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Each fall every first-year student participates in a First-Year Seminar, offered by a faculty member in his or her field of expertise. The seminar topics offered each year vary, as do the faculty members teaching these courses. Examples of First-Year Seminar courses include the following:
002 Victorian Monsters: Literature, Science, and Society What do Frankenstein's monster, Dracula, and mad scientists like Dr. Jekyll and Dr. Moreau tell us about roles of science and imagination in Victorian society? When science meets literature, what controversial questions are raised about debates over women's roles, animal rights, foreign relations, and evolution? Through reading, discussing and writing about 19th-century science fiction alongside some key scientific texts, we will consider the ways in which various monsters reveal the fears and desires of the society in which they are invented. We will also investigate the ways in which literature presents science to the public, and how science became an authoritative means of addressing social problems. Typical Readings: Shelley, Frankenstein; Stoker, Dracula; Stevenson, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; Wells, The Time Machine (Russo)
003 First Person Singular: How's It Going? What's up? What's happening? What's new? How you been? How you doing? We say these things every time we meet a friend—and we really want to know. Readers of memoirs ask these or similar questions, and memoirists give us the answers—beautifully. We're lucky that curious people have so many memoirs to choose from. And for the last several years we've had memoirs from all over the world, not just the United States. This First Year Seminar studies the contemporary memoir in a multicultural setting. Through the books we read, we travel to such places as Somalia, the Sudan, Egypt, and Cuba. Students write critical essays about the memoir in general and the books we read in particular. They also write their own short memoirs—vignettes from their life. And students do research on the day they were born and complete an oral presentation on the findings. The course ends with students writing a final essay on what they think constitutes a good memoir. Typical Readings: Sebold, Lucky; Beah, A Long Way Gone; Danticat, Brother, I'm Dying; Ojito, Finding Mañana (Forbes)
004 Puzzles and Paradoxes: Philosophy and the Labyrinths of the Mind This sentence (the one you're reading right now), is false (which means the sentence is true). Yet we will deduce that it cannot be true and yet it cannot be false. But it seems it must be one or the other. In essence this is the Paradox of the Liar. A good philosophical paradox (or puzzle) can reveal otherwise hidden assumptions and potential problems in the way we think about the nature of space, time, change, truth, language, and even reason itself. It can show us how to pull the rug out from under ourselves, how to cut through the shield of answers that separates us from mystery. This course will examine some of the great classic and contemporary philosophical puzzles and paradoxes, such as Zeno's paradoxes of motion, the paradox of the liar, Newcomb's paradox, and the prisoner's dilemma, and it will look at a variety of ways in which philosophers (and other thinkers) address these problems and assess their significance. Typical Readings: Sorensen, A Brief History of Paradox; Kolak and Martin, Wisdom Without Answers; Murray, Write to Learn (King)
005 Trust and Betrayal Trust between people makes life worth living, and yet trusting others makes us vulnerable to betrayal. This seminar explores the nature of trust and betrayal, as well as related questions of power, morality, and knowledge: How do I know whom to trust? What makes someone trustworthy? How does prejudice influence whom we trust and distrust? By examining situations in which trust was betrayed by doctors who experimented on humans, corporations who manipulated science to make a profit, and business professionals whose conflicts-of-interest undermined the national economy, students will study the role of social institutions and personal morality. We will also study a variety of vexing questions that we find in our daily lives and in television and film... What is a trusting romantic relationship? Does it make sense to trust a vampire or a gangster? Am I trustworthy? Typical Readings: Baier, Moral Prejudices; Potter, How Can I Be Trusted?; Hobbes, Leviathan; Gambetta and Hamill, Streetwise: How Taxi Drivers Establish Their Customers' Trustworthiness; McGarity and Wagner, Bending Science: How Special Interests Corrupt Public Health Research (Frost-Arnold)
006 America in the 60s: Talkin' 'Bout that Generation Large but (for most of us) vaguely-remembered events from that era still haunt our lives: Obama mentions how he couldn't have been elected without the earlier work of Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement, while critics of the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan compare them to Vietnam. In their current incarnations, the Feminist Movement, the Gay Rights Movement, and the Conservative Movement date from that decade. And most of us would recognize images and sounds of protests, hippies and classic rock music. But what really happened in that decade that so bitterly divided this country, and whose memory divides us still? What caused the multiple cultural upheavals that so changed the nation? And where is Vietnam, anyway? In this course we will study the history of America in the 1960's, carefully examining its central events and looking at the lives of some of the major historical figures from that tumultuous decade. We will examine the cultural changes that occurred and the music, art and writing that grew out of them. And we will look at the ways the decade is both remembered and misremembered today, and what the multiple meanings of "the sixties" are in our contemporary culture. Typical readings include: Isserman & Kazin, America Divided; Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi; O'Brien, The Things They Carried. Films: Eyes on the Prize; Dr. Strangelove. Music: songs by the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix. (Frug)
