The College Catalogue

Africana Studies 10 {1010} b. Racism. Fall 2012 and Spring 2013. Roy Partridge.

Examines issues of racism in the United States, with attention to the social psychology of racism, its history, its relationship to social structure, and its ethical and moral implications. (Same as Sociology 10 {1010}.)

Africana Studies 12 {1012} c. Affirmative Action and United States Society. Fall 2012. Brian Purnell.

Interdisciplinary exploration of the rise and fall (and reappearance) of the “affirmative action debate” that shaped so much of the American “culture wars” during the 1970s–2000s. Students primarily study affirmative action in the United States, but there will also be comparative analysis of “affirmative action” systems in societies outside the United States, such as South Africa and India. Examines important Supreme Court cases that have shaped the contours of affirmative action, the rise of “diversity” discourse, and the different ways political and cultural ideologies, not to mention historical notions of American identity, have determined when, where, and how affirmative action has existed, and whom it benefits. Through examination of law, economics, sociology, anthropology, history, and political science, introduces students to different methodological approaches that inform Africana Studies and that field’s examination of the role people of African descent have played in contemporary and historical American society. Writing intensive. Analytical discussions of assigned texts.

Africana Studies 16 {1026} c. Fictions of Freedom. Fall 2012. Tess Chakkalakal.

Introduces students to the literature of slavery. Looks at eighteenth- and nineteenth-century slave narratives, antislavery/proslavery fiction and nonfiction, and visual representations of slavery in the form of photographs, paintings, and minstrel performances. Authors include Equiano, Wheatley, Jefferson, Melville, Douglass, and Stowe. Twentieth- and twenty-first-century narratives include former slave testimonials, novels by Morrison, Faulkner, Williams, Styron, and Jones. (Same as English 26 {1026}.)

Africana Studies 18 {1018} c. Music and Race in Latin America. Fall 2012. Michael Birenbaum Quintero.

A historical survey examining the relationship between musical practice and racial thought in Latin America from the sixteenth century to the present day. Considers the links between non-Europeanized music and ideas of race by looking at travelers’ accounts, government documents, and secondary sources. Tracks musical exchange and mixture between groups, and the mixed feelings of attraction and revulsion they provoked. Discusses the role of music in doctrines of racial “whitening” and civilizing. Examines the rise of nationalist folklore in the twentieth century and music’s role in multiculturalism and cultural tourism in the twenty-first. Familiarizes students with various Latin American musical genres. (Same as Latin American Studies 10 {1010} and Music 10 {1010}.)

Africana Studies 20 {1035} c. African American Children’s Literature. Fall 2012. Elizabeth Muther.

Beginning with W. E. B. Du Bois’s serial magazine of the 1920s, The Brownies’ Book, explores a century of African American literature for and about children. Examines the strong tradition of child-narrated fiction for teens and adults from the 1960s and 1970s by such writers as Ernest Gaines, Toni Morrison, Toni Cade Bambara, Louise Meriwether, and Ann Petry. Considers the emergence of a conscious Black Arts aesthetic in children’s literature and its relationship to the flowering of multicultural children’s literature in recent decades. Explores prize-winning fiction and graphic narratives for middle readers and adolescents as well as the collaborations of writers and artists in the contemporary “golden age” of African American picture books. (Same as English 20 {1035}.)

Africana Studies 25 {1025} c. The Civil War in Film. Fall 2013. Patrick Rael.

Explores the American Civil War through an examination of popular films dedicated to the topic. Students analyze films as a representation of the past, considering not simply their historical subject matter, but also the cultural and political contexts in which they are made. Films include The Birth of a Nation, Gone with the Wind, Glory, and Cold Mountain. Weekly evening film screenings. (Same as History 25 {1016}.)

Africana Studies 27 {1024} c. Love and Trouble: Black Women Writers. Fall 2012. Guy Mark Foster.

Introduces students to the twin themes of love and sex as they appear in literary texts written by African American women from the nineteenth century to the contemporary era. These texts explore such issues as sexism, group loyalty, racial authenticity, intra- and interracial desire, homosexuality, the intertextual unfolding of a literary tradition of black female writing, as well as how these writings relate to canonical African American male-authored texts and European American literary traditions. Students expected to read texts closely, critically, appreciatively. (Same as English 27 {1024}.

Anthropology 13 {1013} b. Beyond Pocahontas: Native American Stereotypes. Fall 2012. Kelly Fayard.

Traces the development of Native American stereotypes perpetuated by popular media both historically and presently. Considers effects of such stereotypes in contemporary media and popular culture. Analyzes films, literature, advertisements, cartoons, newspapers, magazines, and sports team mascots, among other forms of popular media and culture. Explores the diversity and variety of Native American peoples that are in opposition to media produced stereotypical images.

