Spring 2018 First-Year Writing Seminars

AMERICAN STUDIES 1140

Common Ground: Education Beyond the Ivory Tower

This course offers you a chance to become a more engaged member of the Ithaca community as part of your first-year writing experience. For two afternoons a week, Cornell students will engage with Ithaca middle school students as mentors and tutors outside of class. Writing assignments will help you reflect on the tutoring experience and the role of education and responsible citizenship in a democratic society. Readings will includeSavage Inequalities by Kozol, Life and Death of the Great American School System by Ravitch and essays by Barber, Freire, and King. Our ultimate goal will be to broaden students' perspectives on our public educational system and the role of universities in their communities.

SEM 101 TR 01:25–02:40 p.m. x-listed with Writ 1400 and Educ 1140 17711

Student schedules must accommodate TR trips (3-5 PM) to Boynton Middle School.

AMERICAN STUDIES 1147

The Legal Life of American Racism

We know that racism isn’t just about feelings, but rather it is institutional. But what about the legal life of racism? That is, what if racism wasn’t just a result of how the legal system (courts, police, prisons, etc.) applies laws, but what if racism had a life within U.S. law itself? In this course we will explore the ways in which American law worked in concert with custom to attempt to encode definitions of race into U.S. society. Topics will include slavery, Jim Crow, immigration (both contemporary and historical), Japanese internment, and Indian Law, among others. Students will practice writing skills while exploring the possibilities of practicing a radical form of revision to intervene in the legal life of racism.

SEM 101 TR 01:25–02:40 p.m. Jesse Goldberg 17604 Noliwe Rooks

ANTHROPOLOGY 1101

Culture, Society, and Power: Beastly Encounters—Exploring Human and Animal Categories

What are animals, and how are they different from us? These seemingly simple questions are difficult to answer, since animals play so many varied roles in our lives. This course will investigate how people of different cultures, past and present, have approached the question of animals. Readings will be drawn from Animal Rights Theory (ART), anthropology, philosophy, gender studies, archaeology, religious studies, and more. Questions we will consider include: How do we recognize an animal? What do our conceptions of animals tell us about our own humanity? What does it mean to say an animal is wild or domestic? Students will draw upon the readings as well as their own experiences with animals to improve their writing through course instruction and essay assignments.

SEM 101 MWF 09:05–09:55 a.m. John Gorczyk 17687 Marina Welker

ANTHROPOLOGY 1101

Culture, Society, and Power: #Intersectionality—Feminist Ethnography through New Media

This course uses “intersectionality” as a lens for the study and production of media and ethnographic writing. We will read popular and academic texts on intersectionality—from its foundations in black feminism and beyond—that orient us towards the ways that race, class, gender, and other identities shape experiences of oppression and struggles for liberation. Applying an intersectional prism allows us to ask: how do Twitter hashtags such as #SayHerName and #BlackLivesMatter or music videos such as Beyoncé’s Formation invoke the dynamics of difference and sameness in today’s social movements? Students will produce an original music video, a journalistic ethnographic essay, and a multimedia storytelling project, and gain insights on their own involvement in the structures of power inherent to research, media, and everyday life.

SEM 102 TR 08:40–09:55 a.m. Emily Hong 17688 Marina Welker

ANTHROPOLOGY 1101

Culture, Society, and Power: The State's Magic and the Question of the Future

The (nation-)state is back. For a long time, the state appeared to be in retreat; globalization was eroding national boundaries and the market was getting the upper hand. But, as recent news from around the world shows, the state has returned to haunt our lives. How might one try to understand this being which figures so prominently in the world today? How can we study its simultaneously real and illusory nature, its forms, its powers, its effects? In this course we explore these questions from an anthropological perspective. We engage with theoretical, ethnographic, and journalistic accounts to ask when and how the state should be re-imagined. Writing assignments will include analyzing, composing, and reflecting on ethnographic texts, and a final research project.

SEM 103 MW 08:40–09:55 a.m. Ana Laura Cocora 17689 Marina Welker

ANTHROPOLOGY 1101

Culture, Society, and Power: Ecologies of Medicine—Anthropology Where Body Meets World

What is a body? How does it interface with the world? And what happens when that body—or the world around it—is suffering? Healers, doctors, activists, and scholars of medicine have much to say about the relationship between the human body and the natural environment. In this course we’ll think, write, and talk about cross-cultural concepts of the ways that human bodies encounter the nonhuman world—and how this shapes lives, politics, social structures, and relationships. Our discussions and writing assignments such as essays, informal reflections, and creative writing will consider scholarly work alongside contemporary media on ecologies, bodies, and medicine. You’ll enhance your writing skills in this class—also, you’ll learn to think deeply about what it means to belong on this planet.

SEM 104 TR 08:40–09:55 a.m. Charis Boke 18166 Marina Welker

ART HISTORY 1162

Constellations: Relating Image and Text

This seminar considers art and visual culture as sites through which we engage history, philosophy, and the world around us. From art objects to movies, book covers to social media we encounter images constantly and in all arenas of our lives. Given the pervasiveness of visual stimuli, this seminar will use the idea of constellations to rearrange and interpret images. Most of us know Picasso’s Guernica. But can we make sense of it beyond our memorized knowledge if we placed it within the context of excerpts from a story by the Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez and an aerial video of Aleppo that was shot in 2016? Writing will be our tool to construct meaningful constellations from images and texts and critically engage our visual worlds anew.

SEM 101 TR 11:40–12:55 p.m. Lara Fresko 17655 Claudia Lazzaro

ART HISTORY 1163 Origins of Photography

This course will allow first-year students to answer the question: from where, and how, did the idea evolve that one might catch a picture in a net, as one might catch not only a butterfly but the piece of sky in which it flew? By discovering how photography evolved, students will learn how many forces—artistic, scientific, technological, political, phenomenological, and structural—are responsible for the appearance of a single invention and idea. Episodes from the history of optics, perspective drawing, mapmaking, landscape, chemistry, view painting, will be glimpsed (1300–1800) as well as the race to capture the image in the camera obscura (1800–39) and an introduction to early photographic processes (1839–70). Smaller assignments will become pieces of a constantly revised, semester-long research paper.

SEM 101 TR 08:40–09:55 a.m. Andrew Moisey 17654

ASIAN STUDIES 1100

Religion and Ecological Sustainability

This course explores the current environmental crisis from the view that religious cosmologies and ideologies play a role in the decisions that both foster and inhibit transitions to sustainable living. We examine cases from major religious traditions of the world, including Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and indigenous traditions to see how religious ideas form or restrict an ethic for a sustainable future. We will look at cases from agriculture, city planning, community organization, and burial practices. We also explore current intellectual movements and writers who address our theme. This course will include current films, field trips, and guest speakers to inspire writing in a number of different genres.

SEM 101 TR 08:40–09:55 a.m. Jane Marie Law 17560

ASIAN STUDIES 1111

Ghosts, Buddhas, and Magic: Vietnamese Religious Experience Then and Now

How does the spiritual world of ghosts, divine beings, and magic intersect with the human realms of politics, economics, and everyday life? In this course by exploring various aspects of religious experience in Vietnam such as philosophy, beliefs, and local customs, students will learn how themes of money, social status, psychology, and power intermingle with religious concerns. This course encourages students to think about how religious traditions change over time by tracing their transformation, reinterpretations, and reiterations through Vietnamese history. Students will develop essays based on readings about Vietnamese folklore, medieval Buddhist monks, eighteenth-century missionary work, apocalyptic literature, and contemporary religious activities. Certain themes for students to explore and develop will include prophecy, sorcery, pilgrimage, death, trauma, and hope.

SEM 101 TR 08:40–09:55 a.m. Jason Tran 17651 Keith Taylor

ASIAN STUDIES 1111

Literature, Culture, Religion: Weird Literatures

“A country with no border, found in the spaces between.” This is how Jeff Vandermeer, writing in The Atlantic, describes “weird fiction”—literature which engages that which is uncanny, strange, peculiar, unhinged, mad, or maddening. In this course we will examine the legacy of “weird” literatures and their relation, antagonistic or otherwise, to literatures that portray themselves as “realistic.” By engaging in a wide range of literary work—with writers such as H. P. Lovecraft, Angela Carter, Tawada Yoko, Akutagawa Ryunosuke, Nikolai Gogol, and Octavia E. Butler—we will seek what lies beyond the border, in the spaces between, and to develop new ways of making written arguments about cultural artifacts that are alien, strange, or downright weird.

SEM 102 MW 02:55–04:10 p.m. Paul McQuade 17652 Keith Taylor

AFRICANA STUDIES AND RESEARCH CENTER 1844 Whites Are Here to Stay

At the conclusion of World War II, the US ushered in a new international order based on the principles of the Atlantic Charter, which became the basis for the United Nations Charter: including but not limited to the right to self-determination and global economic cooperation. All this changed when Henry Kissinger proclaimed that “The whites are (in Africa) to stay and the only way that constructive change can come about is through them. There is no hope for the blacks to gain the political rights they seek through violence, which will only lead to chaos and increased opportunities for the communists.” This course will examine how US Foreign policy toward Africa has been formulated and executed since the Nixon years.

SEM 101 TR 08:40–09:55 a.m. Siba Grovogui 17566

NEUROBIOLOGY & BEHAVIOR 1220

Hello, It’s Me: Exploring Peculiar Ways Animals Communicate

Have you ever wondered why peacocks possess such an ornate display? Did you know that several moth species can communicate across many miles, as if by magic? Animals have evolved many unique signals to accomplish one of the most important tasks when communicating: to convey information. In this course we will investigate primary communication modalities: visual, auditory, and chemical. We will identify peculiar signals that animals use to “talk” with one another, and address their evolution. This will be accomplished using 1) primary and secondary scientific literature and 2) popular accounts of scientific research, including press releases, multimedia, and texts by well-known biologists. Writing assignments will focus on developing efficient synthesis and critiquing skills, effectively communicating science to all audiences, and constructing a research proposal.

