May 11, 2024  
Course Catalog 2021-2022 
    
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Course Catalog 2021-2022 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Course Search

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.
 

Environmental Studies
  

  • ENVS 432 - Seminar in Energy and Environmental Economics

    FC SSCI QFR WADV
    4 credits
    This seminar examines energy and environmental economics issues, mostly in the U.S. We will discuss carbon and sulfur dioxide emissions in the context of the electricity and automotive industries, as well as the transition to renewable energy. We will consider some of the main government programs that affect pollution, efficiency, and social welfare. Students will write and present an original economics research paper.
    Prerequisites & Notes: ECON 253 and ECON 255
    This course is cross-listed with ECON 432
  

  • ENVS 436 - Seminar: Valuation of Environmental Amenities

    FC SSCI QFR WADV
    4 credits
    This seminar-style course will serve as an introduction to economic research in Environmental Economics, with an emphasis on non-market valuation of environmental amenities. This course will discuss the importance of evaluating environmental amenities in policy-making. It will use research papers to help students learn the economic theories, econometric models, and empirical evidence used in the process of such valuations. Meetings will be discussion-based, and students are expected to arrive prepared to engage with the discussions. Each student will work on a proposal of an original research idea, a research paper, and a presentation of their work to the class.
    Prerequisites & Notes: Econ 255
    This course is cross-listed with ECON 436
  

  • ENVS 501F - Research Env St (ARHU) - Full

    FC ARHU
    4 credits
    Research Env St (ARHU) - Full
  

  • ENVS 501H - Research in Environmental Studies (ARHU) - Half

    HC ARHU
    2 credits
    Research in Environmental Studies (ARHU) - Half
  

  • ENVS 502F - Research in Environmental Studies (ARHU) - Full

    FC ARHU
    4 credits
    Research in Environmental Studies (ARHU) - Full
  

  • ENVS 502H - Research in Environmental Studies (ARHU) - Half

    HC ARHU
    2 credits
    Research in Environmental Studies (ARHU) - Half
  

  • ENVS 503F - Research in Environmental Studies (NSMA) - Full

    FC NSMA
    4 credits
    Research in Environmental Studies (NSMA) - Full
  

  • ENVS 503H - Research in Environmental Studies (NSMA) - Half

    HC NSMA
    2 credits
    Research in Environmental Studies (NSMA) - Half
  

  • ENVS 504F - Research in Environmental Studies (NSMA) - Full

    FC NSMA
    4 credits
    Research in Environmental Studies (NSMA) - Full
  

  • ENVS 504H - Research in Environmental Studies (NSMA) - Half

    HC NSMA
    2 credits
    Research in Environmental Studies (NSMA) - Half
  

  • ENVS 505F - Research in Environmental Studies (SSCI) - Full

    FC SSCI
    4 credits
    Research in Environmental Studies (SSCI) - Full
  

  • ENVS 505H - Research in Environmental Studies (SSCI) - Half

    HC SSCI
    2 credits
    Research in Environmental Studies (SSCI) - Half
  

  • ENVS 506F - Research in Environmental Studies (SSCI) - Full

    FC SSCI
    4 credits
    Research in Environmental Studies (SSCI) - Full
  

  • ENVS 506H - Research in Environmental Studies (SSCI) - Half

    HC SSCI
    2 credits
    Research in Environmental Studies (SSCI) - Half
  

  • ENVS 942A - Nature, Culture, London: In, Around, Below, Above, Before, & After the City

    FC ARHU CD
    4 credits
    Through a study of a variety of texts and places ‘museums, maps, literature, parks, paintings, films, gardens, architecture, infrastructure’ we will consider the different ways in which nature is understood, ordered, and represented in London and surrounding areas. The way a culture looks at nature is organized by a variety of factors, including its geography, its history, its epistemology and ethos. We will explore various versions of nature in an urban environment, with particular attention to connections: between ideas and places, between texts and experiences, between one place and another, between different cultural perspectives, between the past and the present. Field trips required.Program required.
  

  • ENVS 942B - Nature, Culture, London: In, Around, Below, Above, Before, & After the City

    FC ARHU CD
    4 credits
    Through a study of a variety of texts and places ‘museums, maps, literature, parks, paintings, films, gardens, architecture, infrastructure’ we will consider the different ways in which nature is understood, ordered, and represented in London and surrounding areas. The way a culture looks at nature is organized by a variety of factors, including its geography, its history, its epistemology and ethos. We will explore various versions of nature in an urban environment, with particular attention to connections: between ideas and places, between texts and experiences, between one place and another, between different cultural perspectives, between the past and the present. Field trips required.
    Prerequisites & Notes: Taught in London. Prior application and acceptance to the Oberlin-in-London Program required.
  

  • ENVS 957 - Climate Change and London: Vulnerability, Mitigation, Adaptation & Resilience

    FC NSMA
    4 credits
    Energy, water, food, shelter, and transportation are essential to any community.  What plans are underway for London and smaller communities to provide these essential resources in the face of changing weather and rising seas?   Students will develop an understanding of resilience theory and conceptual modeling and apply these to understand the process of change underway.  Tours of public and private sector infrastructure will be key features of this course.  Students will compare and contrast resilience in overlapping systems and at multiple scales.  Collectively, the class will build a public ArcGIS “Story map” that documents and communicates the lessons we learn.
    Prerequisites & Notes: Taught in London. Prior application and acceptance to the Oberlin-in-London Program required.
    Does this course require off campus field trips? Yes

    Sustainability
  

  • ENVS 958A - Climate Change & Community Resilience in London

    FC SSCI CD

    4 credits
    How a community responds to climate change is a complex interplay between ecological, technological, political and social systems.  This course will provide an interdisciplinary examination of how various communities in and around London are building resilience in the face of climate change.

    Students will conduct group research projects using a variety of social science research methodologies to measure the concept of resilience and to evaluate the impact of efforts to increase resilience. 

