2010-11 Undergraduate Index A-Z
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Media Studies [clear]
| Title | Offering | Standing | Credits | Credits | When | F | W | S | Su | Description | Preparatory | Faculty | Days of Week | Multiple Standings | Start Quarters |
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Art, New Media, and the Science of Perception
Richard Weiss and Naima Lowe computer science mathematics media studies moving image physics psychology visual arts Signature Required: Winter |
Program | FR - SRFreshmen - Senior | 16 | 16 | Day | FFall | WWinter | What is an image? How do we form them? What factors influence our perception of images? How are the history and practices of New Media related to social and cultural phenomena surrounding robotics, cybernetics, and networked culture? Cybernetics and reproducible images emerged almost simultaneously in the Western world and became markers of the post-modern era. The result was a rich interaction that developed between art, video and photography, robotics and image processing. The culture and history of New Media, visual perception and cognitive science will form the landscape for our explorations. In this program, we will investigate how images are formed and how we perceive them, as well as the theoretical underpinnings of reproducible images and the history of New Media. Both cultural and technological aspects will guide our examination of the entire sequence of events from how images are produced in a camera to how we perceive and react to images as informed by both our personal and social experiences. We will explore digital and non-digital images and image processing, as well as the cognitive science of how our eyes and brain process patterns of light. In the fall, we will study the concepts of editing, video production and photography, as well as the influences of culture and technology on art, printed media and electronic media in the age of the Internet. Robotics and image processing will lead us to geometric optics and color. Students will learn how to work with digital and non-digital images, image reproduction, the pinhole camera model, lenses, filtering images, and programming a simple mobile robot to take pictures. In winter, we will continue to develop and expand much of the work we started in the fall. We will expand our view of robotics to include more general, computer processor-based interactive art and the cognitive science of visual perception. Winter quarter will culminate in public presentations of student projects that integrate our studies. | video production, media arts, computer science, mathematics, and cognitive science. | Richard Weiss Naima Lowe | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Fall | |||
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Art, Time and Narrative
Shaw Osha (Flores) and Marilyn Freeman aesthetics art history cultural studies media studies visual arts writing |
Program | FR ONLYFreshmen Only | 16 | 16 | Day | FFall | WWinter | "The wall between artist and audience is very thin, all you have to do is walk through."- PICA on Portland’s Time-Based Art Festival Contemporary art considers maker and audience, it can be materially based and conceptually based, and it can be multi-media and interdisciplinary. How do the various practices relate and inform us as both makers and audience? In this program we will consider the relationship of drawing and writing to other media as a means of examining basic ideas around time and narrative. What is our relationship as art makers and viewers to our perceptions of time? This visual art and writing program will explore concepts of time and artistic practices with references to temporal space by developing foundational skills in critical thinking, drawing and 2-D art, creative non-fiction and analytical writing, audio recording, basic photography and multimedia editing in the context of contemporary visual culture and art history. We will use personal narratives to explore time, memory, and perspective through words and images; and we will consider the relation of moving and still images, drawings and sound and what happens when we confound the senses by juxtaposing them. The context of art history and critical theory will be integral to our inquiry. The curriculum will include studio practice, writing, workshops, lectures, readings, research, seminar, screenings, gallery and museum visits, multimedia production and presentations, and critiques. There will be one field trip each quarter to either Seattle or Portland. In fall quarter we will develop personal narratives in essay form and drawing. Students will be introduced to theories and practices relative to time- and process-based art. Fall quarter work will culminate in collaborative word/sound/image projects on everyday time. In winter quarter we will advance the study of relationships between art, time and narrative through a comprehensive integration of writing and drawing in the mode of graphic creative nonfiction. We will start working immediately on creative and research projects that will culminate in a final edition of works on paper and multimedia presentations. This quarter will include additional theory-based texts and figure drawing instruction as well as in-depth studio and writing workshop time. There will be an overnight trip to Portland for First Thursday gallery openings. This rigorous program is designed for students who are ready for an immersive college experience—academically, creatively, personally. Students are expected to join field trips and attend off-campus film screenings, to participate fully in all program activities, and to work about 40 hours per week including class time. | visual arts, media arts, creative and critical writing, cultural studies and art history. | Shaw Osha (Flores) Marilyn Freeman | Freshmen FR | Fall | |||
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Classics of World Cinema
Greg Mullins |
Program | FR - SRFreshmen - Senior | 8 | 08 | Day, Evening and Weekend | SuSummer | From the silent films of the 1920s to the French New Wave, in this course you will study classics of world cinema. We will watch films by directors such as Wiene, Eisenstein, Welles, Hitchcock, De Sica, Godard, and Kurosawa. We will focus on styles, movements, influences, and historical contexts. Please visit for more information. | Greg Mullins | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Summer | |||||
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Collaborative Autobiographics: Interrogating Representations of Self and Other in Media, Writing and Storytelling
Naima Lowe, Joye Hardiman and Marilyn Freeman |
Program | FR - SRFreshmen - Senior | 16 | 16 | Day | SSpring | How do we reconcile the needs and voice of the individual with the greater good of the group? How can a focus on collectivism lead us to greater individual understanding? How can we create collaborative art projects that combine strong individual voice with a collective sense of identity, and how do we do that with integrity and respect for one’s self, others and the creative work? This program is an interdisciplinary arts practice program that explores the complexities of telling personal stories across various mediums and within the context of the collaborative process. The purpose of the program is to explore cross-cultural and cross- disciplinary approaches to autobiography, to investigate the role of collectivism and collaboration in autobiographical storytelling, and to develop analytical and practical skills related to media, creative non-fiction literature and writing, and performance. The program will have four major components: Through collaborative work and through experiments intersecting creative nonfiction writing, electronic media, and performance, this program will explore the complex or multiple elements of identity and truth drawn upon or discovered in acts of self-representation. This interdisciplinary arts program emphasizes collaborative learning and the importance of working generatively in an increasing diverse world. Students should come ready to take creative risks, to work hard, to work respectfully, and to practice initiative while serving the greater good of the program. If you’re a divergent thinker looking for opportunities to explore the possibilities of collaborative creative production, this is absolutely the program for you . | writing, media studies, and the arts. | Naima Lowe Joye Hardiman Marilyn Freeman | Tue Wed Thu | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Spring | |||
