Course Catalog 2020-2021 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
Course Information
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This is a comprehensive listing of all active, credit-bearing courses offered by Oberlin College and Conservatory since Fall 2016. Courses listed this online catalog may not be offered every semester; for up to date information on which courses are offered in a given semester, please see PRESTO.
For the most part, courses offered by departments are offered within the principal division of the department. Many interdisciplinary departments and programs also offer courses within more than one division.
Individual courses may be counted simultaneously toward more than one General Course Requirement providing they carry the appropriate divisional attributes and/or designations.
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Cinema Studies |
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CINE 331 - Docufiction
FC ARHU
4 credits
This course investigates the porous boundary between fiction and non-fiction in the cinema. We move from the early ethnographic documentaries of the 1920s through the explosion of documentary work in the 1960s to the recent emergence of the hybrid category of docufiction. Topics to be explored include observation, reenactment, memory, subjectivity and truth. Each week our discussions will be informed by an historically significant film pitched at the border of documentary and fiction.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Fall 2016
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CINE 332 - The Autobiographical Film
FC ARHU
4 credits
Autobiography has proven to be one of the richest and most enduring modes of cinematic storytelling. This could seem paradoxical, since authorial presence runs counter to one of the great rules of classical Hollywood filmmaking: that the film/maker remain invisible. What happens when filmmakers take leave of this arbitrary rule and turn the camera on themselves? What happens when self-inscription becomes not an obstruction to filmmaking but its very purpose? Students in this class will consider autobiography as a cinematic discourse encompassing aspects of fiction, documentary, experimental, and performance modes, as well as strategies of portraiture, confession, memoir, and reenactment.
Prerequisites & Notes: CINE 290
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2017
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CINE 335 - Advanced Cinematic Storytelling
FC ARHU WADV
4 credits
This course builds on developed skills for writing dramatic, documentary and other visually rendered stories for screens of all types and sizes. Students are expected to have experience in critical studies courses in Cinema or literature departments and/or studio courses in Cinema, Creative Writing, Theatre or related disciplines. Applications will include plans for projects that are already in development.
Prerequisites & Notes: Coursework or experience in Cinema, Theatre, literature or other narrative and visual arts; an application that includes a substantial project that is already in process. Or consent of the instructor.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2021
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CINE 342 - Experiments in Moving Image and Sound II
FC ARHU
4 credits
This is a hands-on advanced media production course for students who seek to work on large scale moving image and sound projects across genres and forms. We will study the work of international artists, performers and filmmakers, visit the Allen Memorial Art Museum, The Cleveland Cinematheque and the Cleveland Museum of Art. Designed for advanced students to deepen their creative media making skills and to create fully realized projects and collaborations. Projects can take many forms; animation, personal narrative, performance, video installation and multichannel projection with live musical accompaniment, etc. Field trips required.
Prerequisites & Notes: CINE 298
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2021
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CINE 350 - The Poetics and Politics of French Documentary and the Essay Film Mode(s) of Instruction: Hybrid
FC ARHU CD WADV
4 credits
This course addresses documentary cinema from France, from the invention of the Lumiere cinematographe in 1896 to digital filmmaking at the beginning of the 21st century. The special focus of Spring 2020 will be the ethics of care; films will address a variety of topics, from reproductive rights and health care to workplace ethics and the current refugee crisis, all addressed by French and Francophone filmmakers who have tackled documentary poetics, politics, and ethics since the invention of the Lumière cinematograph in 1895. Taught in English.
Prerequisites & Notes: CINE 290 or 299, FREN/CINE 250, or the equivalent.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Summer 2021
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CINE 354 - Actors, Stars, and the World Stage
FC ARHU WINT
4 credits
This course addresses the complex and undertheorized place that actors and stars occupy both in cinema, whose history normally prioritizes the film director. Case studies will delve into the cultural labor and capital of individuals such as Jane Fonda, Marlon Brando, and Simone Signoret, while exploring their many contributions to art and politics, the uses of their visibility.
Prerequisites & Notes: CINE 290 and CINE 250/FREN 320.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2017
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CINE 360 - Strange Cinema Mode(s) of Instruction: In-person
FC ARHU WINT
4 credits
This course will explore the effect of strangeness in movies. What are the ways in which this effect is created? To what uses do filmmakers put the experience of strangeness? What baseline of familiar do we use to judge strange movies? We will explore strangeness as both a poetics and an aesthetic, and its relation to effects such as the uncanny, the fantastic, the marvelous, and the wonderful.
Prerequisites & Notes: CINE 110, 290, 298, or 299 or consent of the instructor.
This course is cross-listed with ENGL 361
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2021
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CINE 361 - Time & the Human Condition
FC ARHU
4 credits
Through an examination of a variety of visual media, including painting, still photography, cinema, and internet art, this course explores how the emergence of cinematic time (Doane) has affected our perception of the human condition. Screenings will include works by Bill Viola, Godfrey Reggio, Masaki Kobayashi, Stanley Kubrick, Orson Welles, Alain Resnais, Chris Marker, and Peter Greenaway, among others. Students will be asked to read novels, 20th-century philosophical treatises, cultural studies, and film theory.
Prerequisites & Notes: CINE 290 or consent of instructor.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Fall 2015
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CINE 362 - New Issues in Documentary
FC ARHU
4 credits
This advanced seminar studies the trends, problems and recent milestones of the contemporary documentary, including docudrama and the emerging genre of docufiction. Different modules examine distinct areas of focus including the war on terror, the modern family, nature and the environment, and social activism. What effect has the digital revolution had on the documentary film? What strategies have documentary filmmakers innovated to engage with 21st century experience?
Prerequisites & Notes: CINE 290
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Fall 2017
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CINE 363 - Bodies of Laughter: The Slapstick Film Comedy
FC ARHU
4 credits
This course will provide a thorough introduction to the historical formation and aesthetic principles of American slapstick comedy, as well as a survey of critical approaches to the genre. We will investigate the nature of laughter and the comic, as well as consider how theoretical approaches to film genre respond (or fail to respond) to the complex, mutable, and reflexive nature of the slapstick film.
Prerequisites & Notes: CINE 290 or consent of instructor.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Fall 2015
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CINE 364 - Advanced Film Making Projects
FC ARHU
4 credits
This course is designed for students who have already take a 300 level course and want to pursue a project–a group designed or individual project- in film making. Students will submit a proposal and description of the project before enrolling in the course. Limited to 12 students
Prerequisites & Notes: A previous 300 level production course.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2021
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CINE 372 - Contemporary Literary Theory: Post-Modernity and Imagination Mode(s) of Instruction: Hybrid
FC ARHU WINT
4 credits
This course is about developments in literary theory in the context of the last 35 years of American intellectual and artistic culture. Our concern will be understanding literary theories in their historical and institutional contexts as well as considering their value as ways of thinking about literature and art. We’ll pay particular attention to the impact of post-structuralism on American critics, the relation of literary criticism to cultural criticism, and various elaborations of the idea of post-modernity. American, Post-1900.
