Revised Description
AFR 11 Very Contemporary African Literature (Same as Comparative Literature 11 and English 11)
This course will cover recently published sub-Saharan African literature written in English. Our reading will be guided by a set of critical questions: how does the very contemporary literature look back at the past, the preceding (20th) century? How are we to understand recent texts' representations of the past? What insights do they yield? What do their preoccupations reveal about the present age? The very contemporary nature of this work will serve as an introduction not only to new writers but also to new thematic concerns they offer their publics. This sampling will enable the class to consider current trends that (may) define and perhaps question the contours of the established African Canon, from a reconsideration of realism to a broaching of previously taboo subjects. Course readings—two principal texts along with secondary essays and material—may include some of the following: Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun (set in the Nigerian civil war), Isegawa's Abyssinian Chronicles (set in Idi Amin's Uganda), Wicomb's David's Story (set in post-apartheid South Africa), readings from Granta's The View from Africa, or other more recently published books.
Evaluation will be based upon regular attendance, class participation, bi-weekly short writing responses and a final book review. Work outside of class will consist of reading, viewing films, and writing.
No prerequisites, but previous literature course preferred. Enrollment limit: 15. Preference will be given to Africana concentrators.
Costs to students: approximately $60 for books and photocopying.
Meeting times: M, Th 10-1
ROBOLIN

New Course
ARTH 16 Contemporary Architecture in New York and Boston  
This course will explore contemporary architectural developments in New York and Boston.  There will be a special emphasis on projects that have been recently completed or are currently under development.  The class will focus on controversial issues currently debated by architects, historians, urban planners and city officials.  Topics may include the renovation of 2 Columbus Circle in New York, the possible demolition of Paul Rudolph’s Blue Cross/Blue Shield tower in Boston and the redevelopment of Ground Zero.  This class will include a field trip to each of the respective cities.  These trips will allow us to explore the many ways in which architecture and urban planning interact in order to stabilize or alter civic and aesthetic sensibilities in these cities.  During the course, students will learn to use and discuss architectural blueprints and will be assigned readings pertinent to class discussions.
Requirements: class participation, reading, field trips, final presentation/research paper.
No Prerequisites. Enrollment limit: 12.
Meeting times : MWF 10:00-12:00p.m. (with special exceptions for field trips)
Lab Fee: $200-$300
CHARLES HOWARD (Instructor)
FILIPCZAK (Sponsor)

Revised Description
ARTS 13 Introduction to Video
This course will explore the range of expressive possibilities of small-format video. Students will acquire a basic knowledge of shooting and editing (Final Cut Pro), as well as strategies for developing ideas. In addition, we will view the works of various filmmakers and artists, including David Lynch, Jean Luc Godard, Sadie Benning, and Charles Kaufman. Students will work individually and collaboratively on a series of small projects leading to a final screening of a video they have produced.
Students must have enthusiasm for storytelling and experimentation. No previous experience in film/video production is necessary. Enrollment limit: 10.
Meeting time: Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning (total 6 hours).
SUNG HWAN KIM (Instructor)
GRUDIN (Sponsor)

Sung Hwan Kim , an artist/filmmaker/performer residing in New York City , holds a Master of Visual Studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and recently received the Prix de Rome (2nd Prize). He has shown his works at such venues as Gwangju Biennale, De Appel, Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, Asia Society, D.U.M.B.O art center, Pacific Film Archive and various international film festivals. He will show his new work in the Berlin Biennale in 2008.

