Courses

Courses

Spring 2009

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022. Femmes Fatales, Lady Killers, and Other Dangerous Women
Aviva Briefel T 2:30 - 3:55, TH 2:30 - 3:55
Explores a popular cinematic image: the dangerous—and sometimes deadly—woman. By analyzing a range of films from classical Hollywood cinema to the present day, explores the various forms that this female figure assumes: the femme fatale, the tragic mulatto, the jealous or vindictive woman, the murderous lesbian, the revenge seeker, etc. Examines why the various permutations of the dangerous female have attained such a prevalent place on the silver screen. What is so seductive about the deadly woman? Also introduces students to film criticism. Films may include Basic Instinct, Carrie, Double Indemnity, Fatal Attraction, Gilda, Kill Bill, Mildred Pierce, Sunset Boulevard, Thelma and Louise, and Vertigo.

210. Global Sexualities, Local Desires
Krista Van Vleet M 2:30 - 3:55, W 2:30 - 3:55
Explores the variety of practices, performances, and ideologies of sexuality through a cross-cultural perspective. Focusing on contemporary anthropological scholarship on sexuality and gender, asks whether Western conceptions of “sexuality,” “sex,” and “gender” help us understand the lives and desires of people in other social and cultural contexts. Topics may include Brazilian transgendered prostitutes (travestí), intersexuality, and the naturalization of sex; “third gendered” individuals and religion in Native North America, India, and Chile; language and the performance of sexuality by drag queens in the United States; transnationalism and the global construction of “gay” identity in Indonesia; lesbian and gay kinship; AIDS in Cuba and Brazil; and Japanese Takarazuka theater. In addition to ethnographic examples of alternative genders and sexualities (so called “third genders” and non-heterosexual sexualities) in both Western and non-Western contexts, also presents the major theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches used by anthropologists to understand sexuality, and considers how shifts in feminist and queer politics have also required anthropologists to focus on other social differences such as class, race, ethnicity, and post-colonial relations

244. Victorian Crime
Aviva Briefel T 11:30 - 12:55, TH 11:30 - 12:55
Investigates literary representations of criminality in Victorian England. Of central concern is the construction of social deviancy and criminal types; images of disciplinary figures, structures, and institutions; and the relationship between generic categories (the detective story, the Gothic tale, the sensation novel) and the period’s preoccupation with transgressive behavior and crime. Authors may include Braddon, Collins, Dickens, Doyle, Stevenson, and Wells.

316. Shakespeare's Sonnets
William Watterson M 2:30 - 3:55, W 2:30 - 3:55
Close reading of Shakespeare’s 154 sonnets and the appended narrative poem “A Lover’s Complaint,” which accompanies them in the editio princeps of 1609. Required texts include the “New Arden” edition of Shakespeare’s Sonnets (1997) edited by Katherine Duncan-Jones, and Helen Vendler’s The Art of Shakespeare’s Sonnets (1998). Critical issues examined include the dating of the sonnets, the order in which they appear, their rhetorical and architectural strategies, and their historical and autobiographical content. Note: This course fulfills the pre-1800 literature requirement for English majors.

325. Henry James and Others
Celeste Goodridge T 10:00 - 11:25, TH 10:00 - 11:25
Recent James criticism has focused on James’s homosexuality and its influence on his aesthetic and choice of subjects. Examines what is at stake in a Queer James, “queer” here referring both to James’s homosexuality and to perceptions of him as different, perverse, odd, awkward, and other. Readings of representative James texts and a number of other authors he influenced. Examines confluence between his work and his contemporary E. M. Forster’s, as well as his influence on Alan Hollinghurst, a contemporary British author who acknowledged James’s influence, and David Levitt, a contemporary American author whose his kinship with James is apparent. Also considers the influence of James’s life as art, as seen in novels by Colm Toibin and David Lodge that re-imagine James’s biography. Students required to read criticism of James and critical theory. Note: This course fulfills the literature of the Americas requirement for English majors.

326. The Psychology of Stigma
Rachel Kallen T 10:00 - 11:25, TH 10:00 - 11:25
A critical examination of classic and contemporary theories and research on stigma. Emphasis will be on the psychological experiences of members of stigmatized groups; why individuals stigmatize others; sensitivity to discrimination; collective identity; methods of coping; and implications for the self, social interaction, and intergroup relations. Topics include race, ethnicity, gender, mental illness, sexuality, HIV/AIDS, and health/physical disabilities.