[Anthropology 19 {1019} b. Archaeology: Rethinking the Past.]

Art History 10 {1016} c. The Museum World. Spring 2013. Linda Docherty.

An introduction to the history, theory, and practice of the art museum as a cultural phenomenon from the Enlightenment to the present day. Using the Bowdoin College Museum of Art and selected case studies, students will consider issues surrounding selection, display and interpretation of objects; competing claims to cultural property; costs and benefits of designer buildings; challenges posed by war, theft, and censorship; and the ever-expanding and contested definition of art.

Art History 16 {1010} c. Art and the Environment: 1960 to Present. Fall 2012. Natasha Goldman.

Since the 1960s, artists in Western Europe and the United States have used the environment as a site of discussion, critique, and action. From Robert Smithson and his ever-disintegrating Spiral Jetty, to Agnes Denes’ Wheatfield growing alongside Wall St., to Mierle Ukeles’ installation and performance art in conjunction with the New York Department of Sanitation, to Eduardo Kac’s GFP Bunny, artists have explored the ways in which art objects are in dialogue with the environment, recycling, and biology. Works engage with concepts such as entropy, the agricultural industry, photosynthesis, and green tourism, encouraging us to see in new ways the natural world around us. One field trip to Boston, in-class Skype interviews with contemporary artists, and visits to the Bowdoin College Museum of Art’s William Wegman: Hello Nature exhibition complement the material studied. Students will leave this writing-intensive course with a firm understanding of library and database research and the value of writing, revision, and critique.

Asian Studies 11 {1025} c. Living in the Sixteenth Century. Fall 2014. Thomas D. Conlan.

Examines the nature of state and society in an age of turmoil. Studies patterns of allegiances, ways of waging war, codes of conduct, and the social matrix of sixteenth-century Japan, based on primary and secondary sources. Kurosawa’s masterpiece Kage Musha provides the thematic foundation for this course. (Same as History 13 {1035}.)

Note: This course fulfills the pre-modern requirement for history majors.

[Asian Studies 19 {1045} b. East Asian Politics: Introductory Seminar. (Same as Government 19 {1020}.)]

Asian Studies 21 {1010} c. Perspectives on Modern China. Fall 2013. Shu-chin Tsui.

Explores the changing nature of modern China from interdisciplinary perspectives: history, literature, documentary films, and cultural studies. Taking history as the primary framework and written/visual representations as analytical texts, investigates the process of nation-building and destruction throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Central questions concern how various social movements and historical events transformed modern China. Also considers how cultural productions and representations shape, as well as reflect, changing notions of China’s national identity.

Asian Studies 26 {1035} c. Globalizing India. Fall 2012. Rachel Sturman.

Interrogates contemporary globalization by examining how Indians have interacted with and been shaped by the broader world, with a focus on the last two centuries. Topics include the place of India in the European imagination and vice versa; India’s role in the rise of modern global capitalism and imperialism; and the distinctive features of contemporary globalization. (Same as History 26 {1038}.)

Chemistry 11 {1011} a. Great Issues in Science. Fall 2012. Daniel M. Steffenson.

Presents a realistic and mature picture of science and the methods employed by current scientists to provide acceptable justifications for scientific hypotheses and theories. Starting with the invention of science by the ancient Greek philosophers (Lucretius, On the Nature of Things) and using historical examples from various sciences, three philosophical models of justification examined in detail: logical empiricism (the Vienna Circle), Fallibilism (Popper), and Conventionalism (Kuhn). Several literary images of science (Vonnegut, Brecht, Pynchon, Crichton) are compared to the philosophical models. Examines the role of scientists in making certain value judgments such as organ transplants or stem cell research.

[Classics 12 {1012} c. Discovering Homer.]

[Classics 18 {1018} c. Cleopatra: Versions and Visions.]

Classics 19 {1019} c. Ancient Democracy and Its Critics. Fall 2012. Robert Sobak.

Winston Churchill famously said, “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” For some, ancient democracy was nothing more than mob rule, a place where the poor robbed the rich, slaves passed as free citizens, and even donkeys refused to give way to their human betters. Investigates the historical origins, principles, institutions, and practices of Athenian democracy through readings of sources such as Herodotus, Thucydides, and Aristophanes. Considers the political and philosophical critiques of democracy advanced by Plato, Isocrates, and Aristotle within their historical and intellectual contexts. Examines the legacy of Athenian democracy for contemporary political thought.

Dance 10 {1010} c. Understanding Theater and Dance: Doing, Viewing, and Reviewing. Fall 2012. Melissa Thompson.

