Click here for Fall 2013 Special Topics Course Descriptions
Click here for Summer 2013 Special Topics Course Descriptions
Click here for Spring 2013 Special Topics Course Descriptions
Click here for past Special Topics Course Descriptions
Unless otherwise noted, Special Topics courses are each 3 credits.
Fall 2013
AH328 Special Topics: High Renaissance Italy
This course is a survey of the visual arts of Italy from the late 15th century through the 16th century. Focusing on the conditions in which the artworks were produced and viewed rather than on the distinctions between “fine” and “decorative” art, the course will emphasize painting, sculpture and architecture but will also cover aspects of visual culture in both religious and domestic settings. The classes will be primarily lectures, but student participation in discussions is strongly encouraged.
Prerequisites: AH100, AH150, HU102
HU227 Special Topics: U.S. History to 1877
This course examines the economic, geographical and social background of life in the United States from its discovery through its colonization and independence and, finally, to its national crisis and reconstruction. Emphasis will be placed upon vital intellectual, cultural, political and social movements that formed the foundations of the nation. In addition to a general textbook, primary documents will also be examined in order to expose students to firsthand historical sources of American history.
Prerequisites: HU102
HU3201 Special Topics: Rhetoric of Popular Culture
This course provides students with an introduction to rhetoric in popular culture. It is concerned with how rhetoric functions in popular culture artifacts. Loosely translated from Aristotle’s definition, rhetoric is the study of the art of the available means of persuasion. Therefore, this course uses different critical theories (such as Marxist, Feminist, Racial and Queer) to critique the rhetorical dimensions of popular culture. Specifically, it is concerned with how film, television, music, advertising and technology texts are representative of cultural identities of class, gender, race, sexuality and/or disability. Overall, students in this course will be exposed to many realms of contemporary popular culture while also learning the fundamentals of theorizing about and critiquing artifacts in Western culture.
Prerequisites: HU102
HU3202 Special Topics: Women’s Studies: Gender, Race, Class and Sexuality
This interdisciplinary course examines gender at the intersections of sexuality, race, ethnicity and class. Students will think about how these social categories shape women’s lives and how women negotiate these categories to create their own identities. Students will consider differences among women. Students will also consider the ways in which gender, race, class and sexuality intersect to create dynamics of oppression and domination in our society. Readings include selections from feminist theory, cultural studies, and literature. Along with reading about gendered, sexual, ethnic and racial identities/experiences, students will also explore their own gendered/sexual/racial/ethnic identities, through constructing their own autobiographical narratives.
Prerequisites: HU102
SS325 Special Topics: Learning and Memory
Briefly, learning is defined as a relatively permanent change in behavior as a result of experience. This course is designed to provide students with a comprehensive overview and critical examination of learning theories with some general applications. The course will have a historical/empirical approach to assist students with understanding the basic concepts and principles of classical (aka Pavlovian), instrumental, operant and cognitive learning as applied to human and non-human animals. This course will examine the methods and discoveries from this significant area of psychology. In many ways, these discoveries form the foundation of much of our other knowledge in psychology. Throughout the semester, students will be expected to apply various aspects of learning theory and procedures to address real-life problems and situations outside the classroom to demonstrate a clear understanding of learning and conditioning in animals and humans.
Prerequisites: HU102
SS326 Special Topics: Anthropology of Warfare, Violence and Peace
The discipline of anthropology—and related fields like political science and international relations—has long addressed the causes and manifestations of warfare, violence, and peace. Are human beings naturally aggressive and “hard-wired” for violence and warfare? Or is violence merely one possibility in a range of tendencies that also includes peacefulness and altruism? Why do people engage in violence and wage war? Is peace a utopian vision, a socio-cultural fact or a set of deliberate choices that can be systematically pursued by social groups and governments? How exactly do we define violence and peace? Is warfare always the default position through which we compete for resources and power? What other explanations can we find for why people fight? And how have people in different places and time periods mobilized to both wage war and to promote peace, and at what costs?
This course critically explores the causes, manifestations, and impacts of warfare and violence on societies, communities and individuals from a contemporary cultural anthropology perspective. The class will examine the above questions through a series of approaches that analyze the reasons why human societies engage in warfare and violence and with what effects. Students will also examine how societies have pursued peace, both as an alternative to conflict and in the aftermath of conflict. Ultimately, the class will help students consider why American history, society, culture and values have often tended to be aggressive and militaristic, and more importantly, how this might be changed in the opposite direction—toward a more humane, compassionate, just, nonviolent, peaceful and sustainable society for the 21st century.
Prerequisites: HU102
Summer 2013
Summer Session 1: Monday, May 13 – Friday, May 31
HU328 Special Topics: Fantasy and Science Fiction Literature
Often considered the most imaginative of the genres, this course will provide an overview of fantasy and science fiction’s roots in myth to modern concepts of technology; the course will focus on themes such as dystopian/utopian visions of society, man’s relationship with the divine, alien contact and man’s role in an ever-changing technological landscape. Emphasis is placed on the students’ critical interpretation of the texts. Written assignments will demand critical thinking skills and literary analysis.
