Inquiry and Research in the Humanities (IRHUM)

The bachelor of arts degree program in Inquiry and Research in the Humanities (IRHUM) offers undergraduates the unique opportunity to pursue an individualized program of humanistic study in preparation of an independent, mentored research project, which will form the capstone experience of their college education at the University of Chicago. IRHUM is thus not defined by a particular discipline or field, but by the techniques and practices of humanistic inquiry and research. For individual students pursuing the IRHUM major, cohesion is provided by the program of humanistic study, formal research training, and the final research project they design in consultation with the Faculty Chair of IRHUM and their faculty mentor. While the IRHUM major can stand alone, it pairs well with other majors in the Humanities Collegiate Division and beyond.

Admission to IRHUM is by application, in which students must clearly articulate their interest in humanistic research and describe the area of humanistic inquiry and research that they plan to pursue. Students design their own program of humanistic study in close consultation with IRHUM’s Faculty Chair and their individual faculty mentor (who will serve as the primary advisor of the student’s BA research project). Centered in the humanities, the program of study may draw on subject areas, fields, and techniques from disciplines in the social, biological, and physical sciences. While IRHUM has no formal language requirement, students researching topics in other languages and cultures are highly encouraged to demonstrate proficiency in those languages by taking higher-level courses and pursuing a Practical and Advanced Proficiency Certification. Students whose research would be enhanced by secondary sources in another language are highly recommended to take courses in reading a foreign language for research (e.g., GRMN 23333 Reading German for Research Purposes) early in their degree programs.

A student’s program of inquiry culminates in a genuine research project, closely mentored by a faculty member from a humanistic discipline (including the humanistic social sciences). To prepare students for their capstone research project, they will be trained in techniques and practices of humanistic research and given the opportunity to engage in genuine research in the context of a collaborative project or in a directed setting. Students are encouraged to take advantage of the various initiatives underway at the University of Chicago (College Summer Institute in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, Smart Scholars Program, Archaeological Field School, etc.) or with our international partners (the University of Sussex International Junior Research Associates Program, etc.).

• Read more about the Inquiry and Research in the Humanities Program in the College catalogue.

Vianne Basulto, 4th-year, Inquiry and Research in the Humanities; Linguistics

• IRHUM Thesis Title: Investigating Artistic Morphology in Classical Nahuatl Cuicatl
• Thesis Aims statement: My research will investigate the linguistic structure of the xochicuicatl ‘flower song’ genre of Classical Nahuatl as written in 16th century Mexican manuscripts, focusing on the Cantares mexicanos ‘Mexican Songs’ and the Romances de los señores de Nueva España ‘Ballads of the Lords of New Spain.’ These documents, especially the Cantares, have been studied extensively throughout the last century, with ongoing debate among scholars regarding proper translation, questions of authorship, and whether the contents are metonym or metaphor. The Nahuas’ interwoven concepts of verbal performance, art, and the natural world is uniformly accepted, however, though not fully understood. Why are the natural elements of flowers, jade, and fruit associated with the word for ‘song’? Why are flowers, elegant in these contexts, also extended to describe war and suffering? To extend this discussion, I will investigate the linguistic structure of the Cantares and the Romances on the level of individual words. A single word in Nahuatl carries the same weight as a full English sentence, by virtue of the language’s extensive use of word components called morphemes. Morphemes consist of prefixes, suffixes, and verb stems that easily lend themselves to the formation of words with up to twenty syllables in the language. These are predominantly derived from unparalleled clusters of nouns and verbs in manuscripts, unique to the xochicuicatl and devotional texts. Upon closer inspection, each of these words have artistic qualities of their own, such as metaphors and parallel structure. Ultimately, my research aims to answer the following questions: Why does reverential language actualize in elongated words as opposed to syntactic complexity? How does Classical Nahuatl xochicuicatl expand upon our understanding of the language’s morphology? How do these expansions elucidate the differences between how we perceive natural grammatical language and artistic grammatical language? How are perfection and beauty realized in the xochicuicatl? 

Ava Hedeker,4th-year, Inquiry and Research in the Humanities; Environmental and Urban Studies

• IRHUM Thesis Title: Dream Home vs. Ideal City: How single-family zoning renforces individualist environmentalism, and ways to move forward
• Thesis Aims statement: Broadly, my project delves into how the built environment influences what type of pro-environmental behavior is made more feasible for individuals to engage in. Pro-environmental behavior can be considered any efforts taken by a person or group that are intended to help protect the natural environment, improve environmental quality, or use natural resources responsibly and sustainably (Krasny 54). To understand how the built environment is situated in the US, understanding zoning is vital. After all, former president of the Town and Country Planning Association Peter Hall points out that it is zoning rather than planning that is core to how Americans control land use (Hirt 6). Zoning is a legal method that regulates how land is used, how densely it can be developed, and the shape or structure of developments within an area (Silver et al 1). The US tends to conduct zoning at the municipal level, which is quite a different approach than other countries (Hirt 6). The US often uses zoning as its key method to regulate private sector activities (Hirt 6). This is done by enforcing a zoning ordinance, which includes both written guidelines and a map that separates the locality into different zones (Ibid). Beyond its technical and legal implications, what makes zoning significant is that “it sets the basic spatial parameters of where and thus how we live, work, play, socialize, and exercise our rights to citizenship” (Hirt 3). It determines both the possibilities and unspoken rules of where people meet, the streets to travel on, and types of home to live in (Hirt 3). The unspoken rules of zoning instill a “moral geography” onto cities, determining what behavior citizens consider typical, acceptable, and sought-after (Hirt 3). Thus, this invisible capability illuminates just how powerful zoning can be in facilitating specific cultural norms and behavior within the built environment.  

