About the Department

There is an ancient saying that asserts, "Know thyself, so that you may know others." The Department of History, Philosophy, and Social Sciences recognizes that the wisdom of this statement is incomplete without its complementary claim: "Know others, so that you may know yourself." The Department of History, Philosophy, and Social Sciences (HPSS) is an inter-disciplinary department where faculty teach and conduct research in a range of fields across the humanities and social sciences. HPSS course offerings seek to fulfill these ideals through the study of human life, past and present, in its social, political, intellectual and cultural contexts and manifestations. Courses in HPSS focus on the variety of perspectives and methodologies of their various disciplines towards the development of critical thinking, reading and writing skills.

The HPSS Curriculum consists of electives in Western and World History, Philosophy, including a number of offerings in Aesthetics, and the Social Sciences: Anthropology, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, and Cultural Studies.

HPSS Requirements for Graduation: 9 credits (3 courses) in HPSS, including HPSS Topics (S101); additional HPSS courses may be taken to fulfill the 12-credit Liberal Arts elective requirement for graduation. (See Liberal Art Requirements)

About the Concentration

A concentration in HPSS enables students to explore the scope and breadth of the department's offerings by pursuing a course of study in a field that lies at the intersection of traditional disciplinary boundaries. Such study represents the cutting edge of current scholarship, reshaping enduring issues and providing new means of understanding the world. It also provides an opportunity for students to shape their Liberal Arts education in a way that is most meaningful for them. Working across the disciplines of HPSS requires independence and imagination, excellent communication skills, and the ability to bring together disparate philosophical and methodological approaches. Highlighting such qualities through a concentration in HPSS can enhance a student's attractiveness to employers, especially when combined with an appropriate major and/or portfolio work. Each student completing the requirements for a concentration in HPSS receives a diploma with his or her chosen HPSS concentration track clearly noted. For example, a student might graduate with a "B.F.A. in Graphic Design, with a Concentration in Media Studies from the Department of History, Philosophy, and Social Sciences."

Concentration Tracks

There are 11 established concentration tracks in HPSS from which to choose. If they wish, students may also devise their own concentration tracks in consultation with the Concentration Coordinator; such an option is handled on a case-by-case basis. Click on the links below for a description, sample of courses, and key faculty in these areas.

American Studies
Asian Studies
Belief Systems
Comparative Political Systems
Contemporary Issues and Public Policy
Culture, Race, and Ethnicity
European Studies
Gender and Sexuality
Media Studies
The Self in Society
Environmental Studies

Concentration Description

• Courses applied towards the Concentration must be part of a thematic, interdisciplinary track. (See Concentration Tracks in HPSS)  It is possible to devise an individualized concentration with the approval and guidance of the HPSS Concentration Coordinator.
• A minimum of 8 courses (24 credits), 6 of which must come from within the Department of HPSS, is required. The 3 HPSS courses (9 credits) currently required for graduation will count as part of the 8 courses (24 credits) comprising the Concentration.
• Ordinarily, no more than one course earning a grade of a "C+/C/C-" can be counted for the Concentration. No course receiving a grade of a "D+/D" can be counted for the Concentration.
• A thesis is NOT required for the Concentration. It is an option, however.  If you wish to pursue this option, you should discuss this with the Concentration Coordinator.
• There is no penalty for withdrawing from a HPSS Concentration. Simply inform your adviser of your intent to withdraw.

Senior Lecturers

Larry Carney
277-4869, email

Winifred Lambrecht
x6266, email

Thomas Roberts
x6587, email

Jane Szurek
x6612, email

Donald Thornton
277-4869, email

Distribution Requirements

One course must be a HPSS introductory/foundational class that deals with basic concepts, concerns, approaches, theories, and critical analyses of a particular HPSS discipline (3 credits). Such courses include (but are not limited to):

Five additional courses must be taken in at least 2 of the 3 disciplinary areas (history, philosophy, or the social sciences) within HPSS.

• Only one thematically appropriate independent study can be applied to the Concentration (see requirements pertaining to ISPs).
• Any course at Brown that has been approved for HPSS credit can be applied to your Concentration, again, provided it falls within the track you are focusing on. Likewise, transfer credits may be applied at the approval of the Concentration Coordinator

Two other courses may be taken in any department within or outside of Liberal Arts or outside of RISD (existing divisional and school restrictions and requirements pertaining to transfer credits apply), subject to the approval of the adviser.

All seven courses must fit within the Concentration Track theme selected by you in consultation with the Concentration Coordinator.

Links

Liberal Arts Division

RISD Intranet

WebAdvisor

HPSS Faculty List

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Initiating a Concentration in HPSS

After choosing an option from among the Concentration Tracks listed below, obtain and complete the "Declaration to Concentrate in HPSS" form (available in the Liberal Arts Office). Submit your form to the HPSS Concentration Coordinator, Daniel Cavicchi, in person or in his mailbox at the Liberal Arts Office, CB 418. He will arrange to have the initial meeting.

