Mobility, Society, and Governance in North America
Notre Dame Spring 2009 Course List
AMST 30104: The American Scene – Collin Meissner
TR 9:30-10:45 am
"To make much so much money that you won't, that you don't mind, don't mind anything that is absolutely, I think, the main American formula. " Henry James, The American Scene, 1907. "Greed, for lack of a better word, is good, is right, it works, and it will save that malfunctioning corporation called the U.S.A,.", Gordon Gecko, Wall Street, 1987. After a 20-year absence, Henry James returns to America to examine the country of his birth. His tour brought him to the above quote and dismaying conclusion. This course tries to contextualize and understand James's remark by placing it within a broader atmosphere of late 19th- and early 20th-century American culture. We will look at works that predate, are contemporary with, and follow James's American tour. We will look at works of literature and biography, of politics and philosophy, and of theology and economics. Throughout, we will keep circling around and back to James's notion of "The Main American Formula" and asking not only what exactly he meant, but how other major thinkers of the age understood or conceived of an "American Formula," and how that "formula" could be measured at the level of the individual, the corporation, the country, and, with Conrad's Nostromo, the world. Readings will include works of Joseph Conrad, Theodore Dreissner, Henry Ford, Henry James, Theodore Roosevelt, Thorstein Veblen, and Edith Wharton. In addition, we will view several movies, the focus of which is directly related to the course's central questions. 3 Credits.
AMST 30161: The Millionare – Collin Meissner
MW 11:45-1:00 pm
Few figures in American history have so defined the nation as the millionaire. For good or bad, the millionaire has been an object of equally intense scrutiny and fascination. This course will examine the role of the millionaire in fiction by writers such as Wharton, James, and Fitzgerald. We will also look at the millionaire as savior and agent of corruption in children's literature by writers such as Margaret Sidney and Louisa May Alcott. In looking at the millionaire historically, we will devote special attention to the Gilded Age with its "robber barons"such as Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and Henry Ford, figures whose industry and greed also fueled the establishment of vast charitable enterprises that helped define American culture. In politics we will pay special attention to Theodore Roosevelt who harbored a deep suspicion of inherited wealth and questioned whether or not the "virtuous republic" could sustain the presence and efforts of so many men of "inherited wealth." And in contemporary society, we will try to understand how the celebrity millionaire, i.e., Donald Trump, Paris Hilton, Ivan Boesky, has become a celebrated cultural icon. 3 Credits.
AMST 30162: Latinos in American Film – Jason Ruiz
TR 2:00-3:15 pm
This course will survey the history of representations of Latinos in American cinema from the silent era to the present. We will examine how stereotypes associated with Latinos have been produced, reinforced, and challenged in American films from “greasers” and “Latin lovers” to gangsters, kingpins, and border crossers. We will explore the fascinating contradiction that, despite a long history of misrepresentation and underrepresentation, Latinos have made significant contributions to Hollywood and independent cinema. We will also examine the rise of Latino directors in recent years and their drive to reframe the Latino image for American audiences. Screenings will range from the silent epic Martyrs of the Alamo (1915) to more recent films such as Maria Full of Grace (2004). Our interdisciplinary approach to the subject will draw upon readings from history, film theory and criticism, and ethnic/American studies. Students will take a midterm exam and make class presentations. 3 Credits.
AMST 20167: The Literature of Fact – Julia Keller
M 9:30-12:00 pm
Non-fiction writers are "artists under oath," according to the luminous definition coined by Desmond McCarthy, British critic and essayist who was a member of the Bloomsbury group of writers and painters in the early twentieth century. The phrase is apt because it captures the dual challenge of non-fiction writing that aspires to rise above mere workaday journalism: It must be absolutely truthful and utterly fact-based, but it also should display a literary quality that puts it in the front rank of the very best imaginative works. We will be reading and analyzing books and articles that achieve this rare blend of fact and artistry, from the controversial true-crime chronicle "In Cold Blood" to a book such as "The Devil's Highway," that helps personalize the debate over immigration policy, to a book such as "Sons of Mississippi," that traces the complicated question of race as it moves through recent American history. Along with reading and discussing these works and others, we will be attempting our own non-fiction narratives, developing strategies to help turn the reporting of information into works that transcend the limits of daily journalism. 3 Credits.