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CSI: Re/Defining Crime
Anthony Zaragoza |
Course | FR - SRFreshmen - Senior | 4 | 04 | Day | SuSummer | We'll examine how crime is defined, who defines it, who's labeled a criminal, and who receives what punishment. We'll discuss meanings of “justice,” social justice, and criminal justice. We'll address questions about how justice is carried out and could be served: Why is there a disparity in investigation and incarceration between white-collar and blue-collar criminals? Is economic inequality a crime against democracy? Are environmental catastrophes crimes? Who are the criminals? Finally, we'll explore the tools need to indict such “criminals.” | social work, education, political economy, criminal justice, journalism, media, community organizing, political science, environemental studies, public administration, law and public policy, sociology | Anthony Zaragoza | Tue Thu | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Summer | |||
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Film and Gender
Elizabeth Williamson |
Course | FR - SRFreshmen - Senior | 4 | 04 | Weekend | SuSummer | This course offers an introduction to narrative film through the lens of gender studies. We will focus primarily on women directors working within the Hollywood system and talk about how their films interrogate existing conventions. Students will watch films at home and post weekly screening reports. We will meet once a week to discuss the thematic and formal elements of the films. More advanced students may pursue a research or screenwriting project in lieu of weekly reports. | Elizabeth Williamson | Sat | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Summer | ||||
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Gender and Culture: Japanese and American Literature, Cinema and Popular Culture
Harumi Moruzzi cultural studies gender and women's studies literature media studies |
Program | FR - SRFreshmen - Senior | 16 | 16 | Day | FFall | Due to globalized communication, we have become increasingly aware that there may be multiple perspectives on reality. We now question the reality that we perceive as an absolute and universal reality. We wonder if that ultimate reality is or has ever been accessible to human consciousness. In short, we have begun to understand that the reality that we see is heavily colored by the social and cultural ideologies that have been instilled in us from birth by means of the language we use, the culture we are raised in, the education we receive and the mass media that bombards us. The concept of gender is no exception. It is ultimately a constructed reality. It is often said that American and Japanese cultures represent diametrically opposed values in many aspects of human behaviors and customs. While Japanese women are valued most as wives and mothers, the traditional gender roles, American women are valued as wage earners and sex partners. Needless to say, such a stereotypical view of gender is becoming rapidly outdated in Japan as well as in the United States. Nevertheless, this dichotomized cross-cultural frame presents an illuminating context in which we can explore gender issues. In this program, we explore the concept of gender through a critical examination of anthropological, sociological and psychological articles, as well as American and Japanese literature, cinema and popular culture. At the beginning of the quarter, students will be introduced to the rudiments of film analysis to develop a more critical attitude toward the film-viewing experience as well as major literary theories in order to become aware of varied approaches to literary analysis and interpretation. After familiarizing themselves with these analytical and theoretical foundations, students will examine representations of gender and culture, as well as their interrelationships, through lectures, workshops, book and film seminars and expository writings. | gender studies, cultural studies, film studies, Japanese literature and American literature. | Harumi Moruzzi | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Fall | ||||
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Individual Study: Legislative Processes, Regulatory Agencies and Environment
Cheri Lucas-Jennings American studies communications community studies computer science cultural studies economics environmental studies gender and women's studies government health law and government policy law and public policy leadership studies media studies political science sustainability studies Signature Required: Spring |
Contract | JR - SRJunior - Senior | 16 | 16 | Day and Weekend | SSpring | Individual studies offers important opportunities for advanced students to create their own course of study and research. Prior to the beginning of the quarter, interested individuals or small groups of students must consult with the faculty sponsor to develop an outline of proposed projects to be described in an Individual Learning Contract. If students wish to gain internship experience they must secure the agreement and signature of a field supervisor prior to the initiation of the internship contract. This faculty wecomes internships and contracts in the areas of environmental health; health policy; public law; cultural studies; ethnic studies; the arts (including acrylic and oil painting, sculpture, or textiles); water policy and hydrolic systems; permaculture, economics of agriculture; toxins and brownfields; community planning, intranational relations. This opportunity is open to those who wish to continue with applied projects that seek to create social change in our community (as a result of work begun in fall 2010 and winter 2011 "Problems to Issues to Policies;" to those begining internship work at the State capitol who seek to expand their experience to public agencies and non-profit institutions; and to those interested in the study of low income populations and legal aid. | American studies, art, communications, community studies, cultural studies, environmental field studies, gender and women's health, history, law and government and public policy leadership | Cheri Lucas-Jennings | Junior JR Senior SR | Spring | ||||
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Individual Study: Media Arts, Visual Anthropology, Communications
Sally Cloninger communications cultural studies media studies moving image visual arts Signature Required: Fall |
Contract | JR - SRJunior - Senior | 16 | 16 | Day | FFall | Sally Cloninger offers opportunities for intermediate and advanced students to create their own course of study, creative practice and research, including internships, community service and study abroad options. Prior to the beginning of fall quarter, interested individual students or small groups of students must describe the work to be completed in an Individual Learning or Internship Contract. Sally is particularly interested in sponsoring individual contracts or internships in media arts, media studies, media production, visual anthropology, cultural studies, photography, performance studies, screenwriting and communications but will also consider other disciplines on a case-by-case basis. Where applicable, students will meet in small groups with faculty for critique and discussion as part of their contract. | communications, humanities, media arts, performance studies, visual anthropology, and visual arts. | Sally Cloninger | Junior JR Senior SR | Fall | ||||