    The course will count as credit towards the ES major, fulfilling an SS requirement as well as the methods requirement.  It will also count as a 300-level Advanced Methods course for the Psychology major.  ENVS 101 suggested.  Field trips required.
    Prerequisites & Notes: Taught in London. Prior application and acceptance to the Oberlin-in-London Program required.
    Does this course require off campus field trips? Yes

    This course is cross-listed with PSYC 958A

    Sustainability
  

  • ENVS 958B - Climate Change & Community Resilience in London

    FC SSCI
    4 credits
    How a community responds to climate change is a complex interplay between ecological, technological, political and social systems. This course will provide an interdisciplinary examination of how various communities in and around London are building resilience in the face of climate change. Students will conduct group research projects using a variety of social science research methodologies to measure the concept of resilience and to evaluate the impact of efforts to increase resilience. The course will count as credit towards the ES major, fulfilling an SS requirement as well as the methods requirement. It will also count as a 300-level Advanced Methods course for the Psychology major. ENVS101suggested. Field trips required
    Prerequisites & Notes: Taught in London. Prior application and acceptance to the Oberlin-in-London Program required.
    Does this course require off campus field trips? Yes

    This course is cross-listed with PSYC 958B

    Sustainability
  

  • ENVS 995F - Private Reading - Full

    FC
    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.
  

  • ENVS 995H - Private Reading - Half

    HC
    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.

First-Year Seminar Program
  

  • FYSP 011 - American Mixed Blood

    FC SSCI WINT
    4 credits
    From the coyote and the half-breed to the ‘tragic’ mulatto, people of mixed ethnic and racial heritage occupy a conflicted and controversial place in American history. This course will chart the histories of people of mixed heritage from the colonial period to the present, exploring the relationship between the historical experiences of mixed heritage and broader trends in American history including slavery, imperialism, legal transformation, and changing cultural patterns.
  

  • FYSP 012 - Socialism: Real and Imagined

    FC SSCI WINT
    4 credits
    In the context of the most significant crisis of free market capitalism since the 1930s, and a revival of public intervention in the economy, the term “socialism” has undergone a renewal of interest, as both a term of abuse and as a curiosity. This course will explore the historical meanings of, experience with, and contemporary relevance of socialism to highly industrialized democracies. In other words, to societies like our own. Field trips required.
  

  • FYSP 013 - Erotic City: Prince and a Purple Urban Imaginary

    FC SSCI CD WINT
    4 credits
    Few artists have impacted the world of music and pop culture like Prince. Beyond the prolific and tuneful brilliance of his catalog, Prince’s death has sparked scholarly thought on such topics as masculinity, spirituality, politics, race, gender, sexuality, and class. We will explore Prince through critical perspectives related to musical creativity, intersections of faith and music, gender and sexuality, and the geography of the Minneapolis Sound. We will utilize a variety of materials in our exploration of His Royal Badness, including music, film and readings.
  

  • FYSP 015 - In This Here Place, We Flesh: Underground Railroad and Sanctuary Space

    FC ARHU CD WINT
    4 credits
    Why is the Underground Railroad a persistent symbol of sanctuary in African American Literature, Art, and Culture? Using the novel, Beloved, by Toni Morrison and the Toni Morrison Society - Bench by the Road - as the first stop, we will explore what sanctuary meant for enslaved people moving through Oberlin on the journey to freedom, for Africans who attended Oberlin since the 19th century, and present representations of the underground railroad in literature and art This course provides students with the critical historical context of 19th-century sanctuary practices for fugitive slaves the underground railroad and Oberlin’s distinct role in this history. Field trips required.
  

  • FYSP 017 - From Renaissance Anatomy to Modern Medicine

    FC ARHU WINT
    4 credits
    This course traces the history of modern medicine from the Renaissance to the present, beginning with the anatomical discoveries of Andreas Vesalius and continuing into the present with Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich (1886), Camus’s The Plague (1947), and essays by Atul Gawande, a Harvard professor of medicine who recounts in gripping detail his journey through medical school and the ethical challenges he faces as a surgeon.
  

  • FYSP 019 - The Nature of Human Language

    FC SSCI WINT
    4 credits
    The study of human language is fundamental to understanding human nature itself. Our questions include: What properties of language inform our understanding of ourselves as a species? How might human language be fundamentally different from other animal communication systems? How did language evolve-did linguistic complexity emerge gradually over time, or did the capacity for complex language develop suddenly? Is there a Universal Grammar shared by all humans?
  

  • FYSP 021 - Learning and Labor: Education and the Market

    FC SSCI
    4 credits
    “Red for Ed” teacher strikes. Student loan debt. Standardized testing. Charter vs. public schools. For-profit education models. College admissions scandals. Each of these current events have elicited hearty debates about education in the US. In this course we will critically examine education as a social institution and its relationship to the economy. We will investigate sociological, humanistic, and political perspectives on questions like: What is the purpose of education? What is its role in society? Students will dip their toes into social scientific research and explore Oberlin College by creating an interview project and a final research essay. Field trips required.
    Does this course require off campus field trips? Yes
  

  • FYSP 022 - What’s For Dinner? The science of healthy eating

    FC NSMA QFR
    4 credits
    Why do dietary recommendations continually change? This course will examine why it is difficult to determine the relationship between nutrition and health and how to evaluate newly emerging dietary claims. We will discuss the strengths and limitations of different types of nutritional research and will apply this information to current controversies, e.g. do megadose vitamins prevent cancer? We will also discuss societal issues such as the laws governing dietary supplements.
  

  • FYSP 024 - Justice in America?

    FC SSCI CD WINT
    4 credits
    This seminar explores the origins and historically changing notions of justice that have been foundational to narratives of U.S. national identity. How have differing concepts of justice informed people’s perceptions of rights, liberty, community responsibilities, and the role of the state? We will interrogate theoretical concepts such as social justice, restorative justice, and transformative justice through historical case studies that illuminate the promises and limitations of these terms.
  

  • FYSP 026 - The Anthropocene: Human Actions, Global Consequences

    FC NSMA WINT
    4 credits
    Have human activities changed our planet enough that we now live in a new geologic Epoch: the Anthropocene? In this seminar we will place our impact on the planet in the context of its history through readings and discussion on topics including: deep geologic time, geochemical signals of natural and human activity, the nature of scientific thinking and discourse, and our place in our planet’s history.
  

  • FYSP 028 - Cryptography

    FC NSMA QFR WINT
    4 credits
    This seminar will introduce students to cryptology - the science of making and breaking secret codes. Our overarching goal will be to explore some of the mathematical tools which underlie modern cryptography. In particular we will develop the ideas from number theory necessary to study the RSA cryptosystem.
  

