional Development. Her work for the past 20 years has focused on using technology to enhance teaching and learning. Educational experiences in English Language Arts (B.S.) and Instructional Technology (Ph.D.) merge to form her particular interest in using digital media to produce products such as data archives, photo essays and digital stories.
HUMN 604: Expository Writing for Research (Pleska), Mondays, 7 – 9:50 PM
This core writing course develops proficiency in writing for research.
Ms. Cat Pleska earned her MFA in creative nonfiction writing at Goucher College in Baltimore and is an essayist for West Virginia Public Radio. She also is the Editor-in-Chief of Mountain State Press and book reviewer for The Charleston Gazette. Her latest book, Riding on Comets: A Memoir, is published by West Virginia University Press.
HUMN 650 – Special Topics – Independent Studies arranged between instructor and student (contact Director to arrange course)
For students who need to conduct independent research and/or reading in a specific topic in the humanities, the Program will offer independent studies in those topics as funds allow. Contact the Director for more information. Examples of Special Topics might include:
* Museum Studies
* Film Criticism
* Studies in Appalachian Music
* Studies in Poetry
* Language and Communication
HUMN 680 – Independent Research Symposium, Arranged
A pro-seminar required of all Humanities degree students who are beginning the thesis or final project. Arranged with the Program Director.
Summer 2016
CULS 610: Seminar in Appalachian Culture (Lassiter) – Hybrid Online & Face to Face Seminar Meetings
Face to Face Meetings on Thursday – May 19, June 16, July 21: 5 – 8:00 p.m.
Exploration of selected aspects of culture (e.g., art, music, folklore, history, literature), emphasizing regional culture from an interdisciplinary perspective. This course is offered on-line with three live meetings on Thursday, May 19, June 16, July 21: 5 – 8:00 p.m.
Dr. Luke Eric Lassiter is director of the Graduate Humanities Program and professor of humanities and anthropology.
Face to Face Meetings on Wednesday – May 18, June 22, July 20, & August 3: 5 – 8:00 p.m.
Interdisciplinary core course addresses questions/concepts central to the humanities. Texts from philosophy, history, literature, the arts and the sciences provide insights into selected historical periods. Open to non-degree students.
HUMN 650 – Special Topics – Independent Studies arranged between instructor and student (contact Director to arrange course)
For students who need to conduct independent research and/or reading in a specific topic in the humanities, the Program will offer independent studies in those topics as funds allow. Contact the Director for more information. Examples of Special Topics might include:
* Museum Studies
* Film Criticism
* Studies in Appalachian Music
* Studies in Poetry
* Language and Communication
HUMN 680 – Independent Research Symposium, Arranged
A pro-seminar required of all Humanities degree students who are beginning the thesis or final project. Arranged with the Program Director.
Spring 2016
This seminar will explore the more recent history of West Virginia through the eyes of activists who worked to make West Virginia a better place. We’ll meet activists in the local area and explore the traditions of literature and portraiture of activism. Participants will be guided through the process of shaping an oral history or creative nonfiction piece as a public exhibit to share the stories they have to tell about West Virginia’s past, present, and future.
Mr. Michael Tierney, Executive Director of Step by Step, is a songwriter, photographer, children’s book fanatic and has been a member of the Catholic Worker movement since he was 18. Michael Tierney has been a community activist for over 37 years working in areas of rural community organizing, leadership development, local history and participatory research documentation, and alternative education. He founded the regional non-profit Step by Step in 1988 and from his home base on Big Ugly Creek in Lincoln County, has collaborated on projects throughout the Appalachian region, in inner city Boston, Nicaragua, Slovakia, South Africa, and Scotland. He graduated from Harvard College with an independent major focusing on the interplay of family, work, school and activism including a study of an isolated community in Mingo County.
Dr. Luke Eric Lassiter, director of the Graduate Humanities Program and professor of humanities and anthropology, has written widely on topics concerning anthropology, folklore, ethnomusicology, and ethnography. His latest book, titled Doing Ethnography Today, co-authored with Elizabeth Campbell, explores the complexities of doing collaborative ethnography in dynamic and shifting fieldwork sites.
CULS 612: Time & Place in Appalachia (Maslowski), Tuesdays, 7 – 9:50 p.m.
This interdisciplinary course orients students to the importance of geography, topography, and geology to the history and development of the Appalachian region.
Dr. Robert Maslowski, retired Archeologist for the Huntington District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, possesses extensive knowledge of Appalachian archeology, culture, and history. He was executive producer of three award winning films, Ghosts of Green Bottom, Red Salt & Reynolds, and Secrets of the Valley. His numerous publications have appeared in venues such as World Archaeology, National Geographic Society Research Reports, Pennsylvania Archaeologist, Wonderful West Virginia, and West Virginia Archeologist (which he also serves as Editor).