SEM 101 TR 10:10–11:25 a.m. Derrick Thrasher 17603 Mike Webster

NEUROBIOLOGY & BEHAVIOR 1220

Cooperation, Conflict, and Complexity: Exploring Social Evolution Across the Tree of Life

Why do some animals work together in societies while others live solitary lives? Why do animals develop from a single cell rather than forming from a group of unrelated cells? These questions are central to life and are addressed by studying social evolution. In this course you will develop critical writing skills by critiquing and synthesizing topics in social evolution. For instance, you may compare how human society is similar or different from other animal societies. You will develop your writing by composing essays that review social evolution, and using your review suggest new frontiers in biology. Reading in this course includes (but is not limited to) primary articlesfromthescientificliteratureandrecentbooksonsocialevolution(e.g., PrinciplesinSocialEvolution).

SEM 102 TR 02:55–04:10 p.m. Gavin Leighton 17602 Mike Webster

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 TR 10:10–11:25 a.m. Micky Carignano 17680 Eric Rebillard

CLASSICS 1538

Gods and Mortals in Ancient Egypt

This course prepares students for university-level academic writing through the study of ancient Egyptian religion. We will investigate the ways that beliefs and rituals connected ancient Egyptians to the gods, the dead, the animal world, and the wider cosmos, and we will explore the evidence for Egyptian myths and mythology. Primary sources will include translations of hieroglyphic texts from Egyptian temples, tombs, and other contexts, as well as ancient artifacts and artworks. Through learning to use Egyptian literature, art, and archaeological artifacts as evidence for understanding ancient society, students will improve their skills in academic research and writing. Assignments include preparatory writing and essays focusing on readings and discussions in class.

SEM 101 TR 02:55–04:10 p.m. Caitlín Barrett 17679

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE 1109 Writing Across Cultures: You Don’t Know Me

We write for other people, and we read because other people have written for us. In this course we will learn how to read deeply and critically (poems, short stories, a novel); and how to write clearly and analytically (analyses, comparisons, argumentation). We will investigate how the texts we read allow us to reach across distance and know something, but also how, in the information age, they demonstrate what we cannot know. We will consider how we reach towards our readers when we write, and how in turn our writing is changed by the reader we imagine. Literary texts in the course will include work from the United States, Israel, South Africa, and Sudan.

SEM 101 TR 11:40–12:55 p.m. Nitzan Tal 17638 Debra Castillo

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE 1109

11.9.17: CANCELLED. Writing Across Cultures: Writing Social Movements

11.9.17: SORRY, THIS SECTION HAS BEEN CANCELLED. What are we to make of last year’s election? Or the ensuing protests, such as the Women’s March or the Day Without Immigrants? What does it mean to take a stance or have a message? In our present day we have a crucial task before us to think about social movements. From Civil Rights to Occupy, students will look at select movements as well as accompanying political literature to critically engage with questions of articulation, demands, success, organization, and strategy. In addition to learning about social movements, students will develop the abilities of researching social phenomenon, synthesizing information, and drawing critical conclusions about political action.

SEM 102 MW 08:40–09:55 a.m. John Un 17637 Debra Castillo

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE 1109

Writing Across Cultures: Women Nobel Prizewinners

11.9.17: SORRY, THIS SECTION HAS BEEN CANCELLED. There have been fourteen women awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Some, like Toni Morrison, are household names. Others, like Sigrid Undset, may cause us to scratch our heads. These writers range from our most recent Nobel winner, the “documentary novelist,” Svetlana Alexievich, in 2015, and back to Selma Ottila Lovisa Lagerlöf from 1909. In this seminar we will be reading short samples from all fourteen of them, and asking ourselves questions about the social and historical context of the writers and their work and their critical reception, as well as controversies around how the Nobel Prize functions and is understood, through a coherent exploration of writing, including “5 minute” crowdsourcing projects, an opportunity to explore style through both creative imitation and the scholarly essay.

SEM 103 TR 01:25–02:40 p.m. Debra Castillo 17640

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE 1109 Writing Across Cultures: Cannibal Cultures

The cannibal is always the other. Eating human flesh as a practice or a ritual always happens in the remote past or in far-away places. And yet, the cannibal lives among us. In spite of real cases of cannibalism, most of these cannibals inhabit our reality only in books, films, songs, or artworks. Nevertheless, they form an important part of our cultural imaginary. This course investigates figures of the cannibal in contemporary aesthetic texts (and some of their influential predecessors) with a focus on different cultural contexts. Issues that will be at the center of our attention are cannibalism’s deployment to mark cultural differences, as well as for political and ideological purposes, its relation to sensationalism and (spectatorial) pleasure, and its varying configurations in different cultural contexts and media. As we engage with a wide range of texts, from novels to television series, from films to video clips, from art to philosophical reflections, we will use them as models and inspirations for different writing exercises.

SEM 104 TR 11:40–12:55 p.m. Andrea Bachner 17641

This course deals with cannibalism—explicitly violent content will be part of the class.

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE 1109

Writing Across Cultures: The Third World and #TravelPorn?

What is the Third World and how are bikini-clad blond girls on the beaches of Thailand related to it? Since the 1990s, global economic shifts have changed how we understand the world map as well as how this understanding affects foreign policy and political identity, in ways that have forced a rearticulation of such outdated models as those of the “First” and “Third” worlds. This course considers the question of the “Third World,” and concepts like #wanderlust, through class discussions on history, culture, and global politics. Through a variety of reading and writing practices, students will learn how to craft persuasive arguments while gaining insight on how to approach and critically analyze a range of cultural objects such as films, literature, and popular music.

SEM 105 MWF 01:25–02:15 p.m. Vinh Pham 17639 Debra Castillo

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE 1109

Writing Across Cultures: 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 106 TR 02:55–04:10 p.m. Raissa Krivitsky 17642

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE 1109 Writing Across Cultures: Science Fiction

Science fiction, as Fredric Jameson put it, is the only kind of literature that can reach back and colonize reality. Today more than ever, when science and technology connect people, information, ideas, and images in ways that would have seemed impossible only a few decades ago, it has become apparent that science fiction is not merely a literary genre but a whole way of engaging with the modern world. In this course we will learn, think, and write about its role as a powerful tool of reflection and action, not just in the English-speaking West but also in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

SEM 107 TR 10:10–11:25 a.m. Ahmad Alswaid 17643 Debra Castillo

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE 1126

Comparative Arts and Media: Violence and Visuality

When we watch James Bond movies, seldom do we ask: how many people has James Bond killed? Why are images of violence sometimes desirable? Is our vision necessarily complicit in the mass (re)production and consumption of visual violence? Or can seeing be ethical, empathic, and resistant to actual violence? This course explores the politics, aesthetics, and ethics of visualizing/visualized violence. We will examine a variety of visual materials, including news footage, photography, animation, documentary, and fiction films, by filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino, Michael Haneke, and Joshua Oppenheimer. Through writing, students will learn to analyze visual texts with accurate, medium-specific vocabulary, develop informed and nuanced argument, and critically reflect on the position of the viewer.

SEM 101 TR 08:40–09:55 a.m. Kun Huang 17629 Debra Castillo

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE 1126 Comparative Arts and Media: Remix Culture

When Rihanna’s 2012 performance of “Diamonds” aired on Saturday Night Live, it was received as “odd,” “trippy,” and “confusing.” Performing in front of a green screen, Rihanna had mixed together fractal geometries, Greco-Roman sculptures, marine habitats, and techno-rave soundscapes, creating an audiovisual remix. The culture of remix has always challenged national, cultural, and racial boundaries. Today, when sound and image travel across borders and time, how do they speak to their “original” communities? What can they tell us about the cultural formations of authorship, network, globalization, and post-coloniality? This seminar will encourage students to write about sound and image in relation to various media technologies. Examples may include sound collage, tape music, radio deejay, post-rock, and internet art.

SEM 102 TR 01:25–02:40 p.m. Junting Huang 17630 Debra Castillo

CITY AND REGIONAL PLANNING 1109 Migration and the City

Nearly two billion people will be added to the world's urban population in the next twenty years, with almost a third of this population growth due to migration, particularly in the global South. The focus of this seminar is the study of migration as an urban phenomenon and an important aspect of the human experience, drawing on domestic (US) and international themes and cases. Who are “migrants” and how do the lived realities of internal and international migration shape cities? Through course readings and writing assignments, we will explore the history of urban migration, and its implications for urban planning and social organization. Assignments will include responses to arguments, an oral presentation, and a research paper.

SEM 101 MWF 11:15–12:05 p.m. Shoshana Goldstein 17563 Stephan Schmidt

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 17627 Noliwe Rooks

DEVELOPMENT SOCIOLOGY 1200 Sugar, Caffeine, and the Global Economy

It’s 3 pm, and you would like a cup of coffee, and maybe a chocolate chip cookie, too. How do we connect our modern penchant for sweets and caffeine to the history of slavery, racism, patriarchy, and corporate capitalism? This course will examine the historical processes and social relations through which primary commodities—such as sugar, cocoa, coffee, and tea—are produced, exchanged, and consumed globally. Students will be exposed to readings on these substances, written from a variety of different perspectives by social scientists, policymakers, corporate lobbyists, medical professionals, journalists, activists, novelists, and poets. They will learn to think critically about the relations of power and inequality concealed in everyday sweetness and bitterness. They will also develop skills and build confidence in analytical writing.

SEM 102 MW 08:40–09:55 a.m. Youjin Chung 17628 Wendy Wolford

EDUCATION 1140

Common Ground: Education Beyond the Ivory Tower

SEM 101 TR 01:25–02:40 p.m. x-listed with Writ 1400 and AmSt 1140 17710

Student schedules must accommodate TR trips (3-5 PM) to Boynton Middle School.

