Most RC courses are open to LS&A
students and may be used to meet distribution requirements.
RESIDENTIAL COLLEGE WAIT LIST
PROCEDURES
Residential College students are given priority in all Residential
College courses during the pre-registration and registration periods, and from waitlists. RC courses which satisfy specific Residential
College graduation requirement are reserved for RC students only (e.g., RC language courses).
Waitlists of Residential College
courses are maintained in the Residential College Counseling Office, 134 Tyler, East Quad. When a course fills, students should contact the RC Counseling Office (647-4359) to be placed on a waitlist
if one is being maintained.
Core (Division
863)
Written and Verbal
Expression
334. Special Topics. (4). (Excl).
Section 001 – Biblical, Greek, and Medieval Texts: Original Works
and Modern Counterparts.
In this course we shall study foundational texts from the Greek, Old Testament, New Testament, and Medieval worlds and a number
of modern works – books, essays, and films – that employ the themes
and situations originally set forth in these classical works.
First, we shall examine literature central to the world view of
four cultures that have helped shape and continue to inform modern
Western consciousness and art. Our focus will be on questions
and perspectives concerning the individual's to the divine order, to earthly society, and to the private self that are embodied
in such works as (I) Greek literature: Homer (The Iliad
or The Odyssey). Sophocles (Oedipus, Antigone);
Euripedes (Medea), Plato (Socratic dialogues); (II) Old
Testament (Genesis, Job); (III): The New Testament (The
Gospels of St. Matthew and St. John); (IV): Medieval
literature: Dante's The Inferno, Gottfried's Tristan.
In conjunction with these works, we will examine, where feasible, modern counterparts (or adaptations or recreations) of the classic
stories or conflicts found in these classical texts. We will read
essays and novels, and see films which deal with the same or similar-and perennial-ideas and conflicts. (We will also examine those values
and experiences expressed in the original works that seem alien
to modern consciousness.) Some of the modern works we will scrutinize
are Polanski's Chinatown, Max Frisch's Homo Faber,
Martin Luther King's Letter from Birmingham Jail, Martin
Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ, Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal. The chief merit of our approach, besides
giving the student the opportunity to read and see important and exciting stories, is in the juxtaposing of the old and the new
so as to make the student more appreciative of the rootedness
in the past of many of our current ideas, problems, and situations.
This is an introductory course oriented to sophomores that is
not a substitute for any upper-level courses in either the Literature
or the Arts and Ideas programs. There will be two papers and a
midterm and final exam. On occasion, there will be evening meetings
to view films. (Peters/Cohen)
Section 002 – Logic and Meaning. Building on the logical and rhetorical
basis of traditional logic, this class explores the further formal
and practical extensions of natural language. After a review of the history of logic, its relation to natural language and thought, and the basics of formal logic, we will study the concepts and processes of the communication of "meaning" in human
language, both natural (spoken) and textual (written), including the pragmatic realms of politeness, implication, presupposition, and entailment. If time permits, we will also discuss modern text
and discourse analysis. Assignments include: short (2-3pp.) analytic
pieces on assigned topics biweekly, joint criticism of these in
alternate weeks, active participation in class and in a computer
conference, occasional homework and quizzes on technical topics, and a term project. Topics studied include: Modal, default, and multi-valued logic, the relation of logic to mathematics and epistemology, Predication, Negation and modality, Quantification, Reference, Presupposition, Convention, Metaphor, Deixis, Politeness, and grammar and logic. Textbooks: Lakoff and Johnson, Metaphors
We Live By, a course pack of readings. (Lawer)
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Times, Location, and Availability
Foreign Language
INTENSIVE
LANGUAGE COURSES
Intensive language courses meet in lecture and discussion twice
a day four days a week. The language programs have language lunch
tables, coffee hours, and other social events. There is a language
laboratory in the College, and the language teachers are available
for counseling and additional help. If a student begins a new
language, proficiency is usually attained in one year through the Residential College program.
Core 190,
191,
194
Intensive French, German, Spanish I. The
goal of this course is to provide the student with a basic but
solid knowledge of grammatical structures and syntax, a functional
vocabulary, familiarity with intonation patterns and native pronunciation, and practice in speaking and writing. Upon completion of this
course, the student can understand simple written texts or short
spoken passages without the aid of a dictionary, and can carry
on a short, elementary conversation.
Core 290,
291,
294
Intensive French, German, Spanish II.
The goal of this course is to expand vocabulary and to master
grammatical structures and syntax to the level of competency required
to pass a proficiency exam. This entails developing the ability
to communicate with some ease with a native speaker, in spoken
and written language. Students must be able to understand the
content of texts and lectures of a non-technical nature, and of
general (non-literary) interest.
293/Russian 203. Intensive Second Year
Russian. Core
193 or Russian 102. No credit granted to those who have completed
or are enrolled in Russian 201 or 202. (8). (LR).
See Russian
203. (A. Makin)
Check
Times, Location, and Availability
310. Accelerated Review-French. Permission of instructor. (4). (LR).
The goal of this course
is to bring students to the level of proficiency defined in the
brochure "The French Program at the Residential College,"
in the four linguistic skills. Students who take 310 typically
have not reached this level in two or more skills, but do not
need the intensive course 290 to do so. Accelerated Review 310
is taught on a semi-tutorial mode with hours arranged to meet the particular needs of the students. In this course, emphasis
is placed on correctness and fluidity of expression in speaking
and in writing. Speaking skills are developed though weekly conversation
sessions on current topics; personalized pronunciation diagnoses
are administered and exercises prescribed. Writing skills are
refined through a review of deficient grammar points and composition
assignments which give students the opportunity to improve the
accuracy and expressiveness of their style. In addition, exposure
to primary source materials (current magazines or newspapers)
and to texts of cultural and literary value develop reading ability
and vocabulary. Listening skills are trained in informal conversational
exchanges and in lectures with note-taking in French.
Check
Times, Location, and Availability
314. Accelerated Review-Spanish. (4). (LR).
This course is designed
for students with a fairly extensive background in Spanish, who
are too advanced for second year intensive, although communicative
competency is deficient in one of the basic language areas which
would prevent success in a readings course. Attention is given
to the development of reading skills through exposure to primary
source materials such as magazines and newspapers. Plays and short
stories may also be included. The course includes periodic listening
comprehension tests. Weekly written compositions are assigned
and evaluated for accuracy of expression and style. (Perez)
Check
Times, Location, and Availability
320. Seminaire en français. Proficiency test. (4). (Excl). May be
repeated for credit.
Section 001 – Les Miroirs Du Moi: The Study of The Self Through
Diaries and Autobiographies.
Do you keep a diary? Have you ever? Are you an aficionado of autobiographical
works? Have you ever wondered what is meant by the term the
self, what it really is and how one may apprehend it and speak about it? In this seminar, we will study the diary and the
autobiography, the two literary genres whose object is unequivocally the self, its quest, discovery, or affirmation. The reading of
Montaigne and Descartes will highlight the birth of individualism
and subjectivity which the 16th and 17th centuries witnessed, and will lead us to the 18th century, when formal writings
of the self began to flourish, as in, for instance, Jean-Jacques
Rousseau. Using works from the 18th to the 20th century, we will
initially establish the specificity of the diary and of the autobiography
as literary genres. We will then examine the different problematics
emerging as one undertakes the project of portraying oneself.
As we question the intentions and the results of the writer's
project, as well as the reliability of the narrator, we will attempt
to define the concept of the self – what it is, how or whether
it can be apprehended and fully expressed, and so forth. Our discussion, enriched by conceptions of the self developed in the philosophical
and psychological fields will encourage us to formulate our own
conception of the self. Conceptions presented in class from: Socrates, R. Descartes, Maine de Biran, J.P. Sartre, S. Freud, E. Erikson, A. Maslow, C. Rogers, B.F. Skinner. (Butler-Borruat)
Section 002 – Readings in
French. The course will
be a sort of social, political, and cultural history of Cameroon
from an artistic perspective. It will investigate how a specific
group of people, francophone artists, have attempted to define
a common Cameroonian identity. We will investigate the strategies
and subjects of these attempts, how successful or unsuccessful they are, and why. We will ask what kind of limitations exist
when, for example, a francophone male playwright from the South
tries to speak for and define all Cameroonians. We will also ask
whether it is possible or even wise for artists to define an entire
population – looking at what goals, obstacles, and dangers are
involved in such an endeavor. By the end of the course, students
should have a familiarity both with the country of Cameroon and questions of identity at a national level. Students will be required
to participate in class, write six 1-2 page response papers, and a final paper of 6-8 pages, and five a short presentation on a
topic of their choice. (Bishop)
Check
Times, Location, and Availability
324. Readings in Spanish. Proficiency test. (4). (Excl). May be
repeated for credit.
