2016-2017 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
Course Descriptions
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Courses at Furman are typically identified by codes separated into three distinct parts. The first segment designates the academic subject of the course, the second component relates to the level of instruction, and the final element (when displayed) assists with the identification of the meeting times and location for individual course sections.
Credit bearing undergraduate courses typically are numbered between 100 and 599, graduate instruction is typically numbered between 600 and 999, while zero credit experiences frequently have numbers between 001 and 099. Undergraduates can further expect courses numbers to reflect:
| 100-299 |
introductory courses, geared to freshmen and sophomores |
| 300-499 |
advanced courses, designed for majors and other students with appropriate background and/or prerequisites |
| 500-599 |
individualized instruction, including internships, research, independent study, and music performance studies |
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English |
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ENG-423 Irish Renaissance Literature
GER: TA (Critical, Analytical Interpretation of Texts)
Prerequisite: any first year writing seminar
The remarkable literary flowering contemporary with the late nineteenth-century movements in Ireland that led to the creation of the Irish Free State in 1921, and with the difficult historical circumstances faced by the new nation in the first years of its existence. The major figures studied include Yeats, Joyce, Synge, and O’Casey. Normally taught in conjunction with study away experience conducted in the British Isles. 4 credits.
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ENG-434 What Is Postcolonialism?
GER: TA (Critical, Analytical Interpretation of Texts) and WC (World Cultures)
Prerequisite: any first year writing seminar
Introduction to the field of Postcolonial Studies through the study of literary, filmic, and theoretical texts focusing on the historical and ongoing interactions of European and non-European cultures from the perspective of domination, resistance, and the search for alternatives. 4 credits.
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ENG-435 Culture and Politics in African Literature
GER: TA (Critical, Analytical Interpretation of Texts) and WC (World Cultures)
Prerequisite: any first year writing seminar
A cross-genre survey of the literature of the African Continent. Attention will be paid to significant formal innovations and thematic preoccupations that define African literature. Exploring structures across literary and cultural boundaries like genre, race, gender, class and politics, in order to gain valuable insights into the relationship between literature and society, especially how texts participate in, and document the changing conditions of African societies. 4 credits.
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ENG-451 Film Analysis
GER: TA (Critical, Analytical Interpretation of Texts)
Prerequisite: any first year writing seminar
Exploration of the fundamentals of film form151narrative construction in the Hollywood system as well as non-narrative formal systems (documentary, abstract and avant-garde film). Includes examination of the fundamentals of film style (mise-en-sc232ne, cinematography, editing, sound) and attention to the relationships between the literary and filmic texts. 4 credits.
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ENG-452 Literary Feminisms
GER: TA (Critical, Analytical Interpretation of Texts)
Prerequisite: any first year writing seminar
Women’s literature in English as a distinct tradition, from the perspective of feminist literary theory and criticism. Structured as a historical and thematic survey of issues in the field; the writers and theorists studied will vary. 4 credits.
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ENG-453 Slave Narrative to Slave Novel
GER: TA (Critical, Analytical Interpretation of Texts)
Prerequisite: any first year writing seminar
Consideration of the traditional Black Atlantic 18th, 19th, and 20th century slave narratives and novels, including authors such as Douglass, Equiano, and Butler, among others. Texts critique historiographies, ideologies, and models of interpretation that subjected African American cultural production and black identity to second-class citizenship. Examine the relationship between memory, writing, and historical representation and the production of hierarchical categories in the construction of racial, sexual, and gender differences. Texts engage the challenges of formal genre presented by the slave novel’s reinvention of the traditional slave narrative. 4 credits.
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ENG-454 Caribbean Cosmopolitianisms
GER: TA (Critical, Analytical Interpretation of Texts)
Prerequisite: any first year writing seminar
Reading across Caribbean literatures, cultures, languages, and theories which organize the region,exploring the ways in which cosmopolitanisms shape the literary and cultural productions of the Caribbean. Attention paid to the ways cultural hybridity emerges against the persistence of a mythological cultural and national homogeneity. Authors might include William Shakespeare, Charlotte Bronte, Michelle Cliff, Junot Diaz, Christina Diaz, Jamaica Kincaid, Earl Lovelace, and Jean Rhys. 4 credits.
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ENG-455 Interpretive Issues in Early Modern Literature
GER: TA (Critical, Analytical Interpretation of Texts)
Prerequisite: any first year writing seminar
Study of key issues for understanding early modern British literature and its place in a history of ideas in the West. Topics include early modern literature in relation to the histories of science, individualism, gender and sexuality, privacy, literary criticism, authorship and/or the place of period texts in emerging theories of literature and history. 4 credits.
