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American Studies [clear]
| Title | Offering | Standing | Credits | Credits | When | F | W | S | Su | Description | Preparatory | Faculty | Days | Multiple Standings | Start Quarters | Open Quarters |
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Chico Herbison
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Course | FR–SRFreshmen - Senior | 4 | 04 | Day | Su 13Summer Session I | This course will explore U.S. popular culture of the 1960s through five of the decade’s seminal albums: The Beach Boys’ , James Brown’s , Bob Dylan’s , Jimi Hendrix’s , and . Our texts will include each album’s counterpart from the book series. The final project will be a similar close reading of another 1960s album. Students interested in expanding their final projects into a major piece of music writing—à la the series—can develop individual learning contracts for additional credit during second session. | Chico Herbison | Wed Thu | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Summer | Summer | ||||
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Carrie Margolin and Michael Buse
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Program | FR–SOFreshmen - Sophomore | 16 | 16 | Day | F 12 Fall | W 13Winter | From Frankenstein to Freddy. From Groucho to Leno. For over 100 years, audiences have screamed in terror or roared with laughter at what Hollywood has presented.This program will look at the changes in what scares us, and what makes us laugh, over the course of American cultural history from the inception of filmmaking to present day. We will examine the psychology of fear, the psychology of humor, and the language and craft of filmmaking and other media used to convey these human emotions. We will focus on fear during fall quarter. Audiences in 1910 were terrified by . was a heart-pounder in 1925. Mass panic ensued in 1938 from the radio production of . What were the cultural and historical factors that made these so fear-inducing? Today, we need much more than monsters or aliens to give us goosebumps. It takes twisted psychological demons and graphic violence to startle and thrill. How has society changed in its response to what is considered scary? In winter quarter, we will switch to humor studies. As early as 1914, comedians such as Charlie Chaplin and the Keystone Kops provided merriment. Slapstick reigned supreme from the 1920s through the 1960s with the antics of The Three Stooges. Comedy branched out with the "Borscht Belt" stand-up comedians during that same era. Comedy continues into present day, from sit-coms to , with the acceptance of increasingly "off-color" and "dark" humor. The program format may include lectures, workshops, films, seminars, guest presentations and group and individual projects. We will focus on clarity in oral and written communication, critical thinking skills, and the ability to work across significant differences. | psychology, education and media studies. | Carrie Margolin Michael Buse | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO | Fall | Fall Winter | |||
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Stacey Davis, Samuel Schrager and Eric Stein
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Program | SO–SRSophomore - Senior | 16 | 16 | Day | F 12 Fall | W 13Winter | S 13Spring | . -Ralph Ellison To educated Europeans around 1800 the new republic called The United States of America was founded on an incredible idea drawn from 18th century Enlightenment discourse: that human beings could govern themselves. The fraught implications of this democratic ideal have played out ever since. They loom large in the promise of a new start that drew 35,000,000 immigrants between the 1840s and the close of unrestricted immigration in the 1920s, and millions more who have continued to come; in the institutions that supported 19th century slavery, 20th century Jim Crow segregation, and subsequent Civil Rights movements; in the aspirations, past and present, of women and other lower-status groups. The meanings of American democracy, contested at home, have also been much scrutinized abroad. While American power has often been feared or resisted, other peoples often invoke or adapt democratic ideals to serve their own needs.This program will explore these complex relationships between the world-in-America and America-in-the-world. How, we will ask, are our identities as Americans shaped by ethnic, religious, gendered, class and place-based experiences--for example, by the cultural hybridizations and the real (and imagined) ties to home cultures endemic in American society? How do diverse Americans wrestle with democratic values in their ordinary lives? We will also consider some of the contemporary manifestations of American presence and power in various locations abroad. Using an anthropological lens, we will reflect on people's often ambivalent readings of tourists and soldiers, American aid organizations and NGOs, Hollywood mediascapes, and American commodities. How, we will ask, ought we to understand American representations of foreign "others" in travel writing, cinema, or museum display, and how have Americans themselves been represented as "others" in relationship to the larger world?Our program will provide strong contexts for students to study and work closely with faculty in the fields of history, anthropology, folklore, literature and creative non-fiction. In the fall and the first half of winter we will focus on in-depth readings of texts and training in the crafts of ethnography, writing and academic research in preparation for major independent research and senior theses. Students will undertake these projects on a topic of their choice, from mid-winter to mid-spring, either in the U.S. or abroad, in ongoing dialogue with peers and faculty. In the last half of spring the program will reconvene to review students' written work in light of the leading issues of our inquiry. There will be three main kinds of research projects. can be conducted locally, or elsewhere, on topics involving cultures, identities, community or place; they will have an emphasis on creative non-fiction writing, and optional opportunity for internships. can explore a historical, art historical, literary, or sociological topic, using primary or secondary resources. will combine service learning with research on an aspect of American culture or on values and practices in another society. Service opportunities include include health, education, youth, agriculture, community development, women's empowerment and human rights. Thailand will be a featured destination, with faculty providing language training and in-country instruction and support. While students can choose any location with faculty approval, there will be additional opportunities for students in Guatemala and Western Europe. | Stacey Davis Samuel Schrager Eric Stein | Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Fall | Fall Winter | |||