  • FYSP 039 - Women Behaving Badly

    FC SSCI WINT
    4 credits
    This course will ask broader questions about how and why women violated the law or transgressed during the nineteenth century. We will study the lives of women across a spectrum of racial, class, and ethnic identities to understand the meanings of their legal violations and social transgressions. As a First-Year Seminar, this course is designed to introduce students to an interdisciplinary approach to critical thinking and writing.
  

  • FYSP 043 - Everyday Life in Twentieth Century European Dictatorships

    FC SSCI WINT
    4 credits
    This class examines everyday life in totalitarian societies during the Twentieth Century. We will use a variety of sources to study how people experienced their lives in Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, the Soviet Union, and Eastern European Communism. This class will also critically examine the concept of totalitarianism itself and ask if and how comparing everyday life in these regimes enables us to understand each of them better.
  

  • FYSP 044 - Objects and Apparitions: Poetry as Fiction and Fact

    FC ARHU WINT
    4 credits
    The word ‘poem’ comes from the Greek for ‘made thing.’ What do we mean when we say that a poem is a thing? What do we mean when we say that it is a made-up or fictional thing? ‘Objects and Apparitions’ is a First-Year Seminar concerned with the ways that poems as ‘made things’ straddle the domains of factual, thingly reality on the one hand, and fictional, made-up imagination on the other. We will ask what kinds of work poems do, and what demands we face when we seek to ‘make sense’ of them.
  

  • FYSP 046OC - Crafting Change: Arts, Activism and the 2020 Election

    FC ARHU WINT
    4 credits
    An artist traces the flood line in NYC with chalk, sparking conversations with passersby about climate change; a 54-ton community-built quilt commemorates lives lost to AIDS, raising awareness and funds to fight this disease; thousands of children color ‘funded’ dollar bills to deliver to congress to advocate for lead-free water. When artists step outside of concert halls, galleries, and other ‘sanctioned’ art spaces, they become advocates, community builders, and changemakers. In this course, we explore major issues in the 2020 election through the arts.
    Does this course require off campus field trips? Yes

    Community Based Learning
  

  • FYSP 047 - Decolonizing Cinema: Native Americans in Film

    FC ARHU WINT
    4 credits
    In this course, students will critically examine the portrayal of Native Americans in film. Through close-analysis of various films, we investigate the rhetorical strategies used to both create and subvert various representations of Native Americans. From the Hollywood Western to Indigenous-produced films of today, this course explores the role of film in shaping dominant narratives of Native peoples, cultures, and histories. This is a discussion-based course with both informal and formal writing assignments and classroom presentations.
    Does this course require off campus field trips? Yes
  

  • FYSP 048OC - Faith and the Ballot Box

    FC SSCI CD WINT
    4 credits
    While Thomas Jefferson argued for a “wall of separation” between church and state, in reality, there has been a thoroughfare of exchange. This course traces the intersection of religion and politics historically and in current events. We will examine issues central to the 2020 presidential election such as immigration, mass incarceration, definitions of marriage and family, gun control, and religious freedom. When do candidates use religious language and to what effect? How does religious identity affect voting patterns? What is the significance of the 116th Congress being the most religiously diverse delegation in history?
    Does this course require off campus field trips? Yes
  

  • FYSP 049 - Cultures of Food Writing

    FC ARHU WINT
    4 credits
    Cultures of Food Writing looks at the myriad ways that food has been written about. People write about food to register their delight or disdain with a meal, promote or demote a restaurant, explore and exploit a faraway land, whisk up nostalgia, marinate on identity, thicken a plot, and broil for social justice. What does all this language devoted to food tell us about the world we live in, who we are, where we come from, and where we are going? We will digest just a morsel of this literature to learn more about the cultures we inhabit.
  

  • FYSP 050 - Conceptions of the Self East and West

    FC ARHU WINT
    4 credits
    This course examines important, indeed classic, statements on the nature of human existence from the ancient and modern West, and from East Asia, and endeavors to sensitively compare these diverse visions of human life without capitulating to nihilism, relativism, or self-satisfied cultural chauvinism. We examine influential representatives of several traditions, including Confucianism, Daoism, Christianity, and contemporary democratic political theory.
  

  • FYSP 051OC - 23 and Us: Genetics in Contemporary Society

    FC NSMA QFR
    4 credits
    The year 2003, when the final version of the human genome was released, marked the beginning of a new biological era in which humans can easily access their own genetic content. What does it mean to read our nucleotide sequences, and how can this information be used or abused? This course aims to provide a broad understanding of human genetics from a scientific and historical perspective, exploring the scientific underpinning of inheritance, genetic analysis, and gene modification technologies. Contemporary and future applications of genetic knowledge in fields such as forensics, medicine, surveillance, and other areas will be explored and discussed.
    Does this course require off campus field trips? Yes
  

  • FYSP 055 - Deconstructing Disney

    FC SSCI WINT
    4 credits
    The Disney Corporation is one of the most powerful media and entertainment conglomerations in the world. Its products have had a profound impact on American culture and have been enjoyed by millions, perhaps billions, of people. This first-year seminar explores why the Disney Corporation has been so successful; examines how its films, cartoons, and theme parks have shaped Americans’ perceptions of race, nation, gender, sexuality, and class for over a century; and considers what Disney can teach us about creativity and the production of pleasure. Students will be encouraged to uncover the messages embedded in Disney’s products, to explore their own emotional connections to popular culture, and to consider the role of corporations in American life, historically and today. Class time includes screenings of films, cartoons, and documentaries.
  

  • FYSP 057 - Graffiti and Identity: An Idea Cannot Be Destroyed

    FC ARHU WINT
    4 credits
    This seminar explores graffiti in its many forms. Is graffiti art? Vandalism? Does it bring communities together, or tear them apart? Infamous Graffiti artist Banksy claims “People say graffiti is ugly, irresponsible and childish… but that’s only if it’s done properly.” How do we do it properly? Graffiti’s history is longer than many suspect, and we will investigate what the common threads that connect ancient markings with today’s. What does graffiti tell us about a civilization, or ourselves? As we contemplate these questions, we will explore the ideas of society, identity, place, and their intersections.
  