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ENG-456 Comparative Ethnicities
GER: WC (World Cultures)
Prerequisite: any first year writing seminar
Emphasis on a comparative approach to Asian American, Jewish American, Native American, African American, Caribbean, US-Latino, and Chicano literatures. Focus will be on how writers of color address histories of ambivalent citizenship; how the immigrant experience and the return home changes both America and the world; the problematic concept of America itself, always seemingly at battle with itself. Some of the rhetorical battles waged over the meaning of an American national and hemispheric identity in the works of Gish Jen, Leslie Marmon Silko, Ralph Ellison, Maxine Hong Kingston, Sherman Alexie, Cristina Garcia, Junot Diaz, Philip Roth, and Edwidge Danticat, among others. 4 credits.
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ENG-457 African-American Drama
GER: TA (Critical, Analytical Interpretation of Texts)
Prerequisite: any first year writing seminar
Three-part history and development of African American drama in the United States from its origins to the present moment. Part one explores the roots of African American drama and examines early stage images of black subjects, 19th century stage stereotypes of minstrelsy, and the initial achievements of the African Grove Theatre and early black playwrights. Part Two focuses on the Harlem Renaissance and the Harlem Unit of the Federal Theatre Project. Part Three examines major plays and playwrights from Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun (1959) to the 2001 Pulitzer Prize-winning production of Suzan Lori-Park’s Topdog-Underdog. 4 credits.
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ENG-461 Critical and Cultural Theory
GER: TA (Critical, Analytical Interpretation of Texts)
Prerequisite: any first year writing seminar
Introduction to theoretical approaches to literature such as psychoanalysis, deconstruction, feminism, and postcolonial studies. Consideration of the ethics and politics of interpretation, the assumptions and practices informing theoretical work, and the relation between literature and theory. Readings include works of fiction, film, and texts by theorists such as Freud, Lacan, Kristeva, Zizek, Derrida, de Man, Butler, Cixous, Spivak, Bhabha. 4 credits.
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ENG-462 Stage, Social Struggle, Theory
GER: TA (Critical, Analytical Interpretation of Texts)
Prerequisite: any first year writing seminar
Exploration of the way the theatre and drama become sites for producing social discourses and institutions. Focusing on one or more key periods in world drama, students will study the interrelations of plays, theoretical formulations, and specific material conditions of performance. 4 credits.
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ENG-471 South Asian Cultural Studies Literature and Film
GER: TA (Critical, Analytical Interpretation of Texts) and WC (World Cultures)
Prerequisite: any first year writing seminar
Introduction to the complex array of issues essential to understanding South Asian cultures in the contemporary context. Examining literary texts and films through interpretive approaches appropriate to the pluralistic cultural traditions of the region and informed by current debates in the humanities. 4 credits.
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ENG-475 Senior Seminar in English
Prerequisite: any first year writing seminar
Course topic changes with each offering. 4 credits.
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ENG-501 Independent Study
Variable credit.
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ENG-503 Individualized Internship
Prerequisite: instructor permission
Student will develop an internship to work at a business, agency or media site for up to 210 hours over the term and will meet the objectives of a learning agreement completed with the employer and approved by a faculty sponsor. Requirements include a work journal, portfolios, and assigned academic papers relating to their internship. Open primarily to seniors and juniors. A student must have the permission of the instructor and an internship position secured to be enrolled. May be taken only once. May not be taken for major credit. No pass/fail. May not contribute to the major. Cannot be completed through the pass-no pass grading option. Not repeatable. Variable credit.
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ENG-505 Structured Internship
Prerequisite: instructor permission
Students will develop internships at businesses, agencies, or media sites for up to 210 hours over the term and will meet the objectives of a learning agreement completed with the employer and approved by a faculty sponsor. The internship site must permit the student a significant degree of professional writing. A weekly seminar class focuses on the objectives and issues of students? experiences as they develop their verbal and written communication skills. Course requirements include a work journal, portfolios, and academic papers relating to their internship. The course is open primarily to seniors and juniors. The course may contribute to the major. No pass/fail. Not repeatable. The course is open primarily to seniors and juniors. The course may contribute to the major. Cannot be completed through the pass-no pass grading option. Not repeatable. Variable credit.
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Environmental Studies |
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EST-001 Biodiesel Production
Provides students with a working knowledge of biodiesel production, including basic organic chemistry, safety considerations, logistics, and economics, through the weekly processing of high grade biodiesel from waste vegetable oil. Course will include weekly discussions concerning alternative fuels and environmental issues. 0 credits.
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EST-1 Biodiesel Production
Provides students with a working knowledge of biodiesel production, including basic organic chemistry, safety considerations, logistics, and economics, through the weekly processing of high grade biodiesel from waste vegetable oil. Course will include weekly discussions concerning alternative fuels and environmental issues. 0 credits.
