Events
SEMINARS - Spring 2009
ANTHROPOLOGY
1. How to Think About Things (4 s.h.)
ANTH 14S, sec. 01 (BH): CRN 22954
T/TH, 12:10-2:05 p.m.,
Anna Feuerbach
Society is defined by the relationship between people and products, whether Wii’s or stone tools. The aim of this course is to understand how our things influence our view of the world. Students take a broad anthropological approach together with history, art, science, business and marketing, to provide a holistic understanding of commodities, from their conception, through production, to the distribution, use, and eventual disposal. Students learn how to think independently, solve problems creatively, argue for and support their points of view, and develop an understanding of how a single decision has a multitude of consequences.
ART HISTORY
2. Art Treasures of New York City Museums (4 s.h.)
AH 14S, sec. A (AA): CRN 24657
T, 4:30-6:25 p.m.,
second meeting time TBA, Aleksandr Naymark
New York City is one of the greatest “museum cities” of the world and gives a unique opportunity to study art work through direct observation, rather then from slides in a class room. During this course built to embrace all the principle periods of Western art, the class visits The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cloisters, The Frick Collection, the Brooklyn Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, Guggenheim Museum, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, Museum of American Craft, American Folk Art Museum, The New York Historical Society, The Jewish Museum, Hispanic Society, Neue Gallerie, and the American Numismatic Society exposition at the Federal Reserve Bank.
ASTRONOMY
3.The Universe (3 s.h.)
ASTR 14S, sec. 01 (NS): CRN 22380 Lecture,
T, 2:20-4:10 p.m.
ASTR 01L: CRN 22381 Lab,
TH, 2:20-4:10 p.m.
Brett Bochner
or
4.The Universe (3 s.h.)
STR 14S, sec. A (NS): CRN 24430 Lecture,
T, 4:15-6:05 p.m.
ASTR AL: CRN 24431 Lab,
TH, 4:15-6:05 p.m.
Christina Lacey
This course provides an overview of objects larger than our individual solar system, ranging from stars and stellar systems, to the universe as a whole. We will study a variety of topics, including
- The births, lives, and deaths of stars and planets
- The generation of stellar energy through nuclear fusion
- The explosions of stars as supernovae
- Black holes, and other unusual effects of Einstein’s theory of gravity (General Relativity)
- The structure and behaviors of our and other galaxies; and
- Dark matter, dark energy, and the big-bang theory of the creation of the universe.
The class includes lectures, participatory labs, and astronomical observations on the roof of the science building.
COMPARATIVE LITERATURES AND LANGUAGES
5. Sex, Money, and Power: Freud, Marx, Nietzsche on Human Nature (3 s.h.)
CLL 14S, sec. 01 (LT): CRN 24464
M/F, 11:15 a.m.-12:40 p.m.
John Krapp
Some philosophers paint an optimistic picture of human nature as essentially happy, rational, moral, altruistic, and healthy. Freud, Marx, and Nietzsche brought that sunny picture crashing down. They argued that our deepest motives are much darker, much more subterranean, much more closely tied to sex, money and power than we might like to think. Students investigate the way Marx, Nietzsche and Freud understand the construction of individual identity, the individual’s capacity to think and act rationally, the individual’s relationship to historical events, and the individual’s relationship to God or to some similar transcendent source of value. We also give consideration to the criticisms that have been brought against Marx, Nietzsche and Freud, for a variety of reasons and from a variety of perspectives, especially in the last several decades.
6. Jews and Arabs: Contemporary Literature and Film in the Arab World (4 s.h.)
CLL 14S, sec. A (LT): CRN 24466
T/TH, 4:30-6:25 p.m.
Irene Siegel
The news is full of images from the Arab world lately – but it’s also full of misleading images and stereotypes. How do we get beyond the headlines to a better understanding of the region and our relationship to it? This course approaches this question through an exploration of selected work from a range of writers and filmmakers from North Africa and the Middle East, examining the ways that their narratives challenge understandings of community, affiliation and power in the region. Framing each work in its historical and cultural context, students read short fiction, poems and essays in translation, and watch short and feature-length films – many of them rarely seen in the United States. The course challenges understandings of “Arab” and “Jewish” identities as somehow oppositional or mutually exclusive. The course also includes guest appearances by writers and filmmakers, and trips to related cultural events in New York City.