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Thomas Rainey and Geoffrey Cunningham
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Program | FR–SRFreshmen - Senior | 8 | 08 | Evening | Su 13Summer Session II | This program will explore, in detail, the causes, course, consequences, and legacy of the American Civil War and of the Reconstruction that followed. The Civil War and Reconstruction together caused the the greatest domestic crisis in the history of the United States of America. Indeed, the Civil War and Reconstruction were not only defing moments in American history but were also of world historical significance. Participants will consider and carefully study the war and its consequences as portrayed, mythologized, remembered, and interpreted in history texts, fictional accounts, personal memoirs, and films. The program will focus on the politics of two democracies at war, crucial battles and their consequences, questions of political and military leadership, the political and military significances of the Emancipation Proclomation, the reasons why the North ultimately prevailed over the South, and the failures of Reconstruction to protect the promised civil, social, and economic rights of the recently emancipated slaves. | Thomas Rainey Geoffrey Cunningham | Tue Wed Thu | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Summer | Summer | ||||
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Mark Harrison
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Program | FR–SRFreshmen - Senior | 8 | 08 | Weekend | Su 13Summer Session I | For more than 25 years, Joel and Ethan Coen, aka The Coen Brothers, have been among the most revered, controversial, and influential filmmakers of modern cinema. Their subjects are uniquely American. Their idiosyncratic filmmaking style ranges from original films to screen adaptations of diverse sources. They have recast classic genres, such as film noir, screwball comedy and the Western (to name a few) within a post-modern perspective. This program will explore the influences on and the art and legacy of the Coen Brothers. This is a partial online program. Students will need access to a comprehensive source for DVD rentals (such as Netflix, Amazon.com, Deep Discount, etc.) and will be using Moodle for required online seminars. | Mark Harrison | Sat | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Summer | Summer | ||||
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Rita Pougiales
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Program | FR–SRFreshmen - Senior | 8 | 08 | Day | Su 13Summer Session I | The processes of economic and political globalization reshape and undermine the lives of people and communities throughout the world. Some anthropologists have turned their attention to the effects of globalization on traditional and modern cultures, attempting to bring to light the full complexities and consequences of these transnational practices. For example, Joao Biehl develops an argument linking global economic activity in Brazil to what he calls the development of "zones of social abandonment" in most urban settings. Anthropologists conduct their studies through critical ethnographic research, gathering data, over long periods of time, as both "participant" and "observer" of those they are studying. Doing ethnographic research is simultaneously analytical and deeply embodied. This program includes an examination of and application of ethnographic research methods and methodologies, a study of varied theoretical frameworks used by anthropologists today to interpret and find meaning in data, and an opportunity to conduct an ethnographic project of interest. Students will read and explore a range of ethnographic studies that reveal what an anthropologist—whom Ruth Behar calls a "vulnerable observer"—can uncover about the lives of people today, and advocate on their behalf. | Rita Pougiales | Tue Thu | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Summer | Summer | ||||
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Julianne Unsel
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Program | SO–SRSophomore - Senior | 16 | 16 | Day | F 12 Fall | W 13Winter | S 13Spring | How do the personal identities and everyday lives of a people come together to shape the social and political worlds of a nation like the United States? How do national social and political worlds, in turn, shape individual identities and lives? Where do these worlds and identities come from? What forces contribute to them? How do we shape, and how are we shaped by, the worlds we find ourselves in today?We will explore these and related questions with an emphasis on three elements fundamental to shaping daily life in the American present and past – sex, race and family structure. Our program will adopt the centermost goal of all historical study – to understand the lives and events that have come before us so that we may better live our own lives within the social and political worlds we are responsible to today.We will inquire how popular and scientific notions of sexual and racial difference and desire have shaped social life and politics in the U.S., from settlement to the present. We will examine how these compound notions have shaped American history, how history has shaped them, and how both have bounded collective and individual articulations of sexual and racial identity, difference and desire.In fall quarter, we will study the diverse array of family structures, sexual practices, and economic relationships that developed in the U.S. from settlement to the end of slavery. In winter, we will examine the great changes in these institutions from the closing of the western frontier through the end of the world wars. In spring, we will place our own lives in proximate context with a close examination of the true