  • FYSP 058 - African Politics and Society Through Literature

    FC ARHU CD WINT
    4 credits
    This course uses literature to examine politics and society in Africa from the dawn of colonial rule to the present. From Peter Abraham’s Mine Boy (1946) to Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (1958) to Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus (2003) and novels between them, we use literature as a window into the issues that have concerned African novelists over generations. The advent of colonialism in Africa, the rise of nationalism, the often violent liberation struggles and the defeat of colonialism, military coups and political instability as well as authoritarianism and civil wars of the post-colonial era, are of particular interest in this course.
  

  • FYSP 061 - Comics and the Art of Graphic Storytelling

    FC ARHU WINT
    4 credits
    This seminar investigatesoneof the increasingly influential forms of literature: graphic narrative. Providing a historical overview of the form’s development across the twentieth century, the seminar simultaneously affords students the critical skills necessary to read and understand this inherently interdisciplinary medium. We will read a series of works that define and redefine the genre while illustrating a variety of artistic and storytelling approaches to its central themes: politics, sexuality, class, violence, memory, cultural and ethnic diversity. Works include, among others, Gaiman’sSandman , Bechdel’sFun Home , Spiegelman’sMouse , Satrapi’sPersepolis , Yang’sAmerican Born Chinese , Hwa’sThe Color of Earth .
    Does this course require off campus field trips? Yes
  

  • FYSP 062 - Brexit and the Rise of Nationalism in Europe

    FC ARHU WINT
    4 credits
    This seminar aims to provide broad knowledge of European studies as well as in-depth study in British politics in light of Brexit. We will explore contemporary issues related to nationalism in Europe through politics, sociology, music, newspapers, literature, and other works. What is the European Union and the main challenges that it faces today? How can Britpop, a mid-1990s UK-based music and culture movement, explain Brexit? What are the origins of nationalism in Europe and what is the response from European leaders? Students should expect to write frequent short papers as well as give in-class presentations.
    Does this course require off campus field trips? Yes
  

  • FYSP 063 - Research and Reasoning: The Production and Application of Knowledge in STEM

    FC NSMA QFR WINT
    4 credits
    Research in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) provides enormous contributions to our understanding of the world and offers advancements in health, technology, interactions with the environment, and many other applications. This course will examine the production and application of knowledge in STEM fields including the research process, methodology, and the ethical conduct of research in various fields. Additionally, students will improve their ability to read and critically evaluate STEM literature, analyze and interpret quantitative data, and communicate in both written and oral forms.
    Prerequisites & Notes: This seminar is reserved for students participating in Oberlin College’s STRONG program.
    Does this course require off campus field trips? Yes
  

  • FYSP 063OC - Research and Reasoning: The Production and Application of Knowledge in STEM

    FC NSMA QFR WINT
    4 credits
    Research in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) provides enormous contributions to our understanding of the world and offers advancements in health, technology, interactions with the environment, and many other applications. This course will examine the production and application of knowledge in STEM fields including the research process, methodology, and the ethical conduct of research in various fields. Additionally, students will improve their ability to read and critically evaluate STEM literature, analyze and interpret quantitative data, and communicate in both written and oral forms.
    Does this course require off campus field trips? Yes
  

  • FYSP 064 - What Is Pop? German Fiction, Film and Music Since 1989

    FC ARHU CD WINT
    4 credits
    What is “pop”? What characterizes pop music, literature or film? Is the popular innocuous by definition, or can it work to undermine sources of power and authority? These questions will guide our thoughts, discussions, and writing about how German pop has addressed controversial topics, such as social upheaval, immigration, sex and gender, and racism. Our aim is to deepen our understanding of pop and to examine how pop intervenes in pressing issues, in our own societies and globally. Through our investigations and class discussions, we will learn to think critically about pop and “read” it through a scholarly lens.
    Does this course require off campus field trips? Yes
  

  • FYSP 067 - The Climate of History: From Asia to the Anthropocene

    FC SSCI WINT
    4 credits
    Have historians contributed to our cultural inability to contemplate climate changeby portraying humans as autonomous from nature? What role do the humanitieshave now that humans have become a major geophysical force, and what mustchange about how we narrate our story? This first-year seminar will invite studentsto contemplate these questions with a particular focus on the environmental historiesof Asia. Students will engage cutting-edge scholarship on topics from ancient anthropogenic landscapes of the Yellow River Valley to plastic in modern dayBeijing, and work to re-imagine the role of the humanities in the ageof climatechange through intensive writing and discussion.
    Does this course require off campus field trips? Yes
  

  • FYSP 068 - Minds, Machines, and God

    FC NSMA QFR WINT
    4 credits
    How do new technologies alter our world? This seminar focuses on theunderlying mechanisms, genesis, and impacts of technologies and innovations that touch our everyday lives. A specific focus will be on the capacity of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to mimic human learning. How do machines behave and think? What is the human impact of face recognition and deep-fake technologies? How do biological and silicon entities adapt? Readings and lectures will be drawn from multiple disciplines, including neuroscience psychology, philosophy, and economics. Students will be invited to propose additional topics and explore them through discussion, writing, EXCEL, and the programming of LEGO Mindstorm robots.
  

  • FYSP 069 - Astrobiology: The Scientific Search for Extraterrestrial Life

    FC NSMA QFR WINT
    4 credits
    Astrobiology is a vibrant, interdisciplinary research effort that explores some of the most fundamental questions in science: What is life? How did life on Earth begin? Is there life beyond Earth? And how should we best search for it? To address these questions, we will draw on a range of disciplines, including planetary science, chemistry, molecular biology, evolutionary biology, and philosophy. In our survey of these different topics, students will gain an appreciation for how scientific claims are devised, tested, and supported by evidence, within and between different fields of study.
  

  • FYSP 071 - Pirates and Piracy in Times Past

    FC SSCI WINT
    4 credits
    From the ancient Mediterranean to the South China Seas, maritime theft is a phenomenon transcending people, place, and time. It provides a fascinating framework with which to assess historical contexts of violence, authority, economics, and law. This seminar sails in pursuit of history’s notorious and obscure piratical personalities and their watery worlds, focusing particular attention on both the socio-economic milieus from which these seafaring criminals emerged and those they subsequently fashioned in their exploits.
  

