University Seminars Fall 2006


	anthropology art history economics film, tv & theatre history literature music philosophy political science psychology sociology theology

University Seminars Fall 2007

Continued......

LLEA 13186 01 – Japan in the World
Taught by: Deborah Shamoon
Since ending nearly three hundred years of isolation in 1868, Japan has played a major role in both the politics and the cultural imagination of the West. By analyzing 20th century novels, films, and personal essays, this course will look at how Japan has been viewed in the West, and how the Japanese see themselves in relation to other cultures. Drawing on Edward Said's theory of Orientalism, we will trace the patterns of knowledge and stereotyping about Japan, from exotic and unknowable to wacky and kitschy. We will also examine how and why some Japanese texts perpetuate Orientalist stereotypes, and how Japanese culture in turn views other cultures. Students will gain from this course a nuanced understanding of representations of Japan and Japaneseness from a variety of significant literary and filmic texts, both historic and contemporary. Our purpose is not so much to ask, "What is the Real Japan?" as to ask, "Is there a Real Japan?" and "What do you mean by 'the Real Japan'?"

Texts from abroad will include Peter Carey's travelogue Wrong About Japan, Philip K. Dick's novel The Man in the High Castle, and the Tom Cruise film The Last Samurai. Japanese texts in translation will include "The Dancing Girl" by Mori Ogai, Naomi by Tanizaki Jun'ichiro, and the films Godzilla and Blood the Last Vampire.

Course requirements will include oral presentations, short writing assignments, one longer research paper, a midterm, and a final exam.

LLRO 13186-01 - Piracy, Prostitution and Witchcraft
Taught by: Patricio Boyer
This course examines the role played by liminal figures in defining the culture of the early Atlantic world. Through close analysis of poetry, novels, legal accounts and theological treatises, we will consider the ways that gender, national identities, and an emergent international commercial space affected the constitution of early Modern subjects. We will be reading from Kramer and Sprenger's Malleus Maleficarum and inquisition documents, as well as works from Cotton Mather, Lope de Vega, Sir Francis Drake, Lucy Brewer, Catalina de Erauso, and others.

LLRO 13186-02 - French as Booty: Introduction to Francophone Lit & Film
Taught by: Alison Rice
This introductory course to Francophone literature will focus on creative works of a variety of genres in an examination of the multiple modes of "writing the self" in French. The readings will be broad and far-reaching, and will examine the question of taking up the French language and culture as postcolonial "booty" in autobiographical texts. We will question the ways in which writing the self is often a complicated enterprise when it is undertaken in the language of the colonizer; we will also question the extent to which writing the self intersects with writing others, in the sense of family, community, society, nation, history, and tradition. We will seek to discern the differences that characterize texts composed by writers from diverse geographical locations, linguistic backgrounds, religious beliefs, social environments, and familial and communal histories. We will study five works of fiction, one play, a series of poems, and three movies. Students will be expected to make one oral presentation with another member of the class and complete four written assignments over the course of the semester.

PLS 13186 01 – Pagan and Christian Antiquity
Taught by: Bernard Goehring
In this seminar, students will read, analyze, discuss, and write about a range of the great works from ancient Greece and the Middle Ages, including Plato's Republic and Vergil's Aeneid, and works by Lucretius, Cicero, Epictetus, Augustine, and Bonaventure. In addition to offering the opportunity to consider together some of the foundational texts of Western culture, the class will also serve as an introduction to the "Great Books" approach offered by the Program of Liberal Studies, in which students develop and test their own interpretations of classic texts through thoughtful reading and discussion in which they are expected to take a leading role. This seminar counts as the second in the required seminar sequence for students who go on to major in PLS, and it fulfils the University literature requirement.

PLS 13186 02 - The Good Life & Good Society: Greek, Roman & Christian Classic Writing
Taught by: Kevin Mongrain
The texts assigned for this University Seminar are literary masterpieces by Plato, Lucretius, Cicero, Vergil and Augustine. They will be interpreted and their significance for contemporary life, including one's self-understanding, will be explored through regular discussions in the model of the Great Books seminar. Attention will be given to the form of these masterpieces as whole works of art; stylistic excellences and rhetorical practices will also command attention. Most importantly, the concepts of the good individual life and societal life will be comparatively treated as the discussions of the term progress and as students write successive papers. Three essays of at least five pages will be expected with a final and fourth essay (10 pages) to be an expanded and refined version of one of the initial papers.

PLS 13186 03 - Classical Greece: Texts and Themes
Taught by: Tom Stapleford
In this seminar, students will read, analyze, discuss, and write about a range of the great works of ancient Greece, including Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, and some of the tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, Thucydides' history of the terrible war between Athens and Sparta, and the philosophical dialogues of Plato. In addition to offering the opportunity to consider together some of the foundational texts of Western culture, the class will also serve as an introduction to the "Great Books" approach offered by the Program of Liberal Studies, in which students develop and test their own interpretations of classic texts through thoughtful reading and discussion in which they are expected to take a leading role. This seminar counts as the first in the required seminar sequence for students who go on to major in PLS, and it fulfils the University literature requirement.