Esther Kassel, 4th-year, Inquiry and Research in the Humanities; Classics; Mathematics

• IRHUM Thesis Title: The Development of the Elements: From the Pythagorean School to the Peripatetics
• Thesis Aims statement: Ancient Greek mathematics experienced rapid development between the 6th and 3rd centuries, both in terms of content and structure. Over these three centuries, Greek mathematics reached advanced levels of abstraction and generality, achieved a scientific lexicon, and produced a deductive reasoning structure not yet seen before in ancient civilizations. At the end of the 3rd century, these various elements of mathematics and formulaic structures converged into the Elements. My thesis theorizes the purpose of the Elements as a learning device. My goal is to understand the motivation for the development of the Elements, which will reveal a deeper understanding of the intention behind the Elements. The quickness with which Greek mathematics developed is indicative of the attention and importance given to mathematics during this period. Moreover, I argue the attention was not passive; maintenance of tradition, continuous contributions, and a willingness to teach was consistently and consciously deployed. Thus, I point to the existence of “pedagogical environments”, such as the Pythagorean “School”, Plato’s Academy, and the Peripatetics, as key players in this development of mathematics. Considering these pedagogical environments allows us to focus on the collective rather than individualistic efforts of the development of Greek mathematics. In these pedagogical spaces, consistent communication exists among all members: among teachers, students, and between a teacher and his student(s). I aim to observe the latter, specifically the methods of teaching and the qualities of the learning community that impacted the content and structure of mathematics.

Arnie Campa, 4th-year, Inquiry and Research in the Humanities; Art History

• IRHUM Thesis Title: Warping Communal Futures: Innovation and National Exchange at the Little Loomhouse
• Thesis Aims statement: The Little Loomhouse is a system of three cabins in Louisville, Kentucky that serves as a weaving studio, gallery space, and meeting place for Kentucky weavers. Louisa Tate Bousman (professionally known as Lou Tate) established the space as an art center in 1938 after the death of her mother, who had purchased the cabins to serve as her retirement home. The Little Loomhouse is a historically women-run space that served as a hub for connecting Kentucky weavers whose techniques spread across the country. The Little Loomhouse also served as a space for Lou Tate's art historical research and preservation of colonial Appalachian coverlets.In the late 1930s, Lou Tate developed the Lou Tate Table Loom (known as the Little Loom) along with Dr. S. W. Mather, a dentist in Louisville. By 1938, this two-shaft teaching loom was sold and distributed for educational and personal use. Alongside the distribution of the Little Loom, innovative teaching manuals were produced by the Little Loomhouse. One such example is Weaving is Fun, a book which taught new weavers the basics of weaving and adapted historical weaving patterns to fit the Little Loom. These manuals expanded engagement with the historical craft lineage of Kentucky folk art to include new weavers or weavers with limited access to looms. Soon after, Lou Tate gathered a group of women to establish the experimental Kentucky Weavers Guild, which published a quarterly magazine that was distributed nationwide. While the Little Loomhouse served as a nationally recognized site for the exchange of weaving techniques, it is also theorized to have been a local meeting place for queer women. Accounting for queer weavers like Ada Dietz, author of Algebraic Expressions in Handwoven Textiles, and her lifelong partner Ruth E. Foster complicates the archival legacy of the Little Loomhouse. Today, the Little Loomhouse stands as one of the last historic weaving centers in Kentucky. They foster a robust community through their artistic and educational workshop programs that teach spinning, dyeing, and weaving. Their collaboration with other educational institutions, like Berea College, continues to further the artistic legacy of Lou Tate and her efforts to reinvigorate Kentucky’s rich weaving tradition. [the little loomhouse remains a footnote] Almost all the primary documents available from the Little Loomhouse lie in an under-resourced archive in the attic of Lou Tate’s cabin. For my project, I traveled to Louisville to organize and digitize documents for the Lou Tate Foundation. In the archive, I performed a restorative reading of the articles, letters, and ephemera created by the women at the Little Loomhouse. My project utilizes three objects to retell the story of the Little Loomhouse: the Weaving is Fun manual, a draft for napkins and the realized set, and a newspaper article from Louisville’s Courier Journal. I aim to understand how art facilitates community building on a local and national scale through a close looking of Weaving is Fun. I will el Within the program, I will explore how historic Kentucky weaving patterns are adapted to engage a non-expert audience with accessible looms, thus intervening in the Kentucky folk art cannon. Finally, I will use the Weaving is Fun program to understand how weaving communities produce and synthesize their work to contribute to the larger international textile community.

Siqi Xu, 4th-year, Inquiry and Research in the Humanities; Art History; Economics