The goal is appreciation and understanding of contemporary performance. Investigates critical perspectives on dance, drama, and other performance events. Develops viewing and writing skills: description, analysis, interpretation, evaluation. Attending live performances, on and off campus, watching films and videos, and participating in studio workshops with performers and writers provide a basis for four essays and other modes of critical response—written, oral, or visual. (Same as Theater 10 {1010}.)

Earth and Oceanographic Science 20 {1020} a. Living Downstream: Dams, Floods, and the Politics of River Management. Fall 2012. Gabrielle David.

Explores the interconnectedness between rivers and the history and consequences of river management through analysis of dam building in the American Southwest and New England. Weighs competing claims of resource development and conservation through writings of Thoreau, Roosevelt, Abbey, and Leopold. Investigates connections between dams, floods, and climate in relation to how river management has changed in the past and will need change in the future. Specific topics include how watershed management is connected to your drinking water quality; the building of the Hoover and Glen Canyon Dams on the Colorado River; the impacts of dams on stream ecology and landscapes.

Economics 18 {1018} b. The Art of the Deal: Commerce and Culture. Fall 2012. B. Zorina Khan.

Explores the economics of culture, including the analysis of markets for art, music, literature, and movies. If culture is “priceless,” then why do artists starve while providers of pet food make billions? Why are paintings by dead artists generally worth more than paintings by living artists? Could music piracy on the information superhighway benefit society? Can Tom Hanks turn a terrible movie into a contender at the box office? Students are not required to have any prior knowledge of economics, and will not be allowed to argue that baseball comprises culture.

[Education 20c. The Educational Crusade.]

English 10 {1034} c. Lesbian Personae. Spring 2013. Peter Coviello.

A study of the varied representations of same-sex desire between women across a range of twentieth-century novels and films. Concerned with questions of the visibility, and invisibility, of lesbian life; of the contours of lesbian childhood and adolescence; of the forms of difference between and among lesbians; and of the tensions, as well as the affinities, that mark relations between queer women and queer men. Authors may include Nella Larsen, Willa Cather, Carson McCullers, Ann Bannon, and others. (Same as Gay and Lesbian Studies 20 {1034} and Gender and Women’s Studies 23 {1034}.)

English 13 {1016} c. Hawthorne. Fall 2012. William Watterson.

Readings include selected short stories, Fanshawe, The Scarlet Letter, The Blithedale Romance, The House of the Seven Gables, The Marble Faun, Septimus Felton, and James Mellow’s Nathaniel Hawthorne in His Times.

English 16 {1027} c. Fan Fictions and Cult Classics. Fall 2012. Megan Cook.

Looks closely at a series of texts that have inspired especially ardent responses among readers over the centuries. Readings may include Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Austen’s Emma, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories, as well as later texts that appropriate, reimagine, and extend these canonical narratives. Considers how the contemporary notion of a “fan,” an ardent admirer who seems in many ways the opposite of the judgmental critic, can enrich our understanding of literary influence and appreciation. Students compose and revise a number of critical essays and should also come prepared to think and write creatively about the texts studied.

English 20 {1035} c. African American Children’s Literature. Fall 2012. Elizabeth Muther.

Beginning with W. E. B. Du Bois’s serial magazine of the 1920s, The Brownies’ Book, explores a century of African American literature for and about children. Examines the strong tradition of child-narrated fiction for teens and adults from the 1960s and 1970s by such writers as Ernest Gaines, Toni Morrison, Toni Cade Bambara, Louise Meriwether, and Ann Petry. Considers the emergence of a conscious Black Arts aesthetic in children’s literature and its relationship to the flowering of multicultural children’s literature in recent decades. Explores prize-winning fiction and graphic narratives for middle readers and adolescents as well as the collaborations of writers and artists in the contemporary “golden age” of African American picture books. (Same as Africana Studies 20 {1035}.)

English 26 {1026} c. Fictions of Freedom. Fall 2012. Tess Chakkalakal.

Introduces students to the literature of slavery. Looks at eighteenth- and nineteenth-century slave narratives, antislavery/proslavery fiction and nonfiction, and visual representations of slavery in the form of photographs, paintings, and minstrel performances. Authors include Equiano, Wheatley, Jefferson, Melville, Douglass, and Stowe. Twentieth- and twenty-first-century narratives include former slave testimonials, novels by Morrison, Faulkner, Williams, Styron, and Jones. (Same as Africana Studies 16 {1026}.)

English 27 {1024} c. Love and Trouble: Black Women Writers. Fall 2012. Guy Mark Foster.