AMST 30222: American Feminist Fiction – Jacqueline Brogan
MW 11:45-1:00 pm
In this course we will read a number of works, by both women and men, which may be described as feminist fiction. In so doing, we will raise issues about the relation of aesthetics to politics, about the process of canonization, and about aesthetic integrity. Ultimately, we will also be examining the place of women within American culture during the twentieth century - how it has changed, how it has remained the same. At the end of the course, students should feel that they have discovered a new body of exciting literature, as well as new ways of reading some of our best-known literature.
Texts: Kate Chopin, The Awakening, Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence, Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God, William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury, F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Alice Walker, The Color Purple and The Temple of My Familiar; Toni Morrison, Sula and Song of Solomon ; possibly Elizabeth Dewberry Vaughn, Many Things Have Happened Since He Died.
Requirements: Two papers, a mid-term, and a final examination (25% each). 3 Credits.
AMST 30226: Latino/a Poetry – Jaime Rodriguez
MWF 12:50-1:40 pm
The literature of Latina/o immigration and migrancy brings together a range of contemporary concerns, from identity, to the transnational, to definitions of the literary. How does international movement inflect notions of American identity? How do writers create and describe communities in constant movement? These are only two questions that can be posed to the literatures of Latina and Latino transnational and intra-national movement. In this course, we will read a range of recent materials dealing with immigration between Mexico and Latin America and the United States, and with intra-national migrancy. Key texts will include, Luis Alberto Urrea¿s The Devil¿s Highway, Julia Alvarez¿s How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, Cristina Garcia¿s Dreaming in Cuban, Tomas Rivera¿s ¿and the Earth did not devour him, and Elva Treviño Hart¿s Barefoot Heart: Stories of a Migrant Child. In addition, we will draw upon various critical readings focusing on transnationalism, displacement, and new theories about contemporary globalization. Students will write three short essays and a final exam, and will be required to participate actively in class. 3 Credits
AMST 30240: Contemporary American Literature – Matthew Benedict
MW 8:00-9:15 am
What does it mean to write fiction in the "Naughts" (2000-2010)? In the age of MySpace, RSS feeds, American Idol, and YouTube, is the term "fiction" even valid anymore? Or, for that matter, books? In this class, we will read several novels published since January 2001. In addition to covering the "usual" topics (plot, character relationships, themes, etc.), we'll also think about what it means to write "fictions," to write "novels," in a world, in an "America," that is increasingly being parsed into smaller and smaller pieces. A partial list of texts include (subject to change): Mark Danielewski, Only Revolutions: A Novel; Jennifer Egan, Look at Me; Joshua Ferris, Then We Came to the End; Dinaw Menegstu, The Beautiful Things This Heaven Bears; and Dana Spiotta, Eat the Document: A Novel. We'll also view excerpts of television shows, movies, and other media, as well as attend some campus literary events.Required work: two short essays, midterm, final, occasional quizzes. 3 Credits.
AMST 30143: Fashioning Identity in Colonial America – Sophie White
TR 9:30-10:45 am
Did Puritans really only wear black and white, or did they wear fashionable lace, silk ribbons and bright colors? Did early settlers wash their bodies to get clean? What role did fashion play in the making of the American Revolution? And how did slaves and Native Americans adorn their bodies? This course will address such questions by focusing on dress and material culture. We will consider the role of dress in the construction of colonial identities, and examine the ways that bodies operated as sites for negotiating class and ethnic encounters. 3 Credits.
AMST 30164: Catholics in America – Kathleen Cummings
MW 3:00-4:15 pm
Since 1850 Roman Catholics have constituted the single largest religious denomination in the United States. This course explores what the presence of Catholics has meant for the American experience, focusing on themes of church/state separation, religion and politics, education, and social reform. We will also examine how the American context has transformed the practice of Catholicism, with attention to ethnicity, gender, region, race and class as variables that have shaped the American Catholic experience. Assigned readings range from excerpts of anti-Catholic publications to first-hand accounts written by American Catholics from the colonial period to the present. In addition we will study the representation of Catholics in American film, themes of Catholic fiction, material culture relating to Catholic devotional life and the sacraments, and the shifting position of American Catholics in the universal Roman Catholic Church. 3 Credits.
