2020-2021 Undergraduate Catalog

HNRS 105. Arts and Civilization I. (4).

The course will explore the relationship between theatre and civilization in the ancient and medieval worlds. With a specific focus on the theme of warfare, we will examine the history of major events from the Persian Wars to the Crusades by reading the accounts of ancient and medieval historians alongside ancient and medieval playwrights. We will discuss major questions surrounding this theme. How did people think about war and how did they depict it? How did theatrical performance serve to endorse, justify, or criticize war? How did it serve to aid veterans in processing their martial experiences? This is the first semester in a two-course sequence (HNRS 105 and HNRS 106); students may only earn CORE 21 credit for both History and Non-Participatory Visual and Performing Arts by completing the full two-course sequence. In addition, HNRS 105 will meet the Speaking Intensive requirement.

HNRS 106. Arts and Civilization II. (4).

This course integrates the study of the history of an increasingly interdependent world from 1500 to the present with music and the arts as it relates to that history. The course will focus on key transitional periods in modern world history, through the lens of shifting ideologies (in religion, politics, economics, and society) and the contribution of music and art to that narrative, as a form of instigation as well as reaction. Guest lecturers will offer their expertise in music, art, or other media, and facilitate student understanding of their place in the historical narrative. Lectures, class discussion, and writing assignments will focus on development of critical thinking and writing skills through examination of primary historical documents as well as forms of music, art, or media. This is the second semester in a two-course sequence (HNRS 105 and HNRS 106); students may only earn CORE 21 credit for both History and Non-Participatory Visual and Performing Arts by completing the full two-course sequence.

HNRS 115. The Humanities Tutorial 1. (4).

The Humanities Tutorial is a team-taught, two-semester course sequence that introduces students to a number of significant works in the disciplines of philosophy and literature.  The fall semester focuses on the origins of Western Culture in Ancient Greece, and includes authors such as Homer, Sappho, Plato, Aristotle, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. Pre-requisite: Enrollment in the University Honors Program.

HNRS 116. The Humanities Tutorial 2. (4).

The second semester of the year-long, team-taught Humanities Tutorial uses the disciplinary methods of literature and philosophy to study contemporary themes and issues. In addition to providing practice in the skills of analysis, argument, and critical and reflective interpretation, the course continues the interdisciplinary examination of philosophy and literature with a focus on the themes of intimacy, justice, and power in both the ancient and contemporary world. This examination will also focus on the ways in which racial and ethnic, sex and gender, and socioeconomic/class issues impact intimacy, justice and power. Prerequisites: HNRS 115 and enrolled in the University Honors Program.

HNRS 120. Social Science Seminar. (4).

his interdisciplinary course uses the lenses of power and privilege to introduce students to academic disciplines within the social sciences. Beginning with a foundation in the social sciences, students will explore research and apply analytical perspectives from related fields of study to examine social issues, public policies, and institutions. In particular, we will focus on how power and privilege create intersecting dynamics of inequalities (e.g., social, political and economic) which impact our lived experiences. One initial goal of the course is to increase your understanding of forces that shape definitions and meanings of different sources of power: e.g., socioeconomic status, sex/gender, sexuality, age, health, race/ethnicity, and immigration status. As the course progresses, we'll focus more in-depth on contemporary issues, drawing on readings and lectures from experts who will bring to bear relevant theories and methods from their respective academic disciplines.

HNRS 130. Natural Science Seminar. (4).

The Natural Sciences Seminar is an interdisciplinary course that addresses scientific methods, knowledge, and applications in their social, historical, and cultural contexts. This interdisciplinarity will be reflected in a co-taught format, drawing on the skills, expertise, and insight from faculty from in the Humanities and the Natural Sciences, who will present a variety of viewpoints, and introduce a variety of methods, for the study of nature and the environment.

HNRS 182. Selected Topic:. (4).

HNRS 282. Selected Topic. (1-4).

HNRS 300. Experimental Modernism. (4).

