Fall 2018 First-Year Writing Seminars

Cigarettes are extraordinary commodities: legal drug delivery devices that kill smokers when consumed exactly as intended by manufacturers. How are cigarettes made, marketed, distributed, and consumed? How do social differences in identity tied to age, gender, sexual, ethnic, racial, and national identity matter to these processes? How do arrangements of power and privilege impact popular and scientific knowledge and ignorance about cigarettes’ harmful effects? In this writing-intensive course, we will draw on academic scholarship, tobacco industry documents, tobacco control materials, movies, photographs, artwork, advertisements, and museum exhibitions to address these questions.

SEM 101 MW 02:55–04:10 p.m. Marina Welker 17906

ANTHROPOLOGY 1101

Culture, Society, and Power: Well-behaved Women Seldom Make History—Women in Science

This course considers the history of women in science, from Marie Curie to Jane Goodall: their contributions to various fields; the feminist critique of scientific practice; and recommendations for change, to encourage the representationofwomeninscience.FromSimonedeBeauvoir’s TheSecondSextocontemporaryfeminist critiques by physicist Evelyn Fox Keller, readings will demonstrate how important it is that barriers facing women in science be overcome. If just one of the women listed above had gotten fed up and quit—as many do—the history of science would be changed forever. Writing assignments will focus on developing strong analytical arguments and will range from obituaries of women scientists to research papers about the state of gender equity in different scientific fields.

SEM 102 TR 10:10–11:25 a.m. Dana Bardolph 17907

ANTHROPOLOGY 1101

Culture, Society, and Power: Cans to Cultured Meats—Food Technology, Risk, and Society

Can you imagine biting into a juicy burger of cell-grown meat? What health, environmental, and societal risks are entailed in introducing new food technology? Humans have utilized technology in food production, distribution, and consumption since tool invention, with instruments such as roasting spits and dishware, machines of mechanical reproduction, drones for food delivery, and petri dishes for cultured meats. We will draw from various fields and media: anthropology (Tim Ingold, Claude Lévi-Strauss), social theory, food science, policy, science fiction (Margaret Atwood, Charlie Jane Anders), podcasts ( StarTalk), and film to interrogate “progress” and associated or presumed risks and precarity in food technology from past to present to projected future. Assignments consist of identifying issues, formulating arguments, composing a creative work, and engaging with current controversies.

SEM 103 MW 08:40–09:55 a.m. Annie Sheng 17908 Lucinda Ramberg

ANTHROPOLOGY 1101

Culture, Society, and Power: Reel Others—Good, Bad, and Just Muslims in Western Cinema

Through an analysis of extracts from cinema classics and contemporary series, this course discusses how Islamophobia can be tied to media representation. Could the depiction of “Arabs” be a way to assert “Whiteness”? How do the descriptions of “being Muslim” we live with, reflect (on) our social relations with and without actual Muslims? Can ethnography offer alternative modes of visual production to destabilize enduring categories? Putting theory into practice, this class considers the ideas and methods of visual anthropology and film studies to conduct both written and visual assignments. Thinking cinematically, students will be exposed to activities that are both contentdriven(e.g.,analysisoftheseries Homeland),andexperimentdriven(ethnographicinterviewsand observations, fieldnotes, and a final visual project).

SEM 104 MWF 09:05–09:55 a.m. Emiko Stock 17909 Lucinda Ramberg

ANTHROPOLOGY 1101

Culture, Society, and Power: Urban Biography—Writing the Intimate Lives of Cities

What intimate encounters do cities make possible? What encounters might cities constrain? This course explores the experiences and possibilities of contemporary urban life through a focus on what love, sex, sexual commerce, and family reveal about the economic, political, and material contexts of cities. The course will emphasize how such intimate matters are relevant to understanding consumer cultures, globalization, and the impact of changing urban infrastructures and development in a global context. Readings will draw broadly on relevant ethnography, cultural geography, journalism, fiction, and film. Students will be asked to engage critically across these texts, to develop an argument by putting texts into productive conversation with one another, and to write an “intimate biography” of a city they choose.

SEM 105 TR 08:40–09:55 a.m. Scott Sorrell 17910 Lucinda Ramberg

ANTHROPOLOGY 1101

Culture, Society, and Power: Paradigm Shifts—Power, Orthodoxy, and Disruption

Everywhere one turns today there is discussion of “paradigm shifts.” How distinctive are they to this moment and are all so-called disruptions in disparate fields connected? This course offers critical tools for apprehending this core motif by which students will explore a variety of literary forms. The seminar will be divided into five units based on a subset of genres, each of which will result in a formal essay assignment: 1) first-person narrative (ethnography, novel, travel memoir); 2) analytical exposition (theoretical deduction, empirical analysis, comparative reasoning); 3) technical prose (scientific reports, legal documents, economic models); 4) opinion essays (editorials, advice columns, critics’ reviews); and 5) creative writing (poetry, screenwriting, mythology). Students will be trained to identify and deploy these textual conventions in their own writing.

SEM 106 MWF 12:20–01:10 p.m. Eudes Prado Lopes 17911 Lucinda Ramberg

ARCHITECTURE 1901 Architectural Taxidermy

The American Museum of Natural History and the Metropolitan Museum of Art's American Wing construct American myths real enough to walk inside. Their dioramas and period rooms are monstrous works of architecture assembled out of a vast array of things and stories. But, who makes them up, what do they look like, and why does this matter? Who gets to write these cultural narratives and decide what counts as “natural,” as “American,” or as “history”? Together we will look at drawings and photographs, consider anthropological expeditions, watch films, and visit fraught spaces on campus while you develop the skills and strategies necessary to dissect this architectural taxidermy. Among others, authors include Teddy Roosevelt, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Franz Boas, Stephanie Rutherford, Carla Yanni, and Donna Haraway.

SEM 101 MWF 01:25–02:15 p.m. Athanasiou Geolas 18135 D. Medina Lasansky

ARCHITECTURE 1901

Figures of Speech: The “Voice” of Architecture

Can architecture talk? Does it have a voice? We are all well accustomed to reading descriptions of what architecture “says,” but the root metaphor often goes unnoticed. Is it an innocent turn of phrase or something more? This course probes the relationship between architecture and speech. We sample writings that raise the question implicitly or explicitly, and we ask what is at stake in the answers they offer. Weekly readings range from architectural manifestos, to criticism and history, to more advanced philosophical texts (e.g., Bakhtin, Derrida, Austin). Our focusing lens, however, is the turn to language that accompanied architecture's so-called “postmodern” period. Assignments emphasize linkages between our reading and writing. Students identify arguments and alliances, developing their own positions in progressively more complex written responses.

SEM 102 MWF 09:05–09:55 a.m. Salvatore Dellaria 18136 D. Medina Lasansky

ART HISTORY 1165

Art History’s Frame: Writing Across Art, Law, Technology, and Other Fields

Artists since the 1960s have turned their attention from “work” to ”frame” by intervening in exhibitions, questioning how art history is written, and making “the context” of art a central concern. This class draws inspiration from that charge to take an expanded view of the authors and texts comprising modern and contemporary art history, and highlights art’s relationship to seemingly unrelated areas like law, technology, finance, and government. Readings will focus on the intersection of these fields, and will range from art criticism, activist manifestos, oral histories, biography, as well as legal documents and financial analyses. Assignments reflect this interdisciplinarity through archival research and artist interviews, writing Wikipedia entries and exhibition labels, inviting us to reconsider—and re-write—the authoritative record through which cultural history is framed.

SEM 101 MW 08:40–09:55 a.m. Lauren van Haaften-Schick 17912 Tracy Carrick

ASIAN STUDIES 1103 Femininities: Asia

This course will study the politics and aesthetics of representing femininity in Asia across a variety of Asian screen cultures, literatures, and political-economic contexts. We will study foundational scholarly writing on the topic as well as consider fiction writing and feature and documentary films about femininity. What has embodying, rejecting, representing, or refusing to represent femininity come to mean in the globalized, neoliberal economies and mobile societies of South, Southeast, and East Asia? Readings will serve as points of departure for understanding different kinds of argumentation and styles of writing: reading responses, short and long analytical essays, abstracts, and proposals.

SEM 101 MW 02:55–04:10 p.m. Arnika Fuhrmann 17913

ASIAN STUDIES 1106 The Great Epic of India

The great Sanskrit epic, Mahabharata, is one of the principal monuments of world literature. This vast, enthralling, and powerful tale of intra-familial war and world-historical decline (of which the famous Bhagavad Gita forms but a small part) transformed the religious and literary consciousness of India, and exercised a broad impact throughout South and Southeast Asia. This course will introduce students to this remarkable text and the literary tradition it inaugurated, through selected readings from the epic itself, along with samples of later renditions of its story (including contemporary theatrical, TV, and comic book versions).

SEM 101 MWF 10:10–11:00 a.m. Larry McCrea 17915

ASIAN STUDIES 1110

Piety, Politics, and Protection: Indian Ocean Buddhism

Long before the steamship, the airplane, the iPad, and Snapchat, Buddhist monks, merchants, pilgrims, and adventurers created a Buddhist network across the space of the Indian Ocean, including much of what we now refer to as southern China, India, Sri Lanka, and Southeast Asia. Why did Buddhist travelers leave their homes for other corners of the Buddhist world? What texts, religious rituals, and magical talismans did they carry? How did mobile persons and things create Buddhism? In this seminar we move between brief primary sources composed by these travelers and their patrons, literary and art historical evidence related to Buddhist networks, and scholarship on trade and networks in order to see the hopes and fears, aims and motivations, of premodern Buddhists on the move.

SEM 101 TR 02:55–04:10 p.m. Anne Blackburn 18170

ASIAN STUDIES 1111

The Making of Modernity in India

How do we define terms like “traditional” and “modern”? These questions have been central to the formation of contemporary Indian society. Often used loosely in our daily lives, these terms get revived and recirculated, gaining special importance in the South Asian context, where the colonial past haunts the present. Drawing on debates in the disciplines of History, Political Science, and Sociology, we will think about controversies raised by such distinctions. The course will include the “reading” of a variety of sources such as flms, fiction, art, and music. The writing work will encourage students to communicate to both academic and non-academic audiences.

SEM 101 TR 10:10–11:25 a.m. Yagna Nag Chowdhuri 17917 Jessica Sands

ASIAN STUDIES 1111

Settler Colonialism through Transpacific Asian Literature

The modern movement of Asian settlers within, throughout, and beyond the Pacific Ocean resulted in complex social formations between themselves and the indigenous peoples where they settled. This writing seminar will explore recent academic discussions of settler colonialism in relation to Asian literary texts produced in multiple contexts across the Pacific Ocean, ranging from Hawai'i, mainland United States, Okinawa, Taiwan, and others. What is a settler and what does it mean to be one? How can literature assist our understanding of this concept? What does our engagement with Asian literary texts reveal about our social positions? Students will develop their writing skills through a number of writing exercises such as reflection essays, article summaries, and a research paper.

SEM 102 TR 02:55–04:10 p.m. Ryan Buyco 17918 Jessica Sands

ASIAN STUDIES 1111

Literature, Culture, Religion: Religion and Ecology in Modern South Asia

Environmental and ecological issues such as climate change, ozone depletion, air and water pollution, and deforestation are among the most challenging issues facing the world today. In this class we will examine these issues within the context of South Asia (India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh), with particular reference to the variety of religious traditions found throughout the region (including Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Islam). Readings will include source material examining both historical as well as contemporary and ethnographic case studies. Through response papers, short essays, and a research paper students will practice marshalling evidence in support of an argument, as well as cultivating critical thinking skills, personal voice, and stylistic control.

SEM 103 MW 02:55–04:10 p.m. Vince Burgess 17919 Jessica Sands

ASIAN STUDIES 1111

Culture and Nation: Political Aesthetics of Korea

How do you know what is your national identity? This writing seminar will investigate the relationship between culture and nation-building, focusing on Korea’s national identity and the construction of “Korean-ness.” We will examine the links between language and identity, aesthetics and politics, and popular culture and “national” culture discussing topics such as “Korean” history, literature, film, food, and popular culture. Our goal is to discover (in)visible global connectivity and to rethink the national, ethnic, and geopolitical borders that tend to divide the world. Reading materials will also include works by Benjamin Anderson, Ernest Renan, Stuart Hall, Edward Said, Karatani Kojin, Frantz Fanon, and Homi Bhabha. Writing assignments will include analyses of and reflections upon “national” cultures, as well as an independent research paper.

SEM 104 MWF 01:25–02:15 p.m. Nari Yoon 17920 Jessica Sands

AFRICANA STUDIES AND RESEARCH CENTER 1822 The African American Short Story

The short story is an ideal genre through which one might gain a basic introduction to African American literature and its major themes. As a form and genre, the short story’s specific origins within African American literature are traceable back to the antebellum era of the nineteenth century. The genre was significantly advanced in the post-bellum era by authors such as Charles Chesnutt, thrived throughout the twentieth century, and continues to develop in contemporary African American literature. In this course we will consider short stories by Chesnutt, Jessie Fauset, Nella Larsen, Arna Bontemps, Zora Neale Hurston, Ralph Ellison, Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, Ann Petry, Rosa Guy, Paule Marshall, Ernest J. Gaines, and Toni Morrison. The primary goal of this course as a First-Year Writing Seminar is to reinforce the skills of students in good and effective writing. Through weekly entries in a reading journal, the production of six papers, including several of which will be revised, and periodic in-class writing exercises, students will produce an extensive portfolio of written materials over the course of the semester. This course is designed to give students one of the strongest possible foundations upon which to build for success as writers in the years at Cornell and beyond.

SEM 101 TR 01:25–02:40 p.m. Riche Richardson 17921

AFRICANA STUDIES AND RESEARCH CENTER 1832 Thinking Heidegger: Reading Was Heisst Denken?

We have a range of expressions that deal with thinking. For example: She is very good at “thinking on her feet” or he “thinks fast” both denote speed of thought—or, the ability to command the response the moment the encounter demands. However, in these expressions, we hardly ever raise the question of what thinking is. This course seeks to address precisely this issue, What is thinking?, through a reading of Martin Heidegger’s work Was Heisst Denken? (“What is Called Thinking?”). Heidegger is relentless in his pursuit of this question and as thorough as he can be. Still, it could be argued that the question remains incompletely answered, presenting itself as a challenge to us in our engagement with it. Was Heisst Denken? is the primary text for this course, with an excursion or two through the work of WEB DuBois and Michel Foucault in those moments that these figures turn their attention fully to thinking.

SEM 101 TR 11:40–12:55 p.m. Grant Farred 17924

AFRICANA STUDIES AND RESEARCH CENTER 1841 Exotic/Erotic Blackness: Race, Sex, and Cultural Consumption

How did Blackness become an object of curiosity, desire, and fascination? How did it become exotic? In this course we will see that this is not the result of a recent development in the representation of black bodies. Rather the construction of Blackness as exotic/erotic originates as far as the beginnings of colonialism. We will look at how and why black bodies have been sexualized and commodified through literary and media representation. We will then turn to works by black intellectuals and writers who analyze and resist this form of cultural consumption. Students will critically address these issues and demonstrate their knowledge of the material through close readings and essay writing.

SEM 101 MW 02:55–04:10 p.m. Alex Lenoble 17914

AFRICANA STUDIES AND RESEARCH CENTER 1845 Staging the Black Family

This course explores the many ways that Black families are depicted on stage, with an emphasis on the work of twentieth- and twenty-first-century African-American playwrights. Students will read plays by Lorraine Hansberry, August Wilson, Adrienne Kennedy, Suzan-Lori Parks, and Lynn Nottage, among others. Writing assignments will encourage students to think critically about different aspects of the Black family, including the role of gender and sexuality, chosen families, and the ways that race shapes perceptions of the family unit. Students will leave the course with enhanced critical thinking and writing skills, and a greater appreciation of theater.

