2013–14 Academic Catalog

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Consciousness Studies [clear]

Title		Offering	Standing	Credits	Credits	When	F	W	S	Su	Description	Preparatory	Faculty	Days	Multiple Standings	Start Quarters	Open Quarters
Computers and Cognition Ab Van Etten computer science consciousness studies		Program	FR–SRFreshmen–Senior	8	08	Weekend			S 14Spring		What types of problems can be solved by computers? How do humans and computers differ in the types of problems they can solve? What is the future of computing, and will computers evolve an intelligence that includes what we would define as human thought? Can computers learn or create on their own? This program will explore the basics of computer science, how computers work, and their possibilities and limits. The program will include basic programming in Javascript, Web development, introductory computer electronics, and other computer science topics. We will contrast this with human cognition. We will then look at how computers will likely affect the way we live, work, and relate in the future. In seminar we will explore the issues surrounding machine vs human consciousness and strong artificial intelligence.		Ab Van Etten	Sat	Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR	Spring	Spring
Critical Thought and Social Consciousness through Film Michelle Aguilar-Wells consciousness studies media studies		Program	FR–SRFreshmen–Senior	16	16	Day			S 14Spring		-Laura Bickford, Oscar nominated producer of "Traffic" Film can revolve around complex issues found in society and offer different perspectives on human and societal behavior. Students in the all level class will view and analyze a minimum of 20 films from the big screen, small screen, and documentary categories. The class will be divided into four topical areas: race relations, corporate influence and impacts, LGBT community issues, and a miscellaneous category. Examples of films that may be included are: Crash, Milk, American History X, Wall Street, Grand Torino, 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days, Traffic, Two Spirits, and How to Survive a Plague. Students will review critiques of the films, participate in seminars, use organizing techniques to identify concepts, and review competing and historical perspectives. In addition, students will analyze each film’s individual perspectives, techniques, and impacts. Students will produce reflections and/or film analysis, a final term paper that is a comparative analysis within one of the categories, deep reflective questions for each film, and research work associated with each film category. They will learn to apply critical modes of questioning to issues in their own communities. They will understand the meaning of social consciousness and the value of significant dialogue. Students should be prepared to enter into difficult discussions with civility and respect. Students can expect to examine their own beliefs in light of differing perspectives. Students can expect to receive credit in film analysis, critical thought, and social consciousness or justice. : students in this program must be prepared to view films that offer controversial subject matter and perspectives and may be rated R.		Michelle Aguilar-Wells	Mon Tue Wed	Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR	Spring	Spring
Individual Study: East-West Psychology Ryo Imamura anthropology communications consciousness studies cultural studies education environmental studies field studies health history international studies music philosophy psychology religious studies sociology somatic studies sustainability studies Signature Required: Spring		Contract	SO–SRSophomore–Senior	16	16	Day			S 14Spring		This is an opportunity for sophomore, junior and senior students to create their own course of study and research, including internship, community service, and study abroad options. Before the beginning of spring quarter, interested students should submit an Individual Learning or Internship Contract to Ryo Imamura, which clearly states the work to be completed. Possible areas of study are Western psychology, Asian psychology, Buddhism, counseling, social work, cross-cultural studies, Asian-American studies, religious studies, nonprofit organizations, aging, death and dying, deep ecology and peace studies. Areas of study other than those listed above will be considered on a case-by-case basis.		Ryo Imamura		Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR	Spring	Spring
Mindbody Medicine Mukti Khanna consciousness studies health psychology		Program	FR–SRFreshmen–Senior	4, 8	04 08	Day, Evening and Weekend				Su 14 Session II Summer	Mind-body Medicine focuses on the applications of sociocultural, psychosocial, and behavioral knowledge relevant to health and wellness. The course will explore historical foundations of mind-body medicine in addition to clinical practices including energy psychology, qigong, expressive arts therapy, somatic practices and mindfulness. Questions to be explored include "What practices are emering at the creative edge of healthcare?" and " How are healthcare providers preparing themselves to work in an integrative healthcare system?" Students have the option of doing additional health project work and theoretical readings for an additional 4 credits.		Mukti Khanna	Wed Fri Sat Sun	Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR	Summer	Summer
