| LEH300-LEH301 Descriptions Spring 2007 | ||||
| LEH300 | 01W | DeSimone, Janet | Ethics and Decision Making in Literature and Film | |
| 0704 | M | 2:00-4:30 | Through literature and film, this writing-intensive course will examine decision making as a process and the ethical dimensions inherent in making choices that significantly impact the lives of others. Emphasis will be placed on decision-making strategies that embrace integrity, impartiality, authenticity, and respect. Various decision-making theories will also be explored. Some works covered include Sophie’s Choice, The Crucible, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” and 12 Angry Men. | |
| LEH300 | 02W | |||
| 0705 | W | 3:30-6:00 | ||
| LEH300 | 03W | |||
| 2578 | M | 9:30-12:10 | ||
| LEH300 | 04 | Madden, Brian | Suffering and the Human Response | |
| 0703 | F | 9:30-12:00 | That suffering is a part of human existence, none would deny. There is a sense in which every area of human inquiry conducts itself with an eye to this problem. For the purposes of this course, we will explore how the question of suffering is presented and addressed in the works of artists, poets, philosophers and theologians. We will examine paintings by Grunewald, Gericault, and Picasso; explore tragedies by Sophocles and Shakespeare; and consider the problem of suffering as it is addressed in Buddhist and Epicurean philosophical works and in the Book of Job. The aim of this course, in part, will be to foster a greater understanding of the diverse ways in which the problem of suffering has been described, while also providing an opportunity to explore the breadth of human resources that have been employed in the effort to confront this problem. | |
| LEH300 | 05W | Cash, Jeremy | Leisure and Recreation in a Multicultural Society | |
| 0706 | F | 9:00-11:30 | This course will examine the diverse cultures which make up the American Landscape. Culture will be examined using leisure as its theme and starting point. Similarities as well as differences between culture will be identified. Folktales, proverbs, riddles, holidays, rituals and games from around the world will be presented and discussed. | |
| LEH300 | 06 | Newman, Zelda | Love, Lust and in Between: the stories of I.B. Singer | |
| 2579 | T,TH | 2:00-3:15 | From a conflicted transgender woman, to a scholar (unsuccessfully) fighting off the promise of love, to a beautiful woman unable to overcome the pull of the devil (who feeds on lust), I.B. Singer stories examine the many forms of human desire. In this course, we will read I.B. Singer stories and observe how desire (re)appears each time in a different shape. | |
| LEH300 | 07W | Radford, Tanya | Pattern Recognition: Images and Visual Literacy | |
| 1472 | SA | 1:00-3:30 | We are surrounded by images and we gather information from visual sources constantly. But how do we know what visual representations are saying to us? What are images and how do they work? What is visual literacy? How do we “read” pictures? How do we compose information in a visual format? In this course, we will look at the role of images in constructing our understanding of the world. We will also think about images as a means of manipulating the truth. Ranging from children’s picture books to high art to photography and film, this course will look at visual representation in the disciplines, in our art forms, and in our everyday reality. Students will be asked to consider the role of images and visual information in their own fields of study and in the world around them. We will develop and exercise our skills in visual rhetorical analysis by looking at visual images and reading essays about visual images. | |
| LEH300 | A01 | Maybee, Julie | "Images of Master and Slave in Western Culture" [joint with PHI 361] | |
| 2590 | T-TH | 8:00-9:15AM | The course will examine some of the ways
in which images of masters and slaves have been used for various purposes in Western culture. We will begin with a look at the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle’s treatment of natural slavery, which was one of the first attempts to theorize the nature of slavery in what later became Western culture. Images of masters and slaves were taken up later in more metaphorical forms in the work of the 19th century German philosophers Hegel (master and slave dialectic), Nietzsche (master morality and slave morality) and Marx (workers as wage slaves). I say these accounts are metaphorical because what is missing from them all is the experiences of actual slaves, in particular the experiences of Africans who were enslaved by Europeans in Europe and the European colonies. We will then look at the experiences of actual slaves, and how images of actual slaves were used both to support and oppose slavery. We will end with a look at how the theories (particularly those of Hegel and Marx) and the history of actual slavery converged in the making of the Black Radical Tradition, which included scholars such as W.E.B. Du Bois, C.L.R. James, and Richard Wright. |
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| LEH300 | B01W | Carey, Roz | The Origins of Modernity [joint with PHI243] | |
| 0688 | T-TH | 9:30-10:45 | In this course we examine the work of the
great scientists and philosophers of the early modern period in order to achieve a better
sense of our own 21st century intellectual currents. The focus of this course will be
twofold: our meta-textual questions will address the changing nature of philosophical
method as well as the competition between philosophy, science and religion. Our textual
questions will concern the transparent or elusive nature of human consciousness, the
relation of thinking to bodily motion, and the nature of the ego or self. |
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| LEH300 | C01W | Salmanova, Ekaterina | The Mystery of St. Petersburg: Literature, Art, Film | |
| 0681 | T-TH | 11:00-12:15 | Conceived as an embodiment of European progress, St. Petersburg nonetheless witnessed barbaric cruelty. This course will investigate the city’s two sides: dark and cruel, bright and inspiring. We will study the works of literature (Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Akhmatova, Brodsky and others), art (Zubov, Patterson, Dobuzhinsky) and film (“October”, “Autumn Marathon”, etc.), connected with the city, as well as some of its historical and architectural features. The course will reveal the relatedness of these different subjects, examine how they reflect reality, and analyze the development of the image of a modern city. | |
| LEH300 | D01W | |||
| 0682 | T-TH | 12:30-1:45 | ||
| LEH300 | D02W | Anderson, James | Jazz and the Improvised Arts | |
