New & Topics
Course Descriptions for Spring 2006

Last updated 01/26/06

For course descriptions of regularly offered courses, see the College Bulletin.

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AMST 200D
American Capitalism
Prof. C. Barone

Who rules America? Economically? Politically? Culturally? Drawing on critical perspectives from Political Economy, American Studies and Sociology, this interdisciplinary course examines how power is structured in American capitalism across institutions, including the social relations of production and distribution, corporations and markets. Special attention is given to the ways in which powerful economic groups and organizations are able to exert economic control, influence government and dominate American institutions such as the media.

AMST 200F
Mass Media
Prof. A. Farrell
This course will examine the connections between mass media and American culture, focusing in particular on ideological constructions, commercialism, and audience reception. We will examine the origins of U.S. mass media, emphasizing the utopian hopes that American citizens brought to the media and the competing demands of commercial interests. Then we will turn our attention to analysis of the media itself, in particular television situation comedies, television advertisements, and television news. We will explore how meanings are constructed within media, the ways that different audiences interpret these meanings in multiple and often conflicting ways, and the ways that commercial constraints shape what we see and hear on television.

AMST 200J
Gay in America
Prof. L. Malmsheimer

Through books, articles and film, Gay In America examines the historical and contemporary conditions of life in the United States for sexual minorities. The class will also study the evolving culture and politics of GLBT identity groups and the representation of gays in popular culture.

AMST 301AA
The Family in America
Prof. K. Rogers

This course traces the history of the American family from the colonial period through the present, using an interdisciplinary approach that combines readings in demography, social history, psychology, literature, and anthropology. Topics explored include family formation and gender creation, marriage and divorce, family violence and the social impact of changing patterns of mortality and fertility.

AMST 301AD
Caribbean American Identities
Prof. J. Philogene

This introductory course will provide an interdisciplinary perspective on the development of Caribbean American identities during the 20th century. Drawing on a wide range of materials including: art, films, videos, documentaries and novels, this course will contextualize the social, cultural and political processes that have shaped Caribbean American peoples. Geared towards students who are interested in immigration and ethnicity; race, culture and visual arts, this introductory course opens up perspectives to explore the transformative experience of immigration and the "making" of Caribbean American identities. More broadly, the course will utilize popular and visual arts, including music and carnival, as critical lenses to examine the formation of Caribbean American identities. Classes will consist of a combination of lectures and discussions. Short slide lectures and film and video excerpts will also be part of the course. Film/video screenings will be viewed outside of class time. All film/video viewings are mandatory.

AMST 301AE
American Lives
Prof. S. O'Brien

In this course, we will explore the ways in which Americans have narrated life stories (both individual and communal). We will be encountering a variety of genres (autobiography, memoir, personal essay, documentary film, poetry, performance, and radio narrative) and a diverse range of voices. Our texts will include Benjamin Franklin's autobiography, Jane Kenyon and Donald Hall's poetry, Audre Lorde's Cancer Journals, Anna Deveare Smith's Fire in the Mirror, Gloria Anzaldua and Cheri Moraga's anthology, This Bridge Called My Back, David Sedaris' Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, Lucy Grealy's Autobiography of a Face, Mark Doty's Firebird and the oral narratives from National Public Radio's This American Life. Throughout the course we will be exploring the interconnection between life stories and social and historical contexts, as well as the literary and aesthetic issues raised by the genres we are considering.

AMST 301AF
Hollywood Renaissance
Prof. N. Mellerski

What is the nature of the "New Wave" in Hollywood cinema of the late 60s and early 70s? Was a new vision of American society being proposed, or are these films superficially radical, yet internally conservative? In what ways did the cinema of this period translate its audience's ambivalent relationship to social and political change? We will try to answer these questions as we study how competing voices on the Left and the Right in Hollywood cinema mediated social and political change underway in the context of the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights movement. Films by Coppola, Altman, Scorsese, Eastwood and others.

AMST 402B-01
Writing in American Studies
Prof. J. Cotten Seiler

Topics chosen annually on the basis of student interest and scholarly concerns in the field. Such topics, explored through reading, discussion, field work, and research, include: American Lives; The Twenties; Social Criticism in America; Male and Female in America; Metaphors of American Experience; Myths, Fiction and American Life; America Through Foreign Eyes; The American Artist and Society; Photographs and American Culture. Students should refer to the class schedule for the topic being offered in any given semester.

AMST 402B-02
Writing in American Studies
Prof. S. O'Brien

Topics chosen annually on the basis of student interest and scholarly concerns in the field. Such topics, explored through reading, discussion, field work and research, include: American Lives; The Twenties; Social Criticism in America; Male and Female in America; Metaphors of American Experience; Myths, Fiction and American Life; America Through Foreign Eyes; The American Artist and Society; Photographs and American Culture. Students should refer to the class schedule for the topic being offered in any given semester.

ANTHR 255
Global Eastern Africa
Prof. J. Ellison
This course examines global connections in the intersections of culture and power that underlie contemporary issues in eastern Africa. The globally marketed indigenous cultures and exotic landscapes of eastern Africa, like current dilemmas of disease and economic development, are products of complex local and transnational processes (gendered, cultural, social, economic, and political) that developed over time. To understand ethnicity, the success or failure of development projects, the social and economic contexts of tourism, responses to the AIDS crisis, the increasing presence of multinational corporations, and other contemporary issues, we will develop an ethnographic perspective that situates cultural knowledge and practice in colonial and postcolonial contexts. While our focus is on eastern Africa, the course will offer students ways to think about research and processes in other contexts.

ANTHR 345D
Soc/Cult Effects of Globalization
Prof. H. Merrill

Course offered on an occasional basis that covers special topics such as African women in development, theories of civilization, anthropology and demography or anthropological genetics.

BIOL 401C
Virology
Prof. D. Kushner

An introduction to viruses. This course will examine the life cycle of viruses in general and their relationships with their hosts, including the processes of attachment to, entry into, genomic replication within, and exit from, cells. The specific molecular and cellular biology and biochemistry of, and pathogenesis/disease caused by, several viruses will also be studied. Related topics (such as prions, RNA interference, and public health issues) may be discussed. Weekly reading and discussion of primary literature will complement the lectures. Prerequisite: Two Biology courses numbered between 120-129 or permission of the instructor; some background in cell and/or molecular biology highly recommended.

BIOL 401E
Genomics/Proteomics/Bioinformatics
Prof. M. Roberts

Students will explore new approaches to the study of gene expression at the genome and proteome levels. Analyzing the expression of the entire genome and the resultant proteome have recently become possible due to the development of novel molecular techniques. These techniques generate large data sets that can only be adequately studied using sophisticated computer tools. The methods of genomics, proteomics and the use of bioinformatic tools to find meaning in the results will be the focus of this course. Special attention will be given to the application of these methods and computer tools to the practice of medicine.

BIOL 401F
The Biology of Consciousness
Prof. T. Pires
For nearly all of the last century, neuroscience was dominated by schools of thought that considered consciousness and self-awareness to be outside the realm of serious scientific inquiry. In the last 10-15 years that has all changed, and the biology of conscious mental experience has become a dynamic field of exploration. How could the physical processes of the brain generate our sense of experiential awareness? We will traverse this intellectual frontier with Christof Koch's highly accessible book, The Quest for Consciousness, supplemented by readings from the recent primary research literature.

CHEM 490G
Materials Chemistry
Prof. B. Chan

Topics may be drawn from areas such as heterocycles, natural products, medicinal chemistry, food and nutrition, industrial chemistry, organic synthesis, inorganic synthesis, nuclear magnetic resonance, measurement including computer applications, spectroscopy, statistical thermodynamics and catalysis.

CMST 225
Community & Environment
Prof. J. Ellison and L. Imgrund

This course is intended to provide students with knowledge and skills to be active participants in solving environmental problems. Students in this course will learn an array of social science fieldwork methods, an appreciation of how such methods are applied to ascertain community knowledge and needs, and the means to negotiate the interests and needs of local communities and local government to produce a positive environmental outcome. Students will examine the intersections of community lived experience, appropriate environmental practice, and the interests, abilities, and constraints of local government. In the 2005-2006 academic year the course will focus on the issue of stormwater management. If proposed again in the future, the course may address other community environmental concerns.