• IRHUM Thesis Title: The Nonessential Other: Emily Dickinson: Beyond the Skepticism of Human and Literary Contact
• Thesis Aims statement: In this research project, I intend to anchor my inquiry on how we might contact a non-essential other in art by considering the context of Emily Dickinson and her poems. Dickinson is a good poet to think with (about what, exactly): I will elaborate in my literature review on how she might share a similar concern with me regarding the unknowability of others as well as a similar effort to transcend the skepticism of contact. Why does this matter? Why will gaining a better understanding of this help us to think differently about (any number of things really): Dickinson’s poetry? Our relationship to art? Our relationship to others? To advance our understanding of her poems, a portion of my research will involve a close reading of her poems. I will also incorporate other critical and contextual sources to see how she characterizes that unknowability, how she responds to it, and most importantly, what she thinks would be a possibility beyond skepticism.  Dickinson and her poems are also good subjects to practice the non-essentializing contact. Dickinson is known for her privacy. Although it is potentially an image exaggerated posthumously for marketing purposes, there does appear to be a tendency in Dickinson’s life to not expose herself to the public. What is it like to know someone who doesn’t necessarily want to be known? On the one hand, the lack of biographical information and contemporary criticism impose tremendous difficulty in contacting Dickinson in her time. On the other hand, the fact that she writes privately might free her from the pressure of crafting a consistent discourse or self-image. That is to say, the absence of performativity might grant us access to relate to a Dickinson that is less stable but perhaps more sincere.  What complicates (or maybe simplifies) the issue, however, is the fact that Dickinson’s writing is as unstable and unfathomable as herself. It is notable how Dickinson lacks coherent poetics and how her stance could shift within a single poem. Instead of complaining about the difficulty of pinning down anything in Dickinson and her poems, I understand it as a precious opportunity to practice non-essentializing contact. The difficulty forces me to acknowledge Dickinson and her poems’ unknowability and urges me to establish my relationship with them beyond an excavation of essence. I don’t know for now what that different relationship is like. And it will likely remain unclear at the end of my BA research. However, in this research project, I would love to be guided or “urged” by the non-essential Dickinson and her non-essential poems. I want to make myself available to Dickinson’s poems, letters, and stories and see where they will take me. I imagine my contact with Dickinson and her poems as a migration, as any contact should be, such that I end up in a different place from where I started. 

Recent IRHUM Alums:

Sarah  Muhlbaum, BA 2024, BA Inquiry and Research in the Humanities; French and Francophone Studies; current MPhil Candidate, University of Oxford

• IRHUM Thesis:  Strategizing Tolerance: Religious Policy and Royal Identity During the French Wars of Religion (1559-1610) 
• Thesis Abstract: 16th century France was defined by both a greatness in human development and extraordinary destruction and suffering. Amidst the extraordinary cultural and intellectual output of the Renaissance, France witnessed half a century of religious fanaticism, civil war, and brutal massacres. To understand what policies were most successful in ending this violence, my research examines how political leaders most effectively utilized religion and religious tolerance as a means of preserving legitimacy and reinforcing state identity during the French Wars of Religion. Specifically, it compares the leadership of France under Catherine de Medici (1519-1589) from 1559 to 1589 and under Henri IV (1553-1610) from 1589 to 1610. My research drew from an extensive study of primary sources undertaken primarily at the archives Bibliothèque Nationale de France, as well as with the aid of online sources, the library reserves at the University of Chicago, and the collections of the Newberry Library in Chicago. While both Catherine de Medici and Henri IV attempted to use religion as a means of reinforcing monarchical power and preserving peace, Catherine de Medici failed to connect her policies of both tolerance and oppression to the identity of the monarchy in a meaningful way, whereas Henri IV successfully employed toleration and personal religious identity to uphold monarchical authority, thereby increasing the power of the French crown through his promotion of peace and suppression of religious violence. Future research will examine the role of religious violence and tolerance in the development of the French state. By understanding the successes and failures of political and religious decision making in the early modern period, I believe we can better understand how the management of religious fanaticism and tolerance might function as a strategy in our contemporary world.

Joseph Roberts, BA 2024, Inquiry and Research in the Humanities

• IRHUM Thesis: The Leader and the Appropriator: An Investigation into the Distribution of Power in the U.S. Senate
• Thesis Abstract: The Chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations is the most powerful Senator you’ve never heard of. While every Senator can put a stop to the business of that upper chamber by using their filibuster power of unlimited debate, the Appropriations Chair is the only single member vested with a unique ability which enables them, from time to time, to operate with influence on the level of their Majority Leader. The product of the committee’s unique ability to Appropriate the national budget in annual spending bills, the Chair, with an entrenched committee supporting them, can force new legislative action through the chamber in direct opposition to the wills of the party apparatus. Thus, when the chair wishes, she can become more powerful than all of the rest of her party’s colleagues combined, and yet her name is not widely known outside the Capital. Inspired by the likes of Robert Caro, I traveled to Washington D.C. to walk the halls of the Senate Office Buildings, filter through tens of thousands of pages of materials at the National Archives, and to have conversations with those inside the beltway, to learn how the machinations of legislative power really work in our country. A year later, the reality of the Appropriations Chair has emerged, and I hope that the conclusions herein help to enhance the civic knowledge of the American citizenry.

Robert Gorman, BA 2023, Inquiry and Research in the Humanities; Political Science; Philosophy

• IRHUM Thesis Title: Philosophy With and Without an Audience: Socrates and his Relationship with Political Community
• Research Scholar, 2022 College Summer Institute in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences
• Final Thesis Abstract: According to Plato, Socrates saw himself as the only ‘true politician’ in Athens during his lifetime. Although he was rarely directly involved in political pursuits, his continuous attempts to better his interlocutors and act as a ‘gadfly’ to the wider populace characterize his relationship to the Athenian body politic. However, his actions in the current corpus of Socratic literature contradict the idea that his sole political action is based in his questioning. When engaged in any sort of group discussion, Socrates does not always act as a responsible guide for his interlocutors. Instead, his actions in various works invite criticism due to his apparent lack of investment in his students’ growth and the caustic irony which sometimes accompanies his teachings. To this end, I will analyze Socrates’ interactions with his community in the Symposiums of Xenophon and Plato, and Aristophanes’ Clouds. I will argue that both the comedic and philosophic portraits of Socrates display the same underlying tendency: that, instead of concentrating on true engagement with his community, Socrates opts to isolate himself and refuses to deeply engage with his audience. By the end of the thesis, I will show that Socrates is ultimately isolated from the community; although his philosophy may have had positive or negative significance for the body politic, I believe Socrates may never have been able to fully integrate into a practical political community or bridge the gap between his theory and practice. 