| T-TH | 12:30-1:45 | A history of jazz music from New Orleans to New York is coupled with an examination of improvisation in the arts. The class will investigate form and free creativity as applied to jazz, music from around the world, the visual arts, drama, and literature. | ||
| LEH300 | C02 | Pohle, Bill | Faith vs. Reason: Do Science and Religion Conflict? [w PHI353] | |
| 2581 | T-TH | 11:00-12:15 | An examination of the perceived conflict between religion (in general) and modern science. Starting with ancient Greece (Aristophanes and Socrates) we'll investigate both how this conflict appears as a contemporary problem (e.g. concerning the teaching of Darwinism) and the validity of positions that affirm or deny the reality of the conflict. Emphasis will be placed on finding insightful definitions of "science," "religion," and "truth." | |
| LEH300 | G01W | Frangos, John | Epidemic Disease in History: From Plague of Athens to the Plague of Aids | |
| 0686 | M,W | 11:00-12:15 | Epidemic disease has been present throughout man's history and has had a profound effect on people and events. The purpose of this course is to examine these biological agents, their impact on history and society's responses, ranging from magic and religion to science, medicine, and the institution of the modern hospital. The course, in a topical format, ranges from prehistory to the present and presents disease's impact on history as well as the human response. | |
| LEH300 | G02 | Kim, Young Kun | Comparative Political Thought: East and West | |
| 0687 | M,W | 11:00-12:15 | This course will compare and contrast basic social and political ideas in selected major texts in East Asian and Western traditions. Among the most cherished texts in their respective cultural spheres, Confucius's Analects and Plato's Republic will be studied. Secondly, selections from the writings of Han Fei Tzu and Machiavelli's Prince will be examined in order to determine the similarities and differences in political realism. | |
| LEH300 | G03W | Brownson, Carl | Immortality: Pictures of the Afterlife | |
| 0701 | M-W | 11:00-12:15 | This course will examine portrayals of the afterlife from an interdisciplinary perspective, focusing on accounts from religious thought, philosophical thought, the visual arts, and literature. We will address the following questions, among others: Is an afterlife possible, and if so, how likely is it that one exists? What parts of us would have to survive to say that 'we' survived death- our minds? Our bodies? Why do visual representations of the afterlife have the features that they do? (Why do angels have wings and demons have horns, for example?) Are any versions of the afterlife morally unjustified, regardless of our behavior in this life, or morally required to make up for this life? Is it rational to shape our beliefs and actions by looking towards the afterlife? How would we respond if we knew that there was no afterlife? Would eternal life be increasingly boring, or infinitely interesting? Is death something to fear? | |
| LEH300 | H01W | |||
| 0702 | M-W | 12:30-1:45 | ||
| LEH300 | ONA1W | Piccolomini, Manfredi | Birth of the Renaissance in Florence | |
| 0689 | FM: | 2/1,Thur,3:00-4:00 | This course examines the revival of all aspects of classical learning, both humanistic and scientific, that took place in Florence at the beginning of the Renaissance. It will concentrate both on the literary and political revolutions of the time, as well as on the influence of the rediscovered principles of Euclidean geometry in the development of perspective in painting and the creation of the maps that led to great geographical discoveries. The goal of the course is to show how the Renaissance, especially as it developed in Florence, was at the basis of the modern world. | |
| LEH300 | ONA2W | |||
| 0690 | FM: | 2/1,Thur,3:00-4:00 | ||
| LEH300 | ONA3W | Quarrell, Susan | Widows and Maids: Medieval Images of Women in Chaucer’s "The Canterbury Tales" | |
| 0691 | FM | 2/1,Thur,3:00-4:00 | The Middle Ages, despite the pervasive presence of a gloomy repressive church, was a period of immense social change and lively discourse. At the center of this discourse is Geoffrey Chaucer—considered by many to be the father of English Literature. In this course we will examine the Middle Ages and the images of medieval women that emerge as portrayed by Chaucer in his work The Canterbury Tales. We will explore elements of history, economics, sociology, and psychology represented by such figures as the Prioress, Griselda (the Clerk’s Tale), and the Wife of Bath, discovering the tensions inherent in the progress of women in medieval society. Discussions of women in the Tales will touch upon the question of whether women are good or bad—modeled on either the Virgin Mary or Eve. Students will gain an understanding of the influence of gender on individual behavior, as well as on contemporary institutions of marriage, workplace, and church. | |
| LEH300 | ONA4W | Viano, Bernado | Mexican Muralism: Revolution and Other Universal Themes | |
| 0692 | FM | 2/1, Thur,5:00-600 | This course explores the interaction of a national, public art (mural painting) and a social event (the Mexican Revolution 1910). Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros and Jose Clemente Orozco, among others, created world-famous murals; their themes are universal, but two dominate: the experience of the Mexican Revolution and the concern of the place of human kind within the 20th century. The Revolution left its indelible mark on Mexican narrative as well; thus, we will read two novels that have something in common with the structure and thematic of muralismo mexicano. | |
| LEH300 | ONA5W | Carroll, Mary | Monsters: Ancient and Modern | |
| 0693 | FM | 1/31,Wed,5-6:00 | From the Golem to Godzilla, form gargoyles to Frankenstein, we seem to have an eternal fascination with the monstrous. When you read certain books or see certain films, do you secretly root for the monster? Are you willing to see to see his/her/its point of view? If so, this course is one that you will enjoy. We will be investigating why certain monsters hold such a special place in our cultural and literary lives. Their existence is not based simply on being the NOT HERO; they touch deep wells within us that may hold clues to our own selves and, on a broader level, to man's inhumanity to man. Various genres, from novels to cartoons to poetry, art and film will form our course work. In addition, you will go to a museum to find an appropriate painting or sculpture that exemplifies the monstrous in a particular genre we have examined and write a major paper on that work. | |
