FACULTY OF HUMANITIES – Home

Welcome to the Faculty of Humanities – the home for aspiring writers and artists of all sorts!

In the Faculty of Humanities we offer you the kind of programmes and courses that will lead you to a variety of career options to follow after your studies. Our world–class academic staff with insight and expertise based on cutting edge research will quench your thirst for knowledge and help you achieve the profession of your dreams. A co-operative and caring relationship between our staff and students in the Faculty fosters a healthy environment for students to learn, develop and grow. Likewise, the Faculty provides a supportive work environment to encourage its staff to enable them to further their teaching and research interests.

The faculty, through its seven academic departments and one unit, provides high quality academic programmes and course offerings that not only prepare you for today’s world and its challenges, but are also designed for the holistic development of students who are articulate and critical, imaginative and productive, rooted in their own culture, yet open to other cultures, proactive, global in outlook, and who understand that true humanity lies in being of service to fellow humans.

Teaching and research in the Humanities pose questions that go to the very core of our human condition, questions of belief and moral values, questions that assess the past as a way of understanding our present and our future. Humanities help us to understand our history, the societies in which we live, the structures of the languages we speak, the ethical norms that govern our interactions. Humanities engage us in a continual process of interpretation of our culture – locally, nationally, and the world over. Scholarship in the Humanities and creativity in the fine and performing arts complement one another in the quest to understand ourselves and lie at the heart of the mission of a university.

Career Opportunities

The following are the kind of personnel produced in Humanities the world over: Radio and TV Announcers; Broadcast and Sound Engineering Technicians; Radio Operators; Interpreters and Translators; News Analysts, Reporters, and Correspondents; Project Managers; Human Rights Activists; Photographers; Public Relations Specialists; Television, Video, and Motion Picture Camera Operators and Editors; Writers and Editors; Clergy; Counselors; Actors; Producers; Directors; Designers; Dancers and Choreographers; Musicians and Singers; Archivists; Curators; Librarians; Library Technicians; Museum Technicians; Archaeologists; Historians; Philosophers, Theologians, Linguists and Comedians. If you aspire to become any of the professionals listed above, know that the Faculty of Humanities is a faculty that holds a future for you.

Apart from the above, there is also the possibility that those who want to be teachers can do a post-graduate diploma in Education after acquiring Degrees in Humanities. In fact, even without having any professional certificate in Education, it is still possible for Humanities graduates to work as teachers in schools because most of the courses or subjects offered by the Faculty of Humanities are taught in schools.

I wish to conclude by wishing you every success in the future and look forward to receiving you in the Faculty for the coming academic year.

Background and Organization of the Faculty

The Faculty of Humanities is one of the seven Faculties of the National University of Lesotho and it is the one with the longest history in the intellectual world. The modern concept of Humanities has its direct origins in the classical Greek paidea, but, indirectly, also, for example, in the early Indian and Chinese civilizations. The Greek paidea was a course of general education dating from time of Socrates, starting in the mid-5th century BC. The aim of this course was to prepare young men for active citizenship in the state.

That aim is very much the aim of the Faculty of Humanities of the National University of Lesotho. It is the Faculty’s aim to produce young men and women who have a wide area of knowledge in their single or double major and who will take an active role in running of the state – be it in the public or private sector. It is hoped that the students that the Faculty sends out will be able to listen and discuss and propose ideas and not only be able to carry out decisions that have been taken. In other words, the Faculty aims to produce young women and men who are able to think logically, creatively, and without bias. In fact, Faculties of Humanities around the world are referred to, by those who know of them, as the “thinking” Faculty.

Students joining the Faculty of Humanities should realize that not only are they coming into the Faculty with the longest history but also that they are joining the Faculty which gave birth to the Faculties of Science and of Social Sciences as well as those of Education and Law. In the past Humanities has acted very much as a parent to these other areas of study: rearing them very much as parents do with their children, watching them, with pride, develop, until they were known to be strong enough to exist on their own, and then letting them go off to live their own lives.