Section 001 – Contemporary Latin American Short Story. For a long time there has been a tradition
of popularity for the short story in Latin America. Short stories
are broadly read and studied and are included in literary magazines
of Sunday's major newspapers, in a variety of journals, and in
important anthologies and collections. This class will introduce
students to a series of famous short stories written by well known
contemporary Latin American writers. A brief history of the development
of the short story will be presented, as well as different views
on the characteristics of the genre. Julio Cortázar's idea that the short story is "the end result of a struggle between
life and the written expression of that life, a living synthesis
as well as a synthesized life," will serve as the core for the exploration of the texts. The stories to be read in this class
will lead students beyond the mere anecdote into the discovery
of a different/new cultural world. We will read José Donoso, Gabriel García-Márquez, Julio Cortázar, Juan
Rulfo, Marta Lynch, Rosario Ferré, and Elena Poniatowska.
(Moya-Raggio)
Section 002 – Women Writers
in Latin America The Politicization of the Home and the Homeland. This course addresses the evolving representation
of women in Latin American women's fiction throughout the twentieth
century. We will explore the conventional definitions of "home"
and "family" as spaces to which women are culturally
relegated under essentialist definitions of gender, and how these
very same spaces can be subverted to become environments of exploration
and self-recognition. This process, which triggers a need to cross the border of the private sphere, portrays women as part of a
social realm with its own new limits in terms of labor and education: the "new" professional woman becomes confined again
in a set of socially approved expectations while she is demonized
as endangering traditional family values. Under the political
turmoil generated by the dictatorial regimes of the seventies
and eighties, which produce a generation of broken families with
disappeared members, fiction depicts the redefinition of women
as political bodies in the public sphere, who expand the traditional
concept of motherhood through solidarity, and thus create an imaginary
homeland of inclusion and acceptance that challenges the repressive
discourse of the official systems. (López-Cotin)
Section 003 – Del realismo/naturalismo
al modernismo. La novela espa – ola del último tercio
del siglo XIX y principios del XX.
Durante el último tercio del siglo XIX se produce en Espa – a
lo que se conoce como la novela realista decimonónica, que continúa en gran medida la tradición novelística
espa – ola del Barroco y explora las corrientes realistas/naturalistas
europeas, influidas por el pensamiento positivista en las artes
y la ciencia del momento. A finales del XIX y comienzos del XX, la novela modernista cuestiona esos principios artísticos
que la anteceden y da un nuevo tratamiento a los temas, estilos
y función de la propia obra literaria y el rte. Se dan
entrada a elementos de subjetividad, decadentismo y nociones esteticistas, que tendrán un desarrollo más acentuado después
en las vanguardias. En la clase estudiaremos tres obras representativas
de eso a – os: Tormento (1884) de Benito Pérez
Galdós, Los pazos de Ullos (1886) de Emilia Pardo
Bazán y Sonata de Oto – o (1902) de Ramón
del Valle-Inclán. La lectura de estas novelas irá
acompa – ada de un material teórico básico
de narratología que se comentará en clase. Objetivos:
Se trata de familiarizar a los alumnos con el pensamiento literario
de esos a – os y estudiar cómo la novela refleja en
los estilos y el tratamiento de los temas la evolución
de esas ideas artísticas, al tiempo que se introduce a
los alumnos al conocimiento de un vocabulario básico de
narratología que puedan aplicar en el análisis y
comentario de las obras. Trabajo del curso: (1) Tres trabajos
escritos de tres a cinco páginas, uno para cada uno de
los textos; (2) Una presentación oral de 20 minutos; y
(3) Pruebas periódicas sobre contenido y comentario de
fragmentos seleccionados de las novelas. (Igesias)
Section 004 – Tira cómica
y cultura en las sociedades latinoamericanas contemporáneas. Aunque la caricatura es un artefacto
cultural mas bien antiguo, su uso como instrumento de comunicación
y consumo masivo es un fenómeno reciente. En este curso
vamos a estudiar el uso, concumo, producción e interpretación
de las tiras cómicas (comics) como una actividad que presenta
las capacidades y libertades de una sociedad. Los personajes de
Memín Pinguí, Los Supermachos y la Familia Burrón
de México; Mafalda, Mundo Kino, Inodoro Pereira de la Argentina
y condorito de Chile serán los guías e indicadores
sociales de la historia reciente de Améríca Latina.
Tambiín analizaremos el uso de las trias cómicas
como instrumentos de difusión histórica e ideológica
con algunos ejemplos de los Estados Unidos, México (Rius)
y Nicaragua (El muchacho de Niquinohomo). En realidad este es
un curso sobre la historia y cultura popular contemporánea
de Latinoamérica. Estudiaremos los comics en relación
a los siguientes procesos: (1) Desarrollo Capitalista y consolidación
del Estado Moderno (1910-1960); (2) Insurgencia revolucionaria
(1968-1979); (3) Autoritarismo y Estado de Seguridad Nacional
(1976-1989); (4) el momento neoliberal actual (1990-1998). Sin
embargo nuestros textos de historia serán confrontados
con la producción y consumo de historietas cómicas
de la región. Abordaremos el estudio del "elemento
comic" desde los puntos de vista de.
El humor como instrumento cultural
de cohesión
el comic como producto comercial y de comunicación masiva
La crítica social desde el comic
La representacion de la vida cotidiana desde el comic
Los mensajes ideológicos del comic
Aparte de los monitos (comics) vamos también a leer acerca
de los creadores y su trabajo, la historia de las tiras y la relación
del público con sus personajes. También haremos
referencia a estudios críticos sobre el comic realizados
en América Latina en particular los de Ariel Dorfman sobre
los cuentos de Disney y otros personajes. En general nuestras
lecturas incluirán tiras cómicas, poemas y narraciones
sobre los personajes, libros de historia y crítica, películas, periódicos y revistas relacionados con esta fascinante
forma cultural. Escribir 4 composiciones, 2 cortas (3 páginas)
y 2 largas (5-8 páginas). Todas excepto la final deberán
ser revisadas y re-escritas en un proceso de edición en
grupo y por el instructor. Una presentación y un proyecto
final. 2 sesiones en el laboratorio de Computadoras para usar
la Internet y programas de presentación de provectos. (Chavez)
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Times, Location, and Availability
370/French 370. Advanced Proficiency
in French. RC
Core 320 or French 235. (3). (Excl).
See French
370. (Butler-Borruat)
Check
Times, Location, and Availability
Arts (Division
864)
285. Photography. (4). (CE). Materials fee ($100).
This course introduces
students to the medium of photography from the perspective of the artist. It includes an overview of photography's role in the
arts, the development of an understanding of visual literacy and self-expression as they relate to the photographic medium, and the development of basic technical skills in black and white and color photography. A visual emphasis is maintained in both presentation
and coursework, and the student works with the medium towards
a goal of personal expression. (Hannum)
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Times, Location, and Availability
286. Sculpture. (4). (CE). Materials fee ($35).
The focus of this course
is an exploratory, experimental introduction to fiber art. Students
will be encouraged to experiment with a variety of contemporary
materials and techniques, as well as the more traditional. Processes
will include weaving, plaiting, basketry, felt-making, and surface
design, among others. Slide lectures, discussions, preliminary
studies, critiques and field trips will be part of the class experience.
Regular class attendance is mandatory. (Savageau)
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Times, Location, and Availability
287. Printmaking. (4). (CE). Materials fee ($50).
This course develops
students' understanding of the art and history of printmaking through lectures, demonstrations, practical studio experience, and individual and group discussions. The course will focus on
creating original prints, exploring images, visual ideas, and the possibilities of self-expression. Emphasis will be placed
on linoleum cut, wood block, and screenprinting techniques. Field
trips to area museums and gallery exhibitions will be part of the class experience. Approximately eight projects will be assigned.
A sketchbook/notebook is required. Class attendance is mandatory, as is lab time spent outside the scheduled class period. (Cressman)
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Times, Location, and Availability
289. Ceramics. (4). (CE). Materials fee ($85).
This course presents
basic problems in forming clay, throwing and handbuilding techniques, testing, preparing and applying glazes, stacking and firing kilns, and operating a ceramics studio. Students are required to learn the complete ceramic process, and the assumption of studio responsibilities
and regular class attendance are mandatory. The theory, practice, and history of ceramics are integral parts of this study and are
used to encourage individual sensitivity to the material. (Crowell)
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Times, Location, and Availability
385. Interdisciplinary Photographic Applications.
Arts 285. (4).
(Excl). Materials fee ($90).
This advanced photography
course addresses the need for individual, interdisciplinary projects
using photographic materials and facilities. A series of advanced
photographic assignments are presented which develop skills in
using large format cameras and negatives, color print materials, studio lights and holography. They can be modified to support
independent study in which individuals develop their own set of
interdisciplinary objects. The course is intended to meet both the need for second term skill development in photography and the need to correlate those skills with a student's other academic
interests. (Hannum)
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Times, Location, and Availability
389. Ceramics Theory and Criticism. RC Arts 289. (4). (CE). Laboratory fee
($85) required.
This upper-level ceramics
course addresses advanced problems in ceramics production and studio practice. While students in lower-level ceramics courses
learn basic technical skills and aesthetic concepts, upper-level
students work at more sophisticated levels of form and content.