HIST 600 – MAJOR SCHOLAR SEMINAR – Native Identities in Contemporary America (Ellis)
CLASS LIMIT: 4. By permission of the Director only.
Meetings on Thursday, January 14, 7-9:50 p.m.; Thursday, February 11, 7-9:50 p.m.; Thursday, March 10, 7-9:50 pm; and Thursday, April 21, 7-9:50 pm.
Despite decades of pressure to assimilate, Indian people across the country continue to embrace social, cultural, political, and religious practices that give their lives as Native people meaning. These expressions often reflect complex combinations of contemporary and historical forces, so our seminar will read widely on religion, forms of gathering, politics, and community dynamics in an effort to understand a wide variety of examples.
Dr. Clyde Ellis, Professor of History and University Distinguished Scholar, Elon University, is a nationally renowned scholar who has spent much of the past 25 years living and working on the Southern Plains in the Kiowa community of southwest Oklahoma conducting extensive fieldwork on boarding schools Christian missions, Native hymn traditions, and powwow culture. More recently he has expanded his research to include southeast North Carolina’s Indian communities and has recently published a series of important studies on that region’s powwow culture.
HUMN 602: Historical Studies (Lassiter), Wednesdays, 7 – 9:50 p.m.
Core course acquaints students with problems of historical knowledge, changes in the interpretation of history, nature of historical forces, and methods of historical research.
Open to non-degree students.
LITS 600: Memoir (Pleska), Mondays, 7 – 9:50 p.m.
Memoir (from French meaning memory or reminiscence) is a collection of memories that an individual writes about of moments or events that took place in one’s life. Memoir has been with us since the times of Seneca and St. Augustine’s Confessions, but it has only been in the last several decades that the genre has stepped up in its rightful place next to poetry and fiction. This class will explore this literary nonfiction genre via readings of major texts and selections. You need not have extensive practice in writing to take this course, but you will be asked to explore your own experiences to capture a true revelation of what it means to remember, to reflect, and to shape those memories in your own voice.
Ms. Cat Pleska earned her MFA in creative nonfiction writing at Goucher College in Baltimore and is an essayist for West Virginia Public Radio. She also is the Editor-in-Chief of Mountain State Press and book reviewer for The Charleston Gazette. Her latest book, Riding on Comets: A Memoir, is published by West Virginia University Press.
HUMN 650 – Special Topics – Independent Studies arranged between instructor and student (contact Director to arrange course)
For students who need to conduct independent research and/or reading in a specific topic in the humanities, the Program will offer independent studies in those topics as funds allow. Contact the Director for more information. Examples of Special Topics might include:
* Museum Studies
* Film Criticism
* Studies in Appalachian Music
* Studies in Poetry
* Language and Communication
HUMN 680 – Independent Research Symposium, Arranged
A pro-seminar required of all Humanities degree students who are beginning the thesis or final project. Arranged with the Program Director.
Fall 2015
A&S 600: Song Traditions & Musical Experience (Lassiter), Wednesdays, 7-9:50 PM
This seminar will explore song traditions from a variety of perspectives and cultural contexts. It will focus, in particular, on the field of ethnomusicology and develop understandings of musical experience as an individual, as well as a social, process.
Dr. Luke Eric Lassiter, director of the Graduate Humanities Program and professor of humanities and anthropology, has written widely on topics concerning anthropology, folklore, ethnomusicology, and ethnography. His latest book, titled Doing Ethnography Today, co-authored with Elizabeth Campbell, explores the complexities of doing collaborative ethnography in dynamic and shifting fieldwork sites.
HIST 600: Appalachian Archaeology, A Glenwood Seminar (Maslowski), Selected Saturday Meetings
Saturday Meetings on Sept. 5, 19, 26; Oct. 3, 17, 24; Nov. 7, 21: 9 AM – 2:30 PM
This seminar will engage participants in the archaeology of Appalachia, and involve a special focus on the Glenwood Estate, the lens through which the archaeology of the region will be viewed. Through a Federal Historic Preservation Grant, and in partnership with the Glenwood Center for Scholarship in the Humanities, students will be involved in archaeological survey, excavation, and lab analysis in their study of both Glenwood and the Appalachian region. Please note that there will be 8 Saturday seminar meetings across the semester.
Dr. Robert Maslowski, retired Archeologist for the Huntington District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, possesses extensive knowledge of Appalachian archeology, culture, and history. He was executive producer of three award winning films, Ghosts of Green Bottom, Red Salt & Reynolds, and Secrets of the Valley. His numerous publications have appeared in venues such as World Archaeology, National Geographic Society Research Reports, Pennsylvania Archaeologist, Wonderful West Virginia, and West Virginia Archeologist (which he also serves as Editor).
