First-Year Seminar Descriptions for Spring Term 2013

First-Year Seminars offer every Dartmouth first-year student an opportunity to participate in a course structured around independent research, small group discussion, and intensive writing. Below you will find a list of the courses being offered next term.

Art History

ARTH-007-01 Paris in the 19th Century

Hour: 11 Instructor: Kristin O'Rourke

Requirements Met: WCult: W; Distrib: ART

Description:

Paris in the 19th Century

This course will examine the city of Paris as the artistic capital of the nineteenth century, looking at artists and art production in the mid-late nineteenth century. We will focus on the art movements that made up the new category of "modern" art: Realism, Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. We will begin with a discussion of traditional forms of art-making in the 19th century, and the state-sponsored art academy and exhibition, and contrast this with avant-garde art production in the works of Courbet, Manet, and the Impressionists, among others. We will look at both high art and popular forms of expression.

We will investigate factors of contemporary life that affected subject matters, style, technique, and meaning in art works, in particular the invention of new media, especially photography and color printing, urban planning and the modernization of the city of Paris, and the political and social situation in France and Europe. While exploring the impact of these factors on painting, photography, sculpture, and architecture, the course will look at alternative art practices and exhibitions that challenged the status quo and that became the basis of modern art. We will investigate what makes Paris in the 19th century "modern" and trace how characteristics of modernism continue to define the art world up to today.

Textbook(s)Required:

Robert Herbert, Impressionism: Art, Leisure & Parisian Society, Yale UP – paperback Publisher: Yale University Press (July 24, 1991) ISBN-10: 0300050836 ISBN-13: 978-0300050837 Price: USD $35.00

Asian/Mideast Lang/Lit

AMEL-007-01 The Japanese Graphic Novel

Hour: 12 Instructor: James Dorsey

Requirements Met: WCult: NW; Distrib: LIT

Description:

Approaches to the Japanese Graphic Novel (Manga)

Manga, or the Japanese graphic novel, are the driving force behind Japan's popular culture. Successful titles are turned into live-action films and animated television programs, often with theme songs that launch the careers of new musical artists. Manga also inspire the creation of toys and a wide range of consumer goods. In recent years manga have also been mobilized in the nation's branding campaign centered on "Japan Cool," the pop culture elements enjoying increasing popularity abroad. This seminar will look at the genre from a variety of perspectives, including the representation of genders, the depiction of sex and violence, the evolution of the archetypal shōjo character (cute, and later also deadly, adolescent girl), the identity and cultural practices of manga fans (including the otaku, or obsessed fanatic), the history of manga as well as portrayals of history in manga (particularly war and nuclear holocaust), the instances of censorship, the styles of famous artists (Tezuka Osamu and Urasawa Naoki, for example), and issues in globalization, localization, and translation. Writing assignments will include literary interpretation, visual analysis, book reviews, précis of critical articles, and some creative writing.

Textbook(s)Required:

• Naoko Takeuchi, Sailor Moon 1 (Kodansha Comics, 2011). • Shimoku Kio, Genshiken Omnibus 1: The Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture, transl.by David Ury (Kodansha Comics, 2012) • Hitori Nakano, Train Man / Densha Otoko, vols. 1 & 2 (VIZ Media, 2006). • Sharon Kinsella, Adult Manga: Culture and Power in Contemporary Japanese Society (Honolulu : University of Hawaii Press, 2000) • Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics, (New York: HarperCollins, 1994). • Natsu Onoda-Powers, God of Comics: Osamu Tezuka and the Creation of Post-World War II Manga (University Press of Mississippi, 2009).

Biology

BIOL-007-01 The Troubled Helix

Hour: 10A Instructor: Edward Berger

Requirements Met: WCult: None; Distrib: SCI

Description:

The Troubled Helix: The Use and Abuse of Genetics

Genetics is science directed toward understanding how biological similarities and differences are passed down from one generation to the next. More recently, Genetics has developed a Biotechnology that can predict, diagnose and, to some extent, even treat a number of human maladies. Genetic Biotechnology has also led to the development of novel organisms, so-called Transgenics, which have revolutionized agriculture and animal husbandry. It goes without saying that, if the 20th Century was the Age of Information Technology, the 21st century will be known as the Age of Biotechnology.

But Genetics also has a dark side. Under the rubric of "biological determinism" genetics has been and continues to be used as a social weapon, to explain and even justify social inequalities and bad behavior ("my genes made me do it"). Through readings from the scientific and popular literature, and through the cinema, we will examine how geneticists practice their trade on people, and how that practice has, through social and political pressures, often led to the assertion that "Genes 'R Us."

Early lectures will cover the basics of human genetics; that is how geneticists try to determine the extent to which a particular physical or mental trait is based on genes, or on some other factor, mainly the environment. Analytic methods range from classical pedigree studies to sophisticated procedures using molecular biology. From then on we will work on case studies; the science behind and the implications of the "gay" gene; the controversy regarding genes and intelligence; the genetic basis of criminal behavior; the geneticists explanation of altruism; the general question of whether there is such a thing as "human nature". The course will also consider issues arising from the application of biotechnology to humans; the distinction between gene therapy and genetic enhancement and whether certain forms of genetic testing of minors should be permitted.

This is mainly a course intended to improve and refine your writing skills. It is also a science course, so you will learn a good deal about classical and modern genetics and some of the ways genetics impacts society. You will be writing short (~500 word) and long (~4000 word) papers on topics that will require you to conduct library and/or on-line research. We will examine genetic research topics that significantly affect society, such as genetic engineering and behavioral genetics, and we will explore aspects of society that affect, and to some extent determine the scientific/genetic facts and theories themselves. By the end of the course you will have acquired the ability to understand the basics of modern genetics and some of the political, social and medical controversies that have arisen from genetics research.