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EST-301 Environment and Society
GER: NE (Humans and the Natural Environment)
Interdisciplinary examination of the causes, potential solutions and ethical dilemmas associated with environmental problems on various spatial, temporal, political and social scales (individual to global). 4 credits.
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Film Studies |
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FST-202 Introduction to Reading Film
GER: Dependent on version; consult term-specific course listings
Distinctive ways that film conveys and generates meaning. Tools to critically analyze films by examining the basics of film form, style (mise-en-scene, camera angle and movement, editing, and sound), and genre. The course also will explore the characteristic features of – as well as alternatives to – the “classical Hollywood style,” a series of formal and narrative conventions present in films as distinct as Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds (2005) and John Ford’s 1939 western, Stagecoach. 4 credits.
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FST-365 Great Film Directors
GER: VP (Visual and Performing Arts)
An examination of the concept of auteur (author) film production that focus on the unique stylistic elements of films based on the film director’s aesthetics and worldview. The course looks at the films of many of the main individuals, both inside and outside of Hollywood, who are considered auteur directors such as John Ford, Billy Wilder, Igmar Bergman, Alfred Hitchcock, Akira Kurosawa, Federico Fellini, Jean-Luc Godard, Stanley Kubrick, Woody Allen, Pedro Almadovor, Spike Lee, Zhang Yimou, and Wong Kar Wai. 4 credits.
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First Year Seminar |
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FYW-1101 Abortion: Issues and Controversies
Abortion touches core beliefs about the nature of the human person, human freedom and rights, human relationships, and the right ordering of society. This seminar will consider abortion through various disciplines in order to arrive at a deeper understanding of the issues and the controversies around this phenomenon. 4 credits.
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FYW-1105 Disease and Culture: How Disease Transforms Us
Taught jointly by a biologist and philosopher, this course will introduce students to the biological basis of numerous diseases (including AIDS, tuberculosis, syphilis, plague, malaria, Irish potato blight, etc.) and discuss their social, ethical, and cultural impacts. 4 credits.
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FYW-1106 Doing History in the 1950s
The purpose of this seminar is, first, to explore changing tastes in the field of history by comparing what was written in the previous generation to what is being written today, and second, to examine the Landmark Series, published in 185 volumes by Random House in New York City in the 1950s and early ‘60s. Students will read on topics, mostly of their choice, comparing books written in the U.S. in mid-century to the best of current scholarship on those same topics. 4 credits.
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FYW-1108 Evaluating Scientific Claims in the Media
Students will learn the skills necessary to read scientific claims carefully, find relevant information in a variety of sources, and develop an informed opinion in writing about the veracity of the original claim. Students will test claims empirically in laboratory sessions. 4 credits.
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FYW-1109 Global Climate Change
This course provides an insight into the scientific theory and data of global climate change. Students will analyze real data and compare their results to those cited in the novel “A State of Fear” by Michael Crichton. Ultimately, we will assess the roles of humans and natural variation in current climate change. We will also consider how knowledge and uncertainty influence climate policy. 4 credits.
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FYW-1110 Global Water Issues
The course is intended to introduce students to and foster discussion on the many scientific and political facets of the world’s leading global water issues. The course covers a wide range of water resource and water policy topics. 4 credits.
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FYW-1111 Haunted Mansions
This course explores how the interior and exterior settings of a selection of Gothic novels, short stories, and films reflect the lives and complex psyches of the characters. Students will learn about such psychological disorders as dissociative identity disorder, post-partum depression, and schizophrenia and will discuss how family relationships and cultural pressures adversely affect the characters studied. 4 credits.
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FYW-1112 History of Liberal Arts
The course will explore the history and practice of the liberal arts in the western tradition from the classical period to the present. Specific focus will be on the development of “Humanism” and the “Humanities” in higher education from early modern European universities to liberal arts education on American campuses. 4 credits.
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FYW-1116 Language, Argument and Culture
A study of classical and modern principles of rhetoric and argument applied to contemporary linguistic issues such as information technology, multilingualism, language and gender, language and national identities, and the globalization of English. 4 credits.
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FYW-1117 Magic and Religion
This course focuses on how people from cultures around the world conceptualize the spiritual realm, and how such conceptualizations are shaped by the values and social relations of the cultures in which they occur. Of particular concern is the relationship between magic and religion. We will examine the diverse ways in which humans attempt to communicate and intervene with the divine as well as ritually mark crucial moments such as birth, death, illness, and change. 4 credits.
