Welcome to the first Class Companion of the
course. This short video will introduce you to a major question we will explore this term: What
is culture, and why do we study it? You will also learn what the Humanities are, and how we will
approach questions about history and culture this semester. In this course, we will explore
the development of culture - or the visual, literary, and philosophical evidence created by
humankind over thousands of years. On the screen, you’re looking at examples of culture that we
will explore throughout the course. They span from prehistory to this year – and were made by people
from across the world, as well as right here in Central Florida. Scholars of the Humanities
analyze cultural artifacts from multiple angles to explore what they can tell us about each
other, ourselves, and the ideas that connect us all. Studying art, literature, and philosophy
from this perspective helps us understand that history is a thing that’s built in its telling -
and that it is influenced by the perspectives of its authors and makers. Take this artwork by Kara
Walker, where one account of history confronts another. It’s called “Fons Americanus” – a Latin
title that translates into “American Fountain.” It is inspired by the Victoria Memorial in London,
a monument celebrating the British Empire under Queen Victoria. The Victoria Monument tells a
triumphant story about British colonial rule in Africa and the Americas, and credits Queen
Victoria’s participation in building the wealth and power of the British Empire. But Walker’s
monument tells another side to the story. Details like a weeping boy and a noose hanging from a tree
give voice to the unspoken parts of the Victoria Memorial: the human toll of colonial violence
and enslavement. Kara Walker’s sculpture shows us that it’s as important to think about what is
included in our history, as well as what isn’t. In fact - we may not realize it, but Europe and North
America are often pictured as the “center” of the world, skewing our perspective of how our history
fits in the larger global picture. In 1943, Uruguayan artist Joaquín Torres García advocated
for de-centering Euro-American influence in his Inverted America drawing. The line drawing depicts
a redesigned map of the South American continent, orienting its southern point at the top of the
map. García’s modernist take on the map reduces its form to a line drawing and uses the simple
materials of pen and ink compared to the elaborate painted maps of the 16th and 17th centuries.
Torres-García’s map overturns the structure of traditional maps, which place South America below
North America - often at the bottom left corner of our traditional map, He asks us to question
why we think of the world oriented in this way, and how it relates to map designs of the 16th
century, which place the Atlantic Ocean at the “center” of the image. The original design of our
world map comes from the 1569 Mercator world map, which privileged the travels across the Atlantic
that led to investigating and colonizing the “New World” in North and South America. The
Atlantic Ocean is often shown at the center of our map because it was incredibly important
to 16th century map makers in Europe – but it’s one of many oceans that exist in our world. What
would a world map look like if it were drawn by, for example, a Japanese artist? Well, here’s a map
from 1853 designed by a Japanese artist. Notice that the Pacific Ocean plays a more central role
in that map, because it was more significant to Japanese trade and geography. All this to say:
maps, like the other cultural materials we will study in this class, are not neutral. They take
on the perspective and worldview of their makers – and it’s this idea that we’re going to focus on
throughout the semester. Over the next 16 weeks, we are going to explore the development of culture
across time and space. You’re going to examine ancient texts, interpret artworks, and learn
how to critically assess a variety of scholarly resources. By the semester’s end, you will have
gained the skills needed to analyze material from any region or time period and understand something
about that culture. Moreover, you will be able to identify and explain the concepts, issues,
and themes that relate to the history of human culture, and that continue to persist today.
I can’t wait to begin this journey with you!