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| Spring 2010 |
|
| AMS3675 |
9/11 CULTURE:AMER ARTS AFTER THE FALL |
4.00 credits |
| |
AMS3675
9/11 Culture: American Arts after the Fall
(Advanced Liberal Arts)
This course will examine the many ways that American popular artists (musicians, filmmakers, comedians, writers, and others) have responded to the 9/11 attacks. From the angry patriotism of country singer Toby Keith, to the complex grief articulated by Native American writer Sherman Alexie, the range of artistic expressions has been broad and challenging. In this class students will be asked to examine these specific contributions as well as more general questions about cultural trauma and recovery.
Prerequisites: 3 Intermediate Liberal Arts Courses (CVA, LVA, HSS)
|
| ANT3620 |
ANTHROPOLOGY OF MEDIA |
4.00 credits |
| |
ANT3620 Anthropology of Media
Advanced Liberal Arts
The goal of this course is twofold: (1) to examine the historical role of anthropology in constructing and representing cultural difference through a range of media and (2) to investigate the socio-cultural significance of diverse media practices for societies and communities around the world. To ground our analyses we will consider concepts such as cultural difference, national identity, postcolonialism, and globalization. For the first part of the course we will survey early 20th century ethnographic film and its (mis)representations of "the Other". We will then analyze how media technologies have been taken up by indigenous peoples as a powerful form of cultural and political expression. The second part of the course explores the heterogeneous meanings media have come to hold in far-flung locales and societies. Media from radio to film to cyberspace have been variously deployed as instruments of nation-building and as a mode of expression for diasporic communities. In exploring a spectrum of media production and reception practices, we will also examine the industrial production of media in shifting geopolitical contexts. We will focus on postcolonial and postsocialist East Asian media industries which are converging through cross-border treaties.
This course will build upon the foundational knowledge of various media acquired in Introduction to Media Studies. However, this course will interrogate theoretical concepts such as culture, colonialism, postcolonialism, and globalization and methodologies such as ethnography in order to pursue more substantive analyses of diverse media practices in an increasingly complex world. Additionally, whereas Media Studies focuses primarily on North American and Western societies, many of the case studies for Anthropology of Media will derive from cross-cultural, non-Western settings and include the activities of marginalized peoples.
Prerequisites: 3 Intermediate Liberal Arts (HSS, LVA, CVA)
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| CVA2414 |
AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDIES(AMS) |
3.00 credits |
| |
CVA2414
African American Studies
(Intermediate Liberal Arts)
The aim of this course is to explore what W. E. B. Du Bois called "the strange meaning of being black" in the United States. In doing so, we will also inquire about the meaning of being "American." We will attend to the specificity and to the heterogeneity of African Americans' experiences, noting how they have shaped and been shaped by American experiences as a whole. Among the questions we will ask and attempt to answer are the following: Who is an African American? What unites the women and men identified as African Americans? What divides them? What is their relationship to Africa? What is race? What is racism? We will raise these questions by examining how African Americans have survived extraordinary hardship and how they have transformed their history into a rich variety of cultural expression. After addressing the central themes of the course through our reading and discussion of Du Bois's The Souls of Black Folk, we will organize our course around three major themes: race and racism, the question of gender, and the cultural life of African Americans. Our goal will be to understand how African Americans have given voice to their experiences in literature, in religion, in music, in film, and in politics. Because the authors we will encounter are not only novelists and poets and historians but also social critics, we will pay special attention to their demands that American society live up to the ideals of freedom and equality it professes. Their work will push us to consider what would be required to make the dream of multi-racial democracy possible.
Prerequisites: RHT and Foundation H&S and A&H
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| CVA2423 |
SOCIOLOGY OF FAMILY (SOC) |
3.00 credits |
| |
CVA2423
Sociology of Family
Intermediate Liberal Arts
This course analyzes sociological theories and research on families with particular attention to (1) families in relation to the broader society; (2) changes in gendered expectations and behavior; (3) comparisons of family life by gender, social class, race and sexual identity; (4) families and the life cycle; (5) contemporary alternatives to the good provider/cult of domesticity family common between 1830 and 1980; and (6) policy. Readings by Engels, Hochschild, Stacey, Gerson, Jacobs, Hondagneu-Sotelo, Schor, Cott, Lewin, Weston, hooks, Coontz, Baca Zinn and others.
