Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity. It is one of the most distinguished areas of the intersection of science and humanities. However, this doesn't mean that the dichotomy between the two is gone. There is tension within the field between the scientific side (physical anthropology) and the humanities side (cultural and social anthropology).
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Archaeology is the scientific study of the physical remains of past human activity, including the remains of all man-made objects. Archaeology is a key source of knowledge about past societies and cultures, especially those that we don't have very many written materials about. This field uses many scientific techniques including those from environmental sciences, biology, and geology.
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Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building. It is a meeting point of the sciences required to create a structurally sound building that fulfills utilitarian needs and the art required to create an aesthetically pleasing space. This requires an understanding of certain physics and engineering concepts as well as art and design concepts and methods.
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Digital Humanities is at the intersection of digital technologies and humanities. It uses digital data and technology to help answer research questions in the humanities. Often times it takes physical research materials in various humanities fields and implementing a digital aspect. This can make the information within the materials more accessible, easier to engage with, and more interactive.
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Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. It includes both the scientific study of how the brain and thoughts work and the humanistic aspect of trying to understand how that impacts human behavior. For the purpose of this guide, psychology is considered to be an intersection of humanities and science because it can be applied in a wider, societal context for the study of humanity; it can be used to study the individual and their interactions with society; and it can be a very scientific field of study as it moves more towards psychiatry and the necessary understanding of brain chemistry.
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Epidemiology is the study of the distribution, patterns, and determinants of health and diseases across populations. It looks at the scientific nature of health, such as causes of diseases, the transmission of diseases, and statistical analysis of data. It also looks at the humanistic side of health, such as the social determinants of health, human behavior that contributes to the spread of diseases, and other impacts of society on health.
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UIUC Library Subject Specialist for Health and Wellness and Medicine:
Peg (Margaret) Burnette
Graphic design is the process of creating visual communications using typography, photography, iconography, and illustration. It takes both technical and art skills to design good graphics that display information effectively and in an aesthetically pleasing way. Steve Jobs even understood that the graphic designing for Apple was an intersection of science and humanities.
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UIUC Library Subject Specialist for Art & Design:
Emilee Mathews
UIUC Library Subject Specialist for Media:
Lisa Romero
History of Science, Technology, and Medicine is what it sounds like: the historical study of science, technology, and medicine. It looks at past concepts, techniques, equipment, and productions of science, technology, and medicine. As history is a humanity, this subfield of history is a good example of the intersection of the humanities and the sciences because someone studying it needs know how to do history and understand the scientific concepts they are studying and how they differ from modern understandings of science.
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