FYP Course Descriptions - Fall 2007
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Making a Difference: Active Citizenship in a Democratic Society
In this course, participants will explore what it means to be
an active citizen in a democracy. In a society that increasingly
privileges self interest, how do its citizens come together to
reach collective goals in ways that are fair and just for all?
These concerns have been with us since our founding fathers attempted
to craft a system of government that would ensure that no one faction
could champion its interests over the public good. In our conversations,
we will look at concerns raised today about potential threats to
active citizenship in our democracy such as declines in civic engagement
and a faltering sense of community. We will also examine how inequality,
difference and exclusion affect our ability to engage in democratic
action.
Although the course considers the obstacles we face to democratic
action, most of our attention will be on understanding and using
the tools of active citizenship, especially in a diverse society.
To enhance that understanding and employing the tools of citizenship,
all of us will be volunteering in the local community throughout
the fall semester. As part of work in the community, we will explore
the role of liberal arts education as a place for positive transformation,
both personal and social. Many of our conversations and assignments
will center on the role of active citizenship through history and
today with examples coming from the Civil Rights Movement and Hurricane
Katrina. Our work in the classroom will also be heavily informed
by learning and serving in the local community throughout the fall
semester.
Political Economy and Identity in the Age of Globalization
As people, capital, images, and ideas move around the globe in
ways unimaginable even a decade ago, scholars debate the effects
of an increasingly interdependent global culture. 'Globalization'
is not one phenomenon but many, a set of interlinked social, economic,
and political trends with complex causes and uncertain implications
for the future. This course seeks to define 'globalization,' and
examines the political, economic, and ethical debates that swirl
around the term. We will look critically and self-consciously at
the ways that globalization shapes individual, national, and transnational
identities. We will consider in detail the evolution of a variety
of international institutions, including the United Nations, the
World Trade Organization, and the International Monetary Fund,
and the ways in which they affect the course of world events and
the daily lives of people around the globe. Finally, we will examine
the ways in which images from commercials, popular film, or news
broadcasts bring individuals, groups, and nations to define themselves
and others in certain ways, and the consequences of this shaping
power, both positive and negative.
Amazing Grace: The Black Church in White America
Be a part of history! Learn about gospel music and
where it came from! Visit a stop on the Underground Railroad!
Join us this semester as we explore the relationship between faith
and freedom through the lens of the African-American experience
in the United States.
Our seminar is in part historical, but it is also a personal and
theological exploration of the sustaining faith of black people
in a hostile land, where the Bible itself was used to justify slavery
and continuing oppression. Black music, especially gospel music
anchored the faith and sustained the strong sense of community
of African-Americans. Gospel music became the music of the struggle
for freedom. We will introduce you to several genres of black church
music; metered hymns, call and response songs, Dr. Isaac Watts
songs, Negro spirituals, coded freedom songs, traditional and contemporary
gospel. In designing this syllabus we have tried to combine historical
sketches, African-American literature and biblical interpretation
with the lived musical experiences of the African–American
community. Come and join us!
Coldest Cold War Flicks: American History, American Movies, 1945-1963
In this course we will examine the earliest and coldest days of
the Cold War, a period extending from the end of World War II in
1945 to the signing of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1963, through
a sampling of historical texts and American movies made during
that time. Movies are often more than just mindless escapism: the
stories and texts continually recast by our culture not only entertain
but also can provide a window into who we are, and were. Because
films, like literature, can reflect the time in which they are
produced, we can study history and film together to gain insights
into values, issues, beliefs, hopes, fears, and historical experiences.
In this course, we will look at how the motion pictures of the
day reflected the major preoccupations of the early Cold War era,
chief among them dealing with nuclear weapons, responding to the
Soviet communist threat, and undertaking America’s new responsibilities
abroad, as well as enjoying prosperity and mobility at home in
the new suburbs while spawning a generation that eventually would
be called the “boomers.” Special attention will be
paid to the noir films of the 1940s and 1950s, family melodramas
such as Mildred Pierce and Rebel Without a Cause, horror films
of the 1950s such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and nuclear
war films such as On the Beach and Dr. Strangelove.
The Complex Collaboration of Law and Science
The proliferation of television dramas featuring scientists as
heroes in the world of crime-fighting—i.e., “Bones” and
the various “CSI”s—make clear the power of science
to aid the law and legal decision making. Technological advances
as well as new avenues for criminal activity made possible by those
advances (e.g., cyber crime) have created even more opportunities
for the collaboration of legal professionals and scientists than
were possible just decades ago. In this course, we will explore
the ways in which science can contribute to the investigation of
crime, the resolution of legal disputes and the creation of law.
