Addendum to the
Courses of Instruction 2007-2008
Last updated: 1/30/08 2:23 PM
New Fall course:
ANTH 205(F) Language in Culture and Society (Same as LING 270)
Language is one of the most important, if not the most important, feature of our species Homo sapiens. This course examines the relationships between language, culture, and society across a variety of different speech communities. After learning some basic concepts, we will consider how people use language to establish identities and negotiate social interactions, and how individuals use language to understand the world in culturally specific ways. We will also learn about some of the methods that linguistic anthropologists use in their research, and apply these through several small projects.
Format: Lecture/discussion. Requirements: Sequenced series of research assignments, midterm and final exams
No prerequisites. Enrollment limit: 25 (expected 20). Open to all classes, but preference given to first and second years, and Anthropology or Sociology majors.
HAUGH
New Fall course:
ANTH 252(F) Cultures and Societies of Sub-Saharan Africa (Same as AFR 252)*
This course explores the diversity and vitality of contemporary sub-Saharan African cultures and societies through the lens of four major themes. We will study the enduring importance and flexibility of African systems of kinship and marriage; the innovative patterns of economic production and consumption that characterize alternative economies; and power, authority, and conflict in African polities. Finally, we will examine how mobility and migration - forced or voluntary, temporary or permanent - have shaped African identities and communities.
Format: Lecture/discussion. Requirements: Quiz, two 5-7 page papers, take home final
No prerequisites. Enrollment limit: 25 (expected 20). Open to all classes, but preference given to first and second years, and Anthropology or Sociology majors.
HAUGH
New Spring course:
ANTH 253(S) Popular Culture in Africa (Same as AFR 253)*
This course focuses on forms of popular culture produced and circulated by amateur and professional artists, musicians, writers, and performers in Africa. We will study these genres as forms of entertainment and artistic expression, but more importantly as efforts to make sense of the world, offer critical commentaries, construct social identities, and take political action. In addition to developing a theoretical understanding of popular culture, we will address themes such as gender, ethnicity and nationality, wealth and power, globalization, protest and resistance, and war.
Format: Lecture/discussion. Requirements: Quiz, midterm, short review paper, 8 to 10 page research paper, presentation
Prerequisite: None. Enrollment limit: 25 (expected 20). Open to all classes, but preference given to first and second years, and Anthropology or Sociology majors.
HAUG
New Fall course:
ANTH 321(F) Visualizing Health and Illness: Medical Ways of Knowing
As patients, practitioners, kinfolk, sufferers and caretakers, we learn to see signs of life, death, illness and healing in the self and others. Culture, technology, and the social norms through which we ascribe wellness shape how, when, and where we see and interpret the body as in a state of health or illness. This class explores the visual culture of medicine and the techniques through which we learn to see and be seen medically. Sight is but one sense through which health and illness are perceived. Our analysis will consider the relationship of vision to other perceptual modes: how do we smell, feel, taste, and hear health? Good's Medicine, Rationality and Experience, Foucault's Birth of the Clinic, and Crary's Techniques of the Observer will serve as theoretical frameworks through which to understand the role of sight, seeing, and visual technology in anthropological monographs and film on life, health, and illness. Case studies include but are not limited to the arrangement of the Victorian sickroom; death and dying among the Yolmo of Nepal; brain scan technology and its relationship to personhood; the iconography of madness, depression and mania; the establishing of visual regimes that perceive difference across gender and race; and fetal imaging and its shifting nature over time.
Format: Discussion/seminar. Requirements: participation, student presentations, one 7-8 page paper, a take-home essay midterm, 15-20 page final research paper.
No prerequisites. Enrollment limit: 30 (expected 20). Open to all classes, but preference given to Anthropology and Sociology Majors.
MULLA
New Spring course:
ANTH 365(S) Citizens and Civil Societies
Nationalist ideologies and political movements spread around the world from the eighteenth through the twentieth centuries; in recent decades, the spread of democratic ideals and practices has been a key political development. In this course, we will develop a theoretical understanding of citizenship and civil society as they relate to the nation-state and to democracy. How do citizens and states define the rights and responsibilities of citizenship? How are political boundaries between citizens and non-citizens negotiated in an era of economic globalization and growing refugee populations? What kinds of organizations and networks comprise civil societies and public spheres in different contexts, and how do they relate to the state? We will read ethnographic case studies from Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe, enabling us to compare and contrast the construction of citizenship and civil society in these places with our own experience and understanding of these concepts in the Western American world.
Format: Seminar. Requirements: Active class participation, reading response papers, 12 to 15 page research paper, presentation
Prerequisite: None. Enrollment limit: 16 (expected 12). Open to all classes, but preference given to Anthropology and Sociology Majors.
HAUGH
New Fall course:
ANTH 390(F) Nature and Culture (Same as ENVI 390)
Environmental activists have been encouraged to "think globally, act locally." From an anthropological perspective, we also need to consider how people 'think locally' - how people from different cultural backgrounds conceptualize and interact with nature. We will focus on movements which mobilize around environmental issues in the non-Western world, whether they involve the management of natural resources, the protection of human health, or the preservation of species, ecosystems, or wilderness. We will also examine what happens when people 'act globally' - when people from different cultural backgrounds engage around the same physical environment.
Format: Seminar. Requirements: Active class participation, reading response papers, 12 to 15 page research paper, presentation.
No prerequisites. Enrollment limit: 16 (expected 12). Open to all classes, but preference given to Anthropology or Sociology majors
HAUGH
New Spring Course:
ARTH 218 (S) The Romantic Revolution: Art in
Major developments in European art from Neoclassicism in the late-eighteenth century to the ascendancy of Realism in the mid-nineteenth century. Emphasis on French, British, and German art in its cultural and aesthetic context, including David, Goya, Delacroix, Turner, Caspar David Friedrich, and Courbet, as well as lesser known figures associated with Romanticism and its aftermath.
Format: lecture. Course Requirements:Mid term; one seven page paper; final examination,
Prerequisites: none. Enrollment limit: 25 (expected 18)
GOTLIEB
New Fall course:
ARTH 507 (F) Rhetorics of the Sublime
This course explores the history, theory, and rhetoric of the sublime in the visual arts from the eighteenth century into the present. Its focus is more topical than historical, with special attention to the role of the sublime in art theory and criticism, to the dynamics and psychology of artistic experience, and to sublime features of artistic conduct and biography.
Format: Seminar.
Enrollment limit: 10. Preference will be given to graduate students and then to senior majors.
