Course Schedule and Catalog

Long Title: FROM ANCIENT GREECE TO MEDIEVAL ISLAM: INTRODUCTION TO WESTERN LITERATURE, HISTORY, AND PHILOSOPHY

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: Study of the foundational intellectual and artistic texts of the western tradition from Ancient Greece to Medieval Islam. Consideration of texts and images over time and in their historical development as we reflect on who we are and how we got here. Readings from Homer, Plato, the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, Thucydides, Vergil, Augustine, and the Qu'ran.

Long Title: FROM RENAISSANCE TO PRESENT: INTRODUCTION TO WESTERN LITERATURE, HISTORY, AND PHILOSOPHY

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: Study of the foundational intellectual and artistic texts of the Western tradition from the Renaissance to Einstein. Consideration of texts and images over time and in their historical development as we reflect on who are and how we got here. Readings from Machiavelli, Shakespeare, Kant, Flaubert, Nietzsche, Freud, Beauvoir, Einstein, Levi, Kuhn, Borges, and King, and images from such artists as Michelangelo, Goya, and Picasso.

Long Title: LIBERTY AND TERROR: THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

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 French Revolution toppled an ancient monarchy and sent shockwaves throughout the world. We will interpret the historical sources, contexts, and problems of this watershed moment and investigate the problems by political, philosophical, literary, and visual documents regarding the pre-revolutionary status quo, the transformation of political liberty into repressive terror, worldwide warfare, and ideological struggle. The course will focus on historical contexts such as the influence of the Enlightenment; the emergence of citizenship and human rights; the development of social spectacles and the public sphere; the Reign of Terror and the regression to Tyranny; emancipationist discourses (the abolition of slavery, colonial revolt, radical feminism); and the contradictory figure of Napoleon. We will consider, finally, how the Revolution has come to be viewed, both within France and without, considering its many aftershocks and reverberations up until the present day.

Long Title: GREEK CIVILIZATION AND ITS LEGACY

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 examination of the literary, artistic, and intellectual achievements of classical Greek civilization from Homer through the golden age of classical Athens to the spread of Greek culture in the Hellenistic world. The influence of ancient Greece on Western culture will be a focus. Case studies in the later reception of classical Greek literature (e.g. tragedy), philosophy (e.g., Socrates), history (e.g., democracy), and art (e.g., Parthenon) will be examined. Cross-list: CLAS 107.

Long Title: ART IN CONTEXT: LATE MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE CULTURE

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 be concerned with art, architecture, and history of the late middle-ages and Renaissance. We will employ historical texts, literature, and illustrations of works of art, showing how historical documents and sources can illuminate the culture context of art and architecture. Cross-list: HART 240, MDEM 108.

Long Title: ROMAN CIVILIZTION AND ITS LEGACY

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 investigate central aspects of Roman civilization: politics, religion, law, oratory, private life, public entertainment, literature, and visual art and architecture. Through case studies, we will also examine the place of ancient Rome in the western imagination, and the influence of ancient Rome on later politics, literature, and art. Cross-list: CLAS 108.

Long Title: PUBLIC SPEAKING

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course is designed to give the student exposure to and experience using basic principles and skills of oral communication in the public context. Emphasis will be on the development of speech organization, support, and delivery. Informative and persuasive speeches will be practiced. An important outcome of the course is that the student better understand and appreciate the important role public speaking plays in modern society.

Long Title: CULTURE, ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT: AN INTRODUCTION TO ENERGY HUMANITIES

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: Humanity faces extraordinary challenges in an era of climate change and energy transition. These challenges are not only technological but also questions of value, power, behavior, and understanding. This course draws upon new research across the arts, humanities and social sciences to help students better understand the cultural and social dimensions of our current patterns of energy use, their environmental impacts, and the possibility of new energy futures. Intended for both STEM majors and humanities and social science students. Cross-list: ENST 202.

Long Title: CULTURES OF FUEL

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 1

Description: Can fuels (prior to their insertion in systems of energy) offer us hope in the face of climate change? This seminar, open to undergraduates and graduates from all disciplines, will consider fuels (real and imaginary; fossil-based and renewable) in literature, film, art and culture. Grades based on participation in discussions.

Long Title: FORENSICS PRACTICUM

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

Course Type: Internship/Practicum

Credit Hours: 1

Description: This course will focus on junior varsity intercollegiate speech and debate competition. Students will be required to prepare speeches and debate material for local, regional and possibly national competitions. Participation in intercollegiate competition is mandatory. Instructor Permission Required. Repeatable for Credit.

Long Title: PJHC SUMMER SERVICE INTERNSHIP REFLECTION

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 1

Description: Returning PJHC Summer Service Interns reflect on their experiences in an academic context, producing short digital stories. This course is required for all returning interns who received financial support from the Program in Poverty, Justice, and Human Capabilities for service learning and suggested for PJHC minors who completed other summer service internships. Offered in the first half of the full term in the Fall, weekly. Instructor permission required. Instructor Permission Required.

