One of the cornerstones of the undergraduate curriculum in the College of Arts and Sciences is the Seminar for Freshmen. All incoming first-year student in the College take one of these seminars, choosing from offerings in a wide variety of disciplines. The seminar professors also become students’ first-year advisors, guiding students to valuable resources and offering them a link to the intellectual life of the College. Because the seminars are limited in size, they offer students an excellent opportunity to get to know their professor/first-year advisor, their classmates, and the University in ways that might not otherwise be possible. The seminar allows students to engage in deep thinking about a topic that is focused but that has broad implications that often cross disciplinary boundaries.
4.00
Two of the most daunting challenges the world faces (or will face) is how to provide for both its growing energy needs and potable drinking water. Regular news events include climate change, droughts, flooding, and petroleum struggles. Human nature often requires a severe crisis before it responds. This course will investigate the historical science driving the use of energy since the Industrial Revolution to convert energy resources into work, including the steam engine, the electric motor, and the internal combustion engine. It will also consider alternative energy options to fossil fuels, such as solar, wind, geothermal, and ocean power. Along the way we will consider the evidence for Global Warming and Climate Change. We will look into human nature, simple life styles, conspiracy theories, and the influence of those in power to shape human opinion. We will also consider how our water supply is provided and where it goes after being used. What options do developing countries or drought racked areas have to remedy their water needs? Although the course pursues a scientific understanding of these issues, the mathematics used will be gentle, and a larger emphasis will be placed on the intuitive appreciation of these concerns.
4.00
This interdisciplinary seminar will explore the buildings, monuments, sites, and signs around Boston from the point of view of Visual and Culture Studies. In addition to providing a compelling introduction to the history, major landmarks, and culture of the city, the seminar is specifically intended to improve students visual literacy: that is, their awareness of their visual environment and their ability to critically analyze the rhetoric of the spaces, buildings, and images with which they are surrounded.
4.00
This class will examine some of the many controversies surrounding the Vietnam and Iraq Wars, two conflicts that have been profoundly polarizing for the American people. There are widely divergent perspectives regarding the fundamental questions surrounding each war. Were the reasons for American involvement just? To what extent were the methods used by the United States military during each war just? To what extent did the media play an appropriate role before, during, and after each war? Did opposition to these wars serve primarily to benefit the enemies of the United States or did it constitute a form of patriotism and love of country? This interdisciplinary course will address these and other complex questions by examining the histories, literature, and films (both documentaries and dramatic) that have been produced in response to these wars.
4.00
Fairy tales dont teach that monsters exist, but that monsters can be killed (G.K. Chesterton). This course looks beyond monsters to the conditions that produce them. Readings include fairy tales and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; we will also consider contemporary inventions of monsters (the Lock Ness monster, serial killers), and monsters figuring youthful anxieties in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Smallville. Secondary materials include archetypal and psychoanalytic explorations of what monsters (and our defeat of them) may represent.
CAS Honors Scholar students only
4.00
MyTwitterFacebookSpace explores the significance of social networking media on various facets of contemporary life. Topics of discussion include, but are not limited to, the influence of social networking media on identity formation, personal and professional relationships, globalization, social change, presidential politics, creativity, journalism, copyright law, privacy, commercialism, and the dissemination of knowledge. This course is not designed to celebrate the next generation of networked technology, but requires students to seriously consider the influence of emerging forms of communication on micro and macro levels of daily life. Revolutions in communication have a long history - from the development of writing and the printing press to the discovery of electronic and digital signals. These histories provide a foundation for understanding how communication revolutions come about, what they often promise, what they usually deliver, and how each technological leap is understood at the time and in hindsight by end users. Students will read texts on canonical theory and history in communication studies as well as cutting edge work from the discipline on convergence culture and knowledge communities. A core teaching tool of this course are the technologies under investigation. For example, students will conduct a privacy analysis of their Facebook profiles and write a reflection essay on how the content might be interpreted by friends, family, and future employers; the class will develop a Flickr photostream for documenting their first semester experience; and the class will participate in a weekly blog about the course readings and develop an annotated wiki of additional readings. In keeping with the Seminar for Freshmen goal of encouraging students to explore Suffolk and Boston outside the classroom and to develop a sense community with peers and the instructor, several activities involve field trips and group projects. The writing expectations in this propose
CAS Honors Scholar students only.
4.00
Writhing, screaming, howling, moaning, androgynous, chemically-altered youths cavorting to pulsating music. Does this describe the Woodstock concert or an ancient Dionysian festival? Friedrich Nietzsches book The Birth of Tragedy will provide a key for interpreting Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and Jim Morrison (and many others) in this intellectual analysis of the music of rocks golden age and the culture surrounding it.