Prerequisites: RHT and Foundation HSF & AHF
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| HIS3606 |
HISTORY AND CULTURE OF AMERICAN BUSINESS |
4.00 credits |
| |
HIS3606 The History and Culture of American Business
Advanced Liberal Arts
How have generations of Americans used business to define their ambitions and identities? How has commerce influenced the nation's mythology and ideals? What are the social and personal costs of the U.S.'s veneration of the marketplace? In this advanced-level history course, students will examine how business has shaped American culture and society. Selected subjects for the class include the rise of the corporation, the icons of American business, the power and politics of consumption, ethnic and immigrant entrepreneurship, and the role of the marketplace in the nation's economic and cultural development.
Prerequisites:
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| HIS3610 |
MORAL LEADERSHIP IN COUNTRIES AND COMPAN |
2.00 credits |
| |
This class will meet the first six Monday evenings of the Spring semester.
HIS3610 Moral Leadership in Countries and Companies
2-credits Advanced Liberal Arts
In politics and business, leadership is a fundamental key to success. This course uses cases from business, history, and politics - from Abraham Lincoln to Barack Obama, from Mahatma Gandhi to Martin Luther King, and business leaders from around the globe to explore the relation between ethics and leadership. Does history offer a way of critiquing our contemporary ideas about leadership, identifying good ideas while spotting mistaken notions of leadership and protecting ourselves against them? Can leaders on the national and global scale, whether in government or business, learn anything about leadership from "ordinary" people who serve as leaders in "ordinary" life, and vice versa? Above all, what is the role of values in leadership? Does honesty pay? Or was Machiavelli right that successful leaders must be deceivers? Or does the truth lie somewhere between and if so, how can Babson students, as future leaders, aim to achieve effective leadership while preserving their personal integrity?
Prerequisites: 3 Intermediate Liberal Arts (HSS, LVA, CVA)
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| HIS3670 |
HISTORY OF CAPITALISM |
4.00 credits |
| |
HIS3670 The History of Capitalism
Advanced Liberal Arts
This course deals with the history of capitalism from early modern times to the present. It is concerned not just with the story of capitalist enterprise but with the cultural values and social institutions accompanying capitalism. It addresses the tension as well as the affinity between capitalism on the one hand and, on the other, contextual cultural values and social institutions. It especially focuses on the way that capitalist power subverts as well as supports the free market economy and democratic political processes with which it is often identified.
Prerequisites: 3 Intermediate Liberal Arts Courses (CVA, LVA, HSS)
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| HSF1300 |
H&S FOUNDATION |
3.00 credits |
| |
HSF1300
Crises in Community and Citizenship
(Fall Semester)
(Foundation Liberal Arts)
In this History and Society foundation course, students will explore the challenges that individuals face as they struggle to exercise personal agency in the face of social, cultural, political, economic, and historical structures. Focusing on the tensions between and within communities, as well as those that are internal to the individual, this course asks a series of related questions: How is identity socially constructed? How do individuals negotiate belonging in communities defined by nation, region, race, religious affiliation, class, ethnicity, gender or sexuality? How do these identities affect one's ability to be recognized as a citizen of these communities? What strategies do individuals apply to reconcile the self with social expectations? What impact do these struggles have on the way community boundaries are redrawn over time? How do we resolve the multiple vectors of identity and the multiple sites of citizenship? To answer these questions, we will draw on the work of historians, documentarians, graphic artists, environmentalists, philosophers, journalists, cultural critics, and memoirists.
Prerequisites: NONE
HSF1300
HUMAN AGENCY AND COMMUNITY IN A GLOBALIZING WORLD
(Spring Semester)
(Foundation Liberal Arts)
Over the past century human societies have changed at an unprecedented rate and with an unprecedented scope. These changes have been often traumatic, sometimes revolutionary and nearly always unpredictable. This course examines the impact of a number of different kinds of upheavals and transformations on individuals, communities and nations, as well as transnational formations. The course will focus on periods of dramatic change in different parts of the world. As we move from one historical and geographic context to another, we will address the following set of related questions. What are the different ways that individuals can "belong" to a society? How is social identity constructed and deconstructed? How do individuals exercise human agency in the face of institutional oppression? What are the possibilities for individual and communal healing from historical trauma? What is the relationship of memory to history? What does citizenship mean in a globalizing world?