Concentration Tracks

There are 11 established concentration tracks in HPSS from which to choose. If they wish, students may also devise their own concentration tracks in consultation with Concentration Coordinator; such an option is handled on a case-by-case basis.

American Studies

Study of the United States and its geographical context (particularly North America, the Caribbean, and Central America), including economics, government, racial and ethnic diversity, specific historical eras and watershed events, thoughts, values, international relations, and popular culture.

Courses: American Politics and Public Debate; Musical Community; American History to 1877; The Civil War; American History Since 1877; Jazz in America; History of Television I and II; Asians in America; Life Stories; Women in a Patriarchal Society; Propaganda and Social Commentary; The American Dream; The United States in Vietnam; History of American Cinema; History of American Technology; Crucible of American Thought; US and the Rest; Freedom Dreams. Popular Music and Politics; Society, Technology and Nature: Sociologies of Technology; Cities, Urbanization, Nature: Exploring Urban Political Ecology; Sociology of the Environment; Urban Studies

Key Faculty: Cavicchi, Cook, Keefer, Roberts, White

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Asian Studies

Study of one or more regions of Asia (East, Southeast, South, or parts of Islamic Asia), including their pasts, cultures, societies, philosophies, religions, aesthetics, and political developments and institutions.  

Courses: Understanding Southeast Asia; Buddhism and Society; Traditional Japanese Aesthetics; China in the Modern World; The United States in Vietnam; The Wonder That Was India; Mapping a Universe; Chinese History; The Two Koreas; Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology; Women in Asia; Muslims and Islam   

Key Faculty: French, Saito

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Belief Systems

Study which investigates how cultures and societies throughout history have developed world views through religious beliefs, philosophical traditions, and folkways. Worldviews offer different modes of comprehending the universe, the self, the nature of values, and the meaning of life.  

Courses: The Quest for Wisdom; Archaeology of the Western Mind; Introduction to Philosophy; Meaning and Message; Nineteenth Century German Thought; Informal Logic; Existentialism; The Consolation of Philosophy; Myth Making/Image-Making; Understanding Folklore and Folklife; Mapping a Universe; Buddhism and Society; The Psychology of Evil; Anthropology of Science and Society; Science and Race; Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology; Approaches to Religious Thought; Muslims and Islam; Sociology of the Environment; An Introduction to Social Theory; Society, Technology and Nature: Sociologies of Technology

Key Faculty: French, Glaser, Keefer, Ott, Poland, Prewitt-Freilino, Saito, Szurek, Von Eckardt, White

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Comparative Political Systems

Study of different political systems throughout the world and through history, from egalitarian hunter-gatherer societies to early European monarchies, from constitutional democracies to totalitarian states. This concentration looks at different concepts of power and authority and the political systems they animate, from historical, philosophical and cultural perspectives. 

Courses: Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology; Arts and Cultures of Africa, the Americas, and the Pacific; China in the Modern World; The Two Koreas; Topics in the Contemporary Middle East; Myth Making and Image-Making; Women in a Patriarchal Society; Understanding Folklore and Folklife; Great Lives Lived; Refugees, Migrants, and Displaced Persons; Women in Comparative Perspective; American Politics and Public Debate; Capitalism, Ecology, and Ecocommunitarian Alternatives; Sociology of Globalization

Key Faculty: Carney, Cavicchi, Cook, French, Warner, White

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Contemporary Issues and Public Policy 

Study of the historical development, philosophical contexts, power relations, and public debates around current social and political issues worldwide and the various methods that are used to shape understanding of and action toward such issues, including empirical research, legal theory and practice, political analysis, and social theory.

Courses: Topics in the Contemporary Middle East; Contemporary Moral Issues; American Politics and Public Debate; Ecological Responsibility in Art and Design; Environmental Ethics; Introduction to Social Theory; Crime as a Preoccupation; Creativity, Government, and the Law; Representing the Holocaust; Refugees, Migrants, and Displaced Persons; Science and Social Controversy; Controversial Issues in Abnormal Psychology; Science and Race; The Psychology of Evil, Urban Sociology; Capitalism, Ecology and Ecocommunitarian Alternatives; The United States in Vietnam; Combat and Culture: War in Public Consciousness; Designing the News; Harvesting the Sea; Sociology of the Environment: Seminar; Sociology of Globalization; Cities, Urbanization, Nature: Exploring Urban Political Ecology; Society, Technology and Nature :Sociologies of Technology; Urban Studies

Key Faculty: Carney, Cavicchi, French, Poland, Prewitt-Freilino, Roberts, Saito, White

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Culture, Race and Ethnicity

Study that explores the historical, social, psychological, economic, and legal dynamics, meanings and experiences of cultural, racial, national, and ethnic identities, especially African-American, Asian-American, Latinos, and Native American as well as comparable identities – whether among indigenous, recently arrived or long domiciled communities – in various settings throughout the world.  