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Language Matters: Persuasive Language in Popular Culture
Susan Fiksdal and Rachel Hastings communications language studies linguistics media studies writing |
Program | FR - SRFreshmen - Senior | 12 | 12 | Day | SSpring | This program will focus on the linguistic resources we all use to persuade others of a particular point of view. We will study the art of persuasion in a wide range of settings within popular culture, ranging from comedy to politics, from news journalism to blogs. Our work will engage us in several areas of linguistic theory, including discourse analysis, semantics, pragmatics, metaphor, morphology and syntax. As we develop these theoretical tools, we will concurrently be using them to analyze discourse from the media, the internet, conversations and speeches in order to uncover ways in which speakers use their linguistic knowledge to persuade. We will study how different individuals and different categories of communication vary with respect to the structure and content of their persuasive language. For a broader view of linguistic resources, we will sometimes examine cross-linguistic variation in persuasion in languages other than English, including Quechua and French. Students will apply their understanding of concepts by writing papers using three formats—persuasive essays, short summary essays and linguistic analyses. To demonstrate their understanding of persuasion in a particular setting, they will create final oral presentations. | communications, education, languages, law, linguistics, media studies, and writing. | Susan Fiksdal Rachel Hastings | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Spring | ||||
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Mediated States of Modernity: Distraction, Diversion, and Ambivalence
Kathleen Eamon and Julia Zay aesthetics art history cultural studies media studies moving image philosophy writing |
Program | SO - SRSophomore - Senior | 16 | 16 | Day | FFall | One of the ways that historians and theorists distinguish modernity, and mass and popular culture more specifically, is by describing the ways in which it ushered in a new age of sensation. Using Marx's notion of the "social hieroglyph" as a model for looking at everyday life, we will splice together visual culture studies, cinema studies and 19th and 20th century aesthetic philosophy in an investigation of some of the defining mental and emotional states of attention produced by and for emerging cultural forms, such as cinema, radio, amusement parks, the arcade, and the language of modernist art. We will construct our own partial and fragmented or, to borrow Benjamin's phrase, "little" history of modern senses and sensibilities. In particular, we'll focus in on in-between states of attention that are easily dismissed as unremarkable but that, precisely by going unremarked, play a central role in our mediated public lives. Public intellectuals of the 20th Century like Freud, Benjamin, Kracauer, Gorky and others examine these states closely in their descriptions of everyday life in terms that make evident both the dangers and potentials of these modes of attention. We'll model our approach on the studied "ambivalence" that characterizes the attitude of Frankfurt School figures like Benjamin and Kracauer towards popular or mass culture, thinkers who are not indifferent but who sustain a truly divided, thus complicated, understanding of how one inhabits a mass-mediated, capitalist, industrialized, post-traditional culture - neither submitting to its demands nor removing oneself entirely, one ought to engage it playfully. We'll explore how we ourselves are always both submitting and resisting the ideological forces of mass culture. Some examples of the states we have in mind are: amusement, distraction, diversion, boredom, play, and so on. These states are often "located" in terms of specifically modern places, such as the cinema, amusement parks, and urban centers, and we will ask what kinds of audiences or what kind of "public" gets constituted by these states and contexts. Although our focus will be largely turn-of-the-century to mid-century (the last one, that is), we will follow our line of thought into more recent times with thinkers like Susan Sontag and David Foster Wallace. We will also develop our own practice of paying close attention to everyday life and meta-attention to our modes of engagement with it in our weekly observation exercises and field study. This work will inform both our traditional and our experimental essay-writing as we attempt to yoke the observational with the lyrical and theoretical modes. In summation, we will read and write a lot, watch films, look at art, listen to both music and sound, mix lecture with seminar and workshops with fieldwork. | film studies, humanities, media, philosophy, visual culture studies, and writing. | Kathleen Eamon Julia Zay | Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Fall | ||||
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Multitrack Audio Production
Terry Setter |
Program | FR - SRFreshmen - Senior | 12 | 12 | Day | SuSummer | This program provides instruction in the use of digital and analog recording studio equipment, microphone design and placement techniques, mixing console design, signal flow, monitoring techniques, room acoustics, and signal processing. There will be written assignments based upon readings in Huber's , and students will present research on topics related to audio production. Students will do at least 40 hours of recording and familiarization work in teams of two in addition to the in-class activities. We will record local musicians and produce finished mixes of the sessions. | music, media technology | Terry Setter | Tue Thu | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Summer | |||
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Nonfiction Media: Animation, Documentary, and Experimental Approaches to the Moving Image
Ruth Hayes and Anne Fischel Signature Required: Fall |
Program | SO - SRSophomore - Senior | 16 | 16 | Day | FFall | WWinter | SSpring | What does it mean to make moving images in an age of media proliferation and saturation? How do we critically engage traditions of media practice while pushing beyond established forms? How are images used in commodity culture and how can we repurpose them to communicate our own meanings and values? What responsibilities do media artists and producers have to subjects and audiences? How can we make media that responds to the world and supports struggles for change? What strategies, formats and distribution venues are available to us? In this program, students will engage with these and other questions while gaining knowledge of media history, theory and production. This is an intensive full-time, year-long program linking media theory with practice. We will start by exploring media’s capacity to observe and record the world, and its potential to create meaning. We will explore media modes and communication strategies including animation, documentary and experimental film/video, emphasizing the materiality and artistic properties of sound and moving image media, as well as the strategies artists and media producers have employed to challenge