Taught by a chemist and a psychologist-lawyer, this course will
examine several contributions of forensic science (e.g., forensic
analysis and detection of art forgery, mental illness and the prediction
of dangerousness) to the law and legal decision making. We will
explore contributions from several scientific fields such as chemistry,
psychology, anthropology, computer science and medicine. Through
all of our exploration, we will consider the special challenges
presented when two disciplines, with often conflicting values and
methods, attempt to work side-by-side.
Culture and Revolution
The democratic revolution that began in late eighteenth-century
America and France continues to transform, and disrupt, the world
in which we live. The course will explore some of the ways in which
artists and thinkers have responded to this long and complex revolution,
in novels, poems, essays, and in some of the greatest films of
the past seventy years. We will consider the various dimensions
of democracy, and the various (and sometimes contradictory) meanings
of freedom—individual, political, economic, and sexual—from
early America to the present. (As we shall see, the central question
of modern history has been “freedom for whom to do what?”)
We will analyze the response of writers and film-makers to the
social and racial problems of American democracy, to European movements
like democratic socialism, communism and fascism, and to the world-wide
struggles against colonialism and racism. The issue of gender—and
specifically of “gendered” notions of democracy and
freedom—will provide a running theme throughout the entire
course. We will also consider the problem of the artist’s
own freedom: the ways in which writers and film-makers are constrained
by the economic and political conditions under which they must
work, and how they contrive to evade or subvert those constraints.
Theorizing about Horror
What is horror? Why do we take pleasure from being frightened?
How is it that horrific scenes in novels and films—baby aliens
bursting from human chests, vampires snacking on prone women, telekinetic
girls crucifying their mothers—simultaneously attract and
repel us? More broadly, why does horror gain momentum in certain
eras? We will attempt to answer these and other questions while
examining theories of horror. Our texts will include classic novels,
such as Dracula, as well as films in the process of becoming classics,
such as Terminator II. We will emphasize not only what horror is
designed to do—“to curdle the blood, and quicken the
beatings of the heart,” as Mary Shelley says in Frankenstein—but
what it means.
Finding a Voice: Creativity, Community, and Performance
Each of us is moved in a unique, individual way by the beauty
of the art that we see, hear, or produce, but the meaning we draw
from art is shaped as well by the experiences and ideals that we
share within communities. In performance, a person draws upon individual
creativity and collective knowledge to present sounds/images/words
that have the potential to conjure our most deeply held values.
We will explore, in part by regularly becoming performers ourselves,
ways in which we can convey our ideas clearly and powerfully. We
will also explore ways in which artistic expression conveys meaning
in cultures very different from our own.
The course requires no prior training or proficiency as a performer.
We ask only that you be willing to express yourself creatively
and to share that expression. The college will be housed in a residence
that provides space and opportunity for rehearsal and practice,
as well as proximity to SLU’s Fine Arts, Music, and Performance
and Communication Arts Departments. Taught by an ethnomusicologist
and a historian, who sometimes share the stage as saxophonist and
guitarist in a local rock and roll band, the college will seek
to foster a community that connects serious academic inquiry with
artistic creativity, where students can seek their own voices in
an actively supportive environment.
Growing Up Victorian
Many social historians claim that the notion of "childhood" as
a special period distinct from adulthood first developed during
the 19th century. In this course we will be exploring this idea
through literature and social history, looking at many kinds of
texts that focus on children and the raising of children during
the Victorian period. Among them will be two children's novels
(Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island and Frances Hodgson Burnett's
A Little Princess) and two novels written for adults whose tales
are centered on a child growing up in the midst of the Victorian
world (Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre and Charles Dickens's
Great Expectations). To understand the context of these stories,
we will explore various aspects of Victorian history pertaining
to childhood as well as the growth of child development as a field
of study.