4.00
Is there a relationship between accumulated political power and mass media representations? Is news content impacted by existing political power relations? It is the object of this course to critically analyze the role of the mass media within the framework of existing political power relations in the United States. In particular, the course will focus on the role the mass media plays in promoting and reinforcing dominant political practices and ideologies. The course will begin by exploring various theories of the press, notably its function in a democratic society, as well as the concepts of power and propaganda. We will continue with a series of case studies, complemented by secondary sources that highlight how media representations affect the contemporary distribution of political power in the US. Topics of discussion will include the current US war on terrorism, the ongoing health care debate, the public disavowal of big government, and the concept of a liberal media.
4.00
The theatre has always been a metaphor for life. In modern times life has become theatre. This seminar will confront the idea of real life and the eroding boundary between performers and audience. Students will study the roots of the contemporary obsession with stars and stardom, a mania that began in the 18th century and flourished in the 19th century. We will look at performance studies, performers memoirs, plays, and films that dramatize this dilemma.
4.00
Two of the most daunting challenges the world faces (or will face) is how to provide for both its growing energy needs and potable drinking water. Regular news events include climate change, droughts, flooding, and petroleum struggles. Human nature often requires a severe crisis before it responds. This course will investigate the historical science driving the use of energy since the Industrial Revolution to convert energy resources into work, including the steam engine, the electric motor, and the internal combustion engine. It will also consider alternative energy options to fossil fuels, such as solar, wind, geothermal, and ocean power. Along the way we will consider the evidence for Global Warming and Climate Change. We will look into human nature, simple life styles, conspiracy theories, and the influence of those in power to shape human opinion. We will also consider how our water supply is provided and where it goes after being used. What options do developing countries or drought racked areas have to remedy their water needs? Although the course pursues a scientific understanding of these issues, the mathematics used will be gentle, and a larger emphasis will be placed on the intuitive appreciation of these concerns.
4.00
This seminar will establish a clear link between the environment and the macroeconomy. We will examine how environmental decisions are also economic decisions that affect output and employment, among other things. We will also establish that environmental issues are global in nature and have political and economic effects beyond our borders. Students will do a significant amount of research and writing and will engage in group discussions.
4.00
Does cultural identity come from language, history, or both? German is spoken in the capital cities of Germany and Austria, but no one would confuse a Berliner with a Viennese. We will try to find out what is behind this conundrum by studying dramas, stories, and historical texts; examining buildings and works of art; and viewing films.
4.00
Why are conflicts so hard to resolve? How do myths about conflict affect communication? What is the role of power in conflicts? How can we use language and listening skills to engage in healthy conflict resolution? Course examines conflict within and across issues of gender, sexuality, race, class, religion, and ethnicity. Explores attempts to negotiate meaning and power within and across socio-cultural conflicts and how this is revealed through language.
Expanded Classroom Requirement
4.00
This seminar will explore the poetry and prose of Alice Walker a contemporary African American author whose writings offer rich lessons on gender, class, race, psychological development, and change. By exploring the authors works in-depth, students will gain an appreciation of the cultural and historical factors affecting individual lives. Videotaped interviews and filmed adaptations of Alice Walkers work will be woven into the curriculum. When opportunities arise, we will schedule relevant field trips and discussions to augment our understanding of the authors writings and experiences.
4.00
This course explores the cultural and social functions of the media with an emphasis on learning how to critically evaluate media content. Students will examine a diversity of media texts, from reality television and action films to pop music and video games. As a final project, the class will produce and edit a short documentary-style video investigating a contemporary social issue. ECR
4.00
This course examines the American legal system and the legal profession from the point of view of an anthropologist. Readings will cover American legal history, the law school experience, life as a lawyer, legal theory, and even courtroom architecture as temples of justice. Seminar activities include field trips to Suffolk Law School, a Boston law firm, and courthouses. A prominent law school professor, a legal practitioner, and a judge will make guest appearances.
4.00
After years, the War Between the States continues to inspire writers in our own time. Reading works of recent fiction along with a number of relevant newspaper and magazine articles we will examine the challenges confronting those who lived through this pivotal period in our nations history.
4.00
This seminar will examine the related ideas of love, death, and immortality in a variety of readings from all over the ancient world, including Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, Israel, Arabia, China, Japan, Central America, and Africa. We will read and discuss some of the earliest and most profound religious, philosophical, and historical texts; epic and lyric poetry; prose fiction; and plays. We will also take at least one field trip to the ancient art galleries of the Museum of Fine Arts.
4.00
Rain or shine, the great 18th century Enlightenment philosophers would meet at the famous cafes of Paris to discuss their ideas, and to observe and criticize society. From these informal debates emerged ideas that are at the core of our modern understanding of the nature of society, marginality, human nature, civil rights, the essence of creativity and genius. Come join us in the quest to understand, define, observe, and analyze the key ideas and concepts of these great thinkers, such as Rousseau, Diderot, and Voltaire, still so relevant in our time. We will read key works of these creative thinkers and philosophers. We will enrich our experience and understanding through the use of film, theatre performances, museum visits, as well as the occasional cafe debate.