  • FYSP 072 - Transportation in the City

    FC SSCI QFR
    4 credits
    Functional cities require functional transportation. Understanding urban transportation means making sense of the ever-increasing amount of data generated on traffic flows, transit usage, air pollution and so on. In this seminar, we will explore ways in which quantitative and qualitative data can be used to (1) pinpoint problems that arise when moving vast amounts of people and goods around; (2) design more efficient and equitable transportation networks; and (3) better manage public and private resources. Topics include modeling traffic congestion, building the optimal transit network, costing out high speed rail and addressing the environmental impacts of transportation.
    Prerequisites & Notes: Consent of the Instructor Required: Yes.
  

  • FYSP 075 - Introduction to Knot Theory

    FC NSMA QFR
    4 credits
    A knot is obtained by tangling up a length of string and then attaching the two ends together. How can we decide whether two knots are the same or are different? Where do knots arise in nature? We will explore these questions as well as the history of knot theory and knot theory in art and science. Students will build and accurately draw knots, will practice geometric visualization in dimensions two, three, and four, and will learn the concept of proof.
  

  • FYSP 077 - Sanctuaries Medieval to Modern

    FC SSCI WINT
    4 credits
    Sanctuaries have a long history, from medieval churches providing shelter for criminals to communities helping fugitive slaves in the 19th century. Contemporary sanctuaries include wildlife centers or college campuses protecting illegal immigrants. What does it mean to provide sanctuary, in both a theoretical and practical sense? Why do people invoke it? We will examine sanctuary through history, literature, politics and spatial theory to arrive at a better understanding of the nature and limits of this powerful idea.
  

  • FYSP 078 - Finding Stories in Surprising Places

    FC ARHU WINT
    4 credits
    Whether you’re an aspiring writer and journalist, or just curious to learn about a new form of writing, this course will invite you to explore how creative nonfiction writers find stories in unexpected places, from Midwest state fairs to Florida swamps and the rural heartland of Ohio. Along with studying work by Hanif Abdurraqib, Darcy Frey, Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah, John McPhee, Susan Orlean, and many others, students will be invited to examine Oberlin and its surrounding areas as fertile ground for creative stories. Ultimately, the course will be guided by the following question: How do we find and make meaning out of our surroundings?
  

  • FYSP 083 - Ethnobiology

    FC NSMA WINT
    4 credits
    Ethnobiology studies the cultural use of living organisms or their products (e.g.antibiotics, coffee, perfume, psychedelics). Humans rely on plants, animals, fungi, and other life for far more than food. We look to nature for medicines, clothing, tools, spices, religious rites, and entertainment. This course will explore past and present relationships between human societies and life on Earth. We will build abiological and chemical appreciation for the organisms and ‘Natural Products’ utilized culturally inaddition to exploring the rituals, traditions, and practices in which they are utilized and the ways these relationships have shaped our world. Field trips required.
    Does this course require off campus field trips? Yes
  

  • FYSP 085 - Rebellion, Revolution, Rock-n-Roll: 20th-21st-century Russian Culture

    FC ARHU CD WINT
    4 credits
    In this seminar, students will discuss the complex relationships between art (literature, music, film, fine arts), politics, and society, using the examples of Russian cultural movements and artworks of the 20th-21st centuries. Can art be politically independent? Was the Russian Revolution a constructive or a destructive phenomenon? What happens to a counter-culture when it becomes the mainstream? Seeking answers to these questions, we will explore the early Russian Avant-Garde, watch films by Dziga Vertov and Sergei Eisenstein, see how Soviet propaganda suppressed the musical innovations of Dmitrii Shostakovich, and discuss the role of rock music for Russian underground counter-culture. Field trips required.
    Does this course require off campus field trips? Yes
  

  • FYSP 086 - East Asian Cinema

    FC ARHU CD
    Since the 1990s, East Asian national cinemas have been popular worldwide, with actors and directors from Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan becoming household names. What defines “East Asian Cinema” and how has it become such an important phenomenon in cinema studies? We will study twelve films from across the region and pay equal attention to aesthetics, politics, and social and cultural history.
  

  • FYSP 087 - Life Stories: Memory, Identity, Memoir

    FC ARHU WINT
    4 credits
    Why do people write their own stories? And why are we so interested in reading them? In this class we will read and discuss a variety of texts that claim to represent real people - from the Confessions of St. Augustine to the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass to Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home and Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried. We will consider what such texts can tell us about the complex intersections of ‘art’ and ‘truth,’ as we explore questions of empathy and voyeurism, self-expression, ethics, memory, and the making of identity.
  

  • FYSP 088 - Numbers in the News

    FC SSCI QFR
    4 credits
    Data are reported everywhere and on every topic.From poll and survey data to data on health, economy, and the natural world, we are bombarded by “numbers” on a daily basis.This seminar will focus ondata taken from recent news and social media sources and how to critically assess the source of the data, the method of collection, and the methods of analysis and visualization used to provide interpretation of the data. Topics covered will be from a variety of disciplines. Students also will learn how to analyze, interpret, and present data in numeric and graphical formats.
  

  • FYSP 090 - According to Science…

    FC NSMA QFR WINT
    4 credits
    This seminar is designed to explore how information flows from the science community to the public, contemporary methods of public-facing science communication and interrogate the implications of who is included and excluded from the general public audience. Students will gain experience understanding data from STEM literature,and develop flexible science communication skills that will allow them to convey complex information to a variety of audiences.
  

  • FYSP 091 - The Complexities of Identity: Exploring Social Justice through Self and Others

    FC SSCI WINT
    4 credits
    This course will explore the complexities of identity in the contexts of self and others and confronthistorical and contemporary issues of social justice and change. Students will carefully examinecritical perspectives of social justice in relation to their identities, values, and responsibilities asscholars and change agents. We will grapple with complex ideas and concepts of place, self, others,and society and the intersections among them. Through an interdisciplinary approach, students willengage in praxis - critical reflection and action - to answer the central questions of Who am I? Whoare you? Who are we? Field trips required.
    Does this course require off campus field trips? Yes
  

  • FYSP 093 - Disability

    FC ARHU WINT
    This seminar examines conceptual and historical models of disability, studying how, by whom, and under what circumstances any given definition of disability emerges. Natural science, social science, and the humanities all have different ways of understanding disability. We will analyze these approaches, paying close attention to authorship and agency. How do stories of disability change when people with disabilities hold the pen, the paintbrush, the microphone, or the senate floor?
  

