Ugarte talks about the study of culture as found in literature, film, and the press.

As a museum director and archaeologist, one of Barker’s most pressing research agendas concerns ethics and the question of who owns the past. Although many objects in the museum’s collection predate modern acquisition guidelines, this remains a real concern for museum staff. Finding himself torn between competing and often contradictory claims to the past’s remnants, Barker struggles with how to ethically handle the acquisition of antiquities in a way that seeks to protect the archaeological record and the sovereignty of the countries from which the objects originate, but also to benefit the public today.

Art history, studying the artifacts of the past, provides context for all the history we learn, Stanton says. She believes that art history is the core discipline of the humanities because it touches on all of the other aspects of life: language, culture, science, and math.