Textbook(s)Required:

No text required

BIOL-007-02 Politicized Topics:Biology

Hour: 12 Instructor: Brittny Calsbeek

Requirements Met: WCult: None; Distrib: SCI

Description:

Change You Can Believe In? The Evolution Vs. Intelligent Design Debate and Other Politicized Topics in Biology

This course will explore the fact and fiction underlying politically hot topics that have biology at their core. The majority of the course will be focused on written and oral debates on topics including: evolution vs. intelligent design, climate change, genetic engineering, conservation, and stem cell research.

Students will hone their ability to think critically, construct well-written and effective arguments, and to separate fact from fiction when controversies relating to biology arise in public forums.

Textbook(s)Required:

Recommended: Williams & Colomb Style: The Basics of Clarity and Grace. Longman Fourth Edition

Chemistry

CHEM-007-01 Science and Society

Hour: 2A Instructor: Fredrick Kull

Requirements Met: WCult: None; Distrib: SCI

Description:

Issues at the Interface between Science and Society

Although science has profoundly influenced society and societal change, its very existence is at the whim of society. Clearly, only a scientifically knowledgeable populace can make wise decisions about scientific issues, however, the majority of society (the populace, much of academia, high levels of government) is ignorant of science and its role in society. Unfortunately, the media tends to focus on the sensational, adding to the confusion.

This seminar will probe issues at the societal/science interface, e.g.: technology, population, environment, health, behavior, race, gender, ethics/morality, fraud/misconduct, politics, public awareness, creationism vs evolution, education, climate change, the Anthropocene, epigenetics.

Four papers are required: 200 words on each of three tentative topics (600 words total). From these, after consultation with the instructor, secondary (1000 words), and primary (3000 words) topics will be selected. Finally, 100 words on each of the other students' papers plus a letter grade evaluation of each. (100 words x number of other students = total words). Students will briefly present on their primary topics and lead a discussion of the topic.

A mini-course covering periods before student presentations will be conducted including a panel of working scientists who will attempt to answer students' questions.

Textbook(s)Required:

None

Classical Studies

CLST-007-01 Forbidden Knowledge

Hour: 2A Instructor: Ariane Schwartz

Requirements Met: WCult: None; Distrib: LIT

Description:

Forbidden Knowledge: Literature and Censorship from Antiquity to Today

When does knowledge become dangerous? How does literature become a threatening force? While we may be most familiar today with the status of Nabokov's Lolita and Rushdie's Satanic Verses as banned books, we can trace the history of banned books back to the ancient world, where the Roman poet Ovid was banished from Rome in 8 CE perhaps for writing an erotic manual called The Art of Love. In this course, we will read and examine texts that have sat on the periphery of what was labeled acceptable reading across the centuries. This course will examine the politics of this literature in order to investigate what censorship is and how it has changed over time. Censorship requires a decision on the part of the censor about what is permitted and what is prohibited in a society's reading culture. Who has the right to censor? What authors and texts have been censored and why? How is it justified? How might authors benefit from being censored? What role does technology play in the censorship of texts? Readings for this course will offer a sample, via case studies, of the history of censorship and banned books in literature from the ancient to the modern world. Authors will include Plato, Aristophanes, Catullus, Ovid, Martial, Martin Luther, Milton, Joyce, Lawrence, Nabokov, and Rushdie.

Textbook(s)Required:

A History of Reading, 978-0140166545, $22.00 Lysistrata, 978-0872206038, $7.95 Censorship and Interpretation: The Conditions of Writing and Reading in Early Modern England, 978-0299099541, $24.95 The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-Century Miller, 978-0801843877, $22.00 The Forbidden Best-Sellers of Pre-Revolutionary France, 978-0393314427, $17.95 Giving Offense: essays on censorship, 978-0226111766, $20.00 Lolita, 50th Anniversary Edition, 978-0679723165, $15.95 The Satanic Verses, 978-0812976717, $16.00

Comparative Literature

COLT-007-01 Holocaust Representations

Hour: 2A Instructor: Joseph Aguado

Requirements Met: WCult: W; Distrib: INT or TMV

Description:

Haunting Memories: The Holocaust and its Representations

How do we deal with painful memories from the Holocaust? Will we be able to represent them, to cope and to learn from them, and to appease their haunting effects, perhaps to put them aside once and for all, without forgetting? Can we remember extreme experiences like those coming from Holocaust survivors without being engulfed by the horrors they portray? Writing assignments will include two short responses (2 pages each) and two essays (10 pages each). We will be reading texts by Wiesel, Levi, Kertész, Semprún, Améry, Sebald, and works by critical thinkers like Adorno, Agamben, Butler, Todorov, Finkielkraut, and Bauman.

Textbook(s)Required:

Wiesel, Elie. Night (1958) Kertész, Imre. Fateless (1975) Levi, Primo. Survival in Auschwitz (selections from If this is a Man, 1958) Semprún, Jorge. Literature or Life (1994) Sebald, Winfried Georg. "Paul Bereyter" (from The Emigrants, 1992).

COLT-007-02 Scapegoats

Hour: 12 Instructor: John Kopper

Requirements Met: WCult: W; Distrib: LIT

Description:

Scapegoats

We have all read about scapegoating, sometimes witnessed it, sometimes participated in it, and sometimes been scapegoated ourselves. In this seminar we will explore the human mechanism—and ritual—of assigning blame, and look at ways that scapegoats define us in relation to family, religion, gender, nation, and history. The class will likely read Isaac Babel's short stories, Faulkner's Light in August, Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter, and Nabokov's Invitation to a Beheading.