GOTLIEB
New Spring Course:
ARTS 201(S) Video Art and Performance
This course will examine video as a component in performance and live-based artworks. Screenings, readings, and discussions will focus on seminal and contemporary works dating from the 1960's to the present that demonstrate the ongoing relationship between performance and video. This would be a hands-on course designed towards developing technical proficiency in the medium, including shooting and editing, and image and sound relationships. From there, students will work individually and ollaboratively on projects. We will focus on video as reflexive medium for documenting the live act or creating alternative or imaginary selves. Themes and strategies that we will cover include documenting live action using the body, experimental narrative, and time and duration as an experience of place or space. Lab fee. Format: studio. Requirements:4 project-based assignments
Prerequisites: none. Enrollment limit: 12 (Expected 12) Preference given to majors.
CHAN
Course Cancelled Spring 2008:
ARTS 300T(S) Narrative Spaces
Course Cancelled Spring 2008:
BIOL 208T(S) The Search for Life's Beginnings (W)
Course Cancelled Spring 2008:
BIOL 306(S) Cellular Regulatory Mechanisms
Cancelled Fall 2007; to be offered Spring 2008:
BIOL 413(S) Molecular Basis of Biological Clocks
Change in number and prequisites for Fall course:
Formerly COMP 353(F)
COMP 253(F) Writing the City: Beirut and Cairo in Contemporary Arabic Literature*
The Lebanese novelist Elias Khoury has written that understanding contemporary Lebanese literature requires us to understand "how literature both creates myth and then seeks to destroy it." This class will consider this statement in relation to the development of the Arabic novel emerging out of Beirut and Cairo in the latter part of the twentieth century. We will consider the ways in which Lebanese and Egyptian novelists use the motif of the city as a way to take up the prevailing social and political issues of the day. In so doing we will discuss how some works actively mythologize and celebrate the city as an extension of national identity, while others portray it as the root cause of the country's social ills. We will also consider how the history of each of these cities was intertwined with the rise and fall of certain ideological movements in the Arab world whereby the novel, as a relatively new form in the region, served as an alternative medium for theorizing and considering the efficacy of such movements. In taking up these questions, we will discuss the extent to which the trajectory of the Arabic novel may be understood as a reflection of the changes affecting these urban milieus and reciprocally the way these two cities are, and continue to be, produced by these fictions. Throughout the semester we will read a range of works by Lebanese and Egyptian novelists as well as a selection of critical material that theorizes the city in relation to literature.
Format: lecture/discussion; Course Requirements: active participation, presentation, two short papers (5-6 pages), and one longer paper (8-10 pages).
No prerequisites. Enrollment limit: 25 (expected: 15-20). Preference given to Comparative Literature majors and seniors.
NAAMAN
New Spring course:
COMP 272(S) Literature of the Americas: Dialogues in Historical Perspective (Same as American Studies 256 and Spanish 272) (W)
Most people in the US understand "American" literature as the work of writers born and raised in the United States, overlooking both the rich literary traditions of Canada, the Caribbean and Latin America and the centuries of political and cultural histories we share with those peoples. This course will present the methods and issues involved in studying the literature of the American hemisphere, from the fundamental (what is "America"?) to more nuanced issues of identity, imperialism and cultural agency, while examining key texts written from 1800 to the present. Our work will be broadly comparative, drawing texts from different linguistic traditions (French, English and Spanish) into dialogue with one another. We will consider both the interrelations of American peoples and the many cultural forms that have developed in response to our common colonial heritage. Readings may include the work of: Melville, Cooper, Sarmiento, Ruiz de Burton, Whitman, Martí, Cather, Guillén, Césaire, Faulkner, Rulfo, Morrison.
Format: Lecture/discussion. Requirements: attendance and active, informed participation; oral presentations; two 5-7 page essays; proposal and 10-15 page final paper.
No prerequisites. Enrollment limit: 19 (expected: 19). (Cultural Studies)
FRENCH
New Fall Course:
ECON 382(F) Industrial Organization
This course examines the interaction of firms and consumers in monopoly and imperfectly competitive markets. We begin with an investigation of how firms acquire market power. Using game theoretic models, we then analyze the strategic interaction between firms to study their ability to protect and exploit market power. Aspects of strategic decision-making that we shall study include: price discrimination, product selection, firm reputation, bundling and collusion. We conclude with a discussion of the role of anti-trust policy. Theoretical models will be supplemented with case studies and empirical papers.
Format: lecture/discussion. Requirements: There will be several problem sets as well as a midterm and final examination. A group paper and presentation will also be required.
Prerequisites: Economics 251 and preferably some familiarity with statistical analysis. Enrollment limit: 25 (expected: 25). Preference given to senior majors.
GRZELONSKA
Cancelled Fall 2007:
ECON 453 Monetary Economics
New Fall Course:
ECON 458(F) Economics of Risk
Risk and uncertainty are pervasive features of economic decisions and outcomes. Individuals face risk about health status and future job prospects. For a firm, developing new products is risky; furthermore, once a product has been developed, the firm faces product liability risk if it turns out to be unsafe. Investment decisions – from managing a portfolio to starting a business – are also fraught with uncertainty. Some risks are environmental – both manmade problems and natural disasters; other risks include the possibility of terrorist attack and, more locally, issues of campus safety. This tutorial explores both the private market responses to risk (e.g., financial markets, insurance markets, private contracting, and precautionary investments and saving) and government policies towards risk (e.g., regulation, taxation, and the legal system). From a theoretical standpoint, the course will build on expected utility theory, diversification, options valuation, principal-agent models, contract theory, and cost-benefit analysis. We will apply these tools to a wide variety of economic issues such as the ones listed above. One goal of the course is to discover common themes across the disparate topics. Students will be expected to read and synthesize a variety of approaches to risk and uncertainty and apply them to various issues.
Format: Tutorial. Requirements: Students will meet with the instructor in pairs in each week. They will write a paper or short project every other week, and comment on their partner’s paper (or project) in the other weeks. The final two weeks will be reserved for applied projects of the student’s choice. One of the papers during the term will be revised to reflect feedback from the instructor and the student’s partner.
Prerequisites: Economics 251, 252, and Economics 253 or 255. Enrollment Limit: 10 (expected: 10) Preference to senior majors
GENTRY
New Course Spring 2008:
ECON 462(S) The Economics of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)
NGOs have played an increasingly important role in the provision of relief and development programs in developing countries. They have become key partners for the donor community and, as a result, an increasing fraction of foreign aid has been channelled through international and local NGOs. This seminar will survey recent theoretical and empirical economic literature on NGOs. Topics will include: should governments contract out public good provision to NGOs? when are NGOs more desirable public good providers than for-profit firms? why do most NGOs operate under a not-for-profit status? what is the role of employees' intrinsic motivation? NGOs and donors; the commercialization of NGOs; NGOs and politics.
Format: Seminar. Evaluation will be based on: four short papers (4 to 6 pages, double-spaced), each critically reviewing a paper on the reading list; one final paper (7 to 10 pages) which will be either an essay reviewing papers around one particular issue, or an independent research paper (for those interested).