ENGLISH 1105

Writing and Sexual Politics: Modernist Feminisms

How do you create yourself? This course will study texts on identity formation by female modernist authors both American and British, queer and straight. As Virginia Woolf famously wrote, “on or about December, 1910, human character changed”—the ways people connected with each other had shifted, and relations as well as personal means of expression were no longer easily understood. Human character changed and is still changing, particularly as our concepts of identity grow more fluid and our society more troubled. Focusing on intersections of self-narration, oppression, and resistance, we'll read texts by Woolf, H. D., Jeanette Winterson, Elizabeth Bishop, Mary Oliver, and more. Assignments will be both analytical and creative, investigating writing as a means of advocacy when all other options have been denied.

SEM 102 TR 10:10–11:25 a.m. Amber Harding 17579 Kevin Attell

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 103 TR 01:25–02:40 p.m. Laura Brown 17580

ENGLISH 1105

Writing and Sexual Politics: Mexico’s Other Border—Sex Labor and Human Trafficking

Contemporary conversations about Central American immigration focus on patterns of movement to the United States. However, mass media and research studies focus less on the number of female migrants that never reach the U.S./Mexico border. In this course we will focus on literary and cultural production that addresses the complex system of human sex trade that occurs at Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala. Our readings will consist of investigative fiction, novels, documentaries, and visual art that explore Central American sex labor as a new form of modern-day human trafficking. Students will be encouraged to think critically of the ways we understand human rights issues and illegal immigration. Through a series of close reading assignments, students will also be challenged to advance their own writing skills.

SEM 104 TR 01:25–02:40 p.m. Nancy Quintanilla 17581

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 101 MWF 11:15–12:05 p.m. Mario Giannone 17568 John Lennon

ENGLISH 1111

Writing Across Cultures: The Culture of the Raj

Judging from the recent spate of popular novels and movies dealing with the British rule in India, the "Raj" was a time of pageantry and color, adventure and romance. But to what extent is this image historically accurate? How did people live their lives, and how did the colonial rule affect not only Indian society and culture but also contemporary Britain? The Raj did invent many of the modern forms of spectacle and public ceremonial display, but is there anything else that survives to the present day? What do we know about “race” and nationalism, for instance, or literature and imperial ideology, and the various “cultural” ways we understand ourselves—then as much as now? Readings will draw on both literary and historical texts, and include some current films and popular fiction.

SEM 104 TR 02:55–04:10 p.m. Satya Mohanty 17575

ENGLISH 1111

Writing Across Cultures: Authority and the Individual

In this course we will read stories of characters in conflict with authority. How has the struggle against the power of the State, the justice system, the parent, the patriarchy, the further pressures of society, been represented in literature across cultures? Studying the fiction of James Baldwin, Mohamed El-Bisatie, Ariel Dorfman, William Faulkner, Gabriel García Márquez, Franz Kafka, Jamaica Kincaid, Heinrich von Kleist, Flannery O’Connor, Kurt Vonnegut, Luisa Valenzuela, Sholeh Wolpé, and others, we will explore what these works have to say about the possibilities for reform if not revolution, resistance if not freedom. Students can expect regular essay assignments focused on the structuring and sharpening of analytical arguments, in recognition of the pen as mightier than the sword.

SEM 105 MW 08:40–09:55 a.m. Tess Wheelwright 17567 Helena Viramontes

ENGLISH 1111

Writing Across Cultures: Strangers in Strange Lands—Columbus to Atwood

What makes a place familiar or strange? What exactly distinguishes between a native and foreigner? How can someone be a stranger in their own land? Our class will explore these questions about belonging and alienation through a variety of texts. From early travel accounts of the “New World” to twentieth-century science fiction, we will look at how authors have written about other lands and peoples—as well as their own—to consider how language can both reflect and alter our perspectives of the world. Strangeness and familiarity are often relative; the lines between fiction and reality are often blurred. Paired with analytical and creative writing assignments, readings will include Columbus’ first letters from the Americas, The Florentine Codex, Borderlands/La Frontera, and The Handmaid’s Tale.

SEM 106 TR 11:40–12:55 p.m. Laura Francis 17572 John Lennon

ENGLISH 1111

Writing Across Cultures: Literary Labyrinths

What is a labyrinth? Is it an architectural structure, like the Minotaur’s maze? Or is it a concept, like Sherlock Holmes’ mutable mind palace? In this course our goal will be to explore the significance of literary labyrinths ranging from Classical Antiquity to the present. Although we will study labyrinths as both symbol and setting, we will also examine how they allow us to interpret the experiences of everyday life—the library, the computer, the book, and the mind. We will refine our analytical skills this semester by studying labyrinthine texts, analyzing reading practice, and developing a creative final project. Our major texts will include: Borges’ Labyrinths, Murakami’s Strange Library, Nabokov’s Pale Fire, and Carson’s Nox. We will also study films such as Henson’sLabyrinth and Nolan’s Inception.

SEM 107 TR 01:25–02:40 p.m. Kaylin O'Dell 17573

ENGLISH 1111

Writing Across Cultures: Rules of the Game—Writing Under Constraint

An entire novel written without ever using the letter “E”; a poem “sculpted” out of Google search results; a play whose characters speak purely in clichés taken from an obsolete etiquette handbook. While we might tend to equate writing with “personal expression,” this class will ask how the “personal” itself changes in a world of Xerox, Facebook, and data mining. We’ll read a tradition of twentieth- and twenty-first-century writing that deals with the mechanical, the mathematical, the programmatic in order to see how games of style might find new substance, where “authenticity” is filtered through self-imposed or socially-conditioned restrictions. Like a host of classroom Houdinis, we will place ourselves in shackles and see what magic we can create by escaping our bonds.

SEM 108 TR 11:40–12:55 p.m. Greg Londe 17574

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 109 TR 01:25–02:40 p.m. Masha Raskolnikov 17576

ENGLISH 1111

Writing Across Cultures: Technologies of Writing

In this seminar we will endeavor to be better writers by going straight to the source: by studying the different technologies of writing. As far back as Plato, writers and philosophers have expressed the concern that new forms of writing will affect how we think, remember, and communicate. How do the instruments and platforms of writing—from the pen to the personal computer, moveable type to HTML, paper to powerpoint—shape the things we can say (for better and worse) and the environments in which we communicate? What about literary and rhetorical strategies: are they also “technologies”? We’ll ground our knowledge by reading about the history, philosophy, and poetics of different writing technologies. And we’ll also conduct experiments of our own in journaling, blogging, letter writing, and fiction.

SEM 110 TR 10:10–11:25 a.m. Rayna Kalas 17571

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: The American Labor Movement

This class will explore literary portrayals of some of the battles of American labor against corporatized economic power in the early twentieth century. During this period, the industrial labor movement in the United States faced much violence and adversity in its attempt to achieve a decent standard of living. We will discuss why and how it is that the people involved in these struggles were demonized and their struggles misrepresented in the popular press. Now that the labor movement’s political influence has been greatly diminished in this country, it is important to explore its history by examining the works of its literary representatives. Each text will provide students a starting point to critique/confront, through their writing, serious problems which are quite relevant today.

SEM 101 MW 07:30–08:45 p.m. David Cosca 17666 Kevin Attell

ENGLISH 1158

American Voices: Dis/ability in Literature

How do literary representations of disability interact with attitudes we encounter in contemporary American culture? Do characters and narrators ascribe specific power or disempowerment—social, political, physical, discursive—to people with disabilities? How might these descriptions uphold or challenge cultural expectations about embodiment? This course approaches these questions by analyzing works of twentieth-century and contemporary literature in the context of prominent arguments in disability studies. Alongside fiction and poetry by writers like William Faulkner, Jillian Weise, Mark Haddon, and Molly McCully Brown, we will read critical work to contextualize our analysis and to explore intersections between disability studies and studies of race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. Writing assignments will build on in-class discussion and will include informal responses, as well as multi-draft argumentative essays.

SEM 102 TR 10:10–11:25 a.m. Emily Rials 17667

ENGLISH 1158

American Voices: The Persistent Frontier—Cowboys, Indians, and Outer Space

Some historians describe the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre as the “closing of the frontier,” while others claim that the frontier persists, as humans probe sub-atomic and biological internal frontiers and unlimited outer spaces. But who are the players in frontiers? How do these roles persist, and how do ideas of “The Frontier” shape the way we understand our present and future selves? Through readings and viewings as varied as cowboy artist Charles M. Russell’s Trails Plowed Under, Vandana Shiva’s Biopiracy, Marvel Comics’ Guardians of the Galaxy, and Native American novels like Dan Wilson’s Robopocalypse, we will critically engage Fredrick Jackson Turner’s Frontier Thesis, and trace the transit of the “frontier” from American expansionism and cowboy/Indian romanticism through its post/modernist and futuristic incarnations.

SEM 103 TR 11:40–12:55 p.m. Carol Warrior 17668

ENGLISH 1158

American Voices: Narratives of Liberation

While exploring the written literature and testimony of those who freed themselves from enslavement in earlier centuries, we will be using our own writing to express and claim identity, meaning, personal situation, and larger social purpose. The works we will read also present the networks and circumstances of individuals who helped or hindered, inspired or discouraged the authors, and so we will examine our own contexts of empowerment or constraint. These popular works were also published to an engaged, but also skeptical public, and were used for overtly political means in direct critique of national policy. In seeking to express who we are and what we stand for, we will work on writing that is both personal and purposeful in this seminar.

SEM 104 TR 08:40–09:55 a.m. A.T. Miller 17669

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: Private and Public on American Television

Is TV public or private? How do we negotiate these supposedly separate spheres through media production, consumption, and circulation? This course explores how American television has been negotiating the public and private since its inception. Its early appearance in living rooms confronted the viewer with a public medium within her private space, and programming has continually entertained with challenges to the divisions between public and private. More recently, the election of a reality TV star has brought this supposed dichotomy to bear as a political weapon and propagandistic tool. Current events—and this course—demand that we broaden our perspectives, investigate our media consumption habits, strive to understand media environments, and articulate ourselves through various media in both public and private spaces.