Prerequisites & Notes: ENGL 275/CMPL 200, or ENGL 299, or any two 200-Level English courses, or consent of the instructor.
This course is cross-listed with CMPL 372 and ENGL 372
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Fall 2020
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CINE 375 - Realism, 1800 to the Present: The Mirror Up to Nature
FC ARHU WADV
4 credits
Realism, though not the radical project it was, remains a significant part of contemporary culture. The tension between accurate reproduction of ‘reality’ and the creation of meaningful aesthetic form gives Realism its dynamic quality. Realism negotiates between the possibilities and limitations of representation in media such as the novel, drama, painting, photography, cinema, and television. The course will explore what realism was and its legacy, drawing from American, British, Irish, French, Italian, and Russian traditions.
Prerequisites & Notes: ENGL 275/CMPL 200, or CINE 290, or ENGL 299, or any two 200-Level English courses, or consent of the instructor.
This course is cross-listed with CMPL 376 and ENGL 375
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2020
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CINE 377 - Narrative Across Platforms
FC ARHU
4 credits
This advanced seminar studies the theory and craft of narrative in the cinema from a range of disciplinary approaches. Topics to be investigated include temporality, perspective, causality, affect, suspense, resolution and surprise. Our discussions will connect individual films with both practical and philosophical texts. Finally, we will consider the challenge presented to traditional narrative by the rise of interactive entertainment.
Prerequisites & Notes: CINE 290
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2019
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CINE 381 - Hopeful Monsters: (Mixed-)Media Studies
FC ARHU WINT
4 credits
This course looks at hybrid media forms across historical, national and aesthetic boundaries. What happens when generally distinct aesthetic forms and practices are merged? What do they reveal about the nature of the original media they are constructed from? How is interpretive activity challenged by such works? Our objects of study will include visual art, experimental poetry, innovative memoir, essay-films, narrative and documentary cinema, graphic and experimental fiction and more.
Prerequisites & Notes: For complete prerequisites, please refer to the English Program section titled ‘Advanced Courses.’ Also acceptable: Any 100- or 200-Level Cinema Studies course.
This course is cross-listed with ENGL 381
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Fall 2019
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CINE 398 - New Wave, New Hollywood, New Cinema Studies
FC ARHU CD WADV
4 credits
We will study various New Waves that characterize world cinema in the mid-20th century, particularly the French Nouvelle Vague (1958-1964) and American New Hollywood (1968-1974). The trope of the new wave or the tradition of the new according to critic Harold Rosenberg has enjoyed a powerful hold on filmmakers, historians and critics. Therefore, we examine how the discipline of Cinema Studies developed simultaneously with the advent of these New Waves. How and why do we understand cinema in terms of New Waves? And how has Cinema Studies been shaped by this traditionbecoming perhaps the last new wave of cinema?
Prerequisites & Notes: CINE 290 or 299 and consent of the instructor.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2016
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CINE 399F - Cinema Studies Practicum - Full
FC ARHU
4 credits
This practicum allows students to produce substantial independent work of their own design.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2016
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CINE 399H - Cinema Studies Practicum - Half
HC ARHU
2 credits
This practicum allows students to produce substantial independent work of their own design.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2016
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CINE 980 - Transmedia Storytelling in Japanese Cinema
FC
4 credits
Recently, Hollywood cinema has embraced a business model of building large franchises that exploitnumerous extra-cinematic media and merchandise: TV spinoffs, novel adaptations, toys, magazine tie-ins, comic books, theme parks, and video games, amongst others. Media scholar Henry Jenkins calls thisapproach to filmmaking, transmedia storytelling. Unlike earlier franchises, transmedia films are notstand alone, self-contained texts but spread narrative and character information across a wide platformof media. This course examines how Japanese cinema has long embraced such strategies.Anthropologist Mizuko Ito describes the practice in Japan as media mix. This class will study how Japan’s long history of media mix and transmedia storytelling situates Japanese cinema within a wide range of visual media, historical myths, cultural rituals, and industrial practices.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2019
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CINE 995F - Private Reading - Full
FC ARHU
4 credits
Private readings are offered as either a half or full academic course and require the faculty member’s approval. Students who wish to pursue a topic not covered in the regular curriculum may register for a private reading. This one-to-one tutorial is normally at the advanced level in a specific field and is arranged with a member of the faculty who has agreed to supervise the student. Unlike other courses, a student cannot register for a private reading via PRESTO. To register for a private reading, obtain a card from the Registrar’s Office, complete the required information, obtain the faculty member’s approval for the reading, and return the card to the Registrar’s Office.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Summer 2021
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CINE 995H - Private Reading - Half
HC ARHU
2 credits
Private readings are offered as either a half or full academic course and require the faculty member’s approval. Students who wish to pursue a topic not covered in the regular curriculum may register for a private reading. This one-to-one tutorial is normally at the advanced level in a specific field and is arranged with a member of the faculty who has agreed to supervise the student. Unlike other courses, a student cannot register for a private reading via PRESTO. To register for a private reading, obtain a card from the Registrar’s Office, complete the required information, obtain the faculty member’s approval for the reading, and return the card to the Registrar’s Office.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Summer 2021
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Classics |
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CLAS 103 - History of Greece Mode(s) of Instruction: Remote
FC SSCI CD
4 credits
Greece has been associated with the birth of Democracy, the stand of the 300 Spartans, and the conquests of Alexander the Great. This course surveys the history of the Greek speaking world from the Prehistoric period to the death of Cleopatra. Special attention will be paid to ancient documents, art, and architecture. In addition to military and political developments, the course will also analyze the Greek world through the eyes of women, slaves, and foreigners.
This course is cross-listed with HIST 130
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Fall 2020
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CLAS 104 - History of Rome Mode(s) of Instruction: Remote
FC SSCI CD
4 credits
Gladiators! Decadence! Empire! This course will survey the history of Rome, from its prehistoric origins to the collapse of the Western Empire in the fifth century CE. We will pay close attention to networks of social power, the impact of imperialism, and the unity and diversity of what it meant to be ‘Roman.’ The course will engage with military history, slavery, the rise of Christianity, indigenous or ‘pagan’ religious practices, and resistance. Readings from the ancient sources will provide the basis for discussions.