008 Epidemics & Promise of Biotechnology Scientists warn that we are long overdue for a worldwide epidemic that will probe more deadly than the influenza epidemic of 1918 and the current AIDS epidemic. The influenza epidemic of 1918 killed between 20 and 40 million people; half the American casualties during World War I were from the flu, not combat. Most viciously, the 1918 flu killed fast; there are many accounts of people dying within 24 hours of getting sick. By comparison, the recent outbreak of SARS was far more deadly. The 1918 flu has a morality rate of 2.5 percent, while the morality from SARS was between 7 and 20 percent. Certainly the persistent cases of bird flu in several Asian countries have doctors and scientists bracing for another deadly epidemic. But other scientists believe that we now have tools to combat epidemics and that it is likely that we would be able to contain another global outbreak. Biotechnology provides scientists with tremendous tool to combat diseases. But will biotechnology be enough to fight epidemics? This course explores the scientific, social, historical and moral issues surrounding control of epidemics. Typical readings: Plague Time, by Paul Ewald; Flu, by Gina Kolata; The Mold in Dr. Florey's Coat, by Eric Lax, and selected articles from Discover, The New York Times, and Scientific American. (Carle)
028 The Moral Animal Right and wrong are universal concepts found in all human cultures. But are they innate to human nature-part of our genetic make-up, as some scientists suggest? Or-as some social scientist suggest-do they have to be taught to and learned by each individual anew? Are they-as religions suggest-mandated by some higher authority? Or are they-as philosophy suggests-products of human inquiry? Do we make moral choices with a free will, or are they determined by genes and personal history, or fated by chance and other external forces? In this course, we will sample some of the most powerful and interesting attempts to deal with these questions at a variety of times and places. We will read selected religious, philosophical, and scientific texts that probe the issues. Additionally, we will examine a variety of of literary texts-memoirs, stories, and plays-that dramatically depict human beings caught up in the process of life, which is to say, confronting complex and difficult moral choices-chioces often vexed beyond the personal by social factors of race, class, and gender. We will analyze the characters' decisions, motives, and actions, and we will ask what we would have done in their place. Typical Readings: Promo Levi's Survival at Auschwitz, Robert Wright's The Moral Animal, Samuel Beckett'a waiting for Godot, Kate Chopin's The Awakening and Other Stories, the anthology of philosophical writing's called The Study of Human Nature, the play Dutchman by LeRoi Jones (a.k.a. Amiri Baraka), and Kurt Vonnegut's Welcome to the Monkey House.
017 Multiple Reality: The Unconscious in Myth, Literature, and Art Death, dreams, desire and the workings of chance: in this course students explore the use of the aesthetic image to delve into these dimensions of reality usually out of reach to our waking consciousness. Against a theoretical background that draws from anthropological, psychoanalytic, linguistic and aesthetic sources, the journey begins with tales from antiquity, passes through the imagistic thinking of pre-scientific Renaissance physics and cosmology, and arrives at two main artistic movements of the 20th century: surrealism (its genesis in France and its development as an international movement) and magic realism (as developed mainly in Latin America in the last few decades). Students reflect on various images from these diverse sources and media (painting, literature, cinema) while analyzing their power to reveal multiple levels of experience. Along with a number of written assignments, the course requires a multimedia computer project. (Paiewonsky-Conde)
018 Genocide and the Modern Age The 20th century can aptly be described as the "Age of Genocide"—a century in which mass murder and mass death marked the convergence of modern organization, modern technology and human propensities for violence and indifference to violence. Students in this course examine the history of genocide and its impact on culture, politics and religion. (Salter, Dobkowski)
019 The Science of Consumerism: There's a Reason You Bought That Every day we, as consumers, make choices about what we buy. We may think that we make rational choices based on our own wants and desires, but in fact, our choices are strongly influenced by the companies that make and market the products we buy. We're all well aware of product placement, but new techniques enable a much deeper and more effective means of getting you to buy. In this course, we will delve into the science behind many of these techniques. We will discuss the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to develop effective commercials and the manipulation of the content of foods by the food industry to encourage over-consuming. We'll also discuss some of the techniques stores use to get you through the door in the first place, and then how they encourage you to buy things once you're there. We'll discuss the ethical implications of these practices and what we, as consumers, need to be aware of in order to regain some control over what we buy and what we eat. Typical Readings: Lindstrom, Buyology; Schor, Born to Buy; Kessler, The End of Overeating; Walker, Buying In; Underhill, Why We Buy; Sorensen, Inside the Mind of the Shopper. (van Giessen)
020 You Are Here: Geneva 101 Welcome to Geneva, N.Y., your place of residence for the next four years –the first four years of your adult life. This course sets up your Geneva home as a laboratory in which to seek to understand the complex interaction of forces that produce a "place." We will consider the richness of place from four different angles: demographics, natural environment, built environment, and human activity. Each approach will reveal something different, yet each will overlap with and influence the others. We will read a wide range of texts, walk streets and land, consider work and play, and talk to people who live in and look at Geneva. In the end, we will examine how we come to know and understand any location, while coming to know this place, Geneva, in a personal and profound way. Typical readings: Lippard, The Lure of the Local: Senses of Place in a Multicentered Society; Brumberg, The Making of an Upstate Community: Geneva, New York; Morrow, Wolves and Hone; Smith, An Elegant but Salubrious Village; Grover, Make a Way Somehow: African American Life in a Northern Community, 1790-1965; Grover, Geneva's Changing Waterfront, 1789-1989; Le Faro-Fernandez, Jade Visions; Knight, Blue-Eyed Devil; Tall, From Where We Stand. (Creadick, Dunn, Ruth)