Introduces students to the twin themes of love and sex as they appear in literary texts written by African American women from the nineteenth century to the contemporary era. These texts explore such issues as sexism, group loyalty, racial authenticity, intra- and interracial desire, homosexuality, the intertextual unfolding of a literary tradition of black female writing, as well as how these writings relate to canonical African American male-authored texts and European American literary traditions. Students expected to read texts closely, critically, appreciatively. (Same as Africana Studies 27 {1024}.)

English 28 {1044} c. Queer Gardens. Fall 2012. Terri Nickel.

Explores how the garden in Western literature and art serves as a space for desire. Pays special attention to the link between gardens and transgression. Also considers how gardens become eccentric spaces and call into question distinctions between nature and culture. Examines the work of gay and lesbian gardeners and traces how marginal identities find expression in specific garden spaces. Reconsiders one of the founding myths of Western culture: the idea of a lost Eden. Authors and gardeners may include Marvell, Lanyer, Pope, Seward, Dickinson, Burnett, Carroll, Sackville-West, Nichols, Jarman, and Pollan. (Same as Gay and Lesbian Studies 28 {1044}.)

English 29 {1043} c. Fact and Fiction. Fall 2012. Brock Clarke.

An introduction to the study and creation of various kinds of narrative forms (short story, travel essay, bildungsroman, detective fiction, environmental essay, satire, personal essay, etc.). Students write critical essays and use the readings in the class as models for their own short stories and works of creative nonfiction. Class members discuss a wide range of published canonical and contemporary narratives and workshop their own essays and stories. In doing so, the class dedicates itself to both the study of literature and the making of it.

[Environmental Studies 12c. Campus: Architecture and Education in the American College, 1800–2000.]

[Film Studies 10 {1025} c. Cultural Difference and the Crime Film.]

[Film Studies 29 {1029} c. Historians, Comediennes, Storytellers: Women Filmmakers in the German-Speaking Countries. (Same as Gay and Lesbian Studies 29 {1029}, Gender and Women’s Studies 29 {1029}, and German 29 {1029}.)]

Gay and Lesbian Studies 17 {1017} c. The Sexual Life of Colonialism: Gender and Sexuality in the Colonial World. Fall 2012. Durba Mitra.

Explores histories of state control of sexuality and intimacy in the non-Western world in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. Addresses different forms of sexuality including interracial relationships between colonizers and the colonized, queer and same-sex desires, sexual outcasts like prostitutes, and the lives of transgender individuals. Readings cover histories of gender and sexuality in the Arab-Islamic world, colonial South Asia, and colonial sub-Saharan Africa. (Same as Gender and Women’s Studies 16 {1016} and History 27 {1032}.)

Gay and Lesbian Studies 20 {1034} c. Lesbian Personae. Spring 2013. Peter Coviello.

A study of the varied representations of same-sex desire between women across a range of twentieth-century novels and films. Concerned with questions of the visibility, and invisibility, of lesbian life; of the contours of lesbian childhood and adolescence; of the forms of difference between and among lesbians; and of the tensions, as well as the affinities, that mark relations between queer women and queer men. Authors may include Nella Larsen, Willa Cather, Carson McCullers, Ann Bannon, and others. (Same as English 10 {1034} and Gender and Women’s Studies 23 {1034}.)

Gay and Lesbian Studies 27 {1027} c. From Flowers of Evil to Pretty Woman: Prostitutes in Modern Western Culture. Fall 2012. Jill S. Smith.

Explores the myriad ways that prostitutes have been represented in modern Western culture from the end of the nineteenth century to the present. By analyzing literary texts, visual artworks, and films from Europe and the United States, examines prostitution as a complex urban phenomenon and a vehicle through which artists and writers grapple with issues of labor, morality, sexuality, and gender roles. Introduces students to a variety of literary, artistic, musical, and filmic genres, as well as to different disciplinary approaches to the study of prostitution. Authors, artists, and film directors may include Baudelaire, Toulouse-Lautrec, Kirchner, Brecht/Weill, Pabst, Marshall, Scorsese, Spielmann, and Sting. (Same as Gender and Women’s Studies 27 {1027} and German 27 {1027}.)

Gay and Lesbian Studies 28 {1044} c. Queer Gardens. Fall 2012. Terri Nickel.

Explores how the garden in Western literature and art serves as a space for desire. Pays special attention to the link between gardens and transgression. Also considers how gardens become eccentric spaces and call into question distinctions between nature and culture. Examines the work of gay and lesbian gardeners and traces how marginal identities find expression in specific garden spaces. Reconsiders one of the founding myths of Western culture: the idea of a lost Eden. Authors and gardeners may include Marvell, Lanyer, Pope, Seward, Dickinson, Burnett, Carroll, Sackville-West, Nichols, Jarman, and Pollan. (Same as English 28 {1044}.)