The course approaches this development through more advanced formal
concerns, technical projects, glaze testing, studio management, and critique. Readings from journals – "American Ceramics,"
"Ceramics, Art and Perception," and others – will enable
us to enter the discourse of ceramics in twentieth century art.
(Crowell)
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Times, Location, and Availability
Humanities
(Division 865)
Arts and Ideas
257. Visual Sources. (4). (HU).
The purpose of this
course is to develop and sharpen the students' skills of visual
analysis by examining the world of images in which we live and discussing the process of perception. In order to better understand the "language" of images, we will analyze selected examples
of painting, sculpture, the graphic arts, architecture, film, and dance. The works studied will not necessarily be considered
in chronological order and we will not restrict ourselves to those
works that are labeled "great" by art historians and critics. We will include images of popular and commercial art
both from the past and the present. In the course, the unique
methods and materials used in creating a work of art will be discussed.
(In the case of painting, for example, we will consider the difference
between oil, tempera, and water color.) But we will not be concerned
with form and materials alone. Images will be studied not only
in terms of form, but content, and the relationship between art
and audience. How does the visual artist (or advertiser) convey
certain moods and/or messages through the arrangement and juxtaposition
of forms? What is the impact and effect of the visual environment
on our psychological state? How do visual artists convey certain
cultural beliefs and attitudes in their arrangement and presentation
of images? In the final section of the course we will consider the display of art in public spaces – including museums and galleries
- and the sometimes controversial issues that have surrounded the showing and funding of art in the United States. In conjunction
with this and other aspects of the course, museum and gallery
visits are planned, involving the study of objects at close hand and discussions with museum and gallery personnel. There will
be several short papers, and students will be asked to keep a
journal of their ideas about the visual arts that they encounter
in their day to day experiences or in which they are especially
interested. Readings may include works by John Berger, Rudolph
Arnheim, Joshua Taylor, Kendall Walton, T.J. Clark, Erwin Panofsky, Linda Nochlin, Tamar Garb, and Carol Duncan. (Genné)
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Times, Location, and Availability
310. Medieval Sources of Modern Culture.
Sophomore standing.
(4). (HU).
Section 001 – The Glorious Body.
During the Medieval period, a major revision of the representation
of the body took place in Western art. The Classical paradigm, in which the body occurs as a mathematical canon, an idea, or
an illusion, is subverted, stood on its head, and sometimes repudiated
altogether. Instead, the concrete physicality of the body – interior
space as well as surface, internal organs as well as external
appearance – becomes the starting point for such literary genres
as confession, song, narrative, and meditation. Very often, the
body is projected into these genres as the imaginative landscape
within which they unfold. Even more, the body and its organic
transformations become the site of verbal and visual figuration; they generate a rhetoric. This refigured body does not always
observe the syntax assigned to it by Classical convention. Instead, it begins to speak an extravagant language: the skin is a book, tongues of fire burst from every side, hearts have ears, bellies
have mouths, and genitals flourish an array of musical instruments.
Nor are the well-bred hierarchies of Classical decorum preserved:
humiliation, decay, and the collapse of the body under the blows
of violence, disease, and time are all rhetoricalized with the
intensity usually reserved for displays of power and invulnerability.
In Medieval Sources we will explore this new representation
of the body in both literature and the visual arts. This interdisciplinary
approach will involve the close reading of texts and the careful
analysis of images. Plato Phaedo, Classical sources of
early Christian art; The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, The
Life of St. Mary the Egyptian, Early Christian art of the
eastern empire; St. Augustine, The Confessions, Byzantine
art: Ravenna; Anglo-Saxon riddles and poetry, Iro-Celtic book
illumination; Hildegard von Bingen, Songs and Sequences;
Romanesque portal sculpture: Moissac; Marie de France, Lais.
Gothic sculpture: the portal program at Chartres; and Julian of
Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love; Matthias Grunewald, The Isenheim Altarpiece. (Sowers)
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Times, Location, and Availability
318. Critical Approaches to Literature.
(4). (HU).
Section 001 – Postmodern Positions.
This course is an introduction to postmodernism. It is intended
for students who have encountered the term, but who feel uncertain
about what it means; for students who have already worked with
some of the concepts, but who would like a practical introduction
to a selection of the seminal texts; and for students who are
just curious. We will ask questions such as: What is the relation
between modernism and postmodernism? Are they diametrically opposed, or deeply implicated in one another? How did the "text"
come to be so important? What is the relation between "texts"
(presumably composed of words or signs) and "history"
(composed of events)? What is meant by the "deconstruction
of the unified subject" or "the death of the author?"
Finally, we will question the role of "theory" in postmodernism.
Does theory always have the last word? Students will be expected
to understand certain postmodern positions, but not necessarily
to take them up as their own, if they would prefer not to. Opposition
or even resistance, however, should be thoughtful and informed.
So we will end by outlining a few arguments critical of postmodernism.
This is an interdisciplinary course involving literature, the
visual arts, and theory. Course schedule: (1) In the Beginning?:
Isak Dinesen, The Blank Page; Joel Fineman, The Structure
of Allegorical Desire; Cy Twombly painting; (2) The Archeology
of History: Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49; Craig
Owens, Allegory and The Postmodern Impulse; Anselm Kiefer
Paintings; (3) The Empire of the Text: Roland Barthes, S/Z;
Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities; Jennifer Bartlett, In the Garden; (4) The Deconstruction of the Subject: Jean Genet, The Maids; Cindy Sherman photographs; (5) Against Postmodernism:
Jorge Luis Borges, Labyrinths. (Sowers)
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Times, Location, and Availability
319. Topics in Film. (3). (HU). May be repeated for a total
of nine credits.
Section 001 – Writing Film Criticism.
This small course studies different critical approaches to film
and film criticism (e.g., the journalistic, humanist, genre, auteur, feminist). Students see a film a week and write
a two-page paper on each film; after the papers are handed in
we discuss the film. Two longer papers (of five and seven pages), which examine the writings of a film critic, are also assigned.
(H. Cohen)
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Times, Location, and Availability
333. Art and Culture. (4). (Excl).
Section 001 – Topics in World Dance.
"To dance" in Africa is a transitive verb. One "dances"
a mask, a headdress, a musical instrument, a spirit, an ancestor, the threat of a powerful animal. It is the "thing" that
is danced, and the efficacy of a dance is gauged by how well the
essence of that thing is communicated. (Frederick Lampe)
"Indian dance, like Indian
poetry, music, and sculpture, seeks to communicate universal, impersonal emotion ... dance interprets in movement what music
interprets in sound; the postures and the stances it attains are the poses which the Indian sculptor models: all these the dancer
imbues with a living spirit of movement in a form which is both
sensuous and spiritual." (Kapila Vatsyayan)
These are but two of many ways
in which dance can be defined by a culture or cultures. In this
course a diversity of dance traditions throughout the world will
be surveyed. Theatrical, religious, popular, and social dance
traditions will be examined in a variety of cultures, including
groups in Africa, Japan, India, South America, Aboriginal Australia, Indonesia (Bali, Java), the Mideast, and others. Students will
gain insight into the functions, aesthetics, history, and cultural
context of dances within these cultures. A variety of broad comparative
issues will be explored: How does dance reflect the values of the society which produces it? How are gender, class, relationships
between individual and group, and political and spiritual values
displayed through dance structures and movements? What is the
creative process involved in producing these dance works? How
is the visual imagery of dance movement designed and how can an
audience decipher it? What are the basic elements of dance choreography?
How do choreographic structures differ cross-culturally? How do the training, preparation, and performance practices of dancers
differ cross-culturally? How do the dances of these cultures employ
or integrate other art forms such as music, theater, and costume
design? How are dance productions evaluated and criticized within
different cultures? In addition to lectures and readings, the
class will feature several guest artist/speaker presentations, viewings of films and videos, and observations of dance rehearsals, classes and performances. (Genné)
Section 002 – Weimar Culture:
Art, Politics, and the Modern.
The Weimar Republic, Germany's first experiment in democracy, lasted between 1918/19 and 1933. It began with the fall of the
German monarchy at the end of World War I and ended a little more than fourteen years later when the National Socialist Party assumed
power through a mixture of legal and illegal means. Although brief, the Weimar Republic witnessed a rich and diverse array of "high"
and "popular" culture, including visual art, performance, sculpture, film, theater, literature, posters, illustrated books, and magazines. Empowered by the breakdown of the established order, and with the firm belief that not only society but also the individual
had to be remade from the ground up, the creators of Weimar culture
engaged all the means at their disposal to visualize a new
world and a new consciousness to go with it. This
course will examine various competing visions of the new individual
and new society as they are presented in Weimar Culture, and how
fascist, socialist, and democratic forces battled to define the
modern individual and society. A few of the topics with which this course will be concerned include: Expressionist Art and Theater, Dada Art and the Mass Media, Remembering the First World War, Neus Sachlichkeit, The Bauhaus, Lustmord, Brecht's
Epic Theater, and The Mass Ornament. (Biro)
Section 003 – Television
Discourse Analysis: Narratology, Cinematography, and Response. Social critic Raymond Williams reminds
us that public forms of discourse/communication have evolved through
a series of forms: repertory companies, commercial theaters, motion
pictures, and television, for example. In each of these cases, he observes: "There has been a new sharing and integration
of languages, at least of gesture and systems of signs. Moreover, these fresh inter-relationships are not merely available; in the
course of their use and development, they are themselves transformative, and means of communication are transformed as they are employed."