Between 1900-1940, the rich conversations and artistic production of three highly influential communities of writers and artists--the Bloomsbury group in London, Stein and Picasso's circle in Paris, and participants in the Harlem Renaissance in New York--caused the art salon to become a fashionable and prominent symbol of the mondernist era. This interdisciplinary course explores the role of these three salons 1)in the development of new and experimental art forms, including cubism, post impressionism, and literary modernism; and 2)in shaping public discourses about identity and identity politics that still impacts us today. Primary texts include poetry, autobiographies, novel, paintings, and philosophical manifestos from the modernist era. Secondary texts includes work by contemporary scholars in fields ranging from literature and art history to women's, gender, queer, black and cultural studies.

HNRS 302. Rites of Passage. (4).

Rites of passage are the hinges of human life, allowing individuals and communities to negotiate complex life transitions meaningfully in relationship to one another, the roles and responsibilities of one's society, the land and creatures among whom one lives, and the divine and/or the transcendent nature of human experience. Yet as traditional cultural and religious traditions erode, many individuals, families, and communities are left without the psychic/communal structures these rites once provided, often to devastating effect. This course will examine the importance of rites of passage in human development, the impact of their widespread loss in globalized/virtual childhood, adolescence, and adulthood today, and the creation of new or renewed forms of such rites for healthy and resilient global-ecological citizenship.

HNRS 305. Imagining Climate Crisis. (4).

This course explores the challenges to human imagination and comprehension posed by our current climate crisis through the lens of "climate fiction" or "cli-fi," a genre of literature that addresses environmental catastrophe. Through analysis of literature in the context of contemporary literary debates, students will assess the power and limits of fiction to close the gap between human consciousness and planetary scale, cause and effect, near and far, and public awareness and scientific discourse, and ultimately ask, can fiction help save the world?.

HNRS 306. Masterpieces of German Literature. (4).

The study and interpretation of selected major works from German literature in English translation, supplemented by outside reading and individual reports.

HNRS 314. Medieval Manuscript Culture. (4).

This course brings the student into the medieval environment that created a unique form of communication broadly known as The Manuscript. We will study manuscripts from medieval European and Muslim cultures, discussing the roles that these artefacts played in the cultures - both religious and secular - that they inhabited. We will use multiple methods to study these artefacts: Textual Critical Analysis reads texts from different periods to understand the ideas that were important to the people who were reading and/or disseminating them; Material History investigates material objects and analyses their creation, function, and physical importance in cultures; Art History utilizes the lens of artistic method and content to evaluate artistic contributions to particular societies; Theology makes inquiries into how people thought about the Divine, and the ways in which they understood themselves in relationship with the Divine and with each other.

HNRS 316. Religion and Hip-Hop. (4).

Hip-hop culture, originally a product of America's black and brown underclass, is a global phenomenon that deserves critical study. In addition to emceeing (rap music), hip-hop culture includes fashion/style, dancing and DJ'ing, and subversive forms of visual art. It can be simultaneously commercial and underground, chauvinist and liberationist, widely co-opted and struggling to remain beyond adoption. This course is rooted in new historiographies and ethnomusicologies of hip-hop culture and interrogates the culture's relationship to religion in three ways: (1) the religious streams within hip-hop culture, (2) hip-hop culture as a meaning-making system that parallels the work of religions, and (3) hip-hop culture as giving voice to global religious concerns beyond its original American urban contexts. (Open to University Honors Program students; lead professor may approve enrollment of other students if 3.5+ cumulative GPA and/or Junior or Senior standing in major of professor.).

HNRS 317. Topics in German: Nietzsche. (UG).

This course will investigate materials concerning Friedrich Nietzsche, one of the most outspoken and influential philosophical and literary figures of the 19th century, who set the stage for the philosophical, political, and psychological perspectives of the 20th and 21st centuries. By exploring a significant body of Nietzsche's philosophical literature, the course will assist students in conceptually placing Nietzsche's theories and works into an appropriate context within ideas that began with earlier philosophers (e.g., Hegel, Marx and John Stuart Mill). Through careful scrutiny of his works, methods and epistemology, students will evaluate Nietzsche's belief that philosophy should be melded with art, literature, and music. By exploring balanced argument and critical, reflective thought-to present more complete understanding Nietzsche's complex thought and how he among other theorists still vitally affects today's cultural, literary and philosophical worlds. Prerequisites.

HNRS 323. Social Media and Politics. (4).

This course explores the relationship between new media platforms and shifts in the principles and practices of citizenship. Combining theories from communication and political science, as well as drawing on key research methodologies from both disciplines, we will consider how social media, algorithms, and web-based interactivity portend significant changes in the US polity and the articulation of citizenship.