SEM 101 MW 08:40–09:55 a.m. Katherine Waller 17734 Nick Salvato

ENGLISH 1168

Cultural Studies: Reading Nature—People and Their Environments

In an era of climate change, deforestation, and declining biodiversity, how are we to think about the environment in which we live? This course will use literary texts to explore how people have represented nature through time and across cultures. We will examine depictions of the natural world in sources ranging from folktales to Romantic poetry to anime. Looking at a variety of representations will give us a broad framework for understanding modern environmental movements and communities affected by environmental destruction. We will read excerpts from environmentalists including Aldo Leopold and Rachel Carson, and analyze statements from the industries these activists reacted against. Students will learn to close read texts and write coherent arguments based on textual evidence.

SEM 102 MWF 09:05–09:55 a.m. Madeline Reynolds 17735 Eric Cheyfitz

ENGLISH 1168

Cultural Studies: Postcolonial Remix

What were the literary, cultural, psychological, economic, political, and even ecological effects of colonialism? This course examines some of the most dynamic and innovative literary works by postcolonial writers—that is, literature written by people who were, at one point or another, colonized in some way—from Africa, India, the Caribbean, and the United States. Classic works of postcolonial studies are paired with cutting-edge, contemporary responses, tracing the evolution of postcolonial thinking to the present day. Writing assignments will include close literary analysis, compositions, and research.

SEM 103 MWF 10:10–11:00 a.m. Mint Damrongpiwat 17736 Eric Cheyfitz

ENGLISH 1168

Cultural Studies: But Seriously, Folks—Comedy as Political Retaliation

Name your favorite way to a laugh: slapstick, scripted sketch, improvisation. Comedy is socially constructed, so no one is ever “just joking” when employing humor, whether we're giggling at or with each other. In this course we'll be troubling the traditions, motivations, and ethics that inform jokes and the comics who compose them. Ranging from eighteenth-century satire to contemporary prose humorists like ZZ Packer and David Sedaris, to standup, sketch comedy, and sitcoms, we'll be analyzing how humor applies a political critique with the same fervor as any other academic inquiry. We'll likely write jokes, essays, film reviews, and a research project.

SEM 104 MWF 12:20–01:10 p.m. Annie Goold 17737 Eric Cheyfitz

ENGLISH 1168

Cultural Studies: Art and Argument—The Personal Essay in Contemporary America

How have contemporary American writers engaged with the personal essay form—a form committed to extended meditation, argument, and analysis—in order to respond to the last fifty years of American history and culture? What makes the “personal” so persuasive? And which re-imaginings of the form seem most suited to the here and now? Through class discussion and the composition of our own critical, creative, and personal essays, we will explore how the personal essay’s diverse forms and foci reflect the complex interplay between socio-historical moment and authorial intention. We will read essays by American authors writing on place, culture, race, and art, including James Baldwin, Joan Didion, Hunter S. Thompson, Gloria Anzaldúa, Sherman Alexie, David Foster Wallace, Leslie Jamison, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and Yiyun Li.

SEM 105 MWF 01:25–02:15 p.m. Michael Prior 17738 Eric Cheyfitz

ENGLISH 1168

Cultural Studies: “Everyone’s Entitled to One Good Scare”—The Horror Film and Us

Vampires. Witches. Hauntings. Zombies. This course is for film buffs and lovers of cinematic horror. It is also for those who are willing to tackle a few questions: how does the zombie embody anxieties about the American Dream? Is Dracula really a symbol for fear of the aristocracy, and if so, how can the vampire narrative help us understand the role of wealth and capitalism in our contemporary lives? What assumptions do narratives of witchcraft make about domesticity and womanhood? This course is about developing tools for both film and literary analysis, but it is also about how we can read the horror film as a translation of anxieties that form and persist in U.S. culture. Cinematic pieces includeNosferatu, Night of the Living Dead, and Get Out. Supplementary readings include essays, short fiction, and poetry. We’ll produce a variety of writing: formal essays, creative pieces, and a film review.

SEM 106 TR 10:10–11:25 a.m. Jasmine Jay 17739 Eric Cheyfitz

ENGLISH 1168

Cultural Studies: Nothing Makes Sense ̄\_(ツ)_/ ̄

Meaning: we all seem to be searching for it, but of what consequence is it when reading is a subjective experience? What if we relied solely on the senses? And what if those senses didn’t make sense? Devoted to texts of strangeness, spontaneity, ambiguity, absurdity, and senselessness, this course will explore the subtle art of not making sense. By writing about and reading from the work of César Aira, Yoko Tawada, Talking Heads, American television commercials, and more, we’ll figure how meaning and process in “serious” writing can be stimulated and embodied by play, silliness, abstraction, and weirdness. Course prerequisite: confusion.

SEM 107 TR 11:40–12:55 p.m. Shane Kowalski 17740 Eric Cheyfitz

ENGLISH 1168

Cultural Studies: Latinx Science Fiction in the Age of Dystopia

If the Planet Earth ended and we could restart human life in a different planet, what kinds of borders/boundaries would we be crossing? What would citizenship look like? Who or what could belong in the New World? This course will explore science fiction by U.S. Latino/a/x writers that consider the history of colonialism and its relationship to immigration. Students will be encouraged to think of speculative fiction as a medium that challenges modern-day issues affecting Latino/a/x communities and reimagines alternative possibilities across different worlds. Our readings will consist of science fiction and fantasy that represent varying Latino/a/x experiences. Through a series of close reading assignments, students will also be challenged to create and advance their own writing skills.

SEM 108 TR 11:40–12:55 p.m. Nancy Quintanilla 17741

ENGLISH 1168

Cultural Studies: True or False? Storytelling in Fiction and Nonfiction

What makes a compelling story? Whether it's true or invented, some stories fall flat while others captivate and even persuade us. In this class we'll be examining voice, style, perspective, and structure for the things that make a story tick. We’ll also be asking: what are the unique advantages of fiction vs. nonfiction? Where do they require different approaches and what holds true across both genres? Do we engage with one form differently than the other? Our reading list will include primarily shorter form fiction and nonfiction, ranging from classics to the contemporary: George Saunders, Jennifer Egan, James Baldwin, Zadie Smith, David Foster Wallace, Leslie Jamison, Junot Diaz, Roxane Gay, Aimee Bender, Alice Munro, Raymond Carver, Ernest Hemingway, and others. Writing assignments will include critical, personal, and creative pieces.

SEM 109 TR 02:55–04:10 p.m. Christine Vines 17743 John Lennon

ENGLISH 1168

Cultural Studies: Kids Queer the Family—Pop Culture and the Pursuit of Belonging

Studies show that fewer than half of U.S. kids younger than 18 years of age are living in a home with two married heterosexual parents in their first marriage, compared to 73 percent in 1960 and 61 percent in 1980. The percentage of children born outside of marriage is now 41 percent, compared to 5 percent in 1960. On media and elsewhere, we see a proliferation of images of non-normative families. Might we say that the family has been queered? Despite the data and the representations, however, the nuclear family persists as a kind of normative standard against which these “alternatives” are measured. Rather than beginning from this norm and working outward, however, this class begins with the perspectives of kids and asks how they see their families. We analyze a wide variety of cultural texts, ranging from YouTube videos to comic strips to memoirs to music, investigating how kids define “family.” We focus on the U.S., inquiring into how race, language, religion, and legal status shape the family, drawing heavily on feminist and queer theory.

SEM 110 TR 01:25–02:40 p.m. Jane Juffer 17744

ENGLISH 1168

Cultural Studies: The Reservation in Film and Literature

The reservation is a space with a distinct identity in the U.S. national imaginary and in the experiences of American Indian peoples. Literature from or about reservations, then, engages a wide range of ideas about Native identities, politics, and law. As the physical space that embodies John Marshall’s “domestic dependent nations,” the reservation remains an exceptional space in the context of United States law and history. We will examine how its representation in film and literature responds to, complicates, and resists the ongoing coloniality of the reservation system. Students will examine historical documents and case law alongside fictional representations of the reservation by Native Americans and non-Natives, learning in the process to write analytically about both historical and fictional texts.

SEM 111 MW 02:55–04:10 p.m. Lauren Harmon 18295

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

CLASS CANCELLED - British Literature: ShakesQueer

CLASS CANCELLED - The cross-dressing in many Shakespearean comedies flirts with the possibility of queer romance until the final act. That’s when characters reveal their “true” genders, and the play ends in one or more seemingly happy heterosexual marriages. But, can the marriage plot dissipate the queerness cultivated by the play so easily? Can we make the case for calling at least some of Shakespeare’s plays and poems “queer literature?” We will consider the queerness of Shakespearean characters, language, and performance practices. We will also examine how queerness in Shakespeare interacts with other facets of identity like race and gender. Texts will include Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets, and we will engage the complexity of these works through a sequence of creative and analytical writing assignments involving substantial revision.

SEM 101 MW 08:40–09:55 a.m. Stephen Kim 17690 Philip Lorenz

ENGLISH 1191

British Literature: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

From moralizing bestiaries to tales of dragon-slaying and sea monsters, medieval peoples were deeply interested, as we are today, with both the monstrous and the animal. Stories abound of werewolves, trolls, griffons, giants, and even chickens that explode when you touch them. This course will be an investigation of various animals, monsters, and the journeys in which they appear throughout the literature of medieval England and its neighbors. We will be reading texts such as The Voyage of Saint Brendan, The lais of Marie de France, The Old English Physiologus, The Travels of John Mandeville, Grettirsaga, and more, as well as engaging in both analytic and exploratory writing assignments, in a far-reaching look at how humans have historically represented beings other than themselves.

SEM 102 MWF 11:15–12:05 p.m. Seth Koproski 17691 Philip Lorenz

ENGLISH 1191

British Literature: Cool Brittania—Exporting Britishness

A century ago, Britain ruled the largest empire in the history of the world. By 1960 most of that empire was independent; yet Britain still seems to be everywhere. Instead of troops, plantations, and the King James Bible, the U.K. now exports itself. In pop music (The Beatles), fantasy fiction (Harry Potter), comedy (Monty Python’s Flying Circus), spies (James Bond), science fiction (Doctor Who), and costume dramas by the score (Jane Austen any way you want her), we keep buying Britain. What is Britishness anyway? How did this small island hold on to its outsized cultural influence? And what role did its former colony, the USA, play in this process? Writing assignments analyzing various kinds of texts allow students to focus on finding, developing, and revising their best ideas.