SEM 101 TR 01:25–02:40 p.m. Kristen Wright 17916 Oneka LaBennett

ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY 1640 Science Communication through Storytelling

What is it about the story of mountaineers climbing Everest or of a National Geographic photographer traversing the jungle in search of jaguars that draws us in and transports us into their worlds? If told well, a story has the power to engage and unite readers through the most basic human emotions. But science is often the opposite of this, focusing primarily on facts that overshadow the engaging personal stories leading to discoveries. Scientists need you to help them convey their stories! By writing analyses of storytelling techniques used in field journals from the 1800s to those used by today’s Instagram stars, you’ll learn and put into practice the art of communicating science through compelling narratives.

SEM 101 TR 10:10–11:25 a.m. Joseph Welklin 18707 Elliot Shapiro

NEUROBIOLOGY & BEHAVIOR 1220

The Mind: From the Biological to the Artificial

When you think back on your favorite childhood family vacation, or the first time you took the field at your favorite sport, how accurate are your memories? Will artificially intelligent robots ever make it from the movie screen to the workplace, and if they do, just how much will they think like we do? Using popular science readings by authors like Robert Sapolsky, we will explore some of the peculiar ways in which our mind works and influences how we behave, and how scientists are using this information to build “artificial minds” in computer chips. Through writing informational and opinion pieces on topics like these, students will improve their ability to convey interesting and multifaceted ideas and develop cogent and convincing opinions in their writing.

SEM 101 MWF 09:05–09:55 a.m. Ryan Post 17922 Melissa Warden

NEUROBIOLOGY & BEHAVIOR 1220

Wandering Naturalists: Rambles at the Intersection of Art and Science

E. O. Wilson wrote that “A lifetime can be spent in a Magellanic voyage around the trunk of a single tree.” From John Muir’s thousand-mile walk to Florida to Annie Dillard’s years at Tinker Creek, scientists and artists often gain their greatest insights by exploring a deeper relationship with the natural world, frequently losing themselves in contemplative journeys. Students will read works by naturalists, philosophers, and poets, describing how they have experienced, in Emerson’s words, “truth, goodness, and beauty” in nature. By considering classic texts adjacent to modern works by writers of diverse backgrounds, we will examine the universal experience of interdependence with our surroundings as well as the richness of each individual’s experience of nature. Students will reflect upon readings in a series of essays.

SEM 102 TR 02:55–04:10 p.m. Sara Keen 17923 Melissa Warden

CLASSICS 1531 Greek Myth

This course will focus on the stories about the gods and heroes of the Greeks as they appear in ancient literature and art. We will examine the relationship between myths and the cultural, religious, and political conditions of the society in which they took shape. Beginning with theories of myth and proceeding to the analysis of individual stories and cycles, the material will serve as a vehicle for improving your written communication skills. Assignments include preparatory writing and essays focusing on readings and discussions in class.

SEM 101 MWF 12:20–01:10 p.m. Dennis Alley 17926 Eric Rebillard

SEM 102 TR 11:40–12:55 p.m. Kathleen Garland 17927 Eric Rebillard

CLASSICS 1539

Slavery Trials: Ancient and Modern

This course will focus on court cases about slavery and freedom from ancient to modern times. We will study the way law and culture interacted to shape the institution of slavery and the development of ancient and modern conceptions of personhood, humanity, legal status, and race. Beginning with court speeches from Classical Athens, we will go on to examine law and slavery in Ancient Rome and the Early Modern Mediterranean before considering Atlantic Slavery, including Brazil and the United States. Assignments include preparatory writing and essays focusing on readings and discussions in class.

SEM 101 TR 01:25–02:40 p.m. Nicole Giannella 18167

CLASSICS 1576

War, Politics, and Human Nature: The History of Thucydides

The war between Athens and Sparta (431–404 BC) as written by Thucydides is recognized as a paradigm for international relations, military strategy, and the challenges of political leadership under a democracy. Its admirers range from Colin Powell to Bob Dylan. But Thucydides is also a compelling storyteller, portraying advocates of idealistic patriotism or aggressive brutality, relating episodes of tragic miscalculation or murderous political hysteria. We will study him as a model for observing and understanding the range of actions that humans can take against each other. We will also note what he edits out, but his contemporaries did not: women and the family

( Lysistrata), religion (Antigone and Oedipus), and transcendent moral values (Plato’s accounts of Socrates). Requirements include regular participation, presentations on assigned topics, and six essays.

SEM 101 MW 02:55–04:10 p.m. Jeffrey Rusten 17925

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE 1105 Books with Big Ideas

What do Frankenstein and Things Fall Apart have in common? What lies behind the fantastical stories of Aladdin? Do we have to like Garcia Marquez and Shakespeare? These texts and authors re-imagine the human experience at its most intriguing level. In this course we will discuss human rights, intimacy, joy, isolation, and other controversies at the heart of these books. Throughout the semester, students will learn how to articulate an informed and nuanced position on these issues via formal practices in analytical readings, drafting, peer review, and self-editing. Actual selection of readings may vary depending on the instructor’s focus.

SEM 101 MWF 03:35–04:25 p.m. Hannah Karmin 17928 Debra Castillo

SEM 102 TR 10:10–11:25 a.m. Vinh Pham 17929 Debra Castillo

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE 1106 Robots

In 2015 Japan’s SoftBank Robotics Corporation announced the world’s first robot with feelings. Many people were excited, many more disturbed. If robots are simply, as the dictionary suggests, machines “designed to function in the place of a living agent,” then what is so disturbing about them? Since robots are designed to replace human labor (first economic, and now also emotional), do they represent a threat as much as they do an aid? What happens when robots exceed their purpose, and become more humanlike? How do robots read, write, and feel? How do the activities of coding and writing, or decoding and reading differ? Students will be equipped with the vocabulary and writing strategies to rigorously analyze, compare, and debate the meaning of robots in the human imagination from different epochs, countries, languages, and media. In doing so they will write in a variety of registers about plays such as R.U.R. by Karel ?apek, who invented the term “robot.” Other materials may include philosophical texts, fiction, videogames, films, graphic novels, and hip-hop concept albums.

SEM 101 MWF 10:10–11:00 a.m. Marie Lambert 17930 Debra Castillo

SEM 102 TR 01:25–02:40 p.m. Marc Kohlbry 17931 Debra Castillo

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE 1107 Writing the Environment

The state of the planet is one of the most urgent issues of our time, yet communicating environmental concerns and engaging the public on environmental issues is never easy. By studying and emulating how scientists, activists, philosophers, anthropologists, religious leaders, journalists, and last but not least creative writers connect us with our increasingly threatened world, this course aims to provide tools to students from all disciplines on writing the environment. Assignments will include analyzing and mapping the templates of different kinds of environmental writing; comparing writing from different periods and parts of the world aimed toward diverse audiences; and trying out writing voices and styles within and across the students’ divergent knowledge, interests, and skills.

SEM 101 MW 08:40–09:55 a.m. Anindita Banerjee 17933

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE 1110 Seeing (beyond) Race

“[T]he Other fixes me with his gaze,” so writes Fanon about being seen as a black man. Our course will start from the working premise that racial difference is constructed through the act of looking and being seen. We will consider how different peoples have been subjected to racial stereotypes and how image impacts power relations in real life. We will also examine the ways artists and intellectuals speak back to oppressive representational regimes through creative self-expression and critical analysis. Our texts may include essays by Stuart Hall, accounts of ethno-tourism, Marlon Riggs’s documentary, Beyoncé’s Lemonade, and David Henry Hwang’s M. Butterfly. Through writing personal reflection, critical essays, and a research paper, students will learn to analyze visual texts and the social power of image.

SEM 101 TR 08:40–09:55 a.m. Kun Huang 17934 Debra Castillo

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE 1115 On Alienation and Empathy

Have you ever been frustrated with only existing inside your own mind? In this course we will read what authors and thinkers have written about differences between groups of people—like race and gender–and about the difference between any two people, which makes it hard to feel like we “really know” someone. We will write about how these differences relate to each other, and what we would want to change about them. We will read stories that allow us to reach across distance and know something, but also how, in the information age, they demonstrate what we cannot know. You will learn how to read deeply and critically (poems, short stories, a novel); and how to write clearly and analytically (analyses, comparisons, argumentation). The reading for class will include work from the United States, Israel, South Africa, and Sudan.

SEM 101 MW 02:55–04:10 p.m. Nitzan Tal 17935 Debra Castillo

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE 1116 Things

What can the seemingly mundane objects that populate everyday life tell us about our relationship to the world? And if art, as A. B. Marx put it, is a “secret confession,” what might it confess about this relationship, about “things”? In this seminar we will explore how art—including literature, film, and visual media—can help us to unlock the hidden stories and histories contained in things. By engaging with these materials, we will learn to think and write about how art reflects on and engages with the “things” of our world, be they objects, commodities, possessions, money, or even bodies. Though we will consider “things” from a variety of contexts, we will concentrate primarily on French literature, film, and visual art from the twentieth century.

SEM 101 TR 11:40–12:55 p.m. Marc Kohlbry 17932 Debra Castillo

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE 1119 A Taste of Russian Literature

Explore the culinary tradition and culture of Russia in broad historical, geopolitical, and socioeconomic context through the lens of Russian folklore, short stories of Gogol, Chekhov, and Bulgakov, works of contemporary Russian-American writers, visual art, and international film. The literary journey will take you from the lavish tables of the XVIII-century aristocracy, to the hardship and austerity of GULAG prison, to the colorful and savory regional fare of the former Russian Empire and Soviet Union, to the fridge and pantry staples in the everyday life of Russian family. Your writing assignments will help you develop critical thinking and argumentative skills, precision and clarity of expression, ability to write with discipline, creativity, and a sense of style.

SEM 101 TR 02:55–04:10 p.m. Raissa Krivitsky 17936

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE 1121

Ukraine and Russia through the Eyes of Nikolai Gogol

For several years now, Ukraine and Russia have been in the headlines as their conflict has captivated the world. Nikolai Gogol (1809–52) is uniquely positioned to provide some answers to many questions surrounding this conflict. A native of Ukraine, Gogol moved to St. Petersburg at the age of twenty. His works set in Ukraine and Russia, his juxtaposition of the two ethnicities, are relevant in gaining an understanding of this tragic strife between the two neighboring countries. Gogol’s picturesque style is abundant with rhetorical devices. Studying Gogol’s works chronologically, from “The Fair at Sorochintsy” to “The Overcoat,” will enable students to familiarize themselves with his oeuvre’s wide range. This, in turn, will equip students with numerous tools designed to enrich and improve their writing skills. Most important, writing assignments will help students to learn how to write in a lucid and coherent manner.

SEM 101 TR 02:55–04:10 p.m. Gavriel Shapiro 17937

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE 1122 Aesthetics for Beginners

This course will treat basic concepts of aesthetics with reference both to theoretical texts and to artworks of all forms, genres, and periods, as well as to natural phenomena. With care and precision, we will address elementary questions of aesthetic experience: Are there objective standards of beauty or does it really lie in the eye of the beholder? What do we mean when we call something “sublime”? Is it meaningful to argue about taste? Why do we sometimes take pleasure in the ugly and the disgusting? What is the relationship between aesthetic and moral judgment? Developing their own critical writing, students will gain argumentative skills crucial for any academic discipline. Readings may include Plato, Aristotle, Longinus, Rousseau, Burke, Kant, Darwin, Baudelaire, and/or Nietzsche.

SEM 101 MW 07:30–08:45 p.m. Klas Molde 17958

CITY AND REGIONAL PLANNING 1109 Environmental Politics

The politics of the environment permeate American life. They involve issues ranging from very local concerns (e.g., protection of individual water supply sources or potential development of highly valued open space) to the broadest possible national and international concerns (e.g., protection of the country’s national parks, air pollution controls, and strategies for confronting global warming). This course examines our collective discussions of environmental issues: e.g., what groups wish to accomplish (or prevent) regarding the environment, what interests motivate those widely varying groups, what tactics/strategies those groups utilize for influencing decision-makers, and what factors most significantly shape decision-makers’ specific choices about protecting or harming the environment. Readings, class discussions, and writing assignments will deal with both historic and current environmental controversies.

SEM 101 MWF 11:15–12:05 p.m. Richard Booth 17959

DEVELOPMENT SOCIOLOGY 1200

The Color and Class of Water: Environmental Justice and Public Health

The lead crisis in Flint, Michigan and the protests at Standing Rock are among the recent moments of social unrest concerning development. Communities around the globe are facing rising inequalities, and inequities often involve resources like water. Studying social aspects of water crises helps reveal class and race disparities within resource management. Water conflict resolution depends on greater understanding of the power struggles within environmental planning. Students in this course will advance their comprehension of inequalities with the help of research from environmental justice (EJ), public health, and sociology. Students will refine their communication skills by exploring narrative voice, clarity of argument, and the ability to explain academic material to non-academic audiences. Assignments will include evidence-based research papers, creative journalism projects, and peer review workshops.

SEM 101 TR 11:40–12:55 p.m. Theresa Pendergast 17967 Phil McMichael

DEVELOPMENT SOCIOLOGY 1200 Writing in the Anthropocene

The Anthropocene is more than just weird weather; the name of this new era flips our understanding of the relationship between humans and the environment. In this course we will seek to understand ongoing environmental changes and the effects of naming or narrating them in particular ways. We will also try to work out how best to write and communicate in the Anthropocene, searching for thoughtful approaches to studying crisis and controversy. Readings will be wide-ranging, some popular, e.g., Elizabeth Kolbert's essay on extinction and Bill Cronon's classic rejection of wilderness; others new and experimental, e.g., recipes for “Colony Collapse cuisine.” Writing assignments will build towards a social science research proposal, where students will articulate realistic, data-driven research questions about relevant topics of their choice.

SEM 102 MW 08:40–09:55 a.m. Eleanor Andrews 17968 John Sipple

ENGLISH 1105

Writing and Sexual Politics: Introduction to Female Madness

Since ancient times madness and witchery have been associated with the use of female voice in public. Introduction to Female Madness is a course on writing about literature with a focus on female voice, whether authors or characters, and the way it addresses the tradition of its own otherness. The students will write five critical and one personal essay in response to short novels by such authors as Christa Wolf, Jean Rhys, Jane Bowles, Bessie Head, and Zadie Smith, as well as a selection of international poetry.

SEM 101 MW 08:40–09:55 a.m. Valzhyna Mort 17975

ENGLISH 1105

Writing and Sexual Politics: Women and the Novel

How have women writers helped create the modern novel? And how has women’s writing changed the way we read? In this course we will explore novels by and about women, from the rise of the novel in the eighteenth century to our own time. We will discuss these works’ stories of independence, equality, liberty, hierarchy, and slavery. And in approaching each novel, we will also read and evaluate a critical essay to help us create our own approach to larger questions about the "female imagination," the social status of women, the role of independence in female creativity, and the relation between gender and race. The readings will include novels by Charlotte Brontë, Virginia Woolf, and Toni Morrison.

SEM 102 MWF 10:10–11:00 a.m. Laura Brown 17976

ENGLISH 1105

Writing and Sexual Politics: Disobedient Women, Untamable Words

Life and literature are full of rules. What happens if you break them? In the course we will read texts by and about women who are rule-breakers; all of them are in some way "too much" (too opinionated, too angry, too large or too small, too emotional, too ugly, too strange). Our subjects will be uncomfortable, taboo, unconventional, and fearless. With authors such as Alison Bechdel, Audre Lorde, Virginia Woolf, and Han Kang, this class will ask students to question not only the rules of the world we live in, but of our language itself. Writing both analytically and creatively, students will be encouraged to push boundaries with the questions they ask, the positions they take, and their very practice of writing.

SEM 103 MWF 11:15–12:05 p.m. Emily Mercurio 17977 Ellis Hanson

ENGLISH 1105

Writing and Sexual Politics: Naming and Exposure

What does it mean to name an act between bodies, or, more acutely, what is the complication of using a given name for an act between bodies? Can the absence of naming an act provide more radical or more truthful engagement with a body, even one's own in only its own companionship with self? And where does power exist in the discourse of physical interplay? With these questions and more as guide, we will consider the compositions instructing our identities as sexual beings and how writing can negotiate the dynamics of power, physicality, and the erotic, isolated, and violent psyches.