commercial forms. We will experiment with alternative approaches to production, including autobiography, audio-visual essays, installations and collaborations with community groups. Through experiments with image-making and sound students will build critical, conceptual and technical skills. They will develop further skills in media analysis and criticism through readings, seminars, research and critical writing. As a learning community we will participate in critique sessions, another form of collaboration through which we help each other evaluate and improve our work. In fall, students will build skills in field observation and research that are essential to media-based work. Through a series of design exercises, students will combine observation with technical skills in digital photography, video, audio, drawing and writing. We will critically analyze how the media frame our understanding of reality. In hands-on workshops and assignments we will explore the idea of image as commodity and the ways images create and contest meaning in art, politics and consumer culture. Our exploration of the social implications of the image will include representations of the body, self and other, identity and community. In winter, we will expand our study and practice of media to include its use in community collaboration. Through research, photography, video, sound and installation, student groups will produce multi-media works that extend and support the work of community organizations. We will do research, learn about traditional and experimental approaches to community involvement, and explore the new modes of distribution and exhibition that electronic and popular culture make possible. In spring, the conceptual, collaboration and production skills developed in fall and winter will form the foundation of independent project work—from individual projects in non-fiction video, animation, installation or web-based work to internships or community collaboration. Students will be expected to develop a project proposal demonstrating informed and thoughtful planning in the mode or format of their choices. | media arts, visual arts, education and communications. | Ruth Hayes Anne Fischel | Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Fall | ||
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Play On! The Theatre of Sport
Mark Harrison |
Program | FR - SRFreshmen - Senior | 8 | 08 | Evening and Weekend | FFall | "Sport is theatre, and through it we can see the human condition cut to the bone. Sport has pace and stillness, drama, comedy, and tragedy. It conveys more vividly than any other branch of everyday human activity the elation and despair in every person's emotional range." --Sebastian Coe, Olympic gold medalist and former Member of Parliament Theatre and sport embody an ideal of meaningful action. As players, we engage in spectacles of play, utilizing formal and complex actions governed by rules (or conventions), rituals and aesthetics, both ancient and modern. As audiences, we derive meaning through winning and losing; we construct narratives and project values onto players and play. Through conflict, competition, and collaboration, theatre and sport reflect our deepest individual and cultural identities and desires. Participants in this program will examine the human condition “cut to the bone” and be challenged to re-conceptualize the way we experience and think about performance. We will focus on the role of imagination and the significance of competition, conflict, and collaboration. We will examine sport and theatre as a moral stage and a reflection of culture. Topics will include: the history of performance, psychology of play and playing, constructions time and space, basic quantitative methods, and the intersections of aesthetics and technique. We will also consider the ways we mediate performance (through film, television, and other media) to generate excitement, meaning, and profits. Expect to engage through readings, films, discussions, weekly writing assignments, and independent and collaborative work. Active learning in the form of workshops and field trips to sporting events and performances will be a central focus of the program. | performance studies, teaching, coaching, sports administration, and sociology of sport. | Mark Harrison | Wed Sat | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Fall | |||
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Problems to Issues to Policies
Cheri Lucas-Jennings and Cheryl Simrell King community studies environmental studies law and public policy media studies political science writing Signature Required: Winter |
Program | SO - SRSophomore - Senior | 16 | 16 | Day | FFall | WWinter | This program explores how problems become public policies and, alternatively, how public policies become something citizens care about. We will examine emerging public problems, issues, strategies and solutions to see how we get from a problem as it appears on the streets to a government response. We’ll investigate: How do we approach problems so that they become issues? How are these framed to become policies? How are various current issues received by the public? Because some sector of the public must agree on what the problem is, the framing of public issues will be a significant aspect of this program study (especially in light "wicked problems" that are particularly complex and difficult to address) as will the priority of who comes to "own" an issue and what they will do to intervene (if they do so at all.) We will examine problems, issues and policies through case studies at the local, state and regional levels. We will also investigate what it takes to mobilize a consensus and the partnerships and social marketing methods needed to achieve those ends. Throughout the program, students will learn from a range of approaches – lecture, workshop, guest presentations, seminar, visits and collaborations with regional experts, officials and activists. Because we will examine models, evidence and debates about sources, causal connections and impacts of policy, we will be learning about evolving systems of law, regulation, governance and the broad array of community response. Winter quarter will offer the opportunity for student groups to apply what they have learned directly, in the field. By interning or volunteering for work that will be engaged directly with an organization pursuing the issue in your end-of-fall-quarter group prospectus, we can engage in a practicum. Here, we will learn more about the complexities involved with how public issues are being pursued and ultimately, about how effectively proposed solution strategies appear to work when they “meet the road.” For lecture and seminar discussion we will engage a “clinic” where selected reading and each research group will provide further depth on policy “issues” outlined as “problematic” within Washington State by student project groups. We will join with one another in proposing the most effective policy strategies in light of additional considerations. | community studies, critical and analytical thinking, design strategies, environmental studies/law, government agencies, non-profit organizations, public administration, public policy, research methods, and social marketing. | Cheri Lucas-Jennings Cheryl Simrell King | Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Fall | |||
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Ready Camera One: We're Live
Sally Cloninger |