AMST 30252: Representing Labor – Ryan McCormick
MWF 12:50-1:40 pm
This course is designed to introduce you to the ways in which American novelists, poets, artists, musicians, and filmmakers have attempted to represent labor and labor issues throughout the twentieth century. In traditional approaches to literary studies, labor is often subsumed withinbroader discussions of class or literature's general engagement with political or social questions. This course, on the other hand, will focus as much as possible on direct representations of actual laboring bodies and the labor movement and their evolution throughout the twentieth century. Our engagement with these issues will focus specifically on the relationship between labor and American identity and the ways in which representations of labor raise questions about the literary treatment of race and gender throughout the same time period. Although the primary objective of the class will be to get you to bring these issues to bear on literary interpretation, the course will also have to include a very basic introduction to American labor history. This will include a discussion of recent phenomena, such as the WGA strike, which bring the relationship between labor and culture into sharp relief, as well as the cultural repercussions of labor in its current form under globalization. The texts we will look at will include novels by Upton Sinclair, John Steinbeck, Jack London, and Richard Wright; labor songs by Joe Hill, Woody Guthrie, and Pete Seeger; films such as Harlan County U.S.A. and Modern Times; and poetry by Langston Hughes and Tillie Olsen. 3 Credits.
AMST 30254: American Fiction since 1945 – TBA
TR 2:00-3:15 pm
Many contemporary writers began long and productive careers during the decades after the second world war. In this course we will study some of them, using representative texts to try to work out an aesthetics of the time. We will need to look at questions of personal identity, as they embrace spiritual, sexual, social, and racial dimensions. And we will also give close attention to the elasticity of the novel form itself. A very tentative reading list:Ralph Ellison - The Invisible ManRichard Brautigan - Trout Fishing in AmericaKurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse-FiveSaul Bellow - HerzogJohn Barth - Lost in the FunhouseJohn Updike - Rabbit RunAnne Tyler - Dinner at the Homesick RestaurantWalker Percy - The Second ComingThere will be a mid-term and final as well as an independent paper on a novel selected by each student. 3 Credits.
AMST 30255: Literatures of the American Hemisphere – Jaime Rodriguez
MWF 3:00-3:15
National borders mark our Americas today, but for the first European explorers the landscapes of their "new world" were uncharted and unbounded. The newly encountered land invited utopian dreams even as it became the arena for genocidal violence. To reconsider these moments of violence and possibility, we will approach early American literature intra-hemispherically, reading not just from the British colonial record, but also Spanish documents in English translation. We will read comparatively in order to ask key questions about American identity both then and now. For example, what do we learn when we juxtapose Cortés' invasion of the Mexican empire to King Philip's War in the New England colonies? To what degree do these legacies of imperialism still shape our modern world? What comparisons arise between the poetry of Anne Bradstreet and Sor Juana Inés de La Cruz; between the captivity adventures of Cabeza de Vaca and Mary Rowlandson? How might these contact points continue to shape our views of "others"? How have Native Nations across the Americas written or spoken the loss of worlds? The authors and subjects noted above will serve as key markers, but we will also read primary works by William Bradford, Bernal Díaz, John Smith, William Apess, and others as we reconsider the literatures and histories of the Americas in a cross-national paradigm. Students will be expected to write three short papers, take a final exam, and participate actively in class. 3 Credits.
AMST 30331: U.S. Civil War Era, 1848-1877 – Linda Przybyszewski
MWF 3:00-3:50 pm
This course examines the social, political, and cultural history of the United States from the ratification of the Constitution to the beginnings of the political crisis over expansion and slavery. It covers the democratization of politics and the problems of national independence in the wake of the Revolution; territorial expansion; economic change; the development of regional, class, religious, racial, ethnic, and gendered subcultures; slavery and resistance to slavery; and the new political and reform movements that responded to the era's deep and lasting changes. 3 Credits
AMST 30335: The United States since WWII – Thomas Blantz
MWF 9:35-10:25 am
The purpose of this course is to study the political, diplomatic, economic, social, and cultural development of the United States from 1945 through the presidency of George H.W. Bush. Although the military and diplomatic history of World War II will be considered by way of background, the principal topics of investigation will be the Fair Deal Program of President Truman, the Cold War, the Korean Conflict, the Eisenhower Presidency, the New Frontier, Vietnam, President Johnson's Great Society, the Civil Rights Movement, the Nixon years, the social and intellectual climate of this post-war era, and the presidencies of Gerald Ford through George H.W. Bush. There will be a required reading list of approximately six books, two smaller writing assignments, and three examinations. 3 Credits.
