HUMA 6130: Critical Methodologies for Humanities Research

Course Description

This 3-credit course is meant as a complement to the Humanities research seminar for students interested in a comprehensive, critical and self-reflexive exploration of the forms, formats, possibilities and challenges of Humanities methodologies. The course articulates each stage of the research process – from the selection of an appropriate topic, the drafting of a topic proposal and the selection of source material to the presentation of research results in written, oral, visual or multimedia format – to the complexity of theoretical and trans-disciplinary discourses and traditions that influence and situate Humanities research in its wider academic context. The course addresses the inseparable interrelation between the production and the communication of academic knowledge. It focuses on qualitative research methods, such as textual and media analysis and interpretation, archival research, oral history, life writing, translation, interviewing, and participant observation. Academic traditions and debates discussed in relation to practical research include: 1) Hermeneutics and Critical Theory; 2) Microhistory and the History of Mentalities; 3) New Historicism, New Cultural History and Historical Anthropology; 4) Structuralism, Semiology, and Genre Theory; 5) Discourse Analysis and Deconstruction; 6) Memory, Identity, and Life Writing; 7) Postcolonial Criticism, Translation Theory and Travel Writing. By relating concrete instances of Humanities research to these debates and theories, the course builds up a critical perspective on how inscribing and translating human experience, cultural difference, and historical structure and event into academic formats impacts research results as well as research processes. It familiarizes students with Humanities-specific approaches that address issues of academic writing, translation, ambiguity, self-positioning, research ethics, and trans-disciplinary liminality and border-crossings.

Course Learning Objectives

• Students learn to practise, and reflect on, the process of planning, carrying out, and presenting research in ways that are adequate for specific contexts, topics, and problematics in the Humanities.
• Students acquire a comprehensive understanding of significant methodological traditions and debates in Humanities research.
• Students learn to situate their own work theoretically and methodologically in respect to these traditions.
• Students are equipped to argue the specificities and boundaries of doing Humanities research.
• Students are aware of the role of Humanities research in the production of academic and public knowledge and reflect on its value for society.

Course syllabus (Passport York authentication required)