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FALL 2012 HUHC SEMINARS

HUHC 20A (H1) Secrets of the Studio: Artists’ Hopes, Demons and Achievements from the Renaissance to Now
Professor Laurie Fendrich, Fine Arts
MW 2:55-4:20PM

This course begins with a brief look at the place and practice of the artist in antiquity and the Middle Ages, and from there moves to a study of artistic personalities, lifestyles, and work and business habits typical of artists from the Renaissance until now. We’ll consider the artist as craftsman and entrepreneur and, in modern times, as representative of the avant-garde. We’ll examine various stereotypes of artists—the artist as a solitary soul, the artist as hero, the artist as deliberate provocateur. In exploring the situation of contemporary artists, we’ll study the increasing importance of celebrity and fashion in the art world, the relationship of contemporary artists with patrons, collectors and dealers, and the role of the contemporary artist as political commentator. We’ll also look at the impact on contemporary artists of the rise of critical theory—manifested especially in feminism and postmodernism. Finally, we’ll look at the contemporary art market, where a few major international collectors exercise vast power, especially in the careers of young artists. Discussions will be based on readings, which include selections from two books and several essays drawn from a wide range of sources.

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HUHC 20B (H1) Don Quixote and the World of Cervantes: An interdisciplinary view
Professor Zenia DaSilva, Romance Languages
TR 11:10-12:35PM

Don Quixote may be the funniest psychological-philosophical-sociological novel ever to spread its compass over countless nations and ages, but it wasn’t spawned in a vacuum. It was born of a man called Cervantes –a soldier, a “failure”, and a genius who lived his moment, yet transcended it to ours.  It grew at a time when exploration and war were rampant, when pirates haunted the seas, when science and religion lunged at sword-stroke, when continents of old encountered others, and the arts sang a new song. It was the world of Shakespeare and Rabelais, El Greco and Rembrandt, Calvin and Loyola, Copernicus and Galileo, of Queen Elizabeth, the Doges of Venice and Suliman the Magnificent, of Jamestown and Pilgrims and the courts of Mexico and Peru.  And as we read the timeless tale of a … madman? … who dreamed of changing the world for the good, we will laugh at his delusions, marvel at his quest, and relive the world that he knew, even to the sound of its music, the savor of its foods and the contours of its dress. Will you join the adventure?

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HUHC 20C (H1) Science and Society: Clashes and Collaborations
Professor Sabrina Sobel, Chemistry
MW 4:30-5:55PM

Throughout history, the pursuit of knowledge has been influenced by the prevailing culture. In this seminar, we will explore how the development of math, physics and chemistry have been shaped by culture. To this end we will read and discuss the science history books: ‘Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea’, ‘Galileo’s Daughter’ and ‘Mendeleev’s Dream’.

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HUHC 20D (H1) Crisis and America's War on Terror
Professor Boussios, Sociology
TR 4:20-5:55

Known as the "war on terror," this major shift in U.S. foreign policy is grounded in a powerful discourse in the aftermath of 9/11 that justified a series of controversial policies, including the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq as well as the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and the enactment of the USA Patriot Act.  How the U.S. media and popular culture participated in the construction, diffusion, and sometimes, critique of this powerful discourse has been influential in shaping American attitudes towards the “war on terror” which in turn has been critical in formulating political, military, and law enforcement responses.  Part of this response has also been the tremendous efforts Western states have taken to control the growing threat of home-grown terrorism.  This course takes a closer look at these different types of domestic and foreign threats, and the cycles of political and discursive processes that constitute security crises and responses with the challenge of balancing these responses with the values of Western democracy. 
(The chair of the Sociology department has indicated this course may be counted as a departmental elective toward the completion of requirements for majors or minors.)

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HUHC 20E (H1) Analyzing the 2012 Election
Professor Andrea Libresco, Teaching, Literacy and Leadership
T/R 2:15-4:10PM

This course examines the process of electing a president in 2012 and in historical perspective.   Participants will investigate and assess the nominating procedure; the candidates’ stands on the issues of our time; the roles that media, money, parties, debates, advertisements, and the Internet play; the influence of race, class and gender on both voters and candidates; and the domestic and foreign policy challenges that the new president and Congress will face.  Attention will be given to the ways in which citizens participate in the political process and to their quest for the kinds of reliable knowledge that are necessary to make informed judgments. Attention will be given to how the strategies we use in this class might be successfully deployed in elementary, middle and high school classrooms.

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HUHC 20F (H1) Political Marketing and the 2012 Election
Professor Shawn Thelen, Marketing and International Business
MF 11:15-12:40P

Political Marketing: The purpose of this course is to examine various techniques that are used to “market” political candidates and causes. The course will examine political campaigns from a 7P’s perspective (product, promotion, place, price, process, physical evidence, people) with an emphasis on the packaging of the candidate/cause. Students will be required to examine political marketing from a historical perspective, comment on contemporary marketing techniques, as well as develop a political marketing plan for a candidate of their choice. As this is a presidential election year, we will be paying special attention to the ongoing campaigns throughout the semester.

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HUHC 20H (H1) Narrative and The Idea of the Double
Professor Susan Lorsch, English
TR 11:10-12:35P

The notion of the divided self is deeply embedded in Western conceptions of identity—whether the parts of the self represent such easy divisions as “good” and evil” or more subtle distinctions between ego and superego or the conscious and the subconscious.  Writers of fiction and creators of film use the ideas of the double or “doppelganger” to reflect psychological struggle and explore the relationship of the self to the self and to the world outside the self. In narrative art one’s shadow self—whether mischievous, malicious, forbidding or friendly—appears as a reflection of a crisis in identity and offers its alter ego the opportunity for self-exploration.

In this course we will be studying narratives which make use of the doppelganger in a variety of creative and often startling ways to dramatize psychological development and/or breakdown.  In addition to investigating the tales that are told, we will also be studying the variety of techniques fiction and film employ in order simultaneously to demonstrate and embody the divisions and conflicts, the complexities of desire, within the self.

There will be two short analytical papers on the class texts, perhaps some brief response sketches, and a longer final paper on an additional work (novel or film) of each student’s choice, selected from a list I will provide.  Class texts will probably include some of the following:  Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Shelley’s Frankenstein, Bronte’s Jane Eyre, Plath’s The Bell Jar, and Nabokov’s Pale Fire.  Films will include Hitchcock’s “Strangers on a Train,”  Nolan’s “Insomnia” and “The Prestige,” and Lynch’s “Mulholland Drive.”
(The chair of the English department has indicated this course may be counted as a departmental elective toward the completion of requirements for majors or minors.)

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HUHC 20I (H1) The Evolution of the Literary Genres in Greece 750-350 B.C.: Epic, lyric, tragedy, comedy, history, and philosophical dialogue
Professor William Thomas MacCary, English
TR 12:45-2:10PM

We shall trace at least three trajectories. First, how the mythopoeic thought of epic yields to the associative/conceptual thought of lyric and tragedy, then on to the analytical thought of history and philosophy. Second, the relation between individual and community changes: epic and lyric are aristocratic genres, but tragedy and comedy reflect the democratic life of the polis. Third, epic was originally orally composed, and always recited aloud at public festivals; lyric was sung at more intimate gatherings; tragedy and comedy were produced theatrically in honor of Dionysos; only with history and the philosophical dialogue do we reach periods and styles of writing which were meant to be read - and even here the texts are based on speeches and conversations, so they represent originally oral events.

Readings assigned from the works of Homer, Archilochus, Sappho, Pindar, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Aristophanes, Herodotus, Thucydides, Plato. 
(The chair of the English department and the director of the Classics major/minor have indicated this course may be counted as a departmental elective toward the completion of requirements for the English and Classics majors or minors.)