AMST 30362: Labor and America since 1945 – Daniel Graff
MW 1:30-2:45 pm
This course explores the relationship between workers and the labor movement to American politics and culture since 1945. The United States emerged from World War II as the strongest global power, and its citizens subsequently enjoyed a long postwar economic boom that created what we might call the first truly middle-class society in world history. At the heart of that new society was the American labor movement, those unions like the United Auto Workers and the United Steel Workers who ensured that at least some of the postwar profits made it into the wallets of workers and their families. Today, however, unions represent only 8% of workers in the private sector. What accounts for the decline of organized labor since the 1950s? What has the decline of the labor movement meant for workers specifically, and the American economy and politics more broadly? How and why have popular perceptions of unions changed over time? What has been the relationship of organized labor to the civil rights movement, feminism, and modern conservatism? What is "globalization" and what has been its impact upon American workers and their unions? Through an exploration of historical scholarship, memoirs, polemical writings, and Hollywood films, this course will try to answer these questions. Students interested in politics, economic development, international relations, social justice, human rights, peace studies or mass culture are particularly welcome. 3 Credits.
AMST 30365: Religion & American Politics – Mark Noll
MW 1:55-2:45 pm
Since the early 1950s, religion has been an obviously major factor in American political life, driven first by the African-American leaders of the Civil Rights Movement and then, in more recent decades, by the concerns of the Religious Right. Especially after the election of John F. Kennedy in 1960, Catholics have also been fully recognized participants in the nation's political uses of religion - as well as in debates over whether and how religion should be used politically. This class tries to show that modern political-religious connections are but new instances of what has always gone on in the American past. The shape of contests over religion and politics may have changed considerably over time, but not the fact of dense connections between the two spheres. Readings for the course include primary and secondary accounts that treat notable incidents, problems, debates, and controversies from the colonial period to the present. Lectures spotlight major issues of historical interpretation, like religion and the Constitution, religion and antebellum debates over slavery, religion and Reconstruction, Catholic versus Protestant understandings of liberty, civil rights and the New Christian Right. 3 Credits.
AMST 30376: Marriage & Family in US History – Michael DeGruccio
MW 4:30-5:45 pm
From the heated trenches of America's "culture wars" few thing are as polarizing as marriage and the family. At the extremes, some hearken back to less troubled days when one man and one woman made enduring commitments to each other; others imagine a narrative of progress with women throwing off the shackles of patriarchy, as both men and women forged new kinds of relationships informed by individual needs. Through intensive reading and writing students will grapple with these conflicting narratives of decline and triumph. We will explore Native-American families, polygamy, free-love communities, Cold War homemakers, the black family, and gay marriage. In all of these we will flesh out the ways in which defining "the family" has always been entangled with citizenship, national politics, and religious intolerance. 3 Credits.
AMST 30384: The Great Depression in the US – Timothy Gloege
TR 9:30-10:45 am
This course explores the political, economic, cultural, and social history of the Great Depression and New Deal years in the United States, from the stock market crash of 1929 to the beginning of World War II in 1941. 3 Credits.
AMST 30391: Slavery and Human Bondage – Mark Hauser
MW 3:00-4:45 pm
For many Americans, the history of slavery is synonymous with plantations in the Atlantic world. This course seeks to expand our view of Atlantic slavery by looking to the Ancient World, Africa, Asia and Europe in historic and contemporary contexts. This course examines slavery as a labor system and a social form intimately connected with the political economies and cultural groups within which it arose. It will also examine debates about contemporary forms of bonded labor and slavery emerging from global encounters today. By examining different types of bonded and unfree labor, such as chattel, domestic, and wage slavery, we will form an inquiry about slavery's relationship to the following: person-hood and social death; the emergence of market economies; systems of differentiation used to maintain the social condition of the enslaved; and power and violence. This course will take an interdisciplinary approach relying on archaeology, anthropology and history for our case studies in understanding this particular social form. 3 Credits.
AMST 30409: U.S.-Latin American Relations – Frances Hagopian
MW 11:45-1:00 pm
This course examines the international relations of Latin America with an emphasis on what determines US policy toward Latin America, and the policies of Latin American states toward the United States, other regions of the world, and each other. It analyzes recurring themes in US.-Latin American relations, including the response of the United States to dictatorships, expropriations of US-owned property, and revolution. It also studies new directions and issues in Latin America's international relations, e.g., trade policy, the environment, migration, and drugs in a post-Cold War world. 3 Credits.