Moving Towards Health Mukti Khanna and Cynthia Kennedy consciousness studies dance health leadership studies psychology somatic studies Signature Required: Winter		Program	FR–SOFreshmen–Sophomore	16	16	Day	F 13 Fall	W 14Winter			This two-quarter program explores the creation of health through mind-body perspectives. How can we engage in transformational conversations about the connections between personal, community and planetary health? Knowing that in every moment choices we make can move us toward health, or away from it, this program will explore the myriad ways we can embody choices that keep us and our communities vital and alive. Throughout the program, we will recognize that our individual choices can help us create both personal health and a sustainable environment, a conscious life and a positive presence in society.Fall quarter we will explore systems of health and healing from multicultural, neurobiological and ecopsychological lenses. There is a synergistic relationship between planetary and personal well-being; the health of one is related to the health of the other. We will explore the relationship between the body and the natural world. We'll also explore somatic (body-based) literacy as it relates to leadership, communication and engagement with social issues. Somatic literacy includes listening and acting on information from the body. Winter quarter will allow students to design their own health-based project studies while continuing to explore self-leadership, creativity, emotional intelligence, health and self-image.Students will have an opportunity to learn in many ways using diverse modalities and multiple intelligences. We will integrate somatic learning into our studies, including movement workshops (no prior experience necessary). Our inquiry will ask us to attune ourselves to the wisdom that is available and present in our mind-body awareness. We will participate in community readings, community service, rigorous writing assignments and critical study of important texts. Learning through multiple intelligences can be enjoyable.Come join us!		Mukti Khanna Cynthia Kennedy		Freshmen FR Sophomore SO	Fall	Fall Winter
Music and Consciousness Terry Setter consciousness studies music		Program	JR–SRJunior–Senior	12	12	Day	F 13 Fall	W 14Winter			This program is a two-quarter-long investigation of the relationship between sound, music and human consciousness. We will compose original music and explore the psychological and aesthetic effects that music has on us. The program is for experienced composers and performers. It is primarily a musical endeavor, working with aspects of psychology and contemplative studies, rather than a study of psychology that involves aspects of music. The program goal is to become better composers and performers and to develop greater understanding of the qualitative aspects of listening, how music “functions” in our lives and how it relates to the broad field of Consciousness Studies. To do this, we will read texts that deal with established contemporary compositional techniques as well as seminal texts and recent findings in Consciousness Studies. Research topics could include the effects of music at the somatic level, studies in psycho acoustics, and surveys of techniques used in music therapy. Students will be expected to complete compositions, research projects and listening exercises and to keep a journal related to their experiences with the music that we create.In fall, we will build listening and compositional skills and begin to relate these to the psychological and spiritual dimensions of the pieces, learning to use appropriate vocabulary and critical techniques. In winter, students will deepen these musical skills and they will select a topic for a twenty-minute formal research presentation that will be presented during week nine. There will also be a public concert of original pieces at the end of the winter quarter.		Terry Setter		Junior JR Senior SR	Fall	Fall Winter
Music, Mind and Motion Ratna Roy and Joseph Tougas consciousness studies cultural studies dance literature music philosophy		Program	FR–SOFreshmen–Sophomore	16	16	Day	F 13 Fall	W 14Winter			Have you ever felt that your mind and your body were just “out of sync”? How about the other experience—when your mind and body were working together flawlessly—when you felt “in the flow”? These kinds of experiences invite other questions about the relation between the mind and the body, questions that have been the focus of thinking and research in cultures around the world. There is, for examples, a tradition in Western philosophy that has emphasized the separation between the mind and the body. Other traditions emphasize mind/body interaction and unity. Does the mind control the body? Or is it the other way round? What can we learn about these questions if we challenge ourselves to use our bodies to interact precisely and skillfully with others? This is the kind of thing people do when they learn to move together in dance, to raise their voices in song, or to make music together.This program will explore the connections between the mind and the body through the media of music and dance. We will learn about the scientific investigation of the interaction between mind and body, especially in connection with the