COCIV 102C
Films of British RAJ in India
Prof. T. Scott Smith

British rule in India from 1757 - 1947 and its consequences is a theme recently revisited by a number of films from India. Films from India such as 1942 A Love Story, the Oscar nominated Lagaan, and the very recent, The Rising: Ballad of Mangal Pandey, will be analyzed as well as classics from the west such as Heat and Dust, Passage to India, and Gunga Din. Notions of exercise of power in a distant foreign land will be critically explored.

COCIV 200D
BOLLY-KOLLY-TOLLYWOOD TWICE
Prof. T. Scott Smith

Hindi cinema is viewed nationwide in India but vibrant regional cultures produce more films in other languages. National cinema is in dialogue with regional cinemas and language borders are crossed by literary inspiration, actors, directors, and musical artists. Bollywood as influenced by Kollywood-Tamil cinema, Tollywood-Telegu cinema and Tollywood-Bengali cinema, is the theme of this course. Some knowledge of cinema studies and India or the strong willingness to fill in necessary background is presumed.

EASIA 203C
Modern Japan Depicted in Lit
Prof. L. Winston

This course is designed to analyze and discuss how Japan developed into a world power between the Meiji Restoration and the end of World War II, and how that is presented in literature and film. The class will not only include the well-known aspects of modern Japan which were in the shadow of its rapid and vast development.

EASIA 205O
Chinese Cinema
Prof. P. Fu

The course introduces students to a sampling of films made in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and examines the cinematic representation of greater China considering both local contexts and global connections. The course will analyze visual-aural spectacles and their aesthetic merits against a backdrop of materials that deal with political assertions, ideological underpinnings, historical conditions, social transformations and cultural practices as represented in these visual texts. By studying the international and domestic award-winning films of noted filmmakers from different regions of China such as Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, John Woo, etc., students will become familiar with different and shared perspectives.

EASIA 206H
Law, Politics, Society-E. Asia
Prof. N. Diamant

This course examines how people in East Asia use institutions to obtain justice and how these efforts help illustrate the 'overlap' between law, politics, and society in countries like China and Japan. Instead of assuming a single conception of how law works and what law means, we will focus on the wide variation found among Asian countries, social classes, and urban and rural areas as people seek to remedy what they regard as travesties of justice. Unlike the West where such remedial action is usually pursued through courts, in Asia we must also focus on the ways certain social relationships, like landlord and peasant, and certain institutions like village mediation committees and roles like mediator, serve as a framework for seeking or thwarting justice. Such considerations are crucial in determining where Asian judicial systems converge with and diverge from Western models like that of the United States.

EASIA 206I
Chinese Politics
Prof. N. Diamant

An introduction to the contours of contemporary politics as shaped by traditional and revolutionary legacies, the institutions of state socialism, China's underdevelopment and struggles over power and policy.

EASIA 206S
Japan Since 1868
Prof. S. Kim

This course reviews Japanese history from the fall of the Tokugawa bakufu to the recent upsurge of popular interest in Japan's security in East Asia. Topics include Japan's emergence as a major empire before 1945 and its remarkable economic revival in the wake of the Pacific War.

EASIA 306E
US Relations with Japan
Prof. S. Kim

This colloquium explores several contentious issues in the history of U.S.-Japan relations from Commodore Perry's arrival in Japan to the present. Emphasis is on the political and cultural backlash against America before and after the Pacific War.

ECON 314G
Game Theory: the Microeconomics of Competition, Coordination, Cooperation and Conflict
Prof. E. McPhail

Using the tools of modern evolutionary game theory we explore issues of strategic interaction. We examine fundamental microeconomic concepts relevant to the generic problem of coordinating social interactions among autonomous actors, with particular attention paid to conflict, competition, collective action, coordination failures, and the evolution of institutions and norms in capitalist economies. We draw from a number of fields such as evolutionary biology, sociology, political science and anthropology, as well as economics. We will read the work of such diverse authors as Jon Elster, Samuel Bowles, Herbert Gintis, Thomas Schelling, Joseph Stiglitz, Robert Boyd, Peter Richerson, Garret Hardin, Robert Sugden, John Maynard Smith, Gary Becker, and James Buchanan. Topics include: mixed strategies, credible threats and subgame perfection, repeated games, games with asymmetric information, the principal-agent model, adverse selection, signaling, and bargaining. Students must be conversant with calculus techniques and have a strong interest in reading demanding (yet rewarding!) material. Required Courses: intermediate microeconomics or managerial economics. Students who have not taken either one of these prerequisites but have a strong background in math are encouraged to contact the professor at mcphail@dickinson.edu
.

ECON 496D
Policy Economics
Prof. W. Bellinger

A reading, research and conference course on a selected economics topic. Student seminar choices must be approved by the department.

EDUC 391A
Issues in Urban Education
Prof. P. Nesselrodt

Each semester this course is organized around several research topics, such as: literacy and numeracy, schooling in cities, the history of Western educational thought, the liberal arts curriculum, systems of schooling in European and Asian countries, graduate and professional schools, the testing industry, political education and the Supreme Court and public schooling.

ENGL 101AT
American Classics 1925-1950
Prof. S. Perabo

In this course we'll study classic novels from the second quarter of the 20th century. The focus will be on close reading of the works. We'll also discuss the artistic, cultural, social and political contexts that frame the novels. Authors will include Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Faulkner, Welty, and Salinger.

ENGL 101B
Post-Colonial Women Writers
Prof. R. Ness

Women writing in countries that were once part of a colonial empire sometimes bear what Buchi Emecheta in Nigeria has called a double yoke. They may suffer the burdens of both neo-colonialism and other forms of race and class prejudice and be marginalized as females by a male-dominated cultural system. How women confront these twin oppressions will be a main focus of the course. I have selected 9 writers, from India, Africa and the West Indies.

ENGL 101BC
The Beat Generation
Prof. J. Kupetz

Constantly migrating between New York, San Francisco and Furthur, the Beat Generation produced literature that continues to infuriate some, to inspire others and to incite debate. By looking at the New York and San Francisco Beats as distinct communities, by placing those communities in a historic context and by examining the religious vision(s) that wove them together, we endeavor to develop an understanding of the Beat vision. This course will examine poems, novels, essays, spoken word performances, jazz, and film to discover the "jewel-center." There will be the usual samsara of papers, projects, and exams.

ENGL 101BG
Fictions of America

Prof. R. Winston
This course will examine a variety of short stories and novels from the 19th and 20th centuries. All of these works comment, often in quite disparate ways, on American identity. We will examine these works from a variety of critical perspectives; we will concentrate on the techniques of careful, close critical reading and thoughtful critical writing. Requirements: diligent preparation, regular attendance and thoughtful participation; two 6-page essays; in-class final examination.

ENGL 101BL
American Novels Since 1990

Prof. J. Kupetz
This course will examine contemporary American fiction and poetry that "misreads," aberrantly interprets, major American cultural themes: familial relationships, gender roles, freedom, patriotism. Students will be required to complete two papers, a mid-term, and a final examination.

ENGL 101CB
All in the Family
Prof. V. Sams

Family life and its conflicts have provided playwrights provocative and rich dramatic material for centuries. From Oedipus to Christy Mahon, the patricidal "hero", for instance, figures significantly (and often provocatively) in tragedy and comedy. How have familial dramas, and their questions of inheritance and obedience and/or rebellion, related to broader social and political struggles? How might familial archetypes and their theatrical representations connect to cultural and national identity? This course will explore the twentieth-century reconstructions and transformations of the family in drama, through the work of such playwrights as Harold Pinter, Caryl Churchill, Arthur Miller, Sebastian Barry, and Tom Murphy, among others. Come prepared to read voraciously.

ENGL 101CG
Major African American Authors
Prof. L. Johnson

This course will examine the unique impact that select African-American authors have had on the development of the Black literature canon. Specifically, we will begin by asking why particular writers are deemed "major" authors within any literary tradition. Our subsequent mission will be to survey the selected authors' works in order to gauge the degree to which they were/are able to subvert the constraints of pre-existing literary models so as to articulate their distinct voices and to create a distinct body of literature in America. During our explorations, we will consider the authors' adoptions of various genres (poetry, slave narrative, short story, novel, and drama) to address such themes as slavery, racial uplift, black subjectivity, art, history, class and community. The authors whose texts we may read include: Phillis Wheatley, David Walker, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, Charles Chesnutt, Frances Harper, W.E.B. DuBois, Booker T. Washington, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, August Wilson, Lorraine Hansberry, and Toni Morrison.