AMST 30438: Environmental Politics – Matthew Doppke
TR 3:30-4:45 pm
The first half of the course provides an overview of major American environmental policies such as regulating land use and preservation, water, air, and endangered species. The second half of the course deals more directly with issues of policy formulation, implementation and enforcement. 3 Credits.
AMST 30439: International Environmental Politics – Barbara Connolly
TR 11:00-12:15 pm
This course examines the responses of nations and international organizations to the environmental challenges of the present and future, including pollution, depletion of natural resources, and global warming. 3 Credits.
AMST 30440: National Security Decision Making – TBA
MW 11:45-1:00 pm
The purpose of this class is to introduce students to the role of intelligence (collection, analysis, and covert action) in U.S. national security decision-making. The course will begin with a discussion of the evolution of U.S. national security decision-making apparatus and the Intelligence Community. It will then explore major issues of intelligence in U.S. history since the Second World War. Finally, it will conclude with a discussion of some of the future intelligence challenges the United States is likely to face in coming years. 3 Credits.
AMST 30609: Caribbean Diasporas – Karen Richman
TR 2:00-3:15 pm
This course examines the development of Creole societies in the French, Spanish, Dutch, and British Caribbean in response to colonialism, slavery, migration, nationalism and, most recently, transnationalism. The recent exodus of as much as 20 percent of Caribbean populations to North America and Europe has afforded the rise of new transnational modes of existence. This course will explore the consciousness and experience of Caribbean diasporas through ethnography and history, religion, literature, music, and culinary arts. 3 Credits.
AMST 40421: American Political Parties – Christina Wolbrecht
MW 1:30-2:45 pm
Political parties play many vital roles in American politics: They educate potential voters about political processes, policy issues, and civic duties. They mobilize citizens into political activity and involvement. They provide vital information about public debates. They control the choices--candidates and platforms that voters face at the ballot box. They influence and organize the activities of government officials. Most importantly, by providing a link between government and the governed, they are a central mechanism of representation. These roles--how well they are performed, what bias exists, how they shape outcomes, how they have changed over time--have consequences for the working of the American political system. 3 Credits.
AMST 40511: Aesthetics of Latino Culture – Gilberto Cardenas
T 3:00-5:30 pm
This course will analyze the philosophy and principles underlying the social and political aspects of Latino art. We will approach this by examining a range of topics, including Chicano and Puerto Rican poster art, muralism, Latina aesthetics, and border art. The readings will enable us to survey a number of important exhibitions of Latino art and to explore new possibilities for exhibition and representation. We will examine descriptive material and critical writings concerning issues pertaining to the representation and interpretation of Latino culture and art as well as how these questions surface in a national museum context. 3 Credits.
AMST 40515: Population Dynamics -- Richard Williams
MW 1:30-2:45 pm
Demography, the science of population, is concerned with virtually everything that influences, or can be influenced by, population size, distribution, processes, structure, or characteristics. This course pays particular attention to the causes and consequences of population change. Changes in fertility, mortality, migration, technology, lifestyle, and culture have dramatically affected the United States and the other nations of the world. These changes have implications for a number of areas: hunger, the spread of illness and disease, environmental degradation, health services, household formation, the labor force, marriage and divorce, care for the elderly, birth control, poverty, urbanization, business marketing strategies, and political power. An understanding of these is important as business, government, and individuals attempt to deal with the demands of the changing population. 3 Credits.
ANTH 20360: Societies/Cultures of Latin America – Vania Smith
MWF 8:30-9:20 am
This course is a broad introduction to the societies and cultures of Latin America. We will cover the history of the region from the colonial past, independence movements and revolutions, postcolonialism and race relations as well as the current events, trends, and cultures that have been shaped by this history. The latter will include important present-day issues such as power relations and class, violence and politics, secular and religious ideologies, family and gender relations, migration and transnationalism, ethnic relations, art and literature, and globalization and change. I expect students to understand and appreciate the diversity of cultures in Latin America as well as to explore how the current societies and events have been shaped by the unique histories of the region. 3 Credits.
ANTH 35210: Health, Healing, and Culture – Daniel Lende
TR 9:30-10:45 am
This course provides an introduction to the field of medical anthropology. Medical anthropology examines beliefs, practices, and experiences of illness, health, and healing from a cross-cultural perspective to show that illness, health, medicine, and the body are shaped by social relationships and cultural values from the local level of the family and community to the global level of international development and transnational capitalism. This course will consider the ways in which medical anthropology has historically been influenced by debates within the discipline of anthropology as well as by broader social and political movements. Particular emphasis will be placed on the importance of viewing biomedicine as one among many culturally constructed systems of medicine. Some of the key issues which we will explore are: medical pluralism and therapeutic choice; biocultural studies; medicalization; the political economy of health and disease; the anthropology of the body; the role of medicine and disease in colonialism and postcolonial movements; and applied medical anthropology. 3 Credits.