4.00
By now the general public is aware that individual food choices affect personal health. It is equally true that our food choices affect the health of the planet in numerous and complex ways. This seminar explores eating as a personal, political, and ecological act. Concerns and questions of course participants will be incorporated into the class discussions. Field trips and group meals will focus on available foodstuffs in the Boston area and their evaluation in terms of nutrition, social responsibility, environmental sustainability, and taste.
4.00
This course explores the process through which youth in urban areas are funneled into criminal careers and lives in prison. The focus is on the experience of young men who face the prospect of spending significant portions of their lives incarcerated. Three segments of the life-course for this population are explored - before, during, and after prison. The course is developed as a Service Learning Course, offering students opportunities to learn about and work in communities with programs that target criminogenic factors and are designed to prevent youth from ending up in prison. The community component of the course requires 15 contact hours in community service settings such as group meetings, agency hearings, courts, intervention programs, etc. The course utilizes a life story approach to learn more about individuals, families, and communities at risk. Other activities include a prison visit, reviews of programs in prison and class visits with former offenders.
4.00
Do we all feel the same feelings across cultures and throughout history, or do we learn to feel according to the rules of our own time and place or a little of both? This seminar will first examine ideas about emotional life from history, anthropology, sociology, and psychology. Then, through literature, film, and history, we will turn to our own exploration of how emotion rules have evolved for love, marriage, and bringing up children, from Jane Austen to John Updike, and into the twenty-first century.
4.00
Using the current Boston theatre season as its syllabus, this writing- and analysis-intensive course will explore several plays in production at some of Bostons many professional theatres. We will study the script of four to five plays before attending performances of those works. Students will gain insights on the world of theatre through backstage tours and conversations with theatre professionals such as producers, directors, actors, designers, playwrights, and critics. Students must be available for evening (usually Wednesday) performances. A fee for student-rate tickets will be assessed.
4.00
This seminar will investigate the impact and legacy of the Beatles. The Fab Four deserve our scholarly attention as musical innovators and as cultural avatars of the 1960s, an era that still exerts influence today. We will examine the many ways in which the Beatles rocked the establishment and became defining figures in post-war youth culture. We will also discuss other media (the visual arts, film, fashion, style) and fields of study (mass media, marketing, recording technology, copyright law, English history) using the Beatles as our guides.
4.00
This seminar looks at men and women in conflict and love by linking classical writings with current poetry, music, fiction, and nonfiction. Symbols of love, aggression, obedience, and altruism will be viewed from psychological, historical, and political perspectives.
4.00
Should young people vote? Does it matter? What are other forms of political participation available to citizens and what is the citizens responsibility to utilize these? This course takes you on a guided tour of the what, why and how of political participation: what forms of participation are there? How do citizens effect change? Does it make a difference? You will engage in a civic activity yourself and explore firsthand how participation effects the individual and the community. Each student (individually or in a team) will create and execute a civic engagement project to educate the campus and raise awareness.
4.00
This seminar will focus upon presidential campaigns in the television age. We will examine the underlying important political issues, strategic use of television and advertising, debates and other media events in order to develop a better understanding of the presidential campaign process. Students in this seminar will analyze these campaigns through an examination of television footage, televised advertisements, relevant literature, guest speakers and a trip to the Kennedy Library and Museum.
4.00
The house as a cultural symbol permeates all aspects of our lives, from the literature we read (The House of the Seven Gables) to the television shows we watch (Extreme Home Makeover) to the magazines we flip through (O at Home). This course will examine these and other representations of home (including historic house museums in the Boston area) in our attempt to understand what meaning they hold, and why houses count for so much in America.
4.00
This course will examine the nature of aesthetic experience, art, beauty, and creativity. Through classical and contemporary readings the students will be introduced to philosophical issues concerning the meaning of art, artistic representation, perceptions of art, interpretation, and criticism.
4.00
Once violent conflict between two groups has ended, what is the best way to transition back to normality coming to terms with the past or simply moving on? To answer these questions we will examine the debates surrounding war crime tribunals, truth commissions, lustration policies, and reparations in the second half of the 20th century. Case studies will include post-apartheid South Africa, post-WWII Germany, and the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. We will discuss the philosophical problems raised by each of these instruments, as well as on the political, legal, and practical difficulties their implementation present. Cultural Diversity B
Cultural Diversity Opt B
4.00
This seminar aims to empower female and male students through understanding the gendered nature of mass media. Students will acquire feminist languages to critique the media not only at the level of representations, but also the gendered political economic structure of the media, and audiences subjectivities in reading media texts. Cultural Diversity A
Cultural Diversity Opt A
4.00
Students will read and discuss significant Bible passages that have inspired music. We will hear and analyze different arrangements some vocal and some purely instrumental to understand how the composer interprets the text through music. Examples include the book of Genesis as set by Haydn in the oratorio The Creation and interpreted by Milhaud in the ballet La Creation du Monde.