023 Monkeys, Morality & the Mind: Science Meets Philosophy What am I? What can I know? Are my choices free? Is there any reason to be an ethical person? These are traditionally considered questions for philosophy, yet many recent scientific findings may influence how we answer them. In this seminar, we will consider the impact of contemporary science on philosophy and ask: What, if anything, does evolution have to do with morality? What do psychological findings about humans' biases show about what (and how) we can know? Is the notion that humans have free will consistent with our current neuroscientific accounts of the brain? If human actions are highly dependent on situational/ contextual factors, as several recent psychological findings have shown, what does this reveal about my identity or personality—who I am? Typical Readings: Sommers, A Very Bad Wizard: Morality Behind the Curtain; Appiah, Experiments in Ethics; de Waal, Primates and Philosophers: How Morality Evolved; and selections from Journal of Philosophy, Journal of Consciousness Studies. (Frost-Arnold)
024 The Avian Persuasion If you've ever wished you could fly, join the club. If you've ever wondered why you wished you could fly, take this course. Humans have always been drawn to birds. We'll ask why as we try to understand human relationships with birds from the perspectives of writers, musicians, scientists, and back yard bird-watchers, among other types of thinkers—by getting in their shoes. In doing so, can we discover and develop individual relationships with birds that will enhance our connection to the natural world? Can such a heightened awareness change our ways of being, and help change the fate of a planet? Activities include: outdoor birding, scientific and literary readings, film viewings, field trips, a falconry presentation with live birds, guest speakers, critical and creative writing, discussion, individual field observation time, and personalized, species-specific final projects. Viewings come from films such as Winged Migration, March of the Penguins and The Life of Birds; book-based readings include excerpts from Song of the Dodo, Wesley the Owl, Sibley's Birding Basics, The Goshawk, Winter World, The Birder's Conservation Handbook, Mind of the Raven, and Providence of a Sparrow, as well as articles and literary works. The course will emphasize active synthesis of first-hand experience and outside/secondary sources. Each student will need a field guide to the birds of North America (Sibley or Peterson recommended) a field notebook, and binoculars (8x recommended). (Manring)
027 Politics and the State of Nature The popular television show Lost begins by following a group of marooned strangers as they attempt to survive on a mysterious island. From the outset, the group is faced with some fundamental political questions: Who will make decisions for the group? How will these decisions be made? Where will power and authority be vested? How do we avoid getting killed by the smoke-monster? This class will pair readings from political theorists such as Hobbes, Hegel and Kropotkin, all of whom have a great deal to say about the beginnings of political life, with both fictional and non-fictional accounts of individuals thrust suddenly into a state of nature. Readings and media of this kind will include accounts of marooned travelers, such as Lord of the Flies and Lost, post-apocalyptic tales such as Cormac McCarthy's The Road and George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead, as well as historical accounts of the Puritans landing in Massachusetts Bay and the attempt to establish law and order in the 19th century American west. Pursuing the theme of politics and the state of nature, we will also examine recent studies of animal societies, considering the differences and similarities between animal and human political culture. By examining these micro-political spaces we should gain a more elemental understanding for the ways in which political communities are structured. The idea is to remove ourselves from the confusion and bureaucracy of mega-state politics, and focus on some simple, yet deeply profound political and ethical questions. (Weller)
029 Why Aren't All Countries Rich? Why are some countries rich but so many poor? The answer matters because 'rich' versus 'poor' translates into significant differences in the quality of life of the 'average' person in these countries. The history of the post-WWII period is littered with the corpses of 'big ideas' that purported to answer this question and thus provide the key to growth. Colonial exploitation, low investment rates, inadequate spending on education, insufficient financial liberalization, among others, all failed to answer the question by themselves and certainly didn't provide the magic elixir for growth. We will examine the merits and the failings of these big ideas and consider some newer proposals as well. We'll particularly look at the role of political, social and economic institutions and the incentives they create. There may be no single big idea that will work for every country, but we will identify some characteristics that clearly separate the 'poor' from the 'not so poor.' Typical Readings: Easterly, The Elusive Quest for Growth; O'Rourke, Eat the Rich; Bhagwati, In Defense of Globalization; Rivoli, The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy; Mortenson and Relin, Three Cups of Tea. (Tessendorf)
038 Class and Gender Through the Lens of Mozart's Da Ponte Operas As a genre, 18th-century Italian opera buffa depended for its dramatic effect on a reversal of the customary expectations of class and gender stereotypes held by members of the middle-class. Nowhere is this reversal clearer and more effectively used than in the three comic operas composed by Mozart for Vienna in the 1780s on texts supplied by the librettist Lorenzo da Ponte. Thus, study of these delightful works provides insight into attitudes about what was considered proper behavior for men and women among the three separate classes of Viennese society (landed aristocracy, professional middle class, and menial domestic servants). Many of those attitudes and expectations still may be found embedded in current European and American societies. This seminar uses the scenarios and the verbal and musical texts as a basis for considering issues of class and gender, then and now. This seminar requires basic reading skills in music notation. Taking Music 110 Introduction to Music Theory concurrently would cover the necessary notation before scores are used in class discussion. (Myers)
039 Feminism, Funk, Culture and Politics in the Seventies This course takes as its starting point the thesis that much of what we think of as characteristic of contemporary America, from technology to terrorism, finds its root in the decade of the 1970s. Drawing on contextual readings by a range of historians, students examine writing and cultural objects of the era to consider the validity of this thesis. Texts include novels, essays, political speeches, photographs, music, visual art and film. (Conroy-Goldman)