This course is cross-listed with HIST 129
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2021
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CLAS 111 - Greek and Roman Epic
FC ARHU CD
4 credits
Love, betrayal, revenge, war, fidelity, homecoming, exile, and new beginnings. The earliest literature in the Western tradition arrived in the 8th centry BCE in the central Mediterranean, with the epic stories of Achilles, Agamemenon, Helen, Odysseus, Penelope, Aeneas, and Dido. In this course we will read the Iliad, Odyssey, and Aeneid, and consider some of the literary and artistic works of the later Western tradition that they have inspired. We will also study the unique oral-poetic form of the early epics, and discuss the central issues of heroism, mortality, and identity that they invoke.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Fall 2019
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CLAS 112 - Greek and Roman Drama in Translation Mode(s) of Instruction: Remote
FC ARHU CD
4 credits
Greek drama has cast a long shadow over theatrical history. This class examines the original plays and their reception from Aristophanes to Shakespeare. The first half of the semester is spent reading plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, highlighting the various ways the plays were understood in antiquity and today (from performance criticism to Freud and Lacan). In the second half of the semester we investigate
comedies by Aristophanes, Plautus, and Terence, before tackling the complex “theater of blood” of Seneca. We finish the semester exploring both the comic and tragic traditions as exemplified by select plays of Shakespeare.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2021
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CLAS 201 - Magic and Mystery Ancient World Mode(s) of Instruction: Remote
FC SSCI CD
4 credits
This course surveys the evidence for magic and the occult in antiquity, focusing on the traditions of ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome. Topics covered include theoretical approaches to magic, practitioners (witches, sorcerers, and priests), magical objects (curse tablets, ritual figurines, and amulets), magical words (spells and prayers), ancient mystery cults, and the interaction between early Christianity and magic. Special attention will be paid to how ancient individuals interacted with the unseen world in their daily lives, and when and how they employed the services of professional magicians. Readings of ancient sources in translation and classroom discussion.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Fall 2020
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CLAS 203 - The City in Antiquity
FC SSCI CD
4 credits
Urban centers have been important aspects of human life for more than 5000 years, and the city played a central role in the development of Greek and Roman society. This course will investigate the function of the city in classical antiquity by studying a number of urban centers, including Mycenae, Athens, Alexandria, Pergamon, Rome, Pompeii, Palmyra and Constantinople. Topics will include the urban plan, monumental architecture, domestic space, and social interaction. Studies of architectural and archaeological remains will be complemented by readings of ancient sources in translation.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2021
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CLAS 209 - The Ancient and Modern Novel Mode(s) of Instruction: Remote
FC ARHU CD
4 credits
This course will take as its point of departure the surviving novels of Greek and Roman antiquity. We will read a selection of Greek novels, as well as Petronius’ Satyricon and Apuleius’ Metamorphoses . To these ancient works we will compare a series of modern novels, especially Epitaph of a Small Winner by Machado de Assis and Kennedy’s Confederacy of Dunces . The course will also pursue critical and theoretical issues regarding the genre of the novel raised by Bakhtin, Lukacs, Winkler and others. All works will be read in translation.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2021
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CLAS 210 - Greek and Roman Mythology Mode(s) of Instruction: Hybrid
FC ARHU CD
4 credits
Gods, monsters, heroines, and heroes! We will survey some of the major Greek and Roman myths, paying particular attention to the ways that “myths” – a set of commonly held stories within a culture – reflect and shape the societies that produce them. In addition to reading narratives from the primary sources, we will look at several modern theories of myth-interpretation, including anthropological, psychoanalytic, structuralist, and post-structuralist approaches.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Summer 2021
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CLAS 217 - The Age of Nero
FC ARHU
4 credits
This course uses the controversial emperor Nero to investigate how history is written and reputations are cemented. Our investigation will incorporate ancient authors (including Petronius, Seneca, Lucan, and Tacitus) in translation, modern scholarship, and evidence from architecture, art, and archaeology. Topics include decadence & style in literature, art, and politics; women and youth in power; senatorial resistance to the emperor; and Nero’s reputation from Revelation to Looney Tunes
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Fall 2015
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CLAS 219 - Sexuality in Ancient Greece and Rome
FC ARHU CD
4 credits
Study of the construction of gender and sexual identities in ancient Greece and Rome. Emphasis will be on primary texts that demonstrate notions of sexual practice and/or identity, such as Aristophanes’ Thesmophoriazousae , Plato’s Symposium , Aeschines’ Against Timarchos , and poetry of Sappho, Catullus, Ovid, Martial, Juvenal. We will also read modern critical theorists (Foucault, Halperin, Richlin, Winkler), and will interrogate the accuracy of their arguments.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Fall 2018
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CLAS 222 - Ovid and the Middle Ages
FC ARHU
4 credits
We will read several of the central works of Ovid (in translation) in conjunction with medieval literature that imitates, invokes, or develops Ovid?s literary corpus. We will emphasize reading and imitation as modes of interpretation, and consider how scholars of the medieval period saw themselves as inheriting and continuing a distinct literary tradition. Texts include Ovid’s Amores, Heroides, and Metamorphses, various Chaucerian works, the Roman de la Rose, and the letters of Abelard and Heloise. Pre-1700.
This course is cross-listed with CMPL 222 and ENGL 209
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2020
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CLAS 307 - Roman Egypt: Art, Culture, History
FC ARHU CD WADV
4 credits
Between 323 BCE and the 7th century, Egypt was inhabited by a multitude of ethnic groups, including Persians, Jews, Greeks, Egyptians and Romans. Yet, Egyptian culture and heritage, particularly in the realm of religion and art, remained vibrant. Through thematic topics rather than a strict chronological approach, this course surveys the artistic, social, political and cultural history of Greco-Roman Egypt.
Prerequisites & Notes: 100- or 200 - Level course in Classics Dept.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Fall 2019
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CLAS 308 - Ancient Greek & Roman Science
FC ARHU CD
4 credits
This course investigates the foundations of scientific disciplines such as physics, meteorology, chemistry, and biology through a reading of Greek and Latin scientific and philosophical texts (in translation). In addition to classroom discussion, there will be multiple fieldtrips, ‘maker’ experiments, and models that get at the heart of ancient Greek and Roman problem solving.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2020
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CLAS 351 - Pompeii: Life and Afterlife
FC ARHU WADV
4 credits
Buried by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 CE, the city of Pompeii is the best preserved city from the ancient world. Replete with evidence from daily life, Pompeii offers a unique window into many aspects of Roman culture, from religion and literature, to diet and sex. This seminar-style course will survey the history and afterlife of Pompeii, with a special focus on archaeological and epigraphic evidence.