| LEH300 | ONA6W | Fujioka, Tim | Poets, Priests, Painters, Punkers: Voices of Dissent in Latin America | |
| 0708 | FM: | 2/1,Thur,6-7:00 | This course will consider how official narratives have been questioned during 500 years of Latin American history. In doing so, we will examine a panorama of materials, including poetry, narrative literature, essays, visual art, music, political manifestos, historical and critical studies. We will consider how these documents challenge political and economic structures, class and gender dynamics, and conventional notions of racial, ethnic, and national identity. No knowledge of Spanish or Portuguese is required. This is a writing-intensive course, and students will be required to conduct complete numerous informal and formal writing assignments. | |
| LEH300 | ONH03 | Spear, Thomas | Autobiography and Self-Portraiture | |
| 2582 | M | 2:00-4:30 | Traditionally, an autobiography carries
an author's intention to tell the truth. Focusing on works where this truth is
"bent" will permit us to differentiate autobiography from forms of autofiction,
chronicles, memoirs and diaries. Close
readings of autobiographical narratives will show how authors emphasize their uniqueness
through an individual perspective of religion, "race," or a particular social or
economic standpoint. Other autobiographies emphasize the larger community, and portray a specific national and historical context. We will also examine self-portraits by painters and photographers, autobiographical narrative in film, and forms of constructed autobiography, self-promotion and narcissism found online. We will focus on works where the truth-or-fiction element of autofiction and autobiography is most pronounced. Narrative works will be selected from works by authors such as Patrick Chamoiseau, Assia Djebar, Jean Genet and Nathalie Sarraute. Course readings will include some short theoretical essays. Individual projects can focus on a particular painter or photographer, or be drawn from a work by many suggested authors. |
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| LEH300 | P01 | Choplet, Nadeige | Madness and Modernism | |
| 0694 | M | 2:00-4:30 | The Modernist Revolution is unique because it did not establish a new order. The similarities between madness and modernism are striking: defiance of the authority, nihilism, extreme relativism, distortions of time, strange transformations of self, and much more. During this semester we will underline the affinities between schizophrenia and modernism through the work of such writers and artists as Virginia Woolf, Kafka, Beckett and the Cubists, the Dadaist, the Surrealists and Picasso. We will also consider the ideas of philosophers including Nietzsche, Heidegger, Foucault and Derrida. | |
| LEH300 | Q01 | Mozes, Daniel | Modernism | |
| 0680 | T | 2:00-4:30 | We are surrounded by images and we gather information from visual sources constantly. But how do we know what visual representations are saying to us? What is an image and how do they work? What is visual literacy? How do we “read” pictures? How do we compose information in a visual format? In this course, we will look at the role of images in constructing our understanding of the world. We will also think about images as a means of manipulating the truth. Ranging from children’s picture books to high art to photography and film, this course will look at visual representation in the disciplines, in our art forms, and in our everyday reality. Students will be asked to consider the role of images and visual information in their own fields of study and in the world around them. We will develop and exercise our skills in visual rhetorical analysis by looking at visual images and reading essays about visual images. | |
| LEH300 | Q02W | Salamandra, Christa | The Middle East through Urban and Popular Culture | |
| 0707 | T | 2:00-4:30 | This course explores the creativity and dynamism of a region often known only through the news media’s sensational headlines. An alternative approach to understanding the contemporary Middle East focuses not on the actions of politicians and diplomats, but rather on a significant social and cultural process: the growth of major urban centers. We will examine both the development of urbanization and the popular and expressive cultural forms that develop from and give voice to the experience of the modern Middle Eastern city. Historical and ethnographic materials examine film, television, music, dance and domestic architecture in Cairo, Damascus, Istanbul, Algiers and Doha. Requirements of this writing intensive course include a series of essays responding to the assigned readings. | |
| LEH300 | R01W | Sramek, Joseph | Colonial Cultures | |
| 0699 | Th | 2:00-4:30PM | This course examines the cultural aspects of British imperialism during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Ireland, and post-imperial Britain, drawing upon the academic disciplines of history, literature, and anthropology. The major aim of the course will be to study how the identities of colonizers and colonized peoples were shaped through the “colonial encounter” with particular attention being paid to the roles of race, class, and gender. In addition to providing students with a basic historical and theoretical understanding of British imperialism, the course will consist of reading several colonial novels as well as recent scholarship by historians, literary critics, and anthropologists. | |
| LEH300 | R02 | Joyce, Regina | A Tale of Two Forces: Religion and Global Politics | |
| 0685 | Th | 2:00-4:30 | A focus on globalization and religious encounters, examined through film and text, as two actors exerting new forces on 21st century forms of statecraft, anarchy, and morality. Examples of different religions’ impact in countries at varying levels of economic and political development will be analyzed and trends in international political economy and contemporary world politics will be discussed. | |
| LEH300 | R03 | Madden, Brian | Aesthetic Experience: Art, Music, Literature [with PHI239] | |
| 2583 | Th | 2:00-4:30 | This course explores the rich and diverse nature of aesthetic experience and its place in human life. What is art? How does art reflect, inform, and challenge our understanding of human nature? How might art contribute to our appreciation of life? As part of the course, students will be introduced to a wide variety of aesthetic “objects,” including poetry, drama, art, sculpture, architecture, and music. The pieces chosen will vary widely in terms of the historical period, cultural context, and aesthetic values they represent. In addition, we will look at a sampling of philosophical works that raise and examine questions relating to the nature of art and aesthetic experience in general. | |