Textbook(s)Required:

Title: Invitation to a Beheading Author: Nabokov Vladimir Contributor: Nabokov Dmitri(Translator) Publication Date: 1989-09-19 Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group Market: UNITED STATES ISBN 10: 0-679-72531-8 ISBN 13: 978-0-679-72531-2 Price: $ 15.00(USD) Retail Price(Random House, Incorporated) Title: Nathaniel Hawthorne's the Scarlet Letter Author: Hawthorne Nathaniel Publication Date: 2009-10-30 Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform Market: UNITED STATES ISBN 10: 1-4495-5924-7 ISBN 13: 978-1-4495-5924-3 Price: $ 14.95(USD) Retail Price(CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform) Title: The Ox-Bow Incident Author: Clark Walter V. Contributor: Webb Walter Prescott(Afterword by) Publication Date: 1943-02-01 Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated Market: UNITED STATES ISBN 10: 0-451-52525-6 ISBN 13: 978-0-451-52525-3 Price: $ 5.95(USD) Retail Price(Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated) Title: Style: The Basics of Clarity and Grace Author: Williams Joseph M.; Colomb Gregory G. Publication Date: 2010-10-01 Publisher: Longman Publishing Group Market: UNITED STATES ISBN 10: 0-205-83076-5 ISBN 13: 978-0-205-83076-3 Price: $ 27.00(USD) Retail Price(Pearson Education) Copyright ¬© 2013 R.R. Bowker LLC. All rights reserved. Title: Light in August Author: Faulkner William Publication Date: 1972-01-12 Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group Market: UNITED STATES ISBN 10: 0-394-71189-0 ISBN 13: 978-0-394-71189-8 Price: $ 4.95(USD) Retail Price(Random House, Incorporated) Copyright ¬© 2013 R.R. Bowker LLC. All rights reserved. Title: Babel: The Collected Stories of Isaac Babel Author: Babel Isaac Contributor: McDuff David(Translator) Publication Date: 1995-03-01 Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated Market: UNITED STATES ISBN 10: 0-14-018462-7 ISBN 13: 978-0-14-018462-4 Price: $ 14.00(USD) Retail Price(Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated) Copyright ¬© 2013 R.R. Bowker LLC. All rights reserved.

Computer Science

COSC-007-01 Ideas, Ideals, & Comp Sci

Hour: 2 Instructor: Carey Heckman

Requirements Met: WCult: None; Distrib: TMV

Description:

Ideas, Ideals, and Computer Science

Based on the view that the foundation of computer science is not computer science but the problems computer science seeks to solve and how computer science can help solve them, this seminar explores the ideas, values, and visions of computer science. Algorithms, programming languages, automata theory, computation, database and information systems, distributed systems, networks, and open source software development and distribution will be among the areas studied.

Our primary objective will be better understanding computer science in the context of a Dartmouth liberal arts education, and thus what computer science can teach us about truth, beauty, our universe, ourselves as humans, and our place as humans in our universe. Our intellectual journey will also provide constant opportunities to hone critical thinking, analytic, and writing skills.

No technical knowledge will be required or assumed. An interest in the connection between the human condition and computer science is essential, however.

Textbook(s)Required:

Smith, Brian Cantwell. On the Origin of Objects (ISBN: 0-262-69209-0 $36); Raymond, Eric S. The Cathedral and the Bazaar rev. ed 2001 (ISBN: 0-596-00108-8 $16.95).

Engineering Sciences

ENGS-007-01 Medical Imaging

Hour: 12 Instructor: Keith Paulsen

Requirements Met: WCult: None; Distrib: TAS

Description:

Contemporary and Historical Perspectives on Medical Imaging

Medical imaging has evolved significantly over the last 100 years and has transformed modern medical practice to the extent that very few clinical decisions are made without relying on information obtained with contemporary imaging modalities. The future of medical imaging may be even more promising as new technologies are being developed to observe the structural, functional and molecular characteristics of tissues at finer and finer spatial scales. This first year seminar will review the historical development of modern radiographic imaging and discuss the basic physical principles behind common approaches such as CT, Ultrasound and MRI. Contemporary issues surrounding the use of imaging to screen for disease, the costs to the health care system of routine application of advanced imaging technology and the benefits of the information provided by medical imaging in terms of evidence-based outcomes assessment will be explored. Students will be required to read, present and discuss materials in class and write position papers articulating and/or defending particular perspectives on the historical development of medical imaging and its contemporary and/or future uses and benefits.

Textbook(s)Required:

Should I Be Tested for Cancer? Maybe Not and Here's Why, HG. Welch, UC Press Berkeley: U. of California Press, Paperback. ISBN 0520248368. Amazon: $18.45 Overdiagnosed: Making People Sick in the Pursuit of Health, Welch, Schwartz and Woloshin, ISBN 978-0-8070-21996. Amazon: $10.20

English

ENGL-007-01 The Harlem Renaissance

Hour: 12 Instructor: Soyica Colbert

Requirements Met: WCult: None; Distrib: LIT

Description:

The Literature, Culture, and History of the Harlem Renaissance

This course will consider the history, literature, theater, and performance of the Harlem Renaissance. We will begin our exploration of the Harlem Renaissance by analyzing the Great Migration, when two million black people migrated from Southern states, in search of better schools, jobs, and to escape racial tension and violence. The migration led to high concentrations of black people in the North and the growth of artistic communities and performance traditions. Using novels, poetry, plays, performances, essays, manifestos along with sound and video recording, in the work of Josephine Baker, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Nella Larsen, Paul Robeson, and Jean Toomer we will consider thematic threads including: folk traditions, gender anxiety, temporality, history, cosmopolitanism, internationalism, and the culture and politics of primitivism.