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HUHC 21 (H1) What Everyone Needs To Know About Business
Professor Simon Jawitz, Finance
TR 2:20-3:55PM

This course is designed to provide students who have no prior exposure to business the tools they need to understand the business world from the inside.  It begins with the assumption that to make sense of our very complex world everyone needs basic information about how businesses come to be and function in relation to one another.  To that end, it will provide a basic understanding of corporate finance, accounting, the debt and equity capital markets and the central role that financial analysis and decision making play in our integrated global economy. Students will learn about how corporations are created and organized, the respective roles and duties of boards of directors, management and shareholders and how conflicts arise and may be resolved.  Students will begin to develop the ability to read and understand financial statements and gain some familiarity with the basic tools used in valuing a business. Students will explore in some depth the concepts of risk and return and learn the fundamentals and key drivers of financial analysis.  Real world examples will be used to illustrate these concepts as we develop them throughout the semester.

The objective of the course is not to encourage students to pursue careers in business.  Nor is it intended as a substitute for courses offered in the Zarb School of Business. While students considering studies in accounting or finance may wish to take this course as an introduction, the purpose of this course is to provide students with information and analytical skills that they will be able to apply in any career.

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SPRING 2012 HUHC SEMINARS

HUHC 020B, H1: Science Fiction: The "Golden Age"--and Beyond
Professor Barbara Bengels
T/R 11:10 – 12:35
LOWE 203
20873
"In FUTURE SHOCK, Alvin Toffler argued that science fiction is the most important form of literature to prepare young people for the technological and sociological changes before them.  Professor Bengels will discuss the development of science fiction in the twentieth century, its Golden Age, and how it has helped create the twenty-first century.  Based on her personal acquaintance with many prominent science fiction writers, she will also use their  letters to  describe how they were encouraged--or brutally discouraged--from becoming authors. Students will read the best of SF past and present (authors such as Asimov, Bradbury, Clarke, Heinlein, Benford),  produce their own comparative analyses. as well as examine--and emulate--their unique styles."

HUHC 020C, H1: Globalization and the U.S. Constitution
Professor Julian Ku, Hofstra University School of Law
T/R 9:35 – 11:10
BRESLIN 202
22403
(The chair of the political science department has indicated this course may be counted as a political science elective toward the completion of political science elective requirement for majors and minors, and as a political science minor requirement for minors.)
Globalization presents profound challenges to the American constitutional and political system because it demands unprecedented levels of international cooperation.  Efforts at effective international governance create tension with American constitutional rules on the use of government power.  Recent examples abound.  To what extent do international court judgments have force in American law, invalidating otherwise valid judgments by domestic courts? Can the President and the Senate together sign an international treaty that binds the United States either to legalize or criminalize abortion, or are issues of family law reserved, as a matter of American law, for the states? Should international and foreign laws be used to interpret the U.S Constitution? May Congress and the President delegate federal authority to international organizations to regulate domestic conduct, for instance, in arms control or carbon emissions?  While new regimes of global governance may well be needed, we must consider how globalization’s pressures mesh with the existing political and legal system of the United States. The American constitutional regime requires that power originate from the bottom up—from the people—and that it be subject to a specific system of federalism and the separation of powers.  Globalization, and its consequences for American law, create serious conflicts with this basic system.  This course will highlight these conflicts and explore ways of resolving them.
The main text of the course will be:
Julian Ku and John Yoo, Taming Globalization: The U.S. Constitution and American Sovereignty (forthcoming Oxford University Press, 2011).   Additionally, it will be supplemented by distributed materials, mostly judicial decisions, that will present the difficult constitutional and policy issues that lie at the center of this course. 

HUHC 020D, H1: Science, energy, public policy and sustainability
Professor Harold Hastings, Physics
M/W 2:55 – 4:20
MASON 223
20874
We are facing a growing world population, projected to reach 10 billion.  In addition, significant expected growth in middle class populations in China and India will provide additional demand for energy.  Although the green revolution allowed us to at least defer the Malthusian crisis forecast in the 1960’s, humanity faces the challenges of addressing global warming and nuclear energy.  Although the present trajectory of growing energy demand is unsustainable without change, change will require joint efforts of scientists, policy makers and the public.
This seminar will explore some of the challenges of sustainability far from the Malthusian edge.  Topics include how we get scientific evidence, especially when we cannot repeat experiments, limits to predictability, population growth, the energy challenge, and the global warming challenge.

HUHC 020E, H1: Godel, Escher, Bach
Charles B. Anderson, Writing Studies and Composition
T/R 12:45 – 2:10
NEW ACADEMIC BUILDING 428
22150
This seminar will examine closely Godel, Escher, Bach, the Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Douglas Hofstadter, described as a “metaphorical fugue on minds and machines in the spirit of Lewis Carroll.”  In addition to exploring the interrelationships among math, art, and music, the course will also discuss the prospects for artificial intelligence.

HUHC 020F, H1:  The Transformation of Music in a Century of Electronica
Professor Herb Deutsch, Music
T/R 12:45 – 2:10
BROWER 101
23505
(The chair of the music department has indicated this course may be counted as a departmental elective toward the completion of the requirements for history majors or minors.)
This course explores the inventions and artistic diversions that shaped musical thought in the twentieth century. The dramatic changes in musical styles, the development of electrical and electronic musical instruments and the interaction between “modernism”, abstract art and Dadaism on musical thinking are all themes we will be exploring. Finally, a significant percentage of our time will be spent discussing the profound effects of digital devices on musical creativity and performance.

HUHC 020H,  H1 Transforming Love's Body: Science, Medicine, Technology and the Evolution of Modern Sexuality
Professor Lou Kern, History
T/R 2:20 – 3:45
GTLNS 108
23507
(The chair of the history department has indicated this course may be counted as a departmental elective toward the completion of the requirements for history majors or minors.)
The course will focus on the period 1900 to the present with particular emphasis on the post-1940 period and will consider the ways in which technological innovations (personal vibrators, contraceptive devices-condoms, diaphragms, IUDs, dermal implants, etc.), medical advances (as they affect contraception, reproduction, and body image, including the development of the birth control pill and in vitro fertilization, Viagra, and somatic elective surgery), scientific investigations and disr.nvNiAs(including changing perspectives on masturbation, explorations of the biology, function, and process of
female orgasm, and the rise of social scientific statistical studies of sexual behavior-especially those conducted by Alfred C. Kinsey that inaugurated the modern era of sexology), and shifting cultural attitudes towards the broad range of human sexual behavior-homosexuality, bisexuality, transsexuality, and sex in later life-especially as they have been shaped by pop sexology, advice manuals and feminism . The intent ofthe course is to provide a multi-faceted approach to the broad range of influences that have resulted in the creation of contemporary sexual attitudes, the understanding of the sexual body, and current standards of sexual behavior.

HUHC 020J, H1: Arabian Nights in History and Literature”.
Professor Dan Varisco, Anthropology
M/W 2:55 – 4:20
LOWE 203
23889
(The chair of the anthropology department has indicated this course may be counted as an elective toward the completion of anthropology requirements for majors or minors.)
“The famous collection of stories from the 1001 Arabian Nights has been the inspiration for generations of writers and filmmakers, including Disney’s successful cartoon version of Alladin. This course will survey the historical development of the tales in Arabic, the cultural representation produced in their translation into English, and the wide variety of media in which the stories have evolved to the present.  We will learn about the culture in medieval Baghdad and Cairo that produced the stories, the politicized academic nature of Orientalist analysis and the modern popular appreciation of the tales in print and film.”