| LEH300 | R04W | Shahidi, Samina | Muslim Women: Image and Social Role | |
| 2584 | TH | 2:00-4:30 | This course will look at how Muslim women in industrial and developing worlds represent themselves and the issues significant to them such as religion, human rights, globalization, migration, censorship, domestic violence, marriage and motherhood, and women’s labor . In order to examine the diversity of the female Muslim world, we will examine various genres: canonical, memoir, film, fiction and contemporary transnational theory. We will look at works by Azadeh Moaveni (Lipstick Jihad), Laila Lalami (Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits), and Dr. A. Wadud. | |
| LEH300 | XH81W | Gantz, David | "Blank Slates to Cyborgs: Modern Models of Human Nature" | |
| 1471 | Th | 6:00-8:40 | This course will examine the concept of
human nature as it has developed from the enlightenment through the creation of modern
technologies such as cyborgs. Is there an innate human nature that is universal? What does
it mean to be human? Posthuman? What are the boundaries between animals, humans and
machines? The blurring of boundaries between human/machine, natural/artificial,
moral/immoral, male/female challenges us to reevaluate the traditional models of knowledge
in western culture. What are the moral, political, social and aesthetic implications of
this “revaluation” of values? The works of Locke, Dostoevsky, Nietzsche, Steven
Pinker, Carol Gilligan, Philip K. Dick and William Gibson are some of the writers that
will be studied. In addition, films by Stanley Kubrick, Ridley Scott and Japanese Anime
directors will be viewed through our course theme. |
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| LEH300 | XH82W | Sramek, Joseph | Colonial Cultures | |
| 0700 | Th | 6:00-8:40PM | This course examines the cultural aspects of British imperialism during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Ireland, and post-imperial Britain, drawing upon the academic disciplines of history, literature, and anthropology. The major aim of the course will be to study how the identities of colonizers and colonized peoples were shaped through the “colonial encounter” with particular attention being paid to the roles of race, class, and gender. In addition to providing students with a basic historical and theoretical understanding of British imperialism, the course will consist of reading several colonial novels as well as recent scholarship by historians, literary critics, and anthropologists. | |
| LEH300 | XM81W | Cash, Jeremy | Leisure and Recreation in a Multicultural Society | |
| 0684 | M | 6:00-8:40 | This course will examine the diverse cultures which make up the American Landscape. Culture will be examined using leisure as its theme and starting point. Similarities as well as differences between culture will be identified. Folktales, proverbs, riddles, holidays, rituals and games from around the world will be presented and discussed. | |
| LEH300 | XT81 | Gallo, Marcia | Sexuality and Sex Roles in Transnational Perspective | |
| 0695 | T | 6:00-8:40 | What is the relevance of gender and sexuality to the study of world histories and cultures? Using nonfiction and fiction writings, poetry, film, music and art, we will explore the changing meanings of sexuality and sex roles in relationship to demography, migration patterns, technology, economy, religion/spirituality, and family and other cultural forces. We will trace the development of sexual politics in specific societies in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and the Americas; we will also explore how the study of sexuality offers opportunities to re-think major themes in world history. | |
| LEH300 | XW81 | |||
| 0698 | W | 6:00-8:40 | ||
| LEH300 | XT82W | Carey, Roz | "And we have killed him": modernity, faith, and the denial of God | |
| 1473 | Tu | 6:00-8:40 | Nietzsche famously proclaimed that God is dead and we have killed Him, thereby ringing an alarm and diagnosing what he sees as the central challenge of the modern era: the rise of atheism and the demise of religion. While on the face of it, his worry seems simplistic--religion is on the rise in America, for one thing--this course assumes that he is right at least in seeing that religion--belief versus unbelief--is a defining characteristic of the modern era. In this course, then, we will attempt to trace the outlines of the impact of faith and atheism on other characteristically modern views, such as humanism, individualism, democracy, freedom, power, and responsibility. In order to pursue these questions we will draw our readings from philosophy (Hegel, Nietzsche, Russell), philosophical anthropology (Feuerbach), psychology (Freud, James), biology (Darwin), economics/political philosophy (Marx and Engels), and literature (Dostoyevsky). | |
| LEH301 | 01W | Blot, Richard | Language in America | |
| 0726 | T | 12:30-3:00 | Study of the place of language (the “struggle for voice”) in the forming of American identities. The course draws on the disciplines of linguistics (especially sociolinguistics), history, sociology, anthropology, political science (legal studies), and literary studies. | |
| LEH301 | 02W | Perry-Ryder, Gail | Black Popular Culture | |
| 0727 | M | 11:00-1:40 | This course examines the folk idiom and evolution of African American culture past and present as reflected in the creative works of black artists in the areas of film, music, sports, and language. Examples are drawn from each of these areas to demonstrate the continuity of these images across artistic domains. Emphasis given to the relationship between historical and contemporary representations of the African American image across different genres of mass media. | |
| LEH301 | 03 | Joyce, Regina | Latin America: The Violent Children of Cain | |
| 0731 | Fri | 1:00-3:30 | This course will provide an overview into Latin American violence emphasizing the complexity of repression and rebellion in this region’s history. Rosenberg in Children of Cain states “that one doesn’t necessarily have to be pathological to do horrible things. but rather this belongs to the society.” If society contains the answer, this course will consider a wide range of texts trying to not only understand the origins of violence in Latin America but also the point where global history enters into this equation. Themes of postcolonial mindsets and behavioral patterns, reflecting current political and economic relationships will emerge and the role of certain social movements will be examined. | |