ECONOMICS
7. Political Economy of Globalization (4 s.h.)
ECO 14S, sec. 01 (BH): CRN 23517
T/TH, 10:05 a.m.-Noon
Massoud Fazeli
How do you make sense of people when they argue that they are “pro-” or “anti-globalization”? How are goods, capital and people moving around the world in new ways? How do these movements change politics locally and globally? How do they relate to national security and national sovereignty? Why does increasing global interconnectedness also seem to lead to greater division, greater inequality, and greater tension? How are we all connected, and who are “we”? Topics may include: terms of trade between and among nations; sweatshop labor/the role of the IMF, the World Bank, and other intermediaries in international trade; the state and causes of disparities in wealth between nations; peace and security in the world; the environment; human rights; and cultural preservation.
ENGINEERING
8. Ultrasound in Medicine (4 s.h.)
ENGG 14S, sec. 01 (NS): CRN 24564 Lecture,
M/W, 9:05-10 a.m.
ENGG 01L: CRN 24565 Lab,
W, 12:50-2:50 p.m.
Sleiman Ghorayeb
This is an introduction – for both science and non-science students – to the techniques and applications of diagnostic, therapeutic and interventional ultrasound in the major regions of the body. Students gain hands-on experience in learning basic ultrasound principles and machine technology; they will scan in vitro models and phantoms, and practice basic ultrasonic procedures. The class pursues and discusses case studies. Students visit neighboring medical imaging laboratories such as North Shore-LIJ Health System and Winthrop Hospital. This course is offered to students from all disciplines. However, students in the sciences will be the main audience, especially those interested in the various medical sciences.
ENGLISH
9. American Killers, American Saints (3 s.h.)
ENGL 14S, sec. 01 (LT): CRN 24330
M/W/F, 10:10-11:05 a.m.
Joseph Fichtelberg
Violence seems to be essential to social order. Governments enforce laws by threatening punishment and nations to impose their will by preparing for war. Yet violence can also serve sacred ends, promote faith, or draw believers closer to God. Americans have long understood this paradox. Our culture has used violence to unify and inspire, even as violent acts have scarred and harmed. This course explores the social uses of violence – its beauty and terror, its senselessness and serious purpose – by examining great American texts. Students read 17th- and 18th-century Indian captivity narratives, as well as 19th-century civil war literature. The course concludes with a Vietnam-era novel, Ron Kovic’s Born on the Fourth of July, and a viewing of the film adaptation by Oliver Stone, starring Tom Cruise. Students also visit Walt Whitman’s birthplace in Huntington, Long Island, and study his influence on contemporary responses to war.
10. This Hofstra Life: Documenting Your World in Style and Substance (3 s.h.)
ENGL 14S, sec. 02 (LT): CRN 23398
M/W/F, 12:50-1:45 p.m.
Vimala Pasupathi
The subject matter for this course is modeled after the popular Chicago public radio program, This American Life, a weekly, one-hour radio program that features stories about – well, just about anything that happens in the lives of people in America. Our course has a more narrow focus: stories about life at Hofstra University. In addition to episodes of This American Life in Podcast and on television, students watch documentary films by recent Oscar winners; readings include autobiographical and biographical pieces as well as more theoretical discussions of narrative style and the various subgenres within the larger category known as the “documentary.” Students explore not just the library, but also other communities that overlap with the university – including those in Long Island and New York City. By the end of the course, students produce their own documentary episode and Podcast for the class’ series, “This Hofstra Life.” Students not only learn the craft of turning daily life into compelling narratives with meaning, but also gain a greater familiarity with the resources available at the University and the people who make it the vibrant and diverse place that it is.
11. Jazz Literature and Film (3 s.h.)
ENGL 14S, sec. 03 (LT): CRN 23399
T/TH, 9:35-11 a.m.