  • FYSP 094 - Das Kapital

    FC SSCI WINT
    4 credits
    FYSP 094 undertakes a close reading of Karl Marx’s Das Kapital. This classic of political economy, sociology, history, and indeed literature is worth reading at any time for what it can teach us about capitalism and also aboutdialectics. Since Das Kapital is a theory of the crisis tendencies of capitalism, it may be all the more pertinent now that existing economic models and theories have failed.
  

  • FYSP 095 - Musical Snobbery

    FC ARHU WINT
    4 credits
    How do we know good music when we hear it? Is this question merely a matter of opinion? Can some judgments be better than others? We will analyze different ways in which writers and musicians have answered such questions, and we will explore the ideologies that have motivated their responses. Readings vary widely from musicology, to philosophy and sociology, among other fields. Music ranges from Beethoven to Beyonc A class trip to an “alternative” concert in Cleveland will cap the semester. No prior musical experience assumed; all are welcome. Field Trips Required
  

  • FYSP 097 - Russian Modernism: The Aesthetic Utopi

    FC ARHU CD WINT
    4 credits
    The decades that preceded and followed Russia’s 1917 revolution witnessed an unprecedented blossoming of Russian visual, literary, and performing arts as Russian writers, artists, composers and choreographers began to assume leading roles among the European and international avant-garde. This course explores their innovations, highlighting the inter-relationships among a variety of art forms - poetry, prose, drama, visual art, dance, music, and cinema - that characterized the aesthetic utopia known as Russian modernism.
  

  • FYSP 098 - Living Machines: Puppet, Robot, Statue, Clock

    FC ARHU WINT
    4 credits
    This course explores “the human” in relationship to discourses that imagine its limits, especially what it means to bring the inanimate (puppets, robots, statues, golems, clockworks) to “life.” We will engage with literary, visual, philosophical, mythical, cinematic, and scientific ideas about the relationship between matter and motion, body and spirit, human and machine, human and god. Authors include Ovid, Lucretius, Shakespeare, Hoffman, Freud, Shelley, Haraway, Chabon, Rilke, and Philip K. Dick; screenings includeThe Matrix ,The Golem ,Frankenstein ,Metropolis ,Hugo , andBlade Runner . We will range from physics to metaphysics, from engineers to magicians, from epistemology to gizmology.
    Does this course require off campus field trips? Yes
  

  • FYSP 099 - Food and Community

    FC ARHU WINT
    4 credits
    In his 1957 book,Mythologies , Roland Barthes describes how, although “wine is a good and fine substance, it is no less true that its production is deeply involved in French capitalism,” and that “wine cannot be an unalloyedly blissful substance, except if we wrongfully forget that it is also the product of an expropriation.”Inspired by Barthes’s critical readings of food, community, and culture, this seminar provides students an opportunity to critically examine how food means, how we relate to our food, and how our food choices impact not only our individual health but also the health, labor, and living conditions of those in our communities.
  

  • FYSP 101 - New Voices: Telling Your Story in Performance

    FC ARHU WINT
    4 credits
    In 1909, F.T. Marinetti started a riot that destroyed a Vienna theater, the first of many events that would ultimately bring Italy into the second World War. In 1990, Holly Hughes’ tales of feminist approaches to sexuality were regarded as so obscene that the United States would forever stop issuing federal grants to individual artists. In 2014-15, Emma Sulkowicz carried a 50-lb mattress wherever they went to draw attention to their university’s failure to hold their assailant responsible. These artists shaped the world around them through the stories they told. Through collaborative writing and performance, students enrolled in this course will explore the aesthetics of avant-garde artists like the aforementioned, and turn their own life stories into meaningful performances. Your history, life experiences, abilities, and perspective of the world are patently yours; the autobiographical stories that you tell from your unique vantage are revolutionary.
  

  • FYSP 104 - It’s Never Aliens: Understanding Astronomy In The News

    FC NSMA WINT
    4 credits
    Ever read an article on some new astronomical discovery, and come away with no sense of what to make of it? In this course, students will develop their critical reading of astronomy in the news, and learn the science behind the headlines. We will cover both current events and some common points of astronomical confusion.
  

  • FYSP 108 - The Uses of Literature

    FC ARHU WINT
    4 credits
    An investigation of the nature of literature and its role in a liberal arts education. The seminar is organized around three questions: What is literature? How is it best ‘used’ or studied? Why should literature be studied? Students will read a variety of literary works while confronting issues in interpretation. One objective of the course is to determine how literary study might contribute to other fields of inquiry.
  

  • FYSP 109 - Odysseys and Identities

    FC ARHU WINT
    4 credits
    Students will read Homer’s Odyssey and several narratives that evoke and reinterpret that work, including the Cohen brothers’ O Brother Where Art Thou, Atwood’s The Penelopiad, and Martel’s The Life of Pi. We will consider the idea of the journey home as a typical structure for narratives of identity, and we will analyze the problem of unreliable narrators in these stories. Students will work extensively on their composition skills.
  

  • FYSP 110 - Black Women and Liberation

    FC SSCI WINT
    4 credits
    Black liberation struggles in the U. S. and South Africa owe much to the brilliance of Black women’s political activism. Fighting racism, patriarchy and capitalist exploitation, women such as Angela Davis and Mamphela Ramphele employed methods of feminist leadership in community-based and national movements that ultimately claimed success. Students will evaluate their forms of activism, examine the nature of political autobiography, build library research skills and explore the bridge between community activism and intellectual life.
  

  • FYSP 114 - Know Your Place: Civic Humanism and Community Engagement

    FC SSCI WINT
    4 credits
    Thiscourse introduces students to methods and ethics of collaborating with communities to address local, national, and global challenges and emphasizes the role of the humanities as a vehicle for engaged citizenship. Thecourse includes an applied component in which students explore select issue areas (such as economic inequality, food insecurity, or mass incarceration) as they are being addressed locally, and identify opportunities for further engagement with these issues through experiential learning programs and through advanced Community-Based Learningcourses in future semesters. Field trips required.
    Does this course require off campus field trips? Yes
  

  • FYSP 116 - Ecology of a Watershed

    FC NSMA WINT
    4 credits
    Rivers and streams have been carving into the landscape of northern Ohio for over 10,000 years. In this course, we will examine the biological and geological processes of Oberlin’s watersheds through weekly field trips, visual arts, readings, and discussions. Field notes and writing assignments will be discussed in class and during individual appointments with the instructor. Field trips required.
    Does this course require off campus field trips? Yes
  

  • FYSP 118 - Through the Looking Glass: Intersection of Race, Ethnicity, and Gender with Social Class in America

    FC SSCI CD WINT
    4 credits
    Where we live and how we think are not altogether random but often reflect larger societal influences often based on the social statuses we inhabit. Many scholars of social inequality use social location and environment to help explain the patterns of inequality that persist in the United States. To understand the relationship among social statuses (race, ethnicity, gender, social class) social inequality and everyday life experiences, this seminar focuses on the nature of and impact of social class and inequality on our lives. We will explore the theories and the social geography of contemporary America by exploring sociological approaches and empirical data emphasizing the intersectionality of race, class, and gender affect individual lives. We will also explore social inequality intimately by looking at our communities and those we are less familiar with.
  