Long Title: THEORIES OF RHETORICAL COMMUNICATION

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course will survey major theorists of speech and public communication ranging from classical to contemporary thinkers. Emphasis will be on understanding speech and public communication from consumer and scholarly perspectives. Students are expected to read and discuss material with the goals of gaining basic understanding of major rhetorical theorists specifically engage a particular topic in rhetorical theory. Our central questions involve the nature of and relationship between speaker, text, and audience.

Long Title: PERSUASION AND POLITICAL RHETORIC

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course will survey research and writing in the fields of persuasion and political communication. Of particular interest will be explanations of political communication based in rhetorical theory. Students will study historically important political speeches, debates, and advertisements. Emphasis will be on academic exploration of political rhetoric as human expression.

Long Title: BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL SPEAKING

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Practical application of communication theory with emphasis on oral presentations, interviewing and small group dynamics. The course will consider many aspects of the business and professional sphere as they pertain to public speaking and public discourse. Through a series of four or more in-class speeches, in-class group exercises, outside speaker presentations, reading, and writing, the course will serve as basis of instruction to ready the student for the public or private sphere. Class will focus particularly on aspects of business and professional leadership communication, and business and office communications both written and oral, toward a greater mastery of authentic organizational, management, competitive, and community discourse.

Long Title: ARGUMENTATION AND DEBATE

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Designed to help students develop communication, analysis, and research skills through the construction and presentation of arguments on questions of fact, value, and policy. Debate assignments will explore current issues. The course emphasizes argumentation exercises and in-class debates.

Long Title: ADVANCED FORENSICS PRACTICUM

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

Course Type: Internship/Practicum

Credit Hours: 1

Description: This course will focus on varsity intercollegiate speech and debate competition. Students will be required to prepare speeches and debate material for local, regional, and possibly national competitions. Participation in intercollegiate competition is mandatory. Instructor Permission Required. Repeatable for Credit.

Long Title: THE RHETORIC OF LEADERSHIP

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course will examine the relationship between leadership and communication within organizations. Explore leadership as a communication phenomenon. Emphasis will be on leadership as a set of relationships that manifest themselves in practices that arise from the implementation of theory. Historical and contemporary leadership and communication theory will be surveyed. An important outcome is an increased understanding of the relationship between communication and leadership. Cross-list: LEAD 320.

Long Title: HISTORICAL AND INTELLECTUAL FOUNDATIONS OF LEADERSHIP

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: The focus of this course is to construct a historically informed philosophy of leadership that encompasses not just what leadership is but why it is valued, when it is legitimate, what its moral purpose is, and how it both shapes and reflects societal norms. Cross-list: LEAD 301.

Long Title: THEORIES OF HUMAN COMMUNICATION

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course offers an introduction to the study of human communication and surveys explanations of human communication from a variety of perspectives. Theories of interpersonal, intercultural, nonverbal and mass communication are explored.

Long Title: COMMUNICATION, TECHNOLOGY, AND CHANGE

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: New communication technologies have profoundly altered daily life and challenge the definition of some of humanity's basic societal structures. This course explores interpretations of this transformation from many fields to better understand the change we are currently witnessing and to ask what the human experience is gaining and losing.

Long Title: COMMUNICATION LAW

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course will explore the historical development, contemporary state of and future direction of the relationship between law and communication. The central question is "What is the relation of the law to the human communication experience?"

Long Title: RHETORIC OF POPULAR CULTURE

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: What really persuades people? Many scholars consider popular culture to be the most influential persuasive force in the everyday lives of contemporary humans. Music, television, social media, film, fashion, books, and other elements of popular culture comprise a tremendous amount of the universe of meaning in which the modern human resides. This course will explore these phenomena by looking at current and historical popular cultural artifacts and trends and various ways of understanding them from a variety of fields. Students will pursue an original study of a specific artifact or trend.

Long Title: INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course is a study of the historical and contemporary principles and theories of interdependent human communication. Communication skills which will increase interpersonal effectiveness will be studies, including verbal and nonverbal behavior, listening, assertiveness, and conflict resolution.

Long Title: FROM PHYSICS LABS TO OIL FUTURES: SOCIAL STUDIES OF ENERGY

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: How did whale oil become replaced by fossil fuels? What were the turning points in implementing electricity networks within urban centers? What is the role of markets and industries when producing such new energy infrastructures? This interdisciplinary course will trace ideas of energy in anthropology, science and technology studies, literary studies and environmental history, and investigate how energy production and consumption affects social life.

Long Title: EUROPEAN WOMEN FILMMAKERS

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: Filmmaking has celebrated its first hundred years. Women's contributions were significant and deserve to widen the film canon for all filmgoers. This course will concentrate on films by European women directors, taking into account aesthetic particularities, gender commitment, and post-feminist attempts. Importance will also be given to the contexts and conditions of women's film production. All films subtitled in English. Taught in English. Cross-list: GERM 321, HART 385, SWGS 358.

Long Title: MARX, FREUD, EINSTEIN: FOREBEARERS OF MODERNITY

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: Like no others, these three thinkers of the 19th and 20th century have influenced the intellectual, historical, social, and cultural development not only of Germany, but of the entire world. The course examines the works of these authors in the context of their own time as well as their continued importance in the present. Works by Brecht, Christa Wolf, Schnitzler, Kafka will also be considered. Taught in English. Cross-list: GERM 322.