HUMN 601: Literary Theory & Criticism (McConnell), Tuesdays, 4:30 – 6:50 PM
Core course introduces modern critical approaches, concepts and methods of research and scholarship in the broad field of literature.
Dr. Anne McConnell teaches world literature, critical theory, and writing in the English Department at West Virginia State University. Her recent book, Approaching Disappearance, published by Dalkey Archive Press, explores the work of Maurice Blanchot, Jorge Luis Borges, Franz Kafka, and Nathalie Sarraute.
HUMN 604: Expository Writing for Research (Pleska), Mondays, 7 – 9:50 PM
This core writing course develops proficiency in writing for research.
Ms. Cat Pleska earned her MFA in creative nonfiction writing at Goucher College in Baltimore and is an essayist for West Virginia Public Radio. She also is the Editor-in-Chief of Mountain State Press and book reviewer for The Charleston Gazette. Her latest book, Riding on Comets: A Memoir, is published by West Virginia University Press.
HUMN 650 – Special Topics – Independent Studies arranged between instructor and student (contact Director to arrange course)
For students who need to conduct independent research and/or reading in a specific topic in the humanities, the Program will offer independent studies in those topics as funds allow. Contact the Director for more information. Examples of Special Topics might include:
* Museum Studies
* Film Criticism
* Studies in Appalachian Music
* Studies in Poetry
* Language and Communication
HUMN 680 – Independent Research Symposium, Arranged
A pro-seminar required of all Humanities degree students who are beginning the thesis or final project. Arranged with the Program Director.
Summer 2015
CULS 600: Appalachian Folklore (Lassiter), Hybrid Online & Face to Face Seminar Meetings
Face to Face Meetings on Tuesday, May 19, June 16, July 14, & August 4: 7-9:50 p.m.
This seminar will explore the wide range of human expression (story, song, art, belief, etc.) in Appalachia via the field of Folklore. The course will take up the various kinds of folklore in Appalachia, as well as the folklore traditions found among different groups in the region.
Face to Face Meetings on Wednesday May 20, June 24, July 22, & August 5; 7-9:50 p.m.
Interdisciplinary core course addresses questions/concepts central to the humanities. Texts from philosophy, history, literature, the arts and the sciences provide insights into selected historical periods. Open to non-degree students.
HUMN 650 – Special Topics – Independent Studies arranged between instructor and student (contact Director to arrange course)
For students who need to conduct independent research and/or reading in a specific topic in the humanities, the Program will offer independent studies in those topics as funds allow. Contact the Director for more information. Examples of Special Topics might include:
* Museum Studies
* Film Criticism
* Studies in Appalachian Music
* Studies in Poetry
* Language and Communication
HUMN 680 – Independent Research Symposium, Arranged
A pro-seminar required of all Humanities degree students who are beginning the thesis or final project. Arranged with the Program Director.
Spring 2015
CLASS LIMIT: 3. By permission of the Director only.
Meetings on Thursday, January 15, 7-9:50 p.m.; Thursday, February 26, 7-9:50 p.m.; and Thursday, March 26.
Popular music has been associated with social change and even protest ever since rock and roll exploded in the 1950s. The music, and its integrated fan base, helped fight racial segregation. At times, musicians and activists have put the music to use specifically to further a cause or advance a message. At the same time, pop music is viewed by many as irresponsible, apolitical, simply too unruly to advance a political agenda. This course will explore how pop music has been used–by musicians, fans, and social activists–to fight, disrupt and conserve social norms of all kinds.
Dr. Lauren Onkey is the Vice President of Education and Public Programs at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio. Onkey is executive producer of the Museum’s American Music Masters series, conducts interviews for the Museum’s many public programs and teaches rock and roll history courses at Case Western Reserve University.
For more information on Onkey’s seminar and campus visit, see our Major Scholar Seminars website.
CULS 611: Appalachian Studies: Themes & Voices (Cat Pleska), Mondays, 7 – 9:50 PM
This interdisciplinary course orients students to the significant issues and research in Appalachian studies. Important political, social, and cultural issues will be considered. Research areas are introduced. (This core course in the Graduate Certificate in Appalachian Studies may be taken by degree students in Humanities.)
Ms. Pleska earned her MFA in creative nonfiction writing at Goucher College in Baltimore and is an essayist for West Virginia Public Radio. She also is the Editor-in-Chief of Mountain State Press and book reviewer for The Charleston Gazette. Her latest book, Riding on Comets: A Memoir, is published by West Virginia University Press.