ENGL 101CI
Literature of AIDS
Prof. S. Chilson

Don't think gloomy. Think controversy. Think fighting. Think living. AIDS has shaped the world. It has changed how we live and love and die. It has made all of these issues political and has helped to define how we know ourselves. The literature of AIDS is full of people facing not just the obvious --death-- but life and the battle to accomplish the every day with dignity. This course will involve readings from contemporary American literature from the early years of the epidemic including fiction, non-fiction, poetry, memoir, and drama. We may also watch several films.

ENGL 101F
Shakespeare on Film
Prof. D. Kranz

This is a course on what the context--Hollywood and the 20th-century global film industry--has done to interpret and perform some texts-- Shakespeare's 16th- and 17th-century plays, and why. Students will read eight of Bard's most famous dramas and view a film or two made of each. Movies include Romeo and Juliet with Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes, Othello with Laurence Fishburne and Kenneth Branagh, and Branagh's Hamlet.

ENGL 101N
The Lyric
Prof. C. Johnston

In "The Lyric" we will read poetry from the fifteenth to the twentieth century, with emphasis upon understanding the lyric as a poetic form, as well as learning the conventions of poetry, e.g. metaphor, meter, rhyme. Our reading of poems will not follow chronologically, but will use poems from various time-periods to illustrate and build poetic principles and genres, from metaphor to nature poetry, from sonnets to odes, sestinas and villanelles. We will conclude the course reading a collection by Rita Dove, a recent American poet laureate; our readings of this collection of poems will allow us to discuss how issues of race and gender may or may not figure into a poet's understanding and use of the conventions of the lyric.

ENGL 212A
Writing About Race
Prof. L. Johnson

In this class, we will examine different ways of understanding and writing about race and representation. This course draws on history, politics, race and gender studies in order to explore the phenomenon of race in America. Ever since Americans (and observers of American culture) began to discuss and write about it, race has been the topic of some of our most controversial national debates. We will investigate the following: How do we define race? How do discussions of race shape and (in) form our writing? How do, or how can, we explore the contradictions and conflicts of our time through our writing? And will the color line remain the greatest problem of the 21st century?


ENGL 212E
Writing About Food & Culture
Prof. A. Su

Are you what you eat? Where did you get your taste for sushi, lamb korma, apple tart, and Peking duck, and what do these tastes reveal about you? In this nation of immigrants, eating habits are often telling, as each group, including the Pilgrims, has had to remake itself in a new land while trying to retain a sense of who they were. New groups are constantly arriving and undergoing similar transformations. As a result, it's nearly impossible to write about American food without having to constantly redefine American culture. The writers we will discuss are likely to include: Madison Smartt Bell, Wendell Berry, Elizabeth David, M.F.K. Fisher, Jessica Harris, Gish Jen, Mark Kurlansky, Jill McCorkle, Molly O'Neill, Ruth Reichl, and Jeffrey Steingarten. You'll write and revise four essays, one of which will be a critical review.

ENGL 212K
Writing About Music
Prof. J. Kupetz

This course will examine the craft of essay writing through the lens of rock and roll reportage, historiography, and other non-fiction modes. Readings will focus on the phenomena of fandom, "authenticity," and "gendered music." Additionally, contemporary literary theory and social criticism will be applied to musical "texts" in order to posit rock and roll as a node in the continuum of U.S. culture.

ENGL 214A
Teaching Writing
Prof. J. Gill

Instruction in rhetorical theory and the teaching of writing. Intended primarily for training student consultants in the Dickinson College Writing Program.

ENGL 214B
Writing in the Schools
Prof. S. Chilson

This class will prepare students to teach the elements of poetry to grade school children. We will first spend some time in class talking about poetry and what makes a poem. Next, we will focus on methods of teaching poetry to children. We will look at different ways to teach children the elements of poetry and will spend some time creating exercises for the classroom. Next we will spend several class periods in local schools teaching poetry in fourth and fifth grade classrooms.

ENGL 218A-01
Creative Writing: Fiction
Prof. C. Hood

If you have seriously contemplated writing short fiction, then this course is for you. The course will engage students in the art and craft of writing short stories. It is intended for students who have read widely among past and contemporary masters of short fiction and who are accomplished in the elements of prose composition (mechanics, syntax, and structure). Students will be expected to produce two new short stories (10 to 20 pages each) during the semester and revise them during the term. The course will lay emphasis on "work-shopping" (reading, analyzing, and discussing) students' own creative work. Class sessions will be in the form of assigned readings, written exercises, and the writer's craft. This focus will inform our discussions as we read participants' creative and critical drafts, as well as contemporary works by established writers. We will also analyze essays by established fiction writers about the craft of writing and present these analyses orally and in writing.

ENGL 218A-02
Creative Writing: Fiction
Prof. D. Dolan

If you have seriously contemplated writing short fiction, then this course is for you. The course will engage students in the art and craft of writing short stories. It is intended for students who have read widely among past and contemporary masters of short fiction and who are accomplished in the elements of prose composition (mechanics, syntax, and structure). Students will be expected to produce two new short stories (10 to 20 pages each) during the semester and revise them during the term. The course will lay emphasis on "work-shopping" (reading, analyzing, and discussing) students' own creative work. Class sessions will be in the form of assigned readings, written exercises, and the writer's craft. This focus will inform our discussions as we read participants' creative and critical drafts, as well as contemporary works by established writers. We will also analyze essays by established fiction writers about the craft of writing and present these analyses orally and in writing.

ENGL 218B-01
Creative Writing: Poetry
Prof. A. Su

(self-explanatory - no course description needed)

ENGL 218B-02
Creative Writing: Poetry
Prof. C. Johnston

(self-explanatory - no course description needed)

ENGL 218D
Creative Writ: Screenwriting
Prof. M. Weinberg

The purpose of this course is to familiarize students with the fundamentals of good screenwriting: structure, theme, conflict, character, and dialogue. Students will take part in weekly writing exercises as preparation for their final class project- creating a detailed outline of an original screenplay, and completing the first act. Topics include plot and subplot, character development, and commercial considerations such as format and genre. Students will be required to read essential books on scriptwriting, and will analyze several successful films and the screenplays on which they are based.

ENGL 339H
English Renaissance Sonnet
Prof. D. Kranz

Primarily, but not exclusively, through humanist, formalist, and reader-response approaches to the sonnets of such poets as Sidney, Spenser, Shakespeare, Donne, and Milton, this course will explore the genesis, growth, transformations in, and enduring appeal of the sonnet form and tradition. Early miderm, short paper, and long paper.

ENGL 349M
Black Lit of Slavery/Freedom
Prof. L. Johnson

This course will trace the development of the African-American literary tradition during the enslavement and Reconstruction periods. Throughout the semester, we will analyze the many dialogues concerning slavery, emancipation, cultural identity, integration, nationalism, and racial pride as conveyed in the various genres of African-American literary production (autobiography, novels, poetry, polemic, and short stories). Moreover, we will consider the influence of specific historical events which forced the evolution of and created new ideas about race, resistance, and uplift, the major themes around which the texts are framed. In addition to examining the African-American oral tradition, we will focus on the works of such authors as Lucy Terry, Phillis Wheatley, Olaudah Equiano, David Walker, Maria Stewart, Henry Highland Garnet, Harriet Jacobs, Frederick Douglass, William W. Brown, Harriet Wilson, Frances E. W. Harper, Charles W. Chestnutt, and Sutton Griggs.

ENGL 354A
Pope, Dryden, Swift
Prof. R. Ness

We will concentrate on three major 17th- and 18th- century British satirists. John Dryden, Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope. Readings to include MacFlecknoe, Gulliver's Travels, The Rape of the Lock and other texts.

ENGL 360B
Stevenson & the Late Victorian Novel
Prof. T. Reed

Robert Louis Stevenson was a hugely prolific and popular writer whose early death in 1894 ended a career that was marked equally by strong literary convictions and restless generic range. His work includes travelogues, personal and literary essays, adventure stories, gothic tales, children's verse, historical romances, and dark studies of the human condition. This course will treat a range of his novels - most likely including Treasure Island, Jekyll and Hyde, Kidnapped, The Master of Ballantrae, and Ebb Tide - as they represented Stevenson's ongoing evolution in " conversation" with the other great British novelists of his time: Thomas Hardy, Henry James, Joseph Conrad and others. Stevenson is often remembered as a "boy's writer," but his enduring commitment to narrative action masks an equal concern with technical refinement and moral scruple of the most serious novelist. His last works evince, in fact, a Conradian realism that suggests some accommodation with the Naturalist movement he in many ways opposed.