How does television shape our thinking? In this course, we will
be researching and critiquing various genres of television discourse, to apply relevant analytic tools to the content and to examine
our own responses to the content in light of the cultural climate
we inhabit. Much of what is said about television is inaccurate
and superficial; we will examine what is on the screen and what
experience, background, and point-of-view we bring to the text.
Four papers on differing genres of text are required, as well
as presentations to the class on individuals' research findings.
Weekly class discussion and screenings are regular required parts
of the course. A long final paper is written on a topic agreed
upon in individual conferences. (Morris)
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Times, Location, and Availability
475/Chinese 475/Phil. 475/Asian Studies
475/Hist. of Art 487. The Arts and Letters of China. (4). (HU).
See Chinese
475. (Feuerwerker)
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Times, Location, and Availability
Comparative Literature
214. Fundamentals of Narrative Fiction.
(4). (HU).
How have human beings
in our civilization chosen to present themselves and the stories
of their lives? What motivates a person to tell his or her story?
This course examines a variety of short narratives and novels
- from acknowledged classics of historical fiction and the Bildungsroman
to such popular forms as Westerns and mysteries, romances and children's fables – to look at story-telling as a reflection of
social values and as a mode of seeing, thinking, being, and becoming.
What stage of development or type of experience is formative and which provide the most useful lens from which to view the whole?
What is the impact of gender, nationality, and race on the cultural
construction of selfhood? How do writers invent the impossible?
Why must they lie to tell the truth, write beyond the ending, and make up stories about stories within stories? How do we decide
what these stories mean? Required Texts: Julia Alvarez, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents; James Barrie, Peter
Pan in Kensington Garden; Ann Charters, The Story and its Writer (4th ed); A. Conan Doyle, The Hound of the
Baskervilles; Louis L'Amour, The Ferguson Rifle;
George MacDonald, The Golden Key; Fae Myenne Ng, Bone;
Tim O'Brien, If I Die In A Combat Zone and The Things
They Carried; Tillie Olsen, Tell Me A Riddle; and Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse. Evaluation will be
based on participation in discussion and four short papers. (Goodenough)
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Times, Location, and Availability
215. Poetry. (4). (HU).
What makes a verbal
text a poem? Must poetry always be rhythmic? If this is a necessary
feature, what makes it so crucial? What is the connection between
rhythm and meaning in poetry? If there are kinds of poetry where
rhythm is less evident, what other features of the text become
important? How has poetry been identified or defined in different
cultures and during different epochs? What is the role of reference
(allusion) to other earlier or contemporary literature, so-called
intertextuality? How does meaning attach itself to particular
forms, rhythms or genres? How do poetic genres evolve? What constitutes
a revolution in poetic style and structure? Does poetry convey
meaning in a different way than ordinary speech? Than prose? How
are semantic relationships between the words in a poem implied
and foregrounded as a result of its structure (the question of
intratextuality)? What makes poetic meaning more open to interpretation, more ambiguous and paradoxical (polysemic)? We will attempt to
answer such questions through close reading of poems, through
study of some influential critical articles about poetry, through
elucidation of concepts which have been used historically to analyze
poetry, and through some exercises in writing (or translating)
poetry. We will consider a selection of poems which exemplify
different styles, approaches, and cultural contexts for poetry, from Shakespeare to contemporary free verse. Evaluation will be
based on participation in discussion and four short papers. (Eagle)
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Times, Location, and Availability
410. Upperclass Literature Seminar. (4). (HU). May be repeated for credit.
Section 001 – Psychoanalysis and the Modern European Novel. First, this course will offer a basic
introduction to the Freudian and Jungian theory of human psychology
and psychopathology; the nature of the personal and collective
unconscious; theories of the instincts and their transformation; the development and function of the ego; the mechanisms of defense
and repair, and theories and methods for the interpretation of
dreams and works of art. Second, this course will conclude with
two studies in applied psychoanalysis. (1) Kafka and Freud: Kafka's
childhood and his relationship to his father will be examined
in light of the trauma of the bourgeois nuclear family as described
by Freud. Also, the Freudian theory of dream interpretation will
be applied as a technique for the analysis of Kafka's literary
fantasies of guilt, punishment, and suicide. Texts: Freud's The
Interpretation of Dreams; Kafka's short stories and The
Trial. (2) Hesse and Jung: "the search for identity"
of Hesse's protagonists will be examined in the perspective of
Jung's individuation process, the persona, the shadow, archetypes
of the Collective Unconscious, and man's quest for mystical illumination.
Texts: selections from The Portable Jung; Hesse's Siddhartha
and Steppenwolf. Kafka's and Hesse's lives will also
be analyzed from the perspective of theories of neurosis and artistic
creativity. Midterm and final exams, and term paper required.
(Peters)
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Times, Location, and Availability
411. Translation Seminar. Reading proficiency in a foreign language.
Upperclass standing. (4). (Excl).
We will begin with an
inquiry into the nature and function of language as it defines
man and allows him to "translate" his experience of
being in the world to himself and others. For this we will examine
and discuss a number of influential philosophical views on language.
Next we will investigate the diverse forms of "translations"
within the same language, the reformulations, transliterations, and intersemiotic translations. The rest of the term is then devoted
to the theory and praxis of translation between two different
languages. Participants are asked to select a translation project
of their own, suitable to their foreign language abilities and personal interest. We will read excerpts from the writings of
Heidegger, Wittgenstein, Benjamin, Schleiermacher, Jackobson, Searle, and others. (Paslick)
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Times, Location, and Availability
452/Russian 452. Survey of Russian Literature.
A knowledge
of Russian is not required. (3). (HU).
See Russian
452. (Schönle)
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Times, Location, and Availability
Creative Writing
220.
Narration. Permission
of instructor. (4). (CE).
Suggested assignment:
1250 words of prose fiction every two weeks. Rewriting is emphasized.
The class meets as a group up to two hours per week. Collections
of short fiction by established writers are read. Every student
meets privately with the instructor each week. (Hecht)
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Times, Location, and Availability
221. The Writing of Poetry. Permission of instructor. (4). (CE).
The amount of poetry
each student is required to submit is determined by the instructor.
The class meets three hours per week as a group. In addition, each student receives private criticism from the instructor every
week. Contemporary poetry is read and discussed in class for style.
Students are organized into small groups that meet weekly. (Mikolowski)
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Times, Location, and Availability
242. Creative Adaptation: Fact Into Fantasy.
Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (4). (CE).
Section
001 – Creative Non-Fiction. Creative non-fiction is information-based
writing for general audiences. Freelance writers, journalists, and technical writers are assigned to write, translate, interpret, or edit texts which explain or describe specialized subjects in
ordinary language that non-specialists can understand. These assignments
can range from advertisements and news reports, to articles aimed
at more sophisticated readers in periodicals such as The New
Yorker. Even semi-specialized publications such as Scientific
American, Car and Driver, and the New England Journal
of Medicine use non-technical language which informed amateurs
as well as professionals can comprehend. In classical literature, works such as The Odyssey, MacBeth, The Aeneid, and The
Divine Comedy were inspired by historical events and figures. Gettysburg, Joy Luck Club, and Age of Innocence
are recent films which were adapted from historical or literary
sources. Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast and many other Disney animated feature films are adaptations from
literary sources. TV docu-dramas have been created about figures
in the news, such as Amy Fisher and Jessica DeBoer. Biographies, autobiographies, translations, and musical adaptations as well
as many non-fiction children's books are, in fact, blendings of
fact and fantasy. All professions reward good communication skills.
One's ability to understand, synthesize, and communicate facts
to others is as necessary to a doctor as it is to a writer. With this in mind, students should find "Creative Non-Fiction,"
with its combination of the challenge of research and the pleasure
of self-expression, to be a valuable elective. Projects students
will pursue will include adaptations from one medium to another;
translations from one language to another or bilingual texts;
science/math/history for children; personal essays/interviews/oral
history; autobiographical fiction, poetry, or drama; folklore/oral
traditions into fiction, picture books, animation. Students will
complete either one long (25-30 page) project or three short papers
(10-15 pages each) on a related theme. Two drafts will be required.
This class will be taught in association with the campus wide
Environmental Theme Semester: Rethinking the Relationship. (Balducci)
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Times, Location, and Availability
320. Advanced Narration. Hums. 220 and permission of instructor.
(4). (CE).
This course is designed
for writers of longer fiction who can benefit from instruction
and peer feedback. Three 15-20 page short stories or three 20-25
page segments of longer works are due at evenly spaced intervals
during the term. Everyone in the class reads everything submitted.
The class meets three times a term, as a workshop, to discuss
everyone's work. Each student meets with the instructor each week
for private discussion of work both completed and in progress.