revolutions in social life and scientific understanding of the past fifty years.In all three quarters, we will read in several disciplines, including U.S. social and political history, history of western medicine, history of sexuality, feminist and LBGTQ theory, and the psychology of desire. Weekly classes will include reading and discussion seminars, history lectures, student panel presentations, library study periods, and occasional documentary and new classic Hollywood feature film screenings.All program assignments will help us grow in both the art and craft of clear communication and well-supported argumentation. They will include critical reading, college writing, research in peer-reviewed literature, black and white film photography, and public outreach and speaking. Fall/winter photography components will use classic 35mm cameras to explore portraiture as a medium for self-identification and expression. Spring internship opportunities will bring our program themes to social outreach agencies and groups in our local community.This program will offer appropriate support to all students ready to do advanced work. All activities will support student peer-to-peer teaching, personal responsibility for learning and achievement, contemplative study habits, and intensive skills development. Transfer students are welcome. | the arts, social sciences, education, psychology, and health professions. | Julianne Unsel | Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Fall | Fall Winter | ||
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Brian Walter, Susan Fiksdal and Sara Sunshine Campbell
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Program | FR–SRFreshmen - Senior | 16 | 16 | Day | F 12 Fall | W 13Winter | What can a poll tell us about the outcome of an election? Do test scores really indicate whether a public school is "good"? What do gas prices have to do with social equity? Why are food labels a social justice issue?Quantitative literacy is a powerful tool that allows one not only to understand complex real-world phenomena but also to effect change. Educator and social justice advocate Eric Gutstein says that reading the world with mathematics means "to use mathematics to understand relations of power, resource inequities, and disparate opportunities between different social groups and to understand explicit discrimination based on race, class, gender, language, and other differences."In this program, we will "read the world with mathematics" as we consider issues of social justice, focusing particularly on how quantitative as well as qualitative approaches can deepen our understanding. The program work will develop students' knowledge of mathematics and examine issues of inequity using quantitative tools. In addition, students will work on persuasive writing and develop a historical understanding of current social structures. Our goal for our students is to expand their sense of social agency, their capacity to understand issues related to equity, and their ability to take action and work toward social change.In fall, we will study presidential and congressional national elections in the United States. We'll look at quantitative approaches to polling and the electoral process, including study of the electoral college system, and qualitative approaches to campaign advertising and political speeches. We'll examine the changing role of media, such as radio, television, the Internet and social media, by studying past presidential campaigns and how they've impacted today's campaigns. This work will include workshops in statistics and other quantitative approaches; workshops in discourse analysis of ads, blogs and social media websites; writing workshops; lectures; films and other media; book seminars; synthesis seminars; and a final project including quantitative and qualitative analysis of some aspect of the 2012 national elections.In winter quarter, we will investigate common experiences students have with mathematical work by studying the U.S. education system and mathematics education in particular. Civil rights activist Bob Moses has said that mathematics education in our public schools is a civil rights issue. Economic access depends on mathematical literacy, yet many students are marginalized by the middle-class curriculum and teaching practices of our public schools. Our exploration of this issue will inform our learning as we develop our own mathematical literacy.There are no mathematics requirements for this program. It is designed specifically to accommodate students who are uncertain of their mathematical skills, or who have had negative experiences with mathematics in the past. It is an introduction to college-level mathematics in the areas of statistics, probability, discrete mathematics, geometry and algebra. The program will also provide opportunities for students who wish to advance their mathematical understanding beyond the introductory level in these areas. | Brian Walter Susan Fiksdal Sara Sunshine Campbell | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Fall | Fall Winter | ||||
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Susan Preciso and Mark Harrison
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Program | SO–SRSophomore - Senior | 8 | 08 | Evening and Weekend | S 13Spring | Across time and cultures, humankind has struggled with moral taboos that obstruct the pursuit of knowledge deemed inappropriate or dangerous. While institutions have often dictated what is acceptable for us to know, the arts, literature, and mythology have been the chief mechanisms through which we have been able to explain or justify this fundamental human conflict. For example, in the creation story of Genesis and Milton’s we encounter one of western culture’s most enduring mythic structures. Faust and Frankenstein speak to a more modern dilemma about acquisition and use of knowledge. In this program we will explore this complex subject through visual art, music, poetry, and literature. Roger Shattuck’s will provide one analysis of the stories, but we’ll read other critical approaches as well. Students will be expected to read critically and well, take excellent reading notes, and write occasional critical essays on assigned topics. They will participate in seminar, lecture, workshop, and a field trip. Credits may be awarded in world literature and cultural studies. | Susan Preciso Mark Harrison | Wed Sat | Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Spring | Spring | ||||
