Course Schedule and Catalog

Long Title: FRESHMAN SEMINAR: SOCRATES: THE MAN AND HIS PHILOSOPHY

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This discussion-style seminar will consider how Socrates practiced philosophy, how Plato represented Socrates and Socratic philosophy in writing, and what effect Socrates had on Athens and his fellow Athenians. Readings will consist mainly of Plato's Socratic dialogues, with emphasis on the "Apology" and "Gorgias." In addition to papers, each participant will make one presentation and lead one discussion. This course is limited to first-year students only; any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: CLAS 101.

Long Title: LANGUAGE, GENDER, AND SEXUALITY

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course examines the role that gender, biological sex, and sexuality play in the language varieties that people use. We will see that although all cultures have specified gender roles, and all cultures mark gender through language varieties, those differences are not, I promise, what you think they are. This course is limited to first-year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: LING 105, SWGS 105.

Long Title: IMAGES OF WAR AND PEACE

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: In conjunction with an exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, this course will examine images of war and peace in Renaissance and Baroque Europe. It will explore images of battles, the hero, peace, and the miseries of war, and how the past affects ideas about war and peace today. Cross listed with HART 106. This course is limited to first-year students only, any others will be removed from this course.

Long Title: MUSICAL LIVES

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Musical biography tends to follow stereotypical patterns that depict composers as heroes who rebel against authority and live on the margins of society. This seminar will focus on the life stories and music of selected 18th and 19th century composers. No musical background necessary. This course is limited to first-year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: MUSI 111.

Long Title: GREAT LITERATURE IN GREAT MUSIC

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: A study of six famous literary works, from classical civilization to expressionism, and their incarnation in famous musical compositions. Authors include Vergil, Shakespeare, Beaumarchais, Pushkin, Goethe, and Buchner; paired pieces include operas by Berlioz, Verdi, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Gounod, and Berg. No technical or reading knowledge of music is required. This course is limited to first-year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: MUSI 112.

Long Title: FRESHMAN SEMINAR ON LOCAL BIOLOGY RESEARCH (BCB)

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group III

Credit Hours: 1

Description: A 5-week seminar course to introduce freshmen prospective biologists to the excitement of research at Rice and the Medical Center and to provide context with which to think about facts presented in biosciences textbooks. Small groups will meet weekly with a graduate student or postdoctoral researcher to explore a published research article by a local lab, gaining background information about the subject and exposure to the research techniques. In the final session, the group will tour the lab that produced the featured article. Additional tours and activities TBA. All first-year students are eligible to enroll in BIOC 115 regardless of AP credit. This course meets in the second half of the semester and is organized by Dereth Phillips and Bonnie Bartel. This course is limited to first year students only, any other students will be removed from this course. Cross-list: BIOS 115.

Long Title: FRESHMAN BIOLOGY SEMINAR (EEB)

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group III

Credit Hours: 1

Description: A 5-week seminar course to introduce freshmen prospective biologists to the excitement of research at Rice and the Medical Center and to provide context with which to think about facts presented in biosciences textbooks. Small groups will meet weekly with a graduate student or postdoctoral researcher to explore a published research article by a local lab, gaining background information about the subject and exposure to the research techniques. In the final session, the group will tour the lab that produced the featured article. Additional tours and activities TBA. All first-year, non-transfer students are eligible to enroll in EBIO 116/FSEM 116 (fomerly BIOS 116) regardless of AP credit. This course meets in the first half of the semester and features research in the Department of Ecology and Environmental Biology. Course organizers: Strassmann, Phillips. Cross-list: BIOS 116.

Long Title: CULTURE OF THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Following the 1917 Revolution, Soviet society initiated radical experiments not only in political and governmental structures but in all aspects of culture and everyday life. This class will examine these developments focusing on avant-garde experiments in cinema, literature and the visual arts, as well as philosophical and political debates around the meaning of revolution itself. This course is limited to first-year students only, any other students will be removed from this course. Cross-list: HART 118.

Long Title: FILM NOIR

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Comprising some of the greatest Hollywood productions of the 1940s and 50s, film noir is characterized by its despairing moods, violent protagonists, femmes fatales and intricate criminal plots. This class will examine the formal and narrative conventions of film noir and explore its cultural and political contexts. Students will be introduced to different modes of filmic and cultural analysis. Films will include "The Maltese Falcon," "Double Indemnity," and "Scarlet Street," among others. This course is limited to first year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: HART 119.

Long Title: FROM KAFKA TO THE HOLOCAUST: DISCOURSE IN ALIENATION

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: The beginnings of modernity have to be seen in the context of the sociopolitical and intellectual upheavals at the end of the 19th century. Whereas extreme reactionism eventually led to fascism, progressive literature advocated artistic experimentation as manifested in a discourse of alienation (expressionism, dada, Kafka). Holocaust literature reflects the ultimate clash between progressiveness and reactionism. The primary readings will be from Wedekind, Trakl, Kaiser, Hesse, Remarque, Brecht, Celan, Werfel. Taught in English. This course is limited to first year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: GERM 121.