Pre-requisites: Economics 251, Economics 253 or 255 or the equivalent.Enrollment limit: 19 (expected: 19).
LY
Cancelled Spring 2008:
ECON 466 Economic Growth: Theories and Evidence
New Fall Course:
ECON 467T(F,S) Development Successes (Same as Economics 518T) (W)
Although living standards in most of the worlds poor countries have increasingly fallen behind those of the rich industrial countries, a relatively small number of countries that were quite poor in the middle of the last century have achieved dramatic improvements in their incomes since then. These development successes include countries such as Japan, the four dragons (Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan), the MIT economies (Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand), the Asian giants of China and India, as well as non-Asian economies as diverse as Botswana, Chile, and Turkey. This tutorial will explore why these countries have apparently succeeded where many other poor countries have failed. A particular focus of the course will be on extracting insights from the experiences of these success cases about the broad development strategies that have been advocated over the past 50 years by scholars as well as by the international financial institutions.
Format: tutorial. Methods of evaluation; students will write five papers during the term, and will prepare and deliver formal comments on five papers written by other students.
Prerequisites: Economics 204 or 501. Enrollment limit: 10 (expected: 10). Preference given to CDE students, then Williams seniors, in that order.
Hour: TBA
MONTIEL
Cancelled Spring 2008:
ECON 468 Microfinance (Same as Economics 508) (Q)
New Spring Course:
Econ 469(S) Economics of Global Health and Population
This course examines issues in global health and population in developing and formerly socialist countries, with a focus on econometric methods and applied microeconomic theory. We will analyze trends in global health and population, the determinants and consequences of changing population health, and approaches to the design, implementation and evaluation of policies to address health and population problems. Specific topics we will discuss include the HIV/AIDS epidemic, labor market returns to health, child mortality and ‘missing women’, the mortality crisis in the former Soviet Union , and the long-run impact of disease. Format: lecture/discussion. Requirements: several short papers and econometric exercises, a midterm exam and an empirical research paper.
Prerequisites: Econ 251 or 251M and Econ 253 or 255 . Enrollment limit: 19 (expected: 19). Preference will be given to senior majors .
BRAINERD
New Spring Course:
ENGL 133(S) New Poetry (W)
This class is inspired by and organized around the “Young Poets” series sponsored by the English department during 2007-2008. We will read or otherwise experience a range of poetry being produced right now in the U.S., including the work of the young poets who will be coming to campus during the course of the year. A lot of this poetry doesn’t immediately seem to “fit” in the classroom: it’s too new, too weird, too raw, too cerebral, too multi-media, too performance-oriented, somehow “unteachable.” The premise of the course is that by engaging with these diverse voices we will come up with ways of talking about them, and that in the process we will have to take up some big and interesting questions: What is poetry—can it be defined? How does poetry aim to affect us? Does one need “expertise” to appreciate it? And: is poetry important? Does it matter—socially, politically, culturally? The course is aimed at lovers of poetry, those who dislike poetry, those who are intimidated by the idea of it, and those who can’t see why we should bother. Readings will be structured around the work of the poets coming to Williams next year, and may also include some “old poetry” (for purposes of comparison), critical articles, and manifestos; we will also watch documentaries or listen to CDs of more performance-oriented work (e.g., slam, spoken word). The class probably meets too early for the visiting poets to attend; ideally, then, students would have some lunch hours and/or 4:00 times free to meet and hear them.
Format: discussion/seminar. Requirements: regular attendance (you must be able to cope with an 8:30 class!--coffee provided for the weary); 5 short (from 2-3 to 5-6 pp.) papers, including one research paper on a poet or poetic movement of your choice; occasional short postings for class discussion.
No prerequisites. Enrollment limit: 19 (expected: 19). Preference to first-year students.
SWANN
New Fall Course:
ENGL 143 (F) On Beyond Criticism: new ways to write about fiction (W)
Pretty much what you do in English classes is read stories or novels or poems, discuss them, and write essays about them. But critical essays are only one form of written response to a text, and in this class we will attempt other forms as well: you could imagine, for example, reading a story, having a thought or two (or three!) about it, and then using those thoughts to write another story entirely, whose implications form a critical interpretation of the first. Or you could imagine a piece of biographical/archival research, or an interview with an author, to expose some mid-way point between his or her intention, his or her actual accomplishment, and what you think. Or you could imagine writing a parody, the success of which would depend on a complicated piece of analysis that goes entirely unsaid.
And you can probably see already why we won’t be reading Shakespeare or Emily Dickinson for this class. Instead, we will look at a mixture of horror, science fiction, and fantasy writers—that is, authors whose stories exist not just as independent entities, but also as self-conscious members of a larger group of stories, conventions, and traditions. These conventions will be useful not only as a source of analysis, but also as organizing principles for our own fictional or meta-fictional responses. I have prepared a long list of writers, living and dead: Edgar Allen Poe, HP Lovecraft, Theodore Sturgeon, Terry Bisson, Philip K. Dick, Samuel R. Delaney, Octavia Butler, Angela Carter, Gene Wolfe, Kelly Link, Lucius Shepard, Connie Willis. In the event, I will probably choose four names from this list. This is a writing-intensive seminar, and we will be writing intensively: numerous small sketches, and at least four longer essays, of at least five pages each.
Format: discussion/seminar.
No prerequisites. Enrollment limit: 19 (expected: 19). Preference to first year students.
P.Park
Only Offered Fall:
ENGL 146(F) Literature and Decolonization (W)
New Spring Course:
ENGL 221(S) Rewriting Slavery (Gateway) (Same as Africana Studies 221)(W)*
Slavery was surely the most divisive and vexing issue confronting the United States before 1865. Whether or not (and how) to abolish slavery was perhaps the primary issue, but behind this question lay many others whose answers were equally contested. What was the nature of slavery as an institution? What were its effects on the enslaved and the enslaver? What did the persistence of slavery say about the American experiment and American character? Though the 13 th Amendment abolished slavery in the United States, at least in theory, answers to these and similar questions continue to be contested as the country has moved from reconciliation to world power to lone superpower and “defender of freedom” around the world. Reading a variety of texts about slavery from the antebellum era to the present, we will examine the ways in which slavery has been constructed and remembered in both the popular and scholarly imagination and how particular texts intervene in the ongoing debates about the place and meanings of slavery, race and racism in and to American life and culture. Likely readings include Octavia Butler, Charles Chesnutt, Frederick Douglass, Stanley Elkins, Charles Johnson, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and William Styron, Gone with the Wind and several episodes of the television miniseries Roots.
Format: seminar/discussion. Requirements: consistent participation in class discussion, twenty pages of writing spread over 4 or 5 short essays.