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FYW-1118 Man vs. Machine
Popular culture has depicted the prospect of intelligent machines as a threat to the humans that serve as their models. This course examines the enterprise of creating an intelligent machine and what it might imply about our own species. 4 credits.
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FYW-1120 Medicine, Morality and Culture
This course will examine the ways in which our moral and cultural conceptions shape medicine and medical research as well as the ways that medicine and medical research shape our cultural understandings of health, wellness, and normal human functioning. Special attention will be given to historically controversial cases, for example: the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, Nazi human experimentation, the Terri Schiavo case. 4 credits.
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FYW-1122 Popular Culture, Crime and Justice
Examine images of crime and justice in popular culture and compares them to scientific data; consider the source of these popular culture accounts of crime and justice; and evaluates the influence popular culture has on understands of crime and criminal justice policy. Discuss the ways that mass media reflects and reinforces underlying issues and concerns about crime and justice, and how these images changes over time. Use a socio-historical perspective to examine crime and justice in American popular culture and connect those images to broader social issues. 4 credits.
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FYW-1125 Sex and the New Testament
Sex and the NT is a writing seminar that will investigate through research and writing what the New Testament has to say about sex, why it says what it does, and what that might mean for contemporary society. 4 credits.
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FYW-1126 The Ethics of Sex
Introduction to understanding human sexuality and thinking about sexual ethics through consideration of pressing issues, such as the moral status of pornography, prostitution, masturbation, polygamy, and abortion; the rationale and value of marriage; intersexed and transgendered individuals; and debates over whether there is a rational basis for privileging heterosexuality over homosexuality. Three broad approaches, an evolutionary, a social constructionist, and a Christian theological, will be used to examine ethical questions in dialogue with a number of philosophical and theological scholars. 4 credits.
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FYW-1127 To Walk the Land
Through weekly hikes, the goal of this seminar is that you would come to know and enjoy the land, your local upstate environment, in a deeper way; to appreciate its natural and cultural history; to better understand our connection to and dependence on the land; and to communicate this new understanding effectively. Typically includes one long meeting for hikes and one discussion meeting per week. 4 credits.
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FYW-1128 Turing: Thinking Machines, Codes and Other Enigmas
Explores the enigmatic life and prodigious work of Alan Turing (1912-1954), including his pioneering work in the fields of artificial intelligence, the limitations of computing power, and code-breaking during World War II. Consideration of works offering biographical or fictionalized treatments of Turing. Uses a biographical study of his life and writings to examine the fundamental nature of human thought, the existence of a soul, and the ethical role of a citizen in wartime, as well as society’s response to otherness. 4 credits.
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FYW-1129 Pristine Nature: Myth Or Reality?
An examination of the concepts of wilderness and “pristine” nature from scientific, historical, and cultural perspectives. Both the present influence of humanity on nature and evidence for human influences on landscapes in the past will be considered. 4 credits.
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FYW-1133 Can We Make Sense of the 60s?
This seminar will explore the United States in the 1960’s and early 1970’s and the conflicting political, social, racial, economic, and international forces that shaped American life at that time. Special emphasis will be placed on the civil rights crusade, the rise of the protest tradition, the growth of presidential power, and the emergence of international crises such as the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam War. 4 credits.
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FYW-1136 Exploring Politics through Literature
This course seeks to stimulate intellectual curiosity about the philosophic underpinnings of politics through thoughtful readings of literature. Drawing upon the vivid power of literature taken from a variety of different historical and cultural contexts, students will have an opportunity to begin an exploration of the influence of politics on human development. More specifically, how the competing views of nature, religion or the human good embedded in politics influence the possibility of self-knowledge. Literary works will be supplemented with short readings from the tradition of political philosophy. 4 credits.
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FYW-1137 Freedom or Oppression: Human Rights in Asia
There are thousands of political prisoners in Asia. Leaders who order their detention contend that “Asian Values” and unique historical circumstances obviate the need to protect rights that many in the West take for granted. This course examines the “Asian Values” debate, the foundations of human rights theory in Western liberal democracies and in Confucianism, and how human rights can best be safeguarded in Asia. It examines the relationship between human rights and democracy. 4 credits.
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FYW-1138 Know Thyself
Investigate human nature, the soul, the self, and the search for understanding. Discuss and analyze the arguments of both ancient philosophers and their modern counterparts, along with input by contemporary scientists. Texts include the writings of Western tradition’s greatest philosophers, including Socrates. 4 credits.
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FYW-1140 History of Detective Fiction
The course traces detective fiction from 18th century gothic novels to Sherlock Holmes, British cozies, and American crime noir. Relationships to horror and science fiction are also explored. Focus includes creating a logical argument, using textual evidence, and writing mechanics. 4 credits.