HIST 10600: US History I: to 1877 – Timothy Gloege
TR 12:30-1:45 pm
A survey of the social, cultural, and political history of the British North American colonies and the United States to the close of the Civil War. Organized around the question of American "nationhood," topics include Native American, European, and African encounters; regional development and divergence; imperial conflict and revolution; constitutional development and argument; democratization and its implications; religious impulses and reformism; immigration and nativism; the importance of land and westward expansion; slavery and emancipation; sectional division and Civil War. 3 Credits.
HIST 10605: US History II: 1877-present – Thomas Blantz
MWF 11:45-12:35 pm
This course will be a survey of the political, diplomatic, economic, social, and cultural development of the United States from 1865, the end of the Civil War, to 1988, the end of the Ronald Reagan presidency. Major topics to be covered include post-war reconstruction, the Industrial Revolution of the late 19th century, the progressive legislation of Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, the causes of the Wall Street Crash and Great Depression, the New Deal programs of Franklin Roosevelt, World Wars I and II, the Fair Deal and containment policies of Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower's Modern Republicanism, the New Frontier of John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson's Great Society, the civil rights and feminist movements, Vietnam, Richard Nixon and Watergate, and the presidencies of Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan. 3 Credits.
HIST 10929: Andean History & Ethnohistory – Karen Graubart
MW 10:40-11:30
This course looks at the history of the peoples who live in the Andean region of South America (modern-day Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia) from some of the earliest recorded settlements through the end of Spanish colonization. Using ethnohistoric -- archaeological and anthropological -- as well as historic -- written texts -- materials, we will look at how Andean peoples adapted to and contributed to the formation of their societies, under arduous geographic and climatic conditions. Topics will include the formation of early imperial civilizations such as the Moche and Wari; the development of an Inca empire out of the remnants of these earlier cultures; Spanish conquest and colonization; the adaptation of Andean religiosity to Catholicism; the rebellions of the 18th century. The course will include a visit to the Snite Museum in order to work first-hand with objects from ancient Andean cultures. 3 Credits
HIST 30940: US Operations in Central America – Jaime Pensado
TR 11:00-12:15 pm
As European countries furthered their economic penetration of Africa and Asia during the 19th century, the United States continued its westward expansion by extending its borders to the Pacific and securing its economic and political dominance throughout the Latin American Hemisphere. This course examines the social, cultural and political repercussions a broad range of U.S operations had in Central America since the writing of the Monroe Doctrine in 1823 untilthe "fall of communism" in the late 1980s, including "Dollar Diplomacy," CIA-sponsored coups, paramilitary training of "death squads," and overt military occupations. 3 Credits.
HIST 40909: Gender & Colonization in Latin America – Karen Graubart
MW 3:00-4:15 pm
In this course we will examine the historical construction of gendered roles in the Spanish colonial world. This will entail thinking about gender in the societies which "encountered" each other in the New World, and also thinking about how that encounter produced new forms of gendered relations. Among the questions we will consider: how was the conquest gendered? How did colonial society produce masculinity as well as femininity? What gendered forms of power were available to women? How did ethnicity and caste, as well as gender, determine people's sense of themselves and their "others"? The course will look at a mixture of primary and secondary materials, including letters and chronicles written by men and women, testimony before the Spanish Inquisition, poetry, and novels. While there are no prerequisites for this seminar, some familiarity with colonial Latin American history will be helpful. 3 Credits.
LAST 20402: La Telenovela – Kevin Barry
TR 9:30-10:45 am
In this course you will explore the genre of the telenovela (a major social, cultural, political, and economic force in Latin America and, more recently, in the United States) by reading about the genre (in Spanish) and watching two condensed telenovelas (also in Spanish). You will demonstrate your understanding of the telenovela and its importance in Hispanic culture through writing and discussion and through application of these ideas as you write, produce, direct, act in, record and edit a mini-telenovela as a class. During this process you will learn and apply basic production (videography) and post-production (computer based video and audio editing) techniques. 3 Credits.