Textbook(s)Required:

Langston Hughes The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes ISBN-10: 0679764089 Vintage Classics Zora Neale Hurston Their Eyes Were Watching God ISBN-10: 0061120065 Harper Perennial Zora Neale Hurston Tell My Horse ISBN-10: 0061695130 Harper Perennial Nella Larsen Quicksand and Passing ISBN-10: 0813511704 Rutgers University Press James Weldon Johnson Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man ISBN-10: 0140433333 Penguin Classics

ENGL-007-02 Literary South Asia

Hour: 11 Instructor: Bed Giri

Requirements Met: WCult: NW; Distrib: LIT

Description:

Literary South Asia

This course introduces first-year students to some fun works of South Asian literature written in English. Inter alia, it instructs students to write well-crafted essays of a specific kind: literature-based argument and analysis. Our cast of characters includes dharma seekers, levitating sadhus, Tamil insurgents, Islamic fundamentalists, forensic archeologists, Christian missionaries, pleasure gardens, intercontinental love, prophet's hair, holy cows, Queen Isabella, Ruby Slippers, Chekov, and Zulus. Works to be discussed include Shyam Selvadurai's Story-Wallah, Samrat Upadhyay's Arresting God in Kathmandu, Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Salman Rushdie's East, West, Amitav Ghosh's Shadow Lines, and possibly a guide to writing analytically.

Textbook(s)Required:

Salman Rushdie, East, West (0-679-75789-9) Amitav Ghosh, The Shadow Lines (978-0-618-32996-0) Mohsin Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist (978-0-15-603402-9) Samrat Upadhyay, Arresting God in Kathmandu (978-8171678037) Shyam Selvadurai, Story-Wallah (0-618-57680-0) Rosenwasser and Stephen, Writing Analytically, 6th Edition (978-0-495-910084)

ENGL-007-03 Poetry Since the 1950s

Hour: 12 Instructor: Gary Lenhart

Requirements Met: WCult: W; Distrib: LIT

Description:

English Language Poetry Since the New American Poetry: Poetry since the 1950s

In 1960, the publication of The New American Poetry made explicit some of the deep divisions within the world of English-language poetry. This course will consider what happened to poetry in English after, considering as many significant poets and poetry movements as we have time for, including Beat, New York School, Black Arts, Confessional, Feminist, L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E, Gay Liberation, New Formalist, Nuyorican, Spoken Word, Appropriation, Flarf, Conceptual and those poets of major achievement who don't fit comfortably into any one of these movements. Students will research individual poets and poetic "movements" during the era under inspection. There will be one formal oral presentation, and students will be asked to lead discussions of certain poets or poetic groups. They will also research and compose one long (3,000-4,000 words) research paper on a particular poet or group of poets.

Textbook(s)Required:

POSTMODERN AMERICAN POETRY: A Norton Anthology Edited by Paul Hoover Paper edition ISBN: 0393310906 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub date: 1994

ENGL-007-04 Icelandic Sagas

Hour: 10A Instructor: Peter Travis

Requirements Met: WCult: W; Distrib: LIT

Description:

Icelandic Sagas

Iceland, an island civilization far removed from the European mainland, generated in the twelfth and thirteenth centures a unique literary genre—prose narratives about its historical past. Written in Old Norse, these sagas recount the exploits of warriors, heroes, outlaws and berserkers as they interconnect with family feuds, land disputes, Viking raids, love quarrels, and extraordinary maritime voyages. The focus of this seminar will be on the most famous of the family sagas, most notably The Saga of Gunnlaug Serpent-Tongue, The Saga of Ref the Sly, Hrafnkel's Saga, The Saga of the Greenlanders, Eirik the Red's Saga, and Njal's Saga. Because the composition of a very complex form of poetry was considered to be a requisite skill of every saga protagonist, we will also read the Voluspa as well as The Poetic Edda, a thirteenth-century treatise on Norse poetry and Norse mythology. A modern text will round out our readings: Nancy Marie Brown's The Far Traveler, a recounting of the life of Gudrid Thorbyarnardottir, a strong-minded saga woman who sailed from Iceland to North America, where she remained for several years, and then to Norway and Rome, finally settling in Greenland.

Textbook(s)Required:

Snorri Sturluson, The Prose Edda (Penguin, 2005): ISBN-13: 978-0-140-44755-2 The Sagas of Icelanders, Smiley and Kellogg, eds. (Penguin, 2000) Jesse Byock, Viking Age Iceland (Penguin, 2001) Eyrbyggja Saga, Penguin, Hermann Palsson and Paul Edwards, trans.

ENGL-007-05 New American Short Story

Hour: 10A Instructor: Catherine Tudish

Requirements Met: WCult: None; Distrib: LIT

Description:

The New American Short Story

This seminar will explore recent short fiction written in the U.S. by writers from a variety of cultural backgrounds. Readings will include work by such writers as Sandra Cisneros, Ha Jin, Juhmpa Lahiri, Z.Z. Packer, and Sherman Alexie. Student papers will be based on close reading of the texts and will consider the work within a cultural as well as a literary context. As a final project, students will write a narrative based on their own family's history.

Textbook(s)Required:

40 Short Stories: A Portable Anthology Beverly Lawn, editor Bedford/St. Martin's 4th edition ISBN 978-1-4576-0475-1

Environmental Studies

ENVS-007-01 COVER Stories

Hour: 2A Instructor: Terry Osborne

Requirements Met: WCult: None; Distrib: SOC

Description:

COVER Stories: Community Building and the Environment

This community-based learning course will expose students to the interaction between transformative stories, community-building work, and environmental action, and it will let students apply what they've learned through their own work in Upper Valley communities. To do this the class will team up with a local organization called COVER, which does home repair projects for low-income, disabled and elderly residents of the Upper Valley, and whose mission is to "build community and foster hope through cooperation and fellowship." To start the term students will study the growing relationship between environmentalism and social justice, and also work on a COVER home-repair project; in the middle of the term, students will look at the power of stories in building communities, and then at the role of an ethnographer in recording those stories; toward end of the term the students will take what they've learned into Upper Valley communities. In order to help COVER assess how well it is meeting its mission's goals, through a metric called "Whole Measures," they will create short video stories based on interviews with members of the COVER community. Readings in the course will range from Dorsey et al's "The Soul of Environmentalism" to Putnam's Bowling Alone to Ganz's "Why Stories Matter." There will be several guest lectures to guide students through this multi-faceted project. And the course will culminate in a class presentation of its projects to members of the COVER community.