HNRS 326. Topics in Poli Sci: Global Development. (4).

The Center for Global Development defines development as "improvements in the conditions of people's lives, such as health, education, and income." In this course, students will explore sustainable global development by addressing three questions. (1) What are the causes and consequences of global inequality and poverty? (2) What are the challenges and opportunities available to promote global development? (3) How can global actors play roles in promoting global development? Upon completion of this course, students will acquire a comprehensive understanding of the theoretical and empirical underpinnings of global development. Analyzing theories and concepts of development will inform students how to "think" about development. By designing a plan of action, students will learn how to "do" development. Students will also conduct field-based research that includes in-depth interviews with development practitioners/scholars and/or site observations of relevant organizations/events.

HNRS 328. Cold War America. (4).

A close examination of modern United States history during the Cold War and after. Class sessions give attention to the political, social, economic and international developments of what has been termed "the Pax Americana." Focus is specifically on the role of presidents and policymaking, particularly the relationship with the Soviet Union. (a/y).

HNRS 329. Latinos and Public Health. (4).

This course aims to enhance students' awareness of major theories, concepts, issues and research studies related to the physical and mental health of Latinos in the United States. Particular attention will be focused on the diversity of the Latinx experience of the U.S. health care system in terms of country of origin, race, class, gender, and generation. In particular, this course will draw on scholarship from the fields of Sociology, Epidemiology, Cultural Studies, History, and Social Ecology. Students will also be introduced to various theories and methodologies including, quantitative and qualitative techniques; students will also work with less mainstream methods, such as testimonios and autoethnography.

HNRS 344. Topics in ART: TBA. (4).

HNRS 402. Postmondernism. (4).

Postmodernism explores the relationship between art, science, and politics in contemporary philosophy. The course begins with a consideration of the legacies of Freud, Nietzsche, and Marx and continues with an analysis of such authors as Breton, Heidegger, Benjamin, Cortázar, Borges, Derrida, Foucault, Heisenberg, and Rorty. Uses film (including students' own short surrealist films) literature, and philosophical texts. Open to students in the University Honors Program; lead professor may approve enrollment of limited number of students not enrolled in the University Honors Program (who have minimum 3.5 cumulative GPA and/or have Junior or Senior standing in the academic major of the lead professor).

HNRS 413. Music and the Civil Rights Movement. (4).

The purpose of this course is to examine the southern civil rights movement (CRM) from 1954 to 1968. This course integrates discussion and analysis of the CRM with music. Music was very important to the movement because it inspired both participants and supporters to continue the struggle until several victories were won. Emphasis in this course is on matching the music with a political event, ideology and/or individual. This course includes discussion on the personal involvement in political and social activities by the singers and performers themselves. Tactics and strategies of the CRM are examined and their relationships to music are explored by relying on music with explicitly political lyrics and messages as well as those with lyrics and composition that convey spiritual and festive elements.

HNRS 432. Freud and Beyond. (4).

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to psychoanalytic theory and the impact of the psychoanalytic theory on society. Students will examine the development of psychoanalysis from an historical perspective beginning with an in depth investigation of Freud, his life and his classical theory. Next, the course will examine the development of psychoanalysis and its departure from traditional Freudian ideology. Students will then consider the four major branches of psychoanalysis including drive theory, ego psychology, object relations, and self psychology. Finally, students will examine contemporary view of psychoanalysis with an emphasis on the integration of psychoanalytic theory and the neurobiology of attachment.

HNRS 477. Cityscapes. (4).

Through art, politics, and philosophy, this course offers an in-depth study of the cultural landscape of selected global cities. Along with texts, films, and music from such centers as Prague and Mexico city, students develop their own "cityscape" from a region of their choice (often based on their off-campus experience) as their final projects. Open to all students, this course fulfills the requirement for an honors seminar and is the capstone for the Global Studies major.

HNRS 482. Honors Seminar. (4).

HNRS 490. Independent Study. (1-4).

HNRS 498. Goodness, Truth, and Beauty. (4).

This course examines the relationship between contemporary philosophy and contemporary biology in relation to the major triad of categories dealing with aesthetics, ethics, and the search for truth.