Yuxin Zhang, BA 2021, Inquiry and Research in the Humanities; Visual Arts

• IRHUM Capstone Title: Blankness
• Research Scholar, 2021 College Summer Institute in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences
• Final Introduction to Artist's Statement: Recently a colleague of mine trained in the fine arts told me that, one of the first things he was taught in painting class was to always start a painting by covering the blank canvas. What he
  meant was that, according to oil painting conventions, the painter should always begin with an underdrawing, an undertone, to set the contour and color relations. That piece of instruction has lingered in the form of a set of questions: What is it about a blank canvas, or “blankness” in general, that prompts such a reaction for the painter to cover it up? How is blankness contributing to description and meaning-making? How could we view blankness as a space of collecting value? How is blankness viewed outside the Western context? Departing from this set of questions, this essay aims to better understand the critical and historical context around the notion of blankness. Informed by theories of semiotics, Modernist art, and traditional Chinese landscape painting, I will emphasize how blankness is not nothing-at-all, but a substantial ground that props critical inquiry and reflections.

“Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters.” - Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It and Other Stories (1976)

The program now known as Inquiry and Research in the Humanities (IRHUM), is a new iteration of Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities (ISHUM), which was founded and first chaired by Norman Maclean, known most widely for his novella A River Runs Through It. Maclean came to the University of Chicago in 1928 to pursue graduate studies in English; he was later hired as an instructor and eventually became the William Rainey Harper Professor of English. He won the Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching three times during his career at the University of Chicago. The major he created was instituted from the beginning as a major in which a student could design an individual course of study which was supervised individually by a faculty member.

Early on, as General Studies in the Humanities (GSHUM), the program naturally came to attract students whose interests fell outside of the terms in which the other academic departments of the University operated in that era. These included the study of film, and of theater and performing arts—both areas of study which GSHum professors and students in fact introduced to the University. Chairpersons starting from the 1970s include Janel Mueller, Herman Sinaiko, David Bevington, and Malynne Sternstein. At around the turn of the last decade, GSHum was renamed ISHum in order to emphasize what is unique about the program: the expectation that students would synthesize their own understandings from their experience of a set of academic disciplines that do not necessarily think about one another.

IRHUM builds on this rich tradition while responding to an increasing demand for formal research training and experience in the humanities. Reimagined by Professor Christopher J. Wild, Collegiate Master of the Humanities and Professor of Germanic Studies, and Dr. Nichole J. Fazio, Executive Director of the College Center for Research and Fellowships (CCRF), IRHUM seeks to advance the humanities by equipping early-career scholars with the tools and training necessary for their individual success and as future advocates for the intrinsic value of humanistic inquiry. Benjamin Morgan, Associate Professor of English, has been appointed as the inaugural faculty chair of IRHUM.

Program Requirements

• Six Courses in the self-designed program of humanistic study, developed in consultation with the Faculty Chair of IRHUM and a faculty mentor.
• Academic and Professional Writing (ENGL 13000) , recommended in the Winter or Spring Quarters of Year 2, or in the Autumn Quarter of Year 3.
• Introduction to Humanistic Inquiry and Research Design (IRHU 20100) , recommended in the Winter Quarter of Year 2. This seminar will introduce majors to the basic tenets of humanistic inquiry, including the formulation and testing of research questions and lines of inquiry, and expose students to best practices in research design. In partnership with the University Library, this course will train students in information literacy and introduce them to best practices in research design (feasibility, assessment of primary and secondary source material, collation of resources), as well as expose them to research ethics and the principles of culturally sensitive research practices. The course will also include training in data use and management, and introduce students to research tools and technology available to them through the University Library system, as well as other on- and off-campus resources.
• Two Research Seminars in the humanities or humanistic social sciences. This requirement may be fulfilled with Independent Study or Reading and Research courses.
• Applied Mentored Research Experience, undertaken in the context of a collaborative, faculty- or discipline-expert mentored project. This experience will not necessarily correlate to the students’ own research project but instead expose them to the work of knowledge production as “apprentices” to experts in a humanistic field. This could include opportunities within a structured research experience with College partners (Smart Museum of Art, Oriental Institute Museum, archaeological fieldwork, the University of Sussex International Junior Research Associates Program, etc.) or a research assistantship for a faculty member. Majors will receive a stipend and, therefore, no course credit for this requirement. A mentored research experience in the biological, physical, or social sciences may count toward this requirement by petition.
• Research Proposal Colloquium (IRHU 29600) in the Spring Quarter of Year 3. Upon approval of their research proposal, students will receive the necessary financial support to pursue their research project over the summer between Years 3 and 4. Stipends cover living costs and may support travel and other necessary expenses in support of their research project. The College Summer Institute in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences is aimed toward rising seniors and provides, thus, the ideal setting for IRHUM majors working on their research project.
• BA Thesis Writing Colloquium (IRHU 29800) in the Autumn Quarter of Year 4. Students are expected to complete their thesis by the end of the Autumn Quarter.
• In the Winter and Spring Quarters of Year 4, majors are expected to present their capstone research project to a wider audience by giving an academic talk at a conference, presenting a poster session, etc., for which IRHUM will provide the necessary financial support, as needed.
• Majors are strongly encouraged to consider the curricular offerings of the Parrhesia Program for Public Discourse, as well as the resources and training offered through the College Center for Research and Fellowships.

Note: Students double-majoring can double-count up to three of the six courses in the self-designed program of humanistic study between the two majors and write only a single BA thesis (counting for both majors). IRHU 29600 Research Proposal Colloquium and IRHU 29800 BA BA Thesis Writing Colloquium cannot be  replaced by similar courses or seminars from other majors.