SEM 103 MWF 12:20–01:10 p.m. Jane Glaubman 17692

ENGLISH 1191

British Literature: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Villains and all manner of baddies have fascinated audiences for centuries, from medieval to modern. Whether it’s Stoker’s Dracula, Shakespeare’s Iago, or Satan himself, narratives about villains have continued to shape our written and oral traditions. But why do we create them? And perhaps more importantly, why does it feel so good to be bad? In this course we will define what it means to be a villain and explore how this category has changed over time. Moreover, we will investigate how and why villains within literature inspire emotional and affective reactions, delving into what it is that keeps us coming back for more. Our major texts and films include: Beowulf, Shakespeare's Macbeth, Milton's Paradise Lost, Le Fanu’s Carmilla, Nolan's Dark Knight, and the BBC Sherlock Holmes.

SEM 104 TR 08:40–09:55 a.m. Kaylin O'Dell 17693

ENGLISH 1270

Writing About Literature: Reading Poetry

What can reading poetry teach us about good writing and critical thinking? This writing seminar deals with a variety of poetry, from the Renaissance to contemporary musical lyrics, in order to make students better readers and writers. We will work collectively in a seminar setting to 1) learn about the formal aspects of poetic texts; 2) improve writing skills; 3) develop habits of critical thinking; 4) learn how to write critical papers; 5) talk about what is at stake in reading a poem and doing critical analysis.

SEM 101 TR 10:10–11:25 a.m. Barbara Correll 17694

GERMAN STUDIES 1109

From Fairy Tales to the Uncanny: Exploring the Romantic Consciousness

How did bawdy tales of peasants using magic to climb the social ladder get transformed into moral lessons for children? The answer lies in Romanticism and its appropriation of the imagination as a force for social transformation. As Romantics edited older tales for juvenile consumption they wrote new ones for adults. This new fiction created the matrix for modern pop genres like fantasy, science-fiction, murder mysteries, and gothic horror. To understand this paradigm shift in modern culture, we will read, discuss, and write about a variety of texts the Romantics collected, composed, or inspired, including poetry and film, in addition to classic fairy tales and academic scholarship on the topic.

SEM 101 TR 10:10–11:25 a.m. Douglas McBride 17695

SEM 102 TR 02:55–04:10 p.m. Matthew Stoltz 17696 Douglas Brent McBride

GERMAN STUDIES 1118 Let’s Play

Why do we play games and why do we have fun with them? What makes us winners and losers? This course will explore various approaches to games and humans at play. We will try to understand why people play and why they prefer some games to others. Interdisciplinary in nature, the class will offer readings from areas of sociology, psychology, history, mathematics, and cultural studies (just to name a few). By reading and analyzing and playing with Nabokov, Hesse, Zweig, Berne, Huizinga, and Schenkel we will make connections between games, national identity, gender, class, and intelligence, and will construct arguments about various scholarly and fictional written and cinematic texts.

SEM 101 MW 08:40–09:55 a.m. Ekaterina Pirozhenko 17609

GERMAN STUDIES 1170 Marx, Nietzsche, Freud

A basic understanding of Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud is a prerequisite for participating in critical debates in the humanities and social sciences. Our seminar will explore key terms in the revolutionary models of critical analysis these thinkers pioneered: historical materialism, post-metaphysical philosophy, and psychoanalysis. This will mean articulating points of contrast as well as convergence. Discussions and writing exercises will focus on texts that created the discursive framework for critiquing society and culture today. Our method will proceed from the premise that critical reading, thinking, and writing are inseparable moments in the same operation of critique. The question that guides that method will be: Do alternative ways of thinking exist in opposition to the ones we view as natural, inevitable, or universal?

GOVERNMENT 1101

Power and Politics: Politics of Persuasion in Democratic Athens

Considering their unique capacity for speech, Aristotle once called human-beings “political animals.” By engaging classical Greek philosophers, historians, and dramatists, this seminar focuses on the promise and perils of persuasive speech in democratic societies. For example, in looking at texts like Plato’s Apology we might ask: Can moral reproach persuade democratic citizens to act justly? If not, why not? In the context of Thucydides’ The History of the Peloponnesian War, does the urgency of warfare place constraints on democratic deliberation? Should it? While spanning genres, the bulk of our readings are structured around speeches and arguments. They include Plato’s Apology and Thucydides’ The History of the Peloponnesian War. Writing assignments will require students to analyze and re-construct efforts at persuasion in assigned texts and to intervene as partisans on the assembly and stage of Athenian democracy.

SEM 101 TR 02:55–04:10 p.m. Jordan Jochim 17613 Jill Frank

GOVERNMENT 1101

Power and Politics: Identity Politics

On topics ranging from civil wars to the election of Donald Trump, observers have emphasized the role of identities in explaining political phenomena. But what is identity and how does it matter in politics? Why do some identities matter in some times and places, but not others? In this course we seek to understand what identity is and when identities become politically relevant. To address these questions, we will examine different types of identity (class, race/ethnicity, gender, nationalism), as well as its different forms (individual, social, and political). Readings will include theoretical and empirical texts from political science and philosophy, and students will be asked to write on these topics in a variety of ways, including critical response papers, op-eds, and an independent academic research project.

SEM 103 MW 02:55–04:10 p.m. David De Micheli 17615 Kenneth Roberts

HISTORY 1200

Family and Violence in Late Imperial China

What social and moral purposes were served by controversial stories of sex and violence within patriarchal families in fourteenth to sixteenth-century China? In this course we will learn to create and voice ideas through preliminary writing exercises and class activities (debates, peer review, workshops). We will read narratives of violence against and by women in the domestic space—educational manuals, legal cases, fictions. Students will analyze how specific family structures, ideas of gender and sexuality, and attitudes toward women and violence, were shaped by the historical context of late imperial China. By writing about contradictions and ambigueties in stories, we will explore tensions that might still exist today in the fundamental social unit: family. By analyzing these commonalities and differences, we understand how the past informs the present.

SEM 101 TR 08:40–09:55 a.m. Shiau-Yun Chen 17616 T J Hinrichs

HISTORY 1200

Presenting the Unpresented: Minorities in Modern Japanese History and Beyond

Who is a “minority”? Is it simply determined by size and numbers? On what basis are people included in history? And why are some people excluded, forgotten, or even purposefully hidden? This course will explore why some people (or groups of people) are not presented and/or mispresented in history, with a focus on modern Japan. In the process of listening to “minority” voices and exploring historians’ attempts to include them in history, students will write and present about unpresented and/or mispresented historical figures of their own research interest throughout the semester. Together, we will learn to analyze and understand the past and present, in and beyond modern Japanese history. Prior knowledge of Japanese history is not required.

SEM 102 MW 08:40–09:55 a.m. Ai Baba 17618 Eric Tagliacozzo

HISTORY 1200

The Power of Technology and the Technologies of Power

Is technology a weapon of oppression for the rich and powerful or a tool for human progress? From Über and Airbnb to guns and artificial intelligence, political debates rage over technology. What often go unnoticed however are the technologies of everyday life. Massive infrastructural systems condition everything we do, from how we get to school and access the news to the water we drink and food we eat. The history of those systems reveals a parallel history of the emergence of modern state power. This class examines the history of infrastructure and state power over the last two centuries. We will focus on different philosophical perspectives and consider the work of historians to understand the emergence of different infrastructural systems that have contributed to and even challenged state power, from railroads to the internet. Students will write papers on philosophical questions, revolution and technology, and a final research paper.

SEM 103 MW 07:30–08:45 p.m. Kyle Harvey 17617 Ray Craib

HISTORY 1200

Science, Technology, and Society in East Asia, 1500–1950

This course aims to present an outline of early modern and modern East Asia history with a focus on science and technology from the sixteenth to the early twentieth centuries. This was a period in which China, Japan, and Korea experienced tumultuous social, political, and economic changes and grappled with the forces of global modernity. Much attention will be given to two questions: What was the role of science and technology in shaping East Asia’s early modern and modern history? How did people with existing traditions of inquiry and artifice perceive, absorb, and modify Western scientific and technological practices? We will read widely from a seventeenth-century Chinese technological encyclopedia to a twentieth-century academic work discussing how the Dutch popularized Western science in pre-modern Japan. Essay assignments will include historical analysis and a research project.

SEM 104 TR 08:40–09:55 a.m. Yiyun Peng 17619 Victor Seow

HISTORY 1200

Dare to Dream: A History of ASEAN

Founded in 1967 as a loose grouping of five anti-Communist Southeast Asian states during the Cold War, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will turn 50 in 2017 with ten member states, four of which were or remain socialist. This course will explore the circumstances leading to the creation of ASEAN; its role in the Second and Third Indochina Wars; its expansion after the end of the Cold War; its response to “new” challenges including the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, Islamic fundamentalism, and the rise of China; and its future prospects with the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015. Students will gain a broad appreciation of the evolution of the political landscape and culture of Southeast Asia through these decades. Essays will respond to and analyze primary and secondary historical sources.

SEM 105 MWF 09:05–09:55 a.m. Hoang Vu 17620 Keith Taylor

HISTORY 1431

Mao, China, and the World

Mao Zedong’s famous portrait hangs over the entrance to the Forbidden City in Beijing, a fitting symbol of his dominating presence in the history of modern China. But who exactly was Mao and how has he been perceived by others? A courageous revolutionary seeking the liberation of the oppressed masses? A bloodthirsty tyrant bent on self-exaltation and personal power? A savvy politician promoting the modernization of an ancient land? In this course we will probe the figure of Mao through a variety of readings, some by Mao, but most by others, ranging from Mao’s physician to former Red Guards to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. And we will add our own perceptions to them by writing about Mao, the man and the myth.