[Gay and Lesbian Studies 29 {1029} c. Historians, Comediennes, Storytellers: Women Filmmakers in the German-Speaking Countries. (Same as Film Studies 29 {1029}, Gender and Women’s Studies 29 {1029}, and German 29 {1029}.)]

Gender and Women’s Studies 15 {1015} b. Women in the European Union. Fall 2012. Kristen Ghodsee.

The European Union (EU) is an economic and political coalition of twenty-seven European countries. Created in the aftermath of World War II, the basic goal of the EU has been to ensure peace and prosperity to the continent by forging greater political ties between member states. Headquartered in Brussels, the EU Parliament and its associated Directorates try to coordinate social policies for all member states. Achieving gender equality is a core principle of the European Union and there is a large supranational bureaucracy whose sole aim is to promote and support women’s full political, economic, and social participation in the EU. Examines the internal structure and politics of the EU with regards to its gender mainstreaming initiatives as they are implemented across the twenty-seven member states. Discusses electoral quotas, immigration, headscarves and religious minorities, demographic trends, maternity leaves, abortion, trafficking, prostitution, and the rise of women as leaders across the continent. Students write a series of research papers on specific countries and topics.

Gender and Women’s Studies 16 {1016} c. The Sexual Life of Colonialism: Gender and Sexuality in the Colonial World. Fall 2012. Durba Mitra.

Explores histories of state control of sexuality and intimacy in the non-Western world in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. Addresses different forms of sexuality including interracial relationships between colonizers and the colonized, queer and same-sex desires, sexual outcasts like prostitutes, and the lives of transgender individuals. Readings cover histories of gender and sexuality in the Arab-Islamic world, colonial South Asia, and colonial sub-Saharan Africa. (Same as Gay and Lesbian Studies 17 {1017} and History 27 {1032}.)

Gender and Women’s Studies 20 {1020} c. In Sickness and in Health: Public Health in Europe and the United States. Fall 2012. Susan Tananbaum.

Introduces a variety of historical perspectives on illness and health. Considers the development of scientific knowledge, and the social, political, and economic forces that have influenced public health policy. Topics include epidemics, maternal and child welfare, AIDS, and national health care. (Same as History 20 {1010}.)

Gender and Women’s Studies 22 {1022} c. “Bad” Women Make Great History: Gender, Identity, and Society in Modern Europe, 1789–1945. Fall 2013. Page Herrlinger.

Focuses on the lives and works of path-breaking women who defied the norms of modern European society in order to assume extraordinary and often controversial identities in a range of fields—as writers, scientists, performers, athletes, soldiers, and social and political activists. What does each woman’s “deviance” reveal about cultural constructions of identity and the self in Modern Europe? About contemporary views on issues such as women’s work, gender relations, education, marriage, sexuality, motherhood, health, and the struggle for civil and political rights? And when studied together, what do these women’s experiences tell us about patterns of change and continuity with respect to definitions of masculinity vs. femininity, the public vs. private sphere, and the relationship of the individual to the modern state? (Same as History 22 {1012}.)

Gender and Women’s Studies 23 {1034} c. Lesbian Personae. Spring 2013. Peter Coviello.

A study of the varied representations of same-sex desire between women across a range of twentieth-century novels and films. Concerned with questions of the visibility, and invisibility, of lesbian life; of the contours of lesbian childhood and adolescence; of the forms of difference between and among lesbians; and of the tensions, as well as the affinities, that mark relations between queer women and queer men. Authors may include Nella Larsen, Willa Cather, Carson McCullers, Ann Bannon, and others. (Same as English 10 {1034} and Gay and Lesbian Studies 20 {1034}.)

Gender and Women’s Studies 27 {1027} c. From Flowers of Evil to Pretty Woman: Prostitutes in Modern Western Culture. Fall 2012. Jill S. Smith.

Explores the myriad ways that prostitutes have been represented in modern Western culture from the end of the nineteenth century to the present. By analyzing literary texts, visual artworks, and films from Europe and the United States, examines prostitution as a complex urban phenomenon and a vehicle through which artists and writers grapple with issues of labor, morality, sexuality, and gender roles. Introduces students to a variety of literary, artistic, musical, and filmic genres, as well as to different disciplinary approaches to the study of prostitution. Authors, artists, and film directors may include Baudelaire, Toulouse-Lautrec, Kirchner, Brecht/Weill, Pabst, Marshall, Scorsese, Spielmann, and Sting. (Same as Gay and Lesbian Studies 27 {1027} and German 27 {1027}.)