Enrollment is limited to a maximum of six students, usually students
who have completed Narration and/or Tutorials. Permission of instructor
is required. (Hecht)
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Times, Location, and Availability
322. Advanced Creative Writing for Children
and Young Adults. Hums.
222 and permission of instructor. (4). (CE).
This
course is an informal seminar designed to build upon skills and themes developed in RC Humanities 222 "Creative Writing for
Children and Young Adults." The casual setting of the seminar
is intended to encourage interaction and collaboration among students.
Weekly paper swaps allow students to become familiar with the
writing styles and interests of others in the course. Support
and suggestions, as well as collaborations (when feasible) are
encouraged. Students are expected to support their theories with
articles, books, scripts, and other material. This class will
be taught in association with the campus wide Environmental Theme
Semester: Rethinking the Relationship. (Balducci)
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Times, Location, and Availability
Hums 325,
326,
425,
426
Creative Writing Tutorials. (4). (Excl). Tutorials
provide an opportunity for students who want to write, no matter
how sophisticated their work, to have their efforts recognized
with constructive criticism and academic credit. Reading may or
may not be assigned, depending upon the background needs of the
individual student. Tutorial students meet privately with the
instructor each week. Permission of instructor is required. (Hecht, Mikolowski, Balducci, Carrigan)
Drama
280/English 245/Theatre 211. Introduction
to Drama and Theatre. No
credit granted to those who have completed or are enrolled in
RC Hums. 281. (4). (HU).
See Theatre
and Drama 211. (Cardullo)
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Times, Location, and Availability
386/MARC 421. Medieval Drama. Hums. 280. (4). (Excl).
Survey of the major
forms of early European drama: liturgical plays, mysteries, saint
plays, moralities, farces and interludes, and folk performances
with an emphasis on the English, French, and German traditions.
We will explore the tensions and creative interactions between the sacred-secular/elite-popular/high-low of medieval culture
as reflected in its drama and trace the subsequent influence on
European dramatic traditions. Some attention will be paid to 20th
century productions of medieval drama. Experimental scene-work
will be combined with research in the visual arts and music toward
accurate reconstructions and modern, imaginative reconceptions
of select works. These will be drawn from the Latin St. Nicholas
plays, the York Cycle, 15th cent. French farces or German Carnival
plays, and pre-Shakespearean English comedies and moral interludes.
Opportunities as well for students in directing and designing.
Students in the class may be invited to participate in a production
of the York Cycle at the University of Toronto in June 1998. Textbook: Medieval Drama. Ed. David Bevington. (Walsh)
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Times, Location, and Availability
389. The Modern Theatre. Hums. 280. (4). (HU). May be repeated
for credit.
Section 001 – Exploring and Exploding Gender. This four credit course will explore
plays from contemporary American drama which examine gender and sexuality. A great deal of emphasis will fall on drama written
by women, by writers of color and by artists in the gay and lesbian
community. The reading list may include established works such
as Ntosake Shange's For Colored Girls ... and Tony Kushner's Angels in America, but will include a range of contemporary
writers and performance artists. Coursework will demand close
reading of the plays and ongoing personal response to the material through a journal. Written work will also include critiques and creating original pieces. The emphasis in the course is on understanding the texts by performing them, so scene and monologue rehearsal
is a central part of the process. Students with an interest in
directing are encouraged to enroll, as our end of term project
will be a mini-festival of these plays in workshop production.
Directors are encouraged as well to register for a two credit
mini-course, Hums 485: Director's Workshop, for more specific
directorial technique. The course will deal with work which may
challenge traditional attitudes about gender, sexuality and race.
Students should be aware of this and should also have some previous
experience with acting, either through Actor and Text I or a comparable
course. First time actors and directors should schedule an interview
with the instructor before enrolling. (Mendeloff)
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Times, Location, and Availability
485. Special Drama Topics. Sophomore standing. (1-2). (Excl). Offered
mandatory credit/no credit. May be repeated for a total of four
credits.
Section 001 – Director's Workshop.
This two-credit course is meant to supplement student directors
in their work in projects connected to RC Hums 387 "Modern
Theatre" and Theatre 420: Playwriting Towards Production."
The course will introduce important tools of the director's craft, such as the evolution of a design concept, collaboration with
other artistic staff, evolving organic blocking and working with
a new play. There will be several short presentations and written
assignments, including critiques. The major assignment will be the director's notebook for the student's final project. The course
text is Robert Cohen's Creative Play Direction. Admission
is by interview with the instructor. Some previous experience
in directing is encouraged. (Mendeloff)
Section 002 – Adapting Antigone. Advance conceptual work on
a contemporary adaptation of Sophocles' Antigone by the
director of the production. The play will be presented in April
by the Theater and Drama Department in the Trueblood Theater.
Director, Glenda Dickerson, plans to set the play in Kenya in the 1920's and examine similarities between Antogone's dilemma
and the life and death of Princess Diana. Students in the course
will have the opportunity for hands-on participation in the research
and adaptation of the play prior to rehearsals. The course will
look at various versions of the Antigone story, examine the impact
of colonization on an African country and, of course, will explore the controversial life and tragic death of Diana, Princess of
Wales. Students interested in working closely with the director
during the actual rehearsal period as dramaturg or assistant director
are encouraged to register for this course. There is a possibility that further credit through independent study can be arranged.
The majority of class meetings will take place before Spring Break.
Meeting, however, times will be flexible depending upon the scope
and nature of various projects. A preliminary meeting of interested
participants will be held on November 21 or December 5, 1997.
(Dickerson)
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Times, Location, and Availability
Music
250. Chamber Music. (1). (CE). Offered mandatory credit/no
credit.
Section 001 – Instrumental: Small Chamber Orchestra and Small
Ensembles. No audition
is required. All students who are interested in participating
in instrumental ensembles can enroll for one or two credits. Ensembles
have included: mixed ensembles of strings and winds; brass quintet
and intermediate recorder; string quartet; woodwind quintet, and some other duos and trios, including piano and harpsichord. Requirements
for one credit consist of participation in two ensembles; for
two credits one must participate in the large ensemble and two
smaller ones. Responsibilities include three to four hours of
rehearsal time per week and participation in one or more concerts
per term, if appropriate. No audition required. Course may be
used to meet the Residential College's Arts Practicum Requirement.
(Barna)
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Times, Location, and Availability
251. Topics in Music. (4). (HU).
Section 001 – Music of Ireland.
The Music of Ireland will provide both a general history of Irish
music as well as a more in-depth exploration of specific genres that have emerged in Ireland and among the Irish Diaspora in North
America. Much of the course is devoted to traditional vocal and instrumental styles and the ways in which these traditions continue
to challenge and to exert profound influence on the music-making
of other traditions in Ireland, especially popular music and art
music. The course will include in-class lecture/demonstrations
by local musicians, as well as some experience performing traditional
tunes on instruments such as the tin whistle and frame drum. No
previous musical experience is necessary. Traditional music will
also figure prominently in our examination of the definition and continuing transformation of an Irish national musical identity.
(Camino)
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Times, Location, and Availability
253. Choral Ensemble. (1). (CE). Offered mandatory credit/no
credit.
Section 001 – Women's Choral Ensemble.
The group rehearses twice weekly and prepares a thematic concert
of music from the vast Women's Chorus Repertoire. Vocal skills, sight singing, and basic musicianship are stressed. No prerequisites, but a commitment to the group and a dedication to musical growth
within the term are required. No audition necessary.
Section 002 – Mixed Choral
Ensemble. Four-part
works from a variety of musical styles are rehearsed and prepared
for performance in concert. Meets twice weekly. Vocal skills, sight singing, musicianship, and ensemble singing are stressed.
No prerequisites, but a commitment to the group and musical growth
within the term are required. No audition necessary. (Kiesling)
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Times, Location, and Availability
350. Creative Musicianship. (4). (CE).
This music theory-composition
course is designed to give students the skills necessary to understand and to create music as a form of personal/emotional expression.
Nothing is assumed in the way of musical background: many students
will have had instrumental, vocal and/or performance experience;
others may have taken music theory or history classes; but those
who are apprehensive about composition will be welcomed and guided through a process that enables them to create music of their own.
Twenty students will be accepted. Each student works at his/her
own level on the musical element under consideration (rhythm, melody, harmony). This course meets for four class hours, and you should plan to spend a minimum of 10-12 hours per week preparing
materials for class. There will be a programmed theory text required, to be selected according to your own level of experience, and other readings as well. The accompanying lab (RC Humanities 351)
is required unless excused by the instructor. (J. Heirich)
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Times, Location, and Availability
351. Creative Musicianship Lab. Hums. 350. (1-2). (CE).
This is a required lab
course to be taken with Humanities 350; however, it can be taken
by itself. It will deal with the three basic elements of music
(melody, harmony, rhythm) through music reading, writing, singing, the use of ear-training tapes, and computer lab programs. The
class will be divided into three sections according to ability
and experience levels. Each section meets together as a group, and students will also work individually and with a lab partner.
It may be elected for either one or two credits, depending on the amount of work one chooses to do. Attendance at both Tuesday
and Thursday class sessions is necessary whether you are taking the lab for one or two credits. Particularly advanced students
may be exempted from taking this lab on permission of the instructor.