This seminar will produce a digital documentary on the January 9, 2014 chemical spill in Charleston, West Virginia, an event affecting the drinking water of over 300,000 people—the largest disaster of its kind in American history. The documentary will pull from the oral history research of three different research projects, carried out by the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, University of California-Berkeley researcher Gabe Schwartzman, and Charleston-based documentarian Laura Harbert Allen. In addition to the documentary, seminar participants will produce conference papers and other essays. The project will be facilitated by Dr. Luke Eric Lassiter (Graduate Humanities Program Director) in collaboration with Schwartzman and Allen.
By permission of the Director only.
Dr. Luke Eric Lassiter, director of the Graduate Humanities Program and professor of humanities and anthropology, has authored and edited several books involving community-based oral history and ethnography. His latest book, titled Doing Ethnography Today, co-authored with Elizabeth Campbell, explores the complexities of doing collaborative ethnography in dynamic and shifting fieldwork sites.
HUMN 605: Western Traditions & Contemporary Cultures (Anne McConnell), Tuesdays, 7 – 9:50 PM
Using primary materials from different cultural periods, as well as contemporary critical analyses, this core course explores epistemological questions that underlie conflicts between cultures.
Dr. Anne McConnell teaches world literature, critical theory, and writing in the English Department at West Virginia State University. Her recent book, Approaching Disappearance, published by Dalkey Archive Press, explores the work of Maurice Blanchot, Jorge Luis Borges, Franz Kafka, and Nathalie Sarraute.
For students who need to conduct independent research and/or reading in a specific topic in the humanities, the Program will offer independent studies in those topics as funds allow. Contact the Director for more information. Examples of Special Topics might include:
* Museum Studies
* Film Criticism
* Studies in Appalachian Music
* Studies in Poetry
* Language and Communication
HUMN 680 – Independent Research Symposium (Luke Eric Lassiter), Arranged
A pro-seminar required of all Humanities degree students who are beginning the thesis or final project. Arranged with the Program Director.
LITS 600: Creative Hybrids: A Writing Workshop (Kent Shaw), Wednesdays, 7 – 9:50 PM
The lines separating out the various genres have continued to blur. The “short short” or “flash fiction” is often indistinguishable from the prose poem. Additionally, the lyric essay, a term originally coined by John D’Agata has developed into its own subgenre. But is it a subgenre of poetry? Of the personal essay? This course will explore both these blurred spaces and lead seminar participants with prompts for writing the lyric essay and flash fiction. By the end of the course, participants will have a full lyric essay, a series of short short’s, and the start of a lyric essay as well.
Dr. Kent Shaw teaches in the English Department at West Virginia State University. His first book Calenture was published by University of Tampa Press. His work has since appeared in The Believer, Ploughshares, Boston Review, Witness, TriQuarterly and elsewhere. He regularly reviews books at The Rumpus and is a poetry editor at the online magazine Better: Culture & Lit.
Fall 2014
Places and landscapes frame and influence our actions and identities. Yet we rarely examine the ways we interpret and read the material world around us. Do we ever stop to ask why a gas station looks the way it does? Do we critically examine why a bank building gets built only in certain locations? Do we think that we behave in scripted ways inside a 7-11 store? The goal of this reading seminar is not only to examine “ways of reading” the built world; but also to interrogate how our individual reading practices frame the way we understand, interpret, and act in this world.
Dr. Arijit Sen is an Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, where he teaches architectural design urbanism and cultural landscapes. He is the co-coordinator of the Buildings Cultures Landscapes doctoral program initiative between the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Milwaukee. His research interests include physical and cultural landscapes of immigration in the United States.
CULS 612 Time & Place in Appalachia (Bob Maslowski), Tuesdays, 7 – 9:50 p.m.
This interdisciplinary course orients students to the importance of geography, topography, and geology to the history and development of the Appalachian region.
This year’s seminar participants will have the option of participating in test excavations at Fort Blair, Point Pleasant, on September 13 and 14. A public lecture on Frontier Forts, presented by Dr. Stephen McBride, is scheduled for September 9. Both the lecture and excavations are funded by the West Virginia Humanities Council.
Dr. Robert Maslowski, retired Archeologist for the Huntington District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, possesses extensive knowledge of Appalachian archeology, culture, and history. He was executive producer of three award winning films, Ghosts of Green Bottom, Red Salt & Reynolds, and Secrets of the Valley. His numerous publications have appeared in venues such as World Archaeology, National Geographic Society Research Reports, Pennsylvania Archaeologist, Wonderful West Virginia, and West Virginia Archeologist (which he also serves as Editor).
HUMN 602 Historical Studies (Luke Eric Lassiter), Wednesdays, 7 – 9:50 p.m.
Core course acquaints students with problems of historical knowledge, changes in the interpretation of history, nature of historical forces, and methods of historical research.