HUHC 021A,  H1:  Strategies in an Interdependent Business Environment with Global Supply Chains
Professor Kaushik Sengupta, Zarb School of Business, Management
T/R 12:45 – 2:10
MASON 020
23504
(The Chair of the Management, Entrepreneurship, and General Department has indicated this course may be counted for students with at least junior status as an elective toward the completion of Management or Supply Chain Management requirements for majors or minors.)
This course will introduce HUHC students to the multiple facets and issues being faced by businesses today as they operate in an increasingly dependent and global environment. A large part of many companies’ product and service delivery activities are outsourced to their supply chain partners, i.e. the suppliers and distributors. Many of these suppliers and distributors have globally dispersed locations. Because of this environment, companies have to deal with issues related to operating in different countries, across multiple cultures and time zones, and have to face issues related to moving products and delivering services over large distances. It is increasingly clear that this trend would grow and this class will serve as an introduction to Honors College students to this exciting world of global supply chains. It will give the students a vital understanding of the complexities involved in managing such globally dispersed operations. The course will use a combination of business cases, articles and research papers to stimulate discussions around these issues, and will take a non-technical approach so that students with no prior business courses can completely understand the materials.

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Fall 2011 HUHC Seminars

HUHC 20A (H1) Religion and the State
Professor Bernard Jacob, School of Law
MW 2:55-4:20PM
91394
203 LOWE
(The chair of the political science department has indicated this course may be counted as an elective toward the completion of PSC requirements for majors or minors).

We will take a two-pronged approach to thinking about the relation between State and Religion.  Our first prong is to find out what some important philosophers have had to say about that relation.  Since the world rarely matches philosophers' musings, our second prong will look at that relation historically.  In the United States, for example, the 'establishment of religion' is prohibited, and in the view of some, we and our European cousins live in secular states.  We will ask, however, whether, in light of what philosophy and history tell us, a secular state really possible, and if so then how, and if not, why not?

HUHC 020B (H1) Drugs in America
Professor Charles Levinthal, Psychology
TR 11:10-12:40
92378
LIBRY 231
(The chair of the psychology department has indicated this course may be counted as an elective toward the completion of psychology requirements for majors or minors).

The use, misuse, and abuse of psychoactive drugs present significant challenges to ourselves and the society in which we live.  These challenges arise not only from the consumption of illicit drugs such as heroin, hallucinogens, cocaine, amphetamines, and marijuana, but also the consumption of licit drugs such as alcohol, nicotine, and (when used for nonmedical purposes) prescription and nonprescription medications.  This course will explore the biological, psychological, historical, and sociopolitical aspects of drug-taking behavior in America.

HUHC 20C (H1) Emperors, Icons, & Eunuchs: The Literature of Byzantium
Professor Steven Smith, Comparative Languages and Literatures
MWF 10:10-11:05
94475
BRESL 0026
(The chair of the Comparative Languages and Literatures department has indicated this course may be counted as an elective toward the completion of Comparative Language and Literatures requirements for majors or minors.)

What happened to the Roman Empire after the fall of Rome? Headquartered in Constantinople, it continued to thrive for over a thousand years. The cast of characters includes emperors and empresses, eunuchs, holy men, and heretics. This course will survey the literature of Byzantium's long, violent history. We will read samples of literary biography; political satire; religious, erotic, and epic poetry; theological treatises; hagiography; epistles; historiography; and even a romantic novel. Topics for discussion will include: the cultivation of Byzantine identity; Byzantine multiculturalism; the relationship between literature and autocracy; the tension between paganism and Christianity; gender and sexuality in Byzantium; and the classical legacy of literary mimêsis.

HUHC 020D (H1) The "Swinging Sixties" and the Permissive Society in British Culture.
Professor Patricia Smith, Department of English
MW 2:55-4:20
94475
DAVSN 020
(The chair of the English department has indicated this course may be counted as an elective toward the completion of English requirements for majors or minors.)

The products of Britain's own postwar "baby boom" came of age during one of the most culturally dynamic decades of the twentieth century.  Between 1958 and 1971, the formidable British Empire came to a rapid end.  Among the immediate results were the abolition of mandatory military service for young men, which allowed for a flowering of youth culture, and an unprecedented influx of immigrants from the former colonies, which transformed Britain into a multiracial nation.  The virtual end of restrictive codes of censorship in the wake of the 1961 Lady Chatterley trial, along collapse of Conservative government in the wake of a 1963 sex scandal, paved the way for Harold Wilson's Labour government to proclaim that the most civilized society is a "permissive" one.  The consequent decriminalization of matters of personal life (e.g., divorce, birth control, abortion, homosexuality) created an atmosphere of relaxed sexual mores and attitudes. The course offers an overview of the dramatic, sweeping, and rapid changes in British culture and social mores between 1958 and 1971, and examines the multifarious reflections of these changes in the literature, film, popular music, fashion, and visual arts of the period. 

HUHC 020E (H1) Turning Heads – the opinions that shape us, from advertising to politics:  How I Know What I Think
Professor Ellen Frisina, Journalism, Media Studies, and Public Relations
TR 12:35 -2:10
94476
RSVLT 201

Everyone's got an opinion, and many share theirs readily.  From advertising slogans to political speechwriters, from Thomas Paine to Paris Hilton and Jon Stewart, our personal opinions and views of the world have been shaped and influenced by others.  Who are these masters of persuasion, these opinion makers?  This course will explore how personal and cultural opinions through the centuries have been influenced by others' opinions. We will look at how the written word has shaped persuasive techniques and how deep thinkers, humorists and even celebrities shape our actions and reactions, personally, as a nation, and as a world. Through examination of personal accounts of history, autobiographies, personal essays,  newspaper op-ed pieces, and e-opinions, blogs and vlogs, students will explore who the persuaders are, and how they became opinion-makers and decision makers in our world.  A clearer understanding of how we have chosen to view our personal world is the expected outcome!

Possible readings include selections from:
The New York Times (student discount for subscription)
The Art of the Personal Essay – Lopate, Philip
Eyewitness to History, Carey, J, Editor
What I Know Now: Letters to my Younger Self, Spragins, E., Editor
How to Get Your Point Across in 30 seconds or Less – Frank, M.
Why Women Should Rule the World – Myers, D.
Crystallizing Public Opinion, Bernays, E.
Consistent review of e-pinions websites and blogs/vlogs chosen through class discussion

HUHC 020F (H1) Law and the Family
Professor Joanna Grossman, School of Law
TR 11:10-12:35PM
94477
GALWG 014
(The chair of the Political Science department has indicated this course may be counted as an elective toward the completion of PSC requirements for majors or minors).

This course will explore the law's regulation of families through historical, contemporary, and interdisciplinary perspectives.  It will cover topics such as cohabitation, restrictions on marriage, divorce, the legal regulation of sex, adoption, parent-child relationships in the age of reproductive technology, and child abuse.  

HUHC 020G (H1) Raising Engaged Citizens: Educating for Democracy
Professor Andrea Libresco, Teaching, Literacy and Leadership
TR 9:35-11:00
94478
HAGDN 0007

A democracy's future depends on the education and commitment of its citizens. This seminar studies Americans' present level of civic engagement and what roles families, schools, government and other institutions play and ought to play in developing it. Participants will explore the literature about the extent to which civic engagement can be taught. Participants will create blueprints for families, schools, government and other societal institutions to nurture engaged citizens.

HUHC 020H (H1) Modern Architecture: Case Studies
Professor Joseph Masheck
TR 4:20-5:50PM (with periodic field trips)
94479
CALK 204
(The chair of the Art History department has indicated this course may be counted as an Art History elective toward the completion of Art History requirements for majors or minors for majors or minors.)