[Gender and Women’s Studies 29 {1029} c. Historians, Comediennes, Storytellers: Women Filmmakers in the German-Speaking Countries. (Same as Film Studies 29 {1029}, Gay and Lesbian Studies 29 {1029}, and German 29 {1029}.)]

German 27 {1027} c. From Flowers of Evil to Pretty Woman: Prostitutes in Modern Western Culture. Fall 2012. Jill Smith.

Explores the myriad ways that prostitutes have been represented in modern Western culture from the middle of the nineteenth century to the present. By analyzing literary texts, visual artworks, and films from Europe and the United States, examines prostitution as a complex urban phenomenon and a vehicle through which artists and writers grapple with issues of labor, morality, sexuality, and gender roles. Introduces students to a variety of literary, artistic, musical, and filmic genres, as well as to different disciplinary approaches to the study of prostitution. Authors, artists, and film directors may include Baudelaire, Toulouse-Lautrec, Kirchner, Wedekind, Pabst, Marshall, Scorsese, Spielmann, and Sting. (Same as Gay and Lesbian Studies 27 {1027} and Gender and Women’s Studies 27 {1027}.)

[German 29 {1029} c. Historians, Comediennes, Storytellers: Women Filmmakers in the German-Speaking Countries. (Same as Film Studies 29 {1029}, Gay and Lesbian Studies 29 {1029}, and Gender and Women’s Studies 29 {1029}.)]

Government 10 {1030} b. The Pursuit of Peace. Fall 2012. Allen L. Springer.

Examines different strategies for preventing and controlling armed conflict in international society, and emphasizes the role of diplomacy, international law, and international organizations in the peace-making process.

Government 11 {1037} b. The Korean War. Fall 2012. Christian P. Potholm.

The Korean War is often called “the forgotten war” because it is overshadowed by World War II and the Vietnam War, yet many important aspects and results of it are mirrored in the contemporary world. Korea is still divided and its situation as a buffer state between China, Russia, and Japan continues to have important policy ramifications for the United States. Focuses not just on the course of the war, but on the foreign policy assumptions of the two Korean governments, the United States, the People’s Republic of China, and Russia.

[Government 18 {1025} b. NGOs in Politics.]

[Government 19 {1020} b. East Asian Politics: Introductory Seminar. (Same as Asian Studies 19 {1045}.)]

Government 20 {1026} b. Global Media and Politics. Fall 2012. Henry C. W. Laurence.

Examines the impact of media including the Internet, newspapers, and television, on politics and society in cross-national perspective. Asks how differences in the ownership and regulation of media affect how news is selected and presented, and looks at various forms of government censorship and commercial self-censorship. Also considers the role of the media and “pop culture” in creating national identities, perpetuating ethnic stereotypes, and providing regime legitimation; and explores the impact of satellite television and the Internet on rural societies and authoritarian governments.

[Government 21 {1000} b. Citizenship and Representation in American Politics.]

Government 25 {1001} b. Representation, Participation, and Power in American Politics. Fall 2012. Janet M. Martin.

An introductory seminar in American national politics. Readings, papers, and discussion explore the changing nature of power and participation in the American polity, with a focus on the interaction between individuals (non-voters, voters, party leaders, members of Congress, the President) and political institutions (parties, Congress, the executive branch, the judiciary). Not open to students who have credit for or are concurrently taking Government 150.

Government 26 {1011} b. Fundamental Questions: Exercises in Political Theory. Fall 2012. Jean M. Yarbrough.

Explores the fundamental questions in political life: What is justice? What is happiness? Are human beings equal or unequal by nature? Do they even have a nature, or are they “socially constructed”? Are there ethical standards for political action that exist prior to law and, if so, where do they come from? Nature? God? History? Readings may include Plato, Aristotle, the Bible, Machiavelli, Locke, Rousseau, Shakespeare, the American Founders, Tocqueville, and Nietzsche.

Government 27 {1002} b. Political Leadership. Fall 2012. Andrew C. Rudalevige.

We talk about political leadership all the time, mostly to complain about its absence. Leadership is surely one of the key elements of politics, but what does it mean? Do we know it when we see it? What kinds of leaders do we have, and what kinds do we want? How do modern democratic conceptions of governance mesh with older visions of authority? Of ethics? Looks both at real world case studies and the treatment of leadership in literature. Offers a wide variety of perspectives on leadership and the opportunities and dangers it presents—both for those who want to lead, and for those who are called upon to follow.

Government 28 {1012} b. Human Being and Citizen. Fall 2012. Paul N. Franco.