Open to non-degree students.
Dr. Luke Eric Lassiter is director of the Graduate Humanities Program and professor of humanities and anthropology.
HUMN 604 Expository Writing for Research (Cat Pleska), Mondays, 7 – 9:50 p.m.
This core writing course develops proficiency in writing for research. Open to non-degree students.
Cat Pleska teaches writing at West Virginia State University, where she is also the Director of the WVSU Writing Center. She earned her MFA in creative nonfiction writing at Goucher College in Baltimore and is an essayist for West Virginia Public Radio
For students who need to conduct independent research and/or reading in a specific topic in the humanities, the Program will offer independent studies in those topics as funds allow. Contact the Director for more information. Examples of Special Topics might include:
* Museum Studies
* Film Criticism
* Studies in Appalachian Music
* Studies in Poetry
* Language and Communication
HUMN 680 – Independent Research Symposium (Luke Eric Lassiter), Arranged
A pro-seminar required of all Humanities degree students who are beginning the thesis or final project. Arranged with the Program Director.
Summer 2014
Exploration of selected aspects of culture (e.g., art, music, folklore, history, literature), emphasizing regional culture from an interdisciplinary perspective. This course is offered on-line with three live meetings on Tuesday, May 20, 6-9 PM; Tuesday, June 17, 6-9 PM; Tuesday, July 22, 6- 9 PM.
Dr. Luke Eric Lassiter is director of the Graduate Humanities Program and professor of humanities and anthropology. His latest book, co-authored with Elizabeth Campbell, is Doing Ethnography Today (forthcoming from Wiley Blackwell in the fall).
For students who need to conduct independent research and/or reading in a specific topic in the humanities, the Program will offer independent studies in those topics as funds allow. Contact the Director for more information. Examples of Special Topics might include:
* Museum Studies
* Film Criticism
* Studies in Appalachian Music
* Studies in Poetry
* Language and Communication
HUMN 680 – Independent Research Symposium (Luke Eric Lassiter), Arranged
A pro-seminar required of all Humanities degree students who are beginning the thesis or final project. Arranged with the Program Director.
Spring 2014
> Press Release: Local foundation provides tuition assistance for class on history of Charleston
> Tuition Assistance Program for Spring 2014 Semester
CULS 620: Women, Men, and Cultural Change (Luke Eric Lassiter) Wednesday, 7 – 9:50 p.m.
Did you know that some societies name and recognize three or four genders? Did you know that women and men may have different dialects in some parts of the world, even though they speak the same language? Did you know that in some places men and women can live in altogether separate households throughout their adult lives? Did you know that same-sex marriage is not a modern phenomenon, that in some societies it is actually a very old practice? Learn about this and more in CULS 620: Women, Men and Cultural Change, a course about sexuality, gender, and a process of cultural change between and among women and men that is centuries old.
Dr. Lassiter, director of the Graduate Humanities Program and professor of humanities and anthropology, has authored and edited several books on anthropology and culture change including Invitation to Anthropology and Explorations in Cultural Anthropology.
This seminar will meet at Glenwood, an iconic 1850s estate that stands in the hills of Charleston’s West Side. Students will get up close and personal with the past as they utilize elements of the historic Glenwood collection to examine the 150-year development of Charleston from a small 19th century village into a modern 21st century capital city. Sponsored in part by the Historic Glenwood Foundation.
This seminar is split into two sections:
HIST 600-231, Glenwood (1 hour): OPEN TO THE PUBLIC; APPLY AS NON-DEGREE STUDENT TO MU
HIST 600-232, History of Charleston (3 hours): SCHOLARSHIP AVAILABLE FOR COURSE; APPLY THROUGH HUMANITIES PROGRAM
**CONTACT THE PROGRAM OFFICE FOR DETAILS: 304-746-2022**
Dr. Billy Joe Peyton, associate professor of history at West Virginia State University. He is the author of Charleston Then and Now, and has researched and written extensively on the history of Charleston and West Virginia
For students who need to conduct independent research and/or reading in a specific topic in the humanities, the Program will offer independent studies in those topics as funds allow. Contact the Director for more information. Examples of Special Topics might include:
- Museum Studies
- Film Criticism
- Studies in Appalachian Music
- Studies in Poetry
- Language and Communication
HUMN 680 – Independent Research Symposium (Luke Eric Lassiter), Arranged
A pro-seminar required of all Humanities degree students who are beginning the thesis or final project. Arranged with the Program Director.
This seminar will engage selected literature by Appalachian writers to explore the region’s history and culture. Some authors covered will include Denise Giardina, Charles Frazier, James Still, Scott McClanahan and several others. Readings will examine the past and present public perception of Appalachia, as well as noting what comprises the soul of this vast region.