After an introduction to early modernism in art and architecture, this course's topics include ornament and its abolition; functionalism as 'styleless style'; planning of particular projects; work of one or another architect in its development; modernism as negated by 'postmodernism' and then rediscovered. Slide-illustrated lectures; readings with discussion; several field trips during regular class time; final reports on topics of individual interest.

HUHC 021A (H1) Moral Courage in Organizations
Professor Debra R. Comer, Management, Entrepreneurship and General Business
TR 2:20 – 3:45
94474
DAVSN 102
(The chair of the Management department has indicated this course may be counted as an elective toward the completion of Management requirements for majors or minors.)

Moral courage, the resolve to do what one believes is right, even in the face of unpleasant social or economic consequences, is what we need when organizational pressures threaten to compromise our values and principles. Students will 1) examine the effects of organizational factors on ethical behavior; 2) consider exemplary moral courage and lapses of moral courage; 3) learn information and skills that support moral courage; and 4) explore how to change organizations to promote moral courage, as well as how to exercise moral courage to change organizations. By reflecting upon the active roles they can play in ethical situations, students will prepare to take the high road in the workplace.

Spring 2011 HUHC Seminars

HUHC 020A, (HA): TIMES OF OUR LIVES:  PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE
Professor Kathleen Wallace
M/W 4:50 - 6:15pm
BRESL 202
23173
(The chair of the Philosophy department has indicated this course may be counted as a philosophy elective toward the completion of philosophy requirements.)

In this seminar we will consider the question, how ought we balance the interests of present people against those of past and future people. For example, do we have a duty to keep promises that were made to those who are now dead? If so, what is the ethical basis for that? In our personal lives, we often prefer present over deferred gratification; we "discount" the future. Is this rational? Is it moral? Do present people and considerations always take precedence over past and future ones?  If we have some moral duty to consider future people – whether our own immediate descendants (e.g., children and grandchildren) or future generations more generally – what is the basis for such a duty? Do we have a moral duty to live "sustainably"? But what does sustainability even mean?  What would be the basis of and scope of such a duty?

Most of our readings will come from philosophy, supplemented with contemporary readings of concrete moral examples and issues.

HUHC 020B (H1):  THE POLITICS OF HEALTH CARE
Professor Richard Himelfarb
Professor E. Rollins
T/R 12:45pm – 2:10pm
STARR 209
20956
(The chair of the Political Science department has indicated this course may be counted as a political science elective toward the completion of Political Science requirements.)

Public Policy and Politics of American Health Care: An Introduction to How the System Works,  Its Performance, and Efforts to Improve It
This course will focus on how and why the American health care system is different compared to those of other industrialized countries and whether this distinctiveness is an asset or liability. In doing so it will confront a number of paradoxes regarding American health care. These include: How is it possible for the American system to characterized simultaneously as the best and worst in the world? Why are many Americans critical of the system even as they purport to be satisfied with their own health care? If Americans agree that the system is broken or flawed  why are efforts to reform American health care inherently controversial and difficult to resolve? These and other questions will be examined in depth from both liberal and conservative perspectives. 

HUHC 020C (H1):  CONTEMPORARY LIFE WRITING
Professor Thomas Couser
T/R 2:20 - 3:45pm
GTLSN 0108
22727
(The chair of the English department has indicated this course may be counted as a English elective toward the completion of English requirements.)

"Life writing" comprises various forms of representation of actual persons. Print genres include autobiography, biography, memoir, diary or journal (including weblogs and Twitter), personal correspondence (including email and texting), testimonio, personal essays, travel writing, family history, genealogy, scrapbook, and case history. Visual genres include portraiture, photo albums, the bio-pic, documentary film, and YouTube videos. Internet forms include Facebook and MySpace pages.

The emphasis in this course will be on contemporary memoir. The course will be organized not as a chronological survey but as an inquiry into trends, issues, or problems distinctive of recent decades. Among these may be the following: the emergence of "relational" narratives--narratives focusing neither on the author (as autobiography does) nor on another person (as biography does) but on the relation between the writer and a significant other; the use of life writing to reckon with experiences that may threaten identity, such as illness, disability, and trauma; the use of visual media; the emergence of minority voices; the significance of the recent "memoir boom" and the backlash against it; and ethical issues inherent in life writing.

HUHC 020D (H1): "DIAMONDS AND LIMELIGHT::  BASEBALL AND VAUDEVILLE LITERATURE  

Professor Richard Pioreck
M/F 11:15 – 12:40pm
BRESL 202
20957
(The chair of the English department has indicated this course may be counted as a English elective toward the completion of English requirements.)

          "…[W]e were all entertainers.  And my job was to give the fans something to talk about each game."  -- Willie Mays

Baseball and vaudeville were born during the boom decade following the Civil War.  Initially these leisure time entertainments competed for the time and money of men.  Each benefitted from the railroad in its early establishing of nationwide appeal.  The National League was founded in 1876.  Wine rooms, the forerunners of vaudeville houses, existed in New York and Philadelphia by 1875. 

Between 1880 and 1930 vaudeville dominated live entertainment.  What baseball and vaudeville have in common is that they established twentieth century popular culture among the melting pot full of immigrants who were creating the urban America of the industrial age.  Today baseball and vaudeville's offspring, television, are so joined that they are dependent on each other. 

Historian Jacques Barzun observed, "Whoever would understand the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball." Diamonds and Limelight explores the weave of baseball and vaudeville's ubiquitous presence in American life from its influence on language and expression to its connection with the American persona and identity.  Vaudeville that uniquely American stage show consisting of mixed specialty acts, including songs, dances, comic skits, acrobatic performances, etc., stands as a metaphor for the blending of cultures that became American popular culture.

"Pizzazz, that's a show business word" – Gene Kelly

HUHC 020E (H1): Nineteenth and early 20th Century (Melo) Dramas  of Race, Class, Ethnicity and Gender on the Stage and in the Streets of NYC.
Professor Lisa Merrill
W 4:30 – 7:30pm
GTLSTN 108
22398
(The chair of the Speech, Rhetoric and Communication department has indicated this course may be counted as a Speech, Rhetoric and Communication elective toward the completion of Speech, Rhetoric and Communication requirements.)

"The streets, theatrical stages, and speakers' podiums of 19th century New York were platforms where people observed, encountered and interacted with others they perceived as different from themselves. Competing beliefs about race, gender, and socio-economic class were played out in melodramas, novels, press reportage, and occasionally riots, such as the 1863 Draft Riots. Students in this seminar will read primary texts written in this period and walk through the very streets which served as their setting."

HUHC 020F (H1 ) CROSS CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY
Professor Sergei Tsytsarev
T/R 11:10 – 12:35
LOWE 0203
24382
(The chair of the Psychology department has indicated this course may be counted as a psychology elective toward the completion of psychology requirements.)

The course's goal is to increase the awareness of students of the cultural perspective on basic and applied issues in psychology; The objectives include  a) to read the literature on diversity and multiculturalism and examine the implications of these concepts and perspectives on the training, delivery of psychological services, and policy development in professional psychology; and  b) to develop initial skills of multicultural interviewing, assessment and cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy.
Major theoretical and applied issues in cross-cultural psychology with the emphasis on topic are covered. Students learn about the impact of cultural diversity in the domains of human development, education, emotions, cognitions and psychopathology. Readings are assigned that are relevant to assessment and the counseling of children and families of various ethnic, cultural, economic background as well as members of some subcultures within the diverse American culture: individuals with various sexual orientations, alternative life styles, the rich, the poor, the homeless, members of the drug culture, etc.   Students are assigned to work on a) research project in the area of multicultural studies; b) an observational study of a community that must be different from their own, and on c) interviewing a person who has been in this culture for less than 5 years. Their findings are presented in class.  Students receive individual supervision from the course instructor.