Program | SO - SRSophomore - Senior | 16 | 16 | Day | SSpring | This program is designed primarily for students interested in exploring visual literacy, television production, performance and media criticism. Students will be introduced to both media deconstruction and media production skills through a series of lecture/screenings, workshops and design problems that focus primarily on collaborative multi-camera studio production. No prior media production experience is required. We will take a critical, performative and historical approach as we examine and even emulate the production style and lessons from the early history of 20th century live television. Students will be expected to perform in front of as well as behind the camera and will explore the logistics and aesthetics of multi-camera direction and design. We will investigate the aesthetics and implications of live performance and multi-camera production for new media as well. This program will also examine the politics of representation, i.e., who gets the camera, who appears on the screen, and who has the power. Therefore, students who choose to enroll should be vitally and sincerely interested in the issues and ideas concerning the representation of gender, race, ethnicity, class and sexual orientation in the media. We will specifically study the role of visual humor as it applies to representation and stereotyping in the mass media. Activities also will include training in the multi-camera TV studio facility, instruction in basic performance and writing for television, and a survey of visual design principles. | communications, humanities, moving image, television production, media arts, media criticism, social sciences, and theater. | Sally Cloninger | Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Spring | ||||
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Reality Check: Indian Images and [Mis]Representations
Frances V. Rains Native American studies cultural studies history media studies political science |
Program | FR - SRFreshmen - Senior | 16 | 16 | Day | WWinter | This program will address historic and contemporary images and misrepresentations of Indians in a variety of media. Indian images from films, photographs, language, mascots, popular culture and commercial interests will be deconstructed and analyzed for meaning, significance, power, representation and issues of authenticity. Colonialism, U.S./Indian history, geo-politics, and economics will be decolonized through the lenses of Native resistance, Native sovereignty and Native political and economic issues. Essential to this exploration will be an investigation of the dynamics of “self” and “other.” Learning will take place through readings, seminars, lectures, films and workshops. Students will improve their research skills through document review, observations, and critical analysis. Students will also have opportunities to improve their writing skills through weekly written assignments. Oral speaking skills will be improved through small group and whole class seminar discussions, and through individual final project presentations. Options for the final project will be discussed in the syllabus and in class. | art, cultural studies, education, geography, history, media studies, Native studies and political science. | Frances V. Rains | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Winter | ||||
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Shattered Images of Changing China: Modern Chinese Literature and Film
Rose Jang |
Program | FR - SRFreshmen - Senior | 16 | 16 | Day | FFall | During China's explosive changes over the last thirty years, nothing has better recorded these changes than Chinese literature and film. Writers of the novel, short story, drama and poetry—marked by such internationally renowned names as Gao Xingjian, Wang Anyi, Yu Hua, Mo Yan and Bei Dao—have collectively captured the feelings of pride, excitement, confusion and chaos shared by the current generation of Chinese citizens. Filmmakers such as Tian Zhuangzhuang, Li Yang and Jia Zhang Ke have documented the mixed experiences that such quick political and economic changes have brought to different walks of Chinese life. Using the metaphor of a "shattered mirror," introduced by philosopher Kwame Anthony Appia in describing the process of perceiving cross-cultural truths, this program offers a mirror which, while trying to reflect the truth of modern Chinese life and society, is made of nothing but shattered images. Nevertheless, this shattered mirror will help us to peek into multiple facets and corners of a society in which real, common people live. Instead of simply reading about them, we are compelled to approach them from inside their world, to understand the daily struggles and social problems through their eyes. If all these shattered images can only combine into a confusing, chaotic and contorted existence, by putting ourselves in the midst of them, we are very close to living a real Chinese life. The literary works and films in the program will be grouped through weekly themes representing distinct topics of study. Students will read literature and view thematically related films each week. Keeping a reflective journal and writing weekly papers will document their ongoing learning experiences. Students will write a final integrative essay on a topic of personal choice, which is originated and substantiated from the program materials, but further expanded through individual research in the library and via electronic databases. | Chinese studies and literature, Asian studies, international studies, philosphy, political and economic development, and film studies. | Rose Jang | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Fall | ||||
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Student Originated Studies: Center for Community-Based Learning and Action
Therese Saliba African American studies Native American studies anthropology communications community studies cultural studies economics education environmental studies gender and women's studies history international studies law and government policy law and public policy leadership studies media studies outdoor leadership and education queer studies sociology sustainability studies Signature Required: Spring |
SOS | FR - SRFreshmen - Senior | 16 | 16 | Day | SSpring | community or youth organizing; community development; economic, racial, and gender justice; education; immigrant rights; international solidarity and International Studies; popular education; public policy; sociology; and queer studies. | Therese Saliba | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Spring | |||||
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Student Originated Studies: Community Based Learning, Practice and Theory
Peter Bohmer African American studies American studies anthropology community studies cultural studies economics education gender and women's studies government health history international studies law and government policy law and public policy leadership studies media studies political science sociology Signature Required: Fall |