Prerequisite: a 100-level English course, except 150. Enrollment limit: 19 (expected: 19).
(Post-1900)
MATTHEWS
New Fall Course:
ENGL 309 (F) Anger, Voice and Violence in Black Women’s Stories (Same as Africana Studies and Women and Gender Studies 309)*
Though women have long been stereotyped as overly emotional (and thus irrational and inferior), real or just anger has traditionally been seen as the domain of men. Angry women were not just unfeminine, but probably crazy as well. How, then, to understand the stereotype and ubiquitous images of black women as angry, vocal and assertive? We will begin this course by briefly examining some of these images and the various, often contradictory, ways anger has been gendered, racialized and classed. Our primary focus, however, will be texts (novels, essays, poetry, autobiography, music and film) authored by black women, which tend, unsurprisingly, to offer more nuanced views of black women’s anger. Why and at whom have black women been angry? How is that anger expressed, suppressed, marginalized or denied? Under what circumstances, if any, might it be acknowledged and validated? What are the uses of anger? Is silence ever a more appropriate or effective response than speech (whether angry or not) to the wrongs and oppressions that produce anger? Is violence? Authors will include Gwendolyn Brooks, Harriet Jacobs, Gayl Jones, Audre Lorde, Toni Morrison, Ann Petry, Nina Simone and Ida B. Wells-Barnett.
Format: seminar/discussion. Requirements: active participation in class discussion, one class presentation and three essays, two short and one longer.
Prerequisites: a 100-level English course, except 150, if registering under the ENGL prefix; otherwise, permission of the instructor. Enrollment limit: 20 (expected: 20).
(Post-1900)
MATTHEWS
Newly cross-listed with Women's and Gender Studies:
ENGL 317(F) Narrating Other Minds: Austen, Eliot, Woolf (Same as Women's and Gender Studies 317)
Spring Course Cancelled:
ENGL 341 American Genders, American Sexualities (Same as Women's and Gender Studies 341)
New Spring Course:
ENGL 377(S) Suicides and Survivors
Adrienne Rich and Sylvia Plath were contemporaries, vying in the 1950s for the same poetry prizes and recognition as "obedient daughters" to a literary tradition that prized craft and impersonality as poetic virtues over confession or politics. Both poets have become feminist heroines for their disobedience, each diverging radically and in her own way from this tradition in the 1960s. As biographer Janet Malcolm puts it: "Women honor Plath for her courage to be unpleasant" about being a "good girl" in the 1950s and about a philandering husband in the 1960s. Her suicide in 1963 was immediately followed by analyses of her poems in Ariel that directed critical interest toward her life as an explanation of her craft. Her survivors have battled strenuously but ineffectually to preserve the secrets of her life from "the voyeurism and busybodyism" of eager biographers and readers. Rich's life competes with her poetry for critical interest and approval because of its political shape; its dedication to feminism. The wife and mother of the 1950s became the political activist of the 1960s; the lesbian feminist of the 1970s. As expressions of a survivor and heroine of these movements for change, her life and art trace the forces, both political and ideological, that have affected the lives of American women. This course will explore the lives of each poet and the impact an understanding of their lives has on critical recognition of their art. We will be reading from the fiction, poetry, journals, biographies, essays and correspondence of Plath and Rich, together with interviews and reviews that have shaped critical reception of their work.
Requirements: one 4- to 5-page essay, one 6- to 8-page essay, a field trip to the Smith College Plath archive, and a take-home final exam.
Prerequisite: a 100-level English course, except 150 (formerly 103). Students who have taken Women's and Gender Studies 101, but not the English prerequisite, may enroll in this course with permission of the instructor. Enrollment limit: 25.
(Criticism)
BUNDTZEN
Cancelled Spring 2008:
GEOS 215 Climate Changes (Same as Environmental Studies 215) (Q)
New Fall Course:
GEOS 217T(F) Planetary Geology (Same as Astronomy 217T) (W)
The diversity of our solar system is incredible. No two plants are exactly alike, and as we acquire more data and higher-resolution images, our sense of wonder grows. However, we can't hike around and hammer rocks on Venus or Titan, so we have to infer composition, form, texture and process from remotely-captured images and sparse chemical and spectral data. This leaves plenty of room for interpretation and hypothesising about geological processes on other bodies. Through reading recent research papers we will examine a number of topics, including the possible Late Heavy Bombardment of the moon, tectonics on Venus, water on Mars, hidden oceans on Europa, and the methane weather cycle on Titan.
Evaluation will be based on six 2500-word papers, discussion, and critical analysis. There will be a strong focus on polished writing and argument, and papers will be thoroughly edited by the professor for style, grammar and syntax. Students will improve their writing by integrating into successive papers the editorial comments they receive, and also by editing the writing of their tutorial partners.
Prerequisites: one Geosciences course, or permission of instructor. Enrollment limit: 10 (expected: 10). Preference given to sophomores.
COX
Cancelled Fall 2007:
GEOS 219T The Geology and Development of Modern Asia (Same as Environmental Science 219) (W)
New Fall Course:
HIST 152(F) The Fourteenth Amendment and the Rights Revolution (W)
For more than a century, the 14 th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution has served as the principal touchstone for legal debates over the meaning of equality and freedom in the United States . This course explores the origins of the 14 th Amendment in the years immediately following the Civil War, and examines the evolution of that amendment’s meaning in the century that followed. Central themes in this course include the contested interpretations of “due process”, “privileges and immunities”, “equal protection”, and “life, liberty or property”; the rise, fall, and rebirth of substantive due process; and the battles over incorporating the Bill of Rights into the 14 th Amendment. We will pay particular attention to how debates over the 14 th Amendment have shaped and been shaped by the changing meanings of racial and gender equality, and how the 14 th Amendment has transformed the promise and experience of American citizenship.
Format: discussion. Evaluation will be based on class discussion, three short analytical papers, and a final research paper.
No prerequisites. Enrollment limit: 19 (expected 10-15). Priority given to first-year students, and then to sophomores who have not previously taken a 100-level seminar.
Group F
DUBOW
New Fall Course:
HIST 224(F) Europe Since 1945
This course explores the major themes of post-World War II European history. First, we will examine the immediate impact of World War II on European societies and politics. Then we will consider the postwar reconstruction and division of Europe. We will then pay equal attention to the political, social and cultural development of both west and east Europe from 1949 to the present. Frequent attention will also be paid to the United States, specifically in relation to its impact on and involvement with Europe. Some of the highlighted topics of this course will be the Cold War, the "Americanization" of western Europe, Stalinism in eastern Europe, the "thaw", decolonization, the radicalism and rebellions of the 1960's and 1970's, the decline of the Soviet Union, the welfare state, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of Communism, immigration, and the construction of a united Europe. We will investigate these themes through readings of both secondary (scholarly) works, and primary texts. Students will also watch several relevant films during the semester, and write papers discussing the films and their historical contexts.