LAST 40421: Self, Family, Nation – Karen Graubart
MW 3:00-4:15 pm
This course focuses on the literature of Hispanic Caribbean women authors in the islands and in the U.S. By contrasting the works of recent and more established authors from Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and their counterparts in the U.S., we'll explore the construction of gender and sexuality from a Caribbean feminist perspective. Some of the texts that this course will examine include: In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez, Papi by Rita Indiana, When I was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago, Mi Maldito Amor by Rosario Ferré, and Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina García. 3 Credits.
LAST 40554: Building Democratic Institutions – Samuel Valenzuela
TR 11:00-12:15 pm
Elements of democratic regimes emerged long before the regimes as such can be identified as being minimally in place. Beginning with a brief discussion of the essential features of democracies, the course examines how and why such institutions emerged, and the critical moments in which the actual transitions to the new democratic regimes occurred. The course focuses on democratizations that took place before the Second World War, and will examine key European and Latin American cases. 3 Credits.
ILS 20800: U.S. Latino Spirituality – Dan Groody
TR 11:00-12:15 pm
US Latino spirituality is one of the youngest spiritualities among the great spiritual traditions of humanity. The course will explore the indigenous, African, and European origins of US Latino spirituality through the devotions, practices, feasts, and rituals of the people. 3 Credits.
ILS 30803: Social Concerns Seminar: Hispanic Ministry – Connie Mick and Cynthia Toms Smedley
T 7:00-8:30 pm
The Center for Social Concerns and the Hispanic Ministry jointly offer a pilgrimage based in the Parish of Nuestra Senora de Soledad in Coachella, California. Participants will have the opportunity to experience the Church's option for the poor through an immersion into the spirituality, culture, and economy of the rural southern California community of Coachella. Students will meet with resource people making a difference in the lives of valley residents by helping them with immigration issues, housing, access to education and health programs, and overcoming addiction. 1 Credit.
ILS 30804: Social Concerns Seminar: Border Issues – Cynthia Toms Smedley
TBA
This seminar examines immigration and related issues that surface between the United States and Mexico. Participants travel to El Paso, and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico to meet refugees, work with parish organizations, and discuss policy issues. 1 Credit.
ILS 40700: International Migration: Mexico/US II – Jorge Bustamante
TR 3:30-6:00 pm
A three-week course that refers to a review of basic questions on international migration, with emphasis on immigration to the United States and the methods through which these questions have been adequately or inadequately answered. The numbers, impact, nature, structure, process, and human experience will be discussed in terms of the research methods commonly used to approach them. Spring. 2 Credits.
POLS 10100/20100: American Politics – David Campbell or TBA
MW 9:35-10:25 am or
TR 12:30-1:45 pm
This course surveys the basic institutions and practices of American politics. It examines the institutional and constitutional framework of American politics and identifies the key ideas needed to understand the subject and develop a basis for evaluating American politics today. This introductory course fulfills the American politics breadth requirement for the political science major. 3 Credits.
POLS 10200/20200: International Relations – Sebastian Rosato or James Philpott
MW 9:35-10:25 am or 9:30-10:45 am
This course provides students with an understanding of historical and current events in world politics. As such, the course has three central objectives: to introduce various theoretical frameworks for analyzing international political and economic events, to provide an overview of substantive topics in international relations, and to supply a basic understanding of contemporary international events. We explore substantive issues such as cooperation and conflict in international relations, the causes of war, nuclear proliferation, regional free trade agreements, the causes and effects of economic globalization, and the role of international law and institutions. Discussion sections use historical case studies and current events to illustrate concepts introduced in lectures. This introductory course fulfills the international relations breadth requirement for the political science major. 3 Credits.
POLS 10400/20400: Comparative Politics – Michael Coppedge
MW 11:45-12:35 pm
This course is a general introduction to the major political institutions and conflicts that shape our world today. Rather than focusing on any particular country or time period, we will use a shocking event--the birth of the modern nation-state--to organize our thinking about a diverse range of political movements and ideologies, including feudalism, colonialism, Leninism, and liberal democracy. This introductory course fulfils the comparative politics breadth requirement for the political science major. 3 Credits.