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FYW-1141 Homer and History
Follow the history of Homer’s great war-poem, the Iliad, from the Bronze Age and the invention of writing, through the tyranny and democracy of Athens, the library of Alexandria, to its rescue from the ruins of Constantinople in the 1400s. 4 credits.
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FYW-1142 Economics of Walmart
Examines the economic forces, business decisions, and controversies related to big box retail stores, including their effects on local businesses, traffic congestion, and urban development. Discuss the emergence of Wal-Mart’s global supply chain and its implications for efficiency and well-being in the United States and developing countries. Assess whether Wal-Mart is the economic miracle of modern times or a behemoth that should be contained by government policy and regulation. 4 credits.
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FYW-1143 Shakespeare in His Contexts
This course will engage various issues in the drama of Shakespeare. Rather than focus on genre or major v. minor plays, it will be fashioned around a particular group of ideas or topics that are relevant to understanding Shakespeare’s plays and what it means to read them. 4 credits.
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FYW-1144 Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire: the Sport of Cheating
In this course we will examine cheating in society through the lens of the sports world, including the science behind the scandals. Are recent examples of malfeasance exceptions to the rule or indicators that cheating has permeated our culture? 4 credits.
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FYW-1148 Southern Women: Black & White
This seminar will explore the experiences of Southern Women from 1800 to the present through the literature written by and about them. The method of study will include: describing the culturally defined image of Southern women, tracing the effect of this definition on female behavior, defining how the realities of Southern women’s lives were often at odds with the ideal, and examining the struggle of black and white women to confront racism and cultural expectations and to find a way to achieve self-determination. 4 credits.
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FYW-1149 Art, Literature and the Civil Rights Struggle
Exploration of the cultural, historical, and literary significance of the American civil rights movement. Course texts feature works of literature and history as well as the popular music, artistic productions, and public speeches that galvanized a national movement. We will extend our study to examine contemporary representations of this era as well. 4 credits.
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FYW-1150 Sugar and Spice
Imagine your day without sugar and spice. Unsweet cappuccino. Cinnamon-free apple pie. An omelet without pepper. This seminar traces the history of common staples, sugar and spices, that became highly desirable items for European dining tables. With a focus on 16th century through 19th century networks that connected Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean and by using primary and secondary sources, we explore the movement of goods and people that have shaped our social and culinary worlds. 4 credits.
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FYW-1151 American Dream Ideal and Reality
An exploration of the concept of America as a place of political and religious freedom, social and economic mobility, and opportunities to achieve personal fulfillment. Students will analyze both literary texts and contemporary culture. 4 credits.
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FYW-1152 The Tumultuous Twenties
This seminar will examine the political, social, and cultural history of the United States in the 1920s. During this crucial decade the values of urban America clashed with the traditions of rural America as the culture of the Jazz Age redefined American morals. Nativism, Anglo-Saxon racism, militant Protestantism and Prohibition characterized the reaction to a rapidly changing society. 4 credits.
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FYW-1153 The United State Civil War through the Lens of Biography
This seminar will examine the Civil War era using the perspective of biography. In addition to considering biographical interpretations of leaders such as Robert E. Lee, Abraham Lincoln, and Frederick Douglass we will consider memoirs of ordinary participants and approaches such as collective biography. Students will, with guidance from the instructor, have an opportunity to research and write their own biographical interpretations of individuals from the period. 4 credits.
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FYW-1154 The Wealth of Nations
Examines the factors that makes some nations wealthy and others poor, the debate over which economic system is best, and the ways a country’s wealth and income are distributed among its citizens. Adam Smith’s An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations will be used as a primary point of departure for student discussion of the free enterprise system of markets and government embraced by much of the modern world. 4 credits.
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FYW-1155 University and Social Justice
Course will examine whether the university has a roll in educating students about what would constitute a more just society and, if so, what might be unique about a university’s contribution. 4 credits.
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FYW-1156 Who Speaks Bad English? Language and Ideology
Should English be our official language? What is Black English? Who makes the grammar rules we learn in schoo–and should those rules be changed? Students will be introduced to basic linguistics and use their knowledge to discuss issues from national language policy to attitudes about “ain’t.” 4 credits.
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FYW-1158 Beer and Society
An examination of the ways in which beer production and use intersects with human culture. Topics will be addressed from the viewpoints of disciplines in the sciences, humanities, and social sciences. Course includes lab exercises and field trips. 4 credits.
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FYW-1159 Veils and Turbans: Genders and Modernities
This seminar explores the philosophical and historical underpinnings of contemporary Western attitudes to certain practices in Eastern cultures. It takes the recent controversies over different kinds of headwear for men and women as a starting point to gain a better understanding of both Western and Eastern forms of modernity as they impinge on various contested notions of selfhood (of both men and women) and community. Insights gained from philosophical, historical and ethnographic and sociological texts will be used to understand the representations of similar themes in certain works of literature. 4 credits.