| LEH301 | 04W | Bullaro, Grace | The Immigration Experience | |
| 0728 | Th | 1:00-3:30 | The immigration experience, its advantages and disadvantages. What is an “American”; cultural identity and how it is affected by the old culture and the new one; assimilation and its perils and rewards; family relations and how the roles of parent and child; psychological fragmentation, feeling neither native nor new. | |
| LEH301 | 05W | Jacques, Geoffrey | The Sixties in American Culture | |
| 0729 | M | 1:00-3:30 | This course explores the social and cultural movements of the 1960s. The student, civil rights, black power, hippie, and women’s movements, the movement against the Vietnam War all took place within a social and cultural milieu in which Motown, rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and the various African American and other musical avant-gardes provided the soundtrack. This was the era that saw the rise of new ideas, values, and lifestyles concerning sexuality and spirituality. This was also the era when pop art, op art, minimalism, happenings, and what Susan Sontag called the “aesthetics of silence” provided the visual and theatrical artistic backdrop for artistic, social and political activities. The 1960s were a moment when political protest demonstrations became public theatrical events. This course examines how this came to be the case. In addition to readings of social and cultural historians of the 1960s, we will look at films and listen to music from the time period. The class will also read several authors from the period, including James Baldwin, Allen Ginsberg, Norman Mailer, Herbert Marcuse, Susan Sontag, and Malcolm X. | |
| LEH301 | 06 | Kaczinsky, Charles | “Real to Reel”: New York Immigration in Film | |
| 0730 | SU | 1:00-3:30PM | This course will examine the history of immigration to New York City and its depiction in popular films. By examining the historical record within the framework of cinematic representations of immigration, students will confront issues of historical accuracy versus creative license. Along with comparing “real” immigration to “reel” immigration, students will analyze the films as historical artifacts of the time in which they were produced, recognizing how the films exhibit the attitudes and assumptions commonly held about immigration at particular points in American history. | |
| LEH301 | 07W | Hodge, Jean | Women & Minorities in Film and Literature | |
| 2585 | Tu,Th | 2:00-3:15 | The uniqueness of women and minorities in film from early 1900-present. We will examine the images, impact, messages and how they affect women and ethnic groups, including questions of gender bias, race and ethnicity. What unique contributions have women and people of color made in film? Has politics had any bearing on the roles played by women and minorities in film? The issue of stereotypes will also be confronted, in an attempt to comprehend recurring distortions in characteristics. Finally, we will look at the depiction of women and minorities on the screen and analyze how their characters might serve as valuable tools for stimulating sensitivity. In this writing intensive course, film viewing will be necessary in order to discuss various essays and texts. This writing intensive course will combine film study, literature, political science and history in examining works that includes, David Wark Griffith’s “The Birth Of A Nation,” Emil Jannings “The Blue Angel,” and Akira Kurosawa’s “Ikiru.” | |
| LEH301 | 08 | Renshon, Stanley | Immigration and National Identity | |
| 0721 | W | 3:30-6:00 | What does it mean to be an American? Large -scale immigration since 1964 has made this country more diverse that it has ever been. But the question remains: What hold America together? Is there something distinctive about national identity and citizenship in the United States? If so, what is it? Is it a matter of culture, beliefs, or something else? Is citizenship the same as "being an American?" How do immigrants fit into American identity? Is a national identity useful, or even possible, in an age of globalization? There are many questions to ask, and this course will examine them. | |
| LEH301 | C01W | Khalid, Robina | Brother from Another Planet: African-American Speculative Fiction | |
| 0709 | T,TH | 11:00-12:15 | African-American science fiction writer
Nalo Hopkinson asserts that "science fiction has always been a subversive
literature" because it forces the reader to "think twice and thrice about a
whole bunch of things in relation to each other: sexuality, race, class, color,
history." These questions will animate our course: is there a distinct tradition of
black speculative fiction? How might a culture that has, in Hopkinson's words, "been
on the receiving end of the colonization glorified in some science fiction" negotiate
and politicize the genre? Does black speculative fiction cause one, in fact, "to
think twice and thrice" about race, class, and sexuality? We will begin with a
general consideration of the fantastic in literature. Using supplementary materials from
postcolonial and feminist theory, as well as a consideration of the traditions of travel
writing and utopian/dystopian thought, we will look at how black writers, filmmakers and
musicians have used speculative methods to defamiliarize our assumptions about
"familiar" social issues. Texts may include writings by Pauline Hopkins, George
Schuyler, W.E.B. Du Bois, Octavia Butler, Samuel Delany, Walter Mosley, Ishmael Reed, Jewelle Gomez, and Nalo Hopkinson. |
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| LEH301 | D01W | Esdaile, Lisa | Black Feminist Thought in the United States, From 1831 to the Present | |
| 0710 | Tu,Th | 12:30-1:45 | What is feminism? If feminism speaks to equality for women, then why the need for black feminism? What about the woman who is not white but not black, or of African descent? Where does the “woman of color” fit in? This course will explore these questions, looking at black feminist writings from the nineteenth century to the present. We will read essays, poems, short stories, and novels, as well as view some films that black women have created that often fly in the face of demeaning pop cultural images and perceptions. There will be many selections from Beverly Guy-Sheftall’s Words of Fire: An Anthology of African-American Thought. This anthology contains non-fiction writings by black women from 1831 to the present. The writings are grouped chronologically and thematically, which allows for a mapping of black feminist thought in the United States. | |