ENGL 370F
American Lives
Prof. S. O'Brien

In this course, we will explore the ways in which Americans have narrated life stories (both individual and communal). We will be encountering a variety of genres (autobiography, memoir, personal essay, documentary film, poetry, performance, and radio narrative) and a diverse range of voices. Our texts will include Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography, Jane Kenyon and Donald Halls' poetry, Audre Lorde's Cancer Journals, Anna Deveare Smith's Fire in the Mirror, Gloria Anzaldua and Cheri Moraga's anthology This Bridge Called My Back, David Sedaris' Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, Lucy Grealy's Autobiography of a Face, Mark Doty’s Firebird, and the oral narratives from National Public Radio's This American Life. Throughout the course we will be exploring the interconnection between life stories and social and historical contexts as well as the literary and aesthetic issues raised by the genres we are considering.

ENGL 387A
20th C British Political Drama
Prof. V. Sams

The twentieth century coincided with more explicit engagement of political and social issues in British theater by a wide range of playwrights and theater companies. Such engagement inspired diverse forms of political drama on local, national and international subjects. We will study various approaches to both creating and analyzing political theater, from "state-of-the-nation" plays to "agitprop" and "epic" theater, with an emphasis on their intellectual, artistic, and social contexts. Readings will include works by Bernard Shaw, John Arden and Margaretta D'Arcy, Caryl Churchhill, Theatre Workshop, and David Hare, as well as selected dramatic and cultural theory (largely British Cultural Studies).

ENGL 389A
Contemporary Scottish Fiction
Prof. R. Winston

Some of the most exciting and vibrant fiction produced in Great Britain today comes from Scotland and its writers. In this course we will examine a representative selection of the current crop of prose fiction in a variety of genres. We will begin with one or two examples of "traditional" fiction, to identify models with which to contrast today's writing. Requirements: conscientious preparation, regular attendance and active participation; one short essay, a critical research paper, and a final (take-home) essay or essays.

ENGL 392C
Shakespeare: Politics/Culture
Prof. C. Johnston

We will read seven plays representing Shakespeare's comedies, tragedies, romances, and histories: Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Measure for Measure, MacBeth, Lear, and The Tempest. We will also view and discuss films of several of these plays by such directors as Branaugh, Casson, Greenaway Kurosawa, and Noble. The secondary - theoretical - reading for the course will primarily draw upon New Historicist and Cultural Materialist criticism, first practiced in the US by Stephen Greenblatt in his Renaissance Self-Fashioning (1980). Where appropriate, we will also consider contextual and feminist issues. Assignments will include an in-class performance of a scene from one of the plays, a mid-term, a brief close reading essay, and a final research paper.

FLMST 301G
Creative Writ: Screenwriting
Prof. M. Weinberg

The purpose of this course is to familiarize students with the fundamentals of good screenwriting: structure, theme, conflict, character, and dialogue. Students will take part in weekly writing exercises as preparation for their for their final class project- creating a detailed outline of an original screenplay, and completing the first act. Topics include plot and subplot, character development, and commercial considerations such as format and genre. Students will be required to read essential books on scriptwriting, and will analyze several successful films and the screenplays on which they are based.

FLMST 301L
Hollywood Renaissance
Prof. N. Mellerski

What is the nature of the "New Wave" in Hollywood cinema of the late 60s and early 70s? Was a new vision of American society being proposed, or are these films superficially radical, yet internally conservative? In what ways did the cinema of this period translate its audience's ambivalent relationship to social and political change? We will try to answer these questions as we study how competing voices on the Left and the Right in Hollywood cinema mediated social and political change underway in the context of the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights movement. Films by Coppola, Altman, Scorsese, Eastwood and others.

FLMST 301M
Israeli Cinema
Prof. N. Kann

This course explores Israeli cinema in its historical and social contexts, emphasizing the themes of state-building, war, secular-religious strife, the Holocaust and Israeli identity. Israeli cinema reflects the complex interaction of diverse Jewish cultures from Middle Eastern, Western and East European societies. The course considers the evolution of Israeli cinema thematically, its self-image and its place in Israeli society. film screenings will take place during a weekly lab session.

FLMST 301N
Chinese Cinema
Prof. P. Fu

The course introduces students to a sampling of films made in Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, and examines the cinematic representation of greater China considering both local contexts and global connections. The course will analyze the visual-aural spectacles and their aesthetic merits against a backdrop of materials that deal with political assertions, ideological underpinnings, historical conditions, social transformations, and cultural practices as represented in these visual texts. By studying the international and domestic award-winning films of the noted filmmakers from different regions of China, such as the films of Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, John Woo, etc., students will become familiar with different and shared perspectives.

FLMST 301O
Media Theory
Prof. M. Picker

How do the media work? What is a medium? How do we communicate? Do we? Can one READ images? Can films foster a revolution? What's the difference between a gramophone and an MP3 player, really? Does speed matter? Are humans too primitive to understand digital media?

These questions and many more have been asked - and sometimes answered in surprising ways - by those who did not only use, but think (deeply or superficially, professionally or obsessively) about the media. They did so coming from various disciplines, centuries and ideologies, but they all look at what it might mean to be human in close connection to the media, and the ways in which media change or develop. In this course, we will not only study some of the most important media theories, but also examine how our notion of history is a function of our understanding of the media. Readings will include texts by the following authors who might be considered as "media theoricians," among others: Aristotle; Walter Benjamin; F. de Saussure; Charles Sanders Peirce; Marshall McLuhan; Neil Postman; Paul Virilio; Vilém Flusser; Jean Baudrillard; Friedrich Kittler; Samuel Weber; Roger Chartier; Sigmund Freud; Jacques Derrida.

FRNCH 365H
World of Marguerite de Navarre
Prof. S. Davidson

The reading of the "Hepatmeron" and of selected plays by the Queen of Navarre will allow students to examine the religioius, political and social tensions of French society in the early 16th Century . The working hypothesis we will try to affirm or infirm is that these tensions found a resolution trhough a new set of spiritual , intellectual and aesthetic sensibilties that have shaped the French Renaissance.

GERMN 250J
Media Theory
Prof. M. Picker

How do the media work? What is a medium? How do we communicate? Do we? Can one READ images? Can films foster a revolution? What's the difference between a gramophone and an MP3 player, really? Does speed matter? Are humans too primitive to understand digital media?

These questions and many more have been asked - and sometimes answered in surprising ways - by those who did not only use, but think (deeply or superficially, professionally or obsessively) about the media. They did so coming from various disciplines, centuries and ideologies, but they all look at what it might mean to be human in close connection to the media, and the ways in which media change or develop. In this course, we will not only study some of the most important media theories, but also examine how our notion of history is a function of our understanding of the media. Readings will include texts by the following authors who might be considered as "media theoricians," among others: Aristotle; Walter Benjamin; F. de Saussure; Charles Sanders Peirce; Marshall McLuhan; Neil Postman; Paul Virilio; Vilém Flusser; Jean Baudrillard; Friedrich Kittler; Samuel Weber; Roger Chartier; Sigmund Freud; Jacques Derrida.

GERMN 400D
Contemporary Issues in German Culture
Prof. S. Alfers
In this course, we will explore the topic of identity formation in contemporary German culture. Discussion of a variety of texts (art, film, literature, music). Taught in German. Prerequisite: German major or permission of the instructor.

HIST 211C
History of American Feminism
Prof. A. Farrell

This course will emphasize such topics as the 19th century women's movement, the suffrage movement, radical and liberal feminism, and African-American feminism. We will pay particular attention to the diversity of women's experiences in the United States and to women's multiple and often conflicting responses to patriarchy and other forms of oppression. Prerequisite: One course in Women's Studies or history or permission of the instructor.

HIST 211L
19th Century Politics
Prof. M. Pinsker

This course offers students an advanced survey of key developments in nineteenth-century US politics. Topics will include the birth of political parties and subsequent partisan realignments, the social culture of early campaigns, the rise of urban political machines, grassroots issues such as temperance and nativism and the dramatic struggles to achieve voting rights for blacks and women.

HIST 211V
History of Film
Prof. S. Weinberger

This course will trace the development of the film industry from the late nineteenth century up to the present. We shall consider the social, political, economic and cultural influences that helped to shape different film styles. The focus will be divided evenly between American films and those of Europe and Asia.