Revised Description
BIOL 11 Curing Health Care (Same as Economics 28)
For the past several years increases in U.S. health care costs have significantly outpaced both inflation and personal income growth. Many American employers have been forced to reduce health care benefits in order to remain profitable. Experts predict the U.S. government will need to double its health care expenditure in order to cover Medicare expenditures for the graying "baby boomer" generation. On a per capita basis, a major reduction in funds available for health care seems inevitable. However, such cutbacks will create difficult questions. For example, Are all Americans entitled to health care regardless of ability to pay?; Is consumer-directed health care a good idea?; Should end-of-life care be rationed?; or, Should the U.S. adopt a single-payer system?
With the guidance of several guest experts, students will examine key issues in health care from economic, medical, social, ethical, and legal perspectives. Students will be asked to propose the best strategies for financing health care and to predict the positive and negative impacts of those strategies. Students will have several opportunities to interview experts and to express their own views.
Evaluation will be based on classroom participation, performance in semi-formal team debates, and a 5-page position paper. There will be at least 20 hours per week of work outside of class.
No prerequisites. Enrollment open to all but limited to 18.
Cost to student: none.
Meeting time: 10-noon, MWF, plus each student will need to attend one or two Thursday meetings.
JEFFREY THOMAS (Instructor)
D. LYNCH (Sponsor)

Jeffrey Thomas received his M.D. and Ph.D. from Indiana University. He has fifteen years of research experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. Several guests will also lend their expertise to the discussion, including a family coping with chronic disease, Berkshire area physicians, a health care executive, and a local health care advocate.

Revised Description (deadline change)
ENGL 18 Literary Collaboration: Word and Image and the Narrative Between (Same as ArtS 18)
Interested students must submit writing or visual art/illustration samples (5 pages of writing or 5 jpegs) to matthew@idiotsbooks.com by October 15, 2007. Feel free to email with questions before submitting and/or registering. Five writers and five visual artists will be selected on the basis of quality, style, and imagination of work.

Cancelled Course
ENVI 14 Advocating for the Environment (Same as Political Science 14)

New Course
JWST 10 Introduction to Biblical Hebrew
This intensive course will give students the capacity to begin to access the Hebrew Bible, through a study and exploration of the language, grammar, and vocabulary of Biblical Hebrew. The course will culminate in students being asked to translate and interpret brief passages of text from Genesis, with an emphasis on the theme of covenant. No prior knowledge of Hebrew is necessary.
Meeting time: 10-12 Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays (beginning January 3rd).
RABBI JOSHUA BOETTIGER (Instructor)
S. FOX (Sponsor)

Catalog Omission
LATS 31 Senior Thesis
To be taken by students registered for LATS 493, 494.

New Course
MATH 18 Introductory Photography:  People and Places (Same as Special 23)
This is an introductory course in photography, with an emphasis on color photography and using the digital camera.  The main themes will be portraiture and the landscape.  No previous knowledge is assumed, but students are expected to have access to a 35 mm (or equivalent) digital camera, preferably with manual override or aperture priority.   The topics covered will include composition, exposure, camera use, direction and properties of light, and digital imaging.  Students will develop their eye through the study of the work of well-known photographers and the critical analysis of their own work.  We will discuss the work of contemporary photographers such as Mary Ellen Mark, Joel Meyerowitz, Constantine Manos, and Eugene Richards.  Students will be expected to spend a considerable amount of time practicing their own photography outside of class.  There will be one required local half-day field trip.  Students will also be introduced to the program Photoshop, and will work on their own pictures with this program.   Evaluation will be based on class participation, an in-class quiz and a final project.
No prerequisites. Enrollment limit: 10.
Cost to the student:  $50 for the purchase of a text.
Meetings time:  Mornings
C. SILVA

Revised Description
MUS 11 The Operas of Giuseppe Verdi
The operas of Giuseppe Verdi have long captivated audiences with their soaring melodies, dramatic intensity, patriotic sentiments, and spectacular effects. With works such as Nabucco, La traviata, Rigoletto, Aida, and Otello, Verdi brought the 19th-century Italian operatic tradition established by Rossini, Bellini, and Donizetti to new aesthetic heights. Through lectures, discussion, and guided listening, this course explores Verdi's contribution to the field of opera by tracing the development of the Italian bel canto style and emergence of romantic naturalism in his some of his greatest masterworks.
Evaluation will be based on two tests and class participation. Outside-of-class work will include reading, listening, and film viewing. Attendance is mandatory.
No prerequisites. An ability to read music is not required.
If possible, we will take a field trip to see a performance of a Verdi opera.
Enrollment limit: 15. Preference given to freshmen and students with a demonstrated interest in music.
Cost to student: $75.
Meeting time: TWF, 10-noon; film viewings on MTR evenings.
M. HIRSCH