  • FYSP 120 - The Holocaust in American Popular Culture

    FC ARHU CD WINT
    4 credits
    This seminar explores how a genocide directed primarily against European Jews became a universalized metaphor for evil and why it remains such a powerful signifier. Sources include representations of the Holocaust in music, literature, and the visual arts as well as in museum narratives. Through this framework, students reflect on the roles of news media, the arts, religion, and politics in shaping links between the past and present. Field trip(s) required.
  

  • FYSP 121 - Everyday Evolution

    FC NSMA WINT
    4 credits
    Dobzhansky’s famous quote, “Nothing in biology makes sense, except in the light of evolution,” suggests that organic evolution is widely appreciated and understood. However, many think evolution happened only long ago, and others think evolution is simply “survival of the fittest.” Using non-technical books, such as Why We Get Sick and The Botany of Desire, we will explore the complexities of evolution as central to everyday natural processes.
  

  • FYSP 126 - Tolstoy’s War & Peace

    FC ARHU WINT
    A simultaneously close and broad reading of one of the most perverse and radically innovative works of fiction ever written. Approaching the work through a variety of critical lenses, we will situate it concretely in its historical contexts and grapple head-on with the unabashedly ‘big’ and universal questions about war, peace, life, death, art, gender, free will, history and the human condition (among other things!) that lie at its heart.
  

  • FYSP 127 - Race-ing the Environment: Historical Approaches to Race and Environmental History

    FC SSCI CD WINT
    4 credits
    Nature, wilderness, and race seem like basic terms with well-established meanings. But as we will explore together in this course, these concepts are in fact socially constructed, created by people in different historical moments and subject to change over time. This course explores American environmental history from a perspective that foregrounds questions of race. We will consider how European colonialism changed the American landscape; ideas about white masculinity and the founding of National Parks; different racial groups’ cultural beliefs about the natural world; whiteness in the mainstream environmental movement; the racialized impacts of climate change; and environmental racism and environmental justice.
  

  • FYSP 128 - Media and Memory

    FC ARHU WINT
    4 credits
    Beyond offering different sorts of content and engagement for their audiences, various artistic forms and techniques can be understood to provide alternative models for individuals and groups to filter and process experience in general. This course will look at multiple artistic forms (e.g., painting, photography, film, literature), in light of their own technical developments and contrasts with each other across time, in order to develop a greater sense of the many ways medium matters.
  

  • FYSP 132 - Ready Player 2: Video Games, Subjectivity, and Our World

    FC ARHU WINT
    4 credits
    This seminar will examine how video games impact player subjectivity- one’s sense of self, identity, and capacity to create change in the world, as well as why and how video games intersect with race, class, gender, sexuality, economics, nationalism, mental health, brain chemistry and structure, violence and war, and political power and organization. We will interrogate the capacity of video games to create positive change in our world and ourselves and to reinforce hierarchies of inequality. This class does NOT require any prior knowledge of video games and is designed to be driven by discussion, teamwork, open-mindedness, and positive collaboration.
  

  • FYSP 135 - Calling In: Alternatives to Cancel Culture

    FC SSCI WINT
    4 credits
    College students often feel the weight of cancel culture looming large on their campus, which can directly impact their ability to participate in engaged dialogue. In this discussion-based course, we will explore alternatives to cancel culture and think through questions such as: What are effective ways to hold people accountable for what they say and do? What are productive ways to teach and learn from each other while discussing topics that are often considered challenging, such as gender, sexuality, race, class, ability, and more? We will consider a variety of case studies and visit the Allen Memorial Art Museum and Conservatory.
  

  • FYSP 137 - Literacy and Literacies

    FC SSCI WINT
    4 credits
    What counts as literacy? Do reading and writing automatically transform individual minds and broader social structures? This class addresses such questions through anthropological case studies focusing on texts drawn from a wide range of geographical, cultural, and historical settings. In so doing, we will show that the nature and effects of literacies cannot be understood separately from the broader contexts in which they are embedded. Field trip(s) required.
  

  • FYSP 138 - Art-Making as Research and Experiment

    FC ARHU WINT
    4 credits
    This seminar challenges the romantic notion of the inspired, intuitive artist by approaching art-making from a research perspective: What kinds of questions and concepts are we exploring when we make art? What is the methodology of an artistic research project? How do we connect our work to society and culture more broadly? In the liberal arts, we value the connections our artistic interests have to other fields: politics, philosophy, history, and the sciences. In this course, we explore not only how critical reading, writing, and thinking practices will make us better artists, but also how art-making makes us better thinkers, readers, and writers. Though all students in the seminar will be required to produce three creative works(2D, 3D, and 4D)over the course of the semester, students are encouraged to connect these projects beyond ‘contemporary art’ and into other fields of interest.
  

  • FYSP 143 - Deconstructing Technology

    FC NSMA WINT
    4 credits
    This seminar will explore the people, science, and industries involved in the making of cell phones, computers, and other technologies. The resulting impacts on the environment and society at large will also be addressed. The underlying materials science will be developed as needed through readings, internet resources, and in-class workshops. Students will write and present a series of papers.
  

  • FYSP 144 - Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr.

    FC ARHU WINT
    4 credits
    An interpretation of the lives and thought of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. in the context of the civil rights movement. It will focus on the theological, political, cultural, and psycho-social views which informed their religio-moral thought and actions. The course will include films, autobiographies, biographies, collected writings and speeches, as well as interpretations of these two religious and political leaders.
  