Long Title: HISTORY THROUGH GERMAN CINEMA

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: The course presents an overview of German history via contemporary German feature films from World War I, through the Weimar and Nazi periods, the postwar years as a Divided Germany into East and West and finally a look at the new generation in Post-unification Germany. Taught in English. All films are subtitled in English. This course is limited to first year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: GERM 122.

Long Title: THROUGH TIME AND SPACE: EUROPEAN TRAVEL STORIES

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: A travel story stands at the beginning of European Literature: Homer's Odyssey. Since ancient times, literary travel accounts of all sorts, to all destinations, by all means and undertaken with a wide range of different purposes have kept Europeans on the move. First attracted by the exotic and the unknown in the far distance, the interest moved ever closer to the self, and the exploration of the human mind became the most exotic and intriguing journey. Readings include Homer, Swift, Voltaire, Goethe, Heine, Twain, and Verne. Taught in English. This course is limited to first-year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: GERM 123.

Long Title: LAW, MORALITY, AND SOCIETY

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: A historical introduction to central themes of legal and political thought in the Western tradition from Immanuel Kant to John Rawls, this freshman seminar provides an overview of trends and controversies in modern political thought and society. Topics discussed include "civil rights", "morality", "liberalism", "natural law", "political theology", and "freedom". Taught in English. This course is limited to first-year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: GERM 124.

Long Title: BETWEEN RESISTANCE AND COLLABORATION: INDIVIDUALS RESPONDING TO NATIONAL SOCIALISM

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Focus on individuals' behavior in Nazi Germany/Austria. Issues of ideology and ethics as Germans and Austrians faced them between 1933-1945. Reflection on values such as courage, civil disobedience, and human rights in today's global society. Taught in English. This course is limited to first-year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: GERM 125.

Long Title: THE LEGEND OF KING ARTHUR IN THE MIDDLE AGES

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: In the 1100's people began writing down stories of Arthur, Guinevere, Merlin, and the Knights of the round table using sophisticated techniques of literary composition. Today, these stories count among the great writings of Europe. This course examines the spectrum of medieval stories and histories of Arthur that arose in England, France, and Germany from the beginning to the age of printing, plus some recent revivals. This course is limited to first-year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: GERM 126, MDST 126.

Long Title: IN THE MATRIX: ON HUMAN BONDAGE AND LIBERATION

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Using the film "The Matrix" as a point of reference, this course presents celebrated explorations of servitude and emancipation -- from religious mysticism to Marxism and artistic modernism. Texts by Lao Tzu, Farid ud-Din Attar, Plato, Freud, Marx, Beaudelaire, J.S. Mill, Proust, de Beauvoir, Malcolm, Baudrillard. Course taught in English. This course is limited to first-year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: FREN 127.

Long Title: THE CULTURE OF WAR: VIOLENCE, CONFLICT AND REPRESENTATION

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Focusing on the experience and representation of war in German and European literature, theory, and visual arts. Covers the period from 17th-20th century. Special emphasis on the First World War. Not for the faint-hearted, topics included: destruction, ruins, refugees, massacres, terrorism, victims, spaces of battle, the logic of war. Taught in English. This course is limited to first-year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: GERM 128.

Long Title: LITERARY LOVE AFFAIRS: LOVE AND PASSION IN EUROPEAN LITERATURE

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Love-stories are usually about a young man who seeks the ideal girl, finally gets her, and becomes as good a Philistine as others. Students examine this philosophical wisdom by reading stories and theoretical texts about love and passion by European authors from the time of Shakespeare to the present. Taught in English. This course is limited to first-year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: GERM 129.

Long Title: WOMEN AND NATIONAL SOCIALISM

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Introduction to the Nazi idea of "womanhood" and the actual roles women played during National Socialism. Female perpetrators, Mitlaufer, a multiplicity of victims, and to resistance fighters. The course will be taught in English. This course is limited to first-year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: GERM 130, SWGS 130.

Long Title: NATIONAL SOCIALISM AND FILM

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Freshman seminar. This course explores films made in Nazi Germany as well as films about Nazi Germany and the corresponding crisis of justice in the mid-twentieth century. We ill analyze cinematic responses to the rise of the fascist movement, World War II, the Holocaust, and the post-war years. Particular attention will be paid to the value of film as propagandistic tool, ways in which it can configure and contest our image of national identity, and the relation between mass manipulation and mass murder. The course will be taught in English. This course is limited to first year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: GERM 132.

Long Title: AMERICA THROUGH FRENCH EYES

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: The United States has always been a source of fascination -- both attraction and revulsion -- for the French. This course aims to understand American culture and identity as revealed by transatlantic encounters with the French. We will study French intellectuals' observations from Tocqueville to Simone de Beauvoir as well as images of America in French popular culture. This course is limited to first-year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: FREN 133.

Long Title: GERMAN FILM

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: "From Caligari to Hitler" -and beyond. In the vein of the title of a well-known study on German film during the Weimar Republic the course offers a cinematographic history of German and European politics and culture from the early Expressionist silent movies on the award winning "Life of Others." Taught in English. This course is limited to first-year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: GERM 136.