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Greg Mullins and Trevor Griffey
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Program | FR–SRFreshmen - Senior | 16 | 16 | Day | F 12 Fall | W 13Winter | Where is home, and what would it be like to be free?According to cultural critic Robin DG Kelley, these burning questions about love and belonging, and not mere experiences of oppression, lay at the heart of the radical imagination. “Once we strip radical social movements down to their bare essence and understand the collective desires of people in motion,” he says, “freedom and love lay at the very heart of the matter.”Taking Kelley’s insight as our starting point, this program will use the study of history and literature to explore the intersections between three revolutionary social movements of the 1960s: the black freedom movement, the women’s liberation movement, and the sexual liberation movement.Our focus in fall will be themes of home and exile, freedom and slavery, and the role of love in imagining the kind of world we want to live in. We will revisit the history of the black freedom movement to imagine what civil rights movement history might look like if told as the struggle for a new world instead of the struggle for political rights. We will visit Washington DC on a field trip during the first week of November to study the politics of remembering the civil rights movement, including the iconic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech in August, 1963.Our inquiry into the black freedom movement will serve as a model for how we then move on to explore the literature and histories of the women’s liberation and gay and lesbian sexual liberation movements during winter quarter. Instead of studying them as mere demands for political rights, we will study ways in which their demands for liberation opened up a space for revolutionary politics, and how activists’ radical imagination for what liberation would mean inspired the cultural revolutions of the 1960s. | history, literature, and fields related to social and cultural analysis such as education, human services, government, policy, etc. | Greg Mullins Trevor Griffey | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Fall | Fall Winter | |||
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Trevor Griffey
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Program | FR–SRFreshmen - Senior | 8 | 08 | Day | Su 13Summer Session I | Conservatism has dominated United States politics for the last 30 years, and yet the study of conservatism tends to exist at the margins of college history and political science courses. This program seeks to remedy that problem by providing students of all political persuasions with an opportunity to critically examine the history and philosophy of conservatism in the United States.Some of the questions that the class will explore are:The program will approach these questions from an historical perspective by exploring how three distinct strands of conservatism evolved after World War I: social/religious conservatism, economic conservatism, and foreign policy conservatism. It will then explore how contemporary conservative media outlets try to unite these distinct strands of conservatism together while differentiating them from liberalism. It is recommended that students who enroll in the program have prior background in U.S. history and/or politics courses. | Trevor Griffey | Mon Wed Fri | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Summer | Summer | ||||
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Nancy Koppelman, Trevor Speller and Charles Pailthorp
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Program | FR–SRFreshmen - Senior | 16 | 16 | Day | S 13Spring | What is character but the determination of incident? What is incident but the illustration of character? - How do we determine what to do when faced with hard choices? Is our own happiness uppermost in our minds, or is something else--loyalty to a friend, say, or religious principles? How can we live with integrity in the face of temptation or tragedy? These ethical questions demand that we think carefully about character. Character comprises not only our distinctive qualities, but also our disposition to act in certain ways, for good or ill. Indeed, our word "ethical" derives from the Greek word for character, , which, like our word, can refer to a literary figure (a character) or to an individual's qualities and dispositions. In this program, we study works of philosophy, history, drama and fiction that illuminate our understanding of character. We explore how character affects, and is affected by, desire, deliberation, action and suffering. We read literary and historical accounts that illustrate the character of people or a people. These accounts may portray profound moral dilemmas or day-to-day trials woven into the fabric of human experience. Texts in ethical philosophy will broaden our notions of character, particularly in relation to external goods, habit, happiness, friendship and duties. They provide powerful interpretive tools and a refined vocabulary for grappling with questions raised by our other texts. Authors will include Plato, Aristotle, Sophocles, Immanuel Kant, Soren Kierkegaard, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edith Wharton, among others.This program suits students who are prepared not only to think critically, but to investigate their own beliefs and submit them to rigorous scrutiny: that is, to practice ethical thinking as well as study it. Writing will be central to that practice, and students will write long and short essays submitted to peer and faculty review. | Nancy Koppelman Trevor Speller Charles Pailthorp | Mon Wed Thu | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Spring | Spring | ||||
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Cheri Lucas-Jennings
Signature Required:
Winter Spring
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Contract | SO–SRSophomore - Senior | 16 | 16 | Day and Weekend | W 13Winter | S 13Spring | 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 | Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Winter | Winter Spring | |||
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Walter Grodzik
Signature Required:
Fall