This course is best suited to students who are, or want to be, adventurous; who are, or want to be, activists. You will need to devote at least one weekend day during the term to a work project, and you will need to have time outside of class to devote to the video project. If you are a college-approved driver, or can become one by the beginning of the term, that would be very helpful.

Textbook(s)Required:

The Story Handbook: Language and Storytelling for Land Conservationists By Will Rogers ISBN-10: 0967280621 ISBN-13: 978-0967280622 $13.42

Film Studies

FILM-007-01 Police Films

Hour: 3A Instructor: Amy Lawrence

Requirements Met: WCult: W; Distrib: INT or ART

Description:

International Police Procedurals

This course will explore international representations of policework and the place of police in society. By studying films from Japan, Hong Kong, France, Italy, Romania, Poland, Germany, England and Ireland, students will learn how to discuss genre, film style, narrative, the relationship between fictional film and social reality. We will focus on such issues as methods of investigation, surveillance, and interrogation; definitions of crime and the idea of order; the politicization and/or militarization of police; police corruption; connections with metaphysical issues such as good and evil and fate. We will also compare different kinds of literary material including non-fiction works on the psychology and ethics of interrogation; the history of the Stasi; police corruption studies; and Polish poetry about living in a police state.

No required textbooks available

French

FREN-007-01 French Graphic Novels

Hour: 10A Instructor: Annabelle Cone

Requirements Met: WCult: W; Distrib: LIT

Description:

The Franco-Belgian Bande Dessinée

The French language graphic novel or bande dessinée occupies a unique, perhaps even schizophrenic place in print media. Considered too "dangerous" for young readers, and too lowbrow for adult readers, it also ranks very high as an art form that captures a sophisticated audience. In this class we will read French and Belgian bande dessinée in translation as well as a few secondary sources that help us analyze them. Because graphic novels are a unique genre that blends image and text, we will first acquaint ourselves with a specialized vocabulary that enables us to talk and write more critically about them.

Overall, through the reading of a variety of graphic novels from multiple historical and societal contexts, we will have a somewhat unique perspective on French and Belgian culture, while at the same time developing a more discerning eye for images and text (their actual content and presentation), and interactions between the two media. A more general question that we will address is the role of popular media in the reformulation of clichés and stereotypes, be they about nations or people, and whether comics provide a unique form of storytelling.

Textbook(s)Required:

Hergé: "Tintin in America" (Little Brown) *Be sure to purchase the reduced size soft copy version with the bonus material in the back. * ISBN 10: 031613309 ISBN 13: 978-0316133807 Amazon Price: $ 8.99 Goscinny/Uderzo: "Astérix in Belgium." ISBN 10: 0752866508 ISBN 13: 978-0752866505 Amazon Price: $ 8.76 "Style: The Basics of Clarity and Grace" Joseph M. Williams ISBN: 9780205830763 Amazon Price: $16.54

Geography

GEOG-007-01 Geog. Protest & Revolution

Hour: 2A Instructor: Dinesh Paudel

Requirements Met: WCult: None; Distrib: SOC

Description:

Geographies of Protest and Revolution

Society is always in motion, constantly shifting its values, boundaries, practices and composition, generally induced or influenced by dominant forces of change, composed of both human and non-human entities. Often such dynamic changes are triggered by proactive political processes of revolution, disobedience, defiance, movement and popular protest. Human society has always been evolved through these events especially in the modern times. At present, revolutions and protests seek transformations for dignity and livelihoods. Their meaning, uses, processes and consequences vary across space and time, but they also articulate with universal abstractions like solidarity, community, democracy and one world.

In this seminar, we will explore the theories, geographies and contemporary social consequences of these political events to understand why people rebel in different place and time. The seminar will trace various revolutions of the 20th century and recent uprisings including the peasant movements in South Asia, nationalist movements of Latin America, Arab Spring in the Middle East, and Occupy Movements of the America and Europe. The guiding question for this seminar is: how can a notion of differentiated or uneven geography help us to understand the history, dynamics and societal consequences of different protests and revolutions? Methodologically, we will focus on critical reading, collective thinking (workshopping) and analytical writing about geographies of various revolutions and protests around the world. The students will have the unique opportunity to study revolutions in depth and write about a protest and revolution of their choosing across three main writing assignments.

No required textbooks available

Government

GOVT-007-01 Media and Politics

Hour: 11 Instructor: Deborah Brooks

Requirements Met: WCult: None; Distrib: SOC

Description:

The Media and Politics

The news media has changed dramatically over the past decade: The business environment for newspapers and network news has become extremely unforgiving, while online-only news outlets, social media forums such as blogs, and other types of "new media" have assumed an ever-increasing role. In this seminar, we will explore these recent shifts in the media and determine how such changes influence the nature of politics in the United States. Questions we will examine include: How does the rise of new media influence the public's understanding of politics? Are market forces pushing media outlets away from objective, in-depth, fact-based political reporting? How much bias exists in the news media? How do journalists and politicians vie for control of the news, and who tends to end up with the upper hand? How powerful is the media in anointing (or destroying) candidates and campaigns? Throughout the quarter, we will focus on producing better writing, research, and presentations while exploring these critical questions about the media and politics.