kinds of social activities that bring people together in communities of artistic endeavor—for example, a jazz band or dance group. We will examine both Eastern and Western philosophical traditions to see what we can learn about different ways of understanding the relationship between the mind and body as manifested in disciplines of motion and rest. We will also engage in practice involving music and dance, experiencing first hand the unity of thought and action. The work of the program will include readings about music and dance from a variety of cultures as well as philosophical and scientific texts. The philosophical texts deal with the relationship between the mind and the body; the scientific texts provide information about brain function and what neuroscience can teach us about how the mind and body interact in music and dance. Students will write essays on the weekly readings in preparation for seminar discussions and a final research paper. They will also participate in workshop activities learning musical and dance skills. During the fall quarter the workshop emphasis was on building skills. At the end of fall quarter students, working in groups, created scripts of performance pieces combining music and dance. During winter our attention in the workshops will be directed toward developing those scripts into fully realized music and dance performances for presentation to an audience in the 9 week of the quarter.		Ratna Roy Joseph Tougas		Freshmen FR Sophomore SO	Fall	Fall Winter
The Nature and Evolution of Human Psychology Heesoon Jun and Bret Weinstein biology communications consciousness studies cultural studies psychology		Program	FR ONLYFreshmen Only	16	16	Day	F 13 Fall	W 14Winter			The human mind is perhaps the most fascinating, and least understood, product of Darwinian evolution. In this program we will endeavor to understand how the mind functions and why it has come to work in the way that it has. We will study human psychology as modern empirical science has come to understand it, and we will combine that hybrid model with a consideration of the evolutionary path humans have traversed, as well as a deep investigation of those portions of evolutionary theory most relevant to hominid cognition, perception and behavior. Our program will seek to unify important conclusions from multiple schools of thought within psychology as we consider humans from a broadly cross-cultural perspective. We will range from the Jungian to the Cognitive, and from the modern !Kung people of the Kalahari to the ancient Maya of Central America. Our objective is to generate an integrative model of the human mind that can accommodate humans as individuals and as interdependent social beings.Winter materials will build on content covered in the fall. There will be educational value and intellectual reward for staying in the program both quarters.	biology, psychology, health related studies, human and social services.	Heesoon Jun Bret Weinstein	Tue Tue Wed Wed Fri Fri	Freshmen FR	Fall	Fall Winter
Radical Acts: Cheap Art, Performance and Play in the Streets Cynthia Kennedy and Walter Grodzik aesthetics consciousness studies dance somatic studies theater		Program	FR–SRFreshmen–Senior	16	16	Day and Weekend			S 14Spring		This one-quarter long, introductory program is a ten-week examination of the role that cheap art, performance and play have fulfilled in society, not only historically, but also in more modern times. Because of the powerful role they can play in shaping human consciousness, we will explore ways of returning them to their popular roots where they can thrive outside the reign of corporate control, mainstream media, and money. Together we will investigate ways cheap art (such as masks, puppets and costumes made with everyday inexpensive materials) and performance can have meaning that is created by “regular” people and for “regular” people rather than fed us by the entertainment industry. We will explore the answers to many questions. What is it like for performance art to spring from our imaginations without the need for large amounts of money? What if performance art was accessible to all people, not just those with the means and education to consume it? What would it be like if performance art reflected deeply felt social truths that connected to our own lives? How does street theater interrupt everyday life in the public sphere in a way that helps us connect to our own humanity? How does the use of material objects (puppets, masks, signs, banners), as well as performers voices and bodies, connect performer and audience in ways that create meaning? Our program will approach these questions in two ways. On the one hand, we will have a strong academic component in which students will acquire knowledge about the history of performance and art in the hands of the people, looking at its aesthetics, theories, and controversies. We will examine the rich cultural heritage of performance in the streets and connect it to the people and places where it lives on today. Our exploration will be situated in an international context, and we will use film and text to examine performance throughout history and around the world, such as, but not limited to, political street theater, Carnival, Mardi Gras, the Bread and Butter Puppet Theater, Anna Halprin’s Planetary Dance and more. On the other