One objective in this class is to train students to be competent in a variety of topics in cross-cultural psychology, including some that are sensitive in everyday conversation.  These include questions to help us learn about cultural biases on diagnosis and treatment, drug and alcohol use, typical and atypical sexual behavior, homicidal and suicidal thoughts, peculiar thought patterns, culture bound syndromes, and so forth.  Acquisition of these skills is required for fully understanding the motivations and behaviors.  Students are expected to let their professor know if they are reluctant, unable, or uncomfortable when discussing those issues.

HUHC 020G (H1): THE EXPERIENCE OF MODERNITY: CULTURE, CONSCIOUSNESS, AND SOCIETY FROM THE ROMANTIC PERIOD TO POSTMODERNISM
Professor Pellegrino D'Acierno
M/W 6:30-7:55pm
HEGER 101
24383
(The chair of the Comparative Languages and Literature department has indicated this course may be counted as a CLL elective toward the completion of CLL requirements.)

This course will examine the experience of modernity as epitomized in the following blasts  that confront the alienation and negativity definitive of the modern condition: "By modernity I mean the transitory, the fugitive, the contingent" (Baudelaire); "All that is solid melts into air" (Marx); "God is dead" (Nietzscche); "Time and space died yesterday" (Marinetti);  "History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake" (Joyce); "The horror! The horror! " (Conrad). 

Although the history of modernity is inevitably multiple, multifarious even, we shall attempt to establish a textual genealogy that will enables us to historicize the unfolding of  the so-called project of modernity —"the will to modernity" (Lionel Trilling) — as it emerges from the Enlightenment context (Goethe's Faustian man is our starting point) and crystallizes, in the late-nineteenth and early twentieth-century, in the Modernist movement that, in the name of "Making it New," produces a textual revolution in which the conception of the traditional or  organic work of art  is overturned and replaced by an aesthetics of shock in keeping with the consciousness and modes of perception definitive of modern life, particularly life in the metropolis.

The course will be dedicated to the close reading of texts  by  critical theorists such as Marx, Freud, Nietzsche, Gramsci, Benjamin, Simone de Beauvoir, and  Debord and by transgressive writers and avant-gardistes such as Baudelaire, Dostoevsky, Marinetti, Breton, T.S. Eliot, James Joyce, Djuna Barnes, and D. H. Lawrence. Given the centrality of the visual  dimension to  aesthetic modernity, the work of a number of artists and filmmakers will be considered.   Attention will also be given to postmodernism, the end point from which we must now historicize and comprehend the project of modernity.

HUHC 020H (H1): PHILOSOPHY, FREEDOM AND THE REVOLT AGAINST TRADITION
Professor Eduardo M. Duarte
T/R 11:10 – 12:35pm
GTLSN 108
24384
(The chair of the Philosophy department has indicated this course may be counted as a philosophy elective toward the completion of philosophy requirements.)

"Existentialism is not a philosophy but a label for several widely different revolts against traditional philosophy."  Thus begins Walter Kaufmann as he introduces his classic collection Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre.  Kaufmann's collection will provide us with our main text of study as we take up the principal thinkers who represent those widely different revolts against traditional philosophy.   However, before we begin our study of Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Ortega, Dostoevsky Sartre, Kafka, among others, we will step back and ask, in response to Kaufmann's assertion, Just what is 'traditional philosophy'?   In responding to this question we will discover that at its inception, with Parmenides, Heraclitus, and then Socrates, so-called 'traditional' philosophy arose in a kind of revolt against traditional ways of thinking and making meaning.  With this in mind, we will study the thinkers gathered by Kaufmann under the wide tent of 'Existentialism,' as recreating and reinventing that original 'revolt.'   We will see, further, that the 'existentialists' remain part of the 'tradition' in their understanding that the essence of philosophy is the desire for freedom, and thus one that inevitably places the singular, unique human being against their tradition(s). 

HUHC 020I (H1):  RACE, NATION AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF MODERN AMERICA
Professor James A. Levy
M/W 2:55 – 4:20
MASON 0020
24832
(The chair of the History department has indicated this course may be counted as a history elective toward the completion of History requirements.)

This course will examine the parallel concepts of race and nation in the United States during the "modernist turn" in America (1880-1930) when Jim Crow segregation laws in the South, massive European immigration, and post-Darwinian ideas about racial and national destiny collided in American law, culture and politics.   By looking at a combination of popular artifacts (including movies, photography, literature and theatre), legal cases and political events, we will examine how legal and cultural ideas of belonging in America have depended on race and especially on the categories of "whiteness" and "blackness."  We will consider how neither whiteness nor blackness are fixed or stable terms but change according to cultural, legal and political contexts. Indeed, "whiteness" will be a recurring theme in the class and we will trace the ways in which it evolved and expanded from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries, helping to promote the notion of an expanding American citizenship, even while the category was often used to exclude people of Asian, Middle Eastern and especially African descent.    

HUHC 020J: H1, New York, New York, the Last, Great Modern City, in Literature, Film, and Architecture
Instructor: Professor Robert B. Sargent
M/W 2:55 – 4:20
LOWE 0203
24845
(The chair of the English department has indicated this course may be counted as an English elective toward the completion of English requirements.)

 In 1840, New York City was surprisingly small in comparison with London and Paris, but in the next 40 years it became, by far, the largest and most modern city in the world. New York's vast scale and radical openness spawned a new kind of literature, first in Whitman's poetry, expressing the excitement of walking alone through vast crowds, overwhelmingly diverse in dress, age, and attractiveness.  The New York writer's rapidly shifting focus tries to take in and name the vast ocean of humanity, passing. The speed and complexity of city life literature foreshadows the approach to subject matter and technique of film realism.  Manhattan's open grid and elegant stone architecture brings order and a cool beauty to this human chaos; the hardness against that flesh provokes desire, frustration, and sometimes violence. The course will focus on 1890-1970, when New York achieves its greatest literary and artistic achievement, when it goes from backdrop to major character. After a class walking tour to Manhattan, each student will go back to a place in the city they like and write an autobiographical urban narrative in the spirit of Whitman, Fitzgerald, Kerouac, Frank O'Hara, and J. D. Salinger.  The second paper involves an analysis of a contemporary TV series set and filmed in New York, such as Gossip Girls and Law & Order and will answer the question:  What role does New York City play in the drama? Finally, a term paper, will require students to use an interdisciplinary approach to develop a theme; it might explore how a film and a literary work differ in their understanding and use of New York or of how the 'real' architecture Toni Morrison describes functions in Jazz or how New York landmarks, such as the Plaza Hotel and the Yale Club, are used by Fitzgerald in his story "The Rich Boy."
The authors we will read may include: Walt Whitman, Stephen Crane, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Toni Morrison, Eudora Welty, J.D. Ssalinger, Jack Kerouac, and Rem Koolhaas. In adition we will be screening several films such as "The Naked City" (1948), "Little Fugitive" (1953), "Mean Streets" (1973 and "New York: A Documentary Film" directed by Ric Burns (1997) with Hofstra's own Philip Lopate.

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HUHC 021A (H1): CULTURE, CONSUMER ANIMOSITY, AND CORPORATE STRATEGY
Professor Boonghee Yoo
T/R 9:35-11:00
HEGER 101
24381

An examination and analysis of the role of culture and consumer animosity on the behavior of international consumers and the formation of corporate strategies . Considering consumers as members of a particular culture or subculture, this course explores the impact of culture and consumer animosity (e.g., anti-Americanism) on a corporation's business strategies as well as consumer behaviors, consumer decision-making processes, and consumer evaluations of a variety of business activities.