Summary of Requirements

• Review detailed IR HUM program requirements in the College Catalog.

The final BA research project, usually taking the form of a written thesis, is carefully scaffolded. Students design their research project in consultation with their faculty mentor during the course of IRHU 29600Research Proposal Colloquium in the Spring Quarter of Year 3. Upon approval of their research proposal, students receive full financial support to conduct their research over the summer between their junior and senior years. IRHU 29800 BA Thesis Writing Colloquium in the Autumn Quarter of Year 4 provides a structured and collaborative setting, in which students can complete their project in a timely and closely mentored manner.

This schedule is designed to avoid the usual Spring Quarter crunch of BA thesis writing and to make it easier for students to use their research thesis as a writing sample for fellowship or graduate school applications. The intentional design of the BA thesis (or, research capstone) experience ensures that students are fully equipped and able to put into practice the principles of academic research design. This elevates the value of the research thesis as a training experience, as well as a measurable academic output. Additionally, the enhanced structure of the thesis experience provides students with the opportunity to translate a portion of their project into a refined research and writing sample for the purposes of graduate school and/or any postgraduate experience that expects advanced research training (e.g., national fellowships like Fulbright, etc.). IRHUM also aims to train students in the dissemination of their research through written and oral communication to both expert and non-expert audiences. The final two quarters of Year 4 are reserved for attending undergraduate research conferences and symposia, writing up their research for publication, or preparing other forms of dissemination.

While the potential for developing individual BA programs in Inquiry and Research in the Humanities is as great as the combined ingenuity, imagination, and interest of each student in consultation with the student's advisors, we have identified a few sample program plans below:

Studying Chicago's Cityscape

Understanding Climate Change through Literature and Art

The History of Print

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Required Courses for IRHUM Majors

IRHUM majors can choose course offerings from across the College that fit into their program of study, provided they are approved by the IRHUM Faculty Chair and the student's faculty mentor. Methodology courses from other programs and departments may—upon petition—count toward the requirements of the IRHUM major. In addition to the three courses below, IRHUM students are required to take two IRHUM research seminars. These vary year to year.

IRHU 20100. Introduction to Humanistic Inquiry and Research Design. 100 Units.

This seminar will introduce IRHUM and other humanities majors to the basic tenets of humanistic inquiry, including the formulation and testing of research questions and lines of inquiry, and expose students to best practices in research design. In partnership with the University Libraries, this course will train students in information literacy, introduce them to best practices in research design (feasibility, assessment of primary and secondary source material, collation of resources), as well as expose them to research ethics and the principles of culturally sensitive research practices. The course will also include training in data use and management and introduce students to research tools and technology available to them through the University Library system, as well as other on- and off-campus resources.  

Instructor(s): N. Fazio     Terms Offered: Winter (annually)

IRHU 29600. Research Proposal Colloquium. 100 Units.

Building on the research skills majors have learned in Introduction to Humanistic Inquiry and Research Design [IRHU 20100], the two Research Seminars, and the mandatory Applied Mentored Research Experience, the Research Proposal Colloquium helps majors identify a relevant research topic/questions, design a feasible research project, establish a research timeline and formulate a clear and compelling proposal. The collaborative setting of the Research Proposal Colloquium complements the individual mentoring provided by the Faculty Advisor and the IRHUM Co-Chair. Upon approval of their research proposal by their Faculty Advisor, the IRHUM Faculty Chair, and Co-Chair, students are eligible to receive full financial support to conduct a portion of their research over the summer between their junior and senior years, as merited.   

Instructor(s): N. Fazio     Terms Offered: Spring (annually)

Note(s): All IRHUM majors are required to take the Research Proposal Colloquium in the Spring Quarter of their third year.

IRHU 29800. BA Thesis Writing Colloquium. 100 Units.

Building on the Research Proposal Colloquium and the research undertaken over the summer, the BA Thesis Writing Colloquium provides a structured and collaborative setting, in which IRHUM majors receive instruction on effectively writing about their findings, workshop their efforts with their peers, and, ultimately, complete their mentored research project in a timely and productive manner. Like the Research Proposal Colloquium, the BA Thesis Writing Colloquium complements the individual mentoring provided by the Faculty Advisor and IRHU Co-Chair. Furthermore, IRHUM majors will receive support translating their research experience and output into competitive applications for graduate programs, research grants, and national fellowships.    

Instructor(s): TBD     Terms Offered: Autumn (annually)

Note(s): All IRHUM majors are required to take the Thesis Writing Colloquium in the Autumn Quarter of their fourth year.

WNTR Quarter 2023

Introduction to Humanistic Inquiry and Research Design: IRHU 20100/1 [54033]

Offered annually, this seminar introduces undergraduates to the basic tenets of humanistic inquiry, including the formulation of research questions, problems, and lines of inquiry, and expose students to best practices in research design. This course will train students in information literacy, introduce them to key concepts in research design (feasibility, assessment of primary and secondary source material, management of resources, etc.), as well as expose them to research ethics and the principles of culturally sensitive research practices. Students will craft a comprehensive research proposal, including a formal literature review, in support of current or future research endeavors, such as the BA thesis. In partnership with the University Library, this course will also introduce students to research tools and technology available to them through the University Library system, as well as expose them to archival collections and other on- and off-campus resources. This course is open to all undergraduates; it is a required core course for IRHUM majors. Instructor: Dr. Nichole Fazio

Research in Archives: Human Bodies in History: IRHU 26076 / KNOW 26076 / HIST 25513