Prerequisite: NONE
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| HSF1311 |
HNRS H&S FOUNDATION |
3.00 credits |
| |
HSF1311
Crises in Community and Citizenship
(Fall Semester)
(Foundation Liberal Arts)
In this History and Society foundation course, students will explore the challenges that individuals face as they struggle to exercise personal agency in the face of social, cultural, political, economic, and historical structures. Focusing on the tensions between and within communities, as well as those that are internal to the individual, this course asks a series of related questions: How is identity socially constructed? How do individuals negotiate belonging in communities defined by nation, region, race, religious affiliation, class, ethnicity, gender or sexuality? How do these identities affect one's ability to be recognized as a citizen of these communities? What strategies do individuals apply to reconcile the self with social expectations? What impact do these struggles have on the way community boundaries are redrawn over time? How do we resolve the multiple vectors of identity and the multiple sites of citizenship? To answer these questions, we will draw on the work of historians, documentarians, graphic artists, environmentalists, philosophers, journalists, cultural critics, and memoirists.
Prerequisites: NONE
HSF1311
HUMAN AGENCY AND COMMUNITY IN A GLOBALIZING WORLD
(Spring Semester)
(Foundation Liberal Arts)
Over the past century human societies have changed at an unprecedented rate and with an unprecedented scope. These changes have been often traumatic, sometimes revolutionary and nearly always unpredictable. This course examines the impact of a number of different kinds of upheavals and transformations on individuals, communities and nations, as well as transnational formations. The course will focus on periods of dramatic change in different parts of the world. As we move from one historical and geographic context to another, we will address the following set of related questions. What are the different ways that individuals can "belong" to a society? How is social identity constructed and deconstructed? How do individuals exercise human agency in the face of institutional oppression? What are the possibilities for individual and communal healing from historical trauma? What is the relationship of memory to history? What does citizenship mean in a globalizing world?
Prerequisite: NONE
|
| HSS2400 |
MAKING OF MODERN AMERICA(HIS) |
3.00 credits |
| |
HSS2400 MAKING OF MODERN AMERICA(HIS)
The Making of Modern America: The 1920s
(Intermediate Liberal Arts)
The decade of the 1920s witnessed the birth of much of that we consider "modern" in the United States. Students in this course will examine this decade closely, focusing on several key moments and developments: anti-immigrant hysteria and the Braintree, Massachusetts trial of Sacco and Vanzetti; the rise of queer communities; competing visions of Black Liberation and the art of the Harlem Renaissance; the rise of big business, the decline of small town America, and the mass appeal of the Ku Klux Klan; women and men and their roles in the new economies of sex and work. We will use historical sources, among them film and fiction, to explore the currents of the twenties and draw connections to the social and political debates of the contemporary U.S.
Prerequisites: RHT and Foundation H&S and A&H
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| HSS2401 |
INTRO TO PSYCHOLOGY (PSY) |
3.00 credits |
| |
HSS2401
Introduction to Psychology
(Intermediate Liberal Arts)
This course offers a survey of psychology, the scientific study of human thought, feeling, motivation, and behavior. Among the subtopics to be explored are: perception, learning memory, emotion, stress & coping, social influence, personality (normal and abnormal), and psychotherapy. This is primarily a lecture course, with class time occasionally devoted to in-class demonstrations discussion, and films. Final grades are based on frequent (around 6) objective tests, an analytic paper, and a comprehensive final examination. The course addresses competencies such as: understanding the individual and the relationship between individual and social realities; understanding and critically appreciating and weighing quantitative and qualitative information from scientific sources; and applying these types of information to the task of reflecting on oneself and others.
Prerequisites: RHT and Foundation H&S and A&H
|
| HSS2418 |
INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY(SOC) |
3.00 credits |
| |
HSS2418
Introduction to Sociology
(Intermediate Liberal Arts)
Sociology explains human behavior in terms of group activities. The solidarity of a social group allows group members to work cooperatively towards common goals. But the dark side of group solidarity is that it often leads members to feel hostility towards individuals who are not a part of the group and for non-members to experience feelings of resentment towards the group and its members. How is solidarity achieved? How is the formation of social identity affected by group solidarity? How do groups competing for scarce resources construct a view of their group's needs, hopes, and desires? Where are group members and nonmembers situated in this view of social life? This course examines the relationship between group solidarity, resource scarcity, and the formation of social identity in everyday life.
Prerequisites: RHT and Foundation H&S and A&H
This course is typically offered in the following semesters: Spring and Summer I
|
| HSS2420 |
MEDIA STUDIES (MDS) |
3.00 credits |
| |
HSS2420
Media Studies
(Intermediate Liberal Arts)
This course explores the structure and functions of the mass media in contemporary society, looking at social, cultural, economic and political issues relevant to television, film, radio, recorded music, books, newspapers, magazines, internet and new communication technologies. Exploration of relationships between media and individual, media structure, media policy, law and ethics, and globalization of communications media is emphasized.