SOS | SO - SRSophomore - Senior | 16 | 16 | Day | FFall | This is an opportunity for serious, responsible and self-motivated students to create their own courses of study and research which should include working with the broader community. Prior to the beginning of the quarter, interested students or student groups need to consult with the faculty about their proposed projects. The faculty sponsor will support student research, learning and practice in a cluster of areas linking economic justice and global justice with local, national and global social movements. There will be especially strong support for students developing projects that are connected to local communities, groups and organizations. Although students will register for this program, you will be primarily doing independent study and/or an internship. I will host this Student Originated Studies (SOS) through Evergreen's Center for Community Base Learning and Action (CCBLA). The CCBLA will serve as the center and support for this study-for learning about, engaging with and contributing to community life in the region. Students, through individual or group projects, will be able to link with social movements, non-profits, community groups, and economic and social justice organizations that focus on the issues listed above. I have substantial knowledge of and experience with local organizations, and experience working with students across the curriculum who are interested in learning through community based research, learning and activism. So does the CCBLA! We will meet weekly, either as the entire group or as subgroups interning at similar organizations or studying similar issues. At these meetings, there will be relevant presentations and workshops as well as time for problem-solving and sharing learning and experiences. During week 10, each student will make a presentation to the entire group on what he or she havs learned. | anarchism, anti-poverty, anti-racism, anti-war, building social movements, community or youth organizing, community development, economic justice, education, healthcare, homelessness and affordable housing, immigrant rights, international solidarity, labor, Latin American studies and solidarity, law, Marxism, political economy, popular economics, popular education, public policy, sociology, and unemployment. | Peter Bohmer | Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Fall | ||||
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Student Originated Studies: Media/Philosophy
Kathleen Eamon and Julia Zay communications media studies moving image philosophy writing Signature Required: Winter |
SOS | JR - SRJunior - Senior | 16 | 16 | Day | WWinter | SSpring | This SOS is designed to support creative and theoretical projects that can only arise at juncture of these distinct but related modes of academic and creative labor. We invite students, including transfers, who have significant academic experience in media production and studies and/or critical theory and philosophy, and who are committed to exploring the boundaries of these modes of inquiry. Our experiments will be anchored by a central line of inquiry around the relationship between objects, images, figures, and perception on the one hand and judgment, reflection, valuation, critique and synthesis on the other. This means that the entire program will screen films and read texts together. One shared text, for example, will be Mary Ann Doane's , which argues that the cinema participated in representing the singular instant of chance and ephemerality in the face of the increasing rationalization and standardization at the turn of the 19 Century. Media and philosophy students alike will need to develop an understanding of what it means to think historically and concretely about both thought and its objects. Students will research and design individual projects in the first quarter, while focusing on honing a set of shared skills, exploring overlapping areas of student interest, and learning about developing models of creative/critical collaboration. Students will work in depth with one faculty member, depending on their academic focus (media production, critical theory, or philosophy), but seminars, workshops, lectures, and critiques will provide time for work outside these concentrations. The second quarter of the program will provide space for implementing individual projects and will culminate in a public conference. : This part of the program is designed for students who have already developed some expertise in media production, are familiar with aspects of media theory, and wish to do advanced production work that may have developed out of previous academic projects and/or programs. We will focus on experimental and non-fiction forms, which require a period of germination for new ideas to emerge. Students will deepend their understanding of media history and theory through readings, seminars, and writing; they will expand their technical skills through workshops; and they will present their own research to the entire program. In addition, each student or team of students (for collaborative projects) will do extensive pre-production planning and research in the first quarter for a media project to be completed by the end of the second quarter in time for public screening. : This part of the program is for students who have some substantial background in philosophy and/or critical theory. Ideally, students in this track will arrive with a specific set of categories that they find both intriguing and perplexingly abstract, and terms and questions that seem to invite extra-philosophical attempts to render them concrete. Students are free (and are in fact, required) to choose their own topics, but Kathleen Eamon's central areas of research and inquiry include aesthetics, social and political philosophy, and critical theory; a list of figures of interest includes Kant, Hegel, Marx, Freud, and the Frankfurt School theorists. Students in this section will read texts, participate in and lead seminars, share and critique writing throughout the program, and develop a presentation and conference paper for the end of the second quarter. | the arts and humanities, film history and theory, philosophy, critical theory, experimental media, media arts and digital communications. | Kathleen Eamon Julia Zay | Junior JR Senior SR | Winter | |||
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Telling the Story: Reading, Viewing, and Writing the Memoir
Virginia Darney |
Program | FR - SRFreshmen - Senior | 8 | 08 | Day | SuSummer | We tell stories to ourselves and to others in order to understand our experiences, to bring about social change, or to bear witness. Memoirs describe a particular experience, an influential person in our lives, a moment of change or of understanding. In this program we will read a variety of memoirs, view memoirs in film, and look at them both as expressions of raw experience and as literary works. Using those memoirs as models and inspiration, we will write memoirs or portions of memoirs. Discussions and activities will focus on aspects of the craft of memoir and on the experiences they relate. | education, literary studies, liberal arts | Virginia Darney | Tue Wed Thu | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Summer | |||
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Temporal Images
Matt Hamon, Naima Lowe and Joseph Tougas aesthetics art history media studies moving image philosophy visual arts |
Program | FR ONLYFreshmen Only | 16 | 16 | Day | FFall | WWinter | This visual art program introduces students to academic enquiry into concepts of time and artistic practices with a myriad of references to temporal space. We will investigate the many ways time is defined, tracked and represented across cultures. From physics to natural philosophy, we will explore references to time from narrative structures to technical communication and abstract images. We will look at the work of realist scholars such as Sir Issac Newton and contrast these concepts to ideas posed by Immanuel Kant and others.Themes emerging in the program will inform the production of written and artistic work. Class time will involve a combination of lectures, workshops, practical assignments, and studio seminars. Students with a strong background in any digital media are encouraged to apply, provided that they have an interest in synthesizing past themes and media in their work with academic enquiry into concepts of time. This program emphasizes art making, conceptual thinking and experimentation. We will focus on core aspects of analog, digital and new media art by challenging ourselves to produce a series of innovative art projects.This program will introduce the core conceptual skills necessary to employ image in the generative and investigative context of art making and scholarly enquiry. Students will work individually and in small teams with digital cameras, digital video cameras, non-linear video editing systems and computer graphics packages to examine a broad range of issues involved in the creation of provocative works of art and images relating to time. Image processing, web content creation, basic animation, temporal structures, interface design, interaction strategy, narrative structures, video editing and sound editing will all be introduced. This program is designed for students who already have a strong work ethic and self-discipline, and who are willing to work long hours in the art studio, on campus, and in company with their fellow students.Students are invited to join this learning community of contemporary artists who are interested in new media based art, design, writing, history and theory, and who want to collaborate with media faculty. | media studies, moving image, visual arts and arts education. | Matt Hamon Naima Lowe Joseph Tougas | Freshmen FR | Fall | |||