042 Face to Face: interrogating Race in the U.S. and South Africa This course examines the parallel structures of segregation in the U.S. and apartheid in South Africa. The basic premise is that through the lens of another culture we can come to examine our own culture and history. The causes and effects of segregation and apartheid on race relations are the central focus. How race affects gender, class, and social spaces is explored throughout the readings. Taught from the perspectives of professors from South Africa and the United States, the course provides unique insights into the histories of these two countries. (McCorkle, Moodie, Pinto, Joseph)
044 The Human Faces of Mathematics What is mathematics? Is it discovered or invented? What does it mean to understand mathematics? Why have women been discouraged from mathematics? In what ways is mathematics like poetry or art? Why is mathematics so useful in science? What do mathematicians actually do? Students pursue answers to these questions and others by reading biographies of mathematicians and their ideas. Students employ multiple disciplines including cognitive science, psychology, philosophy, history, and mathematics. Some of these inquiries generate insights into the teaching and learning of mathematics. The goal is a deeper and broader understanding of mathematics as an integral part of human culture and contemporary society. (Kehle)
045 Reflecting Science Science does not exist in a vacuum; it is central to our culture and our society. This seminar explores the role science plays in our world, and gives a new perspective on its impact and significance. Students first examine how scientists view themselves and their work, through memoirs and popular accounts. Then students look at the intersection of science and the arts, considering how writers and painters incorporate scientific ideas in their work. Finally, students consider the public role of science, examining its relevance to political and moral questions associated with terrorism and nuclear power. (Spector)
046 Taking Flight In this course, students explore the science, invention, history, and art of human flight. They see first-hand some of the inventions and contributions of famous aviators in history, and learn much about flight from local experts and enthusiasts. Students build their own flying contraptions—from simple paper creations that float freely through the air, to realistic model aircraft that fly under complete control. Students read and write about flying, and about building things that fly. Students help each other do all of this, and show others the excitement of taking flight. (Orr)
056 Bird Obsession: Beauty of the Beast Birds have captured the hearts and minds of people for centuries. Early texts from Chinese, Greek and other cultures discuss birds in the context of religion, the humanities, and science. Backyard bird feeding and bird watching are among the top hobbies. Conservationists advocate spending millions of dollars on saving and protecting birds from extinction. Why are we so obsessed with birds? Is it their amazing ability to fly, their almost implausible migrations, their vibrant colors, their curious personalities? In some religions, birds have been invoked as symbols of peace, power, trickery, gluttony, and intelligence. Do the lives of birds really embody these anthropomorphic characteristics? Do birds provide an avenue to connect us with our environments, the patterns of nature, and environmental issues? In this course, students examine the lives of birds, the people who are obsessed with birds, and their interactions from a variety of perspectives. They examine birds as models for conservation and science, as religious symbols, and as subjects of art and literature. Finally, students have an opportunity to connect with the environment of the Finger Lakes region by learning about and observing our local birds. (Deutschlander)
057 Facets of Islam Islam is important. Not all Moslems are religious or political extremists, yet the most immediately threatening challenges to Western modernity are emerging from radical Moslem groups. Furthermore, Moslem countries control most of the fuel on which our current lifestyle is based. For these reasons alone, Americans need to understand the Moslem world far better than we presently do. But the defensive dictum to "know your enemy" is only the most shallow reason for studying Islam, which is the fastest growing religion in the world today. Why is that? Students explore with critical but open minds the appeal of this religious tradition and way of life. "Facets of Islam" first constructs a basic but coherent narrative of Islam in history. Then students sample the splendors of Islamic civilization in architecture, science, gardens, and poetry. Students confront honestly some problematic and troubling issues which divide the Moslem worldview from our own. Finally, students remind themselves of the diversity of the Moslem world today in music, food, and festival. (McNally)
058 Tales of the Village Idiot: Russian and American Folklore In this course, students survey the wealth of Russian folk tales, epic songs, legends, riddles and other elements of the oral tradition as well as the later literature these genres inspired. Students examine characters such as the Firebird, Baba-Yaga the witch, Koshchei the Deathless and llya Muromets, and read many types of folktales, including magical, animal and "idiot" tales. Materials include art and music arising from the Russian folk tradition. Students also consider the role of folklore in contemporary American life, and the ways in which some genres continue to produce new examples of folklore. The final course project will be the production of a short stop-motion animated film based on one of the Russian tales. Typical readings: Pushkin, Russian and Liudmila; Gogol, "Vii," "Christmas Eve;" Tolstoy, "Three Hermits," "How Much Land Does a Man Need?;" Turgenev, "Bezhin Meadow", selections from many different types of folklore, including tales, epic songs, legends, riddles, tongue twisters, charms, and chants. They will also read from Russian literature directly influenced by the folklore tradition. (Galloway)