4.00
Dantes Divine Comedy is a journey to the three realms of the afterlife. In this seminar we will accompany him as he visits Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise in search of profound truths about himself and his world. The Divine Comedy is about love and hate, good and evil, laughter and tears, men and women, the social sciences and the humanities. Whoever you are, you can learn something from Dantes masterpiece.
4.00
The theatre has always been a metaphor for life. In modern times life has become theatre. This seminar will confront the idea of real life and the eroding boundary between performers and audience. Students will study the roots of the contemporary obsession with stars and stardom, a mania that began in the 18th century and flourished in the 19th century. We will look at performance studies, performers memoirs, plays, and films that dramatize this dilemma.
4.00
What motivates and inspires great minds? How do they gain and develop knowledge? How do they construct and define moral imperatives? This course will examine selected works of great minds whose lives and works continue to represent an enduring source of critical consciousness, courage, and commitment to humanity. We will review the works of Sophocles, William Shakespeare, Mahatma Gandhi, Simone Weil, and Martin Luther King, Jr., among others.
4.00
The law dictates that corporations, arguably the most influential institutions of our time, can have only one goal: to maximize profits for their shareholders. Corporations have no general legal or moral obligation to the well-being of society or individual consumers. Using film, text, and other media, we will take an eye-opening look at the food and tobacco industries to answer the following question: How can law and government be used to protect society and consumers by regulating a system programmed to ignore the welfare of everyone except shareholders?
4.00
Using materials drawn from several disciplines, this seminar examines ends (of culture, eras, and innocence) as well as scientific speculation regarding the end of the world. The course stresses writing and learning strategies, critical literacy, and academic survival skills, as well as exposure to great works and ideas.
4.00
This seminar explores the history of women in Contemporary Spain and its representation in the countrys cinema. Through a multi-disciplinary approach that examines representations of women in films from the 1960s to the present, students will not only become familiar with the most emblematic Spanish films but will also through a selection of required readings learn about the connections between cinema and Contemporary Spains history and culture.
4.00
This course will survey issues of female identities and how they were shaped or informed as functions of social, political and religious dynamics in the Eastern and Western hemispheres and within various historical periods. The students will objectify their study with the rich and highly representative collection at the Museum of Fine Arts as they critically interpret female portrayals under the brush of the male artists and the purse of the male patron. The evolution of female identities and shifting perceptions of women will also serve as a key objective in weaving a more comprehensive understanding of this phenomenon
Expanded Classroom Requirement
4.00
Philip Pullman to Milton and back to C.S Lewis The course will begin with reading and discussing His Dark Materials (the trilogy that includes The Golden Compass) by Philip Pullman. Through reading this exciting but complex fantasy students will begin an examination of the ideas and narrative structures that Pullman uses to expand on and develop his sources, which among others include Paradise Lost, the poetry and paintings of William Blake and The Bible. Students will then read and examine excerpts from these sources and read about their use in His Dark Materials. The final section of the course will compare Pullmans work with that of fellow Oxford resident C.S. Lewiss Chronicles of Narnia and look at the different ways the two authors use the same source material. With both authors works having recently been filmed and turned into video games, the opportunity is here to look at the influences of elements of the literary canon on 21st century culture. Readings will include Pullmans His Dark Materials trilogy (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass). C.S. Lewis The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, and extracts from Prince Caspian and The Last Battle. Essays by Pullman and Lewis about their work and their ideas, particularly Pullmans humanistic atheism and Lewis journey towards a personal Christianity. Extracts from Paradise Lost, William Blake and The Bible. Journal Articles and essays about Pullman and Lewis from literary critics, theologians, anthropologists and cultural critics.
4.00
Popular beliefs about crime are often inspired by the media and by specific criminological theories. These theories about and media images of crime will be examined in detail, including the hits and misses.
4.00
This course will focus on classic works of ancient and modern literature that examine the human condition from a tragic perspective. We will concentrate on close readings from the following texts: Homers Iliad, Sophocles Antigone, The Bhagavad-Gita, Shakespeares Othello, Chekhovs short stories, and Joyces Dubliners.
4.00
This seminar will examine science fiction literature, film, and television from 1940 through 1970: A time when science fiction moved from the era of pulp magazine to the large and small screens.
4.00
This class will examine the way in which marketing techniques are used in campaign politics at the Presidential and Congressional levels. It will focus most closely on the 2008 electoral cycle but will expand outward to examine the use of such techniques in Presidential and Congressional elections from 1990 to the present. At a minimal level, students will learn about the communicative strategies employed by electoral campaigns but also about the reasons why such techniques do or do not work and the consequences of marketed politics for American democracy. In short, the ultimate goal of the class is produce savvier consumers of political information than are often presently found among American citizens.