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FYW-1160 Alien Visions
In this writing seminar we will explore literary, visual, and critical texts that offer varying representations of “the alien.” For a number of writers and artists, the notion of the “alien” – the foreign or the strange – solicits a fascinating, almost troublingly idealized response. Think, for instance, of films and texts that longingly look to close encounters or contact with the unimaginably different. At other times – perhaps more often – the idea of the alien provokes a frightened, even violent, response. We will examine these varying responses to the alien from a number of perspectives (psychological, social, cultural) and in a wide range of works. 4 credits.
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FYW-1161 Contemporary Issues on Film
This seminar will focus on films that address global, political, and social issues. The issues will change with each offering of the seminar: in one term the seminar might study films that explore the status of women in a variety of social and cultural contexts. Possible topics might include black/white relationships or the representation of war. 4 credits.
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FYW-1167 American Disaster Literature
We all know about disaster’s physical characteristics and effects. But what about its other effects–psychological, internal, and literary? How does the concept of “disaster” help to shape characters and events in three works of American fiction? In this class, we will use “disaster” as a lens through which we can examine some representative works of fiction, and we will use those works of fiction as a means to improve our own writing, both critical and creative. 4 credits.
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FYW-1168 The First World War
An exploration of World War I – the war itself as well as its impact on society and culture in Europe, the United States and the rest of the world. 4 credits.
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FYW-1169 Dragons and Demons: Debunking Myths of China
Though Americans from all walks of life are increasingly aware of China’s economic, military, and political rise, myths and misperceptions of the People’s Republic of China abound. Policy makers, the business community, academics, reporters, and the general public all contribute to American images of China. While some herald the dynamic liberalizing reforms occurring within the country, others denounce the Chinese leadership as “fascists” interested only in power and oppression. How are American images of China shaped, and how accurate are these various portrayals of the world’s most populous nation? How can false images of China exacerbate bilateral tensions and restrict reforms within the PRC? 4 credits.
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FYW-1172 Dueling Perspectives: the United States in Latin American
An examination of how United States military interventions in Latin America have been remembered in the popular culture, public commemorations, and historical literature of the two regions. Emphasis on differences between traditional academic history and popular historical memory, which stresses political, social, philosophical or religious meaning in the present. Students will analyze how historical events are interpreted in monuments, museums, battlefield sites, films, fiction, holiday celebrations, and in modern-day political movements and speeches. 4 credits.
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FYW-1176 Curses, Cures and Clinics
This course examines the sociological dimensions of health, illness, and healing in different parts of the world. It focuses on social epidemiology (e.g. HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria), cultural dimensions, and the role of national health care systems and NGO’s in promoting health. 4 credits.
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FYW-1178 Academic Autobiography
Systematically investigate one’s life story and communicate to others, through clear, concise, and well-organized arguments, how the individual biography fits into a larger context. Learn to analyze life based on empirical observations on race, class, and gender. Use methods for collecting and analyzing information from places, events, and people around the writer’s childhood circumstances. Students will tailor their story to an academic audience and practice giving and receiving feedback. 4 credits.
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FYW-1179 Our Technological Heritage
An examination of the history of technology, with an emphasis on the threads of innovation that have lead to the invention of the computer, and its applications. Topics include: classical and Renaissance discoveries and inventions, the scientific revolution, the development of analog and digital computing technology, as well as important questions posed in computer science. 4 credits.
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FYW-1180 C.S. Lewis
Exploration of the life, work and theology of C.S. Lewis (1898-1963), one of the most influential Christian writers of the 20th century. Topics to be explored include Lewis’s writing on Christian belief, morality, forgiveness, faith, pain and the nature of heaven and hell – all with an emphasis on practical applications to modern life. 4 credits.
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FYW-1181 Irrational Exuberance
Scams, Ponzi schemes, and market bubbles remind us that “otherwise intelligent” people often make irrational decisions. An examination of the historical episodes of such behavior and the recent housing bubble as a means of introducing students to behavioral economics. 4 credits.
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FYW-1182 Assassination of Lincoln
A study of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in history, memory, and the documentary record. Evaluation of the event and it major actors, the trials and executions of the conspirators as well as popular reactions and historiographical interpretations. Participants will construct a web-based public documentary collection of newspaper transcriptions and other primary sources. 4 credits.
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FYW-1184 The Meaning of Life?
Exploration of some of the possible avenues to develop and mature their sense of the meaning of life. Questions about the meaning of life intertwine both theisitic and non-theisitic alternatives. This course will explore both alternatives as well as questioning the question itself. 4 credits.