For most of the quarter, our Monday and Wednesday class meetings focus on seminar-style discussions of the material, while our Friday class meetings are our "workshop" days where we focus specifically on improving social science writing, analysis, research, and presentation skills through discussions, in-class activities, and group work. To improve writing and analytical skills, students will be writing and revising papers that are based on course readings.

Textbook(s)Required:

Graber, Doris A. 2010. Media Power in Politics, 6th Edition. Washington D.C.: CQ Press. [ISBN-13: 978-1604266108] Baglione, Lisa A. 2012. Writing a Research Paper in Political Science: A Practical Guide to Structure and Methods, 2nd edition Los Angeles: CQ Press. [ISBN-13: 978-1608719914] (note: this is a reference book for you, to use as needed while you write your papers)

History

HIST-007-01 New Orleans Imagined

Hour: 2 Instructor: Rashauna Johnson

Requirements Met: WCult: CI; Distrib: SOC

Description:

City of Dreams: New Orleans in the American Imagination

This seminar will introduce New Orleans and its place in the nation's imaginations through primary and secondary sources, including travel narratives, historical fiction, and popular culture. While it is not a substitute for a formal study of Louisiana history, this course will nonetheless provide students sufficient content to practice the craft of historical writing. Through collaboration with the professor and fellow students, each seminar participant will read critically, develop and support original arguments and analyses using historical evidence, compose short essays and a longer research paper, communicate findings in writing and orally, hone peer-review skills, and respond to feedback through rewriting. Finally, students will work closely with reference librarians, academic search engines, and other valuable resources to produce original research based on primary and secondary sources.

No required textbooks available

Italian

ITAL-007-01 Gothic Italian Fictions

Hour: 11 Instructor: Scott Millspaugh

Requirements Met: WCult: W; Distrib: INT or LIT

Description:

Gothic Italian Fictions

Haunted castles! Scheming monks! Torrid love affairs! The gothic novel, with its fantastic settings and obsession with the sublime, originated in late eighteenth-century England as a response to Enlightenment notions of reason and the knowability of Truth. To this end, Italian locales and characters figure largely in the development of early English gothic, as Italy and its institutions represented a passionate and chaotic counterpoint to the staid sensibilities of northern Europe. Italy, and medieval Italy in particular, continued to be an inspiration to English writers and artists throughout the nineteenth century, most notably in the aesthetic theory of John Ruskin, the translations of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and the art of the Pre-Raphaelite School.

This course will thus examine how perceptions of Italy as a cultural other are deployed by the English novelists Horace Walpole (The Castle of Otranto, 1764) and Anne Radcliffe (The Italian, 1794) and how Pre-Raphaelite authors and artists in the mid-1800s manipulated medieval Italian imagery in the service of Romantic ideology. We will end the term with a brief look at gothic in Italy itself, in the United States, and in the literature and film of the twentieth century.

Textbook(s)Required:

Title: The Castle of Otranto Author: Horace Walpole ISBN-10: 0199537216 ISBN-13: 978-0199537211 Amazon Price: $ 8.95 Title: The Italian Author: Ann Radcliffe ISBN-10: 0140437541 ISBN-13: 978-0140437546 Amazon Price: $ 11.99

Linguistics

LING-007-01 Language and the Brain

Hour: 2 Instructor: Sean Madigan

Requirements Met: WCult: None; Distrib: SCI

Description:

Language and the Brain

In this course, we will explore how language is processed and how it functions in the brain. Along the way, we will discuss topics such as the evolution of language, animal communication, the functional organization of language in the brain and language disorders. While this will be our topic of choice for the semester, we also be focused on developing the techniques and skills necessary to write in the sciences.

Textbook(s)Required:

No textbook required

Mathematics

MATH-007-01 Mathematical Puzzles

Hour: 10A Instructor: Peter Winkler

Requirements Met: WCult: None; Distrib: QDS

Description:

Mathematical Puzzles

What are mathematical puzzles? What purpose do they serve? How have they been passed from generation to generation, sometimes for millennia? What makes a great puzzle? The subject matter of this course is not something you will find anywhere else in the mathematics curriculum, and indeed, it is neither required for, nor requires, any other mathematics course. Nonetheless, the problem-solving and problem-posing skills you sharpen in this course will help you not only in mathematics and the sciences, but in all disciplines. In particular, the ability to state a problem clearly in writing, and to explain its solution in way that any reader can understand, will help you to be both precise and persuasive in all your communication.

Textbook(s)Required:

How to Solve It: A New Aspect of Mathematical Method, by Polya, G., 2004, ISBN: 978-0691119663, Required. $11.88 The Colossal Book of Short Puzzles and Problems, by Gardner, M, 2005, ISBN: 978-0393061147, Required. $23.10

Music

MUS-007-01 Music-Neuroscience-Ethics

Hour: 10 Instructor: Steve Swayne

Requirements Met: WCult: None; Distrib: TMV

Description:

Addiction, Obesity, Pollution, Thievery, and Other Music-related Topics

Music in most of our lives is both ubiquitous and invisible: ubiquitous, in that it surrounds us in nearly every environment in which we find ourselves (provided, of course, we unplug ourselves from our mp3 players); and invisible, in that few people talk about the musical hypersaturation we experience. In this seminar, we will explore how music operates in our everyday lives and ask questions about whether its ubiquity and invisibility has a dark side.

We will begin by looking at what ancient Greek and Roman writers had to say about music. Next we'll turn to research that looks at the neurobiological aspects of our musical lives and then explore the questions that a neurobiological understanding of music naturally presents. Can music become an addictive substance? Is it possible to "consume" too much music? How does music change our bodies and our environments?

We will also explore the ongoing controversies surrounding Supreme Court rulings that attempt to limit music downloading. To what degree are lawmakers and music industry spokespeople out of step with the digital music revolution? Can there be such a thing as "free music"? And how do we view ourselves in light of current definitions of illegal downloading?