SEM 104 MWF 12:20–01:10 p.m. Annie Goold 17978 Ellis Hanson

ENGLISH 1105

Writing and Sexual Politics: What's Love Got to Do With It? The Political Force of "Love"

From Simone de Beauvoir to Shulamith Firestone, feminists have argued that romantic love is tangled up with gender oppression. Queer theorists, meanwhile, critique nuclear family love as a burden of conformism, reclaiming romantic desire, sexual pleasure, and different kinship formations instead. However, Martin Luther King's non-violent philosophy emerged from his concept "agape"—unconditional love for all God's children. This course traces these contestations over the political force of love: How has it been differently represented or served contradictory political ends? Is love even representable or does it involve a different kind of embodied communication? Such questions will be woven into writing instruction and assignments which will engage authors such as Carolivia Herron, Radclyffe Hall, and examples of popular romance such as Titanic or The Notebook.

SEM 105 MWF 01:25–02:15 p.m. Katherine Thorsteinson 17979 Ellis Hanson

ENGLISH 1105

Writing and Sexual Politics: Queer Cinema

How do films help us to think differently about identity, sexuality, and desire? In pursuit of this question, this course explores queer films from around the globe and from the mid-twentieth century to the present day. Students will learn basic film concepts as they engage with cinema's exploration of the overlaps and tensions between class, race, gender, sexuality, and able-bodiedness. We will also sample some works of film criticism as part of our consideration of the larger conversations in which the films participate. Directors whose work we may explore include the following: Pedro Almodovar, Percy Adlon, Stephen Cone, Ang Lee, Spike Jonze, and John Cameron Mitchell. This course will involve a variety of creative and analytical writing assignments.

SEM 106 MW 02:55–04:10 p.m. Zachary Grobe 17980 Ellis Hanson

ENGLISH 1105

Writing and Sexual Politics: Erotic Intelligence

“The sexual relation does not exist,” the thinker Jacques Lacan once remarked. Proceeding from this startling admission that sex is always somehow a missed encounter, and that we can never truly have what we want, this seminar centers on a fundamental question that art has been asking itself since its beginnings: When we love, how does it feel; and when we desire, how is that different? Although we will read theories of desire ranging from Ovid to Esther Perel, this course will focus on texts that not only meditate on the tenuous connections between love and sex, but also seem, on their own, to cultivate an amorous relationship with the reader. Authors include Sappho, John Keats, Jane Austen, Emily Dickinson, Charles Baudelaire, and Oscar Wilde.

SEM 107 MW 02:55–04:10 p.m. Bojan Srbinovski 17981 Ellis Hanson

ENGLISH 1105

Writing and Sexual Politics: Literature and Sexual Violence

How do we understand sexual violence? How does literature frame our understanding? This course will undertake an exploration of these questions in relation to works by Ariel Dorfman, J. M. Coetzee, Tarfia Faizullah, and others. We will consider how problems of sexual violence are bound up with constructs of history, nationality, law, and morality, while centering issues of a fundamentally literary nature—issues of authority, narration, genre, and interpretation. Acknowledging our proximity to contemporary American cultural contexts while turning to the cultural contexts of Bangladesh, South Africa, Chile, etc., we will raise the question of sexual violence on intellectual, emotional, cultural, and political grounds. Students will craft a variety of written responses to the course materials, including personal essays, analytical essays, and research papers.

SEM 108 TR 10:10–11:25 a.m. Samuel Lagasse 17982 Ellis Hanson

ENGLISH 1105

Writing and Sexual Politics: Witch Narratives and the Magic of Writing

In the last ten years witch occulture has become ubiquitous, revealing an intensifying interest in that wicked and powerful woman some call “witch.” In this course we will follow this fearsome figure through history, starting with an infamous medieval witch-hunting treatise and ending with the good witches of social media. In between we may visit Hermione, Tituba of Salem, Baba Yaga, Wiccans, brujas, and more. Assignments will center the transformative power of language and the spell-binding potentialities of writing. Students will be asked to legally defend the doomed Salem “witches,” to create a Gothic witch story, and to perform other acts of persuasive, critical spell-casting. Together, we will imagine what words can do when wielded with skill, creativity, and sometimes playful—and sometimes deathly serious—purpose.

SEM 109 TR 02:55–04:10 p.m. Kristen Angierski 17983 Ellis Hanson

ENGLISH 1111

Writing Across Cultures: Sick and Well Bodies

The way we think about our body—as a machine, as a computer program, or as a prison for the soul—affects how we experience pain, illness, and our sense of self. In this course you will read literature about the body in sickness and in health in order to examine how disease is the result of biology but also social, cultural, and historical factors. What stories did people tell about the spread of plague prior to the advent of modern medicine? How did “understanding” the cause of disease change the way it was experienced? Texts will range across historical periods, focusing on poetry, prose, and non-fiction writing, but also including films and visual media. You will produce analysis, literary criticism, personal, and creative pieces.

SEM 101 MWF 11:15–12:05 p.m. Philippa Chun 17995 Masha Raskolnikov

ENGLISH 1111

Writing Across Cultures: South Asia through Fiction

What is South Asia? What binds this vast region together? How can we talk about its culture, history, politics, and conflicts without reducing it to a stereotype? What does Tibet have in common with Sri Lanka or the mountains of Nepal with the atolls of the Maldives? What differentiates Arundhati Roy's India from Mohammad Hanif's Pakistan? In this course we will attempt to answer these questions by looking critically at fiction from the area, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka. Writing assignments for this class will include five critical essays, three of which will go through a substantial revision/rewriting process.

SEM 102 MWF 12:20–01:10 p.m. Weena Pun 17996 Masha Raskolnikov

ENGLISH 1111

Writing Across Cultures: Memoir and Personal Essay

When you say "I," you mean you; when I say it, it's another person that I mean. Reading memoir lets you experience the selves of others, although (as this course will demonstrate) it would be too simple to assume that what you experience in reading memoir is “the truth” of a person's experience—something is always left out, and experience is always shaped, molded, and performed. This course will hone your skills as a critical reader by introducing you to a number of varieties of personal writing. This course will also hone your abilities to write eloquently and persuasively, and become more comfortable producing smart and thoughtful personal writing as well as critical writing that isn't afraid to state your own personal views and defend them. Through the practice of writing and re-writing, reading and re-reading, and through class discussion, and exercises, we will work on strengthening your own sense of yourself as an active participant in your own learning.

SEM 103 MWF 12:20–01:10 p.m. Masha Raskolnikov 17997

ENGLISH 1111

Writing Across Cultures: How Not to Write

“It was a dark and stormy night:” With this opening sentence of his 1830 novel Paul Clifford, Edward Bulwer-Lytton created an archetype for what we consider bad writing. But . . . what is bad writing? Is it simply a matter of grammar and punctuation, of purple prose, of incoherence, or does it extend deeper into the soul of the work? If so, who cares? In a subjective world where “art” can pass as different things to different people, who is to say what “bad” writing really is? By reading, watching, listening, and writing, we’ll try to explore and uncover what we really mean when we say something is “bad” writing. Course prerequisite: Are you a bad writer? Good!

SEM 104 MWF 01:25–02:15 p.m. Shane Kowalski 17998 Masha Raskolnikov

ENGLISH 1111

Writing Across Cultures: Sports Literature—The Sorrow and the Contest

Athletic contests have served as symbols, stories, and structure for nearly as long as literature has been written down. From the Olympic champions Pindar set among the gods to the Aeneid's boat races to Henry V's tennis metaphor to David Foster Wallace's essays to the Psalms to the old baseball-loving pastor of Marilynne Robinson'sGilead and the broken bodies of B. H. Fairchild's Midwest outfielders, sports serve up striking images, memorable characters, and intensely emotional moments. In this class we'll read works entire and excerpted, literature, essays, and theory all focusing on athletes or analogies of sport. We'll ask questions about the relationship of athleticism and literature, those who write and those who play. Assignments will include a number of academic essays and some creative writing.

SEM 105 MWF 01:25–02:15 p.m. Seth Strickland 17999 Masha Raskolnikov

ENGLISH 1111

Writing Across Cultures: Bollywood in the Twenty-First Century

In 2013 India celebrated 100 years of Indian cinema, prompting an examination of the history of film and renewed enthusiasm regarding novel approaches to film—film-makers invented and reinvented aspects of films, re-imagining everything from the idea of the feature film to the "item number." This course will examine Bollywood cinema in the new millennium to understand how films change in the twenty-first century, and the structures that both led to and developed from these changes. Through project-based writing assignments, we will locate Bollywood films in contemporary Indian cultural spaces, politics, and literature. In addition to interrogating Bollywood films on their own turf, we will also study Bollywood in relation to other film industries, and pay attention to the way films circulate regionally, nationally, and globally.

SEM 106 TR 08:40–09:55 a.m. Krithika Vachali 18000 Masha Raskolnikov

ENGLISH 1111

Writing Across Cultures: Hemingway and Joyce—Fighter and Friend

In this course we will ask how two friends and drinking buddies, Ernest Hemingway and James Joyce, blew the conventions of literature apart with their works. In particular we will examine these authors’ unique narrative techniques, comparing them to a variety of works by their predecessors and by the authors they continue to inspire. By coming to understand the role of Hemingway and Joyce in the shaping of literature as we read it today, students will both grow as readers and learn techniques to improve their own writing. Readings will include short stories, excerpts, and novels from Hemingway, Joyce, Sherwood Anderson, David Foster Wallace, Virginia Woolf, and others. Writing assignments will involve short responses, and longer analytical essays.

SEM 107 TR 01:25–02:40 p.m. Jessica Abel 18001 Masha Raskolnikov

ENGLISH 1111

Writing Across Cultures: Love Poems After 1900

Who is “allowed” to write love poems? And why? In this course we will listen closely to the voices in love poetry often talked over (women, people of color, the queer community) in popular culture. We will examine older patterns of metaphor used in talking about the beloved as well as entertain newer, fresher language that expresses amorous feelings. The work of poets Garcia Lorca, Siken, Sexton, Salinas, Swenson, Lorde, and Nelson will be discussed, among others.

SEM 108 TR 01:25–02:40 p.m. Lindsey Warren 18002 Masha Raskolnikov

ENGLISH 1111

Writing Across Cultures: The Bible and Ancient Authors

In this seminar we will read, discuss, and write about key works by Classical authors such as Homer, Plato, Virgil, and Ovid, as well as selections from the Hebrew Bible and the Christian New Testament. The focus of writing and discussion will be on developing analytical skills for understanding and exploring these works as literary, historical, and intellectual artifacts.

SEM 109 TR 02:55–04:10 p.m. Andrew Galloway 18003

ENGLISH 1111

Writing Across Cultures: The Uncaged Narrator

Writer Jerome Chayn once said, “The novel was born free but everywhere I see it in chains.” There are certain expectations and rules when it comes to writing, especially when it comes to narration. But when do these rules becomes constraints, and what happens when writers disobey or challenge these barriers? We will draw on examples that are considered both traditional and nontraditional to answer these questions. From the drug-addled narration of Denis Johnson’s short fiction and narrative insanity of Kathryn Davis’ Duplex to the fragmentary memoirs of Maggie Nelson and aggressive lyric “I” of punk songs, we will explore and dispute our notions of voice, narration, and structure. This uncomfortable and uncertain space will be our point of focus throughout the semester. Analytical and creative writing will encourage students to know the rules before breaking them.

SEM 110 TR 02:55–04:10 p.m. Mario Giannone 18004 Masha Raskolnikov

ENGLISH 1134 True Stories

When students write personal essays for college applications, they often discover just how challenging writing about and presenting themselves to the public can be. In this course we’ll examine how well-known authors such as Maxine Hong Kingston, Alison Bechdel, Tim O’Brien, and others construct their public, written selves. We’ll consider how an author’s self-presentation affects how readers interpret the experiences, insights, and knowledge presented in each text; we’ll also consider how the style of writing affects how readers understand an author’s personality and motives. Readings will include short essays, possibly some poems, and a few longer works. Together, and writing frequent essays, we’ll explore why and how people write about themselves—for self-exploration, political or social change, purely to practice a form of art, or for other reasons—and we’ll investigate how writing shapes lived experience.

ENGLISH 1147

The Mystery in the Story

What makes a story, and what makes it a mystery story? In this course we'll study and write about the nature of narratives, taking the classic mystery tale written by such writers as Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, and Raymond Chandler as typical of intricately plotted stories of suspense and disclosure that have been written and filmed in many genres: Greek tragedy, horror tales by Poe and Shirley Jackson, psychological thrillers by Ruth Rendell and Patricia Highsmith, neo-noir films such as Memento and Fight Club, and postmodern mystery parodies such as those of Paul Auster and Jorge Luis Borges. We'll look at the way they hold together, the desire and fear that drive them, and the secrets they tell—or try to keep hidden.

ENGLISH 1158

American Voices: New Southern Black Narratives

The last 25 years has seen a period of art created by southern Black Americans that have traversed national and international appeal. But what is it about the southern black experience that has connected with those who are neither black nor from the American South? And how do these artists navigate their blackness while also discussing issues like gender, class, and sexuality? Through close and critical reading, discussion, and writing students will analyze texts from Jesmyn Ward, Natasha Tretheway, Beyoncè, OutKast, and the television showAtlanta (among others) to try to understand how southern black artists thwart archetypical stereotypes to tell their own stories of the American South.

SEM 101 MW 08:40–09:55 a.m. Shakarean Hutchinson 18032 Neil Saccamano

ENGLISH 1158

American Voices: Faulkner and Morrison

This course will explore the work of arguably the two major twentieth-century novelists concerned with race in America. William Faulkner and Toni Morrison offer profound representations of the unseen and the unspeakable in a country that works hard to bury its racial past. Both authors are uniquely interested in the genres of ghosts, hauntings, horror, and the gothic. As such, these difficult modernist texts invite us to talk and write about visions, dreams, and nightmares that are represented as part of daily life. We will be interested above all in the ways both authors use these genres to experiment with the complex ways that time, memory, subjectivity, and history coalesce and fissure along the faultlines of race and gender.

SEM 103 MWF 12:20–01:10 p.m. Austin Lillywhite 18034 Neil Saccamano

ENGLISH 1158

American Voices: Agricultural Imaginaries

How does agriculture figure in the American imagination? How does literature contribute to our collective understanding of food and farming? Through close attention to a variety of journalistic and literary texts we'll investigate representations of farm life and farm labor from depression-era Nebraska to 2027 California. We'll also draw extensively on Cornell-based resources, through class visits with university historians and scientists on the cutting edge of agricultural research. Texts may include Willa Cather's O Pioneers!, James Agee's Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, Tomas Riviera's And the Earth Did Not Devour Him, and Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower. Assignments will cover a wide variety of writing skills, ranging from literary analysis papers to short stories depicting the agriculture of the future.

SEM 104 TR 10:10–11:25 a.m. Molly MacVeagh 18035 Neil Saccamano

ENGLISH 1158

American Voices: Latinx Literature

Latinx is new. Earlier examples include: Latina/o, Hispanic, or straight-up Brown. Using Latinx as a point of departure, we’ll go deeply into poetry, short stories, memoirs, and novels written by writers who might be identified as Latinx (don’t worry if you yourself ain’t Latinx, or if you might be but aren’t sure). Readings will embrace Sandra Cisneros, Eduardo C. Corral, Kirstin Valdez-Quade, Junot Díaz, and others. Not all writers studied will necessarily be Latinx, and our focus will be on contemporary work—published sometime within the past twenty years, more or less. The goal will be moving through writing assignments intended to answer preliminary questions: What is Latinx? And who am I? And do these descriptions even matter?

SEM 105 TR 11:40–12:55 p.m. Leo Rios 18036 Neil Saccamano

ENGLISH 1167 Great New Books

Would you be able to identify the Shakespeare or Austen of your time? What are the best books being written today and how do we know they are great? What role do critics, prizes, book clubs, and movie adaptations play in establishing the appeal and prestige of new literature? Are there some books that are great in their moment and others that will be considered great for generations to come? These are some of the questions we'll explore as we read, discuss, and write critical essays about several of the most acclaimed books published in the last twenty years. Our readings will include works in a range of genres, from novels and memoirs to poetry and graphic novels.