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Contract | SO–SRSophomore - Senior | 16 | 16 | Day | F 12 Fall | Individual study offers individual and groups of students the opportunity to develop self-direction, to learn how to manage a personal project, to focus on unique combinations of subjects, and to pursue original interdisciplinary projects without the constraints of an external structure. Individual and groups of students interested in a self-directed project, research or internships in Queer Studies or the Performing and Visual Arts should contact the faculty by email at | Walter Grodzik | Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Fall | Fall | |||||
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Chico Herbison
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Course | FR–SRFreshmen - Senior | 4 | 04 | Day | Su 13Summer Session I | This course will provide an introduction to jazz music, an overview of its history and styles, and an assessment of its impact on American culture. Students will explore the musical elements of jazz; its aesthetic, cultural, and historical roots; its evolution through a variety of styles, including New Orleans, Swing, Bebop, Cool, and Avant-Garde; and the ways in which the music, its players, and its history have helped shape American culture. The final project will involve the close reading of a single jazz album. Students interested in expanding their final projects into a major piece of music writing can develop individual learning contracts for additional credit during second session. | Chico Herbison | Mon Tue | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Summer | Summer | ||||
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Sarah Ryan and Arleen Sandifer
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Program | FR–SRFreshmen - Senior | 8, 12, 16 | 08 12 16 | Weekend | F 12 Fall | W 13Winter | S 13Spring | Is justice a concept that is applicable to the workplace? In approaching this question, we’ll look at the history and legacy of immigration laws, labor law as set forth in the National Labor Relations Act, and civil rights/anti-discrimination law as written in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In addition to defining rights, these laws reflect the shape of power in society, and they can determine how workers and management interact. Their texts were written by lawmakers; but in another sense, they were written in the streets and workplaces during turbulent times. Class and racial biases exist in, and are reproduced by, the laws and their practices. In this class we’ll study the social movements and conditions that led to the passage of important bodies of labor, civil rights, and immigration law. We’ll ask how their history is important, how the struggles at their roots shaped the laws' forms, and how they affect the workplace today.Students will become acquainted with the critiques developed by scholars in Critical Race Theory and Critical Legal Studies, which help us think about power in the larger society and alternative possibilities for justice. Be prepared for fun, active, problem-solving and hard work. Students will learn to do basic legal and historical research. You will get a sense of the real work of attorneys and courts, but also the work of community activists and union stewards. Though there are no prerequisites, students should be prepared with some basic background in 20th century American history and should have the patience and persistence to read detailed histories, statutes, and legal cases. Students who are particularly interested in either labor, civil rights, or immigration issues are strongly urged to participate in the year-long program, as the connections between these histories and legal regimes are essential to understand. | law, labor organizing, history, social justice, public administration, management | Sarah Ryan Arleen Sandifer | Sat | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Fall | Fall Winter Spring | |
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Anthony Zaragoza, Zoltan Grossman and Lin Nelson
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Program | SO–SRSophomore - Senior | 16 | 16 | Day | F 12 Fall | W 13Winter | S 13Spring | Social movements don’t just happen. They emerge in complex, often subtle ways out of shifting historic conditions, at first unnoticed or underestimated. Social movements--across the political spectrum--push us to examine a wide array of questions about ideas, communication and organization, and how people are inspired and mobilized to create change. In this program, we will explore what individuals and communities can do about whatever issues are of most concern to them.This program will examine methods of community organizing that educate and draw people into social movements, and methods of activism that can turn their interests and commitment into effective action. Key to this will be how movements construct and frame their strategies, using a toolkit of tactics. Our foundation will be the contemporary U.S. scene, but we’ll draw on historical roots and lessons from the past, as well as on models from other countries. It will be crucial for us to look at the contexts of global, national and regional movements, and how they shape (and are shaped by) events at the local scale.In fall quarter we’ll undertake a comparative exploration of strategies and tactics of various social movements in the U.S. and abroad, and critically analyze their effectiveness and applicability. We’ll explore movements based around class and economic equality (such as labor rank-and-file, welfare rights and anti-foreclosure groups), as well as those based around identities of race, nationality and gender (such as civil rights, feminist, Native sovereignty, LGBTQ, and immigrant rights groups). The program will also examine movements that focus on life’s resources, from environmental justice to health, education and housing. Our examinations and explorations will take us across the political spectrum, including lessons from how populist movements effectively reach and mobilize disillusioned people, including right-wing populist movements, such as the Tea Party, pro-life/anti-choice and anti-gay movements, and anti-immigrant, anti-indigenous, and other white supremacist groups.During winter quarter, we’ll explore the ways that movements emerge and grow, focusing on themes that cut across organizations, and