204/Geography 475/History 475. History of Geography. (2). (SS).
See Geography 475. (Kish)
250. Sophomore Seminar. Open to Honors
students. (3). (SS).
Section 002 – Cholera Pandemics: Model Systems for Evaluating
Societal Attitudes. Cholera pandemics provide model systems
for retrospectively correlating societal attitudes with the methods
used in eventually providing a solution to a large-scale social
problem. These model systems also provide a basis for evaluating the potential validity of current societal attitudes in current
attempts to solve large-scale social problems. Two hour seminar
periods are used for student reviews of text chapters and class
discussion. Guest participants provide additional commentaries.
Students are evaluated on chapter presentations, class participation, and two papers during the term. There are no prerequisites. The
main text will be The Cholera Years by C. F. Rosenberg.
(Whitehouse)
Section 003 – The Cross-Cultural Status of Women. This course will study the status of women, both historically and cross-culturally. We will first develop theoretical perspectives on the status of women, drawing freely from the disciplines of history, anthropology, economics, psychology and the sociology of religion. We will pose a series of analytically complex questions: Why, in so many cultures, have men been dominant and women subordinate? How does one measure "dominance" and "subordination" - indeed, are they measurable? Is gender inequality a constant of human organization? Have there been societies in which women have shared power equally with men, or exercised power over them? How does one make meaningful cross-cultural comparisons of the concept of "power"? How has the status of women changed over time in particular societies, and why? Having surveyed the theoretical literature, including the critiques of feminist scholars, students will be given the opportunity to pursue an in-depth study of the society of their choice. The study will subsequently be presented to the class. Readings in this course will be heavily oriented toward the Third World, although there will be an opportunity in the area study and in class discussions to make western comparisons. Student evaluation will be based on the midterm examination, class discussion, and the area study, which should represent a substantial piece of work. (Morrow)
Section 004 – Becoming a Critical Consumer of Research Findings. Contrary to the standard approach to undergraduate courses where substantive issues in a single content area are studied intensively, this course would introduce students to a variety of problems in several different fields of study (e.g., psychology, education, and health). Students will be expected to articulate the fundamental issues imbedded in these problem areas and to learn to critique the various methods of inquiry which scientists have utilized to study these fundamental issues (e.g., case studies, surveys, experiments, cost-benefit analysis). This course will expose students to articles of increasing levels of sophistication taken from newspapers, magazines, "soft" journals, and "hard" journals encountered by both the instructor and (eventually) by students. Assignments will be logical extension of the peer review discussion of these articles in class and subsequent reading of scientists' critiques of these same articles. Early class sessions will address problems that have been researched thoroughly and where there exists precedent for the method of inquiry; later sessions will address problems that have yet to be discussed extensively by scientists. The emphasis throughout the course will be identifying the fundamental issues in the various problems, critiquing the methodological approaches taken, pointing out the similarities of these issues across content areas, and teaching students to be more critical consumers of research. Examples from psychology (e.g., evaluation of psychotherapy), education (e.g., effectiveness of desegregation), and health (e.g., benefits of coronary artery bypass graft surgery) will be used to illustrate the difficulties in evaluating important social questions. Lecture information will be used when necessary to complement the inductive peer review-discussion approach taken in the class. Evaluation will be based on class discussion, three-to-five-page papers assigned where interesting and relevant issues emerge during class, and individual student presentations of problems in which they will discuss substantive issues contained and respond to questions and comments from the peer review process. (Yeaton)
251. Sophomore Seminar. Open to Honors
students. (3). (HU).
Section 001 – Critical Approaches to Modern Poetry. This
course will be concerned with reading and critical discussion
of major contemporary poetry in the English, American, and modern
European traditions, supplemented by readings in the work of major
critics who have concerned themselves with verse. The special
focus of the course will be lyric poetry and we will study, in
a comparative manner, different approaches to the perceptive reading
and analysis of works of this genre. The level of the course will
be determined by the preparation and background of the students
who enroll. A broad spectrum of critical approaches will be investigated, including the New Criticism, Interdisciplinary Approaches, Descriptive
Poetics, and, depending on the level of the students, such recent
methods as Structuralism and Semiotics. Readings will be assigned
from various anthologies of poetry and of critical essays, chosen
with an eye toward price so that students can afford them. At
least one minor paper will be required. There will also be a midterm
and a final examination. (George)
Section 002 – Three Modern Encyclopedic Fictions. Encyclopedic fiction may be defined as a kind of literature that attempts in exhaustive ways to organize, classify and judge the human energies – ideas, feelings, opinions, needs – that motivate a civilization. Such works necessarily have great scope, and often embody the myths by which a civilization seeks to know itself and to be known. In both techniques and subject they aim at a total and definitive vision of their age. They are often as difficult as they are ambitious. We will read three examples from our own century: Joyce's Ulysses, Mann's Doctor Faustus, and Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow. Students will prepare short papers on each book (at least two for class presentation) and a more ample course paper. (Schulze)
Section 003 – Record, Icon and Idea. This course will
explore the nature and uses of representation in the visual arts.
We will consider art from various cultures, as well as varying
types of visual arts: drawings, paintings, sculpture, architecture, photography, cinema, graphics, and video. We will consider the
nature of man-made images as symbols to inspire meditation about
an established set of beliefs, and the nature of man-made images
as the communication of complex concepts which can best be transmitted
visually. Human beings have been making images from the beginning
of mankind's existence. To express what? To serve what needs and uses? These will be our key questions. In addition to the manifold
visual materials used in this course, there will be readings from
a variety of sources. Students will be required to write three
7-10 page papers and to complete a project which will be shared
with the class in an oral presentation at the end of the term.
(Kirkpatrick)
Section 004 – The Theatre – What is it? Why is the theatre, in our society and others, a special place, avoided by
some, frequented – enthusiastically or dutifully – by others?
On the other hand, is there overlap between the theatre
and "everyday life"? What exactly is "acting,"
"spectorhood"? What can the theatre teach us about the framing of behavior? What might a sociology of theatre
be? A psychoanalysis? A phenomenology? etc. We will approach these
and similar questions by (1) looking at some important play-texts
and trying to see what concept of theatre they assume or imply, and (2) going to the theatre as a group, discussing beforehand our expectations and afterward "what happened." Work
expected : (1) Careful reading of about eight plays for discussion
in class; (2) attendance at three-four theatrical performances;
(3) a 12-15 page paper on a topic of personal interest related
to the seminar. (Chambers)
Section 005 – Something of Value. We will read and re-read a few great books: Oedipus Rex, Plato's Protagoras and Corgias, Shakespeare's Tempest, G. B. Shaw's St. Joan, and Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. Our main concern will be to discuss what we value, and why we value it, and how we arrive at such determinations. For the first half of the term we will prepare one text for discussion each week; in the second half of the term we will use what we have read and talked about to inform our discussion of our main topic. Outlines of seminar papers due March first; seminar papers due April first. (Hornback)
252. Sophomore Seminar. Open to Honors
students. (3). (NS).
Section 001 – History of Biomedical Science and the Art of Humbug.
Discussions will center upon the evolution of modern medicine.
This will include consideration of what "prehistoric"
medicine may have been like, and a description of early Western
medical concepts. The instruction of the scientific method altered
all those concepts, and of course the methods of prevention and treatment of illness. This will be discussed. In addition, attention
will be directed at current day fads: acupuncture, astral projection, chiropractic, ESP, diets of all kinds, etc. The aim is to establish
some reliable guideposts to making decisions regarding the health
and well being of our bodies. No assigned reading, although recommended
reading will be supplied. A term paper will be required. (Malvin)
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