ENGLISH 1168

Cultural Studies: Aliens on Safari—African Science Fiction

Celebrated science fiction (SF) author Nnedi Okorafor once provocatively queried in a blogpost, “is Africa ready for science fiction?” The proliferation of SF literature and films from the continent have answered with a resounding, “yes!” In this course students will explore the science fiction genre and critically interrogate the ways in which African authors and artists deploy SF-specific conceits and strategies in their work. Through multiple film viewings and stimulating readings of literature and critical essays, we will engage and debate terms and concepts such as “afrofuturism” and “jujutech” while we work to define SF on the continent. Students will write both critical and creative essays that culminate in a final creative “making” project in collaboration with the Mann Library Makerspace.

SEM 101 MWF 10:10–11:00 a.m. Emma Kioko 17938 Laura Brown

ENGLISH 1168

Cultural Studies: Humor and Healing in Black Art

What is it about the African American literary tradition that has given birth to some of the most insightful comedy? With trauma comes different ways of mediating pain; comedy is one way of navigating that pain while also understanding why our need to laugh goes hand in hand with interrogating personal, communal, and historical suffering. As such, this course draws on a number of literary-historical moments, including black vaudeville, the works of novelists including George Schuyler (Black No More) and Fran Ross (Oreo). In keeping with the theme of the course, students will work in a number of genres of writing including creative nonfiction and close reading.

SEM 102 MWF 12:20–01:10 p.m. Gary Slack 17939 Laura Brown

ENGLISH 1168

Cultural Studies: Sacred Books as Literature

Nearly four billion of the world's inhabitants adhere to one of the three Abrahamic faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. These religions and their sacred books have shaped global culture for thousands of years, with their ideas about creation, divine order, ethics, faith, salvation, history, and apocalypse. This course considers selections from the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim scriptures—not theologically, but as literature, examining their images, stories, themes, differences, similarities, as well as their textual histories and their cultural afterlives in art, drama, and literary history. Class discussion and writing assignments will be rigorously academic, and focus on literary questions.

SEM 103 MWF 01:25–02:15 p.m. Jonathan Reinhardt 17940 Laura Brown

ENGLISH 1168

Cultural Studies: A Balm in Wakanda—Black Speculative Thought

Black speculative thought (commonly called Afrofuturism) has experienced a recent explosion of production. It reached the mainstream with the recordbreaking 2018 release of Black Panther, but the future and the fantastic have served as sites for black transformation and healing earlier than the turn of the last century. Over the semester we will consider a range of Afrofuturist literature and culture, including selections from Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, Black Panther: World of Wakanda, the oeuvres of musicians from Sun-Ra to Janelle Monae, and visual/performance art. In writing critically and creatively about black speculative literature and culture, students will analyze the sociopolitical necessities of a black speculative turn in the present and the implications of this turn for the future of black people and the universe.

SEM 104 MW 02:55–04:10 p.m. Elizabeth Alexander 17941 Laura Brown

ENGLISH 1168

Cultural Studies: Communicating Climate Change

Many of us like stories of personal experience. But this preference for stories on the individual human scale may be one reason that contemporary societies have struggled to develop effective responses to climate change: ordinary storytelling modes aren’t adequate to the long time spans and vast reaches of environmental change. This course will ask you to read, write, and design many different forms and genres in order to experiment with the problem of communicating climate change, from pie-charts to science fiction and from poetry to documentary film. What can each form tell us about climate change that the others cannot?

SEM 105 MW 02:55–04:10 p.m. Caroline Levine 17942

ENGLISH 1168

Cultural Studies: Being the Best You—A History of Self-Help

Get ready to say yes: yes to a better, brighter, and more confident you; yes to conquering your fears; yes to a well-balanced reading load, peer-editing, ample revisions, and submitting assignments and papers in a timely manner!Thiscoursecriticallysurveysself-helpandetiquettemanualsfromSamuelSmiles’1859 Self-Helpto Tim Ferriss's Four-Hour Body, James Fordyce's Sermons to Young Women to Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In. What sociological and historical factors lead to the rise of the self-help and etiquette manual? Why do these texts still top best-sellers lists and crowd the front of bookstores? What are the implications of the authority we attach to these guides?

SEM 106 TR 08:40–09:55 a.m. Malcolm Bare 17945 Laura Brown

ENGLISH 1168

Cultural Studies: Dramedy from Ancient Greece to NBC

What do we do with the odd plays, novels, films, and television shows that don't fit neatly into either “drama” or “comedy”? Who gets to laugh and at whom? From Shakespeare's “problem plays” to primetime television, texts that resist categorization nevertheless become mainstream hits. We'll examine how dramedies (and their historic predecessors, tragicomedies) walk the line between slapstick humor and heart-wrenching drama. By pairing plays and novels like Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, Jane Austen's Emma, and Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita with films and television shows like The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Parks and Recreation, we'll explore how genre-bending texts adapt and subvert their borders.

SEM 107 TR 11:40–12:55 p.m. Olivia Milroy Evans 17946 Laura Brown

ENGLISH 1168

Cultural Studies: Dear Diary

Do you have a diary? Are diaries always meant to be private, or do we sometimes assume that someone else is reading them? In this course we read several diaries written as private reflections, as fictional autobiography, and as public memoir. We explore each type for common themes, such as the diary as a confessional space. We also examine common diary-writing strategies, like the self-reflexive or informal tone. We ask how the diary is

different than the autobiography and if different genres of literature are gendered and how and why diaries raise questions about identity. Authors include Anne Frank, Harriet Jacobs, Benjamin Franklin, Michele Serros, and Leslie Arfin.

SEM 108 TR 01:25–02:40 p.m. Ella Diaz 17947

ENGLISH 1168

Cultural Studies: Finding the “Kid” in Kids’ Popular Culture

How is the figure of the child constructed in popular culture? When and to what degree do children participate in the construction of these representations? This course surveys a variety of contemporary media texts (television, film, and the internet) aimed at children ranging in age from pre-kindergarten to young adults. We explore how these texts seek to construct children as empowered consumers who contest adult authority (think Nickelodeon’s mantra, “Kids Rule!”) even as they also present themselves as socializing children (be part of the team, share, etc.). Taking a cultural studies approach, the class will consider the connections between the cultural texts and material realms such as advertising and toys.

SEM 109 TR 01:25–02:40 p.m. Jane Juffer 17948

ENGLISH 1168

Cultural Studies: Comics! Graphic Novels! Transmedia Knowledge!

Graphic novels and comics have long mixed research and storytelling. From Maus to Logicomix to Fun Home, graphic novels tackle complex historical, philosophical, and literary issues. The For Beginners and Introducing . . . comic books series include such titles as Climate Change for Beginners, Black Women for Beginners, Quantum Theory, Mind and Brain, and Derrida. Finally, the field of graphic medicine translates medical science for at-risk communities. Supporting Cornell’s public mission of community engagement, this course teaches students to read and compose argumentative essays, info comics, multimedia presentations, and other forms of transmedia knowledge. Students learn critical and creative skills for sharing research with specialists, community members, policy-makers, funding agencies, and the general public using software such as Word, Comic Life, and PowerPoint. Transmedia knowledge is fun!

SEM 110 TR 01:25–02:40 p.m. Jon McKenzie 17949

What does it mean to “do it yourself”? How have collectives of artists historically mobilized against mainstream commercialism, as well as the cultural forces of patriarchy, white supremacy, heteronormativity, and capitalism? When and why have they succeeded or failed? Through an examination of various U.S. grassroots arts communities—with a particular focus on D.I.Y. punk and zine culture from the 1980s to the present—this course will delve into these questions. Assigned texts may include zines, albums, documentaries, oral histories of music scenes, and works of critical theory on community, self-governance, and utopian thought (e.g., José Esteban Muñoz, Emma Goldman, and Hannah Arendt). Assignments will include reports on local art scenes and zines, a sequence of formal essays, and a final collaborative creative project.

SEM 111 TR 02:55–04:10 p.m. Marty Cain 17950 Laura Brown

ENGLISH 1168

Cultural Studies: Culture, Politics, and Policies of American Inequality

Political trends leading up to the 2016 presidential election have left many unusually confused, enraged, or apathetic about the debates and policies informing American governance. Politics in particular are continuing a decades-long trend of competitive messaging tactics that too often belie substantive discussions about racial, gender, and economic inequalities. Corresponding to this, popular notions of liberalism and conservatism have atrophied into ideological encampments, just as the Internet has further enabled news outlets to undercut or distort reasonable discourse needed to enhance those notions. How is one to be reasonably informed? We will consider the works of political theorists, legal scholars, economists, journalists, essayists, and artists to write about and discuss these problems in earnest.

SEM 112 TR 02:55–04:10 p.m. Peter Gilbert 17951 Laura Brown

ENGLISH 1170 Short Stories

What is the difference between an anecdote and a short story or a memoir and a short story? How does the short story separate itself from the prose poem, the myth, or the parable? What can a short story do that no other art form can do, including cinematic narrative? This course will focus on the reading and analysis of short stories derived from a range of cultures and time periods, with some emphasis on English-language stories, particularly those from the North American continent. Writers may include but not be limited to: Tobias Wolff, Alice Munro, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Willa Cather, Edgar Allan Poe, Nikolai Gogol, Eudora Welty, Louise Erdrich, Haruki Murakami, Denis Johnson, Margaret Atwood, Donald Barthelme, Flannery O'Connor, Edith Wharton, Raymond Carver, Joyce Carol Oates, and Anton Chekhov. There will be a research component and some workshop discussion of student work.

ENGLISH 1183 Word and Image

Writers and artists from Homer to Raymond Pettibon have been fascinated by the relationship between words and images, a relationship that is sometimes imagined as a competition, sometimes as a collaboration. What are the differences between literary and visual media? What can the juxtaposition of word and image teach us about the nature of representation? What other goals do artists and writers hope to achieve by coupling words with images? To explore these questions, we will consult works drawn from a range of periods and genres (graphic novels, medieval manuscripts, contemporary art and new media, emblem books, film, literary gaming, fiction, and poetry). The course is structured around a progressive set of writing assignments and will include both informal exercises as well as formal essays.

ENGLISH 1191

British Literature: Jane Austen Made Me Do It

We needn’t add zombies to Pride and Prejudice to know that Jane Austen still walks the earth, undead. Her influence on popular culture—movies, sequels, “updates,” fan fiction—is greater today than ever. Something about her writing makes us want to (re)write. We will read Pride and Prejudice (1813) and Emma (1816) in their revolutionary historical context, to watch Austen manipulating her contemporary popular culture, especially that threatening new thing called “the novel,” consumed largely by women. (Indeed, her first completed novel,Northanger Abbey, can be read as “Gothic” fan-fiction.) We will also sample some modern-day transformations of Austen’s works—and perhaps invent some, learning from her stylistic games. Writing assignments may include commonplace-book and encyclopedia entries, literary analyses, critical syntheses, archival research, creative projects.

SEM 101 MWF 10:10–11:00 a.m. David Faulkner 18008

ENGLISH 1191

British Literature: Making the Medieval/Early Modern Miscellany

Like assembling a playlist of your favorite songs, making a medieval miscellany—a book-length compilation of various literary works—was a painstaking process, but one which contributed to modern ways of thinking about the book. In this course we will explore the origins and early evolution of the book as we consider questions of compilation, editing, and textual production in relation to medieval manuscripts, early printed books, and the literary texts they contain. We will also draw on the works of modern authors as we ask what the book as material object can tell us about its makers and readers, how compilation and anthologization can be interpreted as editorial acts, and what, finally, goes into the making of a book.

SEM 102 TR 11:40–12:55 p.m. Grace Catherine Greiner 18009 Neil Saccamano

ENGLISH 1191

British Literature: Reading, Writing, Romance (circa 1375–1820)

What do you think of when someone says “romance”? As a genre, romance can mean at least two different things: a story of travel and adventure, preferably involving magic, or a love story. In both forms romance dominates popular culture, but it also forms a powerful current in literary history. Part One of this two-part course (either can be taken separately) will explore romance through English literature from around 1375 to 1820. Readings might include the magical medieval romance Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (translation by Tolkien!); Shakespeare's late romance The Tempest; a section of Gulliver's Travels; selections from “Romantic” poets including Keats; and Austen's ambiguously R/romantic novel, Persuasion. We'll explore facets of the romance mode in short, exploratory essays based on close reading.

SEM 103 TR 01:25–02:40 p.m. Jane Glaubman 18010 Neil Saccamano

ENGLISH 1191

British Literature: Oscar Wilde

“My existence is a scandal,” Oscar Wilde once wrote. With his legendary wit, his exuberant style of perversity and paradox, and his audacious sexual transgressions, his scandals continue to fascinate and delight. Through different approaches to interpretive writing, we will explore his work in a variety of genres, including his brilliant comedy TheImportanceofBeingEarnest,hisbanneddramaSalomé,andhisDecadentnovelThePictureof Dorian Gray.

SEM 104 TR 02:55–04:10 p.m. Ellis Hanson 18011

ENGLISH 1270

Writing About Literature: Old English to the New World

This first-year writing seminar is a companion course to English 2010 Introduction to Literatures in English: Old English to the New World (MWF, 12:20–1:10 pm). It is specifically designed for students who wish to take an FWS that is linked to another course in their academic program. In this “linked” FWS we will draw on the content of the lecture course for our writing assignments while exploring that content in greater depth through additional light readings. Students enrolled in this FWS will be concurrently enrolled in ENGL 2010. English 2010, which covers some of the most famous—and infamous!—works of early British and American literature, is a great course for both prospective English majors and students wishing to fulfill their Language and Arts (LA) or Historical Breadth (HB) distribution requirements. Students may only ballot for this class if they are willing and able to also be enrolled in ENGL 2010, MWF 12:20–1:10pm.

SEM 101 MWF 01:25–02:15 p.m. Rayna Kalas 18012

Students may only ballot for this class if they are willing and able to also be enrolled in ENGL 2010, MWF 12:20–1:10 pm. This time slot must be open in your schedule.

ENGLISH 1270

Writing About Literature: The Reading of Fiction

We will examine modern fiction from 1870 with an emphasis on the short story and novella. Our writers will include: Conrad, Dostoevsky, Joyce, Kafka, Lawrence, Mann, Chekhov, Hemingway, Faulkner, and a full-length novel by Woolf. We will not only study form and narrative strategies but we will also put these works in the context of intellectual and historical developments, including parallel developments in modern art. Student writing assignments will be mostly critical essays, but there will be one creative assignment. Our goals will be to develop close, attentive, imaginative reading and writing—and to enjoy our reading and writing!

SEM 102 TR 08:40–09:55 a.m. Daniel Schwarz 18013

First-year students may enroll only if they have taken one First-Year Writing Seminar, scored a “5” on the Princeton AP examination, received a “700” or better on the English Composition or CEEB tests, or received a “6” or “7” on the IB English Lit exam.

ENGLISH 1270

Writing About Literature: Forms of Poetry

In this class we will study the history and evolution of several traditional forms in English poetry including blank verse, sonnet, common meter, ode, couplet, and syllabic poetry and free verse, as well as some French Forms such as the villanelle and triolet. Students will write short papers on six of the forms and give one in-class report on a topic of their choice. They will also write an original example of one of the forms studied.

SEM 103 TR 11:40–12:55 p.m. Robert Morgan 18014

ENGLISH 1270

Writing About Literature: All Our Favorite Books

In this course you will suggest and select the books we shall read with the idea of analyzing the category of like, love, or favorite. We shall be interested in aesthetics and taste in literature. What is your favorite book and why? Why are some books called guilty pleasures and others literary reads? To truly love a book, understanding it through analysis is the best expression of that love. In this course we shall move forward with the understanding that critical analysis does not kill one’s love for a book, it enhances it.