developing practical skills centered on these themes. Our discussions will include how movements reflect and tell people’s stories (through interviews, theater, etc.). Central to our work will be an examination of ways to communicate with people from different walks of life, using accessible language and imagery (through personal interaction, popular education, alternative media, etc.). We’ll critically examine how groups use mainstream institutions to effect change (such as press releases, research centers, legislative tactics, etc.). We’ll examine and critique the use of the internet and social media in networking people, and share innovative uses of culture (film, audio, art, music, etc.). We’ll assess the effectiveness and creativity of actions at different scales (rallies, direct actions, boycotts, etc.). Finally, we will look at relationships between social movements with different organizing styles, and how they have built alliances, as well as the internal dynamics within organizations.Spring quarter will be a time for in-depth work through different types of projects: comparative critiques of movement strategies, critical social history of a movement, direct work with a local or regional movement, critical exploration of movement literature, or development of media, including such possibilities as social media, short film pieces, photography, web pages, photovoice, and podcasting. Throughout the program, our work will be shaped by a range of community organizers, activists and scholars. Projects will use community-based research and documentation, with a view toward the sharing and presenting of work, in connection with partners and collaborators. | Anthony Zaragoza Zoltan Grossman Lin Nelson | Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Fall | Fall | |||
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Matthew Smith
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Program | FR–SRFreshmen - Senior | 16 | 16 | Day | S 13Spring | Today as we move into the second decade of the 21 century, environmental issues are in the mainstream. Everything from the food we eat to climate change, from the philosophy of the nature to the nature of our communities, from economic policy to our understanding of earth and human history is being rethought. This program provides an opportunity for students to read and respond to some of the best new environmental writing and ideas in the context of classic texts in the field. We will trace the origins of nature writing, the twin traditions of exploration and romanticism as they emerge and develop in the early 19 and early 20 century. Authors including Thoreau, Emerson,; and Aldo Leopold, A will form the background for our reading of contemporary nature writing and environmental thinking. We will read contemporary writers including Gary Snyder, ; Freeman House, ; Terry Tempest Williams, ; John Vaillent, : Timothy Morton, and Barbara Kingsolver, . We will supplement our work with poetry, articles and essays. We will read and discuss each text carefully. We will maintain a reader’s journal in which we reflect upon the text and themes that have emerged in our reading. Students will be expected to write short formal essays, an extended piece of nature writing, and a research essay dealing with a particular topic, writer, or theme that has emerged from our work. Each student should anticipate becoming the resident expert in the work of at least one of our authors or one major issue.The program is designed to give students an opportunity to read a variety of important pieces of environmental literature and to work on their own writing. We will share our writing with peer and faculty support and will expect all students to participate regularly in all phases of the program. Our work will offer opportunities for serious conversation, focused research, and reflection on personal and collective understandings of environmental ethics and action. | Matthew Smith | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Spring | Spring | |||||
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Jennifer Gerend and Ralph Murphy
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Program | JR–SRJunior - Senior | 16 | 16 | Day | F 12 Fall | W 13Winter | This program will provide an interdisciplinary, in-depth focus on how land has been viewed and treated by humans historically and in contemporary times. We will give special attention to the political, economic, social/cultural, environmental and justice contexts of land use. We will also look at land ethics, concepts of land ownership, and efforts to regulate land uses and protect lands that have been defined as valuable by society.To understand the context, role and purposes of land use policy and regulation, the following topics and social science disciplines will be used to evaluate human treatment of land primarily in the United States: history and theory of land use planning; economic and community development; the structure and function of American government and federalism; public policy formation and implementation; contemporary land use planning and growth management; elements of environmental and land use law; economics; fiscal analysis of state and local governments; and selected applications of qualitative and quantitative research methods, such as statistics and GIS. Taken together, these topics will help us examine the diversity of ideas, theories and skills required for developing an in-depth analysis of land issues. Our goal is to have students leave the program with a comprehensive understanding of the complexity of issues surrounding land use planning, restoration, urban redevelopment, stewardship and conservation.The program will include lectures, seminars, guest speakers, films, research methods workshops, field trips in western Washington and individual and group research projects and presentations. Fall quarter will focus on developing an understanding of the political and economic history that brought about the need for land use regulation. This will include understanding the political, legal, theoretical and economic context. Winter quarter will continue these themes into contemporary applications and the professional world of land use planning, such as the Washington Growth Management Act, historic preservation and shoreline management. Students will leave the program with the foundation to prepare them for internships or potential careers in land use policy and management. | land use and environmental planning, policy development and fiscal analysis, environmental and natural resource management, and community development. | Jennifer Gerend Ralph Murphy | Junior JR Senior SR | Fall | Fall Winter | |||