Prerequisites & Notes: 1 course in Classics.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Fall 2017
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CLAS 401F - Honors - Full
FC ARHU
4 credits
Honors. Enrollment by submission of a proposal and approval by the department.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Fall 2020, Spring 2021
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CLAS 401H - Honors - Half
HC ARHU
2 credits
Honors. Enrollment by submission of a proposal and approval by the department.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Fall 2020, Spring 2021
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CLAS 995F - Private Reading - Full
FC ARHU
4 credits
Private readings are offered as either a half or full academic course and require the faculty member’s approval. Students who wish to pursue a topic not covered in the regular curriculum may register for a private reading. This one-to-one tutorial is normally at the advanced level in a specific field and is arranged with a member of the faculty who has agreed to supervise the student. Unlike other courses, a student cannot register for a private reading via PRESTO. To register for a private reading, obtain a card from the Registrar’s Office, complete the required information, obtain the faculty member’s approval for the reading, and return the card to the Registrar’s Office.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Summer 2021
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CLAS 995H - Private Reading - Half
HC ARHU
2 credits
Private readings are offered as either a half or full academic course and require the faculty member’s approval. Students who wish to pursue a topic not covered in the regular curriculum may register for a private reading. This one-to-one tutorial is normally at the advanced level in a specific field and is arranged with a member of the faculty who has agreed to supervise the student. Unlike other courses, a student cannot register for a private reading via PRESTO. To register for a private reading, obtain a card from the Registrar’s Office, complete the required information, obtain the faculty member’s approval for the reading, and return the card to the Registrar’s Office.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Summer 2021
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Cognitive Sciences |
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COGS 101 - Mind, Brain, and Behavior: An Introduction to Cognitive Sciences
FC NSMA
4 credits
Cognitive Science is the multidisciplinary study of the mental structures and processes involved in sensation, perception, consciousness, attention, memory, problem solving, reasoning, and language. We will draw on the fields of philosophy, psychology, computer science, neuroscience, linguistics, and anthropology in consideration of the types of questions and methodology that comprise cognitive science. Further, we will consider the many real world applications in the fields of engineering, computer science, marketing, education, medicine, and the law.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Fall 2019
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COGS 995F - Private Reading -Full
FC SSCI
4 credits
Private readings are offered as either a half or full academic course and require the faculty member’s approval. Students who wish to pursue a topic not covered in the regular curriculum may register for a private reading. This one-to-one tutorial is normally at the advanced level in a specific field and is arranged with a member of the faculty who has agreed to supervise the student. Unlike other courses, a student cannot register for a private reading via PRESTO. To register for a private reading, obtain a card from the Registrar’s Office, complete the required information, obtain the faculty member’s approval for the reading, and return the card to the Registrar’s Office.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2021
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Comparative American Studies |
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CAST 050 - Cleveland Immersion Program
HC SSCI
2 credits
This module course connects students to Northeast Ohio through its community and business leaders, regional organizations, and local alumni. It is offered M-W during the mid-semester recess with evening meetings in the weeks before and after. You will learn about the history, challenges, and opportunities of Greater Cleveland in six themes: social justice, sustainability, entrepreneurship, economic development, arts and culture, and community leadership. You will practice networking skills, gain professional and academic contacts, conduct site visits, and research a project of your choice. Field trips required.
This course is cross-listed with SOCI 050
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Fall 2020
Community Based Learning
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CAST 100 - Introduction to Comparative American Studies Mode(s) of Instruction: Hybrid, Remote
FC SSCI CD
4 credits
The course will introduce students to the complexity of American social and cultural formations, with particular emphases on sexuality, race, ethnicity, class, and gender, and to various methodologies of comparative analysis.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Fall 2020, Spring 2021
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CAST 117 - Immigrant and Second-Generation American Literature
FC ARHU CD WINT
4 credits
This survey course treats the experiences of immigrants of color and their American-born children as central to United States literatures of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. We will learn about literary close reading and oral history by using those methods to examine themes of language, identity, place, and culture. Our texts will include novels, autobiographies, and semi-autobiographical writing about immigrant families from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Middle East.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2016
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CAST 150B - Sign o’ The Times: Music, Crisis, and Generational Response
HC SSCI CD
2 credits
Few artists have impacted the world of music and pop culture like Prince. A Baby Boomer who became the voice of Gen X, Prince’s musical social commentary included Cold War tensions (“1999”), AIDS (“Sign o’ The Times”), and the Black Lives Matter movement (“Baltimore”). In this class, utilizing music, visual media, and readings, we will consider Prince’s impact and what His Royal Badness continues to teach us in this unprecedented moment in higher education, the nation, and our world.
Prerequisites & Notes: No Prerequisites
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CAST 200 - Theories and Methods in American Studies Mode(s) of Instruction: Remote
FC ARHU CD WINT
4 credits
This course introduces students to both historical developments and current theories and methodologies in the field of American Studies. It also establishes shared keywords, theoretical principles and methodological approaches for the major. This formal introduction to theories and methods will prepare students for the diverse range of approaches they will meet later in both the core and cross-listed courses approved for the CAS major.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Summer 2021
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CAST 201 - Latinas/os in Comparative Perspective Mode(s) of Instruction: Hybrid
FC SSCI CD
4 credits
This course analyzes the varied experiences of Latinas/os in the United States. Using ethnography, literature, film, and history, this course will explore questions of immigration/transnationalism; culture and political economy; racial, ethnic, gender, and sexual identities among Latinas/os; the struggle for place in American cities; as well as the intersections of gender, work and family.
This course is cross-listed with GSFS 201
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2021
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CAST 202 - Visible Bodies and the Politics of Sexuality
FC ARHU CD WINT
4 credits
This course considers how visual culture produces and contests concepts of sexuality in American society. We will analyze how mainstream culture universalizes certain experiences of gender and sexuality, as they are inflected by race, ethnicity, class and nationalism, as well as how marginalized groups have used visual representation to contest and subvert these hegemonic ideals. Through case studies, we will explore concepts such as the gaze, spectacle, and agency.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2021
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CAST 207 - Introduction to Queer Studies Mode(s) of Instruction: Hybrid
FC ARHU CD
4 credits
This course provides an interdisciplinary grounding in historical and theoretical foundations of queer culture and theory. We will explore LGBTQ history alongside contemporary queer cultural studies. This course will address the intersections of sexuality and gender with race, class, ability, age, nationality, and religion. We will explore how historical, social, political, and economic systems have shaped and reshaped what it means to be queer or claim queer identity in the United States and abroad. Students will engage with multiple disciplinary approaches that have both shaped queer studies and have been shaped by queer methodology.
This course is cross-listed with GSFS 207
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Fall 2020
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CAST 209 - American Identities and Popular Culture
FC ARHU CD
4 credits
This interdisciplinary course examines how popular cultural forms such as news media, film, and social media have historically contributed to changing notions of identity, belonging, and citizenship. Americans have long hailed innovations in media technologies as democratic spaces that expand the possibilities of inclusion even as commentators criticize popular culture for sustaining normative ideals of identity. We will address these competing trends by studying how cultural producers rely on contested concepts of gender, sexuality, race, ability and social class to navigate the politics of visibility in different media.
This course is cross-listed with GSFS 209
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2020
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CAST 210 - Sanctuary, Solidarity, and Latina/o/x Practices of Accompaniment Mode(s) of Instruction: Hybrid
FC SSCI
4 credits
What are the roots of todays sanctuary movements? And how are these practices similar to solidarity movements, past and present? This course locates contemporary sanctuary movements in a longer history of Central America sanctuary practices of the 1980s and Latinx solidarity struggles in the 1960s. By interrogating the meaning of sanctuary, solidarity and accompaniment and examining the conditions that enable Latinx struggles to be linked with those of Black, Native American, Muslim and queer activism, this course provides critical insight into the enduring practices and challenges of sanctuary, refuge and resistance in America.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Summer 2021
Community Based Learning
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CAST 211 - Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Identities
FC CD
4 credits
This course examines the production of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer identities in the United States as they intersect with important social markers such as race, class, gender, and nation. Situating specific case studies in historical, social, and comparative context, we explore issues such as the intersection of racial and sexual sciences, processes of community formation, the politics of embodiment, social justice movements and queer cultural productions.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2018
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CAST 214 - Friends, Foes, and Feminism: Relationships in Contemporary US Novels Mode(s) of Instruction: Hybrid
FC ARHU CD
4 credits
We will explore complexities of human relationships, among friends, family, lovers, colleagues, community members, and strangers as they are portrayed in contemporary US novels. Of particular interest will be the ways in which these relationships (fraught? friendly?) blur lines between love and hate, respect and animosity, civility and hostility, empathy and apathy. Using feminist theory as a lens, we will also pay particular attention to characters? identities (i.e., race, gender, class, sexuality, and more).
