i remember u said u were open to q's abt reed? im curious ive heard that the hum 110 thing is eurocentric, but is it possible to introduce other texts to it? like would u be able to reference eastern texts in ur essays? and is there any chance of it changing to include impt eastern philosophical texts, i kno there have been efforts to change it but are they making progress? sorry if this is a lot of question lol good luck on all ur reading!
Ah, anon. This is one of the biggest controversies at Reed right now. And something I have a strong opinion on! So let’s begin.
Hum 110 is indeed Eurocentric, though it’s focused on a very specific part of Europe. Officially, it’s called Humanities 110: Ancient Mediterranean. So Greece and Rome basically (ex: the “textbook” we have for the class is called Egypt, Greece, and Rome by Charles Freeman and they usually assign a chapter or two per text/time period for historical context). This is a bit of a side note, but I think studying the rest of Europe before it was Hellenized, then Romanized, then Christianized (each with a further reach than the last) would be super cool and eye-opening. A good example of this is the original Arthurian myths vs the Roman/Christian versions. Same with the sidhe (faerie) myths. It makes me want to explode something. MOVING ON.
We’re not allowed to create our own paper topics until second semester. That being said, if you have a really great idea for some form of textual comparison or even something that’s within the text but not in the given paper topics, TALK TO YOUR CONFERENCE LEADER. Most of them will be willing to let you write your own paper topic if you can convince them you have a good argument. It’s much easier to do this second semester (I haven’t done any of the given prompts this semester lol), but you might end up with a conference leader who hates all the prompts with a passion and will let you write anything (I’m thinking of a very specific professor, who is my roommate’s conference leader, but he’s also strongly against changing the Hum syllabus so). I know that in conference, we’ve definitely discussed some eastern texts (if we had knowledge of them). We’ve also talked about Hamlet. And Star Wars. And it was all relevant to the texts somehow. So, in my conference at least, we’ve been encouraged to think outside of the syllabus? Though my conference leader(s)* have drawn us back on topic if we stray too far. Or we’ve done it ourselves.**
PROGRESS: Some of the Hum faculty will point at the beginning of Hum and say enough progress has been made. Ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Hebrew Bible***, and some Persian work (mostly art since there aren’t a lot of surviving written works) has been added. It’s no longer “Western” humanities! It’s the ancient Mediterranean!! Here’s the thing: I don’t think it’s enough, most of the student body doesn’t think it’s enough, some of the faculty don’t think it’s enough, but TPTB (mostly the Board of Trustees I think) thinks it is too much.
While I don’t think all the texts we read are completely obsolete and pointless (I love the Iliad, the pre-Socratic philosophers were really entertaining, the Hebrew Bible was SO MUCH FUN, etc.), and there were some really great lectures (even for texts I didn’t like), I know the point of this class is that 50% highly problematic. It’s the required freshman humanities class, so it’s in part teaching us how to read and write at a college level. Great. But we’re also studying the “canon” that has influenced our cultural understanding of the world today. (dear lord)
(One thing I don’t get about this class is that they hate the word “relatable” but think we’re studying a “canon.” Don’t the works have to be relatable to be considered culturally canonical????????? Don’t they have to be relatable to be relevant?????? Maybe we have different definitions of relatable.)
Basically, my response to this argument of the works being the “canon” is: who’s canon? They’re certainly not the most important texts in, say, India, or Japan, or Algeria, or China, or even Russia probably. (Heck, they’re not all important to the United States.) People might say, but we’re in the US so these works are mostly relevant to us!! And I would say, but you, Reed College, as an institution, are seeking to be more diverse yet you sit here alienating your students of color and continuing to insist that this white canon is culturally relevant, at least in the US. But “at least in the US” won’t always work because the US because the US is one of the most diverse countries in the world and “minorities” won’t always be minorities, and we won’t all have the same cultural canon. So insisting that “this is the canon” is so wrong and just seems like a continuation of cultural colonization/assimilation.
whew. So, yeah, this is definitely one of the most controversial topics at Reed right now. My belief is that one day things will change. There are definitely enough people who care to change it. But I also know that Reed might argue that they don’t have the faculty/resources to diversify the syllabus, and I know that in the past majors have been added and programs changed for the better because a donor came along and gave Reed money for that specific purpose. *looks around for donors* Please?
So that’s my two cents. Also, I do all the reading, despite my opinion, because I’m gathering ammunition. So I can explain in detail why the syllabus must be changed. I do this for other things too (ex: Achilles and Patroclus. I’ve been preparing ammo for 8yrs. i’m ready. come at me.). And despite all this, I love my college because, though Hum is a defining characteristic of Reed, it’s not the only one. There are still many things I love about this college. And Hum isn’t always bad. Some of the lectures are like “DESTROY GREEK EXCEPTIONALISM” and I’m like “YESSSS.”
Anyway, I hope this answers your questions! Feel free to ask some more if you want! Sorry this took a few days, I have lots of work to do and I knew this answer would be sort of long. ^^
*conference leader(s): we have a sub conference leader for this semester because our lovely, wonderful first conference leader is on maternity leave.
**done it ourselves: we’ve had two conferences without professors because our professors were out sick (once this semester, and once last semester)
***Hebrew Bible: the Tanakh, but I’m not sure if this was really added???? I feel like they would have already considered this canon, but I also know that Hum used to start with the Iliad and we did this text before the Iliad. (Which is chronologically backward, but the beginning of Hum jumped around a lot.)
