Research in the humanities is centered on understanding the human experience through art, literature, language, and cultures across the world. Humanities scholars in LSA are studying everything from ancient cuneiform script to the evolving challenges of the modern workplace.
Meet the Associate Dean
Associate Dean for the Humanities, Helen Hornbeck Tanner Collegiate Professor of American Culture and History
Faculty Profile
A historian of Indigenous relations during the early era of the United States and the British Empire, Dowd is a member of the Native American Studies faculty. His teaching encompasses Native American and U.S. Constitutional history; he has won numerous teaching awards at the University of Michigan and other institutions; and he has taught on a Fulbright fellowship at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.
Units in the Humanities
Asian Languages and Cultures
Research in the Asian Languages and Cultures department focuses on connections—historic, cultural, and economic—between Asia and the outside world.
American Culture
Research in the department of American Culture explores a range of topics from American history and literature to ethnic studies and pop culture.
Afroamerican and African Studies (DAAS)
The intellectual focus and mission of DAAS scholarship is to reflect on and participate in determining emerging directions in the study and representation of the diverse cultures, experiences and societies of Africans and peoples of African descent across the African continent and diaspora.
Frankel Center for Judaic Studies
The Jean and Samuel Frankel Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan uses an interdisciplinary approach to the study of Jewish civilizations and thought.
Classical Studies
Classical Studies at the University of Michigan offers an array of useful resources for any scholar who researches the ancient world, including access to libraries, papyrology, and archaeology.
Comparative Literature
The Department of Comparative Literature encourages a global perspective and an interdisciplinary approach to literary studies across linguistic, geographical, cultural, and historical boundaries.
English Language and Literatures
Research in the English department is dedicated to four related endeavors: surveying and analyzing the diverse range of texts in the English language; researching and teaching the rich history of that language; fostering exceptional creative as well as critical writing; and studying texts in relation to other cultural phenomena.
Film, Television, and Media
In contrast to the film school or art school model, FTVM offers a well conceived integration of critical studies and creative production that examines American and world film, video art, television, and digital media, as well as the development of particular genres and the careers of individual artists.
Germanic Languages and Literatures
GLL Faculty have methodic training and experience in German and Comparative Literature, History, Political Science, Film Studies, Linguistics, Sociology, Philosophy, Business, and Music.
History
History at Michigan is global, multidimensional, and interdisciplinary, and research is conducted on a range of topics spanning the millenia and covering nearly every geographic region in the world.
History of Art
The Department of the History of Art combines historical depth and cultural range in its research, with long-established strengths in Asian and African as well as European and North American art.
Institute for the Humanities
The Institute for the Humanities is a center for innovative, collaborative study in the humanities and arts.
Kelsey Museum of Archeology
Research—on the collections, through fieldwork, in the museum archives—lies at the core of the Kelsey Museum's activities.
Middle East Studies
The Middle East Studies Department scholarship covers Middle Eastern languages, literatures, civilizations, linguistics, history, Ancient studies, Biblical studies, Egyptology, Medieval Islamic history and Islamic studies.
Philosophy
Research in Philosophy covers ethics, epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of language & mind, philosophy of science, and aesthetics, as well as the history of Western philosophy, from antiquity to the present.
Residential College
The Residential College (RC) is often described as a living-learning community; this is because RC students live and learn in the same physical space.
Romance Languages and Literatures
Research in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures (RLL) covers the French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish languages, as well as the histories, politics, cultures, customs, and literatures of countries that speak Romance languages.
Slavic Languages and Literatures
Faculty in Slavic Languages and Literatures specialize in Eastern European Literatures and Cultures, including scholarship that focuses on cinema, architecture, and the visual arts.
Humanities Research Resources*
*Humanities and Social Sciences units share many of the College of LSA's research resources.