SEM 104 TR 01:25–02:40 p.m. Mukoma Wa Ngugi 18015

FEMINIST, GENDER & SEXUALITY STUDIES 1113

“Social Justice Warriors" and Cosmo: Online Feminist Discourse

This course examines the ways that feminism is talked about in the age of social media. How do different online communities discuss feminist issues? What presuppositions are present in those discussions and who is the audience? Who decides what counts as feminism? Whose voices are being listened to (and why)? How does the internet as a medium affect the discourse? The course will draw on the academic literature of both feminist/gender studies and linguistics, as well as nonacademic sources from current media, to examine these questions. While we study the structure of online arguments, we will identify argumentation strategies that can be used to communicate more effectively in both academic writing and broader contexts.

SEM 101 MWF 01:25–02:15 p.m. Jennifer (Mia) Wiegand 18016

FEMINIST, GENDER & SEXUALITY STUDIES 1114 Queer Identity and Popular Music

Why did disco music emerge in gay, black communities? How did Riot Grrrls bring “girls to the front” of punk shows? From hip-hop to musical theater, from Dolly Parton to Prince, we will listen to a wide range of U.S. popular music and watch music videos as we explore how LGBTQ individuals and communities use sound to navigate identity and desire. Written histories and criticism by and about queer musicians and fans will help us to understand what “queer” means, while honing our close reading skills. Through personal narratives and multi-draft essays, we will practice writing about music and develop critical arguments about how popular music mediates queerness as identity, practice, and politics.

SEM 101 MW 02:55–04:10 p.m. Lee Tyson 18017

FRENCH 1108

Monstrous Forms: Wild Men and Wicked Women

This course proposes an exploration of monstrosity through two major figures in Medieval and Early Modern Culture: the “Wild Man” and the Witch (with some forays into related figures). These two figures seem to exemplify monstrous humanity, in both physical and moral dimensions. We will also explore how accounts of wild men explore the border between human and animal, as well as the relationship between the “civilized” and the natural world. Authors and works will include Beowulf, Chrétien de Troyes, Marie de France, and selections from witchcraft treatises.

SEM 101 MWF 10:10–11:00 a.m. Kathleen Long 18043

GOVERNMENT 1101

Power and Politics: Gender, Violence, and the State

Why is it that the men largely make up the profession of violence and why are they the main perpetrators of violence in society—whether domestic violence, school shootings, acts of terrorism, or the initiation of wars? What role does this violence play in shaping the state? Using texts from political science, sociology, and psychology, this course will piece together how gender affects violence and how violence affects the state. We will begin the course by better understanding what gender is and what role it plays in students' everyday lives. We will then develop gender as a framework for understanding violence and state formation. In exploring these themes, students will write personal reflection, opinion, explanatory, and application essays.

SEM 102 TR 10:10–11:25 a.m. Sabrina Kim 17954

GOVERNMENT 1101

Power and Politics: Money and Politics

This course explores the politics of money through an examination of central puzzles and events in global capital markets. Topics will range from the Great Depression to the 2008 crisis to cryptocurrency. These questions will be addressed through a diverse set of academic work in political science and economic history, and non-academic writing such as op-eds, journalistic reporting of issues, and memoirs and speeches by policymakers recounting events as they unfolded. Through close readings of these written works, and related writing assignments including op-eds, policy memos, and peer reviews, this course will give students the opportunity to write with, against, and about substantive problems concerning the politics of money and the world economy.

SEM 103 MW 02:55–04:10 p.m. Aditi Sahasrabuddhe 17955 Jonathan Kirshner

GOVERNMENT 1101

Power and Politics: Just Words? Writing about Justice and Inequality

This writing seminar will consider the politics of justice and inequality through a focused examination of the work of a diverse set of writers, ranging from classical political thinkers and contemporary scholars and politicians to economists and novelists. How do these writers mobilize language to cast inequality in a new light, to persuade others about the meaning of justice, or to open our eyes to hidden inequity? Through close readings of texts ranging from Karl Marx to Friedrich Hayek to Hannah Arendt, Toni Morrison and Ta-Nehisi Coates, and a series of related writing assignments, this course will give students the opportunity to write with, against, and about compelling writers politically engaging the topics of inequality and justice and seeking to change their worlds.

SEM 104 MWF 09:05–09:55 a.m. Jacob Swanson 18424 Jill Frank

HISTORY 1180 Viking America

Five centuries before Columbus’s fateful journey, Europeans in flimsy wooden ships were trekking westward across the Atlantic. This course examines the Norse discovery of America ca. 1000 AD, focusing on the so-called “Vínland sagas.” We will study these sagas as medieval historians’ attempts to write about their own past, contrasting their works with modern historians’ takes on the same issues. We will also engage with Native American perspectives, with the contact zone between texts and material evidence, and with the afterlife of the Norse journeys in popular imagination. Students will write short essays reviewing and reassessing existing historiography, with the aim of refining our sense of the relationship between events and their textualization, both now and in the past.

SEM 101 TR 10:10–11:25 a.m. Oren Falk 17956

HISTORY 1200

Space and the City in Modern Europe

The European nineteenth century was a time of revolutions: in political practice and social organization, in science, philosophy, and culture. It was also the century of the city: when the very ways in which people moved and lived in the spaces around them utterly changed. This course explores the birth of the modern city as it was expressed in political texts, scientific treatises, literary works, and film. As we traverse boulevards, barricades, and bourgeois apartments, students will use the theoretical toolkits of spatial history, critical geography, and the history of ideas in order to read the nineteenth century through five of its most significant urban spaces. We will examine not only how these cities developed and changed over time—but also how the very idea of the city in this period became a stage upon which played out the most pressing fantasies, anxieties, and contradictions of modern European life.

SEM 101 MW 07:30–08:45 p.m. Nicholas Bujalski 17984 Tamara Loos

HISTORY 1200

Writing the Environment

How do we tell the stories of the environments that surround us? This course explores how contemporary writers blend observation, history, interviews, and scientific research to tell these stories. From climate change to the grassy park down the street, the subjects this course addresses grant us an opportunity to discuss topical environmental and social concerns, and to examine how writers have successfully and artfully approached these issues. Readings include authors such as Annie Dillard, Ian Frazier, Jesmyn Ward, and John McPhee, among others, and brief selections from environmental theorists and thinkers. Writing assignments will include short exercises to hone specific writing skills and essays that will ask you to question and be critical of the environments in which you spend your time.

SEM 102 MW 07:30–08:45 p.m. Matthew Dallos 17985 Tamara Loos

HISTORY 1200

Empire and Decolonization in the American Century

The election of Donald Trump has provoked questions concerning the United States’ exercise of global power. But, what is the nature of this power? Can we think of the United States as an empire? If so, what does it mean to decolonize America? This course investigates these questions by viewing the United States through an imperial lens, surveying the kinds of hegemonic power that the U.S. has exercised at home and abroad, spanning from the Philippines, to Iran, to Guatemala, to Vietnam, to Iraq. We will examine anticolonial visions and resistance to imperial power. We will also explore Indigenous American and African American responses to colonialism within the continental states. Assignments will be directed at articulating critical arguments about race, class, gender, nation, and citizenship.

SEM 103 TR 10:10–11:25 Lewis d’Avigdor (Molly Reed-first few weeks of 17986 Tamara Loos

HISTORY 1200

Science and Technology, Latin America in the World

What has been the role of science and technology in Latin America? Traditionally thought of as a technologically and scientifically “backward” region, Latin America often has been left out of discussions of science and technology. We will examine the history of science and technology in Latin America during an important era of globalization (c. 1870–1930). To that end, we will be consulting materials from the time (e.g., newspapers, engineering journals, photos, and travel narratives), as well as texts by historians on topics such as mining, race sciences, and railway imperialism. Based on these materials students will write five short essays supported by in-class writing exercises designed to strengthen basic argumentative and analytical skills.

SEM 104 MW 08:40–09:55 a.m. Kyle Harvey 17987 Tamara Loos

HISTORY 1200

What is Enlightenment?

What was or is the Enlightenment? This writing seminar centers on a centuries-old question which remains unsettled in spite of the multitude of answers provided to it down to the present day. Drawing on a selection of major literary, political, and philosophical texts from the historical Enlightenment as well as modern analyses and definitions, we will engage in the major debates of the Enlightenment period and analyze the ways in which “the Enlightenment” is mobilized in public discourse today. We will also think about the ways of reading, writing, and reasoning that characterize the movement as we hone our own writing practices. Writing assignments include close readings, short creative and analytical essays, and a final research paper.

SEM 105 MWF 12:20–01:10 p.m. Samantha Wesner 17988 Tamara Loos

HISTORY 1200

Atlantic and Pacific Ocean Worlds

What exactly is an ocean? What defines the Atlantic, and the Pacific? Where do they begin and end? And how have certain people and ideas thought of, crossed, or engaged in these oceans over the past few centuries? This course seeks to think broadly about the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. We will discuss the movement of people (e.g., transatlantic slave trade, maritime workers, pirates), ideas (e.g., republicanism, revolutionary syndicalism), colonization in the Pacific, and the production of scientific knowledge at sea. Readings will be drawn from a variety of sources, from historians, anthropologists, fiction writers, and documents from the era. This range of readings will offer a wide array of styles of writing.

SEM 106 MW 07:30–08:45 p.m. Joshua Savala 17989 Tamara Loos

HISTORY 1200

Wealth and Poverty in Modern India

What is wealth, and how is it created? Why did some societies become wealthier than others? How do individuals and societies navigate conditions of wealth and poverty? This writing seminar explores new answers to these old questions. Drawing on texts from a wide range of fields, including history, economics, literature, sociology, and others, we will think about the ways in which ideas of wealth and poverty explain modern India and the world we live in today. We will consider both classic theories of wealth and poverty, as well as current debates around development, economic growth and sustainability, market governance, and social inequality. Writing assignments will include analytical essays, reviews, and response papers.

SEM 107 MW 07:30–08:45 p.m. Osama Siddiqui 17990 Tamara Loos

HISTORY 1200

Writing History: Communal Utopias in Nineteenth-Century America

Long before the hippie communes of the 1960s and 1970s, thousands of nineteenth-century Americans attempted to reform “mainstream” society by participating in experiments in communal living. This course focuses on the radical visions for alternate futures put forth by members of communal experiments and how these visions connect in surprising and powerful ways to urgent twenty-first-century concerns. We will pay special attention to movements for gender and racial equality, economic reform, and environmental sustainability in nineteenth-century communal settlements. Alongside recent historical scholarship, we will read memoirs, critiques, and fictional accounts of communal life from writers and thinkers such as Louisa May Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Friedrich Engels. Students will emulate and critique “utopian” writing in their own essays.

SEM 108 MW 07:30–08:45 p.m. Molly Reed 17991 Tamara Loos

HISTORY 1200 What is Sparta?

“This is Sparta!” The movie quote that took on a life of its own in pop culture helped introduce a new generation to the image of the famous warriors of Ancient Greece. This course will look at the complicated question hidden behind that statement: what was Sparta? What is it today? From ancient times to the present, images of Sparta have been brought up in writing, comics, and film to portray new versions of an ideal society to be copied or avoided. War, politics, gender, tourism: all have a potential “Spartan” angle which can be explored in this course. Students will have an opportunity to consider ancient and modern depictions of Sparta, and work towards a research paper focusing any aspect of the image of Sparta.

SEM 109 MW 08:40–09:55 a.m. Craig Lyons 17992 Tamara Loos

HISTORY 1321

Post-World War II America: Crisis and Continuity

Why are the years following World War II considered so remarkable in the landscape of American history? Several critical events and debates that rocked the nation from the 1940s onward reverberate today, such as involvement in wars, civil rights, women’s rights, concerns about teenagers, and crises in American cities. Enriched by a variety of primary sources, including films and TV shows, this course analyzes the central events, people, and forces that transformed American society and culture from the years after World War II to the present. The course aims to help students learn how to write persuasively about scholarship and primary sources, while gaining a deeper appreciation for the lasting influence of the major events, crises, and interpretations of post-World War II American history.

SEM 101 TR 01:25–02:40 p.m. Kelly King-O’Brien 17993

HISTORY 1400

Rudyard Kipling's India: Literature, History, and Empire

Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936), most famous today as the author of children’s stories, including The Jungle Book, was one of the most popular and acclaimed writers of his day. He was also a noted chronicler of the world of the British empire. In this class we will read the short stories, poems, and novels that Kipling wrote about India—including his most famous novel, Kim. Students will explore the intersections between Kipling’s stories and the history of British rule in India, and also consider the broader question of how fictional works can be used to explore the history of past cultures.

SEM 101 TR 08:40–09:55 a.m. Robert Travers 17994

HISTORY 1445 Twentieth-Century Brazil

Brazil has long been called a “laboratory” of civilization. At once indigenous, European, and African, the continental-sized country provides a useful perspective for thinking through broader phenomena associated with the 20th century. In this seminar we will explore themes ranging from the transition from slavery to free labor, urbanization, internal colonization, uneven economic development, the rise of cultural nationalism, and resistance to the military dictatorship. We will work with sources as varied as literature, architecture, and popular music, looking to understand how Brazilian intellectuals imagined themselves to be both tropical and modern, especially relative to the United States and Western Europe. Several shorter writing assignments early in the semester will prepare students for a final research paper on a topic of their choice.

SEM 101 TR 11:40–12:55 p.m. Ian Merkel 18326

HISTORY 1446 France and its Empire

The history of France is inseparable from that of its empire. In this seminar we will look at various places within the French Empire (Indochina and Algeria, the Caribbean and West Africa) insofar as they came to bear on “French” history. While particular attention will be placed on the specificities of the French Republic and its civilizing mission, students will write about broader themes including race, cultural difference, migration, economic development, and political representation. In addition to engaging with how historians and theorists have addressed the complicated and mutually influential relationships between metropole and colony, students will also work extensively with primary sources, including writings by anticolonial activists Aimé Césaire, Ho Chi Minh, and more recently Christiane Taubira.

SEM 101 TR 10:10–11:25 a.m. Ian Merkel 18330

ITALIAN 1113

Writing Italy, Writing the Self: Jewish-Italian Literature and the Long Twentieth Century

The Jewish community of Rome is the oldest one in all of Europe, dating back to 200 BCE, and the authors of some of the most important twentieth-century works of Italian literature are Jewish. In this course we will examine how some of these writers have articulated the self against the background of the historical events that have shaped the past hundred years: two world wars and different social movements of the pre- and post-WWII eras. The seminar includes several film screenings and a meeting with at least one of the authors read in the course.

SEM 101 MW 02:55–04:10 p.m. K. E. von Wittelsbach 18005

JEWISH STUDIES 1987

Jews on Film: Visible and Invisible

Why were Jews virtually invisible in films made during the Hollywood’s “golden age”? Is this a surprise, given the leading role played by American Jews in founding the studio system? Writing about the films studied in this course will help students situate and interpret the presence (and absence) of characters identifiable as Jews in Hollywood films released from 1927 until the present. We will view approximately six films outside of class and study excerpts from others. Films to be studied in whole or part may include: The Jazz Singer, The Great Dictator,Holiday Inn, The Apartment, Funny Girl, Silent Movie, Annie Hall, Yentl, Barton Fink, and A Serious Man. Students will write film analyses, review essays, reflective responses, and explorations of contextual material. Readings from film studies and popular journalism will situate these films within the historical, cultural, and industrial contexts in which they were produced.

SEM 101 TR 01:25–02:40 p.m. Eliott Shapiro 18006

LINGUISTICS 1100

Language, Thought, and Reality: How to Build a Language

In the twenty-first century there has been a resurgence of constructed languages, driven in part by their visibility in Avatar, Game of Thrones, and the film adaptations of Lord of the Rings. However, hundreds of languages have been constructed for reasons as diverse as finding God, uniting nations, aiding the disabled, and communicating with computers. The majority have been deemed failures, either because they were unpopular or lacked linguistic sophistication. We will explore the linguistic tools necessary to compose linguistic systems with the expressive power, systematicity, and limitations of natural languages, from the level of sounds to words to sentences. The ultimate goal is for each student to begin constructing their own language and to justify in writing its linguistic validity and practical or artistic merit.