hand, we will engage in large doses of experiential learning as we use simple materials like recycled fabrics, cardboard, scraps of wood, paper, reused items and other inexpensive materials to create our own cheap art and performance, which we will share with our friends and neighbors in the local streets of Olympia (or other surrounding areas) and the college campus. During the first half of the quarter we will participate in , Olympia's yearly one-of-a-kind celebration of the natural world, held in conjunction with Earth Day. 2014 will mark the 20th year of this community celebration, which often draws crowds of up to 30,000 and has serious creative intent. The Procession was designed to bring a deep love of life into the heart, and onto the streets, of Olympia. In preparation, students will work in one of the largest community art studios in the country where people of all ages create costumes, masks and puppets from inexpensive and recycled materials. Participation in this part of the program will require three Sunday evening rehearsals in the community, as well as the Saturday afternoon Procession. During the second half of the quarter we will continue to use the street as a live public space, a radical act in response to the privatization of such public space by radio, television and film. We will use unorthodox methods to create our own cheap art, performances, celebrations, protests, and social commentary, which we will develop in response to current events happening both locally and around the world. Throughout the quarter our work together will develop our visual imaginations, critical thinking and writing skills, all of which are essential to academic learning and readily transferable to any profession or vocation.No performance or art experience is necessary for this program.		Cynthia Kennedy Walter Grodzik		Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR	Spring	Spring
Sacred Intersections: The Arts of Medieval Christianity and Middle Islam Suzanne Simons and Ann Storey aesthetics art history consciousness studies cultural studies history religious studies visual arts		Program	SO–SRSophomore–Senior	8	08	Evening	F 13 Fall	W 14Winter			Sacred Intersections focuses on a thousand-year period of Christian and Islamic art, art history, poetry, and mysticism. As the program continues in Winter quarter, we will turn our attention to a time of, roughly, the 12 through the 14 centuries. This was a period that built on the creativity, spirituality, and change of the previous era and took the arts to new heights through creative and cultural fusion. We will study the motivating ideas and issues of the age: the mystical poetic traditions of the Persian empire (present-day Iran and central Asia) and their influence on contemporary poetry; the awe-inspiring forms of Gothic architecture, and the poetry of the Beguine mystics (of present-day Germany). The idea that both mystic and artist were “seers”—seeing beyond the physical into the transcendent and metaphysical—impelled them into visionary realms. We will examine poets such as Rumi and Hafez and other charismatic figures. We will study illuminated manuscripts, mosaics, stained glass, sculpture, and sacred architecture of European and Byzantine Christendom and Islamic empires stretching from Spain to Central Asia. Art workshops will enable students to move from theory to practice. Class time will be divided among the following activities: faculty lectures, art workshops, seminars, writing, films and a possible field trip to a local mosque. This program is preparatory for further study and/or careers in the visual arts, education, museum studies, religion, communication, international relations, history, and writing.		Suzanne Simons Ann Storey	Tue Thu	Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR	Fall	Fall Winter
Student-Originated Studies: Music Composition and Consciousness Studies Terry Setter aesthetics consciousness studies media arts music Signature Required: Spring		SOS	SO–SRSophomore–Senior	16	16	Day			S 14Spring		This SOS is an opportunity for well-prepared students to do highly independent work in music composition, music technology, audio production, and consciousness studies. Participants will meet as a group on Thursday mornings to review progress and share ideas for increasing the quantity and quality of the work that students are doing. Specific descriptions of learning goals and activities will be developed individually between the student and faculty.		Terry Setter	Thu	Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR	Spring	Spring
Student-Originated Studies: Psychology and Integrative Health Mukti Khanna and Heesoon Jun community studies consciousness studies health psychology Signature Required: Spring		SOS	SO–SRSophomore–Senior	16	16	Day			S 14Spring		This program is intended for students who want to deepen their work in psychology through integrating theory and practice, in a setting that combines student-designed and faculty-designed study and projects. The faculty-designed component of the program will train students in the American Psychological Association ethics code that can be applied to working with diverse populations and internship sites. Students will also receive training in writing APA style social science papers and working with social science library data bases. Students will have the option of attending the Western Psychological Association meeting, which is the western regional arm of the American Psychological Association, that will be held in Portland, Oregon, April 24- 27, 2014. Attending this professional conference is one of the best ways to explore the range of work and research that is emerging in the field of psychology nationally.The student-designed component of the program may be a six-credit (15 hour a week) internship or independent study project related to psychology or health. Students will meet with faculty weekly to study more about psychological ethics, psychological writing and community work.		Mukti Khanna Heesoon Jun		Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR	Spring	Spring