Format: lecture/discussion. Evaluation based on class participation, several short papers, quizzes, and a final exam.
No prerequisites. No enrollment limit (expected: 25-30).
Group C
BEILIN
Cancelled Spring 2008:
HIST 308 Gender and Society in Modern Africa (Same as Women's and Gender Studies 308)*
New Fall Course:
HIST 333(F) 20th Century Europe from the Margins: Regions, Local Cultures and Borderlands in Comparative Perspective
Although Europe is commonly considered to be a continent of nations, it would be more historically accurate to call it a continent of regions and localities. For most of European history, up to the present day, the great majority of Europeans have oriented their lives locally, toward the village, the city, or the province. This course examines modern European life and history both at the micro level (localities and regions) and at the margins of nation-states and empires (borderlands). Through comparative analysis, students will examine how these different perspectives challenge and modify our understandings of the course of twentieth century European history. Students will examine specific case studies in depth. Examples include multicultural/multiethnic cities (Prague, Salonica, Lvov, Czernowitz), strong regional cultures/traditions (Bavaria, Brittany, Scotland, Catalonia, Galicia), and contested borderlands (Eastern Poland, Bohemia, Eastern Prussia/Germany, Alsace-Lorraine, Basque territories). Students will consider the major events of the 20th century, including the World Wars, the rise of fascism and Nazism, the Holocaust, revolutions, communism, and the establishment of the European Union through the special perspectives of these case studies
Format: discussion. Evaluation based on class participation and several essays.
No prerequisites. Enrollment limit: 25 (expected 15-20).
Group C
BEILIN
New Spring Course:
HIST 334(S) The Fin-de-Siècle: Vienna-Paris-St. Petersburg
This course will introduce students to some of the most significant and exciting social, artistic, intellectual, and political developments in fin-de-siècle Europe (1870 to 1914). "Fin-de-siècle" is a concept that denotes not only a historical period - the end of a century - but refers to a consciousness of living in a time of accelerated change and crisis. Intellectuals and artists of the decades we will be examining were preoccupied with "degeneration," loss of innocence, meaning, morality, and the inner self. They were simultaneously fascinated and horrified by technological innovation, emergent political and ideological currents, and the challenges to traditional values and identities posed by them. After a survey of political upheavals during the European fin-de-siècle, the course will focus on three metropolises consecutively: Vienna, Paris, and St. Petersburg. Through analyses of historical literature, novels, music, visual art, and the seminal texts of psychoanalysis we will explore how the self, public life, gender relations, sexuality, and aesthetics were conceived and re-imagined in each city, and bring to light the sensibilities and culture they shared.
Format: seminar. Evaluation will be based on class participation, an oral presentation, two short critical essays based on class readings, and a final research paper.
No prerequisites. Enrollment limit: 30 (expected 20-25).
Group C
FISHZON
New Spring Course:
HIST 337(S) Empires, Nations and Nationalism in East-Central Europe, 1870-1945
At the dawn of the 20th century the political map of central Europe was totally unlike that of today: instead of "nation-states" there were three empires, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia. By the end of World War I, these empires collapsed and were replaced by new, unstable states that were supposed to more faithfully represent the peoples that had lived in the empires. But rather than satisfy the demands of nationalists, the new regimes proved widely unpopular and the interwar years witnessed the radicalization of nationalism on all sides. World War II helped unleash nationalist violence on an unprecedented scale, and in 1945 the map of the region would be re-drawn once again. This course explores the origins and development of modern nationalist movements in central and east-central Europe from 1870 to 1945. It will begin with a discussion and comparison of theories of nationalism and nation-building. These will then be used to analyze and discuss how various individuals, governments and institutions defined and described national identities and histories. Readings will focus principally on Germans, Hungarians, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Ukrainians and Jews, and, to a lesser extent, on Croatians, Roma, Romanians, Serbs, and Slovenians. Although the principal themes of readings and discussions is nationalism, the course will also explore the ways class, gender, religion, region, and economy affected the ways in which nationalism was formulated and national identities were constructed and expressed.
Format: lecture/discussion. Evaluation will be based on class participation, an oral presentation, a short paper, research paper, and final exam.
Group C
BEILIN
New Fall Course:
History 356(F) Race, Gender, and Sexuality in U.S. History (Same as Women's and Gender Studies 356)
This course explores the shifting, contested, and intersecting meanings of race, gender, and sexuality in the United States . We will begin with three units designed to introduce the theoretical and methodological literature (one each on gender, sexuality, and race), and then devote the rest of our sessions to analyzing a series of specific historical topics examining the ways that race, sexuality, and gender have been imagined, policed, legislated, experienced, and performed in modern U.S. History. Topics to be explored include the development of and challenges to categories of race, sex, and gender; laws and cultural norms regarding sex and relationships; racial and sexual violence and organized resistance; and historical debates about family, immigration, work, and reproduction.
Format: discussion. Evaluation will be based on class participation, two short papers, and a final historiographical paper.
No prerequisites. Enrollment limit: 30 (expected 20-25).
Group F
DUBOW
New Spring Course:
History 357(S) Gender, Law, and Politics in U.S. History (Same as Women's and Gender Studies 357)
This course explores the legal history of the United States as a gendered system. It examines how women have shaped the meanings of American citizenship through pursuit of political rights such as suffrage, jury duty, and military service; how those political struggles have varied across race, religion, and class; and how the legal system has shaped gender relations for both women and men through regulation of such issues as marriage, divorce, work, reproduction, immigration, and the family.
Format: discussion. Evaluation will be based on class discussion, a series of short critical responses, a short historiographical essay, and a final research paper.
No prerequisites. Enrollment limit: 30 (expected 20-25).
Group F
DUBOW
Cancelled Fall:
HIST 359 Autobiography as History: An American Character?