SEM 101 TR 11:40–12:55 p.m. Joseph Rhyne 18007

MEDIEVAL STUDIES 1101

Aspects of Medieval Culture: Medieval Saints’ Lives

From transvestitism to voyeurism, medieval saints’ lives portray the gruesome alongside the miraculous. How do performances of gender and sexuality shape the models of Christian piety offered in these texts? How did male monastic audiences react to excessive scenes of ostensibly holy female nudity, and what do these un-dressed or cross-dressed saintly bodies suggest about reading, learning, and monastic notions of chastity? We will explore these questions in a series of late antique and medieval saints’ lives, through class discussions, informal reading responses, and five formal essays. Essays will include literary analysis of primary sources and critical engagement with secondary sources.

SEM 101 MW 08:40–09:55 a.m. Sophia D’Ignazio 18050 Andrew Hicks

MEDIEVAL STUDIES 1101

Aspects of Medieval Culture: Medieval Ecologies

Talking vegetables, dreaming trees, pious worms, and a Green Knight: how did the natural world capture the medieval imagination? How did medieval writers think about landscapes, vegetation, animals, the weather, and other aspects of the environment? In this class we will explore themes such as humans and the environment, what is “natural” and “unnatural,” animals and monsters, wilderness and civilization, religion and nature. We will consider these questions by looking at medieval texts such as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the Lais of Marie de France, poetry by Chaucer and Margaret Cavendish, as well as riddles, saint’s lives, medieval herbals, bestiaries, and weather treatises. Students will examine these texts through class discussion, short responses, and formal writing assignments, while strengthening their research and analytical skills.

SEM 102 TR 02:55–04:10 p.m. Ryan Lawrence 18051 Samantha Zacher

MEDIEVAL STUDIES 1101

Aspects of Medieval Culture: Heroes and Heroines of the Medieval World

This course explores how heroic narratives reflect ideas about gender, nation, religion, and belonging and how those ideas developed over time. We will focus on a broad selection of historical sources from Africa, Asia, and Europe related to the period of the “Middle Ages,” 500–1500 C.E. We will examine conflicts and contests between men and women in Beowulf, accounts of the Trojan War, the travels of Alexander the Great, and legends of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. We will also explore historical and legendary accounts of “warrior women” such as stories of the Amazons, Judith, Mulan, and Joan of Arc. A series of formal essays and assignments will familiarize students with the fundamentals of writing and research.

SEM 103 MWF 01:25–02:15 p.m. Patrick Naeve 18052 David Powers

MEDIEVAL STUDIES 1101

Aspects of Medieval Culture: Gods and Kings in the Middle Ages and Beyond

Throughout the Middle Ages, Church and State frequently cooperated and just as frequently were at odds. When did Church and State come to be seen as separate powers? How do medieval authors justify the Church over the State, and vice versa? To what extent do medieval ideas of Church and State still apply today? In this course we will examine texts that argue for and against Church power and State power, including the Book of Kings from the Old Testament and Machiavelli’s The Prince, letters from Popes and Kings, and modern theories of sovereignty. Students will be expected to write one 8-10 page research paper on a topic of their choice, with several shorter response assignments to encourage critical thinking and discussion.

SEM 104 MWF 11:15–12:05 p.m. Paul Vinhage 18053 Oren Falk

MEDIEVAL STUDIES 1101

Aspects of Medieval Culture: Young Idiots vs. Toxic Elders

“Kids these days,” “back in my day,” and “boring old men”—how far back do these complaints go? The current rhetoric of generational strife pits “Baby Boomers” against “Millennials,” spawning a supposedly unprecedented flurry of thinkpieces and commentary. We will examine the medieval predecessors of these attitudes by looking at English poetry, treatises, and chronicles from Beowulf to Chaucer. The course will track the changing stereotypes of the ages of life, the various medieval medical and religious approaches to aging, the social consequences of demographic upheavals, and the recurring narrative of youth against age. Writing assignments will focus on crafting persuasive, clear arguments. Students will acquire skills in mining texts for evidence, conducting historical research, anticipating counterarguments, expressing relevancy, and adapting writing for different audiences.

SEM 105 TR 08:40–09:55 a.m. Anna Waymack 18054 Masha Raskolnikov

MEDIEVAL STUDIES 1101

Aspects of Medieval Culture: Suspended from Heaven—The Rhetoric of Byzantine Architecture

The Byzantines described their architecture in a variety of contexts, from religious hymns to imperial flattery, often with a specific rhetorical goal in mind. How can descriptions of buildings add to the praise of a bishop or emperor? Can it provide an immersive religious experience for readers or listeners? This course will examine descriptions of architecture from the fourth through twelfth century, with an emphasis on the major achievement of Byzantine architecture, Hagia Sophia, the great cathedral of Constantinople. Students will write essays in which they closely examine descriptions of Byzantine buildings, while exploring the ways in which they themselves can describe architecture.

SEM 106 TR 11:40–12:55 p.m. Tyler Wolford 18055 Benjamin Anderson

MEDIEVAL STUDIES 1104

Modernity and Middle Ages: One Foot in Front of the Other—Walking in Life and Literature

This seminar will explore the role of walking in both our day-to-day lives and in our culture more broadly. The course is organized around a series of readings that consider walking in a variety of contexts, with the purpose of guiding students towards thinking critically about the role of walking in modern life. The writing assignments—both informal and formal—will provide students with an intellectual space for processing the course readings and for examining the place that walking has in their own lives. In keeping with the theme of the seminar, part of this course will be taught in motion, while walking. Designated class discussion sessions will meet on tracks and trails, and we will spend most of those classes walking and talking.

SEM 101 MWF 09:05–09:55 a.m. John Greenlee 18049 Andrew Galloway

MUSIC 1701

The Politics of Listening: Sound and Civic Life

How is power resisted, negotiated, and enforced through sound? How are differences in listening shaped by power, and what do those differences mean for our social and political life together? This course will ask these questions in contexts including jazz funerals parading through shattered New Orleans neighborhoods, “voice votes” determining key resolutions at political party conventions, torture pop breaking the will of prisoners in CIA black sites, and your favorite—or least favorite—music blasting on the sidewalk. Students will undertake listening exercises and writing assignments including music reviews, personal reflections, and a research paper in order to develop critical thinking skills essential both to success in higher education and meaningful participation as a listening, sounding citizen.

SEM 101 TR 11:40–12:55 p.m. Daniel Hawkins 18056 Steven Pond

MUSIC 1701

Music and Morality: Writing Soul, Writing Funk

As “rhythm and blues” morphed into “soul” in the late 1950s and “funk” in the late 1960s, American mainstream markets embraced cultural blackness in its many forms, with black popular music as a soundtrack for a decades-long cultural transformation. This course embraces soul and funk from several viewpoints. How can we translate notions of soulfulness and funkiness, across realms of hearing and text? What are soul's and funk's musical and political legacies? In this course we will engage with recordings and texts in discussion, hands-on music-making and, most of all, writing to delve into a vital historical moment in black popular music, as well as implications for the music's role today. Musical experience is not required.

SEM 102 TR 10:10–11:25 a.m. Steve Pond 18057

MUSIC 1701 Sounds on the Page

When you open a book, words may seem to be sitting “quietly” on the page. But once you start reading those words, you soon realize that the world the writer creates is far from quiet—in fact, it is filled with voices, sounds, and sometimes even music. Through a close reading (and “hearing”) of a wide variety of texts ranging from concert reviews and newspaper reports to Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart,” Filippo Marinetti’s Futurist poems, the script of the radio drama series The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and the Batman comics, we will investigate various ways in which sound is (re)presented and communicated, both successfully and not so successfully, by means of printed words. We will also use J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings as case studies to explore how the sound world of Middle-earth has been actualized via radio drama, films, and online gaming.

SEM 103 MWF 01:25–02:15 p.m. Aya Saiki 18058 Steve Pond

NEAR EASTERN STUDIES 1918

Slow Time: Chronopolitics of Iranian Cinema

“Slowness” in films often registers as seriousness or analytic depth. In contrast to the fast-paced action film or the plot-driven melodrama, slow films are characterized by drawn-out scenes where little or nothing happens, signaling an unplaceable philosophical quality alternatively perceived as compelling and reflexive or torturous and painstakingly pretentious. Through writing practices that stress rhetorical analysis and close reading of film, students probe beyond surface assessments to inquire into the politics of time—or chronopolitics—of Iranian cinema. We will engage works by Abbas Kiarostami, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Sohrab Shahid-Saless, and others. How do arrangements of film temporality articulate questions about experience, historicity, and politics in, and also beyond, the context of Iran and the Middle East?

SEM 101 MWF 11:15–12:05 p.m. Parisa Vaziri 18123

NEAR EASTERN STUDIES 1930

Powerful Words: Reading Ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians

When writing arouses admiration, awe, or pity, it can move people to act. Such texts surround us and include forms developed millennia ago in Egypt and Mesopotamia. Students will learn to recognize how ancient scribes communicated (with gods and men), educated, lamented, persuaded, and animated. Course readings (in translation) include the Epic of Gilgamesh, Tale of Sinuhe, teachings, law codes, propaganda, magic spells, correspondence, and philosophical musings in both prose and poetry. Influence on the Hebrew Bible and Koran will become apparent,

as will the awareness that contemporary culture resonates with ancient meanings. Understanding these early, artful writing techniques will become meaningful as students develop their own to communicate their reactions and interpretations to other students and the instructor.

SEM 101 TR 10:10–11:25 a.m. Chris Monroe 18060

NEAR EASTERN STUDIES 1935 The Many Lives of Biblical Joseph

The Joseph “novella” is unique in the biblical text and the character of Joseph himself extends far beyond biblical boundaries, inspiring retellings and new accounts of Joseph’s adventures. To what can we attribute this character’s enduring poularity? In this class we will examine the numerous (re)interpretations of the biblical Joseph story (in translation), ranging from inside the Bible to outside, including pseudepigrapha, Talmud, Sura Yusef in the Qur’an, and modern literary allusions. What inspired scribes or inspires authors to reuse familiar characters? Student essays will examine the processes of scribal practice, the function and utility of texts in the ancient world, and the amplification or de-emphasis of aspects of Joseph to fit a society’s needs.

SEM 101 TR 08:40–09:55 a.m. Kirsten Smith 18061

NEAR EASTERN STUDIES 1963

That’s in the Bible? Archaeology and the Religion of Israel

A casual reading of the Hebrew Scriptures might lead one to believe that the normative religion of the Israelites was that spelled out in the Torah and Prophets. However, a more critical appraisal of the Biblical texts, along with an analysis of extra-Biblical texts and archaeological materials, demonstrates that the Israelites were often closer to their pagan neighbors than to modern Judaism or Christianity. Students will explore these similarities and differences in their essays. Topics may include: cult prostitution, magic, funerary rites, temple ritual, Hebrew mythology, etc. Readings will be from the Hebrew Bible, translations of extra-biblical texts, articles on archaeology, and modern synthetic treatments of Israelite culture.

SEM 101 TR 11:40–12:55 p.m. Jeffrey Zorn 18062

NATURAL RESOURCES 1200

Wildlife Conservation in a Changing World

How can conservation ensure the persistence of wildlife amidst a global biodiversity crisis? As the planet’s human population size burgeons beyond 7.6 billion and resource consumption accelerates, we are confronted with pressing need to adapt traditional conservation approaches to minimize species extinctions. In this course students will explore the topic of global conservation as a means to develop practical writing skills applicable across a wide suite of disciplines. The course does not require a background in ecology and all majors are welcome. We will read scientific literature, and fundamental writings on conservation philosophy/theory, including podcasts, social media, and books by authors like Leopold, Wilson, and Thoreau. Writing will emphasize clarity and structure, with the goal of engaging diverse audiences (e.g., scientists, general public).

SEM 101 MWF 09:05–09:55 a.m. Darin James McNeil, Jr. 18063 Elliot Shapiro

PHILOSOPHY 1110

Philosophy in Practice: Truth, Ignorance, and Fake News

As “fake news” and “alternative facts” become part of our lexicon, the classic philosophical questions about truth, and what it means to be a responsible believer become increasingly pressing. According to a Pew Research Center 2016 study, nearly 8-in-10 Americans are on Facebook, and 45 percent cite it as their news source. Changes in the information landscape prompt us to revisit questions like, what is the difference between lying and misleading? Is truth worth pursuing for its own sake? How is ignorance related to inequality? How do we make sure marginalized voices are heard? In this course students will develop their ability to write clear, concise arguments through reflecting on the moral and political implications of how we form beliefs in the information age.

SEM 101 TR 10:10–11:25 a.m. Alicia Patterson 18064 Tad Brennan

PHILOSOPHY 1110

Philosophy in Practice: Moral and Social Philosophy through Argument Mapping

This class will cover the following topics: Is abortion morally permissible? Is assisted suicide? Why is it bad to die (and would it be good to live for thousands of years)? Is there a justification for the right to bear arms? What are the proper boundaries of free speech on a college campus? What is gender and race? In this class you will learn to strip an argument down to its essentials and produce a visual map, using argument mapping software, that displays the argument’s structure plainly. Learning to visualize arguments in this way will improve the clarity and rigor of your own thinking and writing. You will also use argument mapping software to plan out your essays before you write them in prose.

SEM 102 MW 02:55–04:10 p.m. Avi Appel 18065 Tad Brennan

PHILOSOPHY 1110

Philosophy in Practice: Environmental Ethics

Redwoods and spotted owls. Yellowstone and the Great Barrier Reef. Do we have an obligation—a moral obligation-—to protect them? Should we protect them only when they are useful to us, or do they have their own value independent of human needs? To answer these questions, we need to think more about biodiversity, conservation, nature, and global warming. What is ecosystem health? What is a natural area? In this course we consider ethical and theoretical questions about conservation, and engage with what philosophers, biologists, and others have had to say about these issues, including E. O. Wilson and Bill Nye the science guy. Like any philosophy course, writing will be central to the work of the class. Students will be required to describe issues and views in environmental ethics and defend their own views on the topic.

SEM 103 TR 02:55–04:10 p.m. Brandon Conley 18124

PHILOSOPHY 1111

Philosophical Problems: Business Ethics

Do businesses have obligations beyond making themselves profitable? Are they morally obliged to do more than follow the law? Some say: of course! But others argue that when businesses try to “save the world” they end up doing worse by everyone. We'll explore this debate from different sides and think about its ramifications in different arenas. Readings include classic ethical theories of Aristotle, John Stuart Mill, Immanuel Kant, and Adam Smith, as well as contemporary ethical analyses and a few case studies drawn from real life. Like any philosophy course, it will help you develop the skill of analyzing and developing arguments in a clear and carefully reasoned way, as you practice writing precise prose.

SEM 101 MW 08:40–09:55 a.m. Vivek Mathew 18066 Tad Brennan

PHILOSOPHY 1111

Philosophical Problems: Luck and Morality

Do people deserve blame or praise if their conduct or character isn’t under their control? Should severity of punishments depend on outcomes decided by chance? Would it be fair for God to pass judgment on us for actions that were predestined? Much of who we are and what we do is determined by fate or fortune but we’d also like to think that people have control over their moral lives. This course deals with the unique problems that arise when luck meets morality. The topic will be explored through readings in Western philosophy, both classic and contemporary. Through reading responses and a series of essays, students will hone the skills of expressing complex ideas clearly and concisely while constructing plausible and persuasive arguments.

SEM 102 TR 02:55–04:10 p.m. Matthew Paskell 18067 Tad Brennan

PHILOSOPHY 1111

Philosophical Problems: Between Theory and Reality—The Philosophy of Science

Most of us think of science as having a mainline to the truth; if some claim is supported by science, then it is surely true. What gives science this special status? And what exactly gets to count as “scientific” in this sense? Just the natural sciences, or the social sciences too? What about anthropology and history? Do all “sciences” really share the same methodology, and is that methodology really more reliable than other methodologies? Is science always our best tool in finding out about the world, or are there some aspects of the world that science (even a fully developed science) can’t tell us about? In this class we will explore these questions and others with a view to literature in the philosophy of science.