POLS 30005: American Congress – Leon Roos
TR 2:00-3:15 pm
This course will examine such phenomena as legislative organization, roll call behavior, representation, congressional elections, and the role of political parties and interest groups in Congress. It will approach the United States Congress from several perspectives. First Congress will be viewed from the perspective of the American Founding and constitutional Theory. Then students will be exposed to a detailed study of the actual workings of Congress, its rules, procedures and organizations. Then we will read several major studies Congress including Mayhew's Congress the Electoral Connection, Cox and McCubbins Legislative Leviathan, and Jacobson's Congressional Elections. Students will also learn how to do basic roll call analysis through three short data assignments. In addition they will divide into teams of four and each team will do a complete Legislative History, using primary materials. In addition to these writing assignments, there will be a mid-term and a final. 3 Credits.
POLS 30221: International Law & International Relations – Lucrecia Garcia Iommi
TR 3:30-4:45 pm
This course examines the intersection of international law and international relations, examining international law not as a technical specialty but as part of international relations more generally. 3 Credits.
POLS 30260: International Political Economy – Tara Lavallee
MWF 1:45-12:35 pm
This course examines the interaction of politics and economics in the international arena. We begin with a brief historical exploration of the international political economy, and introduce four analytical perspectives on state behavior and international outcomes. Topics include trade policy, foreign direct investment and multinational corporations, international capital flows, exchange rate regimes and currency unions (including European Monetary Union), financial crises, and the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing. 3 Credits.
POLS 30402: Politics & Institutions in Latin America – Nina Wiesehomeier
MW 3:00-4:15 pm
This course aims at enabling students to understand politics in the Latin American region by introducing important concepts of comparative politics and discussing, from a comparative perspective, institutional components and configurations of Latin American countries. We will focus on the question of how institutional frameworks influence policy decisions and actors' behavior, that is, how they affect governability and representation. The course will revolve around central issues such as electoral systems, party system, legislative decision-making and executive-legislative relations, and representation. One important aspect of the course is to get students acquainted with quantitative indicators of comparative politics that not only help to map representation, but also to understand some puzzles of policy making we will encounter throughout Latin American countries. Thus, the course will help students to better understand democratic representation as well as quantitative approaches to the study of democratic institutions. 3 Credits.
SOC23534: Globalization, Coffee, & Fair Trade – Robert Brenneman
MWF 10:40-11:30 am
This special Spring '09 course will examine globalization and its effects on people at the global "margins," especially in economically-depressed Central America. The drop in world coffee prices, the rise of the maquila industry, the increase of emigration from Central America are just a few of the topics that will be considered during this course. The course will also examine how lifestyle choices and consumption habits in the U.S. affect farmers and artisans in the "third world." A key focus of the course will be the examination of the international fair trade movement, both a result of and a response to globalization. A required one-week cross-cultural experience in Guatemala during spring break will bring students face-to-face with some of the people who are most deeply impacted by economic globalization. During the trip, students will meet and hear from Guatemalan coffee farmers large and small as well as from economists and sociologists with differing views on the subjects of "fair trade" and "free trade." You must be willing and able to travel to Guatemala from March 7-15 in order to pass this class.* Students will use conceptual tools from global sociology, economic sociology, and social movement theory. Students in other majors such as finance, marketing or economics, will learn how economic sociology sheds light on economic behavior and international economic forces. The course is a natural fit for sophomore or junior sociology majors and Latin American Studies minors but seniors are also welcome. The course content and the cross-cultural component would also make it an ideal elective for majors in Marketing; Spanish; and Film, Theater and Television. This course is capped at nineteen students and all registering students must receive approval for enrollment by December 10, 2008. 3 Credits
SOC 30054: Cultural Aspects/Clinical Medicine – Robert Wolosin
TR 5:00-6:15 pm
This course focuses on social science approaches to sickness and healing. The medical encounter is examined from anthropological perspectives. The course emphasizes the difficulties traditional biomedicine has in addressing patients' expectations for care. Students serve an internship as patient ombudsman in a local hospital emergency room four hours per week. Students are required to sign a waiver, to present evidence of immunizations, and to receive a TB skin test. Course requirements include weekly quizzes, two lab reports, and a final exam. 3 Credits.
SOC 30910: Environmental Sociology – Curt Sobolewski
MWF 8:30-9:20 am
This course will explore the relationship between human societies and the larger natural environment of which they are a part. The main focus of the course will be modern society, but we will also review the history of resource use, pollution, wilderness preservation, environmental movements, and other environmental developments. This course is mainly oriented towards a theoretical perspective and will cover different schools of thought to help students understand the ecological world that surrounds them. The course will be divided into four parts (the moral, the material, the ideal, and the practical). 3 Credits.
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Alternative courses must be approved by the Project Director.