New Fall Course:
HIStory 452(F) Antebellum American Women's History (Same as Women and Gender Studies 452)*
Women have always been mothers, wives and daughters; and through much of their history in North America, their relationship to the state has been mediated through men. However, they have always been valuable producers. Their labor, be it in the household, as free wage laborers, farm hands, or slaves, was important both to the development of the American market economy and to the ideology and rhetoric of nationhood. This seminar will explore the significance of the experiences of American women from the colonial era through the Civil War. We will address the impact of slavery on all American women, the role of women during intense urbanization and industrialization, and the ways in which literacy and artistic culture shaped the way American women portrayed their own lives. Throughout the semester we will read primary documents. Our inquiry will encompass women in New England, the South and the Hispanic Southwest. As we study works of history, we will also read twentieth century feminist and race theory to understand connections between practice and theory, between narrative and argument. Format: seminar. Requirements include a research paper (20-25 pages) based on reading and analysis of a set of primary sources, a literature review, class participation, and a reading journal. Enrollment limit: 15 (expected: 15). Preference given to History majors. This course is part of the Critical Reasoning and Analytical Skills initiative. Groups A and D
LONG
Cancelled Fall 2007:
INTR 317 Memoir (Same as Religion 317)
Not Offered 2007-2008:
LATS 330 Aesthetics of Resistance: Contemporary Latin American Theatre and Performance (Same as American Studies 330, Comparative Literature 330 and Theatre 330)*
New Fall Course:
LATS 331(F) Sound and Movement in the Diaspora: Afro-Latin Identities (Same as Africana Studies 331, American Studies 331, Theatre 331, and Women and Gender Studies 331)*
This course examines various Afro-descendant cultures through music and dance. We focus on Cuba, Brazil, Puerto Rico and the United States. Through the theoretical and practical study of commercial and grassroots music and dance production, we unpack how performance may re-articulate and challenge ascribed race and gender roles. The first part of the semester establishes fundamental methodological and theoretical frameworks, such as Taylor's epistemology and ontology of performance, Ortiz's transculturation, and Bahktin's carnivalesque inversion. These theories will help us understand that while music and dance are site specific practices, they also serve historically as representational terrains that narrate the Nation and its races. Through dance workshops, New York City fieldtrips, and ethnographic experience, we will explore how music and dance contest such ideological formulations. The second part of the semester concentrates on the United States and on how these expressive practices function within the diaspora. For instance, how does rumba or salsa simultaneously reinforce and/or deconstruct U.S. Latina/o identity in relationship to class, race, gender, and a shared history of colonization and neo-colonialism? Can Hip-Hop serve as a theoretical ground to question the stability of the Nation, gender, race and sexuality?
Format: discussion. Requirements: two oral presentations, one short essay, one midterm paper, one final paper, two fieldtrips to New York City, and participation in a dance workshop. Enrollment limit: 12 (expected: 10).
JOTTAR
New Fall Course:
LING 230(F) Introduction to Logic and Sematics (Same as Philosophy 131) (Q)
This course is an introduction to both formal logic and the study of linguistic meaning. Throughout the course, a formal system of logic will be developed, and its adequacy for describing linguistic meaning will be tested. Topics to be covered include the meaning of words and sentences, first-order predicate logic, logical deduction, interpretation and understanding, and pragmatics.
Format: lecture/discussion. Requirements: participation in discussions, weekly homework, a midterm exam, and a final
exam .
No prerequisites. Enrollment limit: 40 (expected: 40). Preference given to students using the course to fulfill requirements for a major or concentration; such students should contact the instructor in advance to guarantee placement in the course.
SANDERS
New Spring Course:
LING 360(S) Morphology
This course provides an introduction to linguistic morphology, covering the major concepts of, theoretical approaches to, and current issues in the literature on word-formation in human languages. Issues to be addressed include the nature of word-hood; inflection and derivation; "piece"-based vs. "process"-based approaches to morphology; paradigms; productivity; and the locus of morphology with respect to phonology and syntax. In addition to discussion of the above theoretical issues, we will also be applying the principles of morphological analysis to actual linguistic data, from English but also various other languages from around the world.
Format: lecture/discussion. Requirements: participation in discussions, occasional homework, one or two midterm exams, an oral presentation, and a final project.
Prerequisites: Linguistics 100 or Linguistics 210. No enrollment limit (expected: 5-10).
HAUGEN
Cancelled Fall 2007:
MATH 307 Introduction to Measure Theory (Q)
New Fall Course:
MATH 322(F) Differential Geometry(Q)
It is easy to convince oneself that the shortest distance from equatorial Africa to equatorial South America is along the equator. This illustrates the fact that “straight lines” on a sphere are described by so-called great circles. It is somewhat more difficult to describe the shortest path between two points on the surface of, for example, a doughnut, reflecting the fact that a doughnut curves in space in a more complicated way than the sphere. Differential geometry is the mathematical language describing these curvature properties. We will learn this language and use it to answer many interesting questions. For example, does it make sense to talk about a sphere with an “imaginary” radius (it does), and what might the “straight lines” on such an object look like? Along the way, we will develop all of the tools needed to begin the more advanced study of “Riemannian” geometry, which describes (among other things) Einstein’s Relativity Theory. Topics: Curves in space, the Frenet-Serret Theorem, (time permitting: the Fary-Milnor Theorem and the Isoperimetric Inequality), the first & second fundamental forms, geodesics, principal/Gaussian/mean/normal curvatures, the Theorema Egregium, the Gauss-Bonnet formula and Theorem, classification of closed and orientable surfaces, introduction to n-dimensional Riemannian manifolds/metrics/curvature, applications in hyperbolic 3-space.
Format: Lecture. Evaluation will be based primarily on problem sets, midterms and a final exam.
Prerequisites: Math 301 or Math 305 or permission of the instructor. No enrollment limit (expected enrollment 10) .
RAFALSKI
New Fall Course:
MATH 355(F) The Art of Creating Mathematics (Q)
Here we will face challenging questions, conundrums, and conjectures from all areas of mathematics that lead to imaginative and creative thinking. This course will bring together some of the seemingly disparate corners of students' mathematical backgrounds and offer mathematics as a unified suite of ideas that beautifully hang together. Students will discover problem-solving techniques, sharpen their abilities to prove theorems, and develop a greater appreciation for various corners of mathematics by exploring fundamental questions that illustrate key ideas. Students will not only be expected to produce original solutions to conundrums and proofs of theorems, but also to clearly articulate, both verbally and in written form, their ideas and analyses. The course will be driven by student presentations and discussions.
Format: Seminar. Evaluation will be based primarily on class presentations, homework, and exams.
Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. (Expected enrollment: 12)
BURGER
New Fall Course:
MATH 416T(F) Diophantine Analysis (Q)
In this tutorial students will work in pairs to discover and develop the basic theory of Diophantine analysis. Specifically, we will begin with a careful investigation of the real numbers and develop a theory as to how well we can approximate a real number by rational numbers that are, in some sense, not very complicated. This theory leads to many avenues of investigation including such areas as continued fractions, geometry of numbers, simultaneous approximation, and generalizations to p-adic fields. Both classical theorems and current results will be explored.