Student-Originated Studies: Seeds, Beads, Bees and other Biodynamical Processes Sarah Williams and Martha Rosemeyer agriculture consciousness studies cultural studies field studies gender and women's studies sustainability studies writing Signature Required: Winter Spring		SOS	SO–SRSophomore–Senior	16	16	Day	F 13 Fall	W 14Winter	S 14Spring		J.W. Goethe Like the role of bees and seeds in the evolution of agriculture, beads—which often are seeds, shells, wax or bone—have an inside and an outside that commute. Seeds, beads and bees are interpenetrating, reciprocal creations. They form assemblages with centers and their use over time can be a measure of the fertility of mind, spirit and body. This SOS will support students in bead-like studies of biodynamic processes in conjunction with an internship, creative practice or field research project. Whether defined in relationship to agricultural, artistic or somatic practices, biodynamic processes are characterized by interconnected, recursive and iterative movements that form holistic patterns. Thus, students will be guided to reflect on their learning itself as a biodynamic process. To what extent is the subject and object of a liberal arts education mutually causative? In what ways might thinking be enlivened if informed by a consciousness of temporal rhythms (e.g., respiration) and cosmic forces such as tides and sunlight?This program is ideal for responsible, enthusiastic and self-motivated students with an interest in developing and reflecting on a substantial project over a substantial period of time. In addition to classroom work, each student will create an individual course of academic learning including an internship (e.g., at a local organic farm), creative practice (e.g., nature writing), or field research project (e.g., discovering the differences—and why they matter—between commercial and biodynamic beekeeping). Collaboration, including shared field-trip opportunities, with the Ecological Agriculture and Practice of Sustainable Agriculture programs will be available. Academic work for each quarter will include weekly group meetings, an annotated bibliography and maintenance of a field journal to document independent project learning. In addition to this independent project component, students will engage in weekly readings and written responses, seminar discussions and a final presentation. Unless exceptions are designed into students' projects and agreed upon in advance, all students will be required to attend and actively participate in this one day of weekly class activities, as well as individual self-assessment meetings with the faculty at mid-quarter and the end of the quarter. Interested students should browse the following authors and texts to explore their ability to think and act biodynamically within an intentional learning community: , edited by David Seamon and Arthur Zajonc; by Wolf Storl; by Charles Ridley; by Catherine Cole; by Gary Snyder; by Robert Bringhurst; by Ruth Ozeki; and : by Rudolf Steiner		Sarah Williams Martha Rosemeyer	Tue	Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR	Fall	Fall Winter Spring
Tend and Tell: Developing and Interpreting an Ethnobotanical Garden Marja Eloheimo Native American studies botany communications community studies consciousness studies education environmental studies health writing		Program	FR–SRFreshmen–Senior	12	12	Weekend	F 13 Fall	W 14Winter	S 14Spring		Working as a multidisciplinary project team, this year-long program has a mission. Students will engage in hands-on work to enhance the fledgling ethnobotanical garden at the Evergreen “House of Welcome” Longhouse by refining and caring for existing habitat and theme areas. Through this work, we will create a valuable educational resource and contribute to multiple communities including Evergreen, local K-12 schools, local First Nations, and a growing global collective of ethnobotanical gardens that promote environmental, medical, and cultural diversity and sustainability.During winter quarter, students will focus on the garden's "story" through continued work on existing signage, a book draft, and/or other interpretive materials such as a web page. Students will work independently on skill development, research, and project planning or implementation in their selected areas of interest and garden areas. Students will also be active during the winter transplant season and will prepare procurement and planting plans for the spring season.During spring quarter, students will plant and care for the garden, wrapping up all of the work they have begun. They will complete interpretive materials, create and implement educational activities, and participate in the Longhouse Cleansing Ceremony.Since this unique program is grounded in community-service learning, topics in various subject areas – including field botany, community-based herbalism, horticulture, and Indigenous studies – are woven into the fabric of student learning when most appropriate to overall objectives, and are introduced through readings, lectures, workshops, assignments, and projects.The program cultivates community by nurturing each member's contributions and growth, and acknowledges the broader context of sustainability, especially with regard to food and medicine.		Marja Eloheimo	Sat Sun	Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR	Fall	Fall Winter Spring