Prerequisites: HU102
Summer Session 2: Monday, June 3 – Friday, June 21
AH327 Special Topics: Science Fiction Cinema
Whether it is imagining the future or allegorizing the past and present, science fiction is adept at reflecting collective fears, political viewpoints, and the ethical dilemmas presented by scientific and technological advances. Sometimes referred to as “speculative fiction,” sci-fi has remained one of the most prominent and versatile genres throughout the history of the cinematic medium. This course will provide an historical framework that analyzes and contextualizes the development and revisions of the genre since 1900, paying special attention to shifts in production, reception and socio-political climate. Through a filter of the broader sub-discipline of genre studies, we will explore the ways Sci-Fi conforms to traditional definitions of genre, while using film theory to complicate and contest the idea of rigid narrative demarcation.
Prerequisites: AH100, AH150, HU102
HU329 Special Topics: Telling the Story: Critical Approaches to Storytelling and Mythmaking
Many scholars have argued that human beings conduct their lives in a landscape of stories of our own creation. There is a storytelling impulse that teaches us how to live and how to bond as members of a community. We are inundated with stories via our upbringing, religion and cultural backgrounds as well as prominently through our media. It stands to reason that we should step outside of this landscape of stories momentarily to ask ourselves what exactly are these stories doing, how are they operating, what are they teaching us and how can we become agents in their creation? Creative people in particular can benefit from a better understanding of the human drive to create and perpetuate story. In this course we will explore several theories and processes of storytelling. Readings from authors such as Joseph Campbell, Kirin Narayan, Linda Seger and Zora Neale Hurston teach us how stories can facilitate a creative practice that resonates with audiences on a deeper level and promote the creation of new knowledge, works of art, ideas and ways of being.
Prerequisites: HU102
Summer Session 3: Monday, July 1 – Friday, July 19
HU225 Special Topics: Graphic Novel as Literature
This graphic novel course offers instruction in the reading of the graphic novel as well as writing and thinking about this sequential art form commonly referred to as comics. We will explore the medium’s long and rich history, its storytelling potential, its unique visual grammar and the cultural, aesthetic and theoretical context of the genre and individual works.
Prerequisites: HU102
Spring 2013
AH224 Special Topics: Ancient Egyptian Art and Archaeology
This course is a survey of the key artistic and archaeological monuments (tombs, temples, statuary), material culture (burials, daily life) and other art forms of ancient Egypt from prehistory to the late Roman Period (A.D. 642). The purpose of this course is to create a better understanding of the different themes and styles that are found in Egyptian art during the empire’s 3,000 years of history. Class discussion will center around two crucial points: the art forms of the king and those of the elite/ruling class because they were the patrons who determined major artistic production.
Prerequisites: AH100, AH150, HU101, HU102
AH424 Special Topics: Museum Theory and Practice
This course is an upper-level undergraduate seminar that explores both the theoretical approaches to museum development and implementation along with hands-on applications in the museum field today. Each week is dedicated to understanding the role of a different museum office, such as Collections Management, Development, Education, Exhibit Preparation, Marketing, Operations, Visitor Experience and Registrar. In addition, some weeks our class discussion will scrutinize the larger role of museums in their communities, museum ethics and social responsibility or the future of museums in a digital age.
Prerequisites: AH100, AH150, HU101, HU102
AH425 Special Topics: Curatorial Studies
Introduction to primary methods utilized by curators within the contemporary art world. Through examinations of the major developments in the history of art curation, students will cultivate an understanding of the practices and procedures for producing exhibitions, including fundamentals of curatorial theory, methodologies of design and installation, and audience engagement strategies.
Prerequisites: AH100, AH150, HU101, HU102
HU324 Special Topics: Latin American History
This course examines Latin American history from European encounter through colonialism, the independence movements and the struggles of nationalism, to the present-day problems of globalization. Emphasis will be placed upon vital intellectual, cultural, political and social movements that have shaped and continue to impact the current Latin American scene. In addition to a general course textbook, a supplementary reader will be used to expose students to important primary and secondary documents, providing more depth into topics such as race and slavery, gender, liberalism, conservatism, revolution and globalization.
Prerequisites: HU101, HU102
HU325 Special Topics: The Hidden Life of Letters: A History of Western Writing from Empire to Graffiti
Written language is a key component of any civilization. It is often taken for granted that an enormous history lurks behind each of the letters that facilitate even our most banal communications. Writing in the west, originating in the Phoenician alphabet, has grown and evolved following the material and ideological conditions of European transformation. This class will track that history and development—the hidden lives of our letters. After analyzing the social conditions that initially gave rise to writing (c. 3500 B.C.E.), we will then turn to the progression of writing as it travels from Egypt and Mesopotamia on to the Greek and Italian mainlands (c. 800-700 B.C.E.). The lion’s share of the class will carefully track the Western European use of the Latin script—that is, Latin letters and the forms they take through time (100 C.E. – 1500 C.E.) and their mutations through the development of feudalism, with attention paid to the life and times of the scribes that produced them.
Further, in order to grasp the often-nuanced transitions between letter forms, we will learn to reproduce features of specific script forms. In other words, we will learn about writing, in part, by reproducing historical lettering. However, this class will primarily be paleographic (studying the development of writing through time) rather than calligraphic (studying the purely aesthetic production of letters) in