4.00
Language is a living thing. It grows and changes with each generations usage, and dies when no longer needed. Language is also a key component of cultural identity. People who share a language can communicate about issues, rituals, and ideas that are important to them, and thus can participate in the same culture. People who do not understand the language of the culture they are living in become isolated and marginalized. Throughout history, travelers and traders have visited other cultures and learned their languages. This has allowed them to communicate, trade and prosper. Technology and rapid transportation, hallmarks of modern globalization, have provided more opportunities for people from different cultures to interact and share. Still, one complication to these interactions is language. There is a perceived need for a common language in order to facilitate improved communication, trade, and exchange of ideas. However, the promotion of a common language, increasingly English, leads to concerns about loss of native languages, cultural knowledge, and the ties that bind communities. The youth of the 21st century are in a challenging position; they must strive to be both the agents of change, and keepers of their national and cultural identity. This course provides a framework for students to examine these challenges and consider the value of bilingualism, language preservation, and global communication.
4.00
This course is about the basketball hoop dream played out at the high school and college levels. We will study a wide variety of materials - novels, films, websites, reference works - to understand both the construction, and destruction, of the hoop dream in such diverse places as New York City, Seattle, rural Indiana, suburban Georgia, and the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. Issues of race and culture will serve as guiding themes as we develop critical theory explaining why the hoop dream has persisted, and adapted, over time, to fit the needs of its believers and supporters.
Cultural Diversity Opt A
4.00
American adolescence is relatively a short-lived age period but it has a long lasting effects. What is it about American adolescence that makes it so important? To answer this question, we will examine adolescence from several different perspectives. For example, we will explore how and why the period of adolescence has grown longer over the past 100 years. We also will look at some of the unique biological and psychological aspects of adolescents. Finally, we will examine societal expectations, how adolescents function in school, their leisure activities, and some of the unique psychological problems associated with this period of life.
4.00
How is it that comics, a genre often viewed as entertainment for children and adolescents, has become one of the most exciting forms of narrative and visual art? To answer this question, this seminar will examine a range of graphic novels, from those that celebrate their origins in superhero comics, such as Alan Moores Watchmen, to those that treat subjects not usually considered proper to the comics genre, such as Art Spiegelmans Maus, about the Holocaust, and Alison Bechdels Fun Home, about the complexities of sexual identity. As we read these works, we will look at how the combination of words and still images makes the graphic novel a unique storytelling form, as well as how artists and writers push the envelope to create new styles and challenge our expectations. In addition to class discussions and writing assignments, we will take a field trip to the Museum of Fine Arts and create a collaborative group graphic novel step-by-step over the course of the semester (all abilities welcome).
4.00
Is there a relationship between accumulated political power and mass media representations? Is news content impacted by existing political power relations? It is the object of this course to critically analyze the role of the mass media within the framework of existing political power relations in the United States. In particular, the course will focus on the role the mass media plays in promoting and reinforcing dominant political practices and ideologies. The course will begin by exploring various theories of the press, notably its function in a democratic society, as well as the concepts of power and propaganda. We will continue with a series of case studies, complemented by secondary sources that highlight how media representations affect the contemporary distribution of political power in the US. Topics of discussion will include the current US war on terrorism, the ongoing health care debate, the public disavowal of big government, and the concept of a liberal media.
This class includes a one week period in residence at the Universitys Friedman Field Station in Edmunds, Maine. The cost of room and board for the Field Station is $150/week per student, which would be borne by the students.
4.00
This class includes a one week period in residence at the Universitys Friedman Field Station in Edmunds, Maine during the period just before the beginning of fall classes. This exposure would enable an in depth introduction to the marine resources of the Gulf of Maine, to the faculty and staff of the Field Station, and to each other. The cost of room and board for the Field Station is $150/week per student, which would be borne by the students.
Expanded Classroom Requirement
4.00
Readings from Emerson and other American Renaissance writers, including Hawthorne, Melville, Thoreau, Whitman, Margaret Fuller, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Frederick Douglass, William and Henry James, and Emily Dickinson, and examination of their role in shaping twentieth- and twenty-first-century American culture, American pragmatism, and European modern and postmodern philosophy, literature, and cultural criticism. This is a seminar in American cultural, intellectual, political, and socio-economic history which will examine the relationship between Ralph Waldo Emerson and other contemporary American cultural critics, as well as their relationship to the society from which they sprang and to the values of which they were, at the same time, giving enduring cultural formulation. An examination will be also be undertaken of the formative influence of Emerson and his contemporaries on their successors in American cultural production and cultural criticism, and of their enduring influence, for good or ill, on a twentieth- and twenty-first- century America that was in the process of changing profoundly - socially, economically, and ethnically - from that of Emersons day.
4.00
Why do we travel? What does it mean to call oneself a citizen of the world? This course explores how the adventure of travel and the displacement of exile fuel the literary imagination by uprooting the mind from its familiar ground. We will encounter the New World with European explorers (Shakespeares The Tempest), journey to Europe with journalists, tourists, and students (Margaret Fuller, E. M. Forster, and Woody Allens Vicky Cristina Barcelona), map new imaginative geographies in poetry (Elizabeth Bishop), and laugh with master travel writers as they experience culture shock (Bill Bryson). Finally, we will return to Boston to see our home city through the new eyes of immigrants to the United States (Mary Antin and Jhumpa Lahiri).
