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
How Yale’s Center for Civic Thought Is Teaching Students to Listen, Question, and Think Together
“Our center draws together people with different forms of specialized expertise to think about difficult questions that have no clear answers but that we can’t avoid,” said Bryan Garsten, the center’s faculty director and a professor of political science and humanities.
Building maps to connect New Haven’s past with the present
The New Haven Digital Atlas, an interactive map created by Yale’s New Haven Environmental History Project overseen by Paul Sabin (Randolph W. Townsend, Jr. Professor of History), invites users to explore how the city’s historical landscape has changed over time.
Humanitas: An award for fiction, the history of opera curtains, and a Yale student at Cannes
This edition of Humanitas notes an award for The Yale Review, student achievements — curating an exhibit, pitching a film at Cannes, and winning a reporting trip with The New York Times — and a Yale expert on the history of opera curtains.
The origins of Memorial Day and how it has evolved
David Blight, Sterling Professor of History and Professor of Black Studies and of American Studies, spoke with the Associated Press about the origins of Memorial Day in the United States.
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