SEM 103 MWF 10:10–11:00 a.m. Frances Fairbairn 18068 Tad Brennan

PHILOSOPHY 1112

Philosophical Conversations: Feminist Philosophy of Science and Metaphysics of Gender

What is it to be a woman or a man? Is there masculine bias in science? Where do babies come from? To answer these and related questions, this course will touch on epistemology, metaphysics, and the philosophy of science from the perspective of feminist philosophy. Readings will draw on authors like bell hooks, Sally Haslanger, Donna Haraway, and Kristie Dotson, as well as their critics. Students will compose various assignments summarizing and evaluating philosophical and sociological claims concerning reproductive science, the sex/gender distinction, the everyday testimony of women, and more. Through these assignments students will apply what they have learned to contemporary issues, such as gender-related policies and the #MeToo movement. No background in the sciences or philosophy is required.

SEM 101 TR 01:25–02:40 p.m. August Faller 18069 Tad Brennan

PHILOSOPHY 1112

Philosophical Conversations: Virtue and the Good Life

What does it mean to be a good person? How do we become good? How are happiness and personal goodness related? In this class we’ll discover one philosophical tradition that has tried to answer these questions, virtue ethics. Our foundational text will be Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics. We will then turn to some critiques of the kind of theory Aristotle proposed. For instance, we will address the “situationist challenge” based on work in social psychology, like the now infamous Milgram studies and Stanford Prison Experiment. We will also discuss Lisa Tessman’s feminist critique and her take on how we might adapt the theory to cover socially-unjust conditions. A major focus of the course will be developing skills in expository and argumentative writing.

SEM 102 MWF 11:15–12:05 p.m. Quitterie Gounot 18070 Tad Brennan

PHILOSOPHY 1112

Philosophical Conversations: What Does It Mean to be Human?

We all want to be happy. In fact some philosophers have even argued that our striving for happiness is what makes us human. But what is happiness, and how do we become happy? We will explore one answer that has been particularly influential in Ancient Greek and medieval Latin and Arabic philosophy: thinking makes us happy! The happiest person is the one who has perfected her intellectual abilities. Nowadays, perfecting our intellectual abilities through pharmaceuticals is an option. Do such possibilities of human enhancement threaten human nature, or do they help us to realize our full potential? And what about emotional enhancers, like Prozac: are they legitimate shortcuts to happiness? Writing assignments will focus on careful argument analysis and clear, rigorous writing.

SEM 103 TR 08:40–09:55 a.m. Freya Mobus 18071 Tad Brennan

PHILOSOPHY 1112

Philosophical Conversations: Epictetus

“I will fetter you.” “What are you saying, man? Me? My leg you will fetter, but my power of choice not even Zeus can conquer” (Epictetus Discourses 1.1.23–24). The philosopher Epictetus (c. 50–135 C.E.), once slave to Nero’s secretary at Rome, set up a Stoic school in Nicopolis (modern-day Albania) after his emancipation. From this distant world come core personal ideals of the modern world: that we should be self-determining, aligning our free will with reason; that we should have self-respect, judging ourselves in terms of our rational potential and acting in such a way that we live up to it. How did Epictetus’ ideas emerge in their original historical and philosophical context? (How) are they relevant today?

SEM 104 TR 02:55–04:10 p.m. Rachana Kamtekar 18072

PERFORMING & MEDIA ARTS 1132 Boyfriendtwin: Queer Uncanny Doppelgängers

Why are two identical people unsettling? “Uncanny” resemblances suggest the strangely familiar, and this course investigates the doppelgänger myth influencing superstitions about un- or supernatural twins with a diverse selection of materials from the Greeks through the Gothic into contemporary horror/sci-fi. Writers like Robert Louis Stevenson form the legacy of The Twilight Zone and Star Trek, later generating Battlestar Galactica, Black Mirror, and Orphan Black. Exploring representations of duplication, this class’s focus on queer theory emphasizes matters of sexuality and gender identity. While considering the ways doubles work across literary, cinematic, and televisual styles from Edgar Allan Poe to Joss Whedon, the course highlights in-class discussion, peer editing, and enhancing each student’s ability to produce coherent, concise, persuasive prose in the form of critical arguments.

SEM 101 TR 01:25–02:40 p.m. Joshua Cole 18073 Amy Villarejo

PERFORMING & MEDIA ARTS 1142 A Very Special Television Seminar

What can TV’s “special” categories—such as special episodes and television specials—tell us about how television generally works? In this seminar we will look at various episodes ranging from Christmas, Halloween, and musical episodes of series to so-called “very special episodes” focusing on uncharacteristically “heavy” social issues, as well as the genre of the stand-up special. We will think about questions of genre and structure in both our television objects and our writing. We will delve into the methodology of audio-visual analysis, and the writing assignments over the semester will allow students to practice and develop their critical skills via short responses, longer essays, and (optional) creative assignments.

SEM 101 TR 02:55–04:10 p.m. Kriszta Pozsonyi 18074 Amy Villarejo

PERFORMING & MEDIA ARTS 1143 Contemporary Film Aesthetics

How does a film come to have its distinct appearance, and why does it matter? The study of aesthetics situates the choices of individual filmmakers—from the color of set pieces to the selection of a scene’s musical score—within a number of political, social, and artistic traditions. In this course we will interrogate those traditions and place our contemporary media moment within a larger cultural history. Over the course of the semester, students will develop a formal vocabulary of film aesthetics and apply it to their writing assignments, including film reviews, scenic analysis, and larger research projects. Screenings may include Tangerine, Lemonade, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, Her, In the Mood for Love, and more.

SEM 101 TR 01:25–02:40 p.m. Jonathan Cicoski 18075 Amy Villarejo

PERFORMING & MEDIA ARTS 1144 Propaganda, Protests, and Performance

In our current political climate where is the line drawn between politics and performance? How has performance historically been used to advance political propaganda? In what ways does performance facilitate real social change? From the suffragettes, to the oppression, immigrant worker’s rights, to our current culture of political divisiveness theater is used to play on people’s prejudices, emotions, and sense of justice. Using historical texts, articles, plays, and online news journals, students will explore a broad range of political theater while examining how performance shapes American culture and identities. The writing in this course is a mix of short essays, creative writing, and a research paper. Each assignment builds off the next, offering students lessons in summary, analyses, research, and finding their own voice.

SEM 101 MW 02:55–04:10 p.m. Jayme Kilburn 18076 Amy Villarejo

PERFORMING & MEDIA ARTS 1145

Socks, Pads, and Other Stuff(ing): Drag Performance

"We're all born naked and the rest is drag"—RuPaul. This course explores drag as a mode of queer cultural performance. Through a wide range of readings and viewings that introduce a diverse array of drag traditions and aesthetics, we will search for an understanding, even a simple definition, of drag. In so doing we will explore drag performance as a queer cultural practice, a means of community formation, a potential disruption of gender norms and binaries, and as a radical act of liberation. By engaging in class discussion, practicing a variety of analytic writing styles, and establishing an essay drafting and revising process, students will develop and hone their college writing skills all while investigating drag performance and being absolutely fabulous.

SEM 101 TR 10:10–11:25 a.m. Samual Blake 18077 Amy Villarejo

PERFORMING & MEDIA ARTS 1146

The Public Voice: Rhetoric of Speechwriting

From Roman orators, to Shakespearean power-mongers, to American politicians and CEOs, leaders continually claim authority through public discourse. Be it a political speech, investment pitch, TED talk, or ceremonial occasion, the performance of shared meaning demands a memorable frame, a clear message, and felicitous context. How does a speech’s context alter its textual meaning? How does public address—whether sanctioned by state authority, or in protest against it—find its most effective tools? What does it mean to speak (and act) on behalf of others? In this seminar we will examine a range of public speaking examples, both historical and contemporary, as a means for honing your writing skills. Assignments will stress clear, structured, and persuasive literary and rhetorical analysis.

SEM 101 MW 08:40–09:55 a.m. Theo Black 18354

PSYCHOLOGY 1120

Social and Personality: Psychological Perspectives on the Nature of Morality

What is morality? This question is different from asking which actions are right or wrong. Instead, it asks the more fundamental question of what morality itself is. This question has traditionally been addressed by philosophers, but psychologists have begun to explore morality from a scientific perspective. This course will integrate both approaches, but will emphasize contemporary psychological research on questions such as: how do people distinguish moral from nonmoral issues? How do culture and evolution shape moral belief? Are any moral beliefs the same across all cultures? Do most people believe morality is objectively true or subjectively true? Writing assignments will emphasize concisely articulating and exploring the implications of psychological findings, proposing new research, and conveying scientific findings to the public.

SEM 101 TR 11:40–12:55 p.m. Lance Bush 18078 David Pizarro

PSYCHOLOGY 1140

Perception Cognition Development: Consciousness and the Brain

What happens in your brain when you consciously perceive an object or a sound? Why does consciousness cease during dreamless sleep and under general anesthesia? To what extent can we process information without awareness? After decades of research, answers to these existential questions are finally starting to emerge. In this course you will read about fascinating neurological conditions, experience optical illusions, explore the human brain, and learn how cognitive scientists conduct research and communicate their findings. Writing assignments will follow a natural progression from short commentaries to a research proposal on a topic of your choosing. You will also review the work of your peers.

SEM 101 TR 02:55–04:10 p.m. Roy Moyal 18079 Shimon Edelman

PSYCHOLOGY 1140

Promoting Progress through Psychology

What should we do about the refugee crisis? What impact will facial recognition technology have on society? How can we combat racial prejudice, gun violence, and political division? Together we will learn to use principles of psychology to promote social progress. Readings will draw from both journalistic and scientific sources, and we will critically analyze current social issues through the lenses of perceptual, cognitive, and social psychology. Ultimately, we will appeal to psychological concepts to propose empirically-supported solutions to various problems affecting modern society. Through a variety of writing activities, ranging from literature reviews to op-eds to letters to Congress, you will be empowered to address the issues that matter most to you.

SEM 102 TR 08:40–09:55 a.m. Kacie Armstrong 18080 James Cutting

ROMANCE STUDIES 1102

The Craft of Storytelling: Weird Fiction from Latin America and the World

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, before popular genres took off, writers were free to mix up elements of detective stories with horror, fantasy, and science fiction in their work; this was called “weird fiction,” and its most well-known author is probably H. P. Lovecraft. In this course we will explore the particularities of weird fiction, study it’s history, and analyze why today authors are back to creating hybrid forms that are known as the “new weird.” We will focus on authors from Latin America in their relationship with writers from all over the world: Borges, Cortázar, Rulfo, Mariana Enriquez, Stephen King, Angela Carter, China Mieville, Neil Gaiman, Kelly Link.

SEM 101 MWF 12:20–01:10 p.m. Edmundo Paz-Soldan 18081

ROMANCE STUDIES 1102

The Craft of Storytelling: Decameron

All of us tell stories for a variety of reasons—to entertain, to console, to teach, to persuade—to discover and explore both our inner lives and the world we inhabit. Stories are one of the prime ways in which we make sense of a world that is not always propitious. They serve as instruments by which we seek to shape our future. In this seminar we shall consider how the craft of storytelling helps us face the task of living: the love and the happiness and the community we seek, the virtues we espouse, our talents and our vulnerabilities. Our principal reading (in English translation) will be a masterpiece of European literature, Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron (ca. 1349–51), which showcases one hundred stories told by ten young Florentines fleeing the Black Death of 1348. Students will write both analytic and personal essays.

SEM 102 MWF 10:10–11:00 a.m. Irene Eibenstein-Alvisi 18082 SEM 103 MWF 11:15–12:05 p.m. Irene Eibenstein-Alvisi 18083

ROMANCE STUDIES 1102

The Craft of Storytelling: Writing the Self in French Literature

How do we form our conceptions of self and how might storytelling provide insights into the ways in which we construct our identities? What does it mean for the self to “come into being” in a text? Through an investigation of primarily French autobiographical works, we will discuss questions of authenticity and desire, the fictionalized representation of “selves,” and the role of memory in our imaginary self-representations. We will explore notions of the self in relation to reverie, nature, politics, gender, and sexuality. Readings include translated excerpts from authors such as Montaigne and Rousseau, along with critical and philosophical texts, and film. Writing assignments will encourage students to question, analyze, and think critically about these works.

SEM 105 MWF 11:15–12:05 p.m. Adam Schoene 18085 Irene Eibenstein-Alvisi

ROMANCE STUDIES 1108

Cultural Identities/Cultural Differences: Writing Italy

Starting in the mid-1600s, one of the most important experiences for many young upper-class Europeans was the Grand Tour, an extensive educational trip that culminated in Italy, the land of classical ruins, Renaissance art, and breathtaking landscapes. Since then, Italy has become the destination where artists have searched for insight, growth, and renewal. Following this tradition, we will take a virtual tour of Florence, Rome, and Venice by analyzing the text and exploring the context of three acclaimed novels for which the setting is as important as any of the characters: E. M. Forster’s A Room with a View, Henry James’s Daisy Miller, and Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice. The students will write creative and analytical essays, and produce the text for a travel blog.

SEM 101 MW 02:55–04:10 p.m. Irene Eibenstein-Alvisi 18086

ROMANCE STUDIES 1109

Image and Imagination: French Film—1895 to the Present

This course explores French cinema from the first projection by the Lumiere brothers in 1895 to today. We will study a range of films, from early silent films like Melies’s Voyage dans la lune, to some surreptitiously subversive films from during the Nazi occupation, to the avant-garde experiments of the New Wave Cinema, as well as more recent films. By engaging with the films, academic articles, and some film theory, as well as participating in writing workshops, you will successfully interpret filmic form, and produce clear and original written arguments about French cinema.

SEM 101 MWF 01:25–02:15 p.m. Vincent Guimiot 18087 Irene Eibenstein-Alvisi

ROMANCE STUDIES 1109

Image and Imagination: Non/Human Figures in Visual Culture

What does it mean to be “human” in visual culture? And what kind of human is revealed by the advent of moving images? In this course we will use Italian and other visual cultures as a lens through which we can reconsider our idea of the human and our relationship with the non-human. Literary and critical texts, advertisements, videos, and cartoons will supplement the analysis of cinematic representations of Pinocchio, Punchinello, Steel Jeeg, and other human automatons. Through visual research, analytic essays, and creative writing, students will gain interdisciplinary skills that will make them competent interpreters of the language of images.

SEM 102 TR 10:10–11:25 a.m. Lia Turtas 18088 Irene Eibenstein-Alvisi

ROMANCE STUDIES 1113 Thinking and Thought: On Love

Love is everywhere—in our own lives, but also in literature, film, art, and media. Yet we spend very little time thinking critically about love and its companion, sex. In this course we will analyze love from a multiplicity of perspectives, drawing on philosophical, religious, literary, visual, and sociological texts. We will consider such topics as philosophical approaches to love, feminist thinking on love and sex, state regulations of sexuality, love and sex in literature, film, and popular culture, sex on campus and the hook-up culture, as well as the intersections between race, ethnicity, class gender, and sexuality.

SEM 101 MWF 01:25–02:15 p.m. Itziar Rodriguez de Rivera 18089

ROMANCE STUDIES 1113

Thinking and Thought: Dante’s Examined Life

Why do we study? What is the point of learning? Do we aspire to more than career success? A philosopher once said that “the unexamined life is not worth living.” Is this true? In this course we’ll answer this question while venturing into Dante Alighieri’s Inferno, a work that not only describes the state of souls after death, but also urges us to consider how we, in this life, envision ourselves and our communities. Reading the poem in English translation, we shall use it as a frame for further interrogation. Students will write both analytic and personal essays.