Courses: Traditional Japanese Aesthetics; Jazz in America; Life Stories; Representing the Holocaust; Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology; Arts and Cultures of Africa, the Americas, and the Pacific; China in the Modern World; The Two Koreas; Refugees, Migrants and Displaced Persons; Buddhism and Society, Understanding Southeast Asia; China in the Modern World, Biological Anthropology; Science and Race; Freedom Dreams; American History to 1877; American History Since 1877; Urban Sociology; Popular Music and Politics; Stereotypes and Prejudice; Designing the News

Key Faculty: Cavicchi, French, Lambrecht, Prewitt-Freilino, Roberts, Saito

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European Studies

Study of the European continent or specific European nations and states (Rome, Germany, Britain), including philosophy, politics, warfare, state-building, economic systems, and societal formations across antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and Reformation, and the modern periods.  

Courses: Early European Civilization; The High Middle Ages; Saints, Rebels, and Outcasts; Revolution, Capital, and War; The Third Reich; Women in a Patriarchal Society; Representing The Holocaust; History and the Text; Facts, Evidence, and Analysis; Europe in the Age of the Reformation; Modern Britain; Propaganda and Social Commentary; Nineteenth Century German Thought; Europeans and Others; Creating the Atlantic Empire; Society Ships and the Sea

Key Faculty: Cook, Keefer, Ott, Szurek, Warner

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Gender and Sexuality

Study which explores the socio-cultural, legal/ethical, historical, anthropological, psychological, and/or political aspects of gender (femininity and masculinity) and sexual orientation/ identity (heterosexuality, homosexuality, and bisexuality).  

Courses: Psychology of Sexuality; Women in Comparative Perspective; Women in Patriarchal Society; Women in Asia; History of Homosexuality; Contemporary Moral issues; Anthropology of Gender; Psychology of Gender; Gender and the Media; Classifying People: Gender, Sexuality and Mental Illness

Key Faculty: Cook, French, Poland, Prewitt-Freilino, Saito, Szurek

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Media Studies

Study of the history, institutions, and socio-cultural roles of mass-mediated communications and expressions, past and present (books, newspapers and magazines, film and video, television, music, and the Internet), including theories of production and reception, debates about media influence, and the rise and role of media cultures.  

Courses: Historical Function of Film; The Mutable Past; Life Stories; History of American Cinema; Popular Culture Reception; Meaning and Message; Humanity: Natural & Unnatural in the X-Files; Musical Community; Jazz in America; History of Television I and II; Propaganda and Social Commentary; Ethnographic Film; Representing the Real; History of Listening; Gender and the Media; Designing the News; Combat and Culture: War in Public Consciousness; An Introduction to Social Theory; Society, Technology and Nature : Sociologies of Technology

Key Faculty: Cavicchi, Keefer, Lambrecht, Prewitt-Freilino, Roberts, White

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The Self and Society

Study of how people perceive, construct, manipulate, and maintain views of themselves and the world around them, and how physical and social environments (e.g., cultural norms, social roles, immediate environmental stimuli)  shape people’s identities, motivations, feelings, beliefs, and behavior.

Courses: Introduction to Psychology; Social Psychology; Personality Psychology; Psychology of Gender; The Psychology of Evil; Stereotypes and Prejudice; Gender and the Media; Controversial Issues in Abnormal Psychology; Cognitive Science and Digital Media; Classifying People: Gender, Sexuality and Mental Illness;.  Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology; Folklore and Folklife; Anthropology of Gender; Women in Asia; Muslims and Islam; Buddhism and Society; Freedom Dreams; Saints, Rebels and Outcasts; An Introduction to Social Theory; Sociology of Globalization; Urban Studies

Key Faculty: French, Poland, Prewitt-Freilino, Von Eckardt, Warner, White

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Environmental Studies

Study of how historical, cultural, religious, philosophical, societal, economic, and political factors have shaped and continue to shape human-nature relationships and today's environmental issues; exploration of the role that science and technology play in creating, exacerbating, or solving environmental challenges; consideration of the impacts of cities, suburbs and rural worlds on the environment; our responsibility as local and global community members; and the ways in which art, design and diverse forms of creativity can contribute toward more sustainable and just socio-ecological futures.

Courses: Sociology of the Environment; Anthropology of Science and Society; Introduction to Biological Anthropology; Capitalism, Ecology and Ecocommunitarian Alternatives; The Politics of Globalization; Cities, Urbanization, Nature; Explorations in Urban Political Ecology; Ecological Responsibility in Art and Design; Aesthetic Appreciation of Nature; Philosophy of Nature; Society, Technology and Nature; Harvesting the Sea; Models of Development in the Global South: Globalization, Aid, Technology and the Grassroots

(for Liberal Arts elective credits): Current Events of Biology; Human Ecology; The Ecology of Here and Now; The Water Planet

Key Faculty: Carney, Idoine, Jensen, Perlman, Saito, Szurek, White