HIST 213E
Med & Renaissance Women
Prof. S. Weinberger

This course will focus on the conditions and attitudes affecting women in Western Europe beginning with Ancient Greece and continuing up through the Renaissance. It will deal with such topics as women and the Greek philosophers, women and the early church, Germanic women, women in the feudal world, women and romance, the stirrings of feminism, and the education of women.

HIST 215J
Lat Am City: Politics/Culture
Prof. B. Bockelman

Cities like Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, and Mexico City have long towered over their countries' histories, so much so that one critic called the Latin American metropolis " a head that has outgrown its body." this course will look at the unique place of the city in Latin American history from the early colonial era to the present ,with an emphasis on the twentieth century. through a combination of history, fiction, and film, we will investigate the importance of the urban space as a site of cultural creativity and political struggle, and we will consider the broader impact of the Latin American mega-city on national and regional politics.

HIST 215K
Japan Since 1968
Prof. S. Kim

This course reviews Japanese history from the fall of the Tokugawa bakufu to the recent upsurge of popular interest in Japan's security in East Asia. Topics include Japan's emergence as a major empire before 1945 and its remarkable economic revival in the wake of the Pacific War.

HIST311L
Nature, Providence, & Mission
Prof. N. Miller
Jefferson's memorable phrase, justified American independence from England.
A firm reliance on "the protection of Divine Providence," in turn, underscored Jefferson's faith in the successful outcome of the Revolution. Like many 18th-century Americans, Jefferson viewed Nature as rational and purposeful, a source of timeless scientific and moral truths traceable to a transcendent Creator. Originating in ancient Greek philosophy and early Christian theology, this understanding of Nature dominated 17th- and18th-century natural philosophy and Anglo-American "physico-theology." It exists still in contemporary arguments for Intelligent Design. In turn, the providential belief that God has a special overriding interest in America,and that the United States is destined to fulfill a special world-historical mission, have been perennial elements of American civil religion from the Puritans' covenant theology to the present day. This course will examine Nature, Providence, and Mission in American history from the colonial and revolutionary eras, through Manifest Destiny and the Civil War, to late19th-century debates about Darwinian theory and Gilded Age imperialism.

HIST 311M
20th C US Foreign Policy
Prof. B. McKenzie

This course will examine the strategic calculations behind pivotal moments in U.S. foreign policy. the focus of the course will be the diplomatic history of war and peace. What were the reasons the U.S. entered alliances or went to war in the twentieth century? When and why did the U.S. follow an isolationist course? What influences, domestic or international, determined policy? Students will consider the First World War, the Versailles settlement and its revision during the 1920s, the Second World War, the Marshall Plan and NATO, Vietnam, and some contemporary conflicts.


HIST 313B
Society & the Sexes
Prof. R. Sweeney

This will be a reading and discussion course which will investigate three separate but interrelated threads- the history of sexuality, the history of the body, and the construction of gender- in both pre-industrial and modern Europe. We will ask how definitions of male/female and masculine/feminine have changed over time, and how they shaped the life experiences of men and women. Readings will include medical opinions, diaries, legal texts, novels and political debates.

HIST 313C
The Holocaust
Prof. K. Qualls

This course on the Holocaust will seek to understand the causes, effects, and representations of the Holocaust. We will place the Holocaust in a larger context of genocides and ethnic cleansings in the twentieth century. We will focus on victims of all kinds, perpetrators, the motivation for killing, and policy decisions that led up to mass extermination. The course will conclude with a discussion of trials, restitution, and commemoration.

HIST 315C
US Relations with Japan
Prof. S. Kim

This colloquium explores several contentious issues in the history of U.S.-Japan relations from Commodore Perry's arrival in Japan to the present. Emphasis is on the political and cultural backlash against America before and after the Pacific War.

HIST 404M
1960'S: Soc Movements & Lives
Prof. K. Rogers

This course explores the social movements of the 1960s and their impact upon American society. We will examine the Civil Rights Movement, the New Left, the Women's Movement and the Vietnam War through the biographies and autobiographies of participants.

HIST 404V
The Second World War
Prof. B. McKenzie

Military history forms the background for a study of how societies mobilized to meet the demands of total war; how people faced foreign occupation and persecution; and how the war changed political, economic, and social institutions, inspired moral reflection and cultural expression, and altered the global balance of power."

IB&M 300AI
Comparative Knowledge Mgmt
Prof. D. Jin

The course is a research seminar which examines the historical origin for the rise of knowledge- based organization, economy, and society. It further explores the nature and organizing principles of knowledge management and their cross-cultural differences.

IB&M 300AL
Marketing Communications
Prof. M. Poulton

This course will be a WR course addressing areas that are merely introduced in Marketing 240: advertising (message development, format, structure, execution, advertising budgets, result evaluation, ethical review and cross cultural considerations); public relations (media relations and writing for printed media); crisis communication management (facing the Court of Public Opinion) and internal organization communications (the role of corporate communications offices, memo writing, policy communication). We will use some lecture, "best and worst practices" cases, team project work, outside speakers from advertising agencies, PR firms and corporation communication personnel. The course will cover communications in both for profit and not-for-profit organizations.

IB&M 300AM
China: Emerging Superpower?
Prof. M. Fratantuono

In this course, we will examine China's unprecedented, rapid economic growth of the past 25 years. We will ask whether China's pace of growth is sustainable and what challenges lie ahead for the country. We will relate China's recent economic performance to its broad historical and cultural context. We will look at how different segments of China's society are faring in the face of dramatic change. Additionally, we will examine how different actors in the international system, including multinational companies, workers in other countries, and foreign governments are adjusting to China's rise in prominence, power, and prestige.

IB&M 300AO
Nonprofit Management
Prof. D.Sarcone

The overall objective of this service learning based course is to provide students with a clearer understanding of the ways nonprofit organizations individually and collectively strive to improve and maintain a desirable social good. the major course components include: a historical review of management theory to include a discussion on the similarities and differences between for profit and nonprofit management; the governance of nonprofit organizations; nonprofit strategic management; nonprofit operational management; and the management of newly emerging models of nonprofit collaboration - the development of inter-organizational networks created to more effectively address complex and recurring community problems.

IB&M 300AP
Game Theory: the Microeconomics of Competition, Coordination, Cooperation and Conflict
Prof. E. McPhail

Using the tools of modern evolutionary game theory we explore issues of strategic interaction. We examine fundamental microeconomic concepts relevant to the generic problem of coordinating social interactions among autonomous actors, with particular attention paid to conflict, competition, collective action, coordination failures, and the evolution of institutions and norms in capitalist economies. We draw from a number of fields such as evolutionary biology, sociology, political science and anthropology, as well as economics. We will read the work of such diverse authors as Jon Elster, Samuel Bowles, Herbert Gintis, Thomas Schelling, Joseph Stiglitz, Robert Boyd, Peter Richerson, Garret Hardin, Robert Sugden, John Maynard Smith, Gary Becker, and James Buchanan. Topics include: mixed strategies, credible threats and subgame perfection, repeated games, games with asymmetric information, the principal-agent model, adverse selection, signaling, and bargaining. Students must be conversant with calculus techniques and have a strong interest in reading demanding (yet rewarding!) material. Required Courses: intermediate microeconomics or managerial economics. Students who have not taken either one of these prerequisites but have a strong background in math are encouraged to contact the professor at mcphail@dickinson.edu
.

IB&M 300AQ
Investments
Prof. V. Vijayraghavan

This course is a basic course in investment analysis and portfolio management. We will cover the core concepts of finance theory - the capital asset pricing model, risk-return trade-offs, analysis of bond pricing, and equity valuation. In addition, we will look at the organization and functioning of capital markets, asset allocation strategies, some basic principles of options and futures markets and finally global portfolio management. This course will use problem-solving and Excel spreadsheet analysis to apply the theoretical concepts.

Prerequisite: IB&M 300Q. Corporate Finance

IB&M 300AR
Operational and Enterprise Leadership
Prof. L. Holder

This seminar focuses on leadership at enterprise or operational level in the public and private sectors. We will study the powers, limitations, thinking, and options of high-level leaders who are responsible for implementing the policy guidance of chief executives, strategic leaders, directing boards, or electorates. The course objective is to understand how future leaders may deal with broad responsibilities, new opportunities, and high risk in an environment of change.