Prerequisites: RHT and Foundation H&S and A&H
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| HSS2458 |
THE MODERN AMERICAN CITY |
3.00 credits |
| |
HSS 2458 The Modern American City
3 credit Intermediate Liberal Arts
In this intermediate course, students will analyze how urban centers such as Boston, Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles have served as catalysts for major developments in nineteenth and twentieth-century American history. The course will consider how these cities have spurred the nation's economy, politics, and culture, and have shaped American identity by welcoming millions of immigrants, artists, intellectuals, and bohemians. Selected subjects include Boston's institutions of culture, Chicago's factory system, the popular amusements of Coney Island, the architecture and music of "Jazz Age" New York, the development of public housing, the counterculture in San Francisco, and the urban crisis in Los Angeles.
Prerequisites: RHT and Foundation A&H and H&S
|
| MDS3605 |
MEDIATED CULTURES AND CONSUMER IDENTITIE |
4.00 credits |
| |
MDS 3605 Mediated Cultures and Consumer Identities
Advanced Liberal Arts
In this advanced course, we will investigate case studies of mediated cultures that represent the interplay of the people who use them in everyday life and the consumer identities through which they are positioned by the media companies. Taking an interdisciplinary perspective, we will employ social and cultural theories to interpret the meaning and significance of various expressions of popular culture from folk activities to industrially-produced mediated cultures. The case studies will include the following: television and the child as consumer; celebrity cultural productions and fan identities; mobile phone communities and various consumers; mediated environments and the experiences they promise to deliver to consumers. In the process we will address questions such as the following: What are the social and experiential consequences of people's interactions -- including resistance and subversion -- with mediated popular cultures? How do structures of authority such as governments and industries influence the individual's everyday use of media technologies? How are mediated cultures invested in issues of collective and individual identities and people's experience of personal and/or community agency? Students will have the opportunity to examine their everyday use of media technologies and study how they are implicated in specific mediated cultures.
Prerequisites: 3 Intermediate Liberal Arts (HSS, LVA, CVA)
|
| POL3680 |
HARRY POTTER & POLITICS |
4.00 credits |
| |
POL3680 Harry Potter & Politics
Advanced Liberal Arts (4 credits)
Political science is increasingly recognizing how popular culture reflects and helps shape politics. This course will use the Harry Potter books both to explore issues of political culture and as an object of political culture. The first part of the course will focus on how the books address such issues as identity, including discrimination and ethnic conflict, and governmental power, including the role of the bureaucracy and the media. The second part will look at the book itself, examining efforts to remove the book from public schools, the reaction to the book in different countries, and how the book is enmeshed in global trade issues. It will be assumed that all students registering for the course have already read the Harry Potter series.
Prerequisites: 3 intermediate Liberal Arts Courses (CVA, LVA, HSS)
|
| PSY3600 |
ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY |
4.00 credits |
| |
PSY3600 Abnormal Psychology
4 credit Advanced Liberal Arts
Mental health problems disrupt the lives of millions of Americans every day. This advanced psychology course will examine major mental illness from various perspectives. Primarily discussion-based, students will learn the symptoms, etiology, course, prevalence, and treatment of various forms of psychopathology, including anxiety disorders, depression, ADHD, Asperger's disorder, and bipolar disorder. Students will also learn about the history of disorder in Western thought, and explore contemporary clinical practices such as diagnosis, case formulation, and treatment. Students will also be expected to research a specific disorder, and present their findings in class.
Prerequisites: 3 Intermediate Liberal Arts Courses (CVA, HSS, LVA)
|
|
| Winter 2010 |
|
| AMS3691 |
9/11 CULTURE: THE RESPONSE ON FILM |
2.00 credits |
| |
AMS3691
9/11 Culture: The Response on Film
(2 Advanced Liberal Arts Credits)
Class Meeting Times: 8:15-11:45 MTR
In this course we will examine the many attitudes and strategies that American filmmakers have brought to the question of how to respond to the events of 9/11. From the high seriousness of Steven Spielberg to the high comedy of Team America, students in this course will be exposed to a range of ways that 9/11 has entered the American film vocabulary. The class will require some out of class viewing, as well as a number of research-oriented essays. Other films to be studies might include Spike Lee's 25th Hour, Oliver Stone's World Trade Center, and the Showtime miniseries Sleeper Cell.