Format: Tutorial. Evaluation based on oral and written presentations and examinations. Prerequisites: permission of instructor, no number theory background is required. (expected: 10)
BURGER
Cancelled Fall 2007:
MATH 418T Matrix Groups (Q)
New Fall Course:
MUS 113(F) Free Music, Free Speech: Experimental Musics of the 1960s
This course examines the musical developments of the 1960s in relation to dominant social themes concerning freedom of expression, racial and gender equality, youth counterculture, and social activism. Composers and musicians of this decade aspired to greater expressive freedom by transgressing conventional genre distinctions and exploring new sonic, textual, and electronic sources, furthermore presenting these soundscapes theatrically in venues outside the traditional concert hall. What was the relationship of musical change to social change, and to what extent did musical artists assume a social responsibility that brought these activities into closer association? We will examine how composers and musicians in the United States and Europe talked about their music and how they transformed their ideas into meaningful sonic practices. Examples are drawn from experimental music (John Cage, Yoko Ono, Frank Zappa), free improvisation (Ornette Coleman, Scratch Orchestra, Sun Ra), psychedelia (The Doors, Brian Wilson, Pink Floyd), and minimalism (La Monte Young, Terry Riley).
Format: lecture/discussion, two meetings per week. Evaluation based on two short papers and longer final paper.
No prerequisites or musical experience necessary. Enrollment limit: 12.
KIM
Swapped Semesters:
MUS 203T(F), 204T(S) Composition I and II
Music 203T now offered in Fall and Music 204T is offered in the Spring.
Revised Course Description:
MUS 212(F) Jazz Theory and Improvisation I
The theory and application of basic techniques in jazz improvisation including blues forms, swing, bebop, modally based composition, Afro-Cuban, etc. Appropriate for students with skill on their instrument and some basic theoretical knowledge. Knowledge of all key signatures, major/minor keys and modes, intervals, triads and basic seventh chords and their functions within keys. Students should be able to play and demonstrate these concepts on their instruments-competence on an instrument is essential (vocalists will be encouraged to study the piano). Pianists and guitarists should be able to sight read chords on a jazz lead sheet. Sight reading will be a regular part of our daily studies. Alternates between lecture style exposition of theoretical topics and a master-class where students will perform and be evaluated on pieces they choose.? In addition to the development of skills, written work consists of assignments (e.g., harmonic analysis and exercises in transposition and transcription), a transcription project (e.g., of a recorded solo or a composition) and recital.
Evaluation will be based on weekly homework, a mid-term and final exam, a transcription project and the class performance, as well as improvement as measured in weekly class performance.
Prerequisites: Music 103 and/or permission of instructor. Enrollment limit: 10. Preference: Based on performance level, music literacy and previous theory experience. Must be taken as a graded course.
BRYANT
Cancelled Spring 2008; to be offered Fall 2007:
MUS 216(F) Orchestral Conducting
To be Offered Fall and Spring 2007-2008:
NSCI 401(F,S) Topics in Neuroscience
New Spring Course:
PHIL 300(S) Mute Witness: Disability, Gender, and Testimony (Same as Women's and Gender Studies 300) (W)
Inspired by a 1994 film, Mute Witness, in which the lead character plays a mute makeup artist who witnesses a murder and is not believed when she reports it, this course is an introduction to the philosophy of disability through two critical approaches. One is through the concepts of gender and sexuality; the other is through an epistemology of testimony.
"Philosophy of disability" expresses at least a two-fold concept. One focuses on the meaning of disability: what does it mean to have a disability or to be disabled? The other focuses on the meaning of philosophy: what new problems and concepts are raised by the phenomenon of disability? In other words, what does the experience of disability reveal about traditional questions in philosophy such as What is the meaning of life (to be healthy)? What is a good life (can disabled people have meaningful lives)? Who can know (can mentally disabled people know legitimately)? Who can speak (are disabled people authoritative witnesses)?
Through this course you will be able to: 1) explain both the material and social construction of disability by identifying and locating the myriad forces that have shaped various understandings and experiences of disability; 2) explain and demonstrate the intersectionality of race, gender, sexuality, and disability; 3) understand the relationship between embodiment and disability; 4) explain the existence of a dominant model of testimony in the Western affluent world and its impact upon the disabled minority.
Format: seminar. Evaluation will be based on class presentations, three short response papers (4-5 pages), final paper (12-15 pages, with revisions).
Prerequisites: Philosophy 101, Philosophy 102, Women's and Gender Studies 101 or permission of instructor. Enrollment limit: 19 (expected 10).
SCHRIEMPF
Cancelled Spring 2008:
PHYS 108 Heat, Energy, and the Environment (Q)
Cancelled Fall 2007:
PHYS 109 Sound, Light, and Perception (Q)
Spring 2008 Course Format Change (From Seminar to Tutorial):
PHIL 300T(S) Mute Witness: Disability, Gender, and Testimony (Same as Women's and Gender Studies 300T) (W)
Cancelled Fall 2007:
PSCI 216 Constitutional Law I: Structures of Power
To be offered Fall 2007:
PSCI 217 Constitutional Law II: Rights
Cancelled Spring 2008:
PSCI 218 The American Presidency (Same as Leadership Studies 218)
Cancelled Fall 2007:
PSCI 225 International Security
Revised course description:
PSCI 230(S) American Political Thought
What makes political thought “American”? Is there something distinct about the American political imagination that shapes how we think about liberty, equality, and government? And who exactly is the “we”? This course examines these questions and others by exploring the evolving relationship between conceptions of “the frontier” and the idea of representation throughout American history. We shall see that debates over how to represent the communitylead almost inescapably to the question of the proper boundary of the community – of who gets included or excluded from membership in the polity. We will explore the Founding period in detail, and then move on to examine several expansions of the public sphere in the 19 th and 20 th centuries, including those related to race, gender, class, and nationality. How do these openings in the political realm reflect differing notions of freedom, justice, and property? In conclusion we will ask how the meaning of “ America” may be affected by recent debates over immigration and “la frontera” to the south.
Format: lecture/discussion. Requirements: class participation, presentation, three 5- to 7-page papers. No prerequisites.
American Politics and Political Theory Subfields.
2:35-3:50 MR
DOLGERT
Revised Course Description:
PSCI 231(S) Ancient Political Theory (Same as Philosophy 231)
The core activity of this seminar is the careful reading and sustained discussion of selected works by Homer, Aeschylus, Plato and Aristotle, and will also include secondary readings by Arendt, Wolin, Nussbaum, and Weil. Among the questions that we will address: What is justice? How can it be known and pursued? How is political power generated and exercised? What are the social and ethical prerequisites and consequences of democracy? Must the freedom or fulfillment of some people require the subordination of others? Does freedom require leading (or avoiding) a political life? What does it mean to be "philosophical" or to think "theoretically" about politics? Finally, how does our contemporary view of politics look when refracted through the Greek experience of the political?
Format: lecture/discussion. Requirements: participation, presentation, three 6-8 page papers. No prerequisites.