| LEH301 | D02W | Sanchez, Julette | New York City and the Lively Arts | |
| 0711 | T, Th | 12:30-1:45 | Between Van Cortland Park and Coney Island there is, probably, more artistic vitality than anywhere else in the world. It is a banquet and no Lehman student should miss the celebration. Students in this LEH 300 section will have seats at the head table. They will attend plays and performances right here on the Lehman campus. During class meetings, they will also have a chance to read about and discuss what they have seen. The end result should be a greater appreciation and understanding of New York's artistic riches. | |
| LEH301 | F01W | VanNatter, Amy | Public Enemies, Public Heroes: Crime in American politics and society | |
| 0713 | M, W | 9:30-10:45AM | From the Wild West to the White House, this course examines crime and public reaction as an expression of American moral standards, cultural values and politics. Some who venture too far from accepted norms are punished, while others who challenge perceived injustice or voice dissent may be celebrated. Combining elements of history, sociology, political science and legal studies we will explore how crime and law-breaking behavior is interpreted by society and attempt to understand why some are condemned while others are revered. Topics include: organized crime, lynching, Iran-Contra, the war on drugs, the "Wild West" and more. | |
| LEH301 | F02W | Valentine, Robert | Images of the American Civil War | |
| 3020 | M, W | 9:30-10:45AM | This course will examine the legacy of the Civil War and how it has been perceived in American culture from 1865 until the present day. Aspects of the "Lost Cause," the rise of Realism and the impact of Veterans' Organizations, the "Compromise" of the 1930s, post-1945 commercialism, the Centennial, the latter-day "re-enactment" culture, and the controversy over the Confederate flag will be covered. We will explore the perceptions of the War through fiction and film, analyze the impact of modern documentaries, and assess the importance of historic preservation and underwater archaeology. Prior knowledge of the American Civil War is beneficial to the understanding of these concepts. | |
| LEH301 | G01 | Hyman, David | Teaching the Superman: The Superhero Narrative and American Culture | |
| 2586 | M,W | 11:00-12:15PM | In this course, we will deal with the mythic and cultural contexts of the superhero. Our main focus will be to trace the evolution of superhero narratives as an emerging tradition grounded in the literature and popular culture of the key eras of its history: the Golden Age of the late Thirties and World War II, ushered in by the birth of Superman; the Silver Age of the Marvel Superheroes and their soap-opera, character-driven dilemmas; and the mid-1980s eruption of the revisionary superhero graphic novels The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen. Later narratives, such as Warren Ellis’ ongoing series Planetary and Neal Gaiman’s Sandman; films such as Unbreakable, The Incredibles, and Spiderman; television programs such as Heroes and Smallville; and the recent popularity of Japanese Manga and Anime will be studied as contemporary expressions of the genre. Course requirements include a midterm and final examination, a brief class presentation, and an ongoing reading response journal. | |
| LEH301 | H01W | Cyrille, Dominique | Black Dance, Identity & Body Politics in the Caribbean | |
| 0714 | M,W | 12:30-13:45 | The aim of the class is to get students accustomed to the notions of Caribbean dance and music as expressive arts. Students will be invited to reflect upon issues of performance and construction of identity across space and time in the Caribbean and Caribbean cities of the USA. Using audiovisual documents, past-century literature as well as more recent studies about dance as a starting point, we will examine how people from various ethnic background in the Caribbean and Caribbean cities of the USA define dance and notions of appropriateness about dance. From the "Touloulous' balls" in French Guyane or the Dominican "Quadrille" to Haitian "Rara" masqueraders and New York "On-2" salsa dancers, we will explore various styles of Black dance and musicmaking in the circum-Caribbean on order to discuss how feelings of identity, political and/or religious beliefs, etc. permeate an individual's choice of music and dance practice. Conversely, we will examine how the expressive arts contribute to identity formation and how they function as markers of socio-racial identity in the circum-Caribbean. | |
| LEH301 | ONA1W | Hall, Polly | Politics, Culture, and Human Rights | |
| 0716 | FM | 2/2,Fri, 3-4:00 | This course introduces you to the intricate interplay between politics and culture surrounding the issue of human rights. We will explore the impact of American politics and culture on political and social institutions connected to the human rights field, and on international conflict and cooperation related to human rights. We will specifically examine universal (or political) principles declared in various human rights covenants and see how American cultural traditions resist the adoption of some of these principles. We will explore a variety of human rights case studies and compare American politics and culture to the different political and cultural approaches taken by other countries. Concepts of oppression, culture, and patriarchy will be explored to understand their social and political implications. Tensions between cultural traditions and human rights will be explored. Issues surrounding the international policy of sovereignty will be examined. This course will be taught from an interdisciplinary perspective, integrating theory and readings from political science, international politics, ethics, sociology, and anthropology. | |
| LEH301 | ONA2W | Hall, Polly | American Environmental Policy | |
| 0717 | FM | 2/2,Fri, 4-5:00 | ||
| LEH301 | ONA3W | Lahey, Miriam | American Approaches to Disability: Changing Contexts and Concepts | |
| 0718 | FM: | 2/1, Thur 4-5:00 | A cultural history of disability in America, this course explores, using a case-study approach, the changing cultural experience of disability and traces the development of American disability law through selected landmark cases. | |
| LEH301 | ONA4W | Whittaker, Robert | FEAR: Communism and American Culture | |
| 0719 | FM | 1/31, Wed, 1:00 | How America reacted to the “threat of Communism” and how this fear was reflected in literature, art, film and mass culture (including TV and political propaganda). The historical focus will be on the immediate post-War era of the 1950s and early 1960s. | |