Readings will include newspaper stories, legal decisions, Plato, Aristotle, Quintilian, and other texts. Students will write of their own experiences with music as well as interact with the various readings and compose a term paper around an area of personal interest.

No required textbooks available

Native American Studies

NAS-007-01 America's Indian

Hour: 10 Instructor: Melanie Benson Taylor

Requirements Met: WCult: CI; Distrib: LIT

Description:

America's Indian: Native American Representations in U.S. Literature and Culture

When non-Native artists represent the American Indian, what are they revealing about national values, needs, and anxieties? More than simply reflecting a perceived reality, do these representations actually help construct and maintain potent ideas about American exceptionalism, nationalism, and racial hierarchy? These questions will guides us as we explore the modes, motives, and consequences of Native American depictions in literature, film, art, and culture from the colonial period to contemporary times. We will examine paintings and photographs by artists such as George Catlin and Edward Curtis; films by John Ford, D.W. Griffith, and Chris Eyre; and literary works by influential writers such as William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, and Willa Cather. Readings and assignments will ask students to interrogate and deconstruct the expression of national values and identity as they are filtered through these Native screens and foils. And finally, we will explore more recent efforts by American Indian writers and filmmakers such as Sherman Alexie, Chris Eyre, and Thomas King to represent themselves apart from the stereotypes and expectations that have captured and transformed Native culture itself.

Textbook(s)Required:

• Sherman Alexie, Flight (Grove; ISBN: 0802170374) $9.48 • Meta Carstarphen and John Sanchez, eds., American Indians and the Mass Media (U of Oklahoma; ISBN: 978-0-8061-4234-0) $24.95 • Barry Hannah, Geronimo Rex (Grove Press; ISBN: 0802135692) $10.20 • Paul Chaat Smith, Everything You Know about Indians Is Wrong (U of Minnesota; ISBN: 0816656010) $13.94 • Anton Treuer, Everything You Wanted to Know about Indians But Were Afraid to Ask (Borealis Books; ISBN: 978-0-87351-861-1) $15.95 *Additional readings will be provided

Philosophy

PHIL-007-01 Philosophy:East & West

Hour: 10A Instructor: Alan Kim

Requirements Met: WCult: NW; Distrib: INT or TMV

Description:

Classical Themes in Philosophy: East & West

Philosophy has sprung from at least three different sources: Greek, Chinese, and Indian. Our course will examine the earliest metaphysical and ethical reaches of these three currents. In addition to studying the texts themselves, we will be especially interested in understanding how early philosophy is related to religion, and in interpretive problems raised by comparative study of philosophy.

Textbook(s)Required:

Cohen, Curd, Reeve, Readings in Ancient Greek Philosophy, Hackett (9781603844628) Radhakrishnan, Moore, A Sourcebook in Indian Philosophy, Princeton (9780691019581) Ivanhoe, Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy, Hackett (0872207803)

Physics

PHYS-007-01 Space Politics

Hour: 10A Instructor: Mary Hudson

Requirements Met: WCult: None; Distrib: TAS

Description:

Space Politics

This course will examine the political forces behind mankind's entry into space beginning with Sputnik and the inception of NASA; the Apollo program and unmanned planetary exploration; the role of the Air Force space reconnaissance program. The decision to build the Space Shuttle as the primary US orbital launch vehicle will be explored, along with the Challenger and Columbia accidents and recent retirement of the shuttle. The development and deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope will be studied as a prototype of large NASA programs, along with the International Space Station and the prospect for future manned missions back to the moon and to Mars or asteroids. The role of commercial enterprise in space exploration, for example SpaceX, will be explored. Reading includes chapters from Space Policy in the 21st Century, W. H. Lambright, ed.; Spaceflight and the Myth of Presidential Leadership, R. D. Lanius and H.E. McCurdy; What Do You Care What Other People Think?, R. Feynmann; and A Case for Mars, R. Zubrin.

Textbook(s)Required:

Title: Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier (hardcover) Author: Neil deGrasse Tyson ISBN: 978-0393082104 Amazon Price: New $15.81 / Used $10.39 Title: What Do You Care What Other People Think?: Further Adventures of a Curious Character (paperback) Author: Richard Feynman ISBN: 978-0393320923 Amazon Price: New $10.85 / Used $3.48 Title: The Case for Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must (paperback) Author: Robert Zubrin ISBN: 978-1451608113 Amazon Price: New $11.20 / Used $2.44 Title: Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void (paperback) Author: Mary Roach ISBN: 978-0393339918 Amazon Price: New $10.85 / Used $5.10

Psychological & Brain Sciences

PSYC-007-01 Brain Evolution

Hour: 2A Instructor: Richard Granger

Requirements Met: WCult: None; Distrib: SCI

Description:

Brain Evolution

What's in a human brain, and how did it get there? How are brains built via genetic and developmental mechanisms? What makes one brain different from another, between species and within species? What makes populations different from each other? Who are our ancestors, and what was their evolutionary path to us? How did human brains get to their enormous size? How do brains differ from other organs? What mechanisms are at play over evolutionary time?

The class will cover a set of related topics including brain structure, anthropology, evolution, genetics, development, cognition, race, intelligence. Throughout the class, we will write about these topics, producing drafts, revisions, and final documents.

Textbook(s)Required:

1. Principles of Brain Evolution, Edition 1, Sinauer Press, by G. Striedter ISBN-10: 0878938206 ISBN-13: 978-0878938209 Approximate Cost: $84.95 2. Big Brain, Lynch & Granger, Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN-10: 1403979790 ISBN-13: 978-1403979797 Approximate Cost:

Sociology

SOCY-007-01 Emotion and Culture

Hour: 10A Instructor: Kathryn Lively

Requirements Met: WCult: None; Distrib: SOC

Description:

Emotion and Culture

Most people think of emotions as purely internal experiences, composed solely of psychological elements. Recently, however, sociologists have begun to emphasize and explore the social side of emotion—for example, how emotions are socially and culturally shaped, how emotions are socially controlled, and the consequences of emotion for social life.