IB&M 300Y
Business to Business Mktg
Prof. W. Su

Business-to-Business Marketing focuses on the management processes and activities that a supplier firm performs in order to satisfy the needs of its organizational customers, which include other businesses, governments, or institutions. This course is designed to provide students with an in-depth understanding of marketing theories and practices in an inter-organizational transaction context. Special emphasis is placed on the creation and delivery of value to business customers, the development and maintenance of business relationships, as well as the communication and coordination issues in managing the business network. Through seminar discussion, case analysis, research project and computer simulation, this course aims at helping students develop critical analysis and problem- solving capabilities in their preparation to meet major challenges in dynamic business markets.

ITAL 400D
Italian Food As Culture
Prof. S. Davidson

From the literary comedies of the Renaissance to the slapstick improvisation of the comici dell'arte, from the existential paradoxes of Pirandello to the political satire of Dario Fo, Italy can boast a long and rich comic tradition. This course examines Italian comedy from the 1500's to the present, tracing the genre's development against the background of a changing Italian society. Student research projects will focus on a single play, comic type, or motif, examined in its literary and historical context.

INTST 401
Interdisciplinary Seminar: US Grand Strategy
Prof. D. Stuart
This seminar is designed to give International Studies seniors an opportunity to analyze and discuss the concept of US grand strategy. We will focus upon the current National Security Strategy of the United States, but will look at this document from three points of view: International relations theory, history, and the grand strategies of other major international actors.


JUDST 216E
Kabbalah:Fund-Jew Mysticism
Prof. A. Lieber

Kabbalah is a rich tradition of esoteric teaching and practices that has been a vital part of Judaism since late antiquity. The underlying assumptions of Kabbalah is that the divinely- revealed text of the Torah (Hebrew Scriptures) can be read on multiple levels: literal, symbolic, allegorical and mystical. In this course, we focus on mystical traditions of interpretation. These mystical techniques of interpreting the Torah center around the notion that every Hebrew letter has a numerical equivalent, and that by calculating the numerical value of words and phrases in the bible, or by exchanging different letters of the alphabet in accordance with a set system, associations can be made between otherwise unrelated aspects of the text. Tracing the history of Jewish mysticisms, the course introduces students to major trends in Jewish mysticism, focusing special attention on meditation, mysticism and magic, reincarnation, messianism and heavenly ascent. We will also explore contemporary popular expressions of Kabbalastic numerology, including the film PI, and the recent best seller, The Bible Code.

JUDST 216O
Amer Jewish Popular Culture
Prof. E. Merwin

What do George Gershwin, Arthur Miller, Barbra Streisand, Dustin Hoffman, Mel Brooks and Jerry Seinfeld all have in common? The answer is that they are all Jewish. But how does their Jewishness inform their work? This course will ask what is Jewish about Jewish humor, music, film, and theater, focusing on definitions that extend beyond the boundaries of "religious" definitions. We will analyze a wide range of works in order to understand Jewish contributions to American popular culture.

JUDST 316G
The Holocaust
Prof. K. Qualls

This course on the Holocaust will seek to understand the causes, effects, and representations of the Holocaust. We will place the Holocaust in a larger context of genocides and ethnic cleansings in the twentieth century. We will focus on victims of all kinds, perpetrators, the motivation for killing, and policy decisions that led up to mass extermination. The course will conclude with a discussion of trials, restitution, and commemoration.

JUDST 316H
Israeli Cinema
Prof. N. Kann

This course explores Israeli cinema in its historical and social contexts, emphasizing the themes of state-building, war, secular-religious strife, the Holocaust and Israeli identity. Israeli cinema reflects the complex interaction of diverse Jewish cultures from Middle Eastern, Western and east European societies. The course considers the evolution of Israeli cinema thematically, its self-image and its place in Israeli society. Film screenings will take place during a weekly lab session.

LP 290C
Law, politics, society - E. Asia
Prof. N. Diamant

This course examines how people in East Asia use institutions to obtain justice and how these efforts help illustrate the "overlap" between law, politics, and society in countries like China and Japan. Instead of assuming a single conception of how law works and what law means, we will focus on the wide variation found among Asian countries, social classes, and urban and rural areas as people seek to remedy what they regard as travesties of justice. Unlike the West where such remedial action is usually pursued through courts, in Asia we must also focus on the ways certain social relationships, like landlord and peasant, and certain institutions like village mediation committees and roles like mediator, serve as a framework for seeking or thwarting justice. Such considerations are crucial in determining where Asian judicial systems converge with and diverge from Western models like that of the United States

LP 400A
Biomedical Tech, Policy & Law
Prof. D. Edlin

This seminar examines the legal, ethical and policy issues surrounding developments in biomedical technology, with a focus on surrogate motherhood, in vitro fertilization, stem cell research and cloning. We will study the scientific advances in these areas along with their practical applications. We will consider how the different individual and institutional perspectives of scientific, political and legal actors combine to frame the policy debate about the use and regulation of cutting-edge medical and scientific research.

LPPM 290B
Operational and Enterprise Leadership
Prof. L. Holder

This seminar focuses on leadership at enterprise or operational level in the public and private sectors. We will study the powers, limitations, thinking, and options of high-level leaders who are responsible for implementing the policy guidance of chief executives, strategic leaders, directing boards, or electorates. The course objective is to understand how future leaders may deal with broad responsibilities, new opportunities, and high risk in an environment of change.

MATH 201A
Calculus of Variations
Prof. A. Mareno
An introduction to the calculus of variations. This course presents methods for finding extrema for functionals as opposed to functions. Topics include the first variation and the Euler-Lagrange equation, isoperimetric problems, holonomic and nonholonomic constraints, problems with variable endpoints, and the second variation. Prerequisite: Math 261.

MEMS 200D
The Medieval Song
Prof. A. Quintanar

This course introduces the student to the study of the Middle Ages and the Early Modern periods by examining the fusion of words and music produced in Medieval and Early Modern Europe. The core of the course uses modern technology to examine manuscript images, manuscript transcriptions, translations into English, and musical renditions. The material is studied comparatively and focuses on textual context, thematic convention (literary as well as musical), as well as cultural content.

MUSIC 113A-01
Piano Class
Prof. D. Glasgow

Open to all students who demonstrate by audition some acquaintance with musical notation, and who should continue to study instrument or voice at the basic level.

MUSIC 113A-03
Voice Class
Prof. L. Helding

Open to all students who demonstrate by audition some acquaintance with musical notation, and who should continue to study instrument or voice at the basic level.

MUSIC 121
Musical Transgressions
Prof.
B. Wilson
Explores the long and shifting dialogue between music and other disciplines, with particular focus upon significant moments of creative conflict between old and new modes of musical thought. Topics are selective and wide-ranging, and may include ancient philosophy, the Orpheus myth, rhetoric and memory, Petrarch and the madrigal, musical iconography in Renaissance painting, the invention of opera, Louis XIV and musical statecraft, biblical exegesis in Bach’s music, Masonic strains in Mozart, and Beethoven during and after Napoleon. An introductory course open to those with little or no musical background.

MUSIC 354A
Music & Politics
Prof. A. Wlodarski

This course explores the manner in which music has influenced or interacted with the political sphere from 1800 to the present. Topics to be examined include how composers have represented political figures or events in their music, how music creates socio-political commentary, the use of music as propaganda, and the contribution of music to nationalistic movements and political identities. Some of the events covered include: The Civil War, World War I, Weimar Germany, the Vietnam war, and the current War on Terror. Special weight is given to the WWII era and the Holocaust.


PHILO 113B
Environment, Culture & Values
Prof. S. Feldman

A study of the effects of scientific, religious and philosophical values on man's attitudes toward his environment and how these attitudes may affect our way of life. By focusing on particular current topic, and by subjecting the behavior in regard to that topic, we are able to critique them on alternative levels of behavior.

PHILO 261G
Film Aesthetics
Prof. C. Dwiggins

An examination of classical and more recent theories of film art and experience, touching on the nature of film as a medium and as an art form, audience experience, and their relationship of film to other arts. Close study of film each week, with readings from classical and contemporary theories keyed to the issues posed in or by the film. Prerequisite: a previous course in philosophy or permission of the instructor.

PHILO 391E
Sen Sem: American Pragmatism
Prof. J. Wahman

Underlying theories of psychology are fundamental assumptions about human nature, its capacities, and its motivations. We will first take a look at some historical roots of the concept of psyche and will proceed to examine the three major "waves" of psychology for their presuppositions about human life and its nature as a scientific object.