| LEH301 | ONA5W | Carroll, Mary | American Wars in Song and Fiction | |
| 0715 | FM | 1/31,Wed,6-7 | In this course we will examine American "war stories" throughout the centuries. How are these stories conveyed to us? What are the many points of view? What is their purpose? How true are they? Not all of the "stories" will be pro war, and likewise, not all will be anti-war. We will begin with our own "war storeis" for we each have at least one in us already. | |
| LEH301 | ONA6W | Quarrell, Susan | Hyphenated Americans: Finding Identity in a Multi-Ethnic Society | |
| FM | 2/1,Thur,4:00-5:00 | This course explores American ethnic culture through fiction, non-fiction, theater and film examining how colonialism, forced migration, immigration, assimilation, racism, bilingualism, sexuality and gender roles forge the multi-dimensional soul of the city and the life of Native-Americans/African-, Asian-, Hispanic-, and other so-called hyphenated Americans. | ||
| LEH301 | P01W | Williams, Stacey | The Black Image: From Caricture to HipHop Mass Marketing | |
| 0712 | M | 2:00-4:30 | This course explores the history of reproduced portrayals of blacks from 19th-century caricatures in illustrated books and images of darkly colored domestics in advertising. The course will look at early studio postcards and anthropological photography that documented subjects' physical as well as scientific racial uniqueness. Around 1900, the W.E.B. DuBois' Negro Exposition displayed photographs of the Negro middle class. Marketing of the New Negro in black newspapers and magazines continued during the Harlem Renaissance, Garveyism, and black is beautiful movements. Questions of how the black image has survived in present versions dubbed by black entertainers and media masters, including grass roots and Hollywood Blaxploitation of the 70s until hip hop's contemporary sexually explicit videos will be examined in depth. Aside from the theme of visual image, the class will learn about the creative environments in which these images were created. Also included is the study of music, literature, theater, fashion, as well as, political trends in which any and all black images are integral. | |
| LEH301 | Q01W | VanNatter, Amy | Public Enemies, Public Heroes: Crime in American politics and society | |
| 0720 | T | 2:00-4:30PM | From the Wild West to the White House, this course examines crime and public reaction as an expression of American moral standards, cultural values and politics. Some who venture too far from accepted norms are punished, while others who challenge perceived injustice or voice dissent may be celebrated. Combining elements of history, sociology, political science and legal studies we will explore how crime and law-breaking behavior is interpreted by society and attempt to understand why some are condemned while others are revered. Topics include: organized crime, lynching, Iran-Contra, the war on drugs, the "Wild West" and more. | |
| LEH301 | Q02W | Jacques, Geoffrey | The Sixties in American Culture | |
| 0722 | Tu | 2:00-4:30 | This course explores the social and cultural movements of the 1960s. The student, civil rights, black power, hippie, and women’s movements, the movement against the Vietnam War all took place within a social and cultural milieu in which Motown, rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and the various African American and other musical avant-gardes provided the soundtrack. This was the era that saw the rise of new ideas, values, and lifestyles concerning sexuality and spirituality. This was also the era when pop art, op art, minimalism, happenings, and what Susan Sontag called the “aesthetics of silence” provided the visual and theatrical artistic backdrop for artistic, social and political activities. The 1960s were a moment when political protest demonstrations became public theatrical events. This course examines how this came to be the case. In addition to readings of social and cultural historians of the 1960s, we will look at films and listen to music from the time period. The class will also read several authors from the period, including James Baldwin, Allen Ginsberg, Norman Mailer, Herbert Marcuse, Susan Sontag, and Malcolm X. | |
| LEH301 | R01W | Esdaile, Lisa | The African-American Detective in Film and Fiction | |
| 0724 | Th | 2:00-4:30 | This course will focus on the black detective in film and fiction, looking at how black writers (and directors and actors) transformed a genre that initially excluded blacks, as well as women, because of their supposed lack of rationacinative skills. | |
| LEH301 | R02W | Glasser, Marilynn | "Americans at Play: Defining a National Character through Leisure" | |
| 2587 | Th | 2:00-4:30 | Leisure experience from pre-colonial times to the present day, with emphasis on the role of leisure behaviors in the development and expression of American identity. Topics include cultural diversity; women's leisure; role of sport and government; the outdoor experience; the arts; media, popular culture and technology; consumerism and deviance. | |
| LEH301 | R03 | Graulau, Jeannette | Global Environmental Politics | |
| 2588 | Th | 2:00-4:30 | This course examines the dynamics, values
and reasoning of global environmental politics as part of the inequalities inherent to the
global economy. It looks at how international
organizations, financial institutions, trade agreements, corporations and capitalist
ideologies transform global politics and governance into progressive environmental
exploitation. The focus of the course is on the connection between capitalist markets, ideology and the materiality and hegemony of environmental politics. The course is divided in sections that analyze case studies of environmental constraints that face the South and the East and their linkages to global capitalist processes, such as resource exhaustion, water pollution, mineral depletion, deforestation, ozone depletion, climate change. Each case study illuminates on the debate of environmental inequalities caused by the global production of economic goods and to think on the question of alternatives. |
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| LEH301 | XH81 | Kaczinsky, Charles | “Real to Reel”: New York Immigration in Film | |
| 1474 | Th | 6:00-8:40 | This course will examine the history of immigration to New York City and its depiction in popular films. By examining the historical record within the framework of cinematic representations of immigration, students will confront issues of historical accuracy versus creative license. Along with comparing “real” immigration to “reel” immigration, students will analyze the films as historical artifacts of the time in which they were produced, recognizing how the films exhibit the attitudes and assumptions commonly held about immigration at particular points in American history. | |
