Division of Humanities
Knowledge from antiquity to the present
The faculty of the FAS Humanities division cover an expansive intellectual terrain. They are experts in history, literature, language, philosophy, and the arts. Their work asks who we are and what we might become as they make new discoveries about the past and present that will shape the future of human culture. Through collaboration, research, and teaching, they initiate conversations around the most pressing questions that humankind has addressed from antiquity to the present.
The divisional dean of the Humanities is Marc Robinson.
Humanities departments and programs
The FAS's 20+ humanities units cover the range of human knowledge: from English to Classics; from History of Art to Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies; from the world's languages and literatures to History. In addition, several programs are cross-divisional, bridging Humanities and Social Science.
News
Teaching writing at Yale: Alison Bechdel
From playwriting to investigative journalism to graphic fiction, Yale offers a multitude of courses in creative writing. The following video, featuring graphic novelist and Professor in the Practice Alison Bechdel, is the first in a series about teaching — and learning — how to write at Yale.
‘Radical Cartography’: Shaping new narratives through maps
In his new book, Associate Professor of History William Rankin explores how mapmaking shapes our view of the world — and proposes a set of values that can recognize a more robust story of human experience.
Readers and their texts: Priyasha Mukhopadhyay on ‘Required Reading’
Priyasha Mukhopadhyay, Assistant Professor of English, was awarded the 2024-25 Samuel '60 and Ronnie '72 Heyman Prize for her outstanding first book which examines writings that exemplify how Britain viewed its subjects—and how those subjects understood, subverted, and experienced the empire.
Sunny Xiang awarded Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers grant
Xiang, Associate Professor of English, received the grant to support the writing of her forthcoming article, "Asian American Art During the First Intifada."
Becoming better thinkers through art and culture
How does architecture affect the way we live? Does it influence our health and our healing? Fatima Naqvi, the Elias W. Leavenworth Professor of German and Film Studies in the FAS, explores these questions in her new book. She looks at how writers and directors portray the architecture of hospitals and describe their experience from the 1880s to the present. Naqvi’s scholarship lies at the intersection of architecture, literature, and film. She argues that by experiencing culture and the arts, we become better thinkers in ways that are difficult to quantify but nevertheless profound.
FAS Humanities contacts
- FAS Dean of Humanities; Malcolm G. Chace '56 Professor of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies and of English; Professor of American Studies; Professor in the Practice of Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism
- FAS Dean's Office
- Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies (Program)
- English
- American Studies (Program)
- Senior Associate Dean; Dean of Faculty Affairs
- FAS Dean's Office