Ms. Pleska teaches writing at West Virginia State University, where she is also the Director of the WVSU Writing Center. She earned her MFA in creative nonfiction writing at Goucher College in Baltimore and is an essayist for West Virginia Public Radio. She also is the Editor-in-Chief of Mountain State Press and Senior Editor of Fed from the Blade: Tales and Poems from the Mountains.
Fall 2013
CULS 540 – World Religions (Luke Eric Lassiter), T, 4:30 – 6:50 p.m.
Study of several religions as they developed within their individual times and cultures.
Dr. Lassiter, director of the Graduate Humanities Program and professor of humanities and anthropology, has written extensively in several books and essays on the relationship of encounter, experience and story, especially as they relate to issues of belief and worldview, language and culture, memory and identity.
SEMINAR PARTICIPANT LIMIT: 3. “Directed Readings” is a new kind of seminar for Fall 2013. These seminars will be limited to 3 students who will read 3–5 books over the course of the given semester along with a faculty expert in a particular area. Faculty and students will arrange times to discuss the books
This seminar will draw from literary works including memoir, ethnography, and autobiography to explore the connections between language and identity. Working from a social science perspective, we will investigate how language in different cultural and historical contexts helps to construct a variety of identities in the U.S. and abroad.
Robin Conley is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Marshall University. She received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles. Her research and teaching focus on legal, linguistic, and cultural anthropology; gender and language; and violence and empathy in democratic institutions.
HIST 585 – Coal Mine Life, Work & Culture (Michael Workman), Th, 7 – 9:50 p.m.
This course provides students with a better understanding of the continuing economic, political, environmental and cultural impact which the extraction of coal has had on West Virginia.
Michael Workman worked in the underground coal mines of southern West Virginia before earning degrees in political science and his doctorate in history at WVU. He has written and published on coal and labor history, and currently is Assistant Professor of History at WVSU.
HUMN 601 – Literary Theory & Criticism (Ann McConnell), M, 7 – 9:50 p.m.
Core course introduces modern critical approaches, concepts and methods of research and scholarship in the broad field of literature. Open to non-degree students.
Dr. Anne McConnell teaches world literature, critical theory, and writing in the English Department at West Virginia State University. She recently published Approaching Disappearance at Dalkey Archive Press; the book explores the work of Maurice Blanchot, Jorge Luis Borges, Franz Kafka, and Nathalie Sarraute.
HUMN 604 – Expository Writing for Research (Cat Pleska), T, 7 – 9:50 p.m.
This core writing course develops proficiency in writing for research. Open to non-degree students.
Cat Pleska teaches writing at West Virginia State University, where she is also the Director of the WVSU Writing Center. She earned her MFA in creative nonfiction writing at Goucher College in Baltimore and is an essayist for West Virginia Public Radio.
For students who need to conduct independent research and/or reading in a specific topic in the humanities, the Program will offer independent studies in those topics as funds allow. Contact the Director for more information. Examples of Special Topics might include:
- Museum Studies
- Film Criticism
- Studies in Appalachian Music
- Studies in Poetry
- Language and Communication
HUMN 680 – Independent Research Symposium (Luke Eric Lassiter), Arranged
A pro-seminar required of all Humanities degree students who are beginning the thesis or final project. Arranged with the Program Director.
Summer 2013
This interdisciplinary course orients students to the significant issues and research in Appalachian studies. Important political, social, and cultural issues will be considered. Research areas are introduced. (This core course in the Graduate Certificate in Appalachian Studies may be taken by degree students in Humanities.)
This course is offered on-line with live meetings on T, May 21, 6-9 p.m.; T, June 18, 6-9 p.m.; T, July 23, 6-9 p.m.
Interdisciplinary core course addresses questions/concepts central to the humanities. Texts from philosophy, history, literature, the arts and the sciences provide insights into selected historical periods. Open to non-degree students.
For students who need to conduct independent research and/or reading in a specific topic in the humanities, the Program will offer independent studies in those topics as funds allow. Contact the Director for more information. Examples of Special Topics might include:
- Museum Studies
- Film Criticism
- Studies in Appalachian Music
- Studies in Poetry
- Language and Communication
A pro-seminar required of all Humanities degree students who are beginning the thesis or final project. Arranged with the Program Director.
Spring 2013
A&S 501 – Studies in Non-Western Art & Music (Luke Eric Lassiter), Thursday, 7:00-9:50 p.m.
Studies emphasizing non-Western art or music. This seminar will explore the various dimensions of art and music ethnographically, as well as examine the role of art and music in people’s lives everywhere as a cross-cultural phenomenon.
