Course Schedule and Catalog

Long Title: ROMANCING RELIGION: NARRATIVES OF THE SACRED

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course examines links between religious experience and romance narrative taking the grail as a focal point. We start with grail legends in the middle ages, explore historical associations of the grail with medieval Christianity, and end with quest narratives and grail motifs in modern occultism, fiction and film. This course is limited to first-year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: MDEM 100, RELI 100.

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: BUDDHISM MEDITATION, ART AND US

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: How do you learn about another tradition? its texts, practices, or art? Its conversations with the modern West? We will focus on all these as we enter ancient Buddhist worlds of India and Tibet, by reading ancient texts and modern treatments, including films and scientific inquiry. This course is limited to first-year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: RELI 102.

Long Title: HIP HOP AND LANGUAGE: GLOBAL AND LOCAL PERSPECTIVES

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: The goal of this seminar is to examine critically -from a (socio) linguistic perspective- what is arguably the most influential and pervasive cultural current among youth today. We will analyze hip hop data, drawing from various media, to take on issues including language and power, differences between cultures, and constructing ethnicities. This course is limited to first-year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: LING 103.

Long Title: READING AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This freshman seminar is an exploration of the genre of Autobiography, from St. Augustine to the present, and serves as an introduction to critical issues of narrative and how it is deployed within different autobiographical texts. Emphasis on writing clear prose and development of literary analytical skills is also a primary component of this course. Open to first year students only, any and all others will be removed. Cross-list: ENGL 104.

Long Title: LANGUAGE, GENDER, AND SEXUALITY

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

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: LANGUAGE IN THE MEDIA

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: In this course, we examine the effect language use in the media has on an American and global culture. Students will collect data to contribute to a class data set, which they will then use to complete their own original research projects. This course is limited to first-year students only. Cross-list: LING 107.

Long Title: BIZARRE BIBLICAL STORIES

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course will examine some of the more bizarre stories of the Hebrew Bible, which deal with such ideas as fratricide, seduction and incest. We will see how such stories have been interpreted, and been afforded meaning, throughout the ages. All texts will be read in English translation. This course is limited to first-year students only.

Long Title: DEEP HISTORY: FROM THE ORIGINS OF HUMANITY TO THE PRESENT

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Deep History introduces students to the rapidly advancing research investigating early human history. We explore evidence from a broad range of disciplines including anthropology, archeology, historical linguistics, cognitive science, primatology, genetics, and climatology to understand the forces shaping human history since the emergence of homo sapiens. This course is limited to first-year students only. Cross-list: HIST 110.

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: THE PARTHENON AND PERIKLEAN ATHENS

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: In this course, we will trace the history and mythology of the Parthenon. We begin with the dawn of sacred tradition on the Acropolis, then explore the classical recreation of the city, the conversion of the Parthenon into a church, its subsequent destruction and the current debate over restoration. This course is limited to first-year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: ARCH 110, CLAS 103, HART 110.

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 7-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 BIOC 115/FSEM 115 regardless of AP credit. This course meets in the second half of the semester and features research in the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology. Course organizers: Dereth Phillips and Bonnie Bartel. Cross-list: BIOC 115.

Long Title: FRESHMAN SEMINAR ON LOCAL BIOLOGY RESEARCH (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 (formerly 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. Cross-list: EBIO 116.

Long Title: FROM FREUD TO LECORBUSIER: PSYCHOANALYSIS, ART AND ARCHITECTURE

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This seminar presents a selected range of key psychoanalytic concepts, which have been used by artists and architects to develop their practices and by theoreticians and critics to explain the production or experience of art and architecture. A typical week pairs a theoretical text with a work of art or architecture. This course is limited to first-year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: HART 117.

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: A NEW HISTORY OF MAGIC

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This seminar targets a fuller picture of magic emergent in the triad "magic, science, religion" by studying magic both as a condemned category and as a defensible category of thought and practice. We discuss case studies from the intellectual magic of the middle ages, Renaissance, and the modern occult revival. This course is limited to first-year students only. Cross-list: RELI 120.

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, Kafka, 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. Taught in English. This course is limited to first-year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: GERM 126, MDEM 126.

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: According to the German philosopher Hegel, 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. 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: 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 will 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. 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: MODERN MEDIA

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Critical introduction to the history and theory of modern media--including photography, film, and radio--with a focus on problems of representation, cultural perception, and the simulation of reality. What are media? How are media linked to the experience of modernity and post modernity? How do media construct "reality?" Do modern media generate a crisis of perception? How has the emergency of modern visual culture shaped the social and political imaginary? This course is limited to first-year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: GERM 134.

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: WRITING: ORIGIN, EVOLUTION AND COGNITION

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: What is "writing"? How did it emerge in human history? How does it relate to human cognition? Beginnings of writing in early civilizations for commercial transactions; development into linguistic representation systems. Logographic, syllabic, and alphabetic systems. Spread of literacy and its role and effects or society and human cognitive processing. This course is limited to first-year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: LING 138.

Long Title: LANGUAGE ENDANGERMENT LOSS AND REVITALIZATION

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: In this course we will investigate the issues surrounding language endangerment, loss and revitalization. Using a seminar format, we will explore topics that include linguistic diversity, the implications of language loss, how researchers approach language documentation and description and look at revitalization efforts. This course is limited to first year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: LING 139.

Long Title: THE COGNITIVE AND SOCIOCULTURAL WORLDS OF BILINGUALS AND MULTILINGUALS

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course uses a seminar format to investigate the multiple ways in which the psychological and social worlds of bilinguals and multilinguals may differ from that of monolinguals. It covers a large range of topics from the purely cognitive, (how the various components of language are stored and accessed), to more socio-cultural (cultural identity and role switching) or political ones (bilingual education). This course is limited to first-year students only; any others will be removed from the course. Cross-list: LING 140.