066 Thinking Critically about God The concept of God has shaped how billions of people have lived their lives. Different religions have different ideas about God, but there are some common themes, and many of them raise serious questions: If God is all-powerful, can he create a rock so heavy he cannot lift it? If God is all good, then why is there evil in the world? If God is all-knowing (including the future), then how can I have free will? We will examine these and many other tough questions by reading classic and contemporary writings. Students will engage in at least two structured classroom debates and will also write frequently about many challenging topics. This course is a rational inquiry into these issues that is open to everyone, regardless of their belief system. Please note: There will be several required films outside of regularly scheduled class times. Typical readings: Various proofs of God's existence by Aristotle, St. Anselm, St. Thomas, etc.; Hume, Dialogues on Natural Religion; Plato, Euthyphro; Mackie, Evil and Omnipotence; Russell, Why I'm Not a Christian; Rachels, Does Morality Depend on Religion?; Pascal, The Wager; Leibniz, The Best of All Possible Worlds; Lewis, The Screwtape Letters; Stoppard, Arcadia and Jumpers, selected films, including Groundhog Day, Crimes & Misdemeanors, and A Clockwork Orange. (Barnes)
072 Rock Music and American Masculinities Elvis, Dylan, Jerry Garcia, Bruce Springsteen, Kurt Cobain. They were central figures in the history of American rock music from 1950s rock and roll to 1990s grunge. But what kind of men were they? This seminar offers an interdisciplinary look at the life, times, and music of these hegemonic men of rock and their non-hegemonic counterparts through the lens of men's studies; i.e., through the history and theory of American masculinities. Through their study of the soundtrack of late 20th century America, students develop an appreciation for the role of gender, race, class, sexuality and region in shaping men's identity and experience. (Capraro)
079 Haunting Memories: Revealing the Uncanny What do a diabolical alchemist, a mass-murdering spider, and a videotape that predicts your death have in common? They are all central elements of uncanny stories we will encounter in this seminar. The uncanny, as made famous by Sigmund Freud's article The Uncanny from 1919, is a feeling of fear and dread experienced by the reader or viewer of tales, in which past events return to disrupt seemingly stable and comfortable situations. Our tour of the uncanny will begin at the start of the 19th century and continue through the present day and will lead us through several countries, such as Germany, Russia, and the United States. Throughout the semester we will explore how uncanny tales are constructed and how various cultural and historical contexts inform these tales of angst and horror. Typical Readings: Sigmund Freud: "The Uncanny" (1919); Susan Bernstein: "It Walks: the Ambulatory Uncanny" (2003); ETA Hoffmann: The Sandman (1817); Edgar Allan Poe: The Fall of the House of Usher (1839); Henrik Ibsen: Ghosts (1881); Vertigo by Alfred Hitchcock (1958); The Shining by Stanley Kubrick (1980). (Klaus)
081 Seeing Whiteness Is "whiteness" an ethnic identity? How did certain U.S. immigrant populations "become" white? What is "white privilege"? What does the phrase "white trash" imply? As American Studies scholar George Lipsitz notes, whiteness, like all racial identities, is both a "scientific and cultural fiction" and "social fact [with] all-too-real consequences for the distribution of wealth, prestige, and opportunity" In this course, students discover how and why scholars have come to see "whiteness" as a subject. Students delve into the interdisciplinary scholarship that has emerged around the subject of whiteness on the last two decades - from history, literary studies, media and cultural studies, and gender/sexuality studies. Students also study the way whiteness has been represented in novels, plays, and memoirs as well as through film, television, and other visual or material culture texts. Typical readings: Oedigerm Black on White: Black Writers and What it means to Be White; Jacobson, Whiteness of a Different Color; Lipsitz, The Possessive Investment In Whiteness; Newitz & Wray, White trash: Race and Class in America; Morrison, Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literacy Imagination; McIntosh, "What Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack."
082 Peace? Peace Studies is an emerging field of inquiry that addresses what a person should know, be able to do, and feel in order to contribute to a peaceful society. In this seminar we will provide an introduction to peace studies by focusing on four topics: 1) a cultivation of the ability to work through the ethical issues connected to peace and war; 2) the development of skills in young people that promote peace - conflict resolution, team-building, and anti-bias education; and 3) the development of global perspective on peace issues - especially with regard to the Colleges' study-abroad program, how one might go about developing a productive sense of global citizenship. Course materials will include Barash, Approaches to Pace: A Reader in Peace Studies; Beah, Long Way Gone; Mortenson and Relan, Three Cups of Tea; readings from Lee, Intervention, Terrorism, and Torture: Contemporary Challenges to Just War Theory; Lantieri, Waging Peace in Our Schools; Fisher, Getting to Yes. (Temple)
085 Knowing Bodies How do you live in your body? What choices do you make every day? 'Knowing Bodies' is an introduction to claiming oneself through the education of the mind and body simultaneously. Students begin to explore the relationships between body and mind and how they project themselves to the world. Students learn to acknowledge their individuality while improving movement potential and self expression--oral, written, and movement-based. Students become keen observers while learning about the structure and movement potential of the human body through movement explorations and hands-on techniques. They develop skills for improving movement facility and begin to acknowledge and understand conscious and unconscious behaviors. Students demonstrate self identity and artistic expression through the creation of art collages and movement studies while becoming more effective communicators through journal writing, discussion, oral presentations and movement expression. Typical Readings: Olsen, BodyStories; Minton, Body and Self; Feldenkrais, Awareness through Movement. (Iklé)
090 Money in Literature Love makes the world go round; or is it money? This course examines literature in which money, credit, and debt play critical roles. The course will trace the changing roles of money over time, as economic and social relations, including love, becomwe increasingly influenced by money. It also explores competing economic and non-economic theories of the roles and meanings of money as a representation of value. (Cooper)