SEM 101 TR 08:40–09:55 a.m. John Barwick 17586

HISTORY 1445

Brazilian Modernism through Literature, Art, Architecture, and Popular Music

This course looks at how Brazilian intellectuals came to terms with their present and imagined their future throughout the twentieth century. From São Paulo’s week of Modern Art in 1922 through the construction of Brasília in 1960 and into the musical movement known as Tropicália, Brazilians have sought to define themselves as both modern and tropical. This seminar will explore how they did so, familiarizing students with the history of Brazil through the lens of literature, art, architecture, and music. It will provide tools to think critically about different regions in Brazil, the social and aesthetic contexts for the emergence of artistic vanguards, and the complicated relationships that Brazilian intellectuals have had with the United States and Western Europe.

SEM 101 TR 10:10–11:25 a.m. Ivan Merkel 17601

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. Elliot Shapiro 17644

LINGUISTICS 1100

Language, Thought, and Reality: Words and Pictures

This class explores the collaboration of language and image in creating meanings at multiple levels. We will discuss and write about popular culture—caricatures, comics, graphic novels, and advertising—along with high culture artifacts such as paintings and illuminated manuscripts, examining the interplay and analogies between understanding language and interpreting images. We will discuss phenomena that cut across words and pictures: both may represent reality. A sentence may be true or false—can the same be said of a picture? Both language and visual representation are governed by conventions, and would be impossible without them. Information may be foregrounded and backgrounded in both channels, and can be ambiguous, contradictory, nonsensical, or self-referential.

SEM 101 TR 02:55–04:10 p.m. Dorit Abusch 17584

MATHEMATICS 1890 Writing in Mathematics

Mathematical statements often appear to be truthful and value-neutral, which can conceal the subjective frameworks used in modern quantitative sciences. This writing-intensive course will focus on the places where mathematics and sociology can no longer be studied separately. Examples may include ethics of big data, fairness of criminal risk-assessment algorithms, transparency of economic analyses, and the evaluation of climate change statistics. We will study the two-way communication between technical experts and the larger public, and the broader impacts of scientific and quantitative reasoning. This is not a mathematics course in the typical sense and does not have any mathematical prerequisites. Writing assignments will ask students to synthesize and respond critically to communication between scientists and the public.

SEM 101 MW 02:55–04:10 p.m. Kelsey Houston-Edwards 17658 Ravi Ramakrishna

MEDIEVAL STUDIES 1101

Aspects of Medieval Culture: Imagining Empire—Symbols of Power in the Medieval World

The Middle Ages often seem to be dominated by the actions of kings, queens, and emperors: men and women elevated to supra-human status, able to command both the fear and the love of their subjects. But how did these individuals advertise and maintain their power? Indeed, how powerful were they? How was “kingship” conceptualized in the medieval imagination? This course will investigate different possible answers to these questions by studying objects and buildings representing royal and imperial power, the ideas of medieval thinkers, and comparative approaches put forward in modern theory. Students will develop skills in writing evidence-based, discursive essays, building from short reaction and descriptive pieces to critical essays based on assigned readings.

SEM 101 TR 11:40–12:55 p.m. Samuel Barber 17702 Eric Rebillard

MEDIEVAL STUDIES 1101

Aspects of Medieval Culture: Women in Anglo-Saxon Literature

From fighting demons to ruling kingdoms, women in Anglo-Saxon literature model exceptional behavior, religious faith, and political influence. What female role models were available to readers, and what roles did real women play in shaping literary representations of the feminine? From Eve, the first woman, to Emma, one of the last queens of Anglo-Saxon England, this course will explore representations of women in the literature of early medieval England and women’s roles in literary production as writers, audience, and patrons. We will read selections from poetry, saints’ lives, histories, letters, and other genres. Writing assignments will include short responses, close-reading analyses of primary sources, and critical essays.

SEM 102 TR 02:55–04:10 p.m. Sophia D’Ignazio 17703 Masha Raskolnikov

MEDIEVAL STUDIES 1101

Aspects of Medieval Culture: Getting Emotional in the Middle Ages

Weeping monsters, blushing heroes, bored monks, and laughing kings: how did medieval writers put their feelings into words? What do the characters they created tell us about medieval emotion? Did they experience emotions in the same way that we do? We will consider these questions by looking at Old and Middle English texts like Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, as well as strange riddles, tragic elegies, wild saints’ lives, and monster catalogues. Through class discussion, short responses, and formal writing assignments, students will examine these texts while strengthening their research and analytical skills.

SEM 103 TR 10:10–11:25 a.m. Ryan Lawrence 17704 Samantha Zacher

MEDIEVAL STUDIES 1101

Aspects of Medieval Culture: Shakespeare's Medieval Kings

What makes a good king? And how should he rule? By fear, love, force, or perhaps fashion? This course asks these questions of the most powerful characters in the plays of Shakespeare (who wrote during the reign of a queen Elizabeth I). The godlike Richard II, the rebellious Henry IV, the party-loving Henry V, and the monstrous Macbeth will grace our stage. Reading and discussion will cover rebellion, divine right, subterfuge, and the performance of power in these plays. Writing assignments will prepare students to compose college-level essays, and begin to think in an inductive fashion about the topics that they will tackle.

SEM 104 MWF 10:10–11:00 a.m. Louis McLaughlin 17705 David Powers

MEDIEVAL STUDIES 1101

Aspects of Medieval Culture: Orbis Terrarum—The Medieval Earth was a Globe

Popular modern culture holds that medieval people thought that the earth was flat. You might even think that yourself. However, medieval writers and thinkers knew that the earth was a sphere. They built their global geographies on a combination of classical and biblical sources, and on their lived experience. This class will look at writings from sources including Plato and Aristotle, the Bible, Macrobius, Isidore of Seville, and Bede. We will examine ways that these sources influenced medieval geographic thought, looking at how the world was reproduced in texts and maps. Writing assignments for the class will involve close readings of source texts and maps, as well as applying class concepts to students’ lived experiences.

SEM 105 MWF 01:25–02:15 p.m. John Wyatt Greenlee 17707 Andrew Galloway

MEDIEVAL STUDIES 1101

Aspects of Medieval Culture: The Anglo-Saxon World—Monsters, Warriors, Legends, and Kings

Who were the Anglo-Saxons? In current popular imagination, they were legendary warriors who wielded magic and fought dragons and Vikings. Modern scholars use the term to describe the diverse groups of Germanic settlers who began migrating to Britain around the fifth century and maintained power there until the Norman Conquest in the eleventh century. This course will explore how Anglo-Saxons sought to define and redefine themselves, asking critical questions about who is attempting to leverage this cultural identity and why. We will closely read a variety of sources that span the breadth of the period—from the earliest Old English laws to Bede’sEcclesiastical History to Beowulf—and develop our skills of analysis through writing informal reading responses, critical essays, and a self-directed research project.

SEM 106 TR 01:25–02:40 p.m. Abigail Sprenkle 17706 Oren Falk

MUSIC 1701

From “Talented Tenth” to “Bad and Boujee”: Exploring Racial Authenticity Politics through Black Music

What has it meant to be “authentically Black” in the United States imagination since the turn of the twentieth century, and how meaningful is this concept? How have uplift ideologies operated interracially and within the Black public sphere over time, and what have been their results? This course considers how music acts to articulate “authentic” Blackness, from W. E. B. Du Bois’s view of bourgeois “double-consciousness” to the competing claims about racial (in)authenticity that underlie contemporary hip-hop discourse. In this course students will write about complex and provocative social issues as well as musical aesthetics. Our cross-disciplinary focus places prevailing and contested expressions of Blackness in dialogue, toward a grounded view of Blackness as complex and unending.

SEM 101 TR 11:40–12:55 p.m. Maxwell Williams 17653 Neal Zaslaw

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 17656 Lauren Monroe

NEAR EASTERN STUDIES 1985

Writing Under Pressure: Arabic Fiction in Times of Crisis

This course examines Arabic fiction written under conditions of crisis, when the author’s life or safety was under threat due to war, famine, a totalitarian regime, etc. All readings will be available in English translation. We will read fiction from Lebanon’s civil war period (1975–90), the Iraqi Gulf War and economic sanctions (1990–2003), Egypt under Hosni Mubarak (1981–2011), and more. Students will answer the following questions in their essays: What compels an author to write despite the imminence of existential threat? What does each author want to convey most urgently about the crisis he/she is experiencing? How does crisis shape writing—how do authors protect themselves from crises and how does that impact their writing style? Assignments will include reflective and analytical essays.

SEM 101 TR 10:10–11:25 a.m. Atoor Lawandow 17657 Deborah Starr

PHILOSOPHY 1110

Philosophy in Practice: Conservation Ethics

Why is it bad for a species to go extinct? How is extinction different from the death of an individual? Is it worse for an entire genus to go extinct than for a species to go extinct? Why? And what difference does it make if the genus is not discovered until after its extinction? How does potential species extinction compare to, say, the potential destruction of the Grand Canyon? And how much does it matter whether this destruction/extinction be somehow caused by humans? In this class we will explore these questions alongside others about our ethical responsibilities to our planet and its non-human inhabitants. We will do so with a view to developing our skills of argumentation and our clarity and precision in writing.

SEM 101 MWF 10:10–11:00 a.m. Frances Fairbairn 17727 Tad Brennan

PHILOSOPHY 1110

Philosophy in Practice: Morality, Crime, and Mass Incarceration

Questions around criminal justice have lately been receiving more critical attention than at any other time in recent history. But for all the talk about an emerging bipartisan consensus in favor of reform, the US remains the world’s leading jailer. Whether we want to criticize, defend, or simply understand the criminal justice system, we need to grasp the legal and philosophical principles that have guided its development. This course takes an interdisciplinary approach to investigating the connections between criminal justice, mass incarceration, and moral philosophy. Readings will be drawn from judicial opinions, criminal statutory codes, empirical work on the carceral state, and philosophical writings by Plato, Kant, Bentham, and Mill, among others. Assignments will include short reconstructions of important arguments as well as longer essays.

