This course examines the humanities from the standpoint of global interconnections. Using historical, literary, linguistic, and philosophical approaches to cultural criticism, reception and production, we study the major traditions of critical theory, including semiology, deconstruction, feminism, psychoanalysis, phenomenology, the Annals School and the Frankfurt School. Concerned with how the world gives itself to appearances, these epistemological methods allow us to tease out the critical charge embedded in the notion of culture itself.

This course focuses on the student's research proposal and an initial exploration of the literature review. Under the supervision of their supervisor, Students are expected to finalize the writing of an extended thesis proposal of 8000 words (excluding the references) that will include the following sections: The background of the research, the rationale and motivation for their proposed research, the proposed theoretical framework and an initial literature review section.

This course examines the ways in which interdisciplinarity is practiced in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Students will be exposed to research projects undertaken across contemporary fields of knowledge – including but not limited to the digital humanities, intercultural communication, translation and interpreting, cultural heritage, women and gender studies, sciences and technology studies – and yet inheriting from traditional “disciplines” that have founded the Humanities and Social Sciences (philosophy, literature, linguistics, law, sociology, political science, etc.). Class discussion will be tailored towards mapping the different types of knowledge integration and their tension with knowledge specialization (mono-, anti-, multi-, inter-, trans-disciplinarity). Exposure and discussion, the two pillars of this course, will equip students to critically reflect on the potentials and limitations of interdisciplinarity in the endeavor to bridge the gap between Society and the Humanities and Social Sciences.