  • FYSP 146 - Pilgrimage in Global History

    FC SSCI WINT
    4 credits
    Pilgrims and pilgrimage are central to many cultures. Whether Mecca for Muslims or Graceland for Elvis fans, followers of numerous faiths and cults have long hazarded desert brigands or dingy motels to reach chosen sites of devotion. This course follows their footsteps. Through the theme of pilgrimage, we examine some broader historical processes and networks that have made up our contemporary world, from religious politics to global tourism. We read first-person pilgrim accounts, fictions on votive cultures, and scholarly enquiries into the history and anthropology of pilgrimage to grasp the social, economic, political, and personal implications of ritual mobility.
  

  • FYSP 150 - Questioning Realism: The North and South American Fantastic

    FC ARHU WINT
    4 credits
    Magical realism’ in Latin America inspired many U.S. writers; authors such as Borges and Cortazar have also read our own classics. We will examine the ‘invention’ of magical realism in the 1960s by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, its use by U.S. novelists and by director-playwright Julie Taymor, and the interactions between feminism and fantasy in Ursula Le Guin and Angelica Gorodischer. The course hopes to show how the fantastic expresses dissatisfaction either with literary realism or with reality itself.
  

  • FYSP 152 - So You Want to Be an Intellectual? An Introduction to Academic Journalism

    FC ARHU WINT
    4 credits
    Speaking truth to power: it is what public intellectuals do. But when, where, and how? Through what tools, skills, and venues? This seminar is a hands-on introduction to academic journalism with a strong focus on developing students’ skills as writers, editors, and debaters. We will consider the role of the public intellectual today; become thoroughly familiar with the genres and formats intellectuals use to communicate with each other and the public; and get our journalistic feet wet so that we may begin to think of ourselves as public intellectuals.
  

  • FYSP 154 - Freud’s Vienna: Artists, Intellectuals, and Anti-Semites at the Fin de Siecle

    FC SSCI WINT
    4 credits
    The Vienna where Freud penned the founding texts of psychoanalysis was the site of unprecedented intellectual and cultural ferment. It was also the birthplace of modern anti-Semitism and the home of the dictator who would destroy much of Europe: Adolf Hitler. How do we connect this political turmoil and intellectual and artistic creativity? In this class, we will explore the politics, culture, and intellectual life of this extraordinary city at this extraordinary moment in history.
  

  • FYSP 155 - Beautiful Trash: The Shifting Values of Media Refuse

    FC ARHU WINT
    4 credits
    Trash appears valueless, abandoned, forgotten, and unwanted. Yet, as the axiom tells us “one person’s trash is another’s treasure” and artists often turn to the garbage heap to create new works. This course offers an introduction to global media culture through an exploration of media about trash, media made from trash, and the popular “trashy” media that occupies many of our screens. From collage filmmaking to reality television and their afterlives as low-quality digital images, memes, and gifs, this course will consider how films, television programs, and digital image culture engages with the recurring themes of trash across many genres of global film and media products.
  

  • FYSP 156 - Jewish Identity and American Politics

    FC SSCI WINT
    4 credits
    This course explores the diversity of ways in which Jews in the United States have expressed their identities and perceived group interests in the political and civic arenas since 1776. Through both first-person accounts and secondary scholarship, we will explore major developments in American and world history as they impacted the self-understandings of Jewish citizens, including American settler colonialism and slavery, Jewish mass migration, the Holocaust, the creation of Israel, and the Civil Rights and Black Power movements. The course also engages with current hot-button issues, from debates over the Israel/Palestine conflict to the question of American Jewish “whiteness” and the place of antisemitism in “intersectional” analyses of political oppression.
  

  • FYSP 157 - Plague Literature and Medicine

    FC ARHU WINT
    4 credits
    This course examines the medical and literary history of major plagues, from the Plague of Athens (431 BCE), the Black Death (1348), the Great Plague of London (1645), the 1918 Influenza Pandemic, to COVID-19. For each period, medical practices of the times will be studied alongside artistic, literary, and political responses to pandemics. Primary texts by Thucydides, Boccaccio, Defoe, and Camus. Scientific readings will includeEpidemics and Society by Frank Snowden and an in-depth study of the immune system. This interdisciplinary course will include guest lectures by scientists and medical authorities, as plagues and pandemics are viewed from multiple points of view.
  

  • FYSP 159 - Back to the Land

    FC ARHU WINT
    4 credits
    What does it mean to get back in touch with nature? Can you change the world by living simply and sustainably? In this course, we will explore the theory and practice of agrarian utopianism in the Northern Hemisphere from the 18th century to the present. Students will investigate the construction of Nature, Society, and the Self in communities populated by a wide variety of pastoralists including spiritual pilgrims, sexual exiles, craft revivalists, monkey wrench gangs, and regenerative farmers. By looking at “industrial civilization” through their eyes, we will seek a better understanding of our own condition. Field trips required.
    Does this course require off campus field trips? Yes
  

  • FYSP 160 - Conflict. Can We Transform It?

    FC SSCI WINT
    4 credits
    Reflexively, we may consider conflict as negative and to be avoided. Collaboratively, we will contemplate what conflict is and how it works. We will consider what difference it might make to approach conflicts as opportunities. We will explore internal and external seeds of conflict, reflect on how our nervous systems are implicated in our experiences of conflict, and learn about and practice strategies associated with Non-Violent Communication.We will investigate the possibility ofshifting our focus from immediate short-term resolutions to opening doors for conflicts to become sites for personal, social, and structural transformation.
    Prerequisites & Notes: N/A
  

  • FYSP 165 - Feeding the World

    FC NSMA QFR WINT
    4 credits
    This course examines issues of population and food production. World population structure, the history of agriculture, global impacts of the green revolution, and genetically modified foods will be discussed. The intent of the class is to raise profound issues that we will study while practicing skills associated with research including interpreting and manipulating data. The results of these projects will be presented to the class through papers and organized discussions.
  

  • FYSP 166 - Heroes and Villains

    FC ARHU WINT
    4 credits
    Heroes and Villains investigates the concept of heroism and villainy from antiquity to the current day through a variety of different sources - films, epic poetry, graphic novels. The relativism of these concepts will be stressed throughout the course, but students will be encouraged to understand how differing contexts, time periods, cultures, and philosophical/religious beliefs influence these concepts. Class time will be spent pursuing in-class free writing, oral presentations, and spirited debate. There will be at least one required field trip.
 

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