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Theatre Intensive: Theatre Production
Walter Grodzik language studies literature media studies somatic studies theater visual arts Signature Required: Fall |
Program | SO - SRSophomore - Senior | 16 | 16 | Day | FFall | This program will consist of performance studies leading to a theatrical production. This may be a full-length play, a one-act play festival, or a sketch comedy/improvisation show as determined by the faculty. Students will experience training in acting, directing, movement, and vocal techniques in order to utilize these skills in the final performance. Drawing upon the interdisciplinary nature of theatre, this program may involve acting in a play, dramaturgical work, assistant directing, stage management, set, costume, lighting and sound design, set and costume construction, publicity, and all the other areas related to successful play production. For example, after auditioning, a student will spend about half to three quarters of program time in rehearsal, and the rest of the time working in the shop building the set or on some other aspect of the production. A student presenting a technical portfolio could become part of the technical/design team for the show, as well as the publicity coordinator. In short, every student will participate in more than one area of the production process. The first seven to eight weeks of the program will be spent in rehearsal culminating in final performance. In addition to rehearsals and production work, students will examine dramaturgical matters in seminar, closely related to the production. These may include readings addressing the social, political, economic, and cultural environment of the performance. All students who are interested in interviewing/auditioning for the program should contact Professor Grodzik directly. While this program is designated sophomore and above, interested freshmen are encouraged to apply. | the performing arts, technical theatre, dramaturgy, acting, directing, theatrical design, stage management, costuming, lighting, sound, publicity, theatre history, creitical theory, and dramatic literature. | Walter Grodzik | Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Fall | ||||
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Visions and Voices: Culture, Community and Creativity
Lara Evans, Therese Saliba and Laurie Meeker Native American studies art history community studies cultural studies literature media studies Signature Required: Winter |
Program | FR ONLYFreshmen Only | 16 | 16 | Day | FFall | WWinter | This program will focus on community-based conceptions of the arts and politics, with attention to how artistic production can reflect the “visions and voices” of communities and cultures. Students will be introduced to the foundations of cultural and literary studies, media and visual studies, and community studies, with an emphasis on the alternative visions and forms of cultural expression of often marginalized groups seeking to preserve land and cultures faced with colonization and globalization. We will explore themes such as the connection between native peoples, land, resources and struggles for self-determination; the power of story and artistic expression in illuminating hidden histories; and the role that public art, literature and media can play in community struggles and organizing. With an emphasis on multiculturalism, identity, and especially Native American and Arab cultures, this program will explore the histories of colonialism and Empire and how art, media and narrative have been used as tools of both conquest and resistance. We will draw on critiques of Orientalism, colonialism and the male gaze through indigenous and feminist cinema, literature and art. We will examine how the visions and voices of indigenous and diasporic communities challenge the western cult of individualism, the masculinist notion of the solo artist, and the consumerist system of media production. We will emphasize the participatory, communal and public aspects of art and narrative, situating them within larger, shared cultures and within the historical and socio-political contexts of struggles for self-determination. We will also explore perspectives, points-of-view and the politics of representation, as well as the tensions between individualism and collaboration in the production process. With attention to the role of spectator and consumer, we will examine the reception, circulation and marketing of art forms, and the dangers of their political and cultural co-optation, as we envision community-based alternatives to capitalist production and consumption of art. Students will learn to read cultural texts, including film, visual art and literature, to understand the relationships of people and communities to their environments and their sense of shared identity. Students will develop skills in visual and media literacy, creative and expository writing, analytical reading and viewing, literary analysis, and the terminologies and methodologies of cultural and gender studies, film history and theory, and art history. Through workshops, students will also learn a range of community documentation skills, including photography, video, radio-audio documentary, interviewing and oral history, ethnography and auto-ethnography. Students will have the opportunity to work individually and collaboratively in the contexts of cultural and community engagement. | visual studies, film studies, cultural studies, literary studies, Native American studies, Arab studies, gender studies, community organizing and advocacy, documentary journalism, and education. | Lara Evans Therese Saliba Laurie Meeker | Freshmen FR | Fall | |||
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The Western Film Genre and the American Frontier Myth
Mark Harrison |
Program | FR - SRFreshmen - Senior | 8 | 08 | Weekend | SuSummer | The Western is the richest and most enduring genre of American film. It is both formula film and a source of great innovation. This program will examine the important connections between the Western and the tale of expansion (economic, geographic, ecological, cultural) and violent conquest that is the American frontier myth. This is a hybrid-online program. Students will need access to a comprehensive source for DVD rentals (such as Netflix, Amazon.com, Deep Discount DVD, etc.) and will be using Moodle for online seminars. For more information, see . | Mark Harrison | Wed Sat | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Summer | ||||
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With Liberty and Justice for Whom?