Dr. Lassiter, director of the Graduate Humanities Program and professor of humanities and anthropology, has written extensively in several books and essays on the relationship of encounter, experience and story, especially as they relate to issues of belief and worldview, language and culture, memory and identity.
CULS 612 – Time & Place in Appalachia (Robert Maslowski), Tuesday, 7:00-9:50 p.m.
This interdisciplinary course orients students to the importance of geography, topography, and geology to the history and development of the Appalchian region.
Dr. Robert Maslowski, retired Archeologist for the Huntington District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, possesses extensive knowledge of Appalachian archeology, culture, and history. He was executive producer of three award winning films, Ghosts of Green Bottom, Red Salt & Reynolds, and Secrets of the Valley. His numerous publications have appeared in venues such as World Archaeology, National Geographic Society Research Reports, Pennsylvania Archaeologist, Wonderful West Virginia, and West Virginia Archeologist (which he also serves as Editor).
HUMN 605 – Western Traditions & Contemporary Cultures (Ann McConnell), Monday, 7:00-9:50 p.m.
Using primary materials from different cultural periods, as well as contemporary critical analyses, this core course explores epistemological questions that underlie conflicts between cultures.
Dr. Anne McConnell teaches world literature, critical theory, and writing in the English Department at West Virginia State University. She recently published Approaching Disappearance at Dalkey Archive Press; the book explores the work of Maurice Blanchot, Jorge Luis Borges, Franz Kafka, and Nathalie Sarraute.
For students who need to conduct independent research and/or reading in a specific topic in the humanities, the Program will offer independent studies in those topics as funds allow. Contact the Director for more information. Examples of Special Topics might include:
* Museum Studies
* Film Criticism
* Studies in Appalachian Music
* Studies in Poetry
* Language and Communication
You may be familiar with the personal essay; that is, a genre of writing that uses the “I” as the center to explore inner and outer worlds via experience and memory. Did you know the personal essay comes in many flavors, such as the memoir essay, nature, travel, and radio, to name a few? In this course we will study models in each of four sub-genres and then write and workshop the essays. Expect field trips!
Ms. Pleska teaches writing at West Virginia State University, where she is also the Director of the WVSU Writing Center. She earned her MFA in creative nonfiction writing at Goucher College in Baltimore and is an essayist for West Virginia Public Radio.
HUMN 680 – Independent Research Symposium (Luke Eric Lassiter), Arranged
A pro-seminar required of all Humanities degree students who are beginning the thesis or final project. Arranged with the Program Director.
Fall 2012
How does encounter and experience factor into the stories we tell about ourselves and others? How do personal narratives affect how we come to understand the world? What role do things like culture, language, and memory play in the construction of meaningful story? To what extent do stories reflect our pasts and shape our futures? This seminar will explore these and other questions as well as involve participants in the crafting of autobiographical and biographical narratives.
Dr. Lassiter, director of the Graduate Humanities Program and professor of humanities and anthropology, has written extensively in several books and essays on the relationship of encounter, experience and story, especially as they relate to issues of belief and worldview, language and culture, memory and identity.
<< THIS SEMINAR HAS BEEN CANCELLED >>
The “lost wisdom” of ancient civilizations presents an irresistible lure for many modern Americans. This interest has lead to an innumerable quantity of popular books, television shows, movies, and more that allege to present the hidden truth behind the many mysteries of the past. Professional archaeologists have long stood in firm opposition to these alternative interpretations of past civilizations, and yet this opposition often seems to provide more credit to the alternative theorist than discredit. In this seminar, we will examine both sides of the debate, asking how do we learn about the prehistoric past and what can we truly know about ancient civilizations.
Dr. Anderson is an anthropolgical archaeologist who received his Ph.D. from Tulane University in 2010. His research interests include Maya culture, Preclassic Mesoamerica, archaeoastronomy, and the relationship between mainstream and alternative interpretations of the ancient past.
HUMN 602 – Historical Studies (Dan Holbrook), Thursday, 6:30 – 9 p.m.
Core course acquaints students with problems of historical knowledge, changes in the interpretation of history, nature of historical forces, and methods of historical research. Open to non-degree students.
This seminar will be offered in conjunction with the Department of History’s HST 600 – Methodology: Seminar in Historical Methods, taught by Dr. Dan Holbrook. Holbrook will teach HST 600 on the Huntington campus. Graduate Humanities students must sign up for the HUMN 602 course. Students can join this cross-listed seminar in person on the Huntington campus or via PolyCom from the South Charleston campus. Check our website for classroom assignments.
Dr. Holbrook is a historian of technology and the Chair of MU’s Department of History, and is very interested in local and public history..