LPPM 290B
Operational and Enterprise Leadership
Prof. L. Holder

This seminar focuses on leadership at enterprise or operational level in the public and private sectors. We will study the powers, limitations, thinking, and options of high-level leaders who are responsible for implementing the policy guidance of chief executives, strategic leaders, directing boards, or electorates. The course objective is to understand how future leaders may deal with broad responsibilities, new opportunities, and high risk in an environment of change.

POLSC 290AH
Law, Politics, Society - E. Asia
Prof. N. Diamant

This course examines how people in East Asia use institutions to obtain justice and how these efforts help illustrate the "overlap" between law, politics, and society in countries like China and Japan. Instead of assuming a single conception of how law works and what law means, we will focus on the wide variation found among Asian countries, social classes, and urban and rural areas as people seek to remedy what they regard as travesties of justice. Unlike the West where such remedial action is usually pursued through courts, in Asia we must also focus on the ways certain social relationships, like landlord and peasant, and certain institutions like village mediation committees and roles like mediator, serve as a framework for seeking or thwarting justice. Such considerations are crucial in determining where Asian judicial systems converge with and diverge from Western models like that of the United States.

POLSC 290AV
The War on Terrorism
Prof. A. Williams

This course will cover the global war on terrorism, its origins, its characteristics, and the ends, ways and means of the participants. We will begin by seeking to arrive at a working definition of terrorism. We will examine various historic case studies in an effort to identify common characteristics of terrorist activity, terrorist motivations, the origins of today's terrorist movements, and a general typology of terrorism. We will address the catastrophic events of September 11, 2001 and their impact on the national security of the United States. Finally, we will examine the current strategy of the United States in the global war on terrorism, and its implications and challenges.


POLSC 290BI
Crime and Punishment
Prof. H. Pohlman

This course will examine and critically evaluate the substantive principles that the criminal law uses to assess culpability. Central questions are: Why punish? Whom should we punish? How much should we punish? the focus will be on the law of homicide and a recurring issue will be the morality of capital punishment. Various defenses and justifications will be considered - insanity, diminished capacity, self-defense, duress, and necessity. The goal of the course is to use the law of homicide to explore basic questions concerning personal responsibility.

POLSC 290BJ
Race, Media & Politics
Prof. S. Larson

This class looks at how the four major racial minority groups in the United States (Blacks, Hispanics, Asian Americans, and Native Americans) are represented in entertainment (movies and television) and news media (television, newspapers, news magazines). Although representation is inherently political, our attention will be to system-supportive messages about race. The four major sections of the class are: movies/ entertainment media, news coverage of mass publics, news coverage of racial social movements, and news coverage of candidates and politicians of color. We will also look at how mainstream messages are challenged by alternative media controlled by racial minorities.

POLSC 290BK
Operational and Enterprise Leadership
Prof. L. Holder

This seminar focuses on leadership at enterprise or operational level in the public and private sectors. We will study the powers, limitations, thinking, and options of high-level leaders who are responsible for implementing the policy guidance of chief executives, strategic leaders, directing boards, or electorates. The course objective is to understand how future leaders may deal with broad responsibilities, new opportunities, and high risk in an environment of change.

POLSC 390AA
Biomedical Tech, Policy & Law
Prof. D. Edlin

This seminar examines the legal, ethical and policy issues surrounding developments in biomedical technology, with a focus on surrogate motherhood, in vitro fertilization, stem cell research and cloning. We will study the scientific advances in these areas along with their practical applications. We will consider how the different individual and institutional perspectives of scientific, political and legal actors combine to frame the policy debate about the use and regulation of cutting-edge medical and scientific research.

POLSC 390H
Global Futures
Prof. R. Bova

This seminar will focus on reading and discussion of a number of recently published, provocative books which attempt to analyze, explain, and predict the general contours of early twenty-first century world politics. Among the general issues to be discussed are trends in economic globalization, the future of war, prospects for global democracy, the impact of the rise of China, and many others.

POLSC 390Z
Comp Political Corruption
Prof. J. Mark Ruhl

Political corruption is the misuse of public office for private gain (embezzlement, bribery, etc.). The seminar will investigate why the level of political corruption varies so widely from country to country in the world today (from high in Russia to moderate in Italy to low in Finland or Singapore). We will study the causes and consequences of this variation as well as reform strategies for reducing corruption. Our readings will include Arnold Heidenheimer and Michael Johnson's classic book Political Corruption: Concepts and Contexts, Chinua Achebe's novel of corruption in a new nation No Longer at East, and other texts.

PSYCH 180O
Adolescent Psychology
Prof. A. Sauve
This course will provide a comprehensive and up-to-date survey of theory and research findings in the various domains of adolescent psychology. Physical, cognitive and social changes will be examined in the context of the family, peer and school environments. In addition, contemporary adolescent issues will be discussed along with adolescent psychopathology.

PSYCH 380C
Rsch Meth in Drugs & Behavior
Prof. A. Rauhut

Investigates biological underpinnings of basic operant and classical conditioning processes. Uses animal models to explore implications for psychopathology, addiction, etc.

PSYCH 380G
Rsch Meth in Community Psych
Prof. M. Davis

This course teaches the major tenets of community psychology and various research methods including a focus on understanding the role of the environment in human behavior, the field's application to a range of social issues, and commitment to action.

RELGN 241J
Amer Jewish Popular Culture
Prof. E. Merwin

What do George Gershwin, Arthur Miller, Barbra Streisand, Dustin Hoffman, Mel Brooks and Jerry Seinfeld all have in common? The answer is that they are all Jewish. But how does their Jewishness inform their work? This course will ask what is Jewish about Jewish humor, music, film, and theater, focusing on definitions that extend beyond the boundaries of "religious" definitions. We will analyze a wide range of works in order to understand Jewish contributions to American popular culture.

RELGN 241K
Religious Images in Western Art
Prof. J. Monighan-Schaefer
This course sketches the conflicting and also nurturing relationship between the Fine Arts and Christianity during its 2000-year journey. The focus will be on the underlying theological developments, which brought forth new art forms. In addition, we will explore the theology of various artists with an emphasis on those during the 19th and 20th centuries. Many of the course sessions will employ slides and PowerPoint presentations of artists’ works, lecture and small group discussions.

RELGN 260B
The Way of the Shaman
Prof. D. Cozort

The shaman, a figure in some form or another in nearly every culture past and present, is a healer of the body and soul who is the protector of the psychic integrity of the people he or she serves. Initiated by the ordeal, able to go into profound trance (and in that state, believed to have the powers to fly, to visit heaven and hell, to transform into animals), and the last resort of the desperate, the shaman is a human bridge to the supernatural. the course will use the methods of psychology and anthropology to analyze examples ranging from Siberia to Tibet to the Great Plains.

RELGN 260G
Kabbalah:Fund-Jew Mysticism
Prof. A. Lieber

Kabbalah is a rich tradition of esoteric teachings and practices that has been a vital part of Judaism since late antiquity. The underlying assumption of Kabbalah is that the divinely- revealed text of the Torah (Hebrew Scriptures) can be read on multiple levels: literal, symbolic, allegorical and mystical. In this course, we focus on mystical traditions of interpretation. These mystical techniques of interpreting the Torah center around the notion that every Hebrew letter has a numerical equivalent, and that by calculating the numerical value of words and phrases in the bible, or by exchanging different letters of the alphabet in accordance with a set system, associations can be made between otherwise unrelated aspects of the text. Tracing the history of Jewish mysticism, the course introduces students to major trends in Jewish mysticism, focusing special attention on meditation, mysticism and magic, reincarnation, messianism and heavenly ascent. We will also explore contemporary popular expressions of Kabbalistic numerology, including the film PI, and the recent best seller, The Bible Code.

RELGN 260R
Religion, Reaction & Reform
Prof. J. Gilchrist
Religion has sometimes been a conservative force, as Karl Marx alleged, but it has also been a progressive, even a revolutionary, force at times. This course will bring analytical models to bear on historical examples (e.g., slavery, segregation, the role of women, nationalism, war, wealth & poverty) to explain why even the same religious tradition can be a force for reaction and reform. Case studies from various religions and nations will provide insights into the role of religion in contemporary conflicts, both domestic and international.