Joseph McLaren
Jazz has inspired numerous literary works of poetry and prose, and has produced classic icons such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Benny Goodman, Charlie Parker, Dave Brubeck, Sarah Vaughan, John Coltrane, and Miles Davis. This course examines representations of jazz artists, musical settings, and jazz-related social and cultural themes in poetry, prose and film. Students look at jazz literature in relation to such periods and genres as ragtime, the “jazz age,” the Harlem Renaissance, swing, bebop, free jazz, and contemporary jazz, and we consider the relationship between the blues and jazz. The course covers various locales, including New Orleans, Kansas City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York, as well as such divisions as East Coast and West Coast Jazz. We will also discuss the connection between jazz writing and the Beat Generation of the 1950s. A field trip to a jazz venue will be scheduled.
12. Shakespeare’s Deception and Romance (3 s.h.)
ENGL 14S, sec. 04 (LT): CRN 23400
T/TH, 9:35-11 a.m.
Linda Reesman
The art of romance was a central theme in Shakespeare’s dramatic works, one that entertained the Elizabethan audience both in comedy and tragedy. This seminar explores the nature of romance and the device of deception in romantic relationships as Shakespeare skillfully develops conflicts between romantic partners. At times these conflicts illustrate tensions between the gender roles, men and women struggling to emerge independent of a society that was politically and socially unstable. In other circumstances, the interactions of husbands and wives, suitors and maidens, illustrate their experiences of the perils, joys and fantasies common to every romantic partnership still today. Was it Shakespeare’s intention to further investigate the cultural concerns of domestic order, marital conflict and assertive women? How do these dramas show equality between the sexes or mastery of them?
13. History of Science Fiction (3 s.h.)
ENGL 14S, sec. 05 (LT): CRN 22826
T/TH, 11:10 a.m.-12:35 p.m.
Barbara Bengels
Science fiction has been called the literature of change. This course considers how science fiction has shown the human response to real and imagined technological advancements as well as how the craft of science fiction writing has changed over the years. We will trace its evolution with a brief nod to the earliest writers (Lucian, deBergerac, Swift), then to American precursors (Hawthorne, Poe), and finally to the real fathers of the genre (Verne, Wells), and the blossoming of 20th-century writers such as Heinlein, Clarke, Asimov and Bradbury. Students read several exemplary novels and many short stories, and examine how science fiction movies are a genre unto themselves.
GEOLOGY
14. Rockets, Rocks and Planets
14S, sec. 01 (NS): CRN 22445 (3 s.h.)
Lecture T/TH, 1-1:55 p.m.
Charles Merguerian
This course introduces students to the history of space travel. It includes an overview of humanity's space programs, unmanned and manned space missions, and uses the earth as a model of the geological analysis of other planets. We will study the internal structure and evolution of surface features, (cratering, volanism, erosion patterns, atmosphere, ocean and tectonics) of the earth-moon system, and we will compare them to the other planets in our solar system. Laboratories include terrestrial sample analysis, cartographic studies, video and computer-based analysis, and the use of the Internet for instruction and self-discovery. Open to science and non-science students; no prerequisite.
HISTORY
15. “Magical Urbanism”: The History of Latin Americans and Latinos in the United States (4 s.h.)
HIST 14S, sec. 01 (HP): CRN 22774
M/F, 10:05 a.m.-Noon
Brenda Elsey
This course examines the experience and significance of Latin American immigration from a historical perspective. It begins with the colonial period, when European, Indian, and African cultures collided in the Americas. It then examines the emergence of independence movements and the establishment of national boundaries in the 19th century. We will focus on contemporary issues including “border policing” and immigration law, gang violence, machismo, race/ethnic identities, and the relationship between the United States and Latin America. Students research and write local case studies, using Hofstra’s Hispanic/Latino archives, interviews, New York state archives, and the New York Public Library. Field trips to the Museo del Barrio, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Latino International Film Festival in New York City provide learning opportunities outside of the classroom.
16. Omnivore’s Delight: From Cannibalism to Veganism – Custom, Practice, Mores and the Natural History and Culture of Food (4 s.h.)
HIST 14S, sec. 02 (HP): CRN 24451
T/TH, 9-11 a.m.