SEM 102 TR 02:55–04:10 p.m. Alexander Boeglin 17728 Tad Brennan

PHILOSOPHY 1111

Philosophical Problems: The Demands of Morality

Morality places demands on us. For example, if you see a child drowning in a pond, then you are morally required to save them. But what else does morality demand of us? Are you morally required to donate large amounts of money to charity? Are you morally required to donate a kidney to someone on dialysis? Some philosophers have thought so. We will consider arguments for and against the view that morality places such extreme demands on us. We will also consider whether, and why, you should bother doing what morality demands of you. Readings are from both historical and contemporary philosophers, including Peter Singer, Susan Wolf, Plato, and Shantideva. Writing assignments will focus on careful argument analysis and clear, rigorous writing.

SEM 101 MW 08:40–09:55 a.m. Thomas Foerster 17729 Tad Brennan

PHILOSOPHY 1111

Philosophical Problems: Philosophy, Feminism, Sex, and Gender

This course will cover a range of theoretical and practical issues that relate to sex and gender, viewed primarily through a feminist lens. What are sex and gender? How do they relate to society and culture? To science? How do our views of sex and gender affect our ethical views? How should they? Students will engage with questions such as these through a range of academic, non-academic, historical, and contemporary readings. Writing assignments will focus on writing in the discipline of philosophy. Through (re)constructing, evaluating, and defending arguments, students will learn to write clearly and persuasively.

SEM 102 MW 02:55–04:10 p.m. Marta Heckel 17730 Tad Brennan

PHILOSOPHY 1112

Philosophical Conversations: The Existence of God

Does the very existence of the universe, or the fact that it can sustain life, prove that there is a God? Does the pain and suffering of the innocent prove the contrary? In this course we will examine a range of arguments for and against God’s existence. We will also ask whether theistic belief could be rational even if the evidence does not support God’s existence. Blaise Pascal, for instance, famously held that no argument could settle the question of whether God exists, yet it remains rational to believe (”to wager”) that God does. Through writing, discussion, and the careful analysis of texts, students will be introduced to the practice of philosophical reasoning and argument.

SEM 101 TR 08:40–09:55 a.m. Kimberly Brewer 17731 Tad Brennan

PHILOSOPHY 1112

Philosophical Conversations: Heidegger and Arendt on the Human Condition

What is the meaning of Being? When we say things like “a hammer has Being,” it seems all we mean is that the hammer exists. What else is there to say? According to Heidegger, a whole lot! Heidegger believes that there is a meaningful concept of the being of all beings, a concept that underlies all our understanding of reality. In order to discover the meaning of Being, we have to look at our own way of Being—how are we related to the world and to ourselves? We will read excerpts from Heidegger’s Being and Time, and Hannah Arendt’s The Human Condition, plus literature on how to write good philosophy papers. Writing assignments will focus on careful argument analysis and clear, rigorous writing.

SEM 102 MW 08:40–09:55 a.m. Freya Mobus 17732 Tad Brennan

PHILOSOPHY 1112

Philosophical Conversations: Aristotle’s Science—The Method and its Criticism

Aristotle is often considered as the father of psychology and biology, and his philosophical theories about both sciences have received severe criticism from philosophers in the modern period. In this class we are going to look at some of Aristotle’s works on psychology and biology, as well as some classic criticisms of Aristotle raised by modern figures such as Descartes, Boyle, and Hume. Special emphasis will be given to Aristotle’s scientific method and the philosophical tools that he uses to shed light on scientific questions. Writings for this class will include both short expository essays on the texts and longer papers on designated topics. There will also be the option of designing one’s own research paper for students with background in psychology and biology.

SEM 103 MW 07:30–08:45 p.m. Zeyu Chi 17733 Tad Brennan

PHILOSOPHY 1112

Philosophical Conversations: Reasoning About Moral Issues

Does a fetus in a woman’s body have a right not to be killed? Would a worldwide ban on eating and using animals increase the net happiness of the world? Do animals have moral rights? Do we have the right to die on our own terms? Do we owe it to other people to tell the truth about ourselves? Do we have a right to sell or use our own body for money? In this course we are going to explore contemporary moral issues regarding abortion, assisted suicide, lying about oneself, vegetarianism, animal rights, and the morality of prostitution (or selling body parts). (Subtopics may change.) Based on a clear understanding of ethical terms, concepts, and distinctions, we are going to tackle philosophical arguments for and against these topics. Through reading and discussing contemporary works in philosophy on these questions, and through writing assignments, students will develop the ability to critically read, understand, and write about academic texts.

SEM 104 MW 07:30–08:45 p.m. Yuna Won 18191 Tad Brennan

PERFORMING & MEDIA ARTS 1130

Going Undercover: Radical Undercover Journalism and the (Re)creation of Self

What would it be like to go through life as a completely different person? In order to expose and combat social injustice, journalists have crossed lines of race, gender, age, class, and appearance, and gone undercover, sometimes risking their reputations, sanity, and even their lives. But what are the results of these experiments? Do the ends justify the sometimes ethically questionable means? How does “going undercover” affect an individual or a community? By examining works of John Howard Griffin, Sarah Jones, Morgan Spurlock, Barbara Ehrenreich, Norah Vincent, and a variety of identity-probing texts, we examine the complex facets of diverse identities. The course facilitates a range of writing assignments and culminates in students devising and executing their own undercover journalism and research projects.

SEM 101 TR 02:55–04:10 p.m. Rosalie Purvis 17712 Amy Villarejo

PERFORMING & MEDIA ARTS 1137

Adapt and Revise: History through Theatre and Performance

How does a playwright adapt a historical event or figure for the stage? What roles do authenticity and accuracy play in dramatic adaptations of history? What makes history relevant on today’s stage? And what’s the big deal about Hamilton, anyway? In this course we will read and watch plays, musicals, and performances that stage history. While our focus will be on dramatic texts, we will also examine how and by whom history is written, as well as the nature of artistic representation. With an emphasis on in-class discussion, student-led research, and in-class writing workshops, this course will foster and enhance each student’s ability to produce coherent, concise, persuasive prose across a range of forms in the performing arts field.

SEM 101 TR 08:40–09:55 a.m. Erin Stoneking 17714 Amy Villarejo

PERFORMING & MEDIA ARTS 1138

Playing (with) History: Reviewing the Past through Performance

The history play is among the oldest forms of dramatic text. Performances that draw upon historical narratives for their subject matter continue to proliferate the contemporary stage. However, the past and its construction is a site of contention. Women, people of color, and individuals identifying with the LGBTQ community, name but a few identity categories that find themselves ignored and erased by many historical narratives. This course considers how performance can be a tool for marginalized communities to reassert narrative control over accounts of the past. Through close reading and analysis of dramatic texts and live/mediated performances, as well as a wide range of critically-engaged writing assignments, we will explore questions surrounding history’s construction and the potential of performance to intervene.

SEM 101 TR 11:40–12:55 p.m. Sameul Blake 17715 Amy Villarejo

PERFORMING & MEDIA ARTS 1140 Testimonial (In)justice on the Documentary Stage

Creating documentary theater is a process of falling in love: with stories, with people, with theatrical possibilities. Critically intimate relationships between documentary artists, their community partners, and the stories being told are often the sustaining force behind the form’s painstaking, time-consuming writing process. This course uses the documentary process as a model for the types of inquiry and argumentation required by academic writing. Documentary artists engage closely with testimonial evidence, articulate compelling questions, and grapple with the ethical and political potentialities those questions engender. Throughout this course we will be working to unearth similar modes of learning through the production of professional and academic writing. Like the artists we study, we will develop approaches to writing that nurture and extend our understanding of content.

SEM 101 TR 10:10–11:25 a.m. Caitlin Kane 17910 Amy Villarejo

PERFORMING & MEDIA ARTS 1141 Performing Dreams and Telling Stories

Creating interesting images and telling good stories are crucial skills in crafting effective writing. In this course students devise, rehearse, and perform original theatre pieces, in order to develop the writing processes of composition, revision, and presentation. Students will record their dreams and use this writing as source material in making performances. Students will also engage fantastical creative works ranging from Beauty and the Beast to the short stories of Franz Kafka, from Winsor McCay’s comic strips to Shakespeare Behind Bars. This course is for theatre practitioners and non-performers alike. Students will also improve their scholarly writing through peer and instructor review and a multi-draft essay process.

SEM 101 TR 01:25–02:40 p.m. Nick Fesette 17922 Amy Villarejo

PSYCHOLOGY 1130

Extreme Parental Care: Animal Survival and Social Learning

What does parental care look like in a crocodile? How do meerkats learn to eat scorpions? Why do some species of birds need to practice singing in front of an audience to develop a good-sounding song? This class will focus on examples of “extreme” or bizarre social behaviors in the animal kingdom, from amphibians to whales. We will discuss the importance of social learning for the development of adaptive skills and examine videos of animals behaving in the wild. Students will learn how to translate scientific findings for the public, concisely convey their ideas, and propose their own research.

SEM 101 MWF 10:10–11:00 a.m. Katerina Faust 17700 Michael Goldstein

PSYCHOLOGY 1140

Myths and Legends of Psychology

What causes déjà vu? How much of your brain do you actually use? Typical answers to these questions are often inaccurate, yet they appear to have become common knowledge. Together we will learn how myths of psychology are perpetuated and how to debunk such widespread misconceptions. We’ll identify and respond to myths portrayed in various forms of mass media, with a special focus on film. For instance, what does the movie

Fight Club convey about dissociative identity disorder? Is this portrayal consistent with facts? We’ll learn to use scientific findings to scrutinize numerous journalistic and cinematic works that preserve common legends surrounding psychological phenomena. Through a variety of writing activities, we’ll discover how to craft articulate and convincing arguments as we debunk psychology’s greatest myths.

