Great Books vs. great books: Diversifying the Liberal Arts
Presentation Type
Poster
Presentation Type
Submission
Keywords
Great Books
Department
Liberal Arts
Major
English
Abstract
The decision to weigh Great Books’ core curriculum in the direction of classic Western works arouses questions concerning exclusion, diversity, representation, and equity. The Great Books program may have historically ‘failed’ regarding the inclusion of social, national, ethnic, gender, or sexual orientation diversity. However, it has been and continues to be the touchstone of chronological, genre, and linguistic diversity. Often it feels like chronological diversity is at odds with racial and gender diversity, which begs the question: how does one adequately integrate diversity into Great Books in terms of gender, race, or other marginalized people groups without sacrificing chronological diversity? To understand how to answer this question, I focussed my research on comparing Pepperdine’s Great Books program to other higher education institutions’ programs. From there, I analyzed what other universities were doing and how Pepperdine could emulate their programs through reading lists, suggested translations, works, topics, or themes.
Faculty Mentor
Tuan Hoang
Funding Source or Research Program
Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Location
Waves Cafeteria
Start Date
24-3-2023 2:00 PM
End Date
24-2-2023 4:00 PM
Great Books vs. great books: Diversifying the Liberal Arts
Waves Cafeteria
The decision to weigh Great Books’ core curriculum in the direction of classic Western works arouses questions concerning exclusion, diversity, representation, and equity. The Great Books program may have historically ‘failed’ regarding the inclusion of social, national, ethnic, gender, or sexual orientation diversity. However, it has been and continues to be the touchstone of chronological, genre, and linguistic diversity. Often it feels like chronological diversity is at odds with racial and gender diversity, which begs the question: how does one adequately integrate diversity into Great Books in terms of gender, race, or other marginalized people groups without sacrificing chronological diversity? To understand how to answer this question, I focussed my research on comparing Pepperdine’s Great Books program to other higher education institutions’ programs. From there, I analyzed what other universities were doing and how Pepperdine could emulate their programs through reading lists, suggested translations, works, topics, or themes.