Tomorrow Today: Political Economy & Culture of the Future Anthony Zaragoza African American studies American studies Native American studies communications community studies consciousness studies cultural studies economics education gender and women's studies government history international studies law and government policy law and public policy leadership studies literature moving image political economy political science sociology sustainability studies		Course	FR–SRFreshmen–Senior	4	04	Day				Su 14 Session II Summer			Anthony Zaragoza	Tue Thu	Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR	Summer	Summer
Turning Eastward: Explorations in East-West Psychology Ryo Imamura community studies consciousness studies cultural studies health philosophy psychology religious studies Signature Required: Winter		Program	SO–SRSophomore–Senior	16	16	Day	F 13 Fall	W 14Winter			Western psychology has so far failed to provide us with a satisfactory understanding of the full range of human experience. It has largely overlooked the core of human understanding—our everyday mind and our immediate awareness of being—with all of its felt complexity and sensitive attunement to the vast network of interconnectedness with the universe around us. Instead, Western psychology has chosen to analyze the mind as though it were an object independent of the analyzer, consisting of hypothetical structures and mechanisms that cannot be directly experienced. Western psychology's neglect of the living mind--both in its everyday dynamics and its larger possibilities--has led to a tremendous upsurge of interest in the ancient wisdom of Asia, particularly Buddhism, which does not divorce the study of psychology from the concern with wisdom and human liberation.In contrast to Western psychology, Eastern psychology shuns any impersonal attempt to objectify human life from the viewpoint of an external observer and instead studies consciousness as a living reality which shapes individual and collective perception and action. The primary tool for directly exploring the mind is meditation or mindfulness, an experiential process in which one becomes an attentive participant-observer in the unfolding of moment-to-moment consciousness.Learning mainly from lectures, readings, videos, workshops, seminar discussions, individual and group research projects and field trips, in fall quarter we will take a critical look at the basic assumptions and tenets of the major currents in traditional Western psychology, the concept of mental illness and the distinctions drawn between normal and abnormal thought and behavior. In winter quarter, we will then investigate the Eastern study of mind that has developed within spiritual traditions, particularly within the Buddhist tradition. In doing so, we will take special care to avoid the common pitfall of most Western interpretations of Eastern thought—the attempt to fit Eastern ideas and practices into unexamined Western assumptions and traditional intellectual categories. Lastly, we will address the encounter between Eastern and Western psychology as possibly having important ramifications for the human sciences in the future, potentially leading to new perspectives on the whole range of human experience and life concerns.	psychology, counseling, social work, education, Asian-American studies, Asian studies and religious studies.	Ryo Imamura		Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR	Fall	Fall Winter
Understanding Mind/Emotion in Eastern Psychology Jamyang Tsultrim consciousness studies psychology		Program	FR–SRFreshmen–Senior	8	08	Day and Weekend				Su 14 Session I Summer	In recent decades, a growing body of Western research has examined the nature and function of mind and emotions through the perspectives of Buddhist psychology and philosophy. Advanced Buddhist studies emphasize deep understanding of mind/consciousness, particularly the functions of various mental factors and their influence on our capacity to differentiate appearance versus reality, as well as constructive versus destructive emotions. through the systematic cultivation of refined attention and mindfulnes/introspection, analytical observation, dvds, readings, and direct experience. After broadly examining Eastern theories of mind/emotion, students will choose one emotion or state of mind to study in depth and develop a well-researched model, suitable for clinical use or personal-growth, that either cultivates or transforms the chosen state of mind/emotion.		Jamyang Tsultrim	Wed Sat	Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR	Summer	Summer