Humanities Courses at BCC

Humanities Course Descriptions

(Source: 2017-2019 Berkeley City College Catalog)

For other information about Humanities at BCC and to see a list of current faculty, click here.

 

HUMAN 1, 3 Units

Introduction to Humanities

3 hours lecture (GR or P/NP). Acceptable for credit: UC/CSU

Humanities seen through various forms of expression: The arts and society, such as dance, painting, music, sculpture, and mythology; theory and practice in artistic creation to stimulate personal awareness.

 

HUMAN 5, 3 Units

Storytelling in American Culture

3 hours lecture (GR or P/NP). Acceptable for credit: UC/CSU

Storytelling among different ethnic groups within the United States: Origin myths, multicultural histories, family lore, heroic epics, trickster tales, traumatic experiences, slave narratives, immigrant testimonies, war memorials, celebrity biographies, urban legends, animated fairy-tales, science fiction films, game worlds, and emergent narrative forms.

 

HUMAN 15, 3 Units

Popular Culture

3 Hours Lecture (GR or P/NP).  Acceptable for credit: UC/CSU

Meaning and impact of American popular culture in the twentieth century: The cultural evolution of consumerism, amusement, leisure, media, and entertainment industries.

 

HUMAN 21, 3 Units

Film: Art and Communication

3 hours lecture (GR). Acceptable for credit: UC/CSU 

Analysis of history and aesthetics of film from its inception in the late 19th century to the present: Language of film, factual films vs. fictional films, and effect of films on contemporary society.

 

HUMAN 26, 4 Units

Global Cinema

3 hours lecture, 3 hours laboratory (GR or P/NP). Acceptable for credit: UC/CSU

Global cinema analyzed through historical, political, commercial, cultural, and artistic perspectives: Screenings and interpretation of representative films from a variety of national fi lm traditions outside of the United States, including films from Iran, India, Italy, France, Russia, Japan, China, Brazil, and Argentina.

 

HUMAN 30A, 3 Units

Human Values/Ethics

3 hours lecture (GR or P/NP).

Also offered as PHIL 31A. Not open for credit to students who have completed or are currently enrolled in PHIL 31A. Acceptable for credit: UC/CSU

Analysis of concepts of good and right in our society and of criteria of conduct: Various religious, philosophic, scientific, and aesthetic aspects of moral behavior integrated with reason and emotion of the individual.

 

HUMAN 30B, 3 Units

Human Values/Aesthetics

3 hours lecture (GR or P/NP). Acceptable for credit: UC/CSU

Analysis of the nature of the beautiful as expressed in visual arts, music, and literature of Western and other cultures: Integration of various aspects of daily and transitory activities of the individual to permanent, recorded expressions of the human spirit through the use of major works of art.

 

HUMAN 40, 3 Units

Religions of the World

3 hours lecture (GR). Acceptable for credit: UC/CSU

Comparative study of the world’s great religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam; original sources stressed.

 

HUMAN 48UA-ZZ, .5-5 Units

Selected Topics in Humanities

0-5 hours lecture, 0-15 hours laboratory (GR or P/NP). Acceptable for credit: CSU

See section on Selected Topics.

 

HUMAN 49, .5-5 Units

Independent Study in Humanities

0-5 hours lecture (GR or P/NP). Acceptable for credit: CSU

See section on Independent Study.

 

HUMAN 52, 4 Units

Women and Cinema

4 hours lecture (GR or P/NP). Recommended preparation: HUMAN 21 or an introduction to Film Studies course. Also offered as WS 52. Not open for credit to students who have completed or are currently enrolled in WS 52. Acceptable for credit: UC/CSU

Analysis of women in cinema and of feminist and queer film criticism: Feminist film theory, criticism, and history; women as readers of film; women’s independent film; women’s often conflicted relationship with film representations; and the role of sexuality and gender in film viewing and representation.

 

HUMAN 53, 4 Units

Comparative Film Genres

4 hours lecture (GR or P/NP). Recommended preparation: HUMAN 21 or an introduction to Film Studies course. Acceptable for credit: UC/CSU

Survey of film genres selected from two to four of the following: Film noir, action, comedy, romance, western, musical, horror, documentary, gangster, and others.

 

HUMAN 55, 4 Units

The Representation of Immigration in Cinema and Television

4 hours lecture (GR or P/NP). Acceptable for credit: UC/CSU

Survey of immigration and cinema: Divergent ways immigrants and immigration have been represented in U.S. cinema and television, historical and contemporary examples in relation to the history of U.S. immigration policies, and public debate about immigration. Focus is on the U.S., but other cinematic narratives of immigration may be studied for purposes of comparison

 

HUMAN 57, 4 Units

Film Directors and Artists

4 Hours Lecture (GR or P/NP). Recommended Preparation: HUMAN 21. Acceptable for credit: UC/CSU

Concentrated and comparative investigation of influential film directors and artists: Examination of signature themes, visual styles, and historical connections among different film authors.

 

HUMAN 182, 3 Units

Introduction To Visual Culture

3 Hours Lecture (GR or P/NP). Acceptable for credit: UC/CSU

Also off ered as ART 182. Not open for credit to students who have completed or are currently enrolled in ART 182. Acceptable for credit: UC/CSU

Introduction to the function of visual languages from “high” art to TV, movies, and popular culture: Key concepts such as power, identity, ideology, gender, race, class, globalism, desire, consumerism and their impact on the production and understanding of the visual; role of the viewer in the ongoing and co-creative establishment of meaning.

(Source: 2017-2019 Berkeley City College Catalog)