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|
| Fall 2009 |
|
| AMS3615 |
BORDERLANDS |
4.00 credits |
| |
AMS3615 Borderlands
Advanced Liberal Arts
This American Studies course draws from history, cultural studies, and ethnic studies to examine subjects that defy easy categorization. It focuses on the concept of "borders," shedding light on the forces that separate groups of people; it also focuses on the concept of "borderlands," highlighting the imagined nature of national (and other) borders and emphasizing the contested, heterogeneous and fluid nature of national, group and individual identity. We will study physical means of crossing national borders-such as migration and adoption-as well as the role of technology and liberation movements in breaking down borders among groups of people. Using new insights from scholarly conversations and multiple media sources (including sound, film and artwork, as well as historical, biographical, and autobiographical written texts), we will seek to render more careful portraits of life on the borderlands. Each unit employs borderlands theory to investigate the nature of these encounters and the identities that emerge from them, and considers the themes of race, religion, national politics, gender identity, and sexuality
Prerequisites: 3 Intermediate Liberal Arts Courses (CVA, LVA, HSS)
|
| BRC3601 |
CONTEMP CHINA IN HISTORICAL PERSP |
4.00 credits |
| |
BRC3601
CONTEMPORARY CHINA IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
4-cr Advanced Liberal Arts
Kandice Hauf
A component of the 16-credit Russia-China course, this advanced history course will develop your knowledge and understanding of contemporary China as a developing economy within the context of its imperial past of the Ming-Qing period (1368-1912). The focus will be on history, politics, and culture blended with cultural activities in China. Our learning will never stop in this course whether we are in class or bringing Chinese history and culture to life through walking tours, visits to museums, temples, historical sites; through cuisine, art and architecture, and observations of the changing urban landscapes of Beijing and Shanghai. Both on the Babson campus (Aug. 24-28, 2009) and in China we will learn from conversations with Chinese people and residents of China in addition to more traditional historical writings, films, art, literature, and language.
Prerequisites: Completion of 3 intermediate liberal arts courses (HSS, CVA, LVA)
Co-requisites: BRC3501, BRC3502, BRC3602
Concentration: one of several courses from required list for Regional and Global
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| CVA2411 |
INTRODUCTION TO WESTERN CULTURE(HIS) |
3.00 credits |
| |
CVA2411
Introduction to Western Culture
(Intermediate Liberal Arts)
This cultural history course explores rational and non-rational ways of knowing in the Western tradition. We look at literature and art to focus upon four moments in the history of the West where these antithetical tendencies are conspicuous: Ancient Greece; the High Middle Ages; Europe during the Reformation and the Scientific Revolution; and the Early 20th Century. We read Greek tragedies by Aeschylus and Euripides, medieval romances such as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and contemporary plays about the lives of Galileo and Luther. Essays by Freud and Jung frame our discussions.
Prerequisites: RHT and Foundation H&S and A&H
|
| CVA2426 |
IMGRNTS, RACE AND THE AMER PROMISE(HIS) |
3.00 credits |
| |
CVA2426 Immigrants, Race and the American Promise
(Intermediate Liberal Arts)
This intermediate course will consider the nature of American culture and identity through the experiences of the nation's immigrants and its ethnic citizens. What sacrifices have immigrants and ethnic Americans made in order to become members of the national community? How have they contributed to the development of modern America? How have they re-shaped the culture, politics, and economy of the U.S.? How have immigrants and citizens of color adapted the mythology of the American Dream to achieve success? What does the larger narrative of immigration, race, and ethnicity tell us about our nation's values and our own identity as citizens?
Throughout the semester, students will use historical texts, novels, and selected works of film and music to consider these questions. Selected themes for the course include the "Melting Pot" and multiculturalism, race and ethnicity, anti-immigrant agitation and legislation, the nature of the American Dream, and the development of ethnic communities and businesses. The class will cover the time period from the late nineteenth century to the present.
Prerequisites: RHT and Foundation H&S and A&H
|
| CVA2454 |
INTRO TO CONSUMER SOCIETY (SOC) |
3.00 credits |
| |
CVA2454 Introduction to Consumer Society
Intermediate Liberal Arts
This course addresses long-standing debates about consumer society: How does advertising work? Are consumers manipulated by marketing? Why are consumer choices so important in the constitution of identity? How is consumption affecting the environment? How is consumer culture going global? Special attention will be paid to the ways in which consumer culture structures division by class, gender, and race. Readings by Adorno and Horkheimer, Galbraith, Friedan, Bourdieu, Veblen, Baudrillard, hooks, Bordo, and others.
