Humanities Textbooks

CITOYEN.NE.S: Conversation en Français

Contributor: Dolidon

Publisher: Portland State University Library

License: CC BY-NC

CITOYEN.NE.S is a French language method for the conversation class at the intermediate/ advanced level. Content and activities are built around the concepts of diversity, inclusivity and equity, and engage students to practice French while questioning and participating in the world they live in – to be full citizens whatever their background, their race or their gender identity. As the French spelling of the title indicates, the book embraces écriture inclusive and uses it for instructions and general information for all students.

(3 reviews)

Storytelling on Screen: An Online Playback Theatre Archive and Guidebook

Contributors: Rosin, Vogel, and Lebron

Publisher: Virginia Tech Publishing

License: CC BY-NC-SA

Playback Theatre is a form of community-centered storytelling theater where the audience tells stories, which are then reflected by a company of actors and musicians. Storytelling on Screen: An Online Playback Theatre Archive and Guidebook is an open education resource consisting of a collection of full-length recordings of online Playback Theatre performances, and a 55-page explanatory guidebook. The guidebook, featuring a foreword by Playback Theatre co-founder, Jo Salas, explains the adaptation to online performances and some of the key concepts, roles, and forms involved in online Playback Theatre. The resource as a whole is suitable for a wide range of theatre students in courses such as applied theatre, theatre for social justice, improvisation, theatre appreciation, or acting. The guidebook contains hyperlinks to specific sections of the archive where students can see a given form or concept in action, allowing for a comparison of how different companies approach a given form.

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World Religions: the Spirit Searching

Contributor: Ondich

Publisher: Jody Ondich

License: CC BY-NC-SA

Humans across the globe and throughout millennia have searched for answers to questions like, "why are we here?" or "what am I supposed to do with my life?" And the answers people have found, or created, or chosen, have varied as widely as the cultures and people themselves. Some people focus on rules. Some focus on afterlives. Some look to become whole. Some seek adventure and learning. So this text, while full of various ways that people have searched and discovered and created, is only touching a few of the bigger traditions in our world. Hopefully each chapter will introduce the reader to some ideas from that specific tradition that enlighten them as to how a specific group of people think, believe, and live. This text is set up to be an ebook. The various videos, links and resources will only really work if the user keeps to the digital format. Read this book on a device--it will be a much more rewarding experience!

(6 reviews)

Advanced Academic Grammar for ESL Students

Contributor: Haider

Publisher: Rebecca Al Haider

License: CC BY

This textbook was created for an advanced academic grammar course for ESL students. By the end of the course, students will recognize and demonstrate the appropriate use of advanced grammar structures. To meet these outcomes, students will listen to aural language that includes the target structures, identify and edit grammar errors in written language, read and analyze texts that include the target grammar structures, and demonstrate the correct and appropriate use of target structures in written and spoken language.

(3 reviews)

Arguments in Context

Contributor: Robinson

Publisher: Muhlenberg College

License: CC BY-NC

Arguments in Context is a comprehensive introduction to critical thinking that covers all the basics in student-friendly language. Intended for use in a semester-long course, the text features classroom-tested examples and exercises that have been chosen to emphasize the relevance and applicability of the subject to everyday life. Three themes are developed as the text proceeds from argument identification and analysis, to the standards and techniques of evaluation: (i) the importance of asking the right questions, (ii) the influence of biases, cognitive illusions, and other psychological factors, and (iii) the ways that social situations and structures can enhance and impoverish our thinking. On this last point, the text includes sustained discussion of disagreement, cooperative dialogue, testimony, trust, and social media. Overall, the text aims to equip readers with a set of tools for working through important decisions and disagreements, and to help them become more careful and active thinkers.

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Guide to Byzantine Art

Contributors: Freeman and McClanan

Publisher: Smarthistory

License: CC BY-NC-SA

The “Beginner’s guide” introduces foundational concepts, such as the chronology of Byzantine history, sacred imagery, and wearable objects. Subsequent sections are arranged chronologically, covering the Early Byzantine period (c. 330–700), the Iconoclastic Controversy (c. 700s–843), the Middle Byzantine period (843–1204), the Latin Empire (c. 1204–1261), and the Late Byzantine period (c. 1261–1453) and beyond.

(2 reviews)

Music in World Cultures

Contributors: Mihalka and Hunter

Publisher: University of Arkansas

License: CC BY-NC

This text provides just a small sampling of some of the various musical styles and traditions that might be found, though the skills developed in this course can be applied to any type of music.

(3 reviews)

Palabras propias

Contributor: Guillickson

Publisher: University of Kansas Libraries

License: CC BY-NC

The goal of this project is to provide high-quality, accessible primary sources to those teaching and studying the histories and cultures of the Spanish-speaking world and the indigenous peoples of Latin America. Our modules cover a wide range of topics, but all consist of the same essential parts:

(3 reviews)

Oral Communication for Non-Native Speakers of English

Contributors: Kochem, Ghosh, Compton, and Cotos

Publisher: Iowa State University

License: CC BY-NC-SA

Welcome to Oral Communication for Non-native Speakers of English!

(3 reviews)

Fundamentals, Function, and Form: Theory and Analysis of Tonal Western Art Music

Contributor: Mount

Publisher: Milne Open Textbooks

License: CC BY-NC

Fundamentals, Function, and Form by Andre Mount—with editorial and pedagogical input from Lee Rothfarb—provides its readers with a comprehensive study of the theory and analysis of tonal Western art music. Mount begins by building a strong foundation in the understanding of rhythm, meter, and pitch as well as the notational conventions associated with each. From there, he guides the reader through an exploration of polyphony—the simultaneous sounding of multiple independent melodies—and an increasingly rich array of different sonorites that grow out of this practice. The book culminates with a discussion of musical form, engaging with artistic works in their entirety by considering the interaction of harmonic and thematic elements, but also such other musical dimensions as rhythm, meter, texture, and expression. Along the way, Mount supplements the text with over eight hundred musical examples which, in the online version of the text, include embedded audio files for immediate aural reinforcement of theoretical concepts. Most of these examples are drawn from the literature, including nearly 200 excerpts by women and other underrepresented groups. The reader is also given the opportunity to check their understanding of the text with interactive exercises at every step of the way. Fundamentals, Function, and Form was written with the undergraduate music student in mind, but self-guided readers would also be rewarded with a deep understanding of this musical tradition.

(1 review)