How have we come to know and experience our bodies? This undergraduate seminar develops humanities research skills necessary to study the body in history. Spanning early modern cultural practices to modern medicine, science, and technology, this course explores how ideas and practices concerning the body have changed over time and how the body itself is shaped by culture and society. A major focus will be learning how to conduct different forms of historical research to produce cutting-edge humanities scholarship about the human body. Readings will introduce key themes and recent scholarship including work on disability, reproduction, race, gender, ethics, extreme environments, and identity. This dynamic research group will grapple with issues at the heart of our corporeal existence by combining perspectives from the history of science, medicine, and technology, cultural history, anthropology, and science and technology studies (STS). Instructors: Dr. Jordan Bimm and Dr. Iris Clever

AUT Quarter 2022

How to Stop Worrying and Learn to Plan and Write a Book (About Fungi): KNOW 27010 / IRHUM 27010

How do you move from curiosity to an academic question and research project? This course will introduce components of the humanities research process by inviting students into my own planning for an academic history of science book on mycology and fungi. We will collaboratively build our syllabus and explore how to formulate research questions, survey existing literature, use online databases, conduct archival trips, carry out embodied studies (via a foraging trip with the Illinois Mycological Society), structure a long writing project, and then, cyclically, imagine teaching a course on the history of fungi. Everyone knows writing an extended thesis or monograph is difficult; what this class presupposes is… maybe it isn’t? Instructor: Dr. Brad Bolman

WNTR Quarter 2022

Archival Methods: Slavery and Gender in the Americas: IRHU 27008/1 [23293]

This seminar offers an in-depth introduction to archival research methodologies with a focus on gender and slavery in the Americas. Students will apply their knowledge by working in historical and contemporary archives via two trips to special collections: one to view archival texts from the period and another to find an archival object of the student's choosing that will provide the topic of their final research paper. (1650-1830, 1830-1940, Literary/Critical Theory) Instructor: Dr. Sara Johnson

Normal People: IRHU 27009/1 [21469]

Worrying about what's normal and what's not is an endemic feature of both our popular and scientific cultures. Is my intelligence above average? What about my height? Should I be feeling this way? Is there a pill for that? People seem to have always been concerned with fitting in, but the way of describing the general run of practices and conditions as "normal" is a rather recent phenomenon; testament to the vast influence of the modern human sciences on how we understand ourselves and others. This research seminar will offer a broad historical overview of the ways that group behaviors and individual traits - bodily, moral, intellectual - were methodically described and measured in the past 200 years. We will become acquainted with the work of sociologists and anthropologists, psychiatrists and psychologists, polling experts and child development specialists, and ask about the kinds of people their efforts brought into being, from sexual perverts to the chronically depressed. The course will focus on the scientific theories and techniques used to distinguish the normal from the pathological, together with the new social institutions that translated this knowledge into forms of control. We will read Émile Durkheim on suicide rates and Cesare Lombroso on born criminals; learn about IQ tests and developmental milestones; and consider whether, with the advent of personalized medicine and self-data, we have indeed reached the "end of average." Instructor: Dr. Tal Arbel 

AUT Quarter 2021

The End of Certainty? Chaos, Complexity, and Human Life: IRHU 27005/1 [85209]

What is uncertainty? Is it a temporary state of affairs, a situation to be resolved with more data, or is it permanent feature of our world? This course examines how uncertainty, once understood as the absence of knowledge, has become an object of knowledge in its own right. We will pay particular attention to the fields of chaos theory and complexity science, which emerged in the late twentieth century from physics and mathematics but have since become widely applied sciences, making their way into fields as diverse as molecular biology and economic theory. Together we will follow the path of 'complexity' in its many forms, reading texts by geneticists, physicists, climate scientists, philosophers, economists and many others. By the end of the course we will have developed a shared archive of uncertainty, and gained a better understanding of how uncertainty underpins what we do, in fact, know. This course is collaborative, interdisciplinary and historical, and welcomes all interested students, including those with backgrounds in history, philosophy, biological sciences, environmental studies, mathematics, and economics. Instructor: Dr. Isabel Gabel

Research in Archives: Human Bodies in History: IRHU 27006/1 [85224]

How have we come to know and experience our bodies? This undergraduate seminar develops humanities research skills necessary to study the body in history. Spanning early modern cultural practices to modern medicine, science, and technology, this course explores how ideas and practices concerning the body have changed over time and how the body itself is shaped by culture and society. A major focus will be learning how to conduct different forms of historical research to produce cutting-edge humanities scholarship about the human body. Readings will introduce key themes and recent scholarship including work on disability, reproduction, race, gender, ethics, extreme environments, and identity. This dynamic research group will grapple with issues at the heart of our corporeal existence by combining perspectives from the history of science, medicine, and technology, cultural history, anthropology, and science and technology studies (STS). Instructors: Dr. Iris Clever and Dr. Jordan Bimm

SPR Quarter 2021

Compiling and Mediating Environmental History: IRHU 27002/1 [54362] 

How do audiovisual media archives inform both the research and presentation of environmental history? Social media posts, fiction film, photographs from geological surveys, and urban field recordings all index historical environmental conditions. Artists and scholars enlist such archives to reanimate lost and changed landscapes for contemporary audiences, raising historiographical questions about how research excavates, extracts, and assembles both image and sound. This course looks at a series of documentary films and online media projects that enlist media to narrate histories of socio-ecological interaction. These projects explore site-specific environmental crises as they were deliberately or inadvertently recorded by media, including the toxic legacies of U.S. Imperialism, the extraction economy of South African apartheid, or how Hollywood films unconsciously document the long-term impacts of climate change. Students will analyze these media objects alongside readings in media historiographical theory, environmental history, and documentary theory. The goal of this engagement is to guide students toward a final project that employs both research and creative practice to compile a report about an environmental historical case study that utilizes a media archive to make the argument. This course shows how humanistic inquiry into documentary media and the material conditions of media production can inform the assembly and presentation of environmental historical knowledge. Instructor: Dr. Thomas Pringle