Long Title: CRITICAL APPROACHES TO THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course surveys the cultural and political dimensions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In this class, we explore the origins of Zionism and Palestinian nationalism, the varieties of Zionism in relation to Colonialism and Orientalism, and the construction of racial, economic, and gender inequalities in the face of this contemporary dispute. This course is limited to first-year students only.

Long Title: 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 nationalisms 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: 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: 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, Jorge Luis Borges, Victoria Ocampo, Fernando Savater, Ariel Dorfman, Roger Bartra, et al. Close reading, discussion 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

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." Taught in English. This course is limited to first-year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: SPAN 153.

Long Title: LATIN AMERICAN CONFESSIONS: AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL FICTION IN MODERN LATIN AMERICA

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Readings of intimate, first person fictions (short stories, novels) by modern Latin American writers, including Carlos Fuentes, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and other, lesser known authors from the Southern Cone, Colombia, and Mexico. Critical approaches will include anthropological, feminist, and post-modern readings. Close reading, interpretation and appreciation of (fictional) autobiography - in English translation - will be the focus of class discussion, presentations and critical essays. Taught in English. Open to first-year students only, any others will be removed. Cross-list: ARCR 154.

Long Title: MODERN LATIN AMERICAN ART: MEXICO IN THE MODERN AGE

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course examines Latin American Art of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the eras of independence and revolution. We will examine such topics as art and nationalist discourse; legitimation/appropriation of the past; gender; art, dictatorship and revolution; surrealism; indigenism and social realism; the politics of muralism; plus modernism and alternative modernisms. Taught in English. This course is limited to first-year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: SPAN 156.

Long Title: DANGEROUS LIAISONS/RELACIONES PELIGROSAS: THE COUNTERPOINT OF THE UNITED STATES AND LATIN AMERICA

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Team-taught by an historian and a cultural-critic, this seminar explores the exchanges and tensions between the U.S. and Latin America, from the early 19th century to the present day, aiming at connecting diverse narratives and presenting opposing perspectives through the counterpoint of documents, paintings, essays, and movies. Taught in English. This course is limited to first-year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: SPAN 157.

Long Title: MEDIEVAL VIOLENCE

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Course looks at private and large-scale warfare during the European Middle Ages. It considers how violence was legitimized and carried out, and examines attitudes towards violence and its effects on society. Topics include rituals of violence, military technologies, crusading, chivalry, Truce of God and cinematic portrayals of medieval warfare. This course is limited to first-year students only; any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: HIST 158.

Long Title: SCIENTISTS AND FICTION

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: How do scientists read and write? This course examines how scientists, like fiction writers, persuade audiences that their version of reality is interesting enough to read and plausible enough to convince. Through class discussions and written assignments, students will improve skills in observing, writing, reading, and persuading. This course is limited to first-year students only; any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: HIST 166.

Long Title: THE BODY AND THE COSMOS IN THE MIDDLE AGES

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: What shaped medieval Christian notions of the body? How did common experiences of pain, sexuality, childbirth, and death refract the grasp of larger concepts - God, time, and the cosmos? This seminar will explore the issues connecting body to cosmos through close reading of medieval literary, mystical, and autobiographical texts. This course is limited to first-year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: MDEM 171, RELI 171.

Long Title: CULTURAL EXCHANGE IN RENAISSANCE EUROPE

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This seminar will explore the cultural interactions of groups living inside and outside Europe between 1400 and 1600, especially Jews, Muslims, Christian, Italians, the Dutch, and Africans. Readings will draw from history, anthropology, literary studies, and art history, but our focus will be Renaissance art. We will examine cultural exchange between nations; national differentiation and identity; how religious minorities negotiated the dominant culture; the influence of Islamic art; and visualizations of race and colonial subjects. This course is limited to first-year students only.

Long Title: RACIAL CROSSINGS: MIXING, PASSING AND INTERRACIAL RELATIONS IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Class examines race in American history by juxtaposing supposedly rigid definitions of racial difference prior to the mid-20th century with individuals, families and groups whose lives crossed racial boundaries. Focus will be on people of African, American and European descent in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. This course is limited to first-year students only; any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: HIST 175.

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 an 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.

Long Title: THE THIRD REICH IN LITERATURE

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Freshman seminar introduces students to the interpretation of drama, poetry, prose, and film on German fascism and its consequences in and outside of Germany before, during, and after World War II. In addition, students will examine theoretical approaches to fascist culture and memory of the Holocaust. Limited to first year students only. Cross-list: GERM 178.

Long Title: ROMAN VS GREEK: QUESTIONING THE DEFINITION OF ART IN THE ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN WORLD

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: What's in a name? Apparently a lot. For 500 years--since the Renaissance--scholars have cleaved Roman and Greek art from one another and this division has defined how we think about art in antiquity. In this freshman seminar, we will question this paradigm. Looking at art from around the Mediterranean and reading the very scholarship that has both created these definitions and questioned them, we will work toward a new way of conceiving the art of the Ancient Mediterranean world. This course is limited to first-year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: CLAS 179, HART 179. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for FSEM 179 if student has credit for FSEM 159.

Long Title: CINEMA AND MODERNITY

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 4

Description: This class focuses on cinema as a primary cultural product of industrial capital ism, whose processes of mechanization and urbanization fundamentally changed everyday life. Classes will focus on films by Chaplin, Lang, Eisenstein, Hitchcock, and others, and encompass issues of technology and representation, shock and trauma, and crime and the city. This course is limited to first-year students only. Cross-list: HART 120.