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FYW-1185 Crossing Borders/Rights of Passage
What can texts that explore the US-Mexico border teach us about our own lives? Through a series of readings on young people and their journeys into foreign territory, we will study border crossing as a metaphor for the rites of passage, such as beginning college, that we all experience. These texts will help students to develop their writing skills as critical readers of literature. We will study not only how language is used by these authors, but what this language means to us as readers, and more importantly, as writers. Throughout the semester you will have the opportunity to write, and revise, autobiographical, critical and travel essays. 4 credits.
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FYW-1186 Sugar and Slavery in the Caribbean
With a primary focus on Cuba, this course will examine the Caribbean sugar plantation from 1492 through the 1990s. In addition to exploring the historical, political, and economic underpinnings of sugar monoculture, the course will highlight representations of the plantation in select works of fiction, essay and film. 4 credits.
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FYW-1187 Magical Spanish America
The Spanish-American narrative from the 1950s to present day, with particular focus on the magical, marvelous and the fantastic including an exploration of the function of magical realism within a Latin American context, paying special attention to literary representations of gender, class, national, religious and racial identities. 4 credits.
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FYW-1188 Steve Jobs: The Cult of Apple
This course explores the life and work of Steve Jobs and his impact on the technology landscape. The broader topic of corporate culture and innovation will be explored by looking at other successful companies such as Google, Microsoft, Intel, and Facebook. Biographical material will come from the recent Walter Isaacson biography as well as video interviews. 4 credits.
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FYW-1189 Social History of Technology
Examine the social life of modern technologies from the beginning of the Industrial Revolution to the present. Analyze and evaluate the historical interrelationships between technology, culture, and society, including the impacts and influences of technology from the telegraph to the bicycle and electricity to the internet. Engage in debates on the meaning of technology, the unintended consequences of social technology, the relationships between technology and the environment, and the links between race, class, gender, and technology. 4 credits.
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FYW-1190 Secession and the Fort Sumter Crisis
History of antebellum secession movements, the Sumter crisis and the coming of the American Civil War. Exploration of regional differences and evolving sectionalism in international and local contexts. Overview of conflict process theories. Examination of relevant ideologies, nationalism and tensions of emergent democracy. Impact of abolitionism, Proslavery, African American resistance and activism, debates over territorial expansion and federal-state relations. 4 credits.
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FYW-1191 Neil Gaiman and the Mythology of Life and Death
Explores mythological and religious themes in the writings of Neil Gaiman, including books for adults and youth as well as the graphic novel series Sandman. Emphasis on mythic conceptions of death and afterlife, and of spiritual boundary crossings. 4 credits.
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FYW-1193 Reading Flannery O’ Connor
In this course students will read the short stories, novels, essays and letters of Flannery O’Connor. They will write four or five papers exploring various topics in her work: religion, race relations, the South, etc. Course may include a field trip to Andelusia, her home in Milledgeville, Georgia. 4 credits.
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FYW-1195 Psychic Disorder and the Social Order
Explores how and why certain emotional states and patterns of thought become labeled pathological or disruptive. It also considers what cultural values, both positive and negative, those psychic states have come to symbolize. By reading fiction in dialogue with both contemporary scientific accounts of mental function and its broader cultural context, and by connecting modern health debates to their historical origins, students examine the tension between freedom and restraint that characterizes debates about psychic disorder. 4 credits.
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FYW-1196 Eating as a Sustainable Act
This course will examine the relationship between you and the food you eat, how that food is produced, and the economic, social, and environmental impacts of eating. Course will involve visiting local farms to help define sustainable agriculture, and of course, sharing a meal or two together. 4 credits.
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FYW-1197 The Battle Autumn of 1862
Autumn 1862 as a focal point placing the American Civil War in broader context. Topics include crux battles (Antietam/Sharpsburg/ the so-called “Dakota War,” Perryville, Fredericksburg); the Emancipation Proclamation and American abolition in historical context; the elections of 1862; Clara Barton and Civil War era medical culture; the debate over the Law of Nations and emergent conventions for treatment of combatants and civilians in wartime; and Civil War journalism. May include field trip and digital humanities laboratory components. 4 credits.
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FYW-1200 Competition in Nature and Culture
The Super Bowl. Democrats vs. Republicans. Ford vs. Chevy. Competition permeates our culture, but is competition fundamental to how humans and all organisms interact? Examining the nature and importance of competitive and cooperative interactions in nature and society. 4 credits.