We will examine the portrayal of emotion in popular literature, as well as to better understand how emotion operates in our own lives.

Textbook(s)Required:

There will be no books required for this course.

SOCY-007-02 20th Century Revolutions

Hour: 2A Instructor: Misagh Parsa

Requirements Met: WCult: NW; Distrib: INT or SOC

Description:

20th Century Revolutions

This course presents a comparative analysis of critical political developments of Iran, Nicaragua, and the Philippines during the last few decades. Before the breakdown of these authoritarian states, each of these three countries generated impressive economic growth and development. We will examine the factors that led to the rise of social conflicts and the eventual collapse of these regimes. Finally, the course will analyze the causes of the alternative outcomes that emerged: Islamic fundamentalism in Iran, revolutionary socialism and its subsequent collapse in Nicaragua, and the restoration of liberal democracy in the Philippines.

Textbook(s)Required:

Misagh Parsa, States, Ideologies, and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of Iran, Nicaragua, and the Philippines. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000 $27

Theater

THEA-007-01 Theater for Social Change

Hour: 11 Instructor: Mara Sabinson

Requirements Met: WCult: None; Distrib: ART

Description:

Theater for Social Change

This course will trace particular developments in American and Western European Theater from the First World War through the present. Artists and theater groups under consideration will be those whose work has focused on contemporary social conditions and the potential of performance to effect social change. In addition, students will experiment with developing scripts and performances based on current events. Readings will include selections from the writings of Erwin Piscator, Bertolt Brecht, The Federal Theatre Project, Harold Pinter, Augusto Boal, etc. as well as newspapers, news magazines, and other media sources. In addition to creative and critical writing, students will be assigned one major research project. Emphasis will be on class participation.

No required textbooks available

THEA-007-02 Theater for Social Change

Hour: 2 Instructor: Mara Sabinson

Requirements Met: WCult: None; Distrib: ART

Description:

Theater for Social Change

No required textbooks available

Women's and Gender Studies

WGST-007-01 Asian American Women's Lit.

Hour: 10A Instructor: Woon-Ping Chin

Requirements Met: WCult: CI; Distrib: LIT

Description:

Asian American Women's Literature

In this course, we will study Asian American women's literary strategies and forms as expressions of their history, culture and gender roles. Special attention will be paid to the ways in which literature serves as a mode of resistance and a way of recuperating collective memory while asserting individual identity for Asian American women. Readings may include feminist treatises, creative nonfiction, fiction, poetry and drama and may include such authors as Hisaye Yamamoto, Wang Ping, Bharatee Mukherjee, Chitra Divakaruni, Maxine Hong Kingston, Le Thi Diem Thuy and Denise Uehara.

Textbook(s)Required:

Author: YAMAMOTO, HISAYE Title: SEVENTEEN SYLLABLES ISBN: 0-913175-14-5 Publisher: Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press Edition: 1988 or latest List Price: $19.95 REQUIRED Titles Author: WANG, PING Title: OF FLESH AND SPIRIT ISBN: 1-56689-3 Publisher: Coffee House Press Edition: 1998 or Latest List Price: $12.95 Author: DIVAKARUNI, CHITRA BANERJEE Title: BLACK CANDLE ISBN: 0-934971-74-9 Publisher: Calyx Books Edition: 2000 or Latest List Price: 12.95 Author: THUY, LE THIE DIEM Title: THE GANGSTER WE ARE ALL LOOKING FOR ISBN: 0-375-70002-1 Publisher: Anchor Books (Random House) Edition: 2003 or Latest List Price: $14.95 Author: SON, DIANA Title: STOP KISS ISBN: 0-87951-737-9 Publisher: The Overlook Press Edition: 1999 or Latest List Price: (Out of Stock?) Author: HJORTSHOJ, KEITH Title: THE TRANSITION TO COLLEGE WRITING ISBN: 0-312-14916-6 Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin’s Edition: 2001 or Latest List Price: $18.75 Author: RAIMES, ANN Title: THE OPEN HANDBOOK ISBN: 0-618-60715-3 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Edition: 2007 or Latest List Price (2009): $46.95

Writing Program

WRIT-007-01 Writing to Change the World

Hour: 9L Instructor: Sara Chaney

Requirements Met: WCult: None; Distrib: SOC

Description:

Writing to Change the World: The Art of the Manifesto, from a Writer's Perspective

This course focuses on how words can make a difference in the world. How have writers crafted powerful texts that are designed to instigate change? We will address these broader questions through close study of the manifesto tradition. In a manifesto, writers announce the end of an old way and the beginning of a new one. They offer critiques of the present and hope for the future. This tradition has a fascinating history, which we will consider closely, beginning with Marx's Communist Manifesto and moving through works of slave narrative, environmental critique, and much more. We will also create manifestoes in various media, and engage in regular workshopping and discussion. Our time will accordingly be divided between critical and creative activity: We will analyze manifestoes and research their cultural contexts to understand the hows and whys of their production and reception. We will also work to creatively transpose these insights when creating our own world changing works.

Textbook(s)Required:

Wills, Gary Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America, Simon & Schuster, 2006 ISBN: 0743299639

Crowley, Sharon and Deborah Hawhee Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students (hardcover), Longman, 2011 ISBN: 0205175481

Manifesto: Three Classic Essays On How To Change The World, Ocean Press, 2005 ISBN: 1876175982

Walker, David David Walker's Appeal, Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000 ISBN: 978-0271019949