Prerequisite: RHT and HSF & AHF
|
| GDR3610 |
WOMEN'S STUDIES |
4.00 credits |
| |
GDR3610
Topics in Women's Studies
(Advanced Liberal Arts)
This course provides a forum to examine and discuss contemporary womens and girls roles and positions. The course will address the following topics: first and second waves of feminism, sexuality, psycho-social influences on gender construction, paid work and structures of inequality, women and social protest and family configurations. At the beginning of the course, we will read some historic documents as background to the womens movement in the United States. Although the main focus will be on women and girls in the United States, we will also discuss womens positions in other countries as well. Because femininity and images of women are balanced, and often countered, by masculinity and images of men, we will spend time discussing men in relation to women. Integral to this course is recognition of how race, class, ethnicity and sexuality converge to influence how women negotiate their political, social and cultural roles. Finally, we will attempt to become enlightened witnesses to the social construction of femininity and masculinity, and use our understanding to notice stereotypical portrayals as well as new, liberating images of women and men.
Prerequisites: 3 Intermediate Liberal Arts Courses (CVA, LVA, HSS)
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| HIS3610 |
MORAL RESPBLTY CORP POWER DEM SOC |
2.00 credits |
| |
HIS3610 THE MORAL RESPONSIBILITY OF CORPORATE POWER IN A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY
Advanced Liberal Arts
This course focuses on challenges and opportunities for socially responsible action by corporations. Topics covered include the question of the legitimacy of corporate power, challenges of managerial power to personal character, the ideology of corporate leadership, corporate global citizenship, corporate social responsibility, civil regulation versus governmental regulation, and the changing relation of the corporation and the state.
Prerequisites: AHF, HSF, 3 of 4 intermediate liberal arts.
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| HSF1300 |
H&S FOUNDATION |
3.00 credits |
| |
HSF1300
Crises in Community and Citizenship
(Fall Semester)
(Foundation Liberal Arts)
In this History and Society foundation course, students will explore the challenges that individuals face as they struggle to exercise personal agency in the face of social, cultural, political, economic, and historical structures. Focusing on the tensions between and within communities, as well as those that are internal to the individual, this course asks a series of related questions: How is identity socially constructed? How do individuals negotiate belonging in communities defined by nation, region, race, religious affiliation, class, ethnicity, gender or sexuality? How do these identities affect one's ability to be recognized as a citizen of these communities? What strategies do individuals apply to reconcile the self with social expectations? What impact do these struggles have on the way community boundaries are redrawn over time? How do we resolve the multiple vectors of identity and the multiple sites of citizenship? To answer these questions, we will draw on the work of historians, documentarians, graphic artists, environmentalists, philosophers, journalists, cultural critics, and memoirists.
Prerequisites: NONE
HSF1300
HUMAN AGENCY AND COMMUNITY IN A GLOBALIZING WORLD
(Spring Semester)
(Foundation Liberal Arts)
Over the past century human societies have changed at an unprecedented rate and with an unprecedented scope. These changes have been often traumatic, sometimes revolutionary and nearly always unpredictable. This course examines the impact of a number of different kinds of upheavals and transformations on individuals, communities and nations, as well as transnational formations. The course will focus on periods of dramatic change in different parts of the world. As we move from one historical and geographic context to another, we will address the following set of related questions. What are the different ways that individuals can "belong" to a society? How is social identity constructed and deconstructed? How do individuals exercise human agency in the face of institutional oppression? What are the possibilities for individual and communal healing from historical trauma? What is the relationship of memory to history? What does citizenship mean in a globalizing world?
Prerequisite: NONE
|
| HSF1311 |
HNRS H&S FOUNDATION |
3.00 credits |
| |
HSF1311
Crises in Community and Citizenship
(Fall Semester)
(Foundation Liberal Arts)
In this History and Society foundation course, students will explore the challenges that individuals face as they struggle to exercise personal agency in the face of social, cultural, political, economic, and historical structures. Focusing on the tensions between and within communities, as well as those that are internal to the individual, this course asks a series of related questions: How is identity socially constructed? How do individuals negotiate belonging in communities defined by nation, region, race, religious affiliation, class, ethnicity, gender or sexuality? How do these identities affect one's ability to be recognized as a citizen of these communities? What strategies do individuals apply to reconcile the self with social expectations? What impact do these struggles have on the way community boundaries are redrawn over time? How do we resolve the multiple vectors of identity and the multiple sites of citizenship? To answer these questions, we will draw on the work of historians, documentarians, graphic artists, environmentalists, philosophers, journalists, cultural critics, and memoirists.
