Course Schedule and Catalog

Long Title: ROMANCING RELIGION: NARRATIVES OF THE SACRED

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

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

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

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

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

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: READING AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

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 IN THE MEDIA

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

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

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

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

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

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: THE PARTHENON AND PERIKLEAN ATHENS

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

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

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

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 Program of Biochemistry and Cell Biology. Cross-list: BIOC 115.

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

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

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 Program 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

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

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: FROM KAFKA TO THE HOLOCAUST: DISCOURSE IN ALIENATION

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

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

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

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

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

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: MORALITY AND POLITICS IN MODERN THOUGHT

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: An historic introduction to central themes of legal and political thought in the Western tradition. Taught in English. Course is limited to first year students. Cross-list: GERM 124.

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

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

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

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

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 NAZI GERMANY

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Through literature, art and filmmaking this course will explore how the Nazi dictatorship affected the lives of women. From "Aryan" women who participated in it, to how German women of Jewish descent were marginalized; analyzing women as victims and perpetrators of the Holocaust; and exploring the memory of Nazism. 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

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

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

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

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

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

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: CRITICAL APPROACHES TO THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

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

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

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

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

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 BODY AND THE COSMOS IN THE MIDDLE AGES

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

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: THE THIRD REICH IN LITERATURE

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

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

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

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

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

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.

Long Title: TRIAL BY FIRE: AMERICAN JEWS AND THE CIVIL WAR

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course will offer new perspectives on the Civil War by examining the conflict from the viewpoint of the American Jewish community. Sermons, diaries, memoirs, and other primary sources will be used to examine Jews and the slave trade, Jewish traditions during wartime, Jewish women's experience and leadership roles during the war and other topics.