SEM 102 MWF 12:20–01:10 p.m. Giulia Andreoni 18090 Irene Eibenstein-Alvisi

ROMANCE STUDIES 1113

Thinking and Thought: Neoliberalism—Theory and Practice

Neoliberalism is today a ubiquitous idea. We hear about it in the evening news and in political campaigns; you will read about it at school, discuss it at work, and even see it referenced in art exhibitions. But what is neoliberalism after all? An ideology? A set of economic principles? Perhaps, as some of its critics will argue, something much larger and all-encompassing: the underlying condition of contemporary humanity? Or still, as others will contend, a mere fantasy? With these questions in mind and on the basis of a wide variety of texts, this course invites students to read, reflect, and write about crucial political, economic, and philosophical issues that define our contemporary world in a rigorous, scholarly informed manner.

SEM 103 TR 02:55–04:10 p.m. Pedro Erber 18160

ROMANCE STUDIES 1120

Animals in Global Cinema: Human and Non-human

In this class students will learn about animal welfare and conservation through international films. We will discuss wildlife, companion and farm animals in conjunction with human cultures and politics. The course will cover various animal species, e.g., pangolins, dogs, and sheep in fiction films, documentaries, and animated movies. Students will learn how to compose film reviews, do research, and write a research assignment. The class includes guest speakers, a visit to Cornell barn, library, and museum. All films are available for streaming through Blackboard for students to watch them in their free time.

SEM 101 TR 10:10–11:25 a.m. Ewa Bachminska 18092

SOCIOLOGY 1180

Economic Inequality and Unequal Democracy

The income and wealth gap in the United States has expanded significantly during the past 50 years. Is economic inequality a problem for democratic participation, representation, or responsiveness? Is the system rigged? How do politics and policy contribute to the growing gap between the top one percent of Americans and everyone else? Why does economic inequality persist in a representative democracy? In this course students will explore these questions at the intersection of economic and political inequality through critical engagement with theory and empirical findings from sociology and political science, class discussion, regular informal writing, and

written assignments. Assignments will include summarizing scholarly research in everyday language, articulating a position on a contested issue, and analyzing data and arguments.

SEM 101 TR 02:55–04:10 p.m. Emily Sandusky 18093 Elliot Shapiro

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY STUDIES 1117 From Hiroshima to the Internet

The seminar will explore the history of science, technology, and society in the United States during the Cold War. Students will write about such themes as government funding, promotion, and regulation of new military and civilian technologies, gender and technology, the entwining of technology and politics, and the mutual relationship between technological change and social change. Topics include nuclear weapons, the space race with the Soviets, the transformation of the social sciences, and the commercialization and further development of such military-funded information technologies as the digital computer, Internet, and GPS by AT&T, IBM, Apple, Google, and other firms.

SEM 101 MWF 10:10–11:00 a.m. Ronald Kline 18094

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY STUDIES 1123

Technology and Society: Stories of Emerging Technology, Progress, and Power

"Proponents of emerging technologies often paint utopian visions illustrating the value of new, often experimental tech. However, these promises of "progress" can obscure other experiences, and different ways of knowing and communicating can shape what possible futures can be imagined. How do people narrate their experiences of emerging technologies, and what are the politics of that storytelling? In this writing intensive seminar we will explore these questions by unpacking the concept of progress: whom does it benefit, and at what costs? What/whose stories get ignored when we take these progress narratives for granted? We will address these questions by engaging critically and generatively—through iterative and extemporaneous writing—with different stories of technological progress. These include perspectives on nuclear energy, petrochemical refineries, genetic editing, and more."

SEM 101 TR 02:55–04:10 p.m. Derek Parrott 18095 Elliot Shapiro

WRITING 1370

Elements of Academic Writing: Environmental Problems and Solutions

Human activities have ever-more serious impacts on our local regions and the planet. How can we think and write about improving public understanding of climate change, water scarcity, environmental health and agriculture and wildlife sustainability? The Writing 1370 classroom is a dynamic workspace where students assemble the scholarly tools necessary to explore these complex, interdisciplinary questions. By collaborating with peers to pose questions, examine ideas, and share drafts, students develop the analytic and argumentative skills fundamental to interdisciplinary reading, research, and writing. With smaller class sizes, two 50-minute class sessions, and weekly student/teacher conferences, Writing 1370 is an alternative route FWS that provides a workshop setting for students to learn flexible and sustainable strategies for studying the essential elements of academic writing and for producing clear, precise academic prose that can address a variety of audiences and meet diverse rhetorical aims. “S/U" grades only. *This course is particularly appropriate for multilingual writers.

SEM 101 MW 10:10–11:00 a.m. Jessica Sands 18125

This course is particularly appropriate for multilingual writers. •WRIT 1370 provides a more intensive and individualized learning environment that is particularly appropriate for students who have not had much formal high school writing instruction; are unfamiliar with academic or research-based writing, or feel a general lack of confidence about academic writing. • WRIT 1370 can only be taken with the S/U grading option. • WRIT 1370 fulfills the FWS requirement in all colleges except the School of Industrial and Labor Relations and is NOT recommended for pre-medical, pre-dental, or pre-veterinary students.

WRITING 1370

Elements of Academic Writing: Metaphor in Art, Science, and Culture

Metaphor is the essence of human creativity—a form of thought, desire, and the language of the unconscious mind. How does metaphor operate in literature, pop culture, politics, and the thought of theoretical scientists such as Einstein and Richard Feynman? Can we improve our capacity to think metaphorically? The Writing 1370 classroom is a dynamic workspace where students assemble the scholarly tools necessary to explore these complex, interdisciplinary questions. By collaborating with peers to pose questions, examine ideas, and share drafts, students develop the analytic and argumentative skills fundamental to interdisciplinary reading, research, and writing. With smaller class sizes, two 50-minute class sessions, and weekly student/teacher conferences, Writing 1370 is an alternative route FWS that provides a workshop setting for students to learn flexible and sustainable strategies for studying the essential elements of academic writing and for producing clear, precise academic prose that can address a variety of audiences and meet diverse rhetorical aims. “S/U" grades only.

SEM 102 MW 11:15–12:05 p.m. Brad Zukovic 18126

SEM 103 MW 12:20–01:10 p.m. Brad Zukovic 18127

•WRIT 1370 provides a more intensive and individualized learning environment that is particularly appropriate for students who have not had much formal high school writing instruction; are unfamiliar with academic or research-based writing, or feel a general lack of confidence about academic writing. • WRIT 1370 can only be taken with the S/U grading option. • WRIT 1370 fulfills the FWS requirement in all colleges except the School of Industrial and Labor Relations and is NOT recommended for pre-medical, pre-dental, or pre-veterinary students.

WRITING 1370

Elements of Academic Writing: Connecting Cultures

What is culture? How does culture set standards for our behavior? How do we negotiate the intersections between cultures? How do the processes of culture determine the politics of assimilation, the power of language, and the spaces we inhabit? Particularly in writing, how does culture help us determine strategies appropriate for convincing a variety of distinct audiences and purposes? The Writing 1370 classroom is a dynamic workspace where students assemble the scholarly tools necessary to explore these complex, interdisciplinary questions. By collaborating with peers to pose questions, examine ideas, and share drafts, students develop the analytic and argumentative skills fundamental to interdisciplinary reading, research, and writing. With smaller class sizes, two 50-minute class sessions, and weekly student/teacher conferences, Writing 1370 is an alternative route FWS that provides a workshop setting for students to learn flexible and sustainable strategies for studying the essential elements of academic writing and for producing clear, precise academic prose that can address a variety of audiences and meet diverse rhetorical aims. “S/U" grades only.

SEM 104 MW 01:25–02:15 p.m. Darlene Evans 18128

•WRIT 1370 provides a more intensive and individualized learning environment that is particularly appropriate for students who have not had much formal high school writing instruction; are unfamiliar with academic or research-based writing, or feel a general lack of confidence about academic writing. • WRIT 1370 can only be taken with the S/U grading option. • WRIT 1370 fulfills the FWS requirement in all colleges except the School of Industrial and Labor Relations and is NOT recommended for pre-medical, pre-dental, or pre-veterinary students.

WRITING 1370

Writing and Research: Language, Identity, and Power

How does language shape our world and our sense of who we are? How do identity factors like gender, sexuality, race, class, culture, and nationality influence our meaning-making practices? How do labels and names construct meaning and carry power? What languages and language practices do we associate with power and why? The Writing 1370 classroom is a dynamic workspace where students assemble the scholarly tools necessary to explore these complex, interdisciplinary questions. By collaborating with peers to pose questions, examine ideas, and share drafts, students develop the analytic and argumentative skills fundamental to interdisciplinary reading, research, and writing. With smaller class sizes, two 50-minute class sessions, and weekly student/teacher

conferences, Writing 1370 is an alternative route FWS that provides a workshop setting for students to learn flexible and sustainable strategies for studying the essential elements of academic writing and for producing clear, precise academic prose that can address a variety of audiences and meet diverse rhetorical aims. “S/U" grades only.

SEM 105 TR 10:10–11:00 a.m. Kate Navickas 18129

•WRIT 1370 provides a more intensive and individualized learning environment that is particularly appropriate for students who have not had much formal high school writing instruction; are unfamiliar with academic or research-based writing, or feel a general lack of confidence about academic writing. • WRIT 1370 can only be taken with the S/U grading option. • WRIT 1370 fulfills the FWS requirement in all colleges except the School of Industrial and Labor Relations and is NOT recommended for pre-medical, pre-dental, or pre-veterinary students.

WRITING 1370

Elements of Academic Writing: Repetition

Repetition is a fundamental companion in our everyday lives: we use it in our speech, we endure it in our routines, and it is wielded as the most effective tool of media and advertisement. What is the function of this rhetorical device in literature, politics, and art? What do we want to achieve when we repeat something? Does repetition merely add emphasis to a statement, or does it possess a different vocation? This class will help us in identifying the many ways repetition shapes how we think, speak, and write. The Writing 1370 classroom is a dynamic workspace where students assemble the scholarly tools necessary to explore these complex, interdisciplinary questions. Because Writing 1370 is designed as a workshop, students develop the analytic and argumentative skills fundamental to interdisciplinary reading, research, and writing by collaborating with peers to pose questions, examine ideas, and share drafts. With smaller class sizes, two 50-minute class sessions and weekly student/teacher conferences, Writing 1370 provides an individualized setting for students to learn flexible and sustainable strategies for studying the essential elements of academic writing and for producing clear, precise academic prose that can address a variety of audiences and meet diverse rhetorical aims. “S/U" grades only.

SEM 106 TR 11:15–12:05 p.m. Valeria Dani 18130

•WRIT 1370 provides a more intensive and individualized learning environment that is particularly appropriate for students who have not had much formal high school writing instruction; are unfamiliar with academic or research-based writing, or feel a general lack of confidence about academic writing. • WRIT 1370 can only be taken with the S/U grading option. • WRIT 1370 fulfills the FWS requirement in all colleges except the School of Industrial and Labor Relations and is NOT recommended for pre-medical, pre-dental, or pre-veterinary students.

WRITING 1370

Elements of Academic Writing: Writing Back to the News

Students will ensconce themselves in debates raging within the contemporary news media—such as politics, conflicts within higher education, gender equality, international crises, American popular culture—and will write about contemporary controversies to different audiences in a variety of mediums, such as argumentative essays, investigative pieces, and blog posts. The Writing 1370 classroom is a dynamic workspace where students assemble the scholarly tools necessary to explore complex, interdisciplinary questions. By collaborating with peers to pose questions, examine ideas, and share drafts, students develop the analytic and argumentative skills fundamental to interdisciplinary reading, research, and writing. With smaller class sizes, two 50-minute class sessions, and weekly student/teacher conferences, Writing 1370 is an alternative route FWS that provides a workshop setting for students to learn flexible and sustainable strategies for studying the essential elements of academic writing and for producing clear, precise academic prose that can address a variety of audiences and meet diverse rhetorical aims. “S/U" grades only.

SEM 107 TR 12:20–01:10 p.m. Kelly King-O’Brien 18131

•WRIT 1370 provides a more intensive and individualized learning environment that is particularly appropriate for students who have not had much formal high school writing instruction; are unfamiliar with academic or research-based writing, or feel a general lack of confidence about academic writing. • WRIT 1370 can only be taken with the S/U grading option. • WRIT 1370 fulfills the FWS requirement in all colleges except the School of Industrial and Labor Relations and is NOT recommended for pre-medical, pre-dental, or pre-veterinary students.

WRITING 1370

Elements of Academic Writing: Women in Film

Since the dawn of film, women have been at the center of the cinematic gaze: their bodies entertain, fascinate, and terrify us regardless of the genres they inhabit. If we look closely, we realize that these depictions reveal pivotal aspects of the cultures that give birth to them. As reflective spectators, we should ask ourselves some fundamental questions: what lies behind these representations? How can they inform us about contemporary gender politics? And what changes when we look at the works of women directors? The Writing 1370 classroom is a dynamic workspace where students assemble the scholarly tools necessary to explore these complex, interdisciplinary questions. Because Writing 1370 is designed as a workshop, students develop the analytic and argumentative skills fundamental to interdisciplinary reading, research, and writing by collaborating with peers to pose questions, examine ideas, and share drafts. With smaller class sizes, two 50-minute class sessions and weekly student/teacher conferences, Writing 1370 provides an individualized setting for students to learn flexible and sustainable strategies for studying the essential elements of academic writing and for producing clear, precise academic prose that can address a variety of audiences and meet diverse rhetorical aims. “S/U" grades only.

SEM 108 TR 01:25–02:15 p.m. Valeria Dani 18132

•WRIT 1370 provides a more intensive and individualized learning environment that is particularly appropriate for students who have not had much formal high school writing instruction; are unfamiliar with academic or research-based writing, or feel a general lack of confidence about academic writing. • WRIT 1370 can only be taken with the S/U grading option. • WRIT 1370 fulfills the FWS requirement in all colleges except the School of Industrial and Labor Relations and is NOT recommended for pre-medical, pre-dental, or pre-veterinary students.

WRITING 1370

Elements of Academic Writing: Environmental Problems and Solutions

Human activities have ever-more serious impacts on our local regions and the planet. How can we think and write about improving public understanding of climate change, water scarcity, environmental health and agriculture and wildlife sustainability? The Writing 1370 classroom is a dynamic workspace where students assemble the scholarly tools necessary to explore these complex, interdisciplinary questions. By collaborating with peers to pose questions, examine ideas, and share drafts, students develop the analytic and argumentative skills fundamental to interdisciplinary reading, research, and writing. With smaller class sizes, two 50-minute class sessions, and weekly student/teacher conferences, Writing 1370 is an alternative route FWS that provides a workshop setting for students to learn flexible and sustainable strategies for studying the essential elements of academic writing and for producing clear, precise academic prose that can address a variety of audiences and meet diverse rhetorical aims. “S/U" grades only. *This course is particularly appropriate for multilingual writers.

SEM 109 TR 02:30–03:20 p.m. Jessica Sands 18133

This course is particularly appropriate for multilingual writers. •WRIT 1370 provides a more intensive and individualized learning environment that is particularly appropriate for students who have not had much formal high school writing instruction; are unfamiliar with academic or research-based writing, or feel a general lack of confidence about academic writing. • WRIT 1370 can only be taken with the S/U grading option. • WRIT 1370 fulfills the FWS requirement in all colleges except the School of Industrial and Labor Relations and is NOT recommended for pre-medical, pre-dental, or pre-veterinary students.

WRITING 1420

Opening Up New Worlds Through Research and Rhetoric: Bridging Differences

In an increasingly divided world along lines of identity, language, politics, and religion, how do we enact change? How do we talk across our differences when we cannot even agree on what count as facts? In this research-intensive class, we’ll read broadly about a variety of divisive topics and potential solutions related to the course theme of “Bridging Differences.” Drawing upon personal experiences, academic interests, or questions sparked by course readings, you will select a course-inspired topic and compose a research portfolio that highlights significant analytic research. We will explore the Cornell Library gateway to develop college-level research skills: using databases, evaluating information, and engaging responsibly with sources to produce effective academic writing. This course is especially appropriate for students interested in building academic research and writing skills with an eye toward graduate school.

SEM 102 TR 01:25–02:40 p.m. Kate Navickas 18141

First-year students preferred. Those other than first-year students should contact instructor for permission.