SCNCE 101FH
Exploration in Physics W/Lab
Prof. D. Jackson

This course is an activity-based lab science course designed for non-science majors. In this course, everything you learn will be built up from direct observations that you will make in class. This kind of in-depth study will provide you with more than just knowledge about the particular concept under study. It will also give you direct experience with the scientific process. Furthermore, most students find that this is a fun way to learn about science. The topics covered in this course vary from semester to semester. In Spring 2006 we will be investigating “Magnets, Charge, and Electric Motors” and “Vibrations, Sound, and Musical Tones.”

SOCIO 230AH
Conflicts/Conflict Resolut St
Prof. S. Staub

Conflict seems to be an inescapable aspect of social life. Are we, as human beings, pre-determined to live in conflict? Yet as social beings living in mutually dependent social groups, we have developed various simple and complex strategies for managing and resolving conflicts. We will explore these mechanisms to manage or resolve conflicts of different kinds - inter-personally, in families, workplace-based, among ethnic, racial, and religious groups, and internationally. This course will examine the growing literature on conflict studies, and will draw on inter-disciplinary perspectives to examine conflict and conflict resolution processes and strategies.

SOCIO 230AP
Law and Society
Prof. P. Grahame

Law is the most formal expression of the morality of a society, and yet in practice law may seem amoral or even immoral. Why? this course examines law as a social institution and arena of social interaction. Our central concern will be with "law in action" rather that official and formal definitions of the justice system. Social factors such as class, gender, and race will be considered throughout.

SOCIO 230AQ
Environmental Society
Prof. P. Grahame

Contemporary environmental movements reflect important changes in how we understand the local and global consequences of human action. For example we may wonder whether modern societies are sustainable or doomed to catastrophic failure. Or we made anguish over tradeoffs between economic development and preservation of natural areas. This course explores environmental dimensions of human life in relation to topics such as sustainable development, toxic communities, technological disasters, environmental activism, green consumerism, deep ecology, ecofeminism, media portrayals of environmental issues, and ecotourism.

SOCIO 230AR
Sociology of Education
Prof. J. Marquis

In the United States, education is the one universal factor that purports to provide the basis for an equitable and democratic society. This course will provide you with the intellectual tools for understanding the relationship between our schools and the larger society in which they are embedded, and a methodology for decoding what the current situation is. We will accomplish this through a critical examination of the social forces influencing the issues of literacy, technology, and a race and class.

SOCIO 230Z
Gender and Society
Prof. A. Finley

This course is designed to give an overview of the social issues that create separate spheres for women and men in the United States. It will explore a number of different topics from the private sphere to the public sphere, emphasizing how these issues differ by race and class. The aim of the course is to develop a sociological understanding of why women and men are uniquely located in certain social contexts and their roles within them. Ultimately, present and future implications of our gendered socialization are examined, with critical discussion focusing on social policy.

SOCIO 236
Stratification
Prof. A. Finley

This course takes a critical look at the layers of American society that shape, construct, and inhibit the basic pursuit for equality of opportunity. Students will be asked to examine how the three most fundamental elements of social stratification – race, class, and gender – function both separately and in tandem to organize systems of inequality. The course enlists theoretical and practical applications of stratification to evaluate how social constructions of difference influence the institutions, such as education, work, family, government, and society policy that impact our daily lives. Additionally, class discussions will also consider how the forces of racism, sexism, and classism impact the attainment of basic needs, such as wages, health care, and housing.

SOCIO 239
Work and Occupation
Prof. A. Finley
“Never work just for money or for power. They won't save your soul or help you sleep at night” (Marian Wright Edelman). The problem is, work is all of those things: our livelihood, our mobility, and our identity. This course is a sociological examination of how we structure, fill, and define work in the United States. Course material will investigate how occupational positions have come to define American social stratification in terms of prestige, skill, and distributed rewards. Specifically, class discussions will be concerned with who occupies certain positions, how we socially construct occupational opportunities, and how this impacts life circumstances according to race, gender, and class. The goal is to understand, through the use of both theory and contemporary application, how the nature of work and occupations shapes our daily lives.

SOCIO 313A
Women's Health
Prof. J. Winterich

This course examines how the production of medical knowledge and the social construction of gender affect women's experiences with health and illness and medical care. The concept of health, medical research and administration of medical care are socially, economically and politically influenced with significant consequences for women. This course uses a feminist and cultural analytical framework to examine the social worlds of gender, health, medicine and science. In this course we will explore the following issues: What is the relationship between scientific knowledge, medical care, and women in the United States? How does our culture emphasis on the individual and increasing commodification of health influence how medicine defines health and illness for women? How do women experience health and illness and how do these experiences compare by race, class and sexual orientation? What are alternatives to the biomedical system and how would women benefit from a feminist, collective approach to women's health issues?

SPAN 300
Introduction to Hispanic Linguistics
Prof. M. Overstreet
This course serves as an introduction to the concepts of phonetics, phonology, morphology and syntax of the Spanish language. Students are introduced to the concept of descriptive linguistics and linguistic analysis. Students are introduced to linguistic development, historical linguistics and linguistic variation and change.

SPAN 400E
The Medieval Song
Prof. A. Quintanar

This course introduces the student to the study of the Middle Ages and the Early Modern periods by examining the fusion of words and music produced in Medieval and Early Modern Europe. The core of the course uses modern technology to examine manuscript images, manuscript transcriptions, translations into English, and musical renditions. The material is studied comparatively and focuses on textual context, thematic convention (literary as well as musical), as well as cultural content.

SPAN 410G
Hist & Myth in Contemp Sp Am L
Prof. B. Toral

This course will examine the dynamics of history and myth in contemporary narrative works by some leading Spanish American male and female authors. Special attention will be given to the literary strategy of memory in our exploration of issues that include gender, race, and/or ethnicity. We will also explore the narrative technique of "magical realism" and the way it questions cultural and national history from both a male and female perspective. Films will also be incorporated in the course.

WOMST 101B
Post-Colonial Women Writers
Prof. R. Ness

Women writing in countries that were once part of a colonial empire sometimes bear what Buchi Emecheta in Nigeria has called a double yoke. They may suffer the burdens of both neo-colonialism and other forms of race and class prejudice and be marginalized as females by a male-dominated cultural system. How women confront these twin oppressions will be a main focus of the course. I have selected 9 writers, from India, Africa and the West Indies.

WOMST 202C
Women and Popular Culture
Prof. S. Brautbar

Popular culture is all around us: it is the movies and television programs we watch, the news media that informs us about “reality”, the songs we listen to in the car, the magazines and novels we read, the clothes we wear and much more. In Women and Popular Culture, students will analyze the everyday messages and themes expressed through popular culture. We will look at representations of women in the media, the role of women as produces of popular culture, and the role of women as consumers of popular culture. From Barbie to Sex and The City and Mary J. Blidge, we will ask difficult questions about the ways in which the world around us defines and limits women’s identity and the ways in which it can be a tool for empowerment.

WOMST 202D
Fam & Gen in a Cross-cultural Perspective
Prof. S. Rose
In this comparative course in family systems, we will study the impact of production and politics on family life in various cultures, including Africa, Latin America, the Far East and the United States. The course uses ethnographic studies and documentaries to illuminate the impact of the political economy on family life, the life course, and gender roles and relationships. Various theories of development will place the ethnographies into socio-political and historical context.

WOMST 300G
Society & the Sexes
Prof. R. Sweeney

This will be a reading and discussion course which will investigate three separate but interrelated threads- the history of sexuality, the history of the body, and the construction of gender - in both pre-industrial and modern Europe. We will ask how definitions of male/female and masculine/feminine have changed over time, and how they shaped the life-experiences of men and women. Readings will include medical opinions, diaries, legal texts, novels and political debates.

WOMST 300J
Women's Health
Prof. J. Winterich

This course examines how the production of medical knowledge and the social construction of gender affect women's experiences with health and illness and medical care. The concept of health, medical research and administration of medical care are socially, economically and politically influenced with significant consequences for women. This course uses a feminist and cultural analytical framework to examine the social worlds of gender, health, medicine and science. In this course we will explore the following issues: What is the relationship between scientific knowledge, medical care, and women in the United States? How does our culture emphasis on the individual and increasing commodification of health influence how medicine defines health and illness for women? How do women experience health and illness and how do these experiences compare by race, class and sexual orientation? What are alternatives to the biomedical system and how would women benefit from a feminist, collective approach to women's health issues?

 

updated 01/26/06; B. Lehman