4.00
This literature seminar will study and compare the short stories of Edgar Allan Poe, Flannery OConnor, and Annie Proulx. Beginning with Poe as the father of the short story genre in America and exploring his critical theory of the grotesque and arabesque, the class will examine the emergence of the gothic literary idiom as a classic American genre. Critical essays on the gothic aesthetic will be analyzed and film adaptations and documentaries will be viewed.
4.00
Through selected readings, movies, and a field trip to Chinatown, we will study important socio-cultural events related to Asian immigrants throughout American history. This seminar will help students gain a better understanding of racial and cultural relations and appreciate the dynamics of cultural interactions in the twenty-first century.
Cultural Diversity Opt A
4.00
Why did they change the ending of the book? The novel is so much better! We will explore the concept and industry of film adaptation. Students will read novels and watch respective film adaptations to explore how the written word is adapted to the screen; both fiction and non-fiction works will be considered. Also, field trips to past film locations in Boston will be taken to explore why specific settings were chosen for respective situations. Additionally, students will create their own written adaptations of source materials, putting into practice the concepts studied in class.
4.00
Writhing, screaming, howling, moaning, androgynous, chemically-altered youths cavorting to pulsating music. Does this describe the Woodstock concert or an ancient Dionysian festival? Friedrich Nietzsches book The Birth of Tragedy will provide a key for interpreting Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and Jim Morrison (and many others) in this intellectual analysis of the music of rocks golden age and the culture surrounding it.
4.00
How unified is Germany? How German is Austria? We will examine the cultural history of a people that has produced military and musical geniuses, the Reformation and the /Reich/, the /Autobahn /and the welfare state, wind power stations, and world football (i.e., soccer) champions. Case studies from art, film, literature, and music.
4.00
In this project and team-based course, students study a sustainability problem at Suffolk University and spend the semester developing proposals to address the problem. At the end of the course students will present their proposals to Suffolk Universitys sustainability committee, and will exhibit their websites and visual aids in the Donohue lobby to educate the Suffolk community about sustainability. If their proposals are well-researched and well-communicated, students can see their ideas actualized while they are still undergraduates.
4.00
What accounts for the power of music to move us so profoundly? This course explores how our brains and music evolved together: What music can teach us about the brain, what the brain can teach us about music, and what both can teach us about ourselves.
4.00
The EU is a powerful political, economic and cultural block that is meant to play a major role, together with the USA and China, in the creation of a new post-crisis world order. The seminar is intended to cover, at a basic but reachable level, the history, the politics, the culture and the functions of the EU in the beginning of the Twentieth Century. An extraordinary experiment of sociopolitical engineering, comparable to that of the United States of America, the EU has been changing the life of an increasing number of Europeans for over 50 years. No American student could afford to ignore the inner structure as well as the particular peculiarities of such inclusive supranational organization in todays world. Issues as institutional functioning, problems derived from individual state sovereignty, economic coordination to face common challenges, cultural integration, future enlargement, etc. are all indispensable to understand the way in which Europe is changing. But also much more day-to-day issues, such as travel mobility, education exchange programs, citizens participation, supranational networks of people in the arts or in business, unified labor market, gender participation, human rights, consumers protection, etc. are all in the process of developing a more robust and functional European Citizenship.
4.00
There is a long tradition in the western world of viewing Africa as a place of savagery, primitiveness, and violence, and yet Europeans and descendents of Europeans have historically committed numerous acts of violence against African peoples. This class will examine two such instances: the crimes against humanity that took place in what are now the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Africa. The course will begin with an examination of the brutal Belgian colonization of the Congo in the 1880s, depicted famously in Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness. The second unit of this course will examine South African apartheid, a system of racial segregation that began in 1948 and which was imposed and enforced with massive levels of violence. The course will also examine the resistance to these abuses. Adam Hochshild describes the campaign against Belgian colonialism in the Congo as the first great international human rights movement of the twentieth century. In terms of resistance to apartheid, we will examine the roles played by Nelson Mandela, Steve Biko, the African National Congress, and the international apartheid movement, which successfully mobilized governments around the world to exert pressure on the South African regime.
Cultural Diversity Opt B
4.00
Students will examine the HIV/AIDS epidemic from a variety of perspectives, including historical, cultural, biological, political, legal, social, and psychological. We will predominantly focus on the U.S. epidemic but will look to other parts of the world (Haiti, Africa) for comparison. For each of the content areas, we will reflect on the role of race, gender, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status, as well as the tension between scientific knowledge, popular understanding, and political/legal doctrine.