This course is cross-listed with GSFS 214
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2021
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CAST 217 - Introduction to Feminist Science Studies
FC SSCI
4 credits
This course investigates the scientific production of race, gender, and sexuality, particularly in the biosciences. We will consider such questions as: What is objectivity and why does it matter to scientific research? How do cultural assumptions about race, gender, sexuality, and the body shape scientific knowledge production in different historical periods? Sources include theories and critiques of science, historical and contemporary science publications, and the Science section of the NY Times.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2019
Sustainability
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CAST 223 - Surviving America: Introduction to Native Studies
FC SSCI CD
4 credits
This class offers an introduction to the field of Native Studies and its approaches to the study of indigenous nations in the United States and around the world. Native Studies seeks to understand indigenous peoples from a range of critical and disciplinary perspectives, and to undertake research to address the problems created by histories of settler colonialism and the mistreatment and misrepresentations of indigenous peoples. This course explores critical issues facing Native communities including legal and cultural identities, revitalization, environmental racism, transnationalism, indigenous feminisms, gender and sexuality, and indigenous sovereignty.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Fall 2015
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CAST 231 - The Coalition of the Future: How We Combat White Nationalism and Weave the Fabric of Democracy Mode(s) of Instruction: Hybrid
HC SSCI
2 credits
The 2020 presidential election caused a number of observers to suggest that the United States is more deeply divided than ever before, and that the survival of democracy itself is threatened. This course is intended for students who wish to challenge the hopelessness of this view by exploring the politics of white nationalism through the lens of community building and organizing. Students will grapple with the intersections between antisemitism and racism and the ways they conspire in white nationalist ideology to threaten our democracy. The class will focus on political ideologies, systems of oppression, social movements, as well as social change in practice. We will consider the history of white nationalism and white supremacy, examine how they affect Black and Jewish communities as well as the broader society, and ultimately focus on the hands-on work on engaging in difficult conversations to build alliances and create broader coalitions for change.
Does this course require off campus field trips? No
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2021
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CAST 232 - History of Race in American Cities and Suburbs
FC SSCI CD
4 credits
This course explores the social and cultural history of American cities and suburbs as sites of ethnic formation and community and interracial and interethnic contestation/struggle, with a focus on major developments and examples from the twentieth century. Case studies on urban unrest, the rise of ethnoburbs, gentrification, and other topics will illuminate distinct histories and places, while weaving together a broad understanding of how urban change, suburbanization, migration, economic restructuring, and political organizing have transformed American life and the experiences of racial and ethnic minorities.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2019
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CAST 235 - Debating Citizenships
FC SSCI CD WINT
4 credits
Americans have long hailed innovations in media technologies as democratic spaces even as commentators criticize popular culture for sustaining normative ideals of citizenship. This interdisciplinary course explores popular media from the radio to the Internet as formative sites for contested ideals of citizenship, with particular attention to changing notions of gender, sexuality, race, ability, and class. We will examine the intersections of popular culture and legal discourse to address issues of belonging, visibility, and marginalization.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2017
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CAST 238 - Self and Sovereignty in Global Indigenous Literatures
FC ARHU CD WINT
4 credits
This class offers a comparative study of Anglophone indigenous literatures of North America, Central America, New Zealand, and Australia. This course examines indigenous authors assertions of sovereignty and self-representation in different colonial contexts. Drawing on critical work in Native American and Indigenous Studies, this course explores how global indigenous writers have addressed the legacies of colonialism as well as different political and legal construction of indigeneity. In the process, the course examines notions of race and ethnicity in different national contexts; past and present debates about global indigenous sovereignty; and contemporary debates about the politics of indigenous (self-)representation.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2016
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CAST 242 - Asian American Literature at the Crossroads
FC ARHU CD WINT
4 credits
A critical mass of Asian American literature has arrived; that presence, while valuable, also comes with many responsibilities. How does Asian American literature represent its increasingly global constituencies? What narrative forms and literary devices do writers and artists use to give figure to culture? This course explores the aesthetics, theories, and politics of Asian American literature and culture. It will focus especially on questions of diaspora, gender and sexuality, and cultural critique.
This course is cross-listed with ENGL 242
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2020
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CAST 243 - Promise and Peril: Race and Multicultural America
FC ARHU CD WINT
4 credits
This course investigates the intellectual history of race in American literature and culture. It asks students to consider the stakes in constructing racial difference, that is, the political, ideological, economic, and cultural contexts within which discourses of race circulate. It will look at a variety of textual forms, including short and long fiction, poetry and verse, memoir, natural history, and legal documents. The course requires us to take a long view on racehow its lifespan precedes and exceeds any one of usa discussion that is crucial, if indirect, for addressing the issues we face today. American, Diversity, Post-1900.
Prerequisites & Notes: For complete prerequisites, please refer to the English Program section titled, 200-Level Courses.
This course is cross-listed with ENGL 243
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Fall 2017
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CAST 256 - Immigration in U.S. History Mode(s) of Instruction: Hybrid
FC SSCI CD
4 credits
History of immigration and migration in the United States, from nineteenth to early twenty-first centuries. Includes international context of migration, migrants encounters with American society, policy responses, and significance of immigration in American culture. Also covers internal migrations such as the Great Migration of blacks from the South. The aim is to provide introduction to major developments in the history of U.S. im/migration, historicize contemporary debates, and develop comparative understanding of experiences among Asians, Blacks, Europeans, Latinos.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Fall 2020
Community Based Learning
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CAST 260 - Asian American History Mode(s) of Instruction: Hybrid
FC SSCI CD
4 credits
This course is an introduction to the history of peoples of Asian ancestry in the United States and the construction of an Asian American collectivity. Major themes will include the place of Asian Americans in the American imagination, migrations, labor, communities, and responses to social and legal discrimination. The categories of race, ethnicity, gender, class and sexuality will figure prominently as we explore similarities and differences among Asian American experiences.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2021
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CAST 267 - The Nature of Sexualized Identities: Gender, Race, Queerness, and Environmental Justice
FC SSCI CD
4 credits
Interdisciplinary course that re-examines nature, gender, race, queerness, and sexualized identities as they shape, and are shaped by, sustainability, health, and environmental justice concerns. Working from the premise that sexual(ized) identities are at least partially socially constructed. The course also interrogates ways that sexual identities and ideas about nature have co-evolved through science and media. Theories, methodologies and case studies primarily from the Americas. All students welcome.