Louis Kern
How do cultures determine what is good and not good to eat? This course explores the relationships between human beings and nutritional consumption. The course explores the cultural impact of raw versus cooked foods; the use of spices as preservatives and flavoring agents (including supposed aphrodisiacal properties); foods as substances promoting natural health or, alternatively, feared as contaminating vectors of disease; our emotional relationship to certain foods like chocolate, coffee, and ice cream; our aversion to food as a means of attaining and maintaining ideal body mass; and the role of the food industry in shaping (through advertising, packaging, idealizing, etc.) our changing attitudes toward what we eat, and stimulating our desire for particular foods. Each student will be asked to prepare a favorite or traditional food to share with the class, and field trips will involve visits to a wide variety of ethnic restaurants to sample the diversity of contemporary world cuisine.
17. The “Stuff” of Life: Studying History Through Material Objects (4 s.h.)
HIST 14S, sec. 03 (HP): CRN 24452
T/TH, 10:05 a.m.-Noon
Susan Yohn
This seminar focuses on material culture or the history of the objects that surround us. Ever wondered about the history of that Barbie doll you used to play with or the history of your favorite football? What about that neat old dress your grandmother has saved or the old car your family treasures? We will study material culture, or the physical “stuff ” that is part of human life. Material culture includes everything we make and use, from food and clothing to art and buildings. What will people make of American society 500 years from now? How would a scholar study a society if only durable objects remain?
Each student will choose an object from among the objects of everyday life. We will examine that object in its historical, economic, and cultural contexts, learn how to research that object, and write a research paper about it. Students will also do group projects focusing on Hofstra or Long Island history using objects found in the University Archives.
JEWISH STUDIES
18. Devotional Literatures of Jews and Muslims (3 s.h.)
JWST 014S, sec. 01 (HP): CRN 24293
T/TH 9:35-11 a.m.
Hussein Rashid
Devotional literature reflects both core religious beliefs and the culture in which it is written. By virtue of these two elements, literature allows us to understand the relationship between culture and religion over time and place. In addition, comparison between the devotional literatures of Jews and Muslims allows us to better comprehend the convergences and divergences of these two Abrahamic faiths. We will cover a breadth of material, starting with scripture and ending with the Internet as a site of devotional writing.
LINGUISTICS
19. CSI: Forensic Linguistics and Criminal Investigation (4 s.h.)
LING 14S, sec. 01 (LT): CRN 24471
T/TH, 2:15-4:10 p.m.
Robert Leonard
In this class, students learn how to collect and analyze language data, and apply the principles learned in a forensic setting. We will begin with collecting our own field recordings. Our goals will be eliciting, recording, analyzing and understanding how conversations work – real-life, unrehearsed, unscripted conversations, the kind we have every day. This is called “real data,” what actually comes out of people’s mouths, as opposed to “composed/hypothetical data.” Real data is on the cutting-edge of forensic linguistics today. For example, in New Jersey v. Melanie McGuire, linguists were called in to help the FBI link a woman to her husband’s murder through linguistic variation. We will look at the patterns in murder trials involving letters sent by a stalker and a serial killer. We will analyze communications that threatened the life of the president of the United States.
PHILOSOPHY
20. There Is No Freedom (But God Does Exist) (3 s.h.)
PHI 14S, sec. 01 (HP): CRN 22922
M/W/F, 10:10-11:05 a.m.
Harold Skulsky
This seminar provides a guided tour of the major writings of a radical figure in the birth of the modern scientific outlook, Baruch Spinoza. Students will track Spinoza’s reasoning about the “way things are” as he moves up in stages from a theory of the “real” to pioneering theories of
- the physical world
- the range and limit of what material creatures like us can know
- the kind of freedom we can hope for in a totally necessary world
- the nature of human desire and emotion
- the roots of our cooperative impulses in self-interested drives and emotions
- the best political way of harnessing our drives and emotions in the service of a free society.
The format of this seminar is mostly discussion-based.
21. The Good Life/The Good Death? (3 s.h.)
PHI 14S, sec. 02 (HP): CRN 23194
T/TH, 11:10 a.m.-12:35 p.m.
