2025-2026 Undergraduate Bulletin

Humanities and Justice, Bachelor of Arts

The Humanities and Justice major offers students the opportunity to explore fundamental questions about justice from a humanistic, interdisciplinary perspective. Rooted in history, literature and philosophy, Humanities and Justice prepares students for basic inquiry and advanced research into issues of justice that lie behind social policy and criminal justice as well as broader problems of social morality and equity. Its courses are designed to help students develop the skills of careful reading, critical thinking and clear writing that are necessary for the pursuit of any professional career. This major provides an excellent preparation for law school and other professional programs, for graduate school in the humanities, and for careers in law, education, public policy and criminal justice.

The Humanities and Justice curriculum involves a sequence of four interdisciplinary core courses in Humanities and Justice (designated with the HJS prefix) and eight courses from a list of humanities electives.

Learning Outcomes. Students will:

  • Gain a comprehensive foundation in major concepts, underlying principles, values, issues, and theories of justice in the Western tradition.
  • Gain a comprehensive foundation in non-Western traditions of justice in several historical periods through direct engagement with historical, literary, and philosophical primary texts.
  • Identify and analyze the issues and theories embedded in primary texts concerning justice.
  • Employ, compare and evaluate the methods of inquiry used in the disciplines of history, literary study, and philosophy.
  • Produce well-reasoned, coherently written, evidence-based, argumentative analyses of primary sources.
  • Investigate an original research question or research problem, and/or argue an original thesis, by engaging in a critical, rigorous, and ethical process of academic research.

 

Credits Required.

Humanities and Justice Major 36
General Education 42
Electives 42
Total Credits Required for B.A. Degree 120

 

Coordinator/Advisor. Professor Allison Kavey (akavey@jjay.cuny.edu), Department of History.  Students must review their course of study with major faculty.

Advising resources. Humanities & Justice Advising Resources (including a Sample Four Year Degree Map).. Major Checklist

Additional information. Students who enrolled for the first time at the College or changed to this major in September 2025 or thereafter must complete the major in the form presented here. Students who enrolled prior to that date may choose the form shown here or the earlier version of the major. A copy of the earlier version may be obtained in the 2024-2025 Undergraduate Bulletin.

Senior–level requirement. Students must complete HJS 415 Senior Seminar in Humanities and Justice Studies or HJS 425 Experiential Senior Seminar in Humanities and Justice Studies.

Experiential learning opportunities. Students in the Humanities and Justice Major can participate in a variety of experiential learning opportunities over the course of their studies. During the freshman and sophomore year, students are we encouraged students to participate in experiential learning opportunities such as the Pre-Law Boot Camps. In the junior year, students are encouraged to engage in a credit-bearing n internship or practicum experience related to a career area of their choice for school credit. During the senior year, students participate in an extensive research experience associated with the capstone seminar, culminating in the presentation of original research.  Students in Humanities and Justice have interned with law firms, non-profit organizations related to social justice such as NYC Together, and participated in study abroad programs.

Program Codes:
IRP Program Code: 22067
HEGIS Code: 2105.00
CIP Code: 24.0103


Part One. Foundations

Required
HJS 250Justice in the Western Traditions

3

HJS 310Comparative Perspectives on Justice

3

HJS 315Research Methods in Humanities and Justice Studies

3

Total Credit Hours: 9

Part Two. Humanities and Justice Electives

Students take eight advanced elective courses in one or more of the humanities disciplines in order to explore how the fundamental assumptions, methods and general subject matter of these disciplines relate to issues of justice. These courses will be chosen by the student with faculty advisement, from the following list. Permission by the Humanities and Justice Coordinator is required for any course not listed below in Categories A, B, or C to count toward the major.

Select eight.  A minimum of 12 credits must be taken at the 300-level or above.
ENG 346Feminist Rhetorics: Histories, Intersections, Challenges