For students who need to conduct independent research and/or reading in a specific topic in the humanities, the Program will offer independent studies in those topics as funds allow. Contact the Director for more information. Examples of Special Topics might include:
* Museum Studies
* Film Criticism
* Studies in Appalachian Music
* Studies in Poetry
* Language and Communication
HUMN 604 – Expository Writing for Research (Cathy Pleska), Tuesday, 7 – 9:50 p.m.
This core writing course develops proficiency in writing for research. Note: a degree student may demonstrate competency through an alternative assessment to have the requirement waived. Open to non-degree students.
Ms. Pleska teaches writing at West Virginia State University, where she is also the Director of the WVSU Writing Center. She earned her MFA in creative nonfiction writing at Goucher College in Baltimore and is an essayist for West Virginia Public Radio.
HUMN 680 – Independent Research Symposium (Luke Eric Lassiter), Arranged
A pro-seminar required of all Humanities degree students who are beginning the thesis or final project. Arranged with the Program Director.
LITS 600 – SpTp: Reading and Writing America’s Poetries (Cathy Pleska), Wednesday, 7 – 9:50 p.m.
This seminar will explore our lives and the many and varied lives in America (including Appalachia) through reading and studying poems as if we were the ones whose lives depended on them as well as doing writing exercises, creating poems, and workshopping together. No previous experience required! Just open hearts and hungry minds.
Ms. Pleska teaches writing at West Virginia State University, where she is also the Director of the WVSU Writing Center. She earned her MFA in creative nonfiction writing at Goucher College in Baltimore and is an essayist for West Virginia Public Radio.
Summer 2012
Exploration of selected aspects of culture (e.g., art, music, folklore, history, literature), emphasizing regional culture from an interdisciplinary perspective. This course is offered on-line with four live meetings on Tuesday, May 22, 6-9 PM; Tuesday, June 19, 6-9 PM; Tuesday, July 24, 6- 9 PM. See http://www.marshall.edu/SUPERSATURDAY/ for more information, including classroom assignment for live meetings.
Interdisciplinary core course addresses questions/concepts central to the humanities. Texts from philosophy, history, literature, the arts and the sciences provide insights into selected historical periods. Open to non-degree students.
For students who need to conduct independent research and/or reading in a specific topic in the humanities, the Program will offer independent studies in those topics as funds allow. Contact the Director for more information. Examples of Special Topics might include:
* Museum Studies
* Film Criticism
* Studies in Appalachian Music
* Studies in Poetry
* Language and Communication
A pro-seminar required of all Humanities degree students who are beginning the thesis or final project. Arranged with the Program Director.
Spring 2012
Richard Wagner’s ideas for creating the total work of art by merging music and drama have influenced more than a century of composers and film makers. The study of a variety of film genres and the impact of their musical scores on audiences is the basis for examining the history of this popular art form.
CULS 611 – Appalachian Studies: Themes and Voices (Chris Green), Wednesday, 7 – 9:50 p.m.
This interdisciplinary course orients students to the significant issues and research in Appalachian studies. Important political, social, and cultural issues will be considered. Research areas are introduced.
CULS 600 – SpTp: Globalizing Foods (Bob Maslowski), Tuesday, 7 – 9:50 p.m.
From Homo erectus to McDonalds, this course will cover the history of food from hunting and gathering and agricultural societies to the modern industrial food chain with an emphasis on Appalachia. It will incorporate tastings and field trips to give students a better understanding of where food comes from, what people eat and how food preferences develop.
HUMN 650 – Independent Studies in Selected Topics (Luke Eric Lassiter) – Arranged
Students wishing to set up an independent study in area of special interest with an approved graduate instructor may do so in consultation with the Program Director. For more information, contact the Program Director before the start of the term. Examples of Special Topics might include:
* Museum Studies
* Film Criticism
* Studies in Appalachian Music
* Studies in Poetry
* Language and Communication
HUMN 680 – Independent Research Symposium (Luke Eric Lassiter), Arranged
A pro-seminar required of all Humanities degree students who are beginning the thesis or final project. Arranged with the Program Director.
LITS 600 – SpTp: Reading & Writing Memoir (Fran Simone), Monday, 7 – 9 p.m.
Memoir is a story from a life. It is about how our past selves continue to inform our present selves. The class is organized around discussions and workshops which are designed to help writers transform life stories into engaging narratives. Students will read and discuss selected works. They will participate in writing workshop, draft and revise narratives and reflect on their writing process.
CI 677 – Writing for Publication (Luke Eric Lassiter), Wednesday, 4:30 – 6:50 p.m.
GSEPD doctoral seminar: For professional educators and students who wish to study and practice writing articles for publication in scholarly journals in the field of education. Humanities students may register for the seminar by permission only. Contact Lassiter for more details.