MUSIC UNIVERSITY SEMINARS

MUS 13182 01 – Romanticism in Art & Music
Taught by: Susan Youens
A survey of 19 th-century European Romanticism in art and music. No musical background required.

MUS 13182 02 – Exploring The Composer’s Imagination
Taught by: Mary Frandsen
This course looks at the music of many composers from many different historical periods – from Perotin to Mahler – and takes up issues related to the composer’s approach to composition.

PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY SEMINARS

PHIL 13185 01- Introduction to Philosophy
Taught by: Samuel Newlands
In this introduction to philosophy, we will try to better understand just what philosophical explanations are supposed to be and how they may differ from alternative kinds of explanation (e.g., theological, scientific, historical). To do this, we will look at alternative philosophical responses to some of the following puzzling questions: (1) Why is there something rather than nothing? (2) What is the relationship between my mind and my body? (3) What is the nature of personal identity? (4) What is the nature of human freedom? (5) Can God and evil co-exist? (6) What does the good life consist in? (7) What is the fundamental nature of reality?
We will discuss four of these topics in a given semester. In each case, after exploring competing answers, we will ask whether any of the alternatives provide satisfying philosophical explanations or not, and, if not, what we should think about questions that appear to have no satisfying philosophical answers.

PHIL 13185 02 – Introduction to Philosophy
Taught by: Anja Jauernig
This course provides a basic introduction to some central problems of philosophy in epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of mind, philosophy of religion, and ethics. Questions to be addressed include: Can we know if there is an external world? Can we know the past or the future? Is it possible to prove the existence of God? Is it possible to reconcile God's goodness and omnipotence with the presence of evil in the world? What kind of things are persons? Is the mind different from the brain? Supposing that the physical world is deterministic, can we still maintain that humans are free? What is wrong with being an egoist? What does virtue consist in? Is it morally wrong to abort a fetus? Ought we all become vegetarians? We will be reading both historical texts, as, for instance, selected writings by Aristotle, Descartes, Hume and Kant, and contemporary essays on the mentioned topics.

Readings : Joel Feinberg (ed.), Reason and Responsibility, Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing, 13th edition, 2007.

PHIL 13185 03- Introduction to Philosophy
Taught by: Stephen Watson
An examination of fundamental questions about the nature of human existence, based on a critical examination of works in the existentialist tradition.

PHIL 13185 04 – Introduction to Philosophy
Taught by: Stephen Watson
An examination of fundamental questions about the nature of human existence, based on a critical examination of works in the existentialist tradition.

POLITICAL SCIENCE UNIVERSITY SEMINARS

POLS 13181 01 - The Political Thoughts of Homer's Iliad
Taught by: Sotirios Barber
Homer's Iliad, the Western Tradition's greatest war story, has been a subject of scholarly reflection for over two thousand years, going on three thousand years. This great book raises many questions of continuing vitality in political life, questions like the foundations of our obligation to follow persons in political authority, whether the assumptions of political life do or can reflect the realities of the natural world (of which we humans seem to be but a limited part), whether justice is a realistic aspiration of us ordinary mortals, and what considerations should limit our response to injustice. The Iliad raises these and other questions in an action-packed drama that, faithfully reproduced, would earn Hollywood's most restricted rating. We will read Richmond Lattimore's translation of this classic as it was meant to be read: in a laid-back and leisurely fashion that pauses, as we feel the need, to reflect, debate, wonder, or just take in the sights. Course grades will be based on class participation, class reports, a series of five short papers, and a term paper of 15 to 20 pages.

POLS 13181 03 – Genocide and Mass Killings
Taught by: Naunihal Singh
Genocide represents human evil in one of its purest and most abhorrent forms. Although genocides and mass killings are morally inexplicable, scholars believe they are governed by a political logic that can be understood. This interdisciplinary seminar explores why and how genocides occurred so frequently in the 20th century.

Together, we will explore important questions about the causes and conduct of genocides and mass killings. What conditions give rise to mass killings? Who participates in them? How does the outside world react? What can outsiders do? How do you heal a society after it has experienced such horror?

The course will investigate these questions through the study of particular cases including the Holocaust, Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda, and Darfur amongst others.