091 Saying Yes, Saying No: Drugs, Relationships, & Education How do schools address such controversial topics as drugs, sex and relationships? How do we learn about drugs, both legal and illegal? Sex? Relationships? How does what and how we learn about these topics influence our choices? In this course we will address these questions, broadly defining drugs to include everything from caffeine and nicotine to alcohol, cocaine, ecstasy, Ritilin, steroids, so-called smart drugs, and any other substance, legal or banned, that has psychoactive properties. Working together to complete an in-depth ethnographic research study of the role of drugs on campus, we will also examine the research of various disciplines to conduct an in-depth literature review of the role of drugs in education systems historically through the present. The ultimate goal of the course is to write a group book prospectus and to have each student submit a chapter for possible inclusion in the manuscript. Reading include; Drugs and Society by Hanson and Venturelli, 2005; learning limits by Williams (1998); sections of Bogdan and Biklen's (2008) Qualitative Research Methods for Education (on reserve in the library); and articles on blackboard such as Gazzangia (2005) Smarter on Drugs? from Scientific American Mind. (Williams)
092 Code Making & Code Breaking For thousands of years, people have gone to great lengths to keep secrets and others have gone to even greater lengths to discover those secrets. This course will survey 2500 years of cryptographic technology, from relatively simple classic ciphers to the pivotal breaking of the Enigma in World War II, to sophisticated modern techniques set against a backdrop of historical drama and intrigue. Issues of security and privacy in our increasingly online world will also be considered. Interest in puzzle solving is a must; studying code making and breaking means trying it yourself! Typical Readings: The Code Book by Simon Singh; Cryptology by Albrecht Beutelspacher; "The Gold-Bug" by Poe; "The Dancing Men" by Conan Doyle; Crypto: How the Code Rebels Beat the Government, Saving Privacy in the Digital Age by Steven Levy. (Bridgeman)
093 Playing God: Ethical Debates in Medicine How do we respond ethically to the problems posed by medical policies and practices? What ethical principles would we use? Should medical decisions take into account the patient's cultural and religious backgrounds? How do different cultures treat illnesses? This course is an interdisciplinary approach to the moral, philosophical, social, and legal dimensions of the theories, policies, and practices in medical ethics. We will examine a number of ethical theories such as Virtue Ethics, Utilitarianism, and Feminist Ethics to approach the topics in question. We will also approach the medical problems and practices from a range of perspectives, including Jewish, Christian, Feminist, Latino and African-American, with an emphasis on Asian and Islamic ones. Specific issues covered will include concepts relevant to ethical theories, religion and bio-ethics, human and animal rights, and health care systems. (Anwar)
094 The History of Everything Did you know that it was not until 300,000 years after the "big bang" that light occurred, or that in the year 2000, the tenth largest economic entity in the world was Microsoft (Australia was thirteenth, to put things in prospective)? David Christian's Maps of Time is an example of a recent form of historiography called "big history," because it attempts to locate human beings from the perspective of much larger contexts than the traditional historical periods. Christian's book begins nanoseconds after the "big bang," describes the development of the universe, the formation of our planet, the origins and evolution of life, including human life, and continues to trace human history through the origins of agriculture, the development of cities, states, and civilizations, the development of world religions, etc., up to globalization and the modern world, and then it peeks into future. What this course will do is to give us the opportunity to orient and seek to understand ourselves in relation to a variety of contexts from the cosmic to the global to the national and the local, contexts which, as Christian's book shows us, no matter how vast, or distant, or alien they may seem, create the patterns that play an intimate role in shaping our lives. Typical Readings: Christian, Maps of Time; The New York Times (Holly)
095 Drawn to Nature The natural world is filled with incredible beauty and amazing stories of adaptation and survival. Many of these stories remain untold despite centuries of exploration, natural history, and scientific discovery. Since Aristotle, naturalists have observed nature in an attempt to describe its beauty and complexity. Among them were scientists like Charles Darwin, artists like John James Audubon and writers like Henry David Thoreau. It is often said that curiosity about the world around us is the basis for all human learning. In this course we'll use your natural curiosity to explore the natural history of the Finger Lakes region using both scientific and artistic expression. We'll examine award-winning natural history writing, chronicle the contributions great naturalists have made to our understanding of the natural world, and we'll create our own illustrated natural history journals. Along the way, you'll develop the observational skills that will allow you to better describe the natural world in prose and art. Typical readings: Naturalist's Guide to Observing Nature by Kurt Rinehart; The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2007 edited by Richard Preston; Keeping a Nature Journal: Discover a Whole New Way of Seeing the World Around You by Clare Walker Leslie and Charles E. Roth. (Ryan)
