<p>For those of you who might have already taken any of the IHUM classes listed below - could you please tell us about them, pros, cons, etc. It would be very helpful!</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Ancient Empires
Classics
Approaching Religion: Tradition, Transformation, and the Challenge of the Present
Religious Studies
Art and Ideas: Performance and Practice
Drama
Encounters and Identities
Cultural and Social Anthropology
Epic Journeys, Modern Quests
French and Italian
The Fate of Reason
Philosophy
Literature into Life: Alternative Worlds
English
Mass Violence: From Crusades to Genocides
History
Poetic Justice: Order and Imagination in Russian Culture
Slavic Languages and Literatures
World History of Science
History
Worlds of Islam: Global History and Muslim Societies
History</p>
<p>Pros: Relatively amusing professors (an occasional joke or witty remark); no novels to read; not too many assignments; not that difficult overall; moderately interesting material</p>
<p>Cons: Okay, I'll be honest - I didn't think it was THAT interesting. And course organization was a little bit confusing for me (because we talked about so many civilizations and different aspects of them).</p>
<p>Pretty chill IHUM overall. I didn't love it, but it was very doable.</p>
<p>celestial605, which TF did you have? This year, our TFs are Gary Devore, Alice Petty, Nadine Schibille, Alex Watts-Tobin...do you know any of them, if they are chill or not? Also, how did the spring research paper go for you? Was it hard? Thanks and have a happy holiday!</p>
<p>I had Alex Watts-Tobin both quarters. Pretty chill. Research paper was not that hard. I honestly don't remember what I wrote about =X The class didn't leave a lasting impression on me, but it was over a year and a half ago. I'm not that interested in the humanities, so I basically just wanted to get through IHUM. Ancient Empires didn't stun me and make me appreciate history any more, but it was somewhat enjoyable and interesting.</p>
<p>Hmm... I wrote about something having to do with culture and rituals. I don't remember having any guidance on what to write about; I don't think there were any limitations (though they did recommend not writing about the movie "Gladiator" since that had been done often). Page count was probably 15-ish pages? I honestly don't remember =/ sorry. I stress that it wasn't that bad, and this is coming from a techie who hates to read/write (man, that makes me sound bad).</p>
<p>so i was wondering if anyone had any info on either "Encounters & Identities" (through CASA dept) or "Mass Violence" (the genocide one through the history dept)? i'm interested in them, but i don't know if they're the kind of ihums that sound great on paper but aren't really that great... thanks!</p>
<p>My TF from last quarter is doing Mass Violence and I wasn't her biggest fan, so I'm not too inclined to take that course (even though it is my second choice at this point). I really hope I get into Fate of Reason.</p>
<p>Mass Violence is new. Encounters and Identities was around last year and I don't think I heard anything especially good or bad about the class. </p>
<p>I took Fate of Reason and loved it. Bobonich is amazing and our (different) spring quarter prof was amazing. All the TFs for the class were amazing too. If Bob Jones, Randal, or Darko are still TFs they were all well liked (Alice was awesome too but I know she's not a TF this year).</p>
<p>There wasn't ton of reading. There was more than Human & Machine, but that's not really saying anything. Some of the reading is a bit dense, but it's not bad at all.</p>
<p>I'm gonna tell you all what I e-mailed out to my dorm list...</p>
<p>For IHUM, you might want to consider choosing by TF a bit, because he/she is going to be the deciding factor in whether or not the class is interesting, IMO. I mean, that, and the time you spend in section is what determines your grade. So might as well choose someone who's not uber-stingy and is actually interesting. Bart Ryan, Helle Ryotkonen, Darko, Daniel Medin, Huseyin Yilmaz, and Tomas Crowder are all good (either I've had them or someone I know has had them). Do NOT go for Jiyun Song--stingiest grader ever. Also, what a lot of people don't realize is that the new IHUM classes (last year we had a drama one come out, I recall) that come out each year TEND to be a bit nicer in grading, since neither the profs nor the TFs really know what to expect out of the class yet. Although don't quote me on that. :-) </p>
<p>As for finding out who teaches what section and when, e-mail the TFs beforehand if you like, and ask them, so you can start feeling out your schedule. You can probably find them on who.stanford.edu if it's not on that sheet of IHUMs. Believe me, you do not want to be caught up in the whirlwind of people switching sections/IHUMS the beginning of next quarter, if possible. Although I will say that switching sections is easy, just make the excuse that another class conflicts; switching IHUMS? Good luck.</p>
<p>I got ancient empires, which sounds fairly interesting and all, but I dread the research paper being the same quarter I'm taking PWR -_- and I heard my tf (schibble or something) is HARSH and very opinionated...soo I petitioned to be in world history of science as my first choice and fate of reason as second and already got that turned down haha so I re-petitioned to be in fate of reason as first and world history of science second....I REALLY hope I get into one of those, especially because every other class is at the same time as one of my other classes!!! If that doesn't, should I petition again? or maybe just petition to change TFs and sadly not take the other class I wanted to...</p>
<p>If your TF's going to be bad, just switch. It's pretty easy to come up with an excuse they'll accept. Say you have another class conflicting. Say you're in sports. Say you're working hours conflict, and you have to work then to pay off your tuition. Say something fairly convincing, and they'll switch your section, at least.</p>
<p>I actually petitioned to change to fate of reason (which is at a great time) because the ihum page didn't list it as being full like world history of science and I got my TF from last quarter, whom I really liked...yay!</p>
<p>Did anyone have this IHum last year..and did they like it? WHich TFs did you have..and were they any good...I want to find a good TF whos understanding since I dont know much about religion...so i dont feel like an idiiot durin sectin.
thanks</p>