Violence and the State: IRHU 27003/1 [54106] 

Violence in modern states is at once exceptional and ever-present, thought of as aberration even as it is routinely employed. Focusing primarily on modern Europe and its colonial empires, this seminar will explore this contradiction in theory and practice. We will consider violence at the intersection of race, gender, and class. We will learn how various modern thinkers including Tocqueville, Weber, and Sorel theorized the place of violence in liberal society. We will read writers and activists like Frantz Fanon, Mohandas Gandhi, and Assia Djebar to understand the role of violence in empire and decolonization. Finally, we will connect this history to the present day by considering how it relates to police violence in the contemporary world. Instructor: Dr. Yan Slobodkin

Introduction to Humanistic Inquiry and Research Design: IRHU 20100/1 [54033]

Offered annually, this seminar introduces undergraduates to the basic tenets of humanistic inquiry, including the formulation of research questions, problems, and lines of inquiry, and expose students to best practices in research design. This course will train students in information literacy, introduce them to key concepts in research design (feasibility, assessment of primary and secondary source material, management of resources, etc.), as well as expose them to research ethics and the principles of culturally sensitive research practices. Students will craft a comprehensive research proposal, including a formal literature review, in support of current or future research endeavors, such as the BA thesis. In partnership with the University Library, this course will also introduce students to research tools and technology available to them through the University Library system, as well as expose them to archival collections and other on- and off-campus resources. This course is open to all undergraduates; it is a required core course for IRHUM majors. Instructor: Dr. Nichole Fazio 

WNTR Quarter 2020

Race in Science and Medicine from 1800 to the Present: IRHU 27000/1 [35241]

This interdisciplinary course will explore the ways in which scientists have studied and theorized race from the 18th century onward. We will start with Linnaeus's racial classification and the 18th and 19th century anthropological study of skulls and bones, move to the 20th century study of genetic human variation, and end with the use of racial categories in biomedical research today. How have practices and theories of studying human diversity changed and persisted over time? The course will highlight the problematic and contentious nature of these studies by analyzing their colonial contexts, the UNESCO critiques after World War II, and current-day comments on race and science in newspaper articles and podcasts (transcripts available on course website). Together, we will reflect on how historical knowledge can assist in tackling complex issues surrounding race, science, and bias in societies today and in the past. As a final assignment, students will, in groups, develop a podcast episode on a topic relevant to the course in groups.

The Human Body in Extremes: IRHU 27001/1 [35248]

What can the human body endure? This interdisciplinary research seminar focuses on the interplay between bodies and extreme environments. Each week we will "visit" a different hazardous context or locale and consider the challenges it poses to human culture and survival. Environments to be covered include outer space, deep seas, polar regions, radiation zones, mountain summits, underground mines, and disaster areas. With tools from environmental history, the history of medicine, the history of technology, medical anthropology, and sociology, we will consider how ideas of the body and how ideas of the environment change over time, and how producing knowledge about the limits of the body helps to define what people consider "normal." Each seminar will pair short readings drawn from secondary sources with original research tasks in diverse historical archives. Students in the course will develop greater familiarity with humanistic research methods, as well as learn how to apply scientific and biomedical ideas of the body to participate effectively in current debates shaping where people live, work, or simply visit. Instructor: Dr. Jordan Bimm

Since IRHUM is an interdisciplinary major whose field of study encompasses all the offerings in the various departments and programs of the University (particularly in the Humanities Division), all faculty members of these varied departments and programs are functionally related to IRHUM. IRHUM students may approach any University of Chicago faculty member who works in the student's field of interest with a request to serve as faculty adviser for the BA paper. Similarly, IRHUM students may take courses with any faculty member from any department of the University. However, there are also a select number of IRHUM faculty and board members dedicated to actively supporting its majors.

IRHUM Advisors and Mentors: 

• Jessica Baker, Assistant Professor, Department of Music
• Allyson Ettinger, Assistant Professor, Department of Linguistics
• Nichole Fazio, Executive Director, College Center for Research and Fellowships; Associate Dean of Students, the College
• Allyson Nadia Field, Associate Professor, Department of Cinema and Media Studies
• Timothy M. Harrison, Randy L. and Melvin R. Berlin Assistant Professor, Renaissance and Early Modern English Literature, Department of English
• Ghenwa Hayek, Associate Professor of Modern Arabic Literature, NELC
• Patrick Jagoda, Professor, Department of English Language and Literature
• Sarah Johnson, Assistant Professor, Department of English Language and Literature
• Katherine Kearns, Assistant Professor, Department of Classics
• Sharese King, Assistant Professor, Department of Linguistics
• Issa Lampe, Director, Feitler Center for Academic Inquiry; Deputy Director for Academic and Curatorial Affairs, Smart Museum
• Ellen MacKay, Chair of TAPPS, Associate Professor, Department of English Language and Literature
• Josephine McDonagh, Professor, Department of English Language and Literature
• Benjamin Morgan, IRHUM Faculty Chair; Associate Professor, Department of English Language and Literature
• William Nickell, Associate Professor and Chair of the Slavic Department
• Hervé Reculeau, Associate Professor of Assyriology, NELC
• Victoria Saramago, Assistant Professor, Romance Languages and Literatures
• Sabina Shaikh, Director, Program on the Global Environment; Senior Lecturer, Environmental and Urban Studies
• Eric Slauter, Deputy Dean of Humanities; Interim Director of the Karla Scherer Center for the Study of American Culture; Associate Professor of English and the College
• Stephanie Soileau, Assistant Professor of Practice in the Arts, Department of English Language and Literature
• Rebecca Starkey, Head of Research and Instruction Services, University of Chicago Library
• Megan Sullivan, Assistant Professor, Department of Art History
• Nora Titone, Resident Dramaturg, Court Theatre
• Christopher Wild, Professor, Germanic Studies; Master of the Humanities Collegiate Division; Deputy Dean of the Humanities
• Tyler Williams, Assistant Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies, South Asian Languages and Civilizations
• Catherine Uecker, Head of Research and Instruction, Special Collections Reader Services, University of Chicago Library
• Shadi Bartsch-Zimmer, Professor, Department of Classics; Director, Stevanovich Center for the Formation of Knowledge