096 Envisioning the Vanquished: The Aztecs in History In 1843, more then four hundred years after the conquest of Mexico, American historian William H. Prescott reconstructed a detailed account of Aztec cannibalism, expressing shock not a mere act of cannibalism, but at the manner in which the Aztecs consumed the flesh of their vistims: "prepared with art" in lavish banquets, " attended by both sexes, who...conducted themselves with all the decorum of civilized life." "Surely, " he went on to write, "never were refinement and the extreme barbarism brought so closely into contact with each other!" Prescott's fascination was by no means unusual. Since their "discovery" by the Spanish in the sixteenth century, the Aztecs combination of the hallmarks of "civilization" with sensational aspects of "barbarism" has drawn the gaze of scholars the world over. The stark contrast has also made the Aztecs a particularly versatile political symbol: where some have seen in the Aztec Empire the promise of an authentic Indian civilization, others have seen typical Indian brutality, superstition, and despotism. In either case, the historical memory of the Aztecs has impacted the way their living indigenous ancestors have been interpreted and treated by the outside world. In this course, we will look at five centuries of histories of the conquest of Mexico to examine how people have used the Aztec as a canvas upon which to project their own images of civilization. In so doing, we will interrogate the idea of "civilization" and the place of "Indian" and other non-Western cultures therein, and how they have both changed over time. (Ristow)
097 Going Home What does it mean for us to go home? As we change our ideas of home change, and so too do the circumstances from which we return. By Thanksgiving break, every first year student will face directly the question of "home." Half of HWS will students face it after studying abroad. And in a time of multiple wars, it is a question that the current generation will wrestle with for the rest of its lives. We will start our exploration with the classic tale of return, The Odyssey. We will follow Homer with "re-takes" on the Odyssey by Nikos Kazantzakis (in The Odyssey: a Modern Sequel), Derek Walcott (in Omeros), and a "retelling" of the Odyssey from Penelope's perspective in The Penelopiad. The course will end with a policy discussion regarding Veterans in the USA based on Jonathan Shay's Odysseus In America, a psychoanalytic exploration of what it meant for Vietnam Veterans to return home after the war. (Salter)
098 Dictatorships & Resistance Can you imagine a whole country as a victim of injustice? In contemporary societies worldwide, dictatorships exist in different forms, even without a dictator. This course will explore the exercise of State power over bodies of the so-called undesirable part of its population (the poor, the leftist Idealist, woman, etc.)We will examine the struggle against the State power of Nazism in Europe; we will study dictatorships and post-dictatorships in Latin America and how power has transformed from State to market economy. This course will take a journey through various expressions of human resistance, in music, literature, and film to study the heroic opposition to dictatorship and the beauty of valiant human spirits. Thus, this course will examine ethics, social action, social policy, social justice, and the responsibilities of citizens in contemporary society, Selected readings: The President (El señor presidente) Asturias) The Kiss of a Spider Women (El beso de la mujer araña)(Puig) Distant Star (estrella distante) (Bolaño), Little School (La escuelita)(Patnoy). (Choi)
099 Arts Smarts Art in the twentieth century was propelled by a series of movements and manifestoes, as one "-ism" succeeded another (realism, naturalism, symbolism, surrealism, impressionism, expressionism, modernism, postmodernism, and so on). This was true not only in the fine arts, but in the liberal arts as well: in fact, there was a rich give-and-take of ideas between critical theorists (who reflected on the arts) and artists themselves (who tested these theories in practice). In this class we'll look closely at a wide range of twentieth-century artworks, from Picasso to T. S. Eliot to The Clash, stopping at all points in between. Our primary goal, however, will be to introduce you to the dozens of "-isms" that these artworks embody and that continue to provide the conceptual foundations for our work in the fine and liberal arts. Typical Readings: Selected poetry, novels, plays, paintings, films and music, including Beckett, Waiting for Godot; Coetzee, Foe; Wiene, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari; The Magnetic Fields; 69 Love Songs (Carson)
100 As Good as the Book? Why is it that when we go to a movie based on a favorite book, we often come away disappointed? Why is it that a film based novel can often inspire us to read the novel? This course will explore these questions. Film today is in a position in our culture analogous to the position the novel once held in literary tradition. It is still; largely a medium that belongs to popular culture, yet its sense of emotional immediacy, the persuasive power of visual storytelling, and filmmakers' ability to respond to current ideas and trends of thought often means that modern film is a useful window on the age in which the film was made. There is another focus here as well; we discuss important questions about how and by whom meaning is made in both novels and films and the role of the imagination in completing the picture. We will be reading and screening The English Patient, All Quiet on the Western Front, Dangerous Liaisons, and Wuthering Heights. (Minott-Ahl)
101 New Chemistry Meets Old Art Art and science sometimes seem incompatible. In this course, we challenge that perception. We begin with art history and the scientific discoveries that impacted painters, especially discoveries and inventions of new pigments. At the same time, we use art projects to reinforce fundamental scientific principles. We then explore prehistoric art in depth, especially the ancient cave art found in Europe, to illustrate how science helps us understand ancient art. Finally, we ask how human creativity has changed over the past 40,000 years. This question requires a thorough understanding of the similarities and differences between biological and cultural evolution. Typical Readings: Ball, Bright Earth: Art and the Invention of Color; Vialou, Prehistoric Art and Civilization; Delamare and Guineau, Colors: The Story of Dyes and Pigments (Bowyer)
102 Thinking and Creating This is a course about intelligence, creativity, and all the students in the class—how they think and create. While participants study the history of intelligence testing in Stephen Jay Gould's Mismeasure of Man, the Bell Curve debate, the theory of multiple intelligences by Howard Gardner, and many scholars' theories of creativity, the course explores each student's thinking patterns, problem-solving styles, and capacity for creativity. Focus is placed on thinking and creating as facets of learning through the arts in education. The last six weeks of the semester comprise a service-learning component in the Geneva Middle School, where Colleges students facilitate learning in the classroom. Integrated arts experiences are directed toward the development of non-conformist thinking and acceptance of self and others, toward a less-violent culture governed by compassion and reasoned responses in place of judgment and impulsivity. (Davenport)