Fall 2010

HUHC 020A (H1) NEGRO LEAGUE BASEBALL
Professor Richard Puerzer
MW 2:55-4:20PM – Lowe 203
91640

The focus of this course will be the "Negro Leagues," the term used to define the organized baseball played by African-Americans in the United States from the late 19th century until the late 1960s. It will explore the experience of black baseball players both before and after the period of segregation in the United States.  Although the course will focus primarily on the lives of African-American baseball players, it will also examine the lives of team owners and fans, both black and white, impacted by the Negro Leagues.  Likewise, although this will be a course focusing on Negro League baseball, it is necessary to discuss the broader political, social, and economic circumstances of the times.  The lives of African-American baseball players, team owners, and fans will provide context as to the state of race relations in the United States.  Of particular interest will be the few successful Negro Leagues that operated from 1919 through the 1940s. Also, the decline of the Negro Leagues, beginning in 1946 with the signing of Jackie Robinson, and the integration of Major League baseball will be examined in detail. 

HUHC 020B (H1) PERSONALIITIES OF MODERN ART
Professor Alexsandr Naymark
TR 12:45-2:10PM- Calkins 204
92862

Art is created by people and directly or indirectly reflects their personalities and their environment. The material culture and artistic practices of the time reconstructed in a serious film-study of artist's biography provides a convenient starting point of the discussion of his or her work. This class introduces students to the major processes in the formation of modern art through a combination of short lectures, biographic films and discussions based on the wide variety of reading materials.

HUHC 020C (H1) MAPPING THE NATION: CARTOGRAPHY, CENSUS, AND SURVEY IN SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURY BRITIAN
Professor Adam Sills
MW 2:55-4:20PM – Davison 016
92638

The central question for this seminar is what role, if any, do the map, census, and survey play in the consolidation of the nation? To answer that question, we will examine the evolution of cartography and demography from the Renaissance through the eighteenth century and the impact those practices have had not only on the geography of Britain but also on the very creation of Britain itself. Since the Renaissance, improvements in the accuracy and legibility of maps, the proliferation of empirically-based chorographies, and the popular vogue for travel narratives served to order, package and commodify space in a normative and homogenizing fashion that was critical to the formation of British national identity. To "ground" our discussions, we will examine maps and literary works from the period, as well as contemporary theory and criticism, in order to better understand the relationship between cartographic space and literary space. Works may include Daniel Defoe's A Journal of the Plague Year, Maria Edgeworth's Castle Rackrent, Samuel Johnson's A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's The Turkish Embassy Letters, Tobias Smollett's Humphrey Clinker and Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels.

HUHC 020 D (H1) ENLIGHTENMENT
Professor Terry F. Godlove
TR 12:45-2:10PM – Lowe 203
92659

ENLIGHTENMENT: Many of us have been taught that something of world-historical significance happened in Europe in the eighteenth century—a victory of reason over superstition, freedom over tyranny, science over religion—in a word, Enlightenment.  But is that an accurate picture?  Contemporary critics claim the Enlightenment's legacy is one of exploitation, dehumanization, and the loss of human dignity.  In this course, we will examine the work of Immanuel Kant, one of the Enlightenment's chief spokesmen.  The course begins with a look at several of Kant's predecessors, including Descartes and Hume.  Most of the term will be spent on Kant's, Critique of Pure Reason, with some attention to his ethics, philosophy of religion, and politics.  We will see that Kant was decidedly ambivalent about the prospects for enlightenment, and that he anticipated many of the contemporary critics, even as he championed its values.  No prerequisites; some background in philosophy recommended.

HUHC 020E (H1) GLOBALIZATION AND CITIZENSHIP
Professor Margaret Abraham
MW 2:55-4:20 – Davison 020
92705

Contemporary globalization has changed the social, economic, cultural, and political environment and the nature of global interaction. In this course, students will critically examine the transformations ushered by globalization, liberalization and deregulation and how it modifies the nature of state responsibility and notions of citizenship. We will discuss concepts, perspectives, meanings, and practices that enhance our understanding of the connections between globalization and citizenship. A range of issues such as immigration, ethnicity, class, nationality, political and economic participation, institutions and the private and public spheres will be covered in the context of globalization and citizenship. Drawing upon empirical research, we will also discuss the forms of active citizenship and the modes of contestation and agency that people engage in at local and global level to the forces of globalization.

HUHC 020F (H1) EXPERIENCEING THE MUSEUM:  COMMUNITIES, STOREIS, AND POWER 
Professor Christopher Matthews
TR 2:20-3:45 – Davison

Museums are public centers, storehouses, schools, and sites of community power and conflict. Museums also reflect the ideals and debates of the societies and communities that make them. For some, museums promote national or cultural unity while for others they delimit what communities value to the exclusion of some. This course considers the origins, developments, and debates that contribute to the making of museums and our sense of a museum experience. Modern exhibition efforts as well as critical and non-Western approaches will be examined. Discussions of diverse museum practices such as collecting, curation, and multi-cultural representation will be combined with field trips to prominent museums in New York City as well as local and community museums nearby.

HUHC 020G (H1) NATIONAL MOTTO,  NATIONAL MEASURE?
Professor Eric Lane
T/R 2:20-3:45 - Lowe 203
92959

In 1956 the Congress of the United States unanimously changed our national motto.  Cast aside was E Pluribus Unum (from many one) the motto that had both described nearly 200 years of our history and prescribed a vision of inclusiveness and consensus.  In its place was In God We Trust.   According to both the Senate and House committee reports, it would "be of great spiritual and psychological value to the country to have a clearly designated national motto of inspirational quality, in plain, popularly accepted English," and, further, that the new motto was "superior and more acceptable for the United States" than the older one.  Why such a motto was thought to be superior and more acceptable was not anywhere discussed.  But one answer may be that 1956 was the Elvis Presley shook the nation by having three songs in the top ten, including the number 1 (Heartbreak Hotel).  The prior year the number 1 song has been The Ballad of Davy Crocket.  To quote Dylan:  the times, they are a changing.  And they were for many more profound reasons. 

This course explores this change in motto from a number of perspectives, asking among other questions, whether the new fifty years older America has benefitted from this change.  The hypothesis of the course is that the change in motto represented a disavowal of the consensus building demands of the nations' constitutional governance and provided a license for levels of factionalism that today undermine the country's unity.  And that is what the course will explore.

Please feel free to contact the professor Colette Mazzucelli or Honors College with questions or concerns.

Spring 2010

HUHC 020A (H1): RING CYCLES IN LITERATURE (AND OPERA AND FILM)
Professor John DiGaetani
T/R 2:20pm – 3:45pm
24196 BRESL 202

This course will read and discuss Ring cycles in literature, opera, and film. We will especially look at Wagner's ring and Tolkien's Ring to examine similarities and differences. We will also look at their literacy and musical implication and how cycles affect other works of art like opera ad film and how literacy allusions function as a technique. By the end of this course, the students will be able to improve their abilities to read, listen, understand art, and analyze it. We will also examine misogyny, misandry, and misanthropy as they appear in literature. Among the authors to be discussed in this course are: Sophocles, James Joyce, Theordor Adorno, D.H. Lawrence, Friedrich Nietzsche, Giambattista Vico, and Thomas Mann.