Mysteries, Secrets, Resistance and Lies: Writing Truth As Power
“Tell all the Truth but tell it slant,” says Emily
Dickinson: what, exactly, constitutes the truth as we discover
it in literature and in the act of writing? Is it a set of facts
or a condition of being that is undeniable, or is it a concept
that changes depending upon individual or group perception? Is
it an illusion or a mystery beyond our grasp? How is possession
of “truth” empowering to an individual or a group—or,
conversely, how can it lead to powerlessness? As we consider selected
creative works, essays, and films from the present and the past,
we will explore the concepts of truth and power in spheres ranging
from the personal (gender identity and family dynamics, for example)
to the moral and political (as seen in the role of the journalist
and the intellectual, for example). Through reading, writing, discussion,
and your personal engagement in “experiencing truth” by
attending various campus and cultural events, we will pursue the
question: How might writing and literature set us free?
Identity and Belonging in the St. Lawrence Valley
Our work in the course will focus on the differing national and
local cultures of the United States and Canada as seen in the St.
Lawrence Valley. Using a roughly historical approach, we will trace
cultural contact, the portrayal of identities, colonization and
expansion, and the development of each nation to the contemporary.
Our prime concern will be the definition of this borderland region
as part of the two nation-states and the continuing place which
its First Peoples play in it. Case studies can include: differing
approaches to Western expansion, models of settlement, governmental
structures (presidential versus parliamentary), trade (the fur
trade to free trade), environmental issues, and approaches to social
policy. We shall visit Canada’s national capital, Ottawa,
and the Frederic Remington Art Museum as we compare the cultural
experiences both Canada and the United States, both mythic and
real.
Global Questions, Local Action
Within every generation there are individuals who imagine a better
world and dedicate their lives to creating it. Their journeys often
begin by asking basic questions others are afraid to ask. Rosa
Parks asked, “Why should some people have to sit at the back
of the bus simply because of the color of their skin?” Aldo
Leopold asked, “Why should one species dominate the planet
at the expense of others?” More recently, the Dropping Knowledge
project (www.droppingknowledge.org) produced one hundred questions
for our own time, questions such as “Should we have the right
to choose where we live?” and “Why do we consider some
lives to be worth more than others?” In this course we will
develop our own global questions and discuss strategies for engaging
in local action that brings our responses to life. Along the way
we will read about past and current struggles to address racism,
sexism, militarism, economic inequality, environmental degradation,
and other forms of injustice. We will use video and online venues
including TakingITGlobal (www.takingitglobal.org), and Dropping
Knowledge as a way to explore issues and develop communication
skills. In addition, we encourage informed, intelligent, and direct
student action. We want students to articulate their own concerns
about local, national, and global political issues, and to exercise
opportunities for social action at SLU.
Plagues and Peoples
When considering definitions of illness or wellness, Westerners
since the Enlightenment have tended to assume a distinction between
mind and body that people in other cultures do not assume. The “body” becomes
an object of study, with all its attendant “symptoms” of “illness” to
Western medical tradition. The “mind” is considered
separate from “body” and from “brain,” which
is an organ of the “body.” Hence we have created a
tradition of different practitioners for “physical” and “mental” disorders.
In other cultural traditions, one’s “body” is
not separated from “mind,” or from the social fabric
of daily life that connects an individual to other members of his
or her society. This course will study cross-cultural approaches
to wellness and illness that focus on concepts of the body, “personhood,” gender
distinctions, definitions of “wellness” and “illness,” and
the consequences these different belief systems have on approaches
to “healing.” Primary examples include the historical
construction of sex and gender in Western medicine; Kuru disease
in Papua New Guinea and its relationship to Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease,
and radioactive fallout contribution to cultural change in the
Marshall Islands, Oceania. Students interested in health sciences
or cross-cultural study of humanity are encouraged to participate.
Students who take this FYP must co-enroll in Natural Science distribution
lab science.
Health and Disease
Mental and physical well-being are in part determined by individual
behavior, personal choice, and circumstances. Stress, body image,
alcohol abuse, fertility control, and AIDS represent a small sample
of health issues that face all generations in our society, particularly
college students. The course will begin with an examination of
students' personal mental and physical health values, and then
move to an exploration of how well-being may be influenced by gender,
race, class, genetic make-up, and the environment. These themes
will become the basis for examining significant health issues including
those related to questions of medical ethics. Non-western approaches
to health and disease (e.g. Traditional Chinese Medicine and Native
American healing) will be discussed within this context. Toward
the end of the course, students will be asked to prepare a substantial
health education presentation on a topic relevant to high school
students.