Long Title: FRESHMAN SEMINAR: THE ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICT

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Seminar traces the history and politics of the Arab-Israeli conflict, delving into both Palestinian and Israeli understandings of the past and present using books, documentaries, and films. The course seeks to understand how and at what costs Israeli and Palestinian nationalism's have been constructed and analyzes U.S. involvement in the conflict. This course is limited to first-year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: HIST 144.

Long Title: LATIN AMERICAN SHORT FICTION (EMPHASIS ON BORGES AND CORTAZAR)

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Readings of classic works of short fiction by modern Latin American masters, with special emphasis on the stories of Jorge Luis Borges and Julio Cortazar. Close reading, interpretive essays. Taught in English. Open to first-year students only, any others will be removed. Cross-list: SPAN 150.

Long Title: FRESHMAN SEMINAR: THE HERO AND HIS COMPANION FROM GILGAMESH TO SAM SPADE

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: How does presentation of heroic action illustrate the basic values of society? Historical sources including ancient texts, modern mystery stories, and two "western" movies, show the development of a style of community service linking heroism with alienation. The extent to which women participate will be traced. This course is limited to first-year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: HIST 151.

Long Title: THE HISPANIC ESSAY

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Readings in English from major modern Spanish and Latin-American essayists, including Miguel de Unamuno, Jose Ortega y Gassset, Maria Zambrano, Jose Marti, Jose Enrique Rodo, Alfonso Reyes, Victoria Ocampo, Gabriela Mistral, Jorge Luis Borges, and Octavio Paz, et al. Close reading and appreciation of essays will be the focus of discussion, presentations, and short interpretive papers. Taught in English. This course is limited to first-year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: SPAN 152.

Long Title: DON QUIXOTE (IN ENGLISH)

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: The class will involve close reading and interpretation of Cervantes's immortal novel, "Don Quixote de la Mancha," voted "the best book of all time." This course is limited to first-year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: SPAN 153.

Long Title: FRESHMAN SEMINAR: LEGENDARY AMERICANS

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Exploration of popular myths surrounding larger-than-life figures like Davy Crockett and Harriet Tubman. Specific figures vary. Through scholarly readings and analysis of cultural artifacts ling songs and films, we will consider why and how such figures become iconic and explore the relations between history, biography, and memory. This course is limited to first year students only, any other students will be removed from this course. Cross-list: HIST 159.

Long Title: FRESHMAN SEMINAR: THE USES OF THE PAST

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Seminar analyzes how selected historical events are interpreted at different times and contexts. Sources include history books, novels, movies, court cases and political debates. Specific events studied will vary according to student interest from ancient times to the present. This course is limited to first-year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: HIST 161.

Long Title: FRESHMAN SEMINAR: BROWN V. BOARD

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: A first year seminar examining the origins and legacies of the civil rights case that all but defined the parameters of modern American society and race relations. Where did the case come from? How was it argued and decided: What have been its consequences? This course is limited to first-year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: HIST 163.

Long Title: WHO IS (NOT) A JEW?

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Explore problems with identity--ethnic, political, spiritual-- in the case of the other Jew. Consider themes of anti-Semitism and philosemitism, insider and outsider, tradition and innovation. Examine competing views purveyed through diverse media such as literature, film, art, and music. Selected texts from St. Paul, Shakespeare, Dickens, Marx, George Eliot, Freud, Chagall, Cynthia Ozick, Bob Dylan, and Woody Allen. This course is limited to first year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: RELI 164.

Long Title: FRESHMAN SEMINAR: THE FRENCH REVOLUTION: HISTORIES AND LEGACIES

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Freshman seminar will focus on the French Revolution and the era of Napoleon Bonaparte, 1789-1815. Lectures address three main topics: the history of the Revolution and its main actors; the diverging interpretations offered by historians; and the multiple legacies of the revolutionary period in the modern era. This course is limited to first-year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: HIST 165.

Long Title: NEWTON AND THE 18TH CENTURY

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Newton was the indispensable starting point for 18th century thought from the physical sciences to medicine and the so-called Ahuman sciences. Seminar will consider Newton and the complex legacy of his thought in other 18th century thinkers: Locke, Leibniz, Boerhaave, Voltaire, D'Alembert, Hume, Maupertuis, Buffon, Kant, Priestley, Blake and Goethe. This course is limited to first-year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: HIST 167.

Long Title: FRESHMAN SEMINAR: TERROR AND AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: From the Murder of James Byrd. From the early 1880's to 1978, lynch mobs murdered nearly 5,000 African-Americans Terror and black responses to it have shaped nearly every aspect of African American history. Seminar examines black society, politics, gender, and culture in the 20th century America against the backdrop of racial violence. This course is limited to first year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: HIST 176.

Long Title: VESPUCCI'S MAP?

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Part history of cartography; part historical detective work, this seminar will examine the first maps of the Americas and consider if any anonymous map of c. 1502-1506 might have been drawn by Amerigo Vespucci, whose influential letters shaped European thinking about the new world. This course is limited to first-year students only, any others will be removed. Cross-list: HIST 177.