103 The Reality Effect (It Was Not A Dark and Stormy Night) Stories infuse our lives. In this course, we will examine real stories—perhaps urban legends like "Kentucky Fried Rat," political or advertising storytelling, even identity narratives like college application essays—all kinds of stories that humans shape and that shape us in turn. Our core question is "How do we use narrative, and how does narrative use us?" We will aim to become more adept at analyzing real stories for craft, purpose and impact, but we will also aim to become more skilled at telling real stories by creating some of our own; expect much reading, writing, and revision. We may explore virtual reality narratives or the biological basis for narrative, or other choices based in part on student interest. Please note, this is not a fiction-writing course, although fiction writers may enjoy and benefit from it. Typical Readings: Le Guin, "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night"; Aristotle, Poetics; The 9/11 Commission Report; the Iraq War blogs of rebelcoyote; New York Times "Lives" columns; Lunsford, The Everyday Writer; Hjortshoj, Transition to College Writing (Hess)
110 Education, Justice, and Happiness Worried about injustice and misery in a society that had executed his great teacher, Socrates, for "corrupting the youth," Plato devoted one of the greatest books ever written to the question of how people can live in a way that leads to social justice and personal happiness. His concerns inspired him to investigate many topics that remain important today: education, the equality of the sexes, democracy and tyranny, psychological health, class divisions, censorship and the nature of art, and the nature of knowledge and reality. Plato's Republic remains one of the most interesting works about education, justice, and happiness. In this seminar, we read the Republic, cover to cover, along with modern works, and discuss the parallels between these important topics as they arose in ancient Athens and as they arise in the 21st century and in our own experience. (Barnes, Brophy, King, Lee, Oberbrunner)
123 Ancient Warfare: How Homer's Iliad Changed the World The "West's" first literary work in Homer's Iliad, a poem about war that made an indelible imprint on later European cultures. Every Greek and Roman author, and many later European authors, strove to emulate and respond to this one text. What does this mean for us? Is the Iliad 'only literature', or has its cultural impact been more pervasive? Why was ancient Greece's first literary act a martial one? What does it mean that our culture views Iliad as a foundational text defining who we are as "Westerners"? To what extent does Homer's Dark Age culture shape our own? To investigate these questions, we will first read Homer's Iliad. What are epic's origins? What is the Iliad's story? Next, we will discuss the text as an historical document: Are Homeric values and combat 'authentic'? From here, we will discuss how later Greeks and Romans viewed the Iliad. Finally, we will assess how the Iliad might inform our own understanding of war, violence, justice, and injustice. As we explore these issues, we will read the poetry of Tyrtaios and Sappho, the histories of Herodotos and Thucydides, Arrian's account of Alexander, Catullus' c. 64, and Vergil's Aeneid. We will also consider the archaeological evidence for ancient military technology, and view relevant modern films, both those recounting ancient battles (e.g., Troy, or 300), and those which mark the Iliad as 'ground zero' for the "Western" tradition's alleged glorification of violence (e.g., Unforgiven). (Himmelhoch)
147 Africa: Myths and Realities Africa is the continent Americans probably understand the least. As a result, there are many myths and misconceptions about the people and the countries of this vast continent. This course examines the reality of Africa from many viewpoints: its geography, environment, demographics, and history; its social, economic, and political structures; and its art, music, and literature. Students also examine contemporary issues in South Africa, Nigeria, Senegal, Rwanda and elsewhere. Among the course's varied experiences are guest lectures, films, and readings. (Frishman, McCorkle)
160 Chemistry and Crime Are you as fascinated with forensic science as I am? If you are then this seminar is for you! In this seminar students will read samples from classic works of fiction by Arthur Conan Doyle as well as some of the more recent works by authors such as Patricia Cornwell. We will also look at case studies in forensic science and from these students will learn how unique chemical methods are used to gather criminal evidence and to what extent these techniques better our lives by helping to fight crime. Laboratory investigations of such things as developing latent fingerprints, blood detection, cocaine detection (trace quantities), and the chemical content of your hair will be performed. The importance of each process and its results will be discussed in terms of the chemistry required to comprehend the finds. Furthermore, this seminar will examine how television portrays forensic science. We will compare early portrayals like Quincy to the fictional television shows of today that include CSI and Crossing Jordan. We will also look at a recent television show that deals with real case studies in forensic science. (de Denus)
FSEM 194 Happiness How does the way we think and feel affect our life experiences? Is everyone capable of enjoying life? Do we have control over our happiness even in the face of challenging, stressful, and/or oppressive environmental circumstances? In this course, students will explore core concepts of positive psychology with a particular focus on positive emotion, enjoyment, gratitude, forgiveness, resiliency and hardiness. Students will examine cultures and individuals who demonstrate some success in controlling their inner perspectives in ways that allow them to survive and prosper, even in the face of significant challenge. Students will be asked to consider how their existing personal approaches to life promote or obstruct the experience of their own happiness. Additionally, students will learn some specific skills intended to build resiliency and hardiness. Typical Readings: Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience; Seligman, Authentic Happiness Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment; Emmons, Thanks!: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier (van Lone)
