Undergraduate Courses
Requirements
Lower Division (one required): Each of these classes introduces students to the use of digital tools and methodologies to examine complex cultural, social, and historical dynamics. See the master list for the full list of options.
Upper Division: In addition to the Lower Division course, Minors need to take:
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- DH 101
- One upper division course, DH 110-160, and
- Four other upper-division electives, which may be DH courses or courses from other disciplines. See the master list for the list of options from other disciplines.
DH 195 Internships
The DH Program is not offering any DH 195 internships at this time. If you are already working closely with a DH affiliated faculty member and have identified a possible internship together, then first consult with your faculty sponsor to see whether they would be willing to supervise your 195.
Course Petitions
Please fill out this form if you’d like to petition for an elective. Include all the information you can, including a syllabus, if available. Petitions will be reviewed at least once per quarter. Please email Deanna Finlay if you have additional questions.
Questions?
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DH 101 – Introduction to Digital Humanities
Instructor: Nicholas Sabo
Foundation course for students in the Digital Humanities minor, providing a theoretical and conceptual framework for understanding the genesis of the digital world. Use of contemporary cultural-historical methodology to focus on the rise of new media and information technologies in the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, such as photography, film, radio, television, the Internet, and the World Wide Web, and their impact on how individuals, groups, and cultures experienced their worlds.
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DH 110 – User Experience and Design
Instructor: Nicholas Sabo
Introduction to fields of user experience (UX) research and design. Covers UX design methods and processes, including ethnographic field research, persona-scenario development, information architecture, prototyping, and usability testing. Students learn by hands-on practice in a human-centered process: how to understand users, how to design interfaces and interactions for users, and how to evaluate and communicate user experience design with users.
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DH 150 – European Exile and Media History in Los Angeles
Instructor: Benno Herz
Exploration of German-speaking émigré media, art, and culture in Los Angeles in the 1930s and 1940s. The study situates their historical media practices within a broader discussion of the contemporary role of digital media in shaping similar political discourses. Specific focus on the history and theory of various media forms, including film, architecture, and radio. Includes excursions to two historical sites: Thomas Mann House, the exile residence of Thomas and Katia Mann; and Villa Aurora, the exile residence of Lion and Marta Feuchtwanger.
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DH 150 – Introduction to Critical Cartography and Mapping Theory
Instructor: Nour Joudah
Introduction to critical cartography and mapping theory for students interested in spatial analysis. Introduction to the critical cartography field and how mapping can be both a tool and a representation of power. Students learn how maps are as much an erasure of places and peoples as they are representations of them. By understanding the history and development of the cartography field, students are better able to apply critical analysis to completed maps—thinking through the perspective of the map users as well as the mapping process of the mapmaker. Examination of so-called non-Cartesian cartography and nonarchival forms of mapping such as art, performance cartography, textiles, and more. The study expands understanding of mapping as practice—and cartography as the science of practices, not representations—through a focus on several cases around the world and during different historical periods. Includes digital final project. No previous mapping skills are required.
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DH 187 – Capstone Seminar: (Re)Defining LA
Instructor: Wendy Kurtz
From its indigenous roots to the rise of LA as the second-largest metropolis in the United States, this capstone traces the city’s development with an eye to multicultural influences that have shaped the city. While evaluating new scholarly views of the city’s past that take into account issues of race, class, gender, and sexuality, we will also compare our views of the historical and physical landscape. Grounding ourselves in reading, classroom discussion, film, and computational methodologies, we’ll start in the East and work our way West through a sampling of real-life explorations of LA neighborhoods. This capstone seminar asks students to trace the mutual cultural influences that have developed across space and place to form the imagination of Los Angeles. For the capstone project, students will select a topic of their interest and work in groups to explore the places and spaces that have forged Los Angeles into a global cultural capital. Through collaborative group work, students will analyze these themes using digital humanities methodologies.
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DH 187 – Capstone Seminar: Data from the Margins
Instructor: Miriam Posner
How do marginalized communities make use of or push back against datasets that often reflect the priorities of the hegemonic institutions that produced them? What are the possibilities of data for liberation? Examining cases from DuBois to current-day data advocacy, we’ll investigate the capacity of data to bend history toward freedom.
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DH 187 – Capstone Seminar: Radio and Data
Instructor: Nicholas Sabo
Audio technology and data science have intertwined history, from early anthropologists recording and cataloging folk songs to Nielsen canvassing radio listeners, to digital mixing to modern music-streaming algorithms. Students work with and visualize audio data while critically examining the history of radio and data science. The study involves academic conversation and methodologies of digital humanities. The study culminates in a research essay and portfolio project.
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DH M155 – Decolonizing Refugee Data from Rome to Vietnam
Instructor: Kelly Nguyen
Investigation of the politics of forced displacement in ancient and modern contexts through the lens of critical refugee studies and with aid from digital archaeology tools. Focus on Greco-Roman antiquity and contemporary Vietnamese history. The study moves beyond understanding refugee experiences through sensationalized visualizations, dehumanizing statistics, and state-centered policies. Instead, students gain understanding through refugee narratives and materiality. Examination of how refugees have been discussed, portrayed, and treated. Exploration of refugeehood through the perspectives and experiences of refugees themselves. Students gain hands-on experience working with digitized artifacts from the Vietnamese Heritage Museum. Students create digital exhibits that feature museum artifacts alongside those from the ancient Greco-Roman world to aid in better understanding refugeehood across space and time.