HUHC 020B (H1): INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
Professor David Frinquelli
MWF 9:05am-10:00am
21038 BRESL 206

At 5:30 am Mountain Time on July 16, 1945, a spectacular light illuminated the early dawn over a part of the New Mexico desert known as the Jornada del Muerto – the Journey of the Dead Man. Upon witnessing this momentous event, J. Robert Oppenheimer famously remarked, "I am become death the destroyer of worlds." Once the dust had literally settled following the Trinity test those present finally realized just what they had wrought. The steel tower from which the weapon was suspended had been completely vaporized. The desert floor had been turned to glass in a 600 ft. radius from ground zero. And the greatest implement of peace had been created. Some might take issue with the preceding sentence and with good cause. Political scientists have debated the effect of nuclear weapons on peace and war since the weapons were first used over Japan. The study of international peace and conflict involves many such controversial issues, made such by the very theoretical nature of the field. The goals of this course are to survey contemporary political science research on international security and provide students with the analytical tools necessary for examining security policy debates. Topics to be examined include sources of peace and war, grand strategies, military doctrines, arms races, military alliances, military occupations and insurgency and credibility. In lieu of exams, students will be required to write two papers based on their own interests within the field.

HUHC 020C (HA): THE EDITORIAL BOARD: THE ART OF FORMING OPINIONS WHEN EVERYONE ALREADY HAS ONE
Professor Lawrence Levy
M/W 4:25pm – 5:55pm
23287 BRESL 202

In a collaborative and interactive environment, students will come to understand the ethics, principles, practices and interpersonal relations that are crucial to the production of editorial opinions in a variety of media. Students will sharpen their skills and understanding through a blend of traditional lectures (including professional and political guests) and hands-on interviewing, researching, debating and writing. Ultimately they will learn to prepare convincing, intellectually honest and well-written editorials. This is a "reality-based" laboratory – taught once a week for three hours -- in which the class becomes the opinion-setting editorial board of a newspaper or other media outlet. During the course, students will "play act" the roles of editorial board members, including the editor who decides the board's consensus on an issue. To take advantage of the Honors college format, students from other classes could assume roles of public officials and be questioned or debate issues that the "board" would decide.

HUHC 020D (H1): EASTERN EUROPEAN LITERATURE AND CINEMA: FROM THE COLD WAR TO THE PRESENT
Prof. Alexandar Mihailovic
TR 12:45-2:10
21039 BRESL 202

In this course we will examine contemporary literature and cinema from the Europe, viewing them as powerful tools of dissection that expose the difficult intricacies of life in a region where the past is never truly past. In the hands of Eastern European artists, historical and cultural revisionism becomes either a target of a moral critique or an instrument for visualizing untested possibilities for a viable future, ones that transcend the simplistic visions of economic globalism and shifting allegiances among the superpowers of Russia, the US, and China. The cinematic and literary texts will be drawn from the Slavic nations of post-Communist Europe, and will include iconoclastic writers and film directors such as Tatyana Tolstaya, Dorota Maslowska and Ilya Khrzhanovsky. We will also consider the exiled artist's more detached yet no less poignant perspective on political events, as exemplified by the work of the Bosnian writer Aleksandar Hemon and the Czech Milan Kundera.

HUHC 020E (H1): ENDS UNFOLD, BECOMING STRANGE": FROM DARWINISM TO EVO-DEVO TO THE SINGULARITY--EVOLUTIONARY CULTURES AND HUMAN NATURE
Professor Louis J. Kern, History
T/R 9:35-11:00
22827 BRESL 206

The course will move from Darwin's theory of evolution as expressed in Origin of the Species (1859) and its sources to Ray Kurzweil's theoretical work on the Singularity (2005). It will consider the influence of evolutionary theory on a broad range of ideas affecting Western cultural development--economic and political theory and organization, anthropological and social constructs, social ethics (especially Social Darwinist ideology), psychology, eugenics, and the visual arts. The primary goal of the course will be to establish a foundation for an understanding of the intricate narrative of the mutual influences of biological evolution and the diverse forms of cultural evolution. Considerable attention will also be given to the relationship between past evolution as it has affected the development of human nature as compared to that of other animal species, particularly as reflected in forms of social behavior and sexuality. Some consideration will be given as well to the potential direction of future human evolution.

HUHC 020F (H1 ) NAKED WITHOUT SHAME: THE EVOLUTION AND CULTURAL CONSTRUCTION OF THE HUMAN BODY
Professor Daniel Varisco
T/R 2:20-3:45
22828 DAVSN 017

This seminar will examine the human body, both its evolutionary significance in the history of human sexuality and its cultural construction as a marker of social and sexual identity. The course will comprise a comparative analysis of primate mating strategies, current theories about the role of sexual selection in hominid evolution, archaeological evidence about body representation from prehistoric and early Near Eastern sites, and the cultural construction of the human body as a societal symbol and identity marker in ethnographic perspective. The pedagogical purpose of the course is to introduce the student to the historical diversity of representing the human body as a culturally constructed social symbol. The focus will be on cross-cultural attitudes about nudity, body adornment and alteration. A central question is the extent to which the body symbolizes attitudes about gender relations and socially sanctioned sexual practices. The course will conclude with discussion of the moral implications of current representation of the human body in popular culture.

HUHC 020G (H1): THEATRE OF THE 1960S
Professor Cindy Rosenthal
T/R 2:20 – 3:45
22843 BRESL 206

The decade of the 1960s is characterized by wide-ranging cultural experimentation, and tumultuous change. Radical, avant-garde theatre and performance was often at the center of the political turmoil of the 1960s – there was a powerful spirit of "groupness" and a fervor that was born out of the Civil Rights Movement and anti-Vietnam War activism, which was reflected in how and why plays were written, the ways actors lived and worked together, and where performances were produced – theatre frequently exploded out of buildings and into the streets. The focus of this course will be the dramatic works, the key players, and the cultural and political theories of the 1960s – many of which explored the blur between art and life that continues to inspire experimental art and artists today. "The times they are a changin'" and "the personal is political" were well-known, influential refrains of the period where art became known as a form of activism, but there continues to be a thrill and an attraction associated with the zeitgeist of the '60s, as in the excitement surrounding the current revival of HAIR on Broadway. Because of our proximity to New York's experimental theatre, film, dance, and art scenes there will be ample opportunities to experience the legacy of the '60s first-hand for our research, writing, and group creative work in the course.

HUHC 020H, H1: Health, Illness, and the Ways We Understand Them
Professor Theresa Horvath,
T/R 11:10-12:35
24635 BRESL 206

Illness is a universal life experience. Yet the experience of being sick is shaped as much by culture and social life as by the nature of the illness and the extent of the disability. This course will examine the way the subjective experience of being sick and the expectations of the individual, the family, and the larger society shape the way people seek care and "get well". Using a variety of materials including fiction, autobiography, essay, memoir, film and poetry, we will explore how the disciplines of anthropology, sociology, psychology, religion, literature and art address medical themes involving life choices, loss, death and the experience of being sick.

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FALL 2009

The Queer Subject in French-Language Film
Professor David Powell, Romance Languages and Literatures

Of Human Bondage:  Human Trafficking and Globalization
Professor Linda Longmire, Global Studies and Geography

The Problem of Genocide
Professor Johan Ahr, History

Can Civic Literacy Save Democracy from Itself?
Professor Eric Lane, Law School

When the Past Isn't Dead:  From Freud to Obama
Professor Shari Zimmerman, English

Embodiment and the Creative Process
Professor Robin Becker, Drama and Dance

Climate Change and Global Warming: Physical Principles and Sustainable Energy Supplies
Professor Flavio Dobran, Engineering

Mind Games: The Psychology of Performance
Professor Steven Frierman, Physical Education and Sport Sciences

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SPRING 2009

May Day: Performing a Politics of Resistance and Rebellion
Professor Lisa Merrill, Speech, Communication, Rhetoric and Performance Studies
Professor MaryAnn Trasciatti, Speech, Communication, Rhetoric and Performance Studies

Language and Mind
Professor Herb Seliger, Comparative Language and Literature

East Africa through Literature, Art and Film
Professor Arthur Dobrin, School for University Studies