Prerequisites: NONE
HSF1311
HUMAN AGENCY AND COMMUNITY IN A GLOBALIZING WORLD
(Spring Semester)
(Foundation Liberal Arts)
Over the past century human societies have changed at an unprecedented rate and with an unprecedented scope. These changes have been often traumatic, sometimes revolutionary and nearly always unpredictable. This course examines the impact of a number of different kinds of upheavals and transformations on individuals, communities and nations, as well as transnational formations. The course will focus on periods of dramatic change in different parts of the world. As we move from one historical and geographic context to another, we will address the following set of related questions. What are the different ways that individuals can "belong" to a society? How is social identity constructed and deconstructed? How do individuals exercise human agency in the face of institutional oppression? What are the possibilities for individual and communal healing from historical trauma? What is the relationship of memory to history? What does citizenship mean in a globalizing world?
Prerequisite: NONE
|
| HSS2401 |
INTRO TO PSYCHOLOGY (PSY) |
3.00 credits |
| |
HSS2401
Introduction to Psychology
(Intermediate Liberal Arts)
This course offers a survey of psychology, the scientific study of human thought, feeling, motivation, and behavior. Among the subtopics to be explored are: perception, learning memory, emotion, stress & coping, social influence, personality (normal and abnormal), and psychotherapy. This is primarily a lecture course, with class time occasionally devoted to in-class demonstrations discussion, and films. Final grades are based on frequent (around 6) objective tests, an analytic paper, and a comprehensive final examination. The course addresses competencies such as: understanding the individual and the relationship between individual and social realities; understanding and critically appreciating and weighing quantitative and qualitative information from scientific sources; and applying these types of information to the task of reflecting on oneself and others.
Prerequisites: RHT and Foundation H&S and A&H
|
| HSS2403 |
LATIN AMERICAN HISTORY(HIS) |
3.00 credits |
| |
HSS2403
Latin American History
(Intermediate Liberal Arts)
This course will be an introduction to the main themes, actors, and ideas in Latin American history. The central focus will be on Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean, with an attempt to develop a comparative understanding of the Latin America's diversity, as well as common patterns, from pre-Columbian times to the present. In other words, this course is not an exhaustive history of Latin America; rather, it intends to develop familiarity with key concepts, developments, and issues in the region's history.
Prerequisites: RHT and Foundation H&S and A&H
This course is typically offered in the following semester: FALL
|
| HSS2418 |
INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY(SOC) |
3.00 credits |
| |
HSS2418
Introduction to Sociology
(Intermediate Liberal Arts)
Sociology explains human behavior in terms of group activities. The solidarity of a social group allows group members to work cooperatively towards common goals. But the dark side of group solidarity is that it often leads members to feel hostility towards individuals who are not a part of the group and for non-members to experience feelings of resentment towards the group and its members. How is solidarity achieved? How is the formation of social identity affected by group solidarity? How do groups competing for scarce resources construct a view of their group's needs, hopes, and desires? Where are group members and nonmembers situated in this view of social life? This course examines the relationship between group solidarity, resource scarcity, and the formation of social identity in everyday life.
Prerequisites: RHT and Foundation H&S and A&H
This course is typically offered in the following semesters: Spring and Summer I
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| HSS2420 |
MEDIA STUDIES (MDS) |
3.00 credits |
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HSS2420
Media Studies
(Intermediate Liberal Arts)
This course explores the structure and functions of the mass media in contemporary society, looking at social, cultural, economic and political issues relevant to television, film, radio, recorded music, books, newspapers, magazines, internet and new communication technologies. Exploration of relationships between media and individual, media structure, media policy, law and ethics, and globalization of communications media is emphasized.
Prerequisites: RHT and Foundation H&S and A&H
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| HSS2428 |
GLOBAL POLITICS (POL) |
3.00 credits |
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HSS2428
Global Politics
(Intermediate Liberal Arts)
This intermediate course will begin by examining different perspectives on the role of power, anarchy, institutions, and identity in the international system. These ideas will then be used to explore a wide range of current global issues, including war, trade, human rights, humanitarian intervention, and environmental problems. The goal of this course is to learn how various theories can bring both a richer understanding of the nature of international problems and of the motivations and perspectives of various international actors.