Prerequisites & Notes: Recommend: one prior course in CAST, GSFS, or ENVS.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2018
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CAST 270 - Latina/o History
FC SSCI
4 credits
What historical forces have brought together diverse groups including Chicanos from Los Angeles, Cubans from Miami, and Dominicans and Puerto Ricans from New York City? From the 16th century to the present, we map the varied terrains of Latina/o history. Major themes include: conquest and resistance, immigration, work, and the creation of racial and sexual differences within and between Latino/a communities. We survey Latina/o writers from Cabeza de Vaca to Jose Marti to Gloria Anzaldua.
This course is cross-listed with HIST 270
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Fall 2019
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CAST 279 - Imagining Borders Mode(s) of Instruction: Remote
FC ARHU CD WINT
4 credits
This course seeks to address the conceptual, cultural, historical, and political formation of borders in contemporary global society. By examining how literature and other forms of cultural production imagine and negotiate borders - the borders of a self and body, of a community, and of a civilization - students will obtain a stronger sense of the critical role that borders play, which will contribute to their development both intellectually and civically. Given the prominent visibility that the U.S.-Mexico border occupies in today’s media along with its historical importance in terms of organizing the cultural geography of the hemisphere, this border serves as a rich and foundational site for the course.
Prerequisites & Notes: Students should have completed a Writing Intensive course or gained Writing Certification in any course in the humanities. Requirements can be waived with instructor consent.
This course is cross-listed with ENGL 279
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2021
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CAST 289 - Japanese American Internment and Public History
HC SSCI
2 credits
This module course will focus on the history and legacies of Japanese internment during WWII with special attention paid to Oberlins response to internment. Taught in conjunction with a major public history exhibit about Japanese American students who attended Oberlin during the war, the class will include numerous lectures by outside speakers as well as the opportunity to learn about public history and to do outreach and education associated with the exhibit. Class will meet on Thursday evenings with 2 or more additional meetings on Fridays at noon to talk with outside speakers.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2018
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CAST 300 - Field Based Research
FC SSCI CD WADV
4 credits
This field-based methods course integrates seminar discussion of methodologies and theory with field research to explore issues of power and hierarchical cultural formations. Weekly fieldwork in an internship and texts pertaining to interpersonal relations in American culture will provide the foundation for projects and written assignments. Students will present, discuss, and engage with methodological, theoretical, and ethical questions arising from field research and work with the instructor in writing an analytical close-reading of cultural formations.
Prerequisites & Notes: Must be taken with CAST 301. Cast 100 or prior coursework in CAST or a related field strongly recommended.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2017
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CAST 301 - Practicum for Field Based Research
HC SSCI CD
2 credits
Students will choose a field site and use this work as the basis of weekly written assignments in the form of field journals. REQUIRED LAB.
Prerequisites & Notes: Must be taken with CAST 300. CAST 100 or prior coursework in CAST or a related field strongly recommended.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2017
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CAST 302 - American Agricultures Mode(s) of Instruction: In-person
FC ARHU WINT
4 credits
This course examines agrarian thinking and food justice movements in the United States through literature, essays, film, and field trips. We learn about the political philosophy of democratic agrarianism, particularly as articulated by the New Agrarianism movement, and the contributions of indigenous, enslaved, and immigrant peoples to American agricultural practices and foodways. Throughout the course we pay close attention to the Rust Belt as a location of contemporary work for food justice. Field trips are required.
Prerequisites & Notes: ENVS 201 or consent of the instructor.
This course is cross-listed with ENVS 302
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Summer 2021
Community Based Learning
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CAST 303 - Research Seminar: Text Based Research
FC SSCI WADV
4 credits
This seminar explores the distinctiveness of interdisciplinary research focused on documents collection and textual analysis ranging from music, film and photography to archival documents, the Internet and social media. Do new media technologies require different methodological approaches to texts and different definitions of evidence? Engagement with a range of American Studies methodologies will provide students with the foundations upon which they will design and conduct individual research projects.
Prerequisites & Notes: CAST 100
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2018
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CAST 310 - Where Do I Fit In?: Placing Identities in Contemporary US Literature
FC ARHU CD WINT
4 credits
Through readings and work on original research projects, students will investigate how depictions of place in contemporary US literature shape identities. Topics of examination include: intersections of gender, race, sexuality, class, and regional identities; how feelings of attachment to or detachment from place influence identity formation; how texts influence our understandings of place and vice versa. Students will be asked to frame their own experiences with place and identity in broader cultural and political terms.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Fall 2019
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CAST 311 - Militarization of American Daily Life Mode(s) of Instruction: In-person
FC ARHU CD WINT
4 credits
How have war and war preparation shaped daily life in the United States? What have been the repercussions of militarization beyond United States geopolitical boundaries? This course takes a broad view of American daily life to consider how war, war preparation, and the underlying assumption that war is a natural fact of life shape the experiences of people throughout the Americas, as well as the globalizing reach of American military power throughout the 20th century.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2021
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CAST 312 - Cultures of Surveillance Mode(s) of Instruction: Remote
FC ARHU CD WADV
4 credits
Open to sophomores and above, this seminar examines surveillance as an omnipresent force in the United States. From CCTV to biometric scans, we will explore the impacts of surveillance technologies on different communities, paying particular attention to the vastly unequal and oppressive impacts on marginalized and vulnerable groups. We will also explore counter-surveillance practices by journalists, writers, and artists, and other cultural activists who often use these same technologies to expose, denounce, embarrass or contest state actions.
Prerequisites & Notes: CAST 100, 200 or equivalent.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Summer 2021
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CAST 317 - Transgender Cultural Studies
FC ARHU CD
4 credits
In the United States, we are in a ?transgender moment,? or what Time magazine has called a ?transgender tipping point.? In this course, we explore what this moment means for the representation of trans* experience. We will look intersectionally, historically, and globally through multiple genres to interrogate what trans culture is and how we study it. We will ask how interlocking systems of oppression dictate and drive representation and narrative and how trans artists work within or resist these systems to (re)construct their own narratives and images. Together, we will build a digital archive of trans culture.
Prerequisites & Notes: GSFS/CAST 100, GSFS 101
This course is cross-listed with GSFS 317
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2020
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CAST 318 - Seminar: American Orientalism
FC SSCI CD WINT
4 credits
Through readings and work on original research projects, students will study how ideas about “Orientals” have shaped historical understandings of American identity, from the late eighteenth century onward. Topics of examination include: Chinese “coolies” during Reconstruction; constructions of gender and sexual deviance; wartime representations of Asian enemies; Cold War origins of the Model Minority; revival of Yellow Perilism in contemporary life.