| LEH301 | XH83 | Murphy, Denis | From the Old World to the New: The Irish-American Experience | |
| 1475 | Th | 6:00-8:40 | This course will trace the roots of the Irish emigrants who left for the New World of the United States in the nineteenth century. It will survey the Gaelic past from the mythology of Cuchualinn and Maeve in The Tain to the Golden Age, the conquest and the catastrophe of the Famine. From here the course will focus on the new urban Irish in the American city and the experience of the Irish west of the Mississippi. The course will be presented in the framework of the literature, history and culture of the Irish in the "American Experience." | |
| LEH301 | XM81 | Artinian, Art | American Politics through Poetry, Philosophy, Music and Art | |
| 1477 | M | 1800-2040 | A fresh look at American politics by reading history, political and philosophical documents, some Supreme Court cases, first-account narratives and lots of poetry. In addition, we will listen to music (with a special focus on the blues and jazz) and analyze key examples of twentieth century American visual art. Topics will include the current challenges facing our education system, relations between Native Americans and early colonists, constitutional foundations as illustrated by the Federalist and Anti-Federalist papers, challenges to our democracy by the current state of the prison system. Students will engage in both analytical and creative writing and confront some of America’s most politically-active and innovative twentieth-century poets such as Charles Olson, Ed Dorn and Ed Sanders. Other writers will include W.E.B. DuBois, Amiri Baraka, Zora Neal Hurston, Miles Davis. | |
| LEH301 | XM82 | Morrison, Nora | Popular Music of the 40s through the 60s | |
| 2990 | M | 1800-2040 | This course takes an interdisciplinary approach to studying the history and culture of popular music in the United States in the mid-twentieth century. We will focus on the genres of jazz and swing, rhythm and blues, gospel, rock and roll, country, folk and blues, and soul. We will discuss artists such as Louis Jordan, Lionel Hampton, Sam Cooke, Ruth Brown, Bill Haley, Elvis Presley, Diana Ross, and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins. We will talk about record label economics, aesthetics, and performance styles. We will talk about the context of music technologies, segregated and desegregating America, the Cold War, the sexual revolution, and the Vietnam War. Our objective will be to better understand American music as an expressive form and in the context of its society and culture. | |
| LEH301 | XT81 | Badillo, David | Explorations in Latino History and Sociology | |
| 2589 | T | 6:00-8:40 | This course includes national and global migration patterns, inter-group relations, and challenges of defining an identity among immigrants and their offspring from Latin America. Several assignments will require students to explore linkages between Latinos and other immigrant/ethnic groups with respect to language, religion, and culture. Readings, lectures, and media seek to develop critical awareness of contrasts and similarities among various Latino waves of migration since the early twentieth century, as well as comparisons of contemporary groups. Students will also learn to view the Bronx as a spatial and temporal laboratory for contemporary historical and sociological developments. | |
| LEH301 | XT82 | Harmon, Gregory | Slavery and New York, 1600-1890 | |
| 1476 | Tu | 1800-20:40 | This course is a historical survey of slavery as an institution in New York from 1620 to 1890. The course will show slavery under the Dutch from 1620-1664, and the radical change once England took over in 1664. The students will gain a better appreciation for the geography of New York City. They will also learn how the growth of New York City’s economy was interwoven with the South’s slave economy. In addition students will learn about the abolitionist and an anti-abolitionist movements in New York which led to the abolishment of slavery in 1827 (which did not end the intimate economic relationship that New York had with the South). Finally the student will see how blacks in New York evolved from slaves to free men and women. | |
| LEH301 | XW81 | Newman, Zelda Kahan | Jewish Immigrant Experience in America | |
| 0723 | W | 6:00-8:40 | Exploration of early Yiddish culture in America, to include Passover cook book put out in the early 20th century, sections of Sholem Aleikhem readings, selections from the Yiddish Radio Project, screenings of early Yiddish films and "crucial" patriotic songs (i.e., The Star Spangled Banner) circulated in the immigrant community. | |
| LEH301 | XW82W | Valentine, Robert | Images of the American Civil War | |
| 3021 | W | 6:00-8:40 | This course will examine the legacy of the Civil War and how it has been perceived in American culture from 1865 until the present day. Aspects of the "Lost Cause," the rise of Realism and the impact of Veterans' Organizations, the "Compromise" of the 1930s, post-1945 commercialism, the Centennial, the latter-day "re-enactment" culture, and the controversy over the Confederate flag will be covered. We will explore the perceptions of the War through fiction and film, analyze the impact of modern documentaries, and assess the importance of historic preservation and underwater archaeology. Prior knowledge of the American Civil War is beneficial to the understanding of these concepts. | |
| LEH301 | ZL01W | Radford, Tanya | Perfect America: The Utopian Impulse in American Cultural History and Literature | |
| 0725 | SA | 9:15-11:45 | What would a perfect America and the perfect American look like? This course will consider the importance of the utopian ideal and the perfect community in American cultural history and literature. The course will begin by investigating the discursive origins of the United States: the peculiarly American combination of the utopian and the apocalyptic. We will then proceed to a consideration of real and imagined communities: from historical records and literary representations of intentional communities like Brook Farm; to utopian novels aimed at critique and reform of an imperfect America; to geographical representations of the perfect America in visual art, utopian theme parks such as Disneyland, and the World’s Fairs. This interdisciplinary course will draw from the academic disciplines of literature, history, philosophy, film and the visual arts. | |