Advising: Close contact with the faculty and staff relevant to the student's career in IRHUM—including the student's College adviser, the IRHUM Faculty Chair, and the student’s faculty mentor—is essential in a program that involves so much individual initiative and experimentation. Students are encouraged to seek their advice whenever they have an intellectual or practical concern about progress in the major.

Grading: All courses in the major must be taken for a quality grade, including ENGL 13000.

Honors: To be eligible for honors, a student must maintain an overall GPA of 3.25 or higher and a GPA in the major of 3.5 or higher. Honors are reserved for the student whose BA project shows exceptional intellectual merit in the judgment of the faculty mentor, the IRHUM Faculty Chair, and the Master of the Humanities Collegiate Division.

Key Campus Partners: IRHUM students will undertake two formal research experiences designed to further their engagement in the practice of humanistic inquiry: an applied mentored research project with a faculty member or through one of the programs supported through the College, and a BA thesis. To this end, IRHUM students will be supported by the College Center for Research and Fellowships (CCRF) in the identification of suitable opportunities and support presenting their research in various campus, national and international contexts. The University of Chicago Library plays a vital role in supporting IRHUM students through both formal training on specific research tools and supporting BA thesis research. The Parrhesia Program for Public Discourse is vital to IRHUM students expected to advance the public dissemination of their work. Additional support units include the UChicago Writing Program and the University of Chicago Language Center. Finally, the IRHUM major enjoys a rich partnership with the Stevanovich Institute for Knowledge Formation (SIFK) whose post-doctoral fellows offer IRHUM Research Seminars on a regular basis.

Direct links to relevant resources for IRHUM majors:

Research Support: 

College Center for Research and Fellowships (CCRF):

• Summer Research Programs
• Research Grant Programs
• Presentation Opportunities
• Annual UChicago Undergraduate Research Symposium

University of Chicago Library resources: 

• Subject Specialists
• Citation Management
• Research Guides
• Collections and Exhibits
• Special Collections
• Workshops and Trainings (including Zotero training)

National Fellowships: 

• Beinecke Scholars Program (apply as third-year; support for humanities and social science students to fund PhD)
• Ertegun Scholars Program (apply as fourth-year/alum; full funding for any humanities or performing arts graduate degree at the University of Oxford)
• Fulbright US Student Grant Program (apply as fourth-year/alum; one-year postgraduate research, study or english teaching opportunities globally)
• Humanity in Action Fellowship (summer program in Europe focused on peace studies)
• Yenching Academy Scholars Program (apply as fourth-year/alum; fully funded, two year China studies masters program at Peking University)
• DAAD Study Scholarships (for graduating 4th-years; open-discipline award for full-funding to support graduate degree or research in Germany)
• Additional open-discipline national fellowships listed here: https://ccrf.uchicago.edu/national-fellowships/select-scholarships-and-fellowships

Interested students should apply for admission into the IRHUM program as soon as possible upon completion of general education requirements (typically by the end of the second year and, except in extraordinary circumstances, no later than the end of Autumn Quarter of the third year). Transfer students in particular are urged to apply at the earliest point that they can. An application is initiated by consulting with the IRHUM Faculty Chair and/or Co-Chair, to discuss the feasibility of designing and implementing the planned study and research program. After consultation, students who wish to pursue an application to the IRHUM program must submit a recent course transcript (with a minimum B average in preceding course work) and a two-part written proposal according to the following guidelines. Applications must be written in error-free, succinct, and well-crafted language in order to receive full consideration.

Motivation Statement: The first part of the proposal consists of a 750-word motivation statement, explaining the student’s intellectual motivation and academic preparation for embarking on an individualized program of humanistic inquiry, and describing in broad outlines the research interest(s), as well as the program of study to pursue those interests. Students are encouraged to briefly describe questions and/or specific topics they may explore in a BA thesis, as well as the names of up to three potential faculty members with a rationale for their choices. This will further clarify the student's intentions for the IRHUM major and its culminating research experience for the review committee. 

Course Prospectus: The second part of the proposal consists of a list of courses that comprise a potential program of study described in the motivation statement. This list may include courses the student has already taken as well as courses the student intends to take. While a list of proposed courses is a required part of the application, it is understood that these will undergo modification contingent on the availability of courses from year to year. Please note: this is a proposal and the committee appreciates that it will likely change over the course of the major. That said, any major changes to the course prospectus must be discussed with and approved by the IRHUM Co-Chair and then forwarded to the student’s College adviser.

After the application materials have been reviewed by the IRHUM Faculty Chair and Co-Chair, a twenty-minute interview will be scheduled with the IRHUM Faculty Chair and Co-Chair. The IRHUM Faculty Chair will inform the student via email of the result of the application.

• Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis

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Associate Professor, English

• Email: bjmorgan@uchicago.edu
• Office Hours: Office hours by appointment via email
• Morgan CV
• Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley, 2010
• Teaching at UChicago since 2010