Prerequisites & Notes: Prior coursework in CAST or a related field strongly recommended
This course is cross-listed with HIST 318
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Fall 2018
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CAST 319 - Sexual “Absences”
FC ARHU CD WADV
4 credits
This course explores how the absence of sex has been uniquely constructed through American histories and politics of race and sexuality. Several scholars have charted the history of sexuality through desire, practice, and identity, which resulted in the invention of sexual categories like heterosexuality and homosexuality. But few have looked at the history of sexuality in America through the lens of absence. In this course, we will explore how abstinence, celibacy, virginity, chastity, and asexuality have been historically and rhetorically shaped by the sexual revolution, capitalism and the industrial revolution, sexology, religion, and social justice movements in the United States.
Prerequisites & Notes: CAST/GSFS 100, GSFS 101.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2019
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CAST 333 - Trans*Gender Studies
FC SSCI
4 credits
This course considers the emergence and development of Transgender Studies in America, focusing primarily on gender and sexual minorities of all racial and ethnic backgrounds in the United States. We will examine the connections between this academic project and transgender-related social movements as well as their transnational counterparts. Reading and discussion includes substantial attention to methods of inquiry that analyze cultural differences as they apply to racialized gender and sexualized difference, taking as a starting point specific ways that colonization practices shape current social and legal understandings of gender in the United States.
Prerequisites & Notes: CAST 211 or consent of instructor.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2017
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CAST 335 - Latinx Oral Histories Mode(s) of Instruction: In-person
FC SSCI CD WADV
4 credits
This advanced course introduces students to the importance of oral histories in ethnographic research as a foundation to explore the histories and contemporary experiences of Latinx communities in Lorain and Northeast Ohio. This class will focus on theories, practices, and ethics involved in oral history and ethnographic projects in order to equip students with the necessary tools to understand the distinctive role that personal narratives play in capturing the complexity of Latinx life in Northeast Ohio. We will collaborate with community partners in collecting oral histories and locate these histories in a broader historical and political-economic context. Field trips required.
Prerequisites & Notes: CAST 100, 200, or equivalent
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Fall 2020
Community Based Learning
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CAST 382 - Afro-Asian America: Intraminority Connections in Historical Perspective Mode(s) of Instruction: In-person
FC SSCI CD WADV
4 credits
Seminar guides students in methods of historical research and writing through subject of Afro-Asian relations in America and the world during the 20th century. Through readings and projects, students will develop an understanding of comparative racial formations, connections between Asian American and African American histories, and salience of Black-Asian thought and relations against developments including U.S. civil rights movement, Third World anti-colonialism, and the Los Angeles riots.
Prerequisites & Notes: Prior coursework on race in U.S. history recommended.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Fall 2020
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CAST 403 - Queer Trauma Narratives
FC ARHU CD
4 credits
This course examines narratives of trauma in queer lives through literature, film, media, and performance in conjunction with trauma theory and psychoanalysis. We pay specific attention to questions of community, healing, violence, and affect in order to explore narration, identity, power, and oppression. We interrogate the purposes these narratives serve, whether as healing methods or as cautionary tales that provide cultural insight at the intersections of queerness and race, sex, disability, class, gender, and ethnicity. By adopting the lens of trauma studies in psychology and psychoanalysis, we look critically at the function of trauma in identity and community formation.
Prerequisites & Notes: CAST 100, GSFS 101, or equivalent.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Fall 2018
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CAST 406 - Gender and Geography: Literatures of Appalachia Mode(s) of Instruction: In-person
FC ARHU CD
4 credits
This seminar explores varied experiences of people living in Appalachia by focusing on texts in which this regional location plays a prominent role. Understanding that regional boundaries are fluid and open to interpretation, we will discuss Appalachian novels, essays, poems, memoir, and films that raise questions of: what and where is Appalachia; issues of gender, class, sexuality, and race; stereotypes; and what roles Appalachia plays in relation to the United States as a national entity.
Prerequisites & Notes: Previous coursework in CAST or GSFS is recommended but not required.
This course is cross-listed with GSFS 406
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Fall 2020
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CAST 408 - Race, Religion and Citizenship Mode(s) of Instruction: In-person
FC SSCI CD
4 credits
Scholars in American and Religious Studies have long noted the ways that religion has been central to American social and political transformation. This reading seminar invites students to explore some of most important challenges and transformations in contemporary American life and the ways that race, citizenship and religion are mobilized to frame enduring problems as well as possible solutions. By focusing on issues such as sanctuary movements, prison ministries, immigrant adaptation, and popular cultural representations of racialized religion, this seminar explores the ways religious practices inform social transformations and are constitutitive in racialized citizenship projects.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2021
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CAST 427 - Borderlands
FC SSCI CD WADV
4 credits
The US-Mexico border region is a political, economic, and cultural crossroads. The course investigates interactions between Native Americans and Spanish colonists beginning in the 16th century, emerging United States economic and political control during the 19th century, and immigration, community building, and civil rights movements in the 20th century. We also discuss la frontera as a literary and symbolic concept.
Prerequisites & Notes: History 270 -Latina/o History is strongly encouraged as preparation for this course
This course is cross-listed with HIST 427
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2020
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CAST 443 - Colloquium: Crisis of Confidence: American History and Culture in the 1970s
FC SSCI WINT
4 credits
Explores the decade between the groovy 60s and Age of Reagan as a distinct era in American history and a critical period whose legacies continue to inform our contemporary world. Through consideration of developments including Watergate, the oil crisis, white backlash, the Battle of the Sexes, and punk music, we interrogate how such moments shed light on contestations over national identity, inclusion, and power in an era regarded as a high point of American cynicism.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2017
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CAST 447 - Queer Positions
FC ARHU
4 credits
When queer is a verb, what does it mean? This course explores key issues in the field of queer theory, including the relationship of sex, gender, race, class, and ability; critiques of liberalism and multiculturalism; normativity and resistance; representation and cultural production; and the politics of time and space. We will pay particular attention to the relationship between theory and practice in order to explore different approaches to social change.
Prerequisites & Notes: Prior coursework in CAST or a related field strongly recommended.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2018
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CAST 500 - Capstone Research Seminar Mode(s) of Instruction: In-person
FC SSCI WINT
4 credits
Students will spend the semester undertaking original research projects that culminate their CAST major. Projects should incorporate inter- and multidisciplinary methods, utilize a range of primary sources, critically engage secondary material, and thus encapsulate what they have learned about American Studies over their course of study.