SEM 101 TR 10:10–11:25 a.m. Kacie Armstrong 17697 James Cutting

PSYCHOLOGY 1140

Perception Cognition Development: Perception of Musical Motion and Body Movement

What kind of motion do people hear in music, and how does it relate to the way people physically move to music? This seminar explores the parallels between the perception of musical motion and body movement, and how the two mutually inform one another. Focusing on this topic, students will develop several essays that will culminate in a research report on a self-designed experiment using music or dance of their choice.

SEM 102 TR 08:40–09:55 a.m. Xin (Olivia) Wen 17698 Carol Krumhansl

ROMANCE STUDIES 1102

The Craft of Storytelling: Victors, Virgins, and Villains—Gender, Sex, and Power in Pop Culture

What defines the difference between ordinary people and heroes? From Around the World in Eighty Days’ Phileas Fogg to the 2000s’ Black Widow; from the Three Musketeers’ Milady of Winter to Heath Ledger’s Joker, we will examine the characteristics of heroes and villains in popular culture. With the help of theory ranging from Freud to Judith Butler, we will pick apart these images of paper and film, and learn how they correspond to their eras’ every day audience. We will study tropes of gender and sexuality to understand how they affect these role models, both positive and negative, and in the process, try to answer the old-age question: Are heroes born or made? Writing assignments will include analytical and creative pieces and a research essay.

SEM 101 MWF 10:10–11:00 a.m. Anne Caroline Sieffert 17670

ROMANCE STUDIES 1102

The Craft of Storytelling: The Decameron

We tell stories for many reasons: to entertain, to console, to teach, to persuade, to discover and explore both our inner lives and the world we inhabit. Stories are among the prime ways in which we make sense of a world that is not always propitious. They serve as instruments by which we strive to shape our future. In this seminar, we will 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 vulnerabilities. Our reading (in English translation)

will be a European literary masterpiece, Boccaccio's Decameron (ca. 1349-51), which showcases one hundred

will be a European literary masterpiece, Boccaccio's Decameron (ca. 1349-51), which showcases one hundred stories told by ten Florentines fleeing the Black Death. Students will write analytic and personal essays.

SEM 102 MWF 11:15–12:05 p.m. Giulia Andreoni 17671 Irene Eibernstein-Alvisi

ROMANCE STUDIES 1102

The Craft of Storytelling: Spiritual Autobiography

This course gives students the opportunity to develop their thinking and writing skills through the close study of four important texts from the history of spirituality: Augustine’s fifth-century Confessions, Teresa of Ávila’s sixteenth-century Life, Dorothy Day’s twentieth-century Long Loneliness, and Richard Rodriguez’ twenty-first century Darling. Each is, in a way, an autobiography; each is, as well, an attempt to grapple with what, or who, God is. Can we ever really know what we’re talking about when we talk about God? Are we on surer or shakier ground when we talk about ourselves? We’ll be engaging with these crises of knowledge even as we experiment with multiple ways of writing and speaking critically.

SEM 103 TR 02:55–04:10 p.m. Cary Howie 18282

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 17659

ROMANCE STUDIES 1108

Cultural Identities/Cultural Differences: Women Writing the Mediterranean

In this course we will examine how women writers from the Mediterranean bring out their identity and their relationship to their language(s) and origins, and how they deal with the present and the past. Several of the works we will read explore the theme of women amidst war and civil conflict, and ask how to articulate one's self against the background of the historical events and social movements that are shaping the Mediterranean in the 20th and 21st centuries. Women writers and film directors studied in the seminar come from Italy, France, the Spanish region of Catalonia, Algeria, Tunisia, Israel, Croatia, and Greece. We will also read a work by one of the founding theorists of the Mediterranean Studies, Predrag Matvejevi?. The course includes several film screenings and a Skype meeting with one of the writers or film-makers studied in the course.

SEM 102 MW 02:55–04:10 p.m. Kora von Wittelsbach 17660

ROMANCE STUDIES 1108

Cultural Identities/Cultural Differences: The Latin American Posthuman

The posthuman can be defined as a condition in which people and intelligent technology are becoming increasingly intertwined and thus something other than human. The idea of broadening the human implies an ethical displacement, an often traumatizing questioning of the body and a cultural shift. And this idea, like most others, begins in writing. In this class students will explore Latin American representations of the posthuman condition through analyzing, and responding to, novels, short stories, and movies. In so doing students will develop their critical thinking and writing skills. Texts will range from Ovid’s Metamorphosis to Alfredo Bioy Casaere’sThe Invention of Morei, Ricardo Pigila’s The Absent City, Martin Felipe Castagnet’s Bodies of Summer, Eliseo Subiela’s Man Facing Southwest, and others.

SEM 103 TR 11:40–12:55 p.m. Sebastian Antezana 17661 Irene Eibenstein-Alvirsi

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 TR 10:10–11:25 a.m. Nicholas Huelster 17672 Irene Eienstein-Alvirsi

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 101 MWF 10:10–11:00 a.m. Irene Eibenstein-Alvisi 17662

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 102 MWF 01:25–02:15 p.m. Itziar Rodriguez de Rivera 17663

ROMANCE STUDIES 1114 Semiotics

What allows us to make assumptions about people based on the way they speak or dress? How can we understand the deeper meaning of a fairy tale or an episode of The Simpsons? What does macaroni and cheese mean, and why is it not on the menu at most upscale Manhattan eateries? This seminar introduces semiotics, the study of signs and the meaning-bearing sign systems they form; sign systems that include not only human language but also literature, painting, sculpture, film, music, dance, and also such aspects of popular culture as advertising, fashion, food, and television, to name just a few. The diversity of semiotic systems provides many possibilities for thinking and writing critically about the world we live in.

SEM 101 MWF 01:25–02:15 p.m. Ti Alkire 17664

SOCIOLOGY 1170

Modern Romance: Dating and Relationships Among Young Adults

Have hookups fundamentally changed the dating scene on college campuses? Should we be concerned about the rise of cohabitation and the retreat from marriage? This course will explore romantic relationships among young adults using a sociological perspective. We will draft and revise papers on topics such as dating, hookups, virginity, online dating, pornography, birth control, nonmarital childbearing, marriage, cohabitation, and

singlehood. Through writing and discussion, we will critically examine the role of race, class, gender, and sexuality in intimate relationship dynamics. Course readings will draw on research articles, book excerpts, and recent news articles. This course will equip you with the skills to analyze social scientific research, write compelling evidence--based papers, and craft informed responses to arguments in the popular media about families and relationships.

SEM 101 TR 02:55–04:10 p.m. Lauren Griffin 17678 Filiz Garip

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY STUDIES 1123 Technology and Society: Digital Media, Digital Cultures

This course is an introduction to the study of digital media: the technological hardware and cultural practices that make up computing. Students will engage the history, theory, and contemporary politics of computing through hands-on exercises, including map making, and close reading of primary sources, internet art, and scholarly articles from media studies and science and technology studies. We will discuss, amongst other things, cybernetics and information theory, networked computing before the internet, countercultures of computing, and cyberfeminist critique. Films shown may include WarGames (1983) and Demolition Man (1993). There will be videogames and special guests.

SEM 101 TR 01:25–02:40 p.m. Jeffrey Mathias 17577 Steve Jackson

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY STUDIES 1126 Science and Society: Vision, Knowledge, Power

"Seeing is believing." Questioning this cliche, this writing seminar asks: What are the politics of vision and knowledge, and what do race, gender, and class have to do with it? In this writing seminar we will question how we see and know differently from different places. Engaging with various materials relating to objectivity and its politics, students will be encouraged to think academically and write critically, considering the relationship between knowledge, power, and bodies. Texts from feminist science studies through to science fiction novels and film will provide students the necessary tools for tackling issues of social justice in their written work and beyond. Through reading responses and short papers, students will cultivate their own academic voices and make their writing exact and meaningful.

SEM 101 TR 02:55–04:10 p.m. Shoshana Deutsh 17582 Rachel Prentice

WRITING 1380

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 1380 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 1380 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 11:15–12:05 p.m. Jessica Sands 17721

•WRIT 1380 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 1380 can only be taken with the S/U grading option. • WRIT 1380 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 1380

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 1380 classroom is a dynamic workspace where students assemble the scholarly tools necessary to explore these complex, interdisciplinary questions. Because Writing 1380 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 1380 is an alternative route FWS that 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 102 MW 12:20–01:10 p.m. Brad Zukovic 17719

WRITING 1380

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 1380 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 1380 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 103 MW 01:25–02:15 p.m. Darlene Evans 17725

WRITING 1380

Elements of Academic Writing: Food for Thought

How does the food on your table tell a story about you, your family, your community, your nation? How do we make food choices, and how are these choices complicated by the cultural, socio-economic, and political forces that both create and combat widespread international hunger and food insecurity? The Writing 1380 classroom is a dynamic workspace where students assemble the scholarly tools necessary to explore these complex, interdisciplinary questions. Because Writing 1380 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 1380 is an alternative route FWS that provides an individualized setting for

student/teacher conferences, Writing 1380 is an alternative route FWS that 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 104 TR 10:10–11:00 a.m. Tracy Hamler Carrick 17720

WRITING 1380

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 1380 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 1380 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 11:15–12:05 p.m. Kate Navickas 17723

WRITING 1380

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 1380 classroom is a dynamic workspace where students assemble the scholarly tools necessary to explore complex, interdisciplinary questions. Because Writing 1380 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 1380 is an alternative route FWS that 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 12:20–01:10 p.m. Kelly King-O’Brien 17724

WRITING 1380

Elements of Academic Writing: Environmental Problems and Solutions

SEM 107 TR 01:25–02:15 p.m. Jessica Sands 17722

WRITING 1400

Common Ground: Education Beyond the Ivory Tower

SEM 101 TR 01:25–02:40 p.m. Darlene Evans 17709

Student schedules must accommodate TR trips (3-5 PM) to Boynton Middle School.