4.00
The increasing rate of urbanization has been accompanied by dramatic changes in almost every aspect of urban life, creating new challenges and opportunities for urban dwellers, planner, and policymakers. This course is designed to examine the demographic, economic, and environmental realities and challenges facing contemporary cities. Specific issues that will be discussed include affordable housing, employment rates, civic engagement, environmental justice, access to transportation, impacts of gentrification, urban renewal strategies, and access to education. The city of Boston will be the primary context through which concepts, theories, and findings presented in the lectures and readings will be explored and evaluated. We will have site visits and evaluate local policies and plans. The objective of this course is to provide students with an understanding of the role of government, institutions, organizations, and citizens in identifying and addressing contemporary urban challenges.
4.00
This interdisciplinary course focuses on the political, economic and security aspects of the American-European relationship since 1945. Within the context of broader international developments from the end of WW II to the age of globalization, the course will explore the patterns of cooperation, competition and conflict that have characterized the transatlantic relationship in the past seven decades. The course is divided in three main sections. The first presents the historical background of the transatlantic relation before 1945, emphasizing the particular role of France and the United Kingdom. The second section explains how Europe has evolved from a region of war to the integration process sublimated in the European Union and speculates the effects on the transatlantic relations. The third part of the course analyzes the changing nature of the hegemonic power of the United States. The final section presents the interrelations between Europe and the United States in the political, economic and security areas and aims to answer a simple question: Has the transatlantic relationship been weakened or strengthened in the era of globalization?
4.00
An introduction to vertebrate history using the fossil record. The pattern of vertebrate evolution shows great changes in anatomical structure that reflect natural selection toward new ecological opportunities. After an introduction to paleontological methods, the course develops a foundation of anatomical knowledge and phylogenetic relationships among the groups of living and extinct vertebrates. This foundational knowledge is then applied to the discussion of changes in locomotion, defense, and feeding adaptations in vertebrates, as well as an understanding of the way of life of the various groups, especially early tetrapods, dinosaurs, and mammals. The class will also be able to critique scientific arguments about areas of active debate in vertebrate paleontology. Early in the semester, the group makes a required weekend trip to study the evidence of prehistoric life and geologic change in Western Massachusetts.
Expanded Classroom Requirement
4.00
This course will examine the major topics, trends, and controversies in the study of ancient Greek law and its influences on the American legal system. This course will focus on law and order in the Athenian courts, judicial review, implementing the neighborhood grand jury and social norms in the Athenian courts. Special emphasis will focus on the law in action and its daily life best mirrored in its usages and customs, which constitute the laws ordinary transactions. Special emphasis will be given to argument and rhetoric, civic and professional actors in the court system, the modalities of justice as well as the foundation of the Courts.
4.00
This interdisciplinary seminar will explore the buildings, monuments, sites, and signs around Boston from the point of view of Visual and Culture Studies. In addition to providing a compelling introduction to the history, major landmarks, and culture of the city, the seminar is specifically intended to improve students visual literacy: that is, their awareness of their visual environment and their ability to critically analyze the rhetoric of the spaces, buildings, and images with which they are surrounded.
4.00
Counterfeit goods have simultaneously become a financial drain on rightful brand owners, and a funding source for organized crime, including terrorism. However, counterfeiting, dubbed the crime of the 21st century, has also become a consumer and tourist activity - shopping for fake purses, watches, and clothing - that many view as a victimless crime. In this seminar, we will discuss the legal, financial, and social implications of the counterfeiting phenomenon. Students will explore the link between a seemingly harmless activity (purchasing a fake) and the exceedingly harmful activity that might result. The curriculum for this seminar will include readings, television news reports, discussion of first-hand experiences, and guest speakers with expertise on the topic.
4.00
This seminar will examine Americas preoccupation with materialism. It seems we have been a nation of conspicuous consumers for a very long time. The seminar will compare us to the rest of the world through our ecological footprint. We will also examine the rest of the worlds inclination to follow the American model, some nations more than others. The seminar borrows heavily from economics, psychology, sociology, and environmental science. One focus of the seminar will be to examine whether bigger is really better and if materialism leads to happiness.
4.00
The purpose of this course will be to help students gain a greater understanding of psychological development through the process of reading, writing, and discussing literary memoirs. Poetry and prose will augment a more nuanced understanding of memoir writers experiences in growing up in their families and in confronting the larger world. Students will begin to consider the impact of race, class, gender, culture, and family on individual lives. Writers from Suffolk and the larger Boston community will be invited to the class to discuss their creative process, influences on their writing and developmental markers. Videotape interviews and/or screenplays will also be shown.
4.00
This course will seek to examine the roots, funding and ideology of the Tea Party movement. The course will explore whether the movements central claim - that lower taxes plus less government equals more freedom - is true in the modern era of multinational corporations. The course will then examine two of the movements central concerns: 1) strictly adhering to the original intent of the framers of the United States Constitution; and 2) that America was founded as a Christian nation, and that church and state should not, therefore, be divided by a wall of separation - have any merit. The course will involve students in the reading and discussion of original sources related to the Constitution and to the Founding Fathers religion and their views on liberty of religious conscience. We will also examine and discuss modern works - both pro and con - that analyze the Tea Party movement.