Prerequisites & Notes: CAST 100 or a 2XX level CAST course; CAST 200.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2021
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CAST 501 - Senior Honors Mode(s) of Instruction: Remote
FC SSCI
4 credits
This seminar provides honors students with the opportunity to discuss the various steps and challenges of conducting independent honors research. Discussions will include methodology, research methods, and progress reports on individual projects. Students will also exchange written work for peer review.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Fall 2020
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CAST 502 - Senior Honors Mode(s) of Instruction: Remote
FC SSCI
4 credits
This seminar provides honors students with the opportunity to discuss the various steps and challenges of conducting independent honors research. Discussions will include methodology, research methods, and progress reports on individual projects. Students will also exchange written work for peer review.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2021
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CAST 995F - Private Reading - Full Mode(s) of Instruction: Remote
FC SSCI
4 credits
Private readings are offered as either a half or full academic course and require the faculty member’s approval. Students who wish to pursue a topic not covered in the regular curriculum may register for a private reading. This one-to-one tutorial is normally at the advanced level in a specific field and is arranged with a member of the faculty who has agreed to supervise the student. Unlike other courses, a student cannot register for a private reading via PRESTO. To register for a private reading, obtain a card from the Registrar’s Office, complete the required information, obtain the faculty member’s approval for the reading, and return the card to the Registrar’s Office.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Summer 2021
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CAST 995H - Private Reading - Half
HC SSCI
2 credits
Private readings are offered as either a half or full academic course and require the faculty member’s approval. Students who wish to pursue a topic not covered in the regular curriculum may register for a private reading. This one-to-one tutorial is normally at the advanced level in a specific field and is arranged with a member of the faculty who has agreed to supervise the student. Unlike other courses, a student cannot register for a private reading via PRESTO. To register for a private reading, obtain a card from the Registrar’s Office, complete the required information, obtain the faculty member’s approval for the reading, and return the card to the Registrar’s Office.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Fall 2020, Spring 2021
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CMPL 200 - Introduction to Comparative Literature Mode(s) of Instruction: In-person, Hybrid
FC ARHU CD WINT
4 credits
Comparative Literature is the study of literature, theory, and criticism across the boundaries of language, nation, culture, artistic medium and historical period. This course examines the nature and scope of the discipline, focusing both on its theoretical assumptions and its practical applications. Texts and topics reflect curricular strengths of the college and include literary theory, literature & the other arts, World Literature, European languages and literatures, and translation.
Prerequisites & Notes: An introductory literature course in any language. Identical to ENGL 275. Comparative Literature majors should take this course by the sophomore year.
This course is cross-listed with ENGL 275
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Fall 2020, Spring 2021
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CMPL 202 - Women,Sex,Taboos ME Cine & Lit
FC ARHU CD WINT
4 credits
This course examines the ways creative women in the contemporary Middle East have learned to rebel against the social discourses that reinforce their silence, control their behavior, and regulate their sexuality. Through novels, short stories, poems, graphic novels, and films from Egypt, Lebanon, Iran, and Saudi Arabia, we explore literary, visual, and cinematic expressions of women’s subjectivity and agency in contexts of cultural constraint and outright negation. Emphasis will be placed on how Middle Eastern women have broken taboos on silence and violence and reclaimed their sexuality, so often cloaked in shame and dishonor.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2017
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CMPL 203 - Polycentrics Modernism
FC ARHU CD
4 credits
It is often said that Modernism ends by the mid-20th century, but this course challenges that periodization, for isnt it Eurocentric to announce the end of modernism just as postcolonial countries start exploring their own modernities? Comparing Western and (post-)colonial literatures from Herman Hesse and Ingmar Bergman to Waguih Ghaly and Ousmane Sembe, from Virginia Woolf to Jamaica Kincaid, and Marguerite Duras to Clarice Lispector, we will problematize the cartography of modernism, explore the role of gender, and examine how (post-)colonial aesthetics rewrite political and cultural histories to adapt to the inevitable pluralities of our hybrid world.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2017
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CMPL 204 - Introduction to Literature and Music
FC ARHU CD
4 credits
Focused on the literary representations of music in Western and Russian culture, this course examines the foundational myths of music as refashioned in literature, philosophy, opera, and song. Students will discuss the magical, transformative, seductive, and dangerous nature of music, and will learn how music attains its meaning as an abstract art form, expresses emotions and desires, tells stories, or exerts power over us. We will also trace how music shapes the gender dynamics in literature and opera. Writers and composers may include Blok, Goethe, Nietzsche, Pushkin, Rilke, Schopenhauer, Tolstoy, Sophia Tolstaya, Tsvetaeva, Mozart, Schubert, Scriabin, Tchaikovsky, Verdi, and Wagner. Selected Conservatory concerts, the Oberlin art museum, and Met HD simulcasts at the Apollo Theater are required local field trips.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Fall 2016
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CMPL 206 - Modern Chinese Literature and Film
FC ARHU CD WINT
4 credits
This course studies Chinese film-fiction adaptation from 1984-2012 both as an aesthetic interaction between the literary and the cinematic and as a political negotiation between artists and the state. Authors and directors to include are Eileen Chang, Su Tong, Mo Yan, Stanley Kwan, Zhang Yimou, Hou Xiaoxian and others.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Fall 2016
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CMPL 208 - Queer Beginnings: 1990
FC ARHU CD
4 credits
1990 was a time of new beginnings for academics, novelists, and filmmakers who challenged the norms of heterosexuality, and who found –or invented– queer histories. After an examination of European precursors, Foucault, Fassbinder, and Almodovar, we will study Sedgwick, Butler, Crimp, and Bersani; fiction by Barnett, Winterson, and Gluck; and historical (or pseudo-historical) films from the New Queer Cinema movement, including Poison, Edward II, Orlando, Watermelon Woman, Looking for Langston. and Lilies.
This course is cross-listed with GSFS 208
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2020
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CMPL 210 - Music in Literature
FC ARHU CD WINT
4 credits
This course explores how literature understands, represents, and imitates music. We will read poems about music, novels about musicians and composers, and novels structured like musical compositions (fugues, theme and variations). The course looks at eighteenth-century quarrels between Neoclassicists (les Anciens) and Moderns that led to the reversal of the poetic primacy of mimesis in favor of modern artistic expression. It examines music’s rise in favor from the least appreciated of the Sister Arts to the autonomous Romantic art par excellence. This aesthetic turn will inform our study of literature’s attempts to integrate music into its forms and themes.
This course is cross-listed with CMUS 210
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Fall 2018
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CMPL 215 - Literary and Visual Cultures of Protest in Japan
FC ARHU CD
4 credits
An introduction to art and protest in Japan from mid-19th century to now, this course historicizes the engagements of literary and visual artists with civil society and social movements. What role did writers and filmmakers play in environmental movements centering on Minamata and Fukushima, antinuclear protest grounded in Hiroshima, and nationwide anti-Vietnam War, labor, and US military base protest? Theories of art and social change, feminism, and eco-criticism are lenses that inform our studies. Field trips required.
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Spring 2017
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CMPL 220 - Travel and the Idea of Home Mode(s) of Instruction: Hybrid
FC ARHU CD WINT
4 credits
What are the stakes of leaving home? What are the stakes of inviting a stranger into your home? What is a home, in any case? Drawing on literature, film and critical theory, this course explores travel and hospitality around the Mediterranean Sea, a region long associated with mobility, wandering, and rootlessness. Beginning in the ancient Mediterranean world with The Odyssey, we will then move to colonial and post-colonial literature and film by Albert Camus, Hélène Cixous, Jacques Derrida, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Michel Haneke, and Fatih Akin, among others. Issues addressed include cosmopolitanism, globalization, citizenship, and the contemporary Mediterranean refugee crisis
This course is cross-listed with FREN 220
Course Last Offered/Scheduled: Fall 2020
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