History and Memory in the 20th Century
Professor Sally Charnow, History

Growing up Is Hard to Do:  Adolescents in Literature, Design, and Film
Professor Robert Sargent, English

Debating Darwin:  A Social History of the Creation vs. Evolution Controversy
Professor Daniel Varisco, Anthropology 

Combinatorial Game Theory
Professor Gillian Elston, Mathematics

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FALL 2008

The 2008 Race for the Whitehouse
Professor Meena Bose, Kalikow Professor of Presidential Studies, Political Science

America's Constitution
Professor Eric Lane, School of Law

Character and the Good Life
Professor Ira Singer, Philosophy

Philosophy of Food: Discourses and Practices of Edibility
Professor Ralph Acampora, Philosophy

Twentieth-Century Creativity and the Female Artist
Professor Susan Lorsch, Department of English

America Viewed from the Musical Stage
Professor Jim Kolb, Drama Department

Baseball Management: Management Innovation in Professional Baseball
Professor Richard Puerzer, Engineering Department

Poetry on the Edge: The Latin American Avant-Garde
Professor Miguel-Angel Zapata, Romance Languages and Literatures

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SPRING 2008

Transforming Love's Body: Science, Medicine, and Technology and the Evolution of Modern Sexuality
Professor Lou Kern, Department of History

Free Will
Professor Anthony Dardis, Philosophy Department

America's Constitution
Professor Eric Lane, School of Law

The Politics of Comedy: Comic Freedom and Subversive Laughter from: Aristophanes to Borat
Professor Pellegrino D'Acierno, Comparative Language and Literature

The U.S. Supreme Court: The Evolution of its Power and its Impact on our Daily Lives
Professor Glen Vogel, Department of Accounting, Taxation and Legal Studies

Consumer Behavior Across Countries
Professor Boonghee Yoo, International Business

The Artist's Practice
Professor Peter Plagens, Department of Art History and Fine Arts

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SPRING 2007

History and the Holocaust: Art, Memory and Representation
Professor Stanislao G. Pugliese, History Department

Reading Orientalism: How the West and Middle East View Each Other
Professor Daniel Varisco, Anthropology

Challenges in American Foreign Policy
Professor Bernard Firestone, Dean, HCLAS, Department of Political Science
Professor James Klurfeld, Department of Political Science

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FALL 2007

Haunted America: The Dark Side of the American Dream
Professor Paula Uruburu, Department of English

Neighborhoods, Watersheds and Public Health: Understanding Environmental Health through Service Learning in Urban Settings
Professor Margaret Hunter, Engineering

The American Dream: The Modern City and Its Suburbs
Professor Robert B. Sargent, Department of English

Defense and Foreign Policy in Post 9/11 America
Professor David Frinquelli, Department of Political Science

Six Great Paintings
Professor Laurie Fendrich, Department of Art History and Fine Arts

Truth (and Lies)
Professor Peter Fristedt, Philosophy Department

Christian Mysticism
Professor Phyllis Zagano, Department of Religion

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SPRING 2006

Fundamentals of Forcasting
Professor Irwin Kellner, Zarb School of Business

The American Revolution through British Eyes
Professor James Levy, School for University Studies

Bodies and Machines: Physical Culture, Technology, Body Image, and the Nature of the Human
Professor Louis Kern, Department of History

Statistics in Baseball
Professor Richard Puerzer, Department of Engineering

Debating Darwin: A Social History of the Creation vs. Evolution Controvers
Professor Daniel Varisco, Department of Anthropology

Daughters of Decadence
Professor Paula Uruburu, Department of English

Challenges in American Foreign Policy
Professor Bernard Firestone, Dean HCLAS, Department of Political Science
Professor James Klurfeld, Department of Political Science

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FALL 2006

Sexual Difference and Narrative
Professor David Powell, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures

The Democratization Process: Building and Sustaining Democracy in the 21st Century
Professor Tina Mavrikos-Adamou, Political Science

The Russian Idea and the West
Professor Igor Pustovoit, Comparative Languages and Literatures

History and Memory in the 20th Century
Professor Sally Charnow, Department of History

The Trouble with Artists
Professor Laurie Fendrich, Department of Art History and Fine Arts

Extraordinary Chemistry of Ordinary Things: Plastics and Polymers
Professor Ronald D'Amelia, Chemistry

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SPRING 2005

The Experience of Modernity
Professor Pellegrino D'Acierno, Comparative Languages and Literatures

Food and Culture
Professor Kasmir, Anthropology Department

Evolutionary Psychology
Professor William Sanderson, Psychology

American Gothic, American Grotesque
Professor Paula Uruburu, Department of English

Literature of the American Musical
Professor Richard Pioreck, Department of English

Love and Its Cousins
Professor J. Stephen Russell, Dean, HUHC, Department of English

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FALL 2005

The Double in Fiction and Film
Professor Susan Lorsch, Department of English

Women in Modern Europe
Professor Sally Charnow, Department of History

Are We Alone? Astrobiology and the Search for Extraterrestrial Life
Professor Stephen Lawrence, Department of Physics

Mapping the Nation: Cartography, Census, and Survey in Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Britain
Professor Adam Sills, Department of Geography

The Lost World, or Dancing on the Volcano: The Weimar Republic and the Creations of Modernity
Professor Neil Donahue, Comparative Languages and Literatures

Leadership, Morality, Success and Failure in Business
Professor Luke Ng, Zarb School of Business

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SPRING 2004

Business Ethics and Society
Professor Tara Radin, Zarb School of Business

Intellectuals and Exile: From Socrates to Said
Professor Stanislao G. Pugliese, Department of History

Behind the Mask: Creating a Literary Identity
Dr. Paula Uruburu, Department of English

1968: A Year of Rebellion
Professor Susan Yohn, Department of History

Clothed in Flesh: Constructing the Self in the Middle Ages
Professor J. Stephen Russell, Dean, HUHC, Department of English

Cognition and Learning
Professor Bruce Torff, Department of Curriculum and Teaching

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FALL 2004

The Cognitive Basis for Human Decision Making
Dr. Charles F. Levinthal, Department of Psychology

Mirror Up to Nature: Imitation and Creation in Art and Literature
Professor Douglas Friedlander, Department of English
Professor David Pushkin, Department of English

Music, Women and Gender
Professor Heather L. Feldman, Department of Music

Ways of Knowing Science Wars, Science Peace
Professor Karyn Valerius, Department of English

World Literature and the Anatomy of Cultural Difference
Professor Barbara Lekatsas, Department of Comparative Languages and Literatures

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SPRING 2003

Visual Literacy
Professor M. Hollander, Department of Art History and Fine Arts

Foundation of Disbelief
Professor John Teehan, Department of Philosophy

The Human Genome
Professor Joanne Wiley, Department of Biology

The Chinese Novel: The Dream of the Red Chamber
Professor Zuyan Zhou

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FALL 2003

To Be a Woman & Artist: Female Creativity in Fiction
Professor Susan Lorsch, Department of English

Eugenics and Bioethics of the Well Born
Professor Louis Kern, Department of History

Character and the Good Life
Professor Ira Singer, Department of Philosophy

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SPRING 2002

The New Testament and Early Christian Literature
Professor Alexander Burke, Department of English

Language: an Interdisciplinary Perspective
Professor Evelyn Altenberg, Department of Speech, Language and Pathology

Storytelling: The Intersection of Anthropology and History
Professor Chris Matthews, Department Anthropology

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FALL 2002

Disability in Literature
Professor G. Thomas Couser

Thinking Images and Words
Professor L. Otis, Department of English

Engines of Life
Professor Sina Rabbany, Department of Engineering
Professor Margaret Hunter, Department of Engineering

Hume and Kant
Professor T. Godlove, Department of Philosophy