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Michael Vavrus and Peter Bohmer
Signature Required:
Winter
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Program | SO–SRSophomore - Senior | 16 | 16 | Day | F 12 Fall | W 13Winter | We will examine the nature, development and concrete workings of modern capitalism and the interrelationship of race, class and gender in historical and contemporary contexts. Recurring themes will be the relationship among oppression, exploitation, social movements, reform and fundamental change, and the construction of alternatives to capitalism, nationally and globally. We will examine how social change has occurred in the past, present trends, and alternatives for the future. We will also examine different theoretical frameworks such as liberalism, Marxism, feminism, anarchism and neoclassical economics, and their explanations of the current U.S. and global political economy and key issues such as education, the media and the criminal justice system. Students will learn communication skills related to public debate and social change.In fall, the U.S. experience will be the central focus, whereas winter quarter will have a global focus. We will begin with the colonization of the U.S., and the material and ideological foundations of the U.S. political economy from the 18th century to the present. We will explore specific issues including the slave trade, racial, gender and economic inequality, the labor movement and the western push to "American Empire." We will carefully examine the linkages from the past to the present between the economic core of capitalism, political and social structures, and gender, race and class relations. Resistance will be a central theme. We will study microeconomics principles from a neoclassical and political economy perspective. Within microeconomics, we will study topics such as the structure and failure of markets, work and wages, poverty, and the gender and racial division of labor.In winter, we will examine the interrelationship between the U.S. political economy and the changing global system, and U.S. foreign policy. We will study causes and consequences of the globalization of capital and its effects in our daily lives, international migration, the role of multilateral institutions and the meaning of trade agreements and regional organizations. This program will analyze the response of societies such as Venezuela and Bolivia and social movements such as labor, feminist, anti-war, environmental, indigenous and youth in the U.S. and internationally in opposing the global order. We will look at alternatives to neoliberal capitalism including socialism, participatory economies and community-based economies and strategies for social change. We will study macroeconomics, including causes and solutions to the high rates of unemployment and to economic instability. We will introduce competing theories of international trade and finance and examine their applicability in the global South and North. In winter quarter, as part of the 16 credits, there will be an optional internship for up to four credits in organizations and groups whose activities are closely related to the themes of this program or the opportunity to write a research paper on a relevant political economy topic.Students will engage the material through seminars, lectures, films, workshops, seminar response papers, synthesis papers based on program material and concepts, and take-home economics examinations. | political science, economics, education, labor and community organizing, law and international solidarity. | Michael Vavrus Peter Bohmer | Tue Tue Wed Wed Fri Fri | Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Fall | Fall Winter | ||
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Peter Bohmer and Elizabeth Williamson
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Program | FR–SRFreshmen - Senior | 16 | 16 | Day | S 13Spring | 1968 and 2011 were world historic years. In both cases, uprisings spread within and between countries. In 1968, major resistance to the existing order produced movements for liberation in Vietnam (Tet offensive); France (May, 1968); Czechoslovakia (Soviet invasion, August, 1968); Mexico, (Tlatelolco and Olympics) and the United States--including the rebellions after Martin Luther King's assassination, the Columbia University occupation, the protests against the Democratic Party Convention in Chicago, and the major growth of the women's and Black liberation movements. There were major uprisings in many other countries. New left theory and practice were integral to those movements. 1968 was perhaps the central year of the 1960s--a decade where the status quo was challenged culturally, socially and politically; a period of experimentation where countercultures emerged and revolution was in the air.2011 was another major year of uprisings. Social movements against repressive governments and against social inequality spread from Tunisia to Egypt to Yemen, Syria, Libya, Bahrain--among many others. The nature and goals of the uprisings vary from country to county, but all are connected by an egalitarian and democratic spirit where youth play a major role. Inspired partially by the events in the Middle East, Wisconsin residents and especially public sector workers occupied the State Capital in the spring of 2011, and there were massive demonstrations against the frontal attack on public sector unions, and on education and social programs. These so-called "austerity measures" and the growing resistance to them are occurring all over the United States. There is also occupation of public spaces led by the young and independent of political parties, demanding the end of unemployment and the maintenance of social program in Greece, France, Spain and other countries in Europe.In this program we will examine the political, economic, and cultural contexts of the uprisings in both of these periods--paying attention to local, national and global connections. We will study these uprisings, and the socio-political forces that helped shape them, through cultural and political economic analysis, fiction and non-fiction literature, movies, music, and participant experiences. Particular attention will be paid to developing research skills and writing for a broader audience.In addition to developing a greater awareness of the historical impact of these uprisings, we hope to better understand the philosophy, goals, strategy and tactics of the organizers of these movements. We will conclude by comparing and contrasting 1968 to 2011 in order to develop lessons for the present and future. | teaching social studies; organizing; working for an economic or social justice organziation--locally, nationally or globally; graduate school in social sciences or cultural studies. | Peter Bohmer Elizabeth Williamson | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Spring | Spring | ||||
