Honors Courses, 2007-08
Undergraduate Course Catalog
First Year
Fall
HR 100A "Ideas That Shaped the West"
Professors Sara Brill (Philosophy) and Paul Lakeland (Religious Studies)
TF 12:30-1:45 p.m.; W 1:00-1:50 p.m.
HR 100B "Ideas That Shaped the West"
Professors Laurence Miners (Economics) and Katherine Schwab (Art History)
MR 9:30-10:45 a.m. (CNS 1); W 9:00-9:50 a.m.
Spring
HR 101A "Minds and Bodies"
Professors Robert Epstein (English) and Olivia Harriott (Biology)
HR 101B "Minds and Bodies"
Professors Shannon Harding (Psychology) and David Gudelunas (Communication)
Second Year
Fall
HR 200 "Challenges to the Western Tradition"
Professor Elizabeth Hohl (History)
MR 11:00 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
Spring
HR 201 "Non-Western Culture: Turkey"
Professor Marcie Patton (Politics)
TF 11:00 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
Third Year
Fall
HR 300 "Interdisciplinary Inquiry: Artistic Collaborations: History, Theory, Practice"
Professors Kim Bridgford (English) and Jo Yarrington (Studio Art)
W 1:20-3:50 p.m.
This course traces the history of artistic collaboration, as well as the nature of this enterprise. What does it mean to collaborate with someone on an artistic project? Does the nature of an artistic project change when it is done with someone else? What is the process of such an endeavor? This class will culminate in a collaborative artistic project involving a journey in Connecticut. In addition to learning about the history of an area of Connecticut, each student will develop an artistic project with another student working in a different genre - for example, a photographer with a poet, or a fiction writer with a musician - representing both the shared journey and the spirit of place.
Spring
HR 300 "Interdisciplinary Inquiry: Issues in Science and Religion"
Professors Nancy Dallavalle (Religious Studies) and Glenn Sauer (Biology)
MR 9:30-10:45 a.m.
This course will provide an overview of the current dialogue between science and religion, and will engage primarily with the field of biology and contemporary Western religious thought. Specific issues, such as evolution and bio-technology, will focus our discussion, and lead us to larger questions about the nature of the human person, the role of technology in shaping contemporary culture, our understanding of "history" and the "future," and the "working models" of reality used by scientists and theologians. To lend some historical thickness to our examination, specific attention will be given to the Catholic Church's response to the rise of the natural sciences in the modern period.
Seminars
Fall
HR 202 "The World's Oceans: Environmental Issues and Concerns"
Professor Diane Brousseau (Biology)
MR 9:30-10:45 a.m.
This seminar examines the human activities that affect marine ecosystems with a focus on topics of current concern such as water pollution, uncontrolled harvesting, and the introduction of non-native species. Students will lead discussions and presentations based on scientific readings that examine the consequences of these activities on the global oceans. (Biology majors or minors may not enroll)
HR 202 "Authority and Revolution: Dialectical Dynamics of the Visual Arts 1777-2007"
Professor Philip Eliasoph (Art History)
R 2:00-4:30 p.m.
This course explores how societies and nations have been impacted by the relationship between art and politics. Painters, sculptors and visual artists are consistently in the forefront of cultural-political events. Societies governed by authoritarian and even dictatorial regimes (e.g., Napoleon's France, Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, Maoist China) often make the visual arts an instrument of repression and social control. Artists often become the leading edge of the cultural "avant-garde" in societies characterized by libertarian and democratizing values (e.g., the American experiment and Western expansion, the new France after the Franco-Prussian War, America and Europe of the "counter-cultural" Sixties, and Eastern Europe, Germany, and Russia since the fall of Communism). The course examines these different political roles of art through formal slide lectures, documentary films, and field trips to local art museums and galleries. Focused term research projects will allow students to explore the political role of art in a society and time period of their own choosing. Occasionally, the class will take field trips that will require leaving the university at 12:00 p.m. on Thursdays. (Visual and Performing Arts majors or minors may not enroll)
HR 202 "The Latin American Experience"
Professor Walter Petry (History)
TF 2:00-3:15 p.m.
Latin America is a land of Tainos, Mayas, Aztecs, and Incas; of murderous conquistadors and paternalist friars; of dazzling baroque churches and brutalized enslaved Africans; of low rainforests and high sierras; of wily dictators and zealous revolutionaries; of painfully dysfunctional governments and vibrant folk cultures; of "disappeared" young citizens and endless US invasions; of an Amerindian resurgence and a Pentecostal onslaught; of creeping "democracy" and angry populists; of arresting contemporary literature, imaginative art and film, and infectious music. These characteristics and contradictions are some of the ingredients of a Latin American culture that constantly veers between the nightmarish and the visionary. This course examines the richness of the Latin American experience through study of its remarkable achievements and tragic failures. (History majors or minors, and Latin American and Caribbean Studies minors may not enroll)
HR 202 "Globalization and Feminist Ethics"
Professor Gita Rajan (English)
MR 11:00 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
This course explores theoretical models and practical measures gleaned from feminist ethics that prove effective in combating the forces of globalization. To comprehend the revolutionary potential of feminist ethics we will read literature by South Asian authors that highlight the significance of social justice as a necessary component of human interactions. Works by Monica Ali, Nadeem Aslam, Arundhati Roy, Michael Ondaatje, Mohsin Hamid, Jhumpa Lahiri, Vandana Shiva, and Chitra Divakaruni explore matters affecting peoples of the global north and south, such as ethnic cleansing, the gendering of poverty, terrorism, security, human rights, religious fundamentalism, depleting natural resources, nuclear proliferation, and intellectual property rights. In particular, we will consider the ethical strategies these authors propose for just interactions amongst peoples of the global north and south. (English majors or minors, and Applied Ethics minors may not enroll)
Spring
HR 202 "Sexuality and the Bible"
Professor Angela Kim Harkins (Religious Studies)
MR 11:00 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
Women's bodies are a site of controversy in the contemporary culture where sexuality and reproduction are highly charged issues. Women's bodies are also a site of deeply symbolic conversations that function on religious, political, social, and economic levels. In this course, we will explore how controversies over women's bodies and sexuality were also present in writings from antiquity and late antiquity, with a focus on how the specific metaphors surrounding birthing and reproduction were used in biblical and post-biblical Jewish and Christian literature. We will consider how these images of sexuality functioned to both subvert and authorize power structures in their day. The course will proceed by examining the workings of power in a host of primary texts that describe sexuality, fertility, birthing, and other images related to reproduction: Genesis, Deuteronomy, Judges, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Psalms, Song of Songs, John, Galatians, Revelation, 2 Maccabees, 4 Maccabees, 2 Baruch, Apocalypse of Elijah, Fourth Ezra (2 Esdras), Syriac Odes of Solomon, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and myths from the ancient near eastern literature. (Religious Studies majors or minors, and Judaic Studies minors may not enroll)
HR 202 "International Migration"
Professor Terry-Ann Jones (Sociology)
MR 2:00-3:15 p.m.
This course examines the causes, processes, and concerns of international migration. Various types of international migration are explored through the use of case studies that include a wide range of countries from different world regions. These case studies represent international migrants such as refugees, labor migrants, and undocumented migrants. In addition to studying the migrants and the reasons for their international movement, students have the opportunity to discuss opposing perspectives on the immigration policies of developed countries. Emphasis will be place on movement from Latin America and the Caribbean to the United States and Canada. (Sociology majors or minors, and International Studies majors or minors may not enroll).
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