A good example of this is the development of the physical sciences. It was not until the beginning of the 18th century that modern science began to live its own life – apart from its parent, the Humanities. Even in 1665, the first issue of the “earliest journal in any subject in existence [and which still exists today]” came out with the title Philosophical Transactions of the Royal society – and that from a group of scientists.

Today students in Faculties of Humanities concern themselves with peoples and their cultures, with human values and with the unique ability of the human spirit to express itself – to paraphrase the Encyclopedia Britannica. Those are general areas with which the Faculty of Humanities is concerned, that is, in more specific terms, languages (African, English and French), literatures, history, philosophy, Development Studies and theology.

The Faculty is headed by the Dean who is responsible for the effective running of the Faculty, including, ultimately, each Department. He is supported by the Deputy Dean, who takes over the administration of the Faculty if the Dean is absent or indisposed.

It is unlikely that students, normally, will have much to do with the Dean or Deputy Dean in their capacities – but they will be following students’ progress with much interest. It is much more likely that students will be dealing with the Faculty Tutors. The Faculty has five Tutors. These Tutors are the ones to whom students should go with any problems about, for example, choice of courses, results, registration, and transferring from one Faculty to another.

Finally, in this section, one should mention Faculty Senior Assistant Registrar and Assistant Registrar whose principal job is to see that the Faculty administration runs smoothly and that the other Faculty Officers are aware of what comes into their area of concern and that correspondence flows freely into and out of the Faculty Office.

MISSION AND VISION

Mission

Our mission is to equip students with a well-rounded knowledge base which will enable them to think critically and independently on problems and issues that affect the human world, so helping them to live as useful and responsible citizens of their nations by cultivating their moral character and inculcating in them values and life principles oriented to making the world a better place for all its inhabitants.

Vision

A vibrant Africa-centered Faculty of Humanities nurturing innovative and critical thinking in the fields of human endeavor.

Values

As a faculty that believes that our true humanity lies in being of service to others, the Faculty of Humanities seeks to instill in its staff and students such human values as an enduring love of learning, critical thinking, academic freedom, commitment to serve others, dedication to the pursuit of truth, moral goodness, compassion, academic and ethical integrity, inter-cultural understanding, social consciousness, professionalism, accountability and transparency in their dealings with colleagues and the wider community.

DEPARTMENTS IN THE FACULTY

The Faculty has seven Departments and one Unit as follows:

Department of African Languages and Literature
Department of Development Studies
Department of English
Department of French
Department of Historical Studies
Department of Philosophy
Department of Theology and Religious Studies
Communication and Study Skills Unit

RESEARCH AND INNOVATION

The Faculty has a high research output, with members carrying out research and publishing in their various areas of expertise in both local and international refereed journals.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

The Faculty of Humanities, through the English department works with the Winter School Institute [WSI] to help various communities in Lesotho. WSI is a collaboration of four universities namely: The National University of Lesotho (Lesotho), Witwatersrand University (the Republic of South Africa), University of Sunderland (United Kingdom) and The State Empire College (United States of America). Every two years, WSI holds a major workshop, engaging the community in training in Theatre for development skills as a communication model to address issues that communities are faced with on a daily basis. The important principle of our training method is that, although each workshop is initiated by our students and facilitators, members of the community take over the work as it proceeds. Since the inception of the WSI in 2006, our major focus has been on HIV/AIDS (with particular attention paid to silence and gossip, multiple concurrent relationships and human trafficking) and we have worked, under the aegis of the Malealea Development Trust, with the Malealea Reflect group and Women’s Theatre group. Further, through the Lesotho-UK arm of the WSI, frequent workshops on theatre for Development as a communication model and as a means to enhance self-esteem have been held in orphanages and schools in Maseru.

Members in the Theatre Unit of the Faculty are also actively involved in the Morija Arts and Cultural Festival and have been managing the Theatre and Poetry sessions.

The Faculty, through its various departments, also teaches literacy classes to different adult learners in various communities in Lesotho.

Contacts:

Telephone: +266 52213922 – Secretary
+266 52217166 – Direct line
+266 22340601 – Switch Board