Peter Fristedt
How should I live? This question, asked with obsessive insistence by the ancient Greeks, was largely abandoned by philosophers of the medieval and modern periods. The question returned with a vengeance in the writings of such 19th and 20th century thinkers as Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Sartre, and Camus. The question of the good life had by this time been radically reconceived. No longer did it assume a human nature whose character would determine what is good for humans in general; it now considered humans in light of their capacity to make themselves, to choose what they are. This view of humans is one in which the event of our death is central. In a godless universe in which our death means our nonexistence, what sense can we make of our lives? In this class, students consider these two ways of thinking about life. In addition to the aforementioned thinkers, students read such ancients as Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, and Epictetus, and will consider the thought of the ancient skeptics and cynics.
22. Atheism (4 s.h.)
PHI 14S, sec. 03 (HP): CRN 24523
T/TH, 12:10-2:05 p.m.
Amy Karofsky
This seminar will explore the atheist’s position that God does not exist. We will begin by considering the atheist’s objections against the most promising proofs for God’s existence. We will then look at some of the atheist’s arguments showing that God does not exist. Finally, we will consider how the atheist might respond to certain questions including: Can there be morality if there is no God? Can life have meaning without God? How can the universe exist if it wasn’t created by God? Students read and examine the writings of different philosophers, both theists and atheists. It is an introductory class; no prior knowledge of philosophy is necessary. The course is open to believers and non-believers alike.
PSYCHOLOGY
23. The Mind’s Eye: Scientific Approaches to Perception, Memory, and Thinking (3 s.h.)
PSY 14S, sec. 01 (BH): CRN 23377
M/W/F, 10:10-11:05 a.m.
Kristin Weingartner
Investigations of eye movement behavior have provided valuable insights about human thought processes, ranging from how we identify words during reading to how we attend to signs while driving. The course begins with a discussion of the methodological issues associated with eye movement research. Then we’ll discuss the findings from several eye movement investigations, with an emphasis on what the results suggest for a number of issues related to attention, memory, and decision-making. Some of the research questions discussed are: Why is it so easy to comprehend language when so many of the words and sentences we encounter are ambiguous? Why is it that the distracting effects of talking on a cell phone can impair driving performance just as much as being intoxicated does? Why do we often fail to “see” what we are looking at? We’ll also consider the implications of findings from a number of eye movement studies for clinical areas, including face recognition processes in individuals with autism and the origin of phobias.
24. Animal Cognition (4 s.h.)
PSY 14S, sec. 02 (BH): CRN 24249
M/W, 9-11 a.m.
Oskar Pineño
How do animals know where to forage for food and how do they find their way back home? Do they have a notion of time? Can they represent numbers? Can they make inferences and learn rules and concepts to more effectively guide their behavior? We will discuss current research on animal cognition, or the study of mental abilities in nonhuman animals. This research, typically conducted within the paradigm of animal learning, has provided great insights into the workings of the animal mind. The techniques of classical and instrumental conditioning, originally developed to answer relatively simple questions about animal learning, are now powerful tools that allow us to dig deeper into the psychology of nonhuman animals, revealing complex mental processes in animals previously believed to be the exclusive property of the homo sapiens.
25. Consumer Behavior (4 s.h.)
PSY 14S, sec. 03 (BH): CRN 24661
T/TH, 12:10-2:05 p.m.
Terri Shapiro
Have you ever wondered why we buy the things we buy? How do marketers and advertisers persuade us that one product or service is better than another? What influences our satisfaction with a product or service, and how does that affect our future purchasing behavior? What happens when a product or service fails, and how does an organization recover from failure and win back its customers? What is the influence of e-commerce? Is the online consumer experience similar to in-person consumer interactions? In this seminar we will integrate theory, research, and current practice to examine the psychology of consumer behavior, market research, and advertising.
RELIGION
26. Prison Break: Religion and Incarceration in America (3 s.h.)
RELI 014S, sec. 01 (HP): CRN 23561
M/F, 11:15 a.m.-12:40 p.m.
Jody Cross-Hansen
The United States incarcerates more of its citizens than any other nation in the world. Recently, those same churches which helped created the “penitent”iary are now questioning whether it should be abolished. This course explores the religious and social evolution of the American prison system, and examines some proposed solutions, and innovative experiments in rehabilitation. We will also explore the implications of “God Pods,” controversial religiously programmed prisons being offered to some offenders.