An introduction to the fundamental issues of political philosophy: human nature, the relationship between individual and political community, the nature of justice, the place of virtue, the idea of freedom, and the role of history. Readings span both ancient and modern philosophical literature. Authors may include Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, the American Founders, Tocqueville, Mill, and Nietzsche.

[History 11 {1018} c. Memoirs and Memory in American History.]

History 12 {1014} c. Utopia: Intentional Communities in America, 1630–1997. Fall 2012. Sarah McMahon.

An examination of the evolution of utopian visions and utopian experiments that begins in 1630 with John Winthrop’s “City upon a Hill,” explores the proliferation of both religious and secular communal ventures between 1780 and 1920, and concludes with an examination of twentieth-century counterculture communes, intentional communities, and dystopian separatists. Readings include primary source accounts by members (letters, diaries, essays, etc.), “community” histories and apostate exposés, utopian fiction, and scholarly historical analyses. Discussions and essays focus on teaching students how to subject primary and secondary source materials to critical analysis.

History 13 {1035} c. Living in the Sixteenth Century. Fall 2014. Thomas D. Conlan.

Examines the nature of state and society in an age of turmoil. Studies patterns of allegiances, ways of waging war, codes of conduct, and the social matrix of sixteenth-century Japan, based on primary and secondary sources. Kurosawa’s masterpiece Kage Musha provides the thematic foundation for this course. (Same as Asian Studies 11 {1025}.)

Note: This course fulfills the pre-modern requirement for history majors.

History 18 {1008} c. New Worlds, New Goods: Consumerism in Early Modern Europe. Fall 2012. Meghan Roberts.

Examines the social, cultural, and political dimensions of consumerism in the early modern Atlantic world, from the discovery of the New World through the French Revolution. Considers how material objects like tulips, coffee, clothing, and furniture provide a lens through which we can study topics such as imperialism, gender, class, and national identity.

History 20 {1010} c. In Sickness and in Health: Public Health in Europe and the United States. Fall 2012. Susan Tananbaum.

Introduces a variety of historical perspectives on illness and health. Considers the development of scientific knowledge, and the social, political, and economic forces that have influenced public health policy. Topics include epidemics, maternal and child welfare, AIDS, and national health care. (Same as Gender and Women’s Studies 20 {1020}.)

History 22 {1012} c. “Bad” Women Make Great History: Gender, Identity, and Society in Modern Europe, 1789–1945. Fall 2013. Page Herrlinger.

Focuses on the lives and works of path-breaking women who defied the norms of modern European society in order to assume extraordinary and often controversial identities in a range of fields—as writers, scientists, performers, athletes, soldiers, and social and political activists. What does each woman’s “deviance” reveal about cultural constructions of identity and the self in Modern Europe? About contemporary views on issues such as women’s work, gender relations, education, marriage, sexuality, motherhood, health, and the struggle for civil and political rights? And when studied together, what do these women’s experiences tell us about patterns of change and continuity with respect to definitions of masculinity vs. femininity, the public vs. private sphere, and the relationship of the individual to the modern state? (Same as Gender and Women’s Studies 22 {1022}.)

History 25 {1016} c. The Civil War in Film. Fall 2013. Patrick Rael.

Explores the American Civil War through an examination of popular films dedicated to the topic. Students analyze films as a representation of the past, considering not simply their historical subject matter, but also the cultural and political contexts in which they are made. Films include The Birth of a Nation, Gone with the Wind, Glory, and Cold Mountain. Weekly evening film screenings. (Same as Africana Studies 25 {1025}.)

History 26 {1038} c. Globalizing India. Fall 2012. Rachel Sturman.

Interrogates contemporary globalization by examining how Indians have interacted with and been shaped by the broader world, with a focus on the last two centuries. Topics include the place of India in the European imagination and vice versa; India’s role in the rise of modern global capitalism and imperialism; and the distinctive features of contemporary globalization. (Same as Asian Studies 26 {1035}.)

History 27 {1032} c. The Sexual Life of Colonialism: Gender and Sexuality in the Colonial World. Fall 2012. Durba Mitra.

Explores histories of state control of sexuality and intimacy in the non-Western world in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. Addresses different forms of sexuality including interracial relationships between colonizers and the colonized, queer and same-sex desires, sexual outcasts like prostitutes, and the lives of transgender individuals. Readings cover histories of gender and sexuality in the Arab-Islamic world, colonial South Asia, and colonial sub-Saharan Africa. (Same as Gay and Lesbian Studies 17 {1017} and Gender and Women’s Studies 16 {1016}.)

Latin American Studies 10 {1010} c. Music and Race in Latin America. Fall 2012. Michael Birenbaum Quintero.