4.00
This course will explore the philosophical and economic underpinnings of modern libertarian beliefs and will consider the historical roofs of these ideas. The course will focus mostly, though not exclusively, on the Anglo-American tradition of these ideas. We will trace the development of through from Locke and the Scottish Enlightenment to the ideas of the founding fathers of the United States. We will explore the individualist traditions of the 19th century American thinkers. Finally we will explore the revival and expansion of libertarian thought following WWII and particularly since the early 1970s. The course will not cover the history of the libertarian political party, or any other political movement, but will instead focus on the underlying economic theories and moral philosophies that underpin these ideas and how to apply these ideas to current popular issues.
4.00
In this seminar, we will explore the history and mystique of pageantry in our country. We will study the roots of these programs (such as Miss America) and look for lessons learned about women as we follow the progression of competitive beauty through to the crowning of a young woman students may come to see as someone not too different from themselves. This exercise in exploration and examination of the American beauty queen should intrigue all her peers, and challenge supporters and critics of pageants alike to redefine their opinions of the modern pageant woman.
4.00
To commemorate the approaching 100th anniversary of World War I (1914-1918), this seminar will explore the war as presented in historical documents, literature, film, and art. Texts will include World War I poems (English, but also German, French, and Russian), novels such as All Quiet on the Western Front, A Farewell to Arms, The Good Soldier Svejk, and Dr. Zhivago, art (including works by Picasso, John Singer Sargent, Otto Dix, and George Grosz), plays (What Price Glory), films such as All Quiet on the Western Front (1930 version) and Grand Illusion, and memoirs such as Robert Graves Goodbye to All That. We will also draw on many online resources produced by, among others, the BBC, UNESCO, and the U.S. Army.
4.00
This course will explore historical, ethical and political issues concerned with matters of peace and war. We will examine a variety of different texts: religious, historical, philosophical and literary, but the main emphasis will be philosophical justifications for war and philosophical visions of just peace, with an eye to contemporary questions in the War on Terror. To the extent that we use non-philosophical texts, this will be in the service of focusing the imagination on the philosophical issues and applying theoretical frameworks to historical events.
4.00
The aim of this course is to provide the students with the philosophical tools for understanding the current crisis of capitalism and the debate about what principles we should use as we decide where to go next. The course explores three closely related questions: What is wealth? What are the institutions that are conducive to the creation of wealth? And, by what principles of justice should we regulate the distribution of wealth amongst the members of society?
4.00
Contrary to a popular perception that information, communication and entertainment technologies are clean, ecologically benign and paperless, the reality of an increasingly digital life is that our fascination with the next best thing in mobile phones, video game consoles, personal computers, digital cameras, tablets, etc., has devastating impacts on our environment. These media devices are manufactured using toxic ingredients in poisonous working condition, require an abundance of energy to operate, and create hazardous waste when disposed. Media technology companies and the advertising industry that markets their wares have successfully persuaded consumers to accept rapid obsolescence and to highly anticipate the latest upgrade. But some consumers, electronics manufacturers, policy makers, and environmental groups are working to change the culture of consumption in favor of sustainable media practices that lessen the environmental footprint of the digital devices we use everyday. The purpose of this course is to understand the problem of unsustainable media, and the possible solutions for a sustainable media system.
4.00
The course will explore the physical geography, history, and image in literature, film, and pop culture of Suffolk Universitys Beacon Hill neighborhood. The purpose and objective of the course is to provide students with a deep knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of Beacon Hill through examination of written and visual sources, and feet-on and eyes-on experience of the public parts of the Hill.
4.00
This course will examine Abraham Lincolns relationship to and enduring impact upon the law by exploring 1) his legal career and life as an attorney in Illinois; 2) his views on race and slavery; 3) the effort to pass the Thirteenth Amendment; 4) his views of and other actions related to the Constitution (the suspension of habeas corpus, the right of states to secede from the Union, the Presidents War Powers, etc.); and 5) the code he commissioned to set out the rules of war. We will take an expansive look at Lincolns legal mind and cover diverse topics such as Lincolns legal writing, ethics, the Constitution, and international law. The subjects discussed will then be related to the current practice of law in the United States. The course will be designed to introduce students to the theoretical underpinnings and practice of law, the Constitution, Civil Rights, Civil Liberties, the War Powers of the presidency, and the rules of war through the lens of Lincolns relationship to and impact upon the law.
4.00
How do we learn about the natural world? By performing research about the ingredients of everything (the elements) and the tree of life (evolution) we will practice how scientists create knowledge by developing our own research projects in chemistry and biology, and communicate results to a wider audience. We will discuss historical transitions of these topics and explore commonalities in the processes of doing science across disciplines.