New Course
RUSS 10 Chekhov’s Table
This course is an introduction to the world of Anton Chekhov through one of that world’s most prominent tropes – food. The late 19th-century world of the Imperial Russian landed gentry (and of their estate peasants and household servants) was dominated by rituals surrounding the production, storage, preservation, preparation, and consumption of food. The course combines theoretical and practical approaches: we will study Chekhov’s fiction, paying special attention to his treatment of food/eating as drama, power struggle, religious observance, and expression of social identity; we will read about the enormous financial and human resources dedicated to providing the food that was the stage for this drama, and the regulation of the everyday ritual of eating imposed by observation of the Russian Orthodox calendar of fast days; and we will use authentic contemporary recipes from the classic Imperial Russian cookbook A Gift to Young Housewives to recreate, as closely as possible, the dining experiences Chekhov describes (although we will probably not attempt the baba cake with 90 eggs making a batter that is beaten by hand for one hour). Menus will range from foods eaten during religious fasts (no animal products, dairy, or fats) to everyday foods (bliny, which resemble crepes, pirozhki or filled pies, and soups) to foods typical of name-day and Easter celebrations (cakes, aspics, egg dishes, and main courses with game).
Meeting times: Three sessions weekly on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. On Mondays and Wednesdays, we’ll have two 1 ½ hour meetings from 10:30 am to noon to discuss the readings, followed by a short cooking session of about 1 ½ hours to prepare one or two dishes. On Thursdays we will have one long cooking session of 2-4 hours beginning at 10:30 am to prepare a full meal. Some Wednesday prep time for Thursday cooking sessions might be required. First class meeting at 10:30 am Monday, Jan. 7, at which we will discuss previously distributed readings.
No knowledge of Russian required. Enrollment limit: 12. Interested students with dietary restrictions should contact the instructor before enrolling (anne.fisher@williams.edu or ext. 4723).
Requirements: Two 2-page papers due on Thursday, Jan. 10, and Thursday, Jan. 17; a final 5-7-page research paper on some aspect of Imperial Russian culinary practice due Thursday, Jan. 24; participation in discussions and food preparation. 
Cost to student: approx. $50-70 for books and photocopies.
FISHER (Instructor)
CASSIDAY (Sponsor)

Revised Description
RUSS 23 Gaudino Winter Study Fellows Program
The Gaudino Winter Study Fellow designation is available to up to fifteen students who create their own independent projects that involve critical, reflective, and experiential learning during Winter Study. Each student works independently under the direction of a faculty sponsor, who will help shape and monitor the project. The project must receive approval from the Winter Study Committee, as well as from the Gaudino Scholar and Gaudino Board of Trustees. The Gaudino Board is looking for projects that address specific intellectual problems through direct experience, undertaken preferably in a social milieu that is previously unfamiliar or even uncomfortable to the applicant. Projects must be academically rigorous and worked out carefully with faculty sponsors. Projects should also entail systematic self-reflection on how the experiences affect students personally, and students may be asked to discuss their project with the Gaudino Board after it is completed. The Gaudino Scholar will meet with students as a group before and after Winter Study. All students whose projects are approved will receive the Gaudino Fellow designation. In addition, students on Financial Aid will receive Gaudino funding from a minimum of 50% to a maximum of 90% of the budget for the project up to $2,500, as determined by the Financial Aid office. No additional funding for students' projects will be provided by the College. Students selecting this course will register for Russian XX. More information about the Gaudino Fellows Winter Study Program and guidelines for applying can be found at: http://www.williams.edu/resources/gaudino/overview.php.
CASSIDAY