A historical survey examining the relationship between musical practice and racial thought in Latin America from the sixteenth century to the present day. Considers the links between non-Europeanized music and ideas of race by looking at travelers’ accounts, government documents, and secondary sources. Tracks musical exchange and mixture between groups, and the mixed feelings of attraction and revulsion they provoked. Discusses the role of music in doctrines of racial “whitening” and civilizing. Examines the rise of nationalist folklore in the twentieth century and music’s role in multiculturalism and cultural tourism in the twenty-first. Familiarizes students with various Latin American musical genres. (Same as Africana Studies 18 {1018} and Music 10 {1010}.)

Music 10 {1010} c. Music and Race in Latin America. Fall 2012. Michael Birenbaum Quintero.

A historical survey examining the relationship between musical practice and racial thought in Latin America from the sixteenth century to the present day. Considers the links between non-Europeanized music and ideas of race by looking at travelers’ accounts, government documents, and secondary sources. Tracks musical exchange and mixture between groups, and the mixed feelings of attraction and revulsion they provoked. Discusses the role of music in doctrines of racial “whitening” and civilizing. Examines the rise of nationalist folklore in the twentieth century and music’s role in multiculturalism and cultural tourism in the twenty-first. Familiarizes students with various Latin American musical genres. (Same as Africana Studies 18 {1018} and Latin American Studies 10 {1010}.)

[Philosophy 16 {1036} c. Personal Ethics.]

Philosophy 18 {1038} c. Love. Spring 2013. Sarah Conly.

Love. What is the nature and value of love? Why is love so important to us? Is love necessary for a successful life? If so, why? Is lifelong love possible? Is love selfish or unselfish? Is the search for love destructive? Uses philosophical texts and some fictional representations to examine these and other questions.

Philosophy 28 {1028} c. A Philosopher’s Dozen. Fall 2012. Matthew Stuart.

An introduction to philosophy by way of twelve famous thought experiments. Explores central questions in metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics by considering such imaginary scenarios as the runaway trolley, Mary in the black and white room, the ailing violinist, the split-brain transplant, the evil neurosurgeon, twin earth, and the experience machine.

Psychology 10 {1010} b. What’s on Your Mind? An Introduction to the Brain and Behavior. Fall 2012. Matthew Campolattaro.

A general introduction to the science of psychology, with a specific emphasis on the brain’s control of human and animal behavior. Uses historical texts, “popular” science books, and primary literature to explore the mind-body connections within topics such as learning and memory, perception, development, stress, social behavior, personality, and choice.

[Religion 14 {1014} c. Heresy and Orthodoxy.]

[Religion 25 {1025} c. The Islamic Revolution of Iran.]

Religion 27 {1027} c. Astral Religion in the Near East and Classical Antiquity. Fall 2013. Robert Morrison.

Investigates astral religion and its relationship to astrological forecasting. Begins with a study of early astronomy, ancient Near Eastern omen texts, and the role of celestial bodies in ancient Near Eastern religion. Moves to classical expositions of astrology such as the Tetrabiblos and critics of astrological forecasting such as Cicero. Concludes with the reception of astrology in Islamic civilization and the role of astral causation in Islamic thought.

Russian 22 {1022} c. “It Happens Rarely, Maybe, but It Does Happen”—Fantasy and Satire in East Central Europe. Every other fall. Fall 2012. Raymond Miller.

Explores the fantastic in Russian and East European literature from the 1830s into the late twentieth century. Studies the origins of the East European fantastic in Slavic folklore and through the Romantic movement, and traces the historical development of the genre from country to country and era to era. Examines the use of the fantastic for the purpose of satire, philosophical inquiry, and social commentary, with particular emphasis on its critiques of nationalism, modernity, and totalitarianism. Authors include Nikolai Gogol’, Mikhail Bulgakov, Karel Capek, Stanislaw Lem, and Franz Kafka.

Sociology 10 {1010} b. Racism. Fall 2012 and Spring 2013. Roy Partridge.

Examines issues of racism in the United States, with attention to the social psychology of racism, its history, its relationship to social structure, and its ethical and moral implications. (Same as Africana Studies 10 {1010}.)

[Sociology 22 {1022} b. In the Facebook Age.]

Theater 10 {1010} c. Understanding Theater and Dance: Doing, Viewing, and Reviewing. Fall 2012. Melissa Thompson.

The goal is appreciation and understanding of contemporary performance. Investigates critical perspectives on dance, drama, and other performance events. Develops viewing and writing skills: description, analysis, interpretation, evaluation. Attending live performances, on and off campus, watching films and videos, and participating in studio workshops with performers and writers provide a basis for four essays and other modes of critical response—written, oral, or visual. (Same as Dance 10 {1010}.)