What are the Humanities?

The humanities comprise those subjects that investigate the human world, what it is to be human, and how human beings relate to their environment. Humanities subjects cover two main areas of learning: the Arts, and the Social Sciences.

The Arts consist of subjects that explore:

• Human culture, history, beliefs, and value systems
• How human beings communicate with one another, express themselves, and represent their experience
• The primary conditions of human existence.

The Social Sciences consist of subjects that focus on:

• The analysis of human behaviour
• The nature of and relation between social and environmental systems
• The way that environmental, social, economic, and political processes shape our lives
• The way human beings relate to the environment.

At Otago, the subjects that deal with these areas of learning are administered through many departments, several of which provide specialist professional training for lawyers, planners, ministers of religion, social workers and teachers.

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The Value of a Humanities Education in Today's World

In the emerging world of the 21st Century, the need for high quality humanities graduates is greater than ever. New ways of thinking are changing the way we behave and organise ourselves. Advances in travel and communication have brought nations in closer contact with one another. A revolution in information technology and changing business practices have globalized the world economy. The world of today needs graduates who can understand the nature of what is occurring, and who can act effectively in the new environment.

The value of a humanities degree is that it imparts essential knowledge about the world we live in by deepening our understanding of:

• How humans think, feel, and behave
• How people interact with one another
• How men and women interpret their experience
• How social and political institutions function
• How to approach complex environmental problems
• How different cultures relate to one another
• How human societies have evolved into what they are today.

In addition, study in the humanities develops the whole person through an expansion of the mind and imagination that enriches one's experience of life.

Most importantly, a humanities education develops essential lifelong learning skills such as critical thinking, flexibility and competence with language. Together with the knowledge of the human and natural world that the Arts and the Social Sciences impart, it is these skills that prepare humanities graduates for employment.