Political Theory Subfield
1:10-3:50 W
DOLGERT
Cancelled Spring 2008:
PSCI 277 Political Islam*
Cancelled Spring 2008:
PSCI 313T Liberty of Conscience (W)
Cancelled Fall 2007; to be offered Spring 2008:
PSCI 315 Parties in American Politics
Cancelled Spring 2008:
PSCI 325 Culture and Identity in World Politics (W)
New Spring 2008 Course:
PSCI 334(S) Political Theory and the Environment: How Deep is Your Green?
Do animals have rights? Does nature possess intrinsic value? Can the free market clean up global pollution? Should we even want it to? Environmental political theory is at the center of key policy debates in this era of “inconvenient truths,” but at its heart is a fundamental rethinking of the human relationship to the natural world. This course will explore the theoretical underpinnings of modern environmental political thought, including deep ecology, liberal environmentalism, socialist ecology, and eco-feminism, but will also include environmental skeptics on the reading list as well. While we may reach no final conclusions, students will leave the course well-versed in the foundations of environmental theory, and will be able to connect seemingly abstruse philosophical issues to the very real challenges posed by contemporary politics.
Format: lecture/discussion. Requirements: participation, presentation, one long paper and regular very short reflection papers. Prerequisites: a course in theory or environmental studies or permission of instructor.
8:30-9:45 TR
DOLGERT
To be Offered Fall 2007, Revised Title and Description:
PSYC 340(F) Ideologies, Values, Worldviews
Cancelled Fall 2007:
REL 200 Religion and the Modern World
Cancelled Spring 2008:
REL 221 Post-Enlightenment Christian Thought
Cancelled Spring 2008:
REL 226 New Religions in North America (Same as American Studies 226)
Cancelled Spring 2008:
REL 256 Engendering Buddhism: How Women and Men Shape and Are Shaped by Buddhism (Same as Women's and Gender Studies 256) (W)*
Course no longer cross-listed with Cognitive Science:
REL 288(F) Embodied Mind: A Cross-Cultural Exploration (Same as and Philosophy 288)
Cancelled Spring 2008:
REL 302 Religion and Reproduction (Same as Anthropology 392 and Women's and Gender Studies 325)
Revised Course Title:
RLSP 271/COMP 265 The Interaction of Three Religions and Cultures in Early Modern Spain
Cancelled Spring 2008:
RUSS 202(S) Advanced Russian
Cancelled Fall 2007:
RUSS 301 Russian and Soviet Film
To be Offered Fall 2007:
RUSS 303(F) Russia in Revolution
New Fall Course:
SOC 209(F) Social Stratification in a Changing World
This course is designed to explore, both theoretically and empirically, the theme of change in social structure and inequalities in contemporary modern societies. One's position in social space determines one's consciousness, identity, values, attitudes, interest, and behavior. While inequality is ubiquitous, there are cross-cultural variations in the definition of status and consequent distribution of social conditions and opportunities among individuals. In modern societies, social space and individual status are closely interconnected with the economic system, and consecutively with the occupational structure and relations evolving from it. Currently, globalization and technological developments are rapidly transforming societies and patterns of inequality. In stable societies, changes in the economic and social sphere are evolutionary in nature. However, these changes come at an accelerated pace and are typically accompanied with initial chaos and turbulences in societies undergoing major systemic transformation (or even revolution). These societies provide excellent opportunities to study social change and its impact on social stratification. Therefore this course will also focus on the systemic transition from state socialism to market democracies in Central Europe since 1989 to examine the vicissitudes of social stratification in a constantly changing world.
Format: Lecture/class seminar. Requirements: participation, midterm, several short response papers, 10 page final term paper.
No prerequisites. Enrollment limit 25 (expected 15).
RULIKOVA
New Fall course:
SOC 317(F) Media and Consumer Society
This course explores the complex and evolving interrelationship between media and consumption. First of all, it will present the essential concepts that attempt to explain the cultural mechanisms through which certain objects acquire symbolic meaning and desirability. These mechanisms are intrinsic to consumption, and the circulation of commodity in the market, and are inherent products of the historical and cultural processes of industrial modernity. Over the past fifty years, media have taken over a dominant role as a consumer inspiration for life style choices, and have accentuated social differentiation in the process. The increasing reach and impact of media, especially through advertising, has created a new consumerism based on accelerated and uncritical demands. This has resulted from unreal comparisons with unrealistic reference groups, and has caused great disruption to the social order. Paradoxically, the more people submit to conspicuous consumption, the more individual dissatisfaction arises. To understand the context of the pervasive impact of the media, it is important to ask questions such as who designs life styles, whether consumers are free to create their own tastes, or if they are free to refuse to lead a lifestyle based on status enhancement by following fashion trends. Finally, the course will also look at how globalization - greatly enhanced by media and technologies - shapes consumer practices in different parts of the world.
Format: Discussion/seminar. Requirements: participation, presentations, several short response papers, 10 page final term paper.
No prerequisites. Enrollment limit 19 (expected 15).
RULIKOVA
New Fall course:
SOC 336(F) Global Migration
It is essential to analyze the historical, economic, demographic, legal, and sociological aspects of migration in order to understand the circumstances and consequences of global movements of people. Therefore this course approaches migration from an interdisciplinary perspective, by discussing the major theories of migration and their limitations. While most theories of migration typically focus on one or another cause of migration, we will try to understand the variability of motives in order to explain different strategies adopted by immigrants to settle down in the host country. The most widespread causes - economic necessity and political sanctuary - will be discussed at length. The issue of human rights in the context of asylum seekers and war refugees will also be of special interest. We will look at immigration policies and laws in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere, with a focus on the individual and social consequences of illegal immigration. In this context, we will look at methodologies for monitoring illegal immigration and controversies about the legalization or amnesty for these individuals. This course is aimed to provide students with a solid general overview of trends and issues related to people's mobility across national borders.
Format: Lecture/seminar. Requirements: participation, several short response papers, 10 page final term paper.
No prerequisites. Enrollment limit 19 (expected 15).
RULIKOVA
Cancelled Spring 2008:
THEA 204 Acting II
Offered Spring 2008:
THEA 214 Playwriting (formerly Writing for the Theatre) (Same as English 214) (W)
A studio course designed for those interested in writing and creating works for the theatre. The course will include a study of playwriting in various styles and genres, a series of set exercises
involving structure and the use of dialogue, as well as individual projects. We will read
and we will write, beginning with small exercises and working toward a longer project.
Students will be expected to share in each other's work on a weekly basis.
Format: seminar. Evaluation will be based on attendance, completion of class assignments,
and class participation.
No prerequisites. Enrollment limit:15 (expected: 10). Preference given to Theatre majors.
Holzapfel
Cancelled Spring 2008:
THEA 239 World Theatre History II: Performance in Modern Media Cultures (Same as Comparative Literature 239)
Cancelled Spring 2008:
WGST 225 Introduction to Feminist Thought (Same as Philosophy 225) (W)
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