(J. Heirich)
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Times, Location, and Availability
Interdivisional
(Division 867)
222. Quantitatively Speaking. (4). (Excl). (QR/1).
What is "quantitative
reasoning" and how does such reasoning differ in form and content from other types of reasoning? This course is neither
a traditional math course nor the usual statistics course, but
deals with both areas. This course, intended for first- and second-year
students, will include a rigorous and critical introduction to
various modes of quantitative reasoning, all the while maintaining
an accessibility for students in all fields. The majority of topics, however, will be drawn from the social sciences. There are no
formal prerequisites for this course, but students should have
completed at least three years of high school mathematics. We
will begin with a discussion of what is typically meant by "quantitative
reasoning," and then focus on how such reasoning is implemented
(sometimes appropriately, sometimes not). One of the main goals
of the course is to learn "basic survival skills" for
today's number-intensive world: how to critique conclusions drawn
from a survey, a graph, a table of numbers, etc. We will
learn about the nature and meaning of opinion polls, and explore the vast literature on gender and ethnic differences. We will
read Gould's The Mismeasure of Man, and Herrnstein and Murray's recently debated book, The Bell Curve. Requirements
will include regular, extensive reading assignments from texts
and course pack. In addition, students will be expected to: (1)
participate fully in class discussions; (2) maintain an annotated
journal of articles, graphs, etc., collected from newspapers, magazines, and other sources that present responsible and irresponsible
uses of quantitative information; (3) write occasional, brief
papers; and (4) complete two research projects. As a class, we
will conduct and analyze a survey. Each student will be required
to produce a formal write-up of the entire procedure. For an individual
project, each student will select a topic of interest to him/her
for further study. (Burkam)
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Times, Location, and Availability
240/Environ. Studies 240. Big Questions
for a Small Planet: Introduction to Environmental Studies. (4). (Excl).
See
Environmental Studies 240.
(Badgley)
Check
Times, Location, and Availability
257. Cultural Confrontation in the Arts.
(4). (HU).
This is a cross-cultural, interdisciplinary, multi-media course which explores the works
of art produced as a consequence of the contact and confrontation
between diverse cultural traditions. The focus of this course
is to study the aesthetic responses of different people when they
come into contact with other cultures. The emphasis is on an intensive
engagement with representative texts or visual images that are
produced at such "moments" of confrontation. Examples
of fiction, film, music/dance, paintings, poetry will be presented
in order to encourage an awareness of cultures other than one's
own. Among some of the objectives of this course are: (1) to foster
an awareness of the cultures of others by letting them speak in their own voices (even if we can only hear them through translation)
and by learning to listen very carefully to what is said and HOW
it is said; (2) to understand that the response of these cultures
to the impact of other cultures, whether it involves conflict, compromise, assimilation, or resistance (or any combination of these) has to be explored through questions of form and language, and that these questions are related to the undermining of tradition
and the crisis of cultural identity; (3) to help students refine their skills in verbal and textual analysis so that they will
not fall back on simplistic answers, but acquire some sense of the range and complexity of the issues raised by what is a world-wide
phenomenon and, in fact, is the story of our modern/modernizing
world. The course will be divided into three segments covering three different cultural areas: African-American (including Caribbean
region), Asian-American including Southeast Asia, and Latino/as
in the United States. A number of guest lectures, from different
disciplines, will be invited to lecture for each segment. (Moya-Raggio/Walton)
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Times, Location, and Availability
310/WS 312. Gender and Science. An introductory course in natural science, engineering, social sciences or women's studies. (4). (Excl).
This course introduces
students to the complex relationship between gender and science, and emphasizes both pragmatic and theoretical approaches. Students
will approach the study of the institution of science by examining the history of women's participation in the sciences and social
and cultural factors that have contributed to their under representation.
The course is intended for students who are interested in the
enterprise and processes of science, in women's experience in
science-related fields, and in the difficulties and contributions
of the `outsider' experience. We will study the lives of individual
scientists, the history and patterns of women's education and participation in the sciences, and the influence of societal values
on the direction and outcomes of scientific research. Students
will gain an understanding of ways in which the institution of
science affects the condition of women both within science and within the larger culture. The course is open to all students, and will be of particular interest to those who are planning to
work in science-related fields. Readings will include selections
from P.G. Abir-am and D. Outram's Uneasy Careers and Intimate
Lives: Women in Science, A Fausto-Sterling's Myth of
Gender. E.F. Keller's Gender and Science, M.W. Rossiter's Women Scientists in America, S. Harding's Whose Science, Whose Knowledge?, Schiebinger's The Mind Has No Sex?,
and others. Evaluations will be based on several short papers, a midterm essay exam, a research paper/project, and class participation.
Meets the interdisciplinary requirement for the Women's Studies
Concentration. (Sloat)
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Times, Location, and Availability
350. Special Topics. (1). (Excl). Offered mandatory credit/no
credit. May be repeated for a total of six credits.
Section
001 – Environmental Education and a Sustainable Society.
This is a one-time-only, one-credit RC mini-course on environmental
education and it role establishing a sustainable society. It will
be offered in the second half of the Winter Term 1998 and is associated
with the University of Michigan Environmental Theme Semester.
The purpose of the seminar is to explore the relevance of environmental
education to the building of a sustainable society. We will read
several recent publication on environmental education, focusing
largely on the work of David Orr of Oberlin College, a leading
educational and environmental scholar, as well as explore the
offerings of others. Among the questions to be considered are:
What is environmental education? How essential is it to our future?
Should it become mandatory for all students in our country and others? What are the most critical issues to be communicated and absorbed by students and the public at large? How far will education
take us towards reaching a sustainable society? What else might
be necessary? What should environmental education look like at the University of Michigan? Each student will be expected to attend
each seminar meeting, contribute to discussion on the readings, and attend the Environmental Theme Semester symposium on environmental
education scheduled for April 3rd and 4th, 1998, hosted by the
Residential College. David Orr will be the keynote speaker. The
seminar will meet for 1-1/2 to 2 hours once a week, three weeks
prior to the symposium and one week after (5 consecutive weeks
total). The meeting time will be arranged. Students will be expected
to write one final 10-12 page paper due at the end of the term that should reflect upon knowledge and understanding gained from the readings, discussions, and the symposium. For more information, contact Steven R. Brechin, Chair, Environmental Studies Initiative, sbrechin@umich.edu. (Brechin)
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Times, Location, and Availability
351. Special Topics. (2). (Excl). Offered mandatory credit/no
credit. May be repeated for a total of eight credits.
Section 001 – Current Issues in Mental Health Care. This course will take up a series of
issues related to defining mental health and mental illness, current
forms of psychological and psychiatric treatment, and social processes that are related to mental illness and care. The course is specifically
designed for people who have an active interest in these issues, and participants will be collaboratively involved in the planning
and facilitating of class meetings. Topics will include: Defining
sanity and madness; controversies about diagnoses and treatment
approaches; the impact of "deinstitutionalization" and "managed care"; and the relevance of homelessness, poverty, race, and gender to mental health issues. A special project of the class may be the design and implementation of a research study
on U-M students' attitudes toward, and experiences with, local
mental health resources. Registration is by permission of the
instructor; come to the first class. (Greenspan)
Section 002 – Art Gallery
Management and Operations.
This course will introduce the student to the operations and workings
of the contemporary art gallery in an educational setting and in the larger community. Involvement with mounting exhibitions
in the Residential College/East Quad Art Gallery will be a central
focus. Readings, written assignments, and field trips to art exhibits
and spaces in the Ann Arbor/Detroit area will round out the course
activity. (Cressman)
Section 003 – Video Documentary
Production. This course
will focus on the essentials of documentary video production.
Primary materials will include footage shot as part of the RC30AC
celebrations, and additional footage enrolled student will shoot
as part of the course. The final goal of the course will be to
produce at least one professional-quality video documentary. We
will work through the entire video production process from pre-production
planning and scripting, through production and post-production.
Students will learn about, and use, video production equipment
including cameras, lighting, and digital editing systems. Additional
meetings and lab sessions will be arranged based on the number
of credits elected. Students should keep at least two hours per
week available for lab/studio time.
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Times, Location, and Availability
450. Science and Social Responsibility.
(4). (Excl).
Is there a job in your
future? This class examines the issues of how science and technology
have shaped the world of work, in history and in the present.
As automation, information technology, and computerization reshape the economy, how many jobs will be available for the growing world
population? As companies globalize their operations, how will
workers avoid lowering wages to those of the poorest countries?
Will new technologies make the factory a thing of the past or the sweatshop of the future? Do labor unions have a future? We
will examine these questions by reading works about the history, present, and future of work. This class will involve students
in researching issues in science, technology, and work, including
conducting interviews, field trips to work sites, electronic, library, and archival research. (Olwell)
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Times, Location, and Availability
Natural
Science (Division 875)
214/Physics 214. The Physicists and the
Bomb. High school
mathematics. (4). (NS). (BS).