Long Title: BERLIN, RESIDENCE, METROPOLIS, CAPITAL

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: The course offers an introduction to German history, politics, and culture as mirrored in the history of the old and new German capital. Berlin has always been a city of contradictions: from imperial glamour to proletarian slums, from the Roaring Twenties to Hitler's seizure of power. Emerging from the ruins of WWII Berlin became both the capital of Socialism and the display window of the Free World. After the fall of the wall, Berlin is still looking for its role in the center of a reshaped Europe. Readings and discussions encompass fine arts and literature from the 18th century to the present, including film. Taught in English. Cross-list: GERM 324.

Long Title: MODERN GERMAN WRITERS: KAFKA

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: Goethe's vision of "world-literature" came true in the twentieth century. German authors, among them Kafka, transcended the confines of national traditions and redefined the concepts of literature and authorship in view of a modern globally dispersed audience. Topics may vary. Taught in English. Cross-list: GERM 325. Repeatable for Credit.

Long Title: GERMAN ADAPTATIONS: TEXT TO FILM

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: Prominent novels of the 20th century will be studied for their possibilities or impossibilities of rendition from print medium to cinematic medium. From the myriad of adaptations we will concentrate on Thomas Mann: Tod in Venedig; Franz Kafka: Das Schloss; Klaus Mann: Mehisto; Gunter Grass: Die Blechtrommel; H. Boll: Katharina Blum; Jurek Becker: Jacob der Lugner. All films are subtitled in English. Taught in English. Cross-list: GERM 328.

Long Title: LITERATURE OF THE HOLOCAUST AND EXILE

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Most of the authors from Germany and Austria, who were persecuted and fled into exile, used literature to search for meaning in life that apparently had been stripped of all meaning. Among these authors are the most distinguished writers of time, i.e. Th. and H. Mann, Brecht, Benjamin, Werfel, Doblin, J. Roth, S. Zweig, N. Sachs, Celan, Auslander. Taught in English. Cross-list: GERM 329.

Long Title: WALTER BENJAMIN: AESTHETICS, HISTORY AND POLITICS

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Benjamin has been celebrated as a revolutionary Marxist, a theologian of Jewish Messianism, and as an essayist and literary critic. The course offers an introduction to his writings by way of situating them in the historical background of the Weimar Republic and the crises of European society on the eve of WWII. Taught in English. Cross-list: GERM 340.

Long Title: CONCEIVING AND MISCONCEIVING THE MONSTROUS IN FICTION AND IN ART, IN MEDICINE AND IN BIOSCIENCE

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group III

Credit Hours: 3

Description: However various the forms of life, we draw boundaries between the "normal," the "not normal," and the "monstrous." From the Biosciences to the Arts - from the cyclopean eye to Frankenstein - monsters illuminate (whether in fact or in fiction) who we are, how we perceive, and what we fear. Cross-list: BIOC 368.

Long Title: POVERTY, JUSTICE, AND HUMAN CAPABILITIES

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 provides an overview of the study of poverty, justice, and human capabilities. The course considers theory and economic policy oriented towards improving human well-being in the US, Asia, Africa, and other regions. Readings address not just material deprivations but also gender, racial and ethnic disparities, health status, education, human rights, and political freedoms. To be considered for the course, please email pjhc@rice.edu to complete a brief questionnaire. Preference is given to those that have declared the PJHC minor. Formerly HUMA/SOCI 280. Instructor Permission Required.Cross-list: SOCI 371. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for HUMA 371 if student has credit for HUMA 280/SOCI 280.

Long Title: THE GERMAN FAIRY TALE: OLD AND NEW

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: Discussion of several prototypes from the fairy-tale collection of the Brothers Grimm and the subsequent development of the "literary" fairy tale from Goethe and the Romantics to the 20th century. Taught in English. Cross-list: GERM 326.

Long Title: NEW GERMAN FILM: HITLER'S CINEMATIC CHILDREN

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: From the 1960 to 2000, Germany has developed a very distinct auteur cinema with independent filmmakers such as Fassbinder, Herzog, Wenders, Adlon, Trotta, Sander, Brueckner, Doerrie, Garnier, Tykwer, and others. The first 20 years of German film were oriented on coming to terms with the fascist past; the second 20 years focused on more contemporary issues. Film, critical reading and class discussion in English. All films are subtitled in English and will be assessed with podium technology. Taught in English. Cross-list: GERM 338, SWGS 361.

Long Title: INDEPENDENT STUDY IN MEDICAL HUMANITIES RESEARCH

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

Course Type: Research

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Independent Study with a faculty member at the Texas Medical Center focusing on a medical humanities research topic. Students spend up to 10 hours/week at TMC and are graded on evaluations submitted by faculty supervisors. Instructor Permission Required. Repeatable for Credit.

Long Title: INDEPENDENT STUDY

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

Course Type: Independent Study

Credit Hours: 1 TO 3

Description: Independent Study. Instructor Permission Required. Repeatable for Credit.