Prerequisites: RHT & Foundation H&S and A&H
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| HSS2458 |
THE MODERN AMERICAN CITY (HIS) |
3.00 credits |
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HSS 2458 The Modern American City
Intermediate Liberal Arts
In this intermediate course, students will analyze how urban centers such as Boston, Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles have served as catalysts for major developments in nineteenth and twentieth-century American history. The course will consider how these cities have spurred the nation's economy, politics, and culture, and have shaped American identity by welcoming millions of immigrants, artists, intellectuals, and bohemians. Selected subjects include Boston's institutions of culture, Chicago's factory system, the popular amusements of Coney Island, the architecture and music of "Jazz Age" New York, the development of public housing, the counterculture in San Francisco, and the urban crisis in Los Angeles.
Prerequisites: RHT and Foundation A&H and H&S
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| POL3610 |
ETHNO-POLITICAL CONFLICT |
4.00 credits |
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POL3610
Ethno-Political Conflict
(Advanced Liberal Arts)
Students who have taken HSS2432 cannot take this course.
After beginning with theories of communal identity, this class will explore the origins, dynamics, and settlement of ethno-political conflict. Cases such as Northern Ireland, former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and Islamic communities in Europe will be used to examine the role of socio-economic factors and political institutions, conceptions of justice, and actions by international actors in determining when and why ethnic violence occurs. The course will conclude with a focus on current developments in Iraq.
Prerequisites: 3 Intermediate Liberal Arts courses (LVA, CVA, HSS)
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| Summer I 2009 |
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| AMS3610 |
9/11 CLTR: AMER ARTS AFTER THE FALL |
4.00 credits |
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Weeks 1-2 TRF
Weeks 3-6 MTR
Week 7 MT
Final Exam/Project due Thursday, July 2nd 10:45 AM - 12:45 PM
AMS3610
9/11 Culture: American Arts after the Fall
(Advanced Liberal Arts)
This course will examine the many ways that American popular artists (musicians, filmmakers, comedians, writers, and others) have responded to the 9/11 attacks. From the angry patriotism of country singer Toby Keith, to the complex grief articulated by Native American writer Sherman Alexie, the range of artistic expressions has been broad and challenging. In this class students will be asked to examine these specific contributions as well as more general questions about cultural trauma and recovery.
Prerequisites: 3 Intermediate Liberal Arts Courses (CVA, LVA, HSS)
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| HSF1300 |
H&S FOUNDATION |
3.00 credits |
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Week 1-2 WF
Week 3-6 MW
Week 7 M
Final Exam Thursday, July 1st 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM
HSF1300
Crises in Community and Citizenship
(Fall Semester)
(Foundation Liberal Arts)
That the United States is a "nation of immigrants" is a truism ingrained in American culture and public disclosure. To it we might add another: Americans are people "on the move". If such characterizations are commonplace, however, unpacking them is anything but simple. This course endeavors to unpack these ideas, introducing students to college-level work in the Liberal Arts through an explorations of the construction of "American" identity in the 20th century.
Prerequisites: NONE
HSF1300
Memories, Stories, Histories: Constructing Self in the 20th Century
(Spring Semester)
(Foundation Liberal Arts)
This first-year History and Society course features the social and psychological construction, destruction, and reconstruction of identity set in the context of major 20th century international, national, and social conflicts. These include imperialism, World War I, the Holocaust, the Vietnam War, and the lingering conflicts of race, class, and gender inequality in America.
Prerequisites: NONE
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| HSS2429 |
POPULAR CULTURE IN AMERICA (AMS) |
3.00 credits |
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Weeks 1-2 TRF
Weeks 3-6 MTR
Week 7 MT
Final Exam/Project Due Thursday, July 2nd 8:00 - 10:00 AM
HSS2429
POPULAR CULTURE IN AMERICA (AMS)
(Intermediate Liberal Arts)
This course will serve as an introduction to the diversity and complexity of 20th-century American popular culture. We will focus on the major cultural industries and productions of some important locations and moments, including the "classic" cinema of 1930s Hollywood; the Zoot Suit Riots in Los Angeles in the 1940s; the Disneyworld "kingdom" in Orlando in the 1990s; and the hip-hop scene in the Bronx of the 1980s.
Required texts include compact discs as well as books and articles; in addition to these assigned readings/listenings, there will be important materials presented in class (such as movies, TV shows, artwork, advertising, etc.). All of these texts are of equal importance, so it is crucial to commit to full attendance and participation. Through the "case study method," this course will introduce the major concerns and methods of popular culture studies. We will focus on such issues as audience patterns and marketing, technology, gender, race and ethnicity, and others.
Prerequisites: RHT and Foundation A&H & H&S
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