Conceptualizing Nature: Landscapes, Animals, Peoples
Blending the theoretical with the experiential, this course is
organized around the central theme that the idea of “nature” is
one that humans have created. We first explore origin myths and
use these myths to locate how peoples perceive and relate to the
natural environment. This discussion will be extended to include
how our relationship to the natural world is understood through
particular types of power and knowledge (e.g., rationalist, scientific,
eco-feminist, etc). Secondly, we look at nature as a landscape
that is constructed in various ways by people from different social
positions: the poet versus the scientist, the native versus the
tourist, the tree cutter versus the tree hugger, the snowmobiler
versus the cross country skier, etc. Finally, we will contrast
the animal rights movement with the many ways in which animals
are used—food, pets, lab animals, entertainment, etc., and
we will apply a similar discussion to the social construction of
animals. The course also has a community service component in which
we will construct and maintain local trails. Whenever possible
it is our intent to integrate the discussions in the classroom
with the experiences of the trail. Moreover, we use a wide variety
of pedagogies--excursions into the Adirondacks, GPS and GIS workshops
and assignments, writing workshops, and artist bookmaking. We also
use a variety of texts, including novels, analytical works, films,
and artistic work.
Telling Stories: Writing and Performing Narrative
Personal narrative is a fixture of contemporary American society,
from trashy talk shows to the popularity of memoir, from online
video and personal websites to oral history projects. The source
of attraction in such narratives, both to the self who authors
and/or performs them and to the audience who encounters them, is
often more than mere entertainment. Storytelling is an essential
human activity: all cultures tell stories of many kinds to understand
who they are, where they have come from, where they are going,
and who they wish to be. By becoming the writers and tellers of
stories ourselves, we will explore the ways in which stories function
as powerful tools for not only self expression but for understanding
the larger connections between self and community. We will also
read critically from personal narratives in several genres, focusing
on the interplay between the self, the story, and the audience,
and exploring the ways in which telling stories conveys meaning
and offers a way to share experiences in cultures very different
from our own. Taught by a writer and drama scholar, the course
requires no prior training or proficiency; after all we as human
beings are storytellers by nature. We ask only that you be willing
to tell the stories you know—your own and those of other
people whom you may know or may interview —creatively, and
to share these stories in oral and written forms of expression.
Effecting Change at Every Level: Leadership in
a Dynamic World
What makes an effective leader? This course is designed to help
students discover insights about themselves as leaders as well
as look critically upon leadership examples of the past and present.
Today’s world is highly dynamic and diverse in nature, requiring
adaptive thinking and individuals with the ability to lead amidst
change. We will consider topics such as motivation, methodology,
inspiration, positive thinking, group dynamics, transformational
and transactional leadership. We will also consider the degree
to which leaders are “born” or “made.” Our
exploration of these issues will include discussion of past and
present leaders and the effect their leadership strategies have
had on groups and society as a whole. Our closer look at the conceptual
and practical dimensions of leadership will help you learn to be
an agent of change in your own environments, whether they are political,
theological, academic, athletic, social or organizational in nature.
“
The Best Hits of the ‘50s, ‘80s, and Today”:
American Politics and Culture across Generations
Most members of the American public identify themselves as part
of a specific generation, from “the Greatest Generation” who
fought World War II, to their Baby Boomer children, to their offspring,
Generations X and Y. Each generation seems to consider itself unique,
throwing off the cultural and social values of previous decades
and focusing on new and pressing concerns, yet each comes to see
that certain inherent American—and human—values persist.
In this course—taught by an aged Gen-X rhetorician and a
practically ancient Baby Boomer librarian—we’ll examine
the political and social climates of the 1950s, the 1980s, and
the early 2000s, asking you to construct a portrait of your emerging
generation.
The Psychology and Expression of Creativity
What is creativity? Is it an inborn trait parceled out to the
lucky few, or is it a process that all of us can tap into and develop
in a meaningful way? How are the processes and products of science
and art similar? This course will have both a rigorous intellectual
component and a time-intensive experiential component. We will
examine the philosophical roots underlying current conceptions
of creativity, as well as delve into modern psychological theories
concerning its wellspring and expression. Additionally, we will
examine how structural elements such as gender, race, and ethnicity
figure into the expression of creativity. Class format will include
readings, group discussion, writing, and your personal engagement
in select art forms (such as creative writing, painting, photography,
ceramics or drawing). You will participate in campus events and
draw on your own artistic experience as part of the collective
inquiry into these issues. The emphasis will not be on expertise
or the “final product,” but on the development of each
student’s own creative process – non-artists are encouraged
to apply! This course requires a serious time commitment on the
part of the student.