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FYW-1201 Caves and Literary Imagination
How do humans shape the subterranean landscape–and how does it shape us? Examining literal caves as well as human-made “caves,” such as fallout shelters, grottoes, and tunnels. Using the cave as our central image, we will explore literature, visual art, apocalyptic religion, and Cold War history, interrogating how human ideas of caves, and interior spaces, have changed over time. 4 credits.
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FYW-1202 Medieval Forests in Literature and Law
Engage contemporary ecological criticism and animal theory to discover how the history of Western representations of forests can deepen our understanding of today’s environmental debates. Develop content for a digital humanities website on medieval forests. Read medieval literary and legal texts, such as Arthurian romances, Christian mythical visions, and Robin Hood tales. 4 credits.
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FYW-1203 Blogging with Adam Smith and Karl Marx
Introduces students to the major ethical debates underpinning the early social scientific thought of writers like Hobbes, Mandeville, Hutcheson, Hume, Smith, Ricardo, Mill, and Marx. Writing assignments will explore how this ethical heritage continues to influence contemporary discussions of social policy. 4 credits.
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FYW-1204 Human Animal or Human Machine?
How do technologies shape our understanding of the universe, the environment, and humankind? Do feelings expressed in the 18th and 19th centuries about nature, technology, and the work of art-from proud associations with “natural talents” to a pronounced shame inspired by mechanical resemblances-influence today’s ideas about art, the human being, and society? To engage these questions, students will explore and write on a variety of texts that address the shifting ideas of nature and technology central to Romantic-era thought and which continue to frame current debates about the nature of life itself. 4 credits.
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FYW-1206 Spain in the American Imagination
Identification and examination of notions and representations of Spain in the United States from the seventeenth-century forward. Using a variety of texts and media, the course will consider causes and motivations for the varying and often contrasting impressions of Spain which have persistently dominated US thought throughout its history. 4 credits.
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FYW-1208 Conspiracies, Delusions and Lies
In this class we will examine the ways in which we construct belief around things that we have good reason not to believe including cult-led thinking, false memory syndrome, anecdotal evidence, and the spun media. 4 credits.
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FYW-1209 House and Philosophy
Examining philosophical issues that arise in the early seasons of the television series House, MD. Issues range from the meaning of life, logic, and scientific method, to ethical principles, character, and friendship. The philosophers that intersect with this material include Socrates, Aristotle, Nietzsche, and Sartre. 4 credits.
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FYW-1210 The Genesis of Faith
The nature and development of the primordial narratives of Genesis and the ways in which they provide the basis for and are in themselves foundational interpretations of a variety of Jewish, Christian, and even Islamic worldviews. Emphasizes writing arguments using these topics. 4 credits.
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FYW-1211 Chocolate
Through the ages, cacao beans, the source of chocolate, have served as symbols of social status, religious offerings, and romance. Going beyond the symbolism of chocolate to examine the cultural, economic, and ecological impact of chocolate production from the early mesoamerican period to the present. Chocolate will be prepared and consumed during this course. 4 credits.
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FYW-1213 Why Are You Laughing?
Explore the elusive questions of what is comedy and what is funny, in contexts of subversive social and political critique. Focus on understanding comedy’s shifting role in art, literature, politics, and culture, as well as its often fraught relationship with questions of race, class, and gender. Develop a sophisticated palate for comedy, studying works ranging from Aristophanes to Archer. 4 credits.
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FYW-1215 Can the West Save the Rest?
In this course, we will investigate a number of questions about foreign aid: What is it? Who gives it? To whom? How much? Why? We will carefully consider how to evaluate aid effectiveness, and how to use empirical evidence to support an argument. 4 credits.
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FYW-1217 Autism and Technology
A focus on understanding the experience of autism, a developmental disorder affecting communication and social interaction, from multiple perspectives, and how to design and use technology systems to support these individuals. Exploring how autism affects individuals across the life-span and a spectrum of abilities. Critically examining current technical and non-technical approaches to supporting individuals with autism and their caregivers, and design new educational and assistive technologies for autism. 4 credits.
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FYW-1218 Work and Selfhood
How do we define our values, skills, and priorities through the work we choose to do, and how do our occupations define us in the eyes of others? This course will consider work as empowerment or exploitation, as a calling or an obligation, as a means to an end or an end in itself. 4 credits.
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FYW-1219 The Rhetoric of Abraham Lincoln
The public speeches of Abraham Lincoln are examined using close textual analysis and contextual history to understand persuasion, motives, and artistry in public discourse; to learn about Lincoln’s life and times; and to understand his influence on slavery, the Civil War, and beyond. 4 credits.
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FYW-1221 God and Justice
This course will explore the complicated relationship of religion and politics in a democratic context. In addition to reading classical texts in political theory, we will also consider religious approaches to political activism as such activism affects American public policy. 4 credits.
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