Barbara Laners, Arlen Speights, Erin Ceragioli, Anthony Zaragoza, Dorothy Anderson, Mingxia Li, Artee Young, Paul McCreary, Tyrus Smith, Gilda Sheppard and Peter Bacho biology community studies ecology education environmental studies health history law and public policy leadership studies mathematics media studies political science sociology sustainability studies writing |
Program | JR - SRJunior - Senior | 16 | 16 | Day | FFall | WWinter | SSpring | The faculty and students will embark upon a thorough study of the origins and current status of justice in American society. From an interdisciplinary perspective, we will consider various definitions and theories of justice, review the way justice is carried out in different settings and historical periods and examine the possibility of achieving truly just social institutions. Topics to be considered include: social and environmental justice, just political and economic systems, criminal justice, just healthcare and educational access, representations of justice in media, as well as concepts of equity, fairness and equality. By the end of the academic year we will be able to offer concrete recommendations as to the steps necessary to achieve justice for all in our society. The theme for quarter is . We will lay the foundation for the rest of the year, both substantively and in terms of the tools necessary to operate effectively in the learning community. We will explore the concept of justice as it is explicated in theory, history and practice. The concept will be analyzed from both the perspectives of the legal system and moral teachings. In seminars, we will read and analyze texts dealing with issues that have historically raised questions of whether justice was achieved. Students will examine their personal experiences with justice issues by constructing an autobiographical memoir. Our work will be supplemented with a series of courses designed to assure literacy with words, numbers and images. Students will have the opportunity to hone their skills in critical reasoning, research and the use of multimedia and computers. quarter's theme is . We will look at specific contemporary societal issues in justice viewed from a variety of institutional perspectives, most notably justice in education, health care, law, science, government and politics. Students will investigate specific justice issues of interest with the purpose of identifying a particular problem, defining its dimensions, determining its causes and establishing action plans for its remedy. In the , the theme will progress to This final quarter will be devoted to the design and implementation of projects aimed at addressing the issues of injustice identified in the winter quarter. Seminar groups will combine their efforts to undertake actual programs aimed at assisting the community in righting a current injustice or providing greater justice for the community. The projects may take the form of educational events, publications, multimedia presentations or art installations, to help the community find higher levels of justice. Courses will assist in the successful implementation and evaluation of the student group activities. | advocacy, art and art history, bioethics, biology, community development, counseling, critical thinking, composition, education, environmental science, history, law and public policy, literature, mathematics and statistics, multimedia and arts production, organizational leadership, political economy, public administration, public health, research methodology, quantitative reasoning, social sciences, social work, and sustainability. | Barbara Laners Arlen Speights Erin Ceragioli Anthony Zaragoza Dorothy Anderson Mingxia Li Artee Young Paul McCreary Tyrus Smith Gilda Sheppard Peter Bacho | Junior JR Senior SR | Fall | ||
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World Beyond: The Illusive and Grotesque in Japanese Literature and Film
Setsuko Tsutsumi |
Program | SO - SRSophomore - Senior | 16 | 16 | Day | SSpring | Fantasy literature has been enjoying a renewed recognition since 1960s. As if it is the token of growing interest in the genre, we find ourselves surrounded by increasing numbers of science fiction, grotesque stories, surrealistic stories, and Anime. Why are they gaining such popularity? What are the phenomena telling us? This program will explore major Japanese fantasy literature in an attempt to delineate the nature and characteristics of fantasy literature and film. Japanese literature has a long tradition of crossing borders between the real and unreal. Examination of its themes and methods, along with its historical changes, will help us, in a microcosmic way, to explain the surge of the genre and the social needs which called for their emergence. We will first examine the tradition of the illusive quality in major classical works such as the great novel of the early eleventh century, , and apparition Noh plays of the fifteenth century. We will analyze their non-human qualities and the ways they transcend the limitations of time and space in order to explore the mysterious inner workings of the human mind. After studying ghost stories of the eighteen century, we will continue to explore the works in modern times: unique Gothic works of Izumi Kyoka; Soseki's , which critics once stated as "Beginning of Modern Japanese Fantasy"; and Yasunari Kawabata’s , which demonstrates his unique aesthetics. We will also address the theme of urban fantasies in contemporary literature. With the development of capitalism and technology, the urban cities became the space of mazes and an epidemic reflecting our anxiety and isolation. The demonic, grotesque, and nonsense nature of mega cities were well reflected in various genres of literature and films. We will analyze the form of the fantasy in those works and attempt to define their significance. Through our examination of the works in the program, we hope to clarify what we need to set us free from the confines of realism and project our mind through supernatural or uncanny phenomena. | Japanese literature, Japanese film, and Japanese studies. | Setsuko Tsutsumi | Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Spring |