In this course we will
consider the role played by physicists and others in the development
of the atomic bomb, its precursors, and its aftermath. It deals
with technical, political, and ethical aspects of this episode, and also its impact on literature, language, film, and popular
culture. Some of the principal players, including J. Robert Oppenheimer
and Edward Teller, continue to interest authors and audiences.
Individuals who were themselves involved in some of the events
will appear. The story will include: The First World War (introduction
of aerial warfare and poison gas); European inter-war developments
(raise of fascism); "Modern" physics (from the discoveries
of X-rays and radioactivity to nuclear fission and fusion); the
refugees; preliminaries to the Manhattan project; building the
Bomb, the decision to drop the Bomb; Hiroshima and Nagasaki; the
Cold War and McCarthy; Big Science; the decision to build the
H-bomb; "In the matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer"; the
nuclear arms race. Readings are drawn form historical works, memoirs, fiction, and original documents. There will also be film and video
presentations. Evaluation will be based on quizzes, research papers, and class participation. (Sanders)
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Times, Location, and Availability
260. Science and Societal Issues: The
Immune System. Introductory
science course. (4). (NS). (BS).
This course introduces
students to the field of immunology and to some of the societal
issues raised by contemporary scientific and biomedical research.
The course focuses first on study of the biological basis of the
immune response. An understanding of biological concepts, in turn, serves to prepare students to examine societal, ethical, and policy
issues that relate to this area of contemporary scientific research.
The course is intended for students who want to gain a basic understanding
of the biology of the immune system, and who also want to examine the larger context within which scientific knowledge is gained
and used. Topic areas include: autoimmunity, tissue and organ
transplantation, allergy, AIDS, cancer therapy, psychoneuroimmunology, the media presentation of science, and the impact of funding and policy decisions on the direction and results of scientific research.
Readings include an introductory immunology text, research articles
and reviews, and articles and books about the scientific enterprise.
Evaluation/grading will be based on two examinations, a short
paper, a research paper/project, and class participation. (Sloat)
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Times, Location, and Availability
415/Environ. Studies 415. Science and Politics. One
college-level science course. (4). (Excl). (BS).
The
power of modern science to intervene in natural processes and to redirect them for human purposes has generated major social
and ethical problems and continues to do so. This course examines the social response to the types of problems that have emerged
since World War II and explores in particular the questions of the roles and responsibilities of scientists, the producers of the knowledge and techniques that form the basis of this new social
power. A complicating factor is that the nature of scientific
inquiry itself is currently being debated, with positions ranging
from claims that science merely discovers the natural world (traditional
empiricism) to claims that science also shapes and constructs the object of its inquiry (social constructivism). The course
will begin by examining these positions and their implications
for the roles and responsibilities of scientists. The military
sponsorship of physics after World War II will be used as a case
study that exemplifies these social and philosophical issues in
a particularly acute manner. The second part of the course will
examine the recent history of policies for the promotion and control
of science in the United States. In particular, we will examine the organization and funding of American science, support for
research and development by the military, and regulatory policy
in the 1980s and 1990s. The final part of the course will use
case studies to examine contested areas of science and technology.
These case studies will focus on major environmental policy issues, including global warming and biodiversity. The course will be
organized as a seminar. Participants will undertake a guided research
project that uses primary source materials. The course is open
to all students but is especially intended for juniors and seniors
who have taken at least one college-level science course. (Wright)
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Times, Location, and Availability
Social Science
(Division 877)
Note to Senior concentrators
in the Social Science Program: Under the requirements for the
Social Science concentration, all seniors must write a graduating
essay for which they will receive two credits. They MUST, therefore, register for two credits under RC Core 410 Senior Project during
Winter Term. Students will then receive regular guidance and feedback
from the faculty. To register, you will need an override from
Charlie Bright and a letter of permission from the RC Counseling
Office.
202. The Twentieth Century: A Global
View. (4). (SS).
The aim of this course, designed for sophomores, is to help students locate themselves
in the world they inhabit. We will attempt to "map" the world of the late 20th century, developing an analytically
precise and historically grounded description of the contemporary
world so that it can be seen as the product both of continuous
historical processes and of specific historically unique conjunctures.
This will involve an investigation on three tiers: we will study the process of global integration, the circuits of finance and exchange, of information-flow and migration, that selectively
bind the world together; we will examine how the global flow of
material goods and ideas percolate into and get appropriated to
local contexts and needs, producing contests over meaning, identity, and everyday practice; and we will explore how the interactions
of global and local worlds produce crisis and realignment in the
"middle ground" of states, national policies, and national
identities. The central problem is to understand how processes
of global integration create disjunctures and fields of contestation that, in turn, make the proliferation of difference a key characteristic
of an integrating world. There are no prerequisites for the class;
students will be asked to read five books and a number of articles, and to write two papers. (Bright)
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Times, Location, and Availability
295. Quantitative Approaches to Social
Science Questions. High
school algebra. (4). (MSA).
Students in this course
learn to formulate questions from a social science perspective, and then to seek answers to those questions using a variety of
quantitative methods. This is very much a hands-on course: students
don't just learn statistical formulas, they use them with real-world
data to explore the relationships among many relevant and interesting
concepts. Each student, working closely with the instructor, designs
and completes an empirical research project exploring a topic
of their own selection. Learning the language of statistics and empirical social science, and becoming adept at the logic of quantitative
reasoning are major objectives of this course. This course has
two simultaneous components. On the one hand, students become
competent in the use of several basic statistical methods through
traditional means: lectures, textbook, computer manual, homework
problems, and extensive in-class exercises. At the same time, as their skills and understanding develop, they select a general
topic area, formulate a question, translate it into a data collection
instrument (survey or use of previously published data), and prepare these data for computer analysis. The final two weeks of the course
take on a workshop format, with students analyzing their data
and preparing it for presentation as an academic poster. Students
often find that this opportunity to use statistical techniques
in their own work draws together all the material in the course, giving them a new level of understanding and mastery. The major
emphasis on the practice of social science research is the feature
which distinguishes this course from other statistics courses
on campus. Students have weekly homework assignments requiring the use of a calculator and the use of SPSS (Statistical Package
for the Social Sciences). The instructor provides extensive feedback
and individualized teaching with the homework problems. Students'
evaluations are based on participation in the classroom exercises, homework, a mastery-exam, and their final project. Students whose
homework is up-to-date have the option to retake the exam to demonstrate
adequate mastery of the course material. (Weisskopf, Bogue)
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Times, Location, and Availability
302. Contemporary Social and Cultural
Theory. Social
Science 301 or equivalent (as determined by the instructor). (4).
(Excl).
In this course, we shall
examine major developments in social and cultural theory from the 1920s to the present. We shall give primary emphasis to current
debates concerning post-structuralism, cultural Marxism, feminism, and post-modernism, but we shall also contextualize these debates
by looking at earlier developments such as existentialism, structural-functionalism, and structuralism. The class will combine a certain amount of
lecturing with discussion, both of which will be organized around the careful reading of required texts. Students will be asked
to keep reading notes and to write a final paper. (The course
forms part of a two-term sequence that began in Fall Term with
a class taught by Prof. Burbank on social and cultural theory
in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It is perfectly acceptable
for students to take the present course without having taken the
other.)
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Times, Location, and Availability
305. Society and the Environment. Background in social sciences and environmental
studies helpful. (4). (SS).
Together
we will investigate the interplay among society, human behavior, and the biophysical environment. We attempt to accomplish two
related objectives: (1) a better understanding of how society
functions and of how humans behave by looking at our interactions
with nature, natural resources, and the larger biophysical environment;
and (2) a better understanding of our present environmental situation
and futures by investigating the forces that shape our society.
This is an introductory, overview course in environmental sociology
designed primarily for upper-level undergraduates. No formal course
work in sociology or other social sciences or environmental sciences
is required, but students will likely find it helpful to have
a background in these areas. Topics discussed include sociological theory and the environment; environmental values, beliefs, and behavior; the environmental movement and protests; environmental
discrimination, equity and justice; the role of organizations
in both creating and managing environmental problems; population-environment
dynamics; the social impacts of resource use and conservation
practices; environmental issues in developing countries and internationally;
economics, public policy, and the environment; the limits to growth
debate; and possible society-environment futures. Weekly discussion
of assigned material will be an integral part of the course. Discussion
of current events will be encouraged. Assignments consist of take-home
examinations and a final term paper. (Brechin)
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Times, Location, and Availability
357. A History of Crime and Punishment
in the U.S. (4).
(Excl).
This course seeks to
put contemporary issues of crime and punishment in historical
perspective. Rather than attempt a sociology of crime, or engage
in philosophical debates about the nature of human depravity, we will focus on the concrete means of policing and punishment
as these developed over time and attempt to build on this basis
an analysis of the interaction between the political economy of
crime and the means of state retribution. We will explore the
pairing of law with order and their opposites in theories of social
disorganization; we will unpack the themes of reform and reinclusion that are embedded in American punishment systems and study the
crisis of these assumptions in recent years; and we will attempt, through a study of the policing and punishment of crime to access
questions of power – how it is organized and operates over time.