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Frances V. Rains
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Program | FR–SRFreshmen - Senior | 16 | 16 | Day | S 13Spring | The 20th century has not been the exclusive domain of Euro-American men and women in the U.S. yet it often requires to realize that women of color have also existed at the same time. Repeatedly, women of color [e.g., African American, Native American, Asian American, Latina/Chicana] have been stereotyped and have endured multiple oppressions, leaving them seemingly voiceless and invisible. Such circumstances have hidden from view how these same women were active agents in the context of their times, who worked to protect their cultures, languages and families. These women of color often resisted the passive victimization associated with them. Gaining an introduction to such women of color can broaden and enrich our understanding of what it has meant to be a woman and a citizen in 20th century North America. Drawing upon autobiographies, poetry, short stories, essays and films, we will explore the ways in which women of color defied the stereotypes and contributed to the economic, social, political and cultural life of the contemporary United States. We will critique how feminist theory has both served and ignored these women. We will analyze how 20th century U.S. women of color survived, struggled, challenged barriers, and forged their own paths to make life a little easier and better for the next generation of women and men. Students will develop skills as writers and researchers by studying scholarly and imaginative works and conducting research. Through extensive reading and writing, dialogue, films and guest speakers, we will investigate important aspects of the life and times of women of color in the 20th century. | Frances V. Rains | Mon Wed Thu | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Spring | Spring | ||||
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Marla Elliott
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Course | FR–SRFreshmen - Senior | 2 | 02 | Evening and Weekend | Su 13Summer Session II | Shape note music has captivated and inspired American singers for two hundred years. Its dissonant harmonies and full-throated vocal style have led to the label “gospel-punk”. In this short, intensive course we will learn the basics of this music and its practices, and then travel to Buckley, Washington to participate in an All-Day Singing event. All skill levels are welcome. Students can expect to improve their music literacy, vocal strength, and sight-singing skills; they will also learn about the history of American hymnody. | Marla Elliott | Fri Sat Sun | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Summer | Summer | ||||
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Chico Herbison
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Program | FR ONLYFreshmen Only | 16 | 16 | Day | F 12 Fall | W 13Winter | "What then, is Earth to American people of color?" (Alison H. Deming and Lauret E. Savoy, ) This two quarter program explores nature writing by people of color in the United States. Deming and Savoy provide an eloquent and passionate starting point, as well as critical unifying themes and issues, for our exploration: "[if nature writing] examines human perceptions and experiences of nature, if an intimacy with and response to the larger-than-human world define who or what we are, if we as people are part of nature, then the experiences of all people on this land are necessary stories, even if some voices have been silent, silenced, or simply not recognized as nature writing."We will begin our quest by addressing the many meanings of "nature" and, by extension, "nature writing." Our journey's next phase will involve an introduction to, and brief overview of, the American nature writing tradition. Students will read selections from some of the country's best-known nature writers, including Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Muir, Mary Hunter Austin, Wendell Berry, Rachel Carson, Barry Lopez, Annie Dillard and Terry Tempest Williams. Fall quarter will conclude with introductory readings on the historical and cultural relationships between people of color and nature. Students will engage with program readings, not only to develop a stronger appreciation of, and respect for, nature writing, but also to strengthen their critical thinking, reading and academic writing skills. In winter quarter, our selection of texts will foreground major works of nature writing by people of color, including writings by Toni Morrison, Leslie Marmon Silko, Ruth Ozeki, Percival Everett, and by those anthologized in . Students will continue to hone their academic writing skills; however, they will have the opportunity to explore "the colors of nature" through a variety of other writing forms: fiction, poetry, music lyrics, and creative nonfiction, among others. By winter quarter's end, students will be equipped to respond, in a variety of ways, to that question posed above: "What then, is Earth to American people of color?" Only at that point can we begin to address the enduring question, "What then, is Earth to all people?" Program activities will include lectures, workshops, seminars, film screenings, guest presentations and field trips. Students should be prepared to devote at least twice as many hours outside of class, as those spent in class, to program readings, writing and other assignments. | the humanities, writing, education, and environmental studies. | Chico Herbison | Tue Thu Fri | Freshmen FR | Fall | Fall |