PSYCHOLOGY UNIVERSITY SEMINARS

PSY 13181 02 – The Art of Using Language
Taught by: Kathleen Eberhard
Language is a uniquely human skill. No animal communication system approaches the complexity and expressive power of human language. As the Linguist Steven Pinker (1994) aptly pointed out, simply by making noises with our mouths we can shape the thoughts and behaviors of others with exquisite precision. This seminar will present an overview of linguistic and psycholinguistic studies of the phonology, semantics, syntax, and pragmatics of language, which, together, make it a unique and powerful form of communication. It will then examine how these levels of language are exploited to influence individuals' thoughts and behaviors in both legal settings and in marketing.

PSY 13181 03 - Controversies in Developmental Psychology
Taught by: Jeanne Day
In this course we will read about and discuss controversial issues and questions that arise as children, adolescents and adults develop in U.S. society today. For example, we may address such controversial questions as: (1) Should young children (e..g, 4 -5 year olds) be enrolled in special advanced-training preschool programs to enhance their opportunities to attend high prestige colleges in the future? (2) Do adolescents' parents or adolescents' peers play a greater role in determining the types of adults adolescents become? (3) What are reasonable expectations for healthy adult relationships? (4) What roles should adult children play when they learn that one of their parents is an alcoholic or has Alzheimer's disease?

SOCIOLOGY UNIVERSITY SEMINARS

SOC 13181 01 – The Social Construction of Difference and Inequality
Taught by: Jessica Collett
Many of use are aware of our own experiences of disadvantage (or perhaps privilege), but we are generally not aware of how structural arrangements in society result in systems of difference and inequality. This class will challenge taken-for-granted beliefs about race and ethnicity, social class, sex and gender, and sexuality by exploring structural causes, and individual accounts, of inequality. Students will be expected to read for each class, participate in group and class discussion, and to complete a series of writing
assignments.

SOC 13181 02 - Sociology of Materialism and Consumption (Halton)
Taught by: Eugene Halton
Today’s consumer societies offer the promises of affluence, of convenience, of the “good life.” Yet it is by no means clear that the massive technological advances and material gains in advanced industrial societies have contributed to a better way of life - many would say increased meaningless is the actual result: a “goods life” instead of the good life. By exploring the rise of the materialism through a variety of sources, including key expressions of social theory, works of art, and consumption culture, we will attempt to achieve a new understanding of contemporary materialism and the prospects for the good life. Key topics to be taken up in the course include: animate mind and the rise of civilized consciousness; the rise of modern varieties of materialism; making the matrix of consumption culture.

SOC 13181 03 - Should You Get Married in 2011?
Taught by: Klein, David
This course examines the details of dating and courtship at the beginning of the 21st century. It is a writing-intensive course with some reading and some relationship assessment exercises. Topics to be covered include: how couples meet, how relationships progress toward marriage, who marries whom, predicting marital success, history of courtship, courtship violence, and understanding breakups. Students need not be dating to enroll.

SOC 13181 04 - Sociology of Culture
Taught by: Lynette Spillman
This class explores how cultural categories, symbols and rituals are influenced by social groups. Topics to be covered include culture in everyday life, identity and social status, symbolic power, the mass media, and the arts. Our goal will be to develop and practice skills in identifying and explaining cultural differences. Class requirements include extensive readings, consistent discussion, and weekly writing.

THEOLOGY UNIVERSITY SEMINARS

THEO 13183 01 – Foundations of Theology
Taught by: David Fagerberg
This course introduces the critical study of Scripture and to the theological development of Christian doctrine for the first six centuries. Successful completion of this course satisfies the first of the two University requirements in theology.

THEO 13183 02 – Foundations of Theology
Taught by:Jean Porter
This course introduces the critical study of Scripture and to the theological development of Christian doctrine for the first six centuries. Successful completion of this course satisfies the first of the two University requirements in theology.

THEO 13183 03 – Foundations of Theology
Taught by: Gerald McKenny
This course introduces the critical study of Scripture and to the theological development of Christian doctrine for the first six centuries. Successful completion of this course satisfies the first of the two University requirements in theology.

THEO 13183 04 – Foundations of Theology
Taught by: Lawrence Sullivan
This course introduces the critical study of Scripture and to the theological development of Christian doctrine for the first six centuries. Successful completion of this course satisfies the first of the two University requirements in theology.

THEO 13183 05 – Foundations of Theology
Taught by: Randall Zachman
This course introduces the critical study of Scripture and to the theological development of Christian doctrine for the first six centuries. Successful completion of this course satisfies the first of the two University requirements in theology.

THEO 13183 06 – Foundations of Theology
Taught by: Timothy Matovina
This course introduces the critical study of Scripture and to the theological development of Christian doctrine for the first six centuries. Successful completion of this course satisfies the first of the two University requirements in theology.

THEO 13183 07 – Foundations of Theology
Taught by: Ann Astell
This course introduces the critical study of Scripture and to the theological development of Christian doctrine for the first six centuries. Successful completion of this course satisfies the first of the two University requirements in theology.

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