3

HIS 214Immigration and Ethnicity in the United States

3

HIS 219Violence and Social Change in America

3

HIS 224A History of Crime in New York City

3

HIS 228Critical Perspectives on the Middle East

3

HIS 242/POL 242/LLS 242U.S. Foreign Policy in Latin America

3

HIS 244History of Eugenics: Science and the Construction of Race

3

HIS 252Warfare in the Ancient Near East and Egypt

3

HIS 254History of Ancient Greece and Rome

3

HIS 255Famous Trials that Made History

3

HIS 264Premodern Asia: Empires, Exchanges, and the Silk Road

3

HIS 270History of Marriage

3

HIS 274Modern Asia: Empires, Encounters, and Globalization

3

HIS 277American Legal History

3

HIS 281Imperialism in Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East

3

HIS 282Selected Topics in History

3

HIS 323History of Lynching and Collective Violence

3

HIS 327History of Genocide: 500 C.E. to the Present

3

HIS 344Topics in Legal History

3

HIS 354Law and Society in Ancient Athens and Rome

3

HIS 356/GEN 356Sexuality, Gender, and Culture in Muslim Societies

3

HIS 364/GEN 364 History of Gender and Sexuality

3

HIS 374Premodern Punishment

3

HIS 375Gender and Justice Before 1800

3

HIS 381Social History of Catholicism in the Modern World

3

HJS 215Race and Rebellion

3

HJS 380Selected Topics in Humanities and Justice

3

HUM 300Landmark U.S. Supreme Court Cases: Criminal Justice and Humanities Perspectives

3

LIT 219The Word as Weapon

LIT 223/AFR 223African-American Literature

3

LIT 237Literature as Witness

3

LIT 258Asians Speak Up! Reimagining Asian Lives from East to West

3

LIT 265Foundations of U.S. Latinx Literature

3

LIT 287Selected Topics in Literature

3

LIT 305Foundations of Literature and Law

3

LIT 311Literature and Ethics

3

LIT 314Shakespeare and Justice

3

LIT 315American Literature and the Law

3

LIT 326Crime, Punishment and Justice in U.S. Literature

3

LIT 327Crime, Punishment and Justice in World Literature

3

LIT 340/AFR 340The African-American Experience in America: Comparative Racial Perspectives

3

LIT 342Perspectives on Literature and Human Rights

3

LIT 346Cultures in Conflict

3

LIT 348Native American Literature

3

LIT 358Landmark Case: Korematsu v. United States

3

LIT 366Writing Nature: Literature and Ecology

3

LIT 383Gender and Sexuality in U.S. Latinx Literature

3

LLS 322Latinx Struggles for Civil Rights & Social Justice

3

LLS 363Il-Legal Subjects: U.S. Latinx Literature and the Law

3

LLS 364Ethical Strains in U.S. Latinx Literature

3

PHI 201Philosophy of Art

3

PHI 202Philosophical Visions of American Pluralism

3

PHI 203Political Philosophy

3

PHI 205Philosophy of Religion

3

PHI 210Ethical Theory

3

PHI 214Environmental Ethics

3

PHI 216Ethics and Information Technology

3

PHI 231Big Questions: Introduction to Philosophy

3

PHI 235Philosophy of Science

3

PHI 238Philosophy of Comedy

3

PHI 302The Philosophy of Rights

3

PHI 304Philosophy of the Mind

3

PHI 310/LAW 310Ethics and Law

3

PHI 315Philosophy of the Rule of Law: Theory and Practice

3

PHI 317Philosophy of Law in Global Perspective

3

PHI 322/CRJ 322Judicial and Correctional Ethics

3

PHI 326Topics in the History of Modern Thought

3

PHI 32719th-century European and American Philosophy

3

PHI 330Philosophical Modernity

3

PHI 333/GEN 333Theories of Gender and Sexuality

3

PHI 340Utopian Thought

3

PHI 343Existentialism

3

PHI 351Classical Chinese Philosophy

3

PHI 354/AFR 354Africana Philosophy

3

PHI 358Latin American Philosophy

3

PHI 374Epistemology

3

PHI 377Reality, Truth and Being: Metaphysics

3

PHI 400Senior Seminar in Ethics

3

PHI 401Senior Seminar in the History of Philosophy

3

PHI 402Senior Seminar in Metaphysics and Epistemology

3

PHI 423Senior Seminar in Justice and Law

3

SPA 308The Theme of Justice in Spanish Literature

3

SPA 335Themes of Justice in Latin American Lit & Film

3

HIS 282, LIT 287, LIT 380: HIS 282 Selected Topics in History, LIT 287 Selected Topics in Literature, LIT 380 Advanced Selected Topics in Literature and LIT 401 Special Topics may be used to satisfy the eight-course requirement of the Disciplinary Component when the topic is applicable to the Humanities and Justice major. ISP courses should be handled similarly. To get approval for these courses to count in the major, students and/or faculty must petition the major coordinator.

Total Credit Hours: 24

Part Three. Problems and Research

Select One
HIS 425Senior Seminar in History

3

HJS 415Senior Seminar in Humanities and Justice

3

Total Credit Hours: 3

Total Credit Hours: 36