The course will be organized in three general segments: we will
begin with recent debates about crime and its causes, examining
underlying assumptions about who criminals are and what makes them misbehave; we will then read some of the major theoretical
formulations of the problem of punishment (Foucault, Radzinowicz, Rushe, and Kirchheimer) and assess their relevance to current
debates; we will then develop an historical treatment of crime, policing, and punishment in the United States, focusing on the
twentieth century and seeking to understand the roots of the contemporary
"crime problem" and the current crisis of the criminal
justice system, especially its prisons and regimen of punishment.
While the course will involve lectures, guest talks, and films, students will find that considerable emphasis is placed upon reading
and participation in class discussions. Everyone will be required
to do a seminar presentation, a book review, and a term paper.
(Bright)
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Times, Location, and Availability
360. Social Science Junior Seminar. Upperclass standing. (4). (Excl). May
be repeated for credit.
Section 001 – Neuropsychology of Consciousness: Thinking, Feeling, and Perceiving. What
is consciousness? What is meaning? When and how do they arise
from the brain? In this course we will explore the phenomenology
of conscious experience and the neurobiological processes that
underlie it. An emphasis will be placed on emotion and meaning
and on how those integrative human attributes can be further understood
by studying the brain. Course content will include a brief overview
of basic human neuroanatomy and neurophysiology; case studies
of people with injuries that affect higher brain functioning;
neural networks and the brain as a kind of supercomputer. Readings
will include selections from the following: P.M. Churchland, The
Engine of Reason, the Seat of the Soul; J. LeDoux, The
Emotional Brain; A.R. Damasio, Descartes' Error;
S. Freud, Project for a Scientific Psychology; S. Freud, Interpretation of Dreams; H. Gardner, The Man with
a Shattered World; O. Sacks, The Man Who Mistook His
Wife for a Hat; S.R. Hameroff et. al. -ed., Toward
a Science of Consciousness. Student evaluations will emphasize
class participation and written work. (Evans)
Section 002 – International
Grassroots Development.
What does "development" really mean in the Third World?
Do people need Western education? Business know-how? Provision
of basic services? Gender equality? A national consciousness?
Something to believe in? Liberation? To just be left alone? In this course we will look at how different definitions of "the
problem" drive different solutions proposed by governments, aid agencies, religious groups and grassroots organizations. Besides
posing some heavy questions, this course will give you an idea
of what it's really like to work in the field of international
"development," either at home or abroad. Be prepared
for lively discussion, a deep, personal examination of your own
beliefs and values, lots of writing – and lots of help with your
writing. Some previous courses in economics, political science, third world area studies and/or lived experience will be very
helpful, though not required. The instructor is a writer for Peace
Corps and has been involved in international development in Asia, Africa, and the South Pacific and in training programs for foreign
nationals in the U.S. (Fox)
Section 003 – Development Perspectives
on Health and Illness.
This course will allow students to explore the topics of health
and illness from a development perspective. There has been a great
deal of research interest during the past twenty years on the
impact of having chronic illnesses such as sickle cell disease, diabetes, renal disease, AIDS, etc. on the cognitive
and psychosocial development of children and adolescents. There
has also been increased interest in children's understanding of
health and illness, i.e. how does this knowledge change
as children grow and develop? The research findings in this domain
have been fascinating, encouraging and, in some instances, surprising.
Students will have the opportunity to learn about the various
kinds of chronic conditions that affect between 5% and 10% of
all children in the U.S. Students will also revisit theory about
normative growth and development as we explore and try to place
in perspective the literature on chronic illness and children's
health knowledge. The class will require a great deal of student
participation via classroom discussion and written assignments.
The course will also provide `hands-on' experience with a research
project(s) on a relevant topic. Students will be involved in multiple
aspects of the research process, including some if not all of the following: study design, data collection, data entry, data
analysis, and communication about research. (Myers)
Section 004 – The Politics
of Culture in Africa.
The idea, the concept, of culture has had an extraordinary
"career" across Africa in the twentieth century and across a wide range of thought, writing, and practice on Africa.
European imperial authorities played out concepts of culture in the construction of colonialism. Africans resisted imperialism
and colonialism, both violently and non-violently, by reference
to culture. Concepts of culture were important in the definition
and expression of African nationalism and Pan-Africanism and in the struggles for independence and liberation, across the continent.
"Culture" became a medium of critique within the new
independent nations of Africa from the 1960's through the present
decade. In programs of development and population control "culture"
has always figured as a special and powerful variable, sometimes
as the means of explanation of the performance of African nations
and states in the world, while "culture" has emerged
as a constant reference point in debates regarding law and gender
and men's and women's power within African societies. And the
very concept of "culture" within the human sciences, especially through development within the discipline of anthropology, was significantly nurtured within scholarship on the African continent.
This course begins with an examination of the very assumption
of "a politics of culture," looking at a scattering
of examples and theoretical writing. The course will then move
more closely into a microhistorical mode to examine specific instances
or cases and to see what general perspectives might be drawn from the cases. There is an opportunity, as well, to move back and forth between the examination of specific cases and a consideration
of the tensions appearing within the fields or disciplines of
anthropology and history, historical anthropology, art history, literary studies, philosophy, but also microhistory and cultural
studies. There is also an opportunity to draw understandings of the extraordinary, tumultuous, history of Africa in the twentieth
century through an examination of a range of debates regarding
"culture" and the standing of concepts of culture. Among the cases that may examined are the appearance and elaboration
of bent ngoma companies marking, parodying, celebrating, and resisting European colonial power in eastern and central Africa
from the beginning of the century through the 1930's as an example
of the invention of cultural tradition; the various readings of
Jomo Kenyatta's Facing Mount Kenya as an oration of African
culture, as ethnography, and as political tract; the emergence
of popular painting in Zaire (Congo) as political and cultural
critique; the rise of worker and township theater in South Africa
as modes of resistance; the reworkings of museums and other forms
of representation of Africa and African culture, including film
and literature, on and outside the African continent; the commodification
of African art across the twentieth century; the production of
works of African philosophy within and outside formal scholarship; the role of the state in the organization and support of African
culture and in the promotion of ideas of the authentic;
and debates over the standing of principles of culture within the law in Africa, exemplified in the S.M. Otieno litigation in
Kenya in 1986-87. The class will meet once a week, with a combination
of lectures and discussion, and occasional film and video screenings.
Members of the class will be expected to assist in leading discussions, produce three pieces of writing, and maintain a journal. (D.W.
Cohen)
Section 005 – Community Strategies
Against Poverty. Developed
as a collaboration of the Residential college and the Center for
Learning through Community Service, this course will analyze the
changing context of poverty in the United States, several strategies
for intervention, and innovative initiatives to create change
at the community level. It will enable students to prepare for
future roles as civic leaders, community builders, and/or active
citizens by providing the substantive knowledge and overall understanding
needed to address problems of poverty in the U.S. The first half
of the course will focus attention on the nature and the sources
of poverty in the contemporary United States, and on the evolution
of efforts to combat that poverty. Topics addressed include the
changing face of U.S. poverty, perspectives on the causes of poverty, urban ghettos and the "underclass," anti-poverty policy
over the years, and recent efforts to reform anti-poverty and welfare policies. The second half of the course will address community
strategies to overcome poverty. Topics include alternative strategies
for change, the role of communities in anti-poverty efforts, and community-based approaches to neighborhood revitalization, economic
development, public health, education and family services. Throughout the course many examples will be drawn from the historical and the contemporary experience of the city of Detroit. The course
will meet three times a week. In a typical week the first session
(Tuesday 4-5:50) will be devoted to a lecture presentation – in
many cases by guest lectures with special expertise in the subject
to be addressed; at the second session (Tuesday 7-8 PM) a film
will be shown; and for the third session the class will meet in
discussion groups of 15-20 students each. Guest lectures will
include faculty from various UM units, such as the College of
LS&A, the School of Social Work, and the School of Public
Health, as well as outside experts on community-based approaches
to social and economic change. There are no prerequisites for this course, but a previous course in the social sciences is highly
desirable. Students in the class will be expected to maintain
a journal, to write several papers, and to complete a take-home
examination. N.B.: There will be opportunities in Spring/Summer
1998 for a small number of students who have taken this course
to work in teams with experienced practitioners in a community-based
organization or civic agency. Students will be carefully selected
for such an opportunity on the basis of their potential for applying their knowledge and getting things done in the community; and stipends may be available for such students. (Weisskopf)
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Times, Location, and Availability
460. Social Science Senior Seminar. Senior standing. (4). (Excl). May be
repeated for credit.
Section
001 – Asian American Women's History.
Through historical texts, oral histories, and writings by Asian
American women this seminar will study the lives and historical
experiences of women of Asian ancestry in the United States. Major
topics covered include an examination of class and gender in Asia
and Asian America, immigration, labor, politics, stereotypes, family, community, war, the anti-Asian movement, and resistance
and transformation. Students will research and write a major paper
on a topic of their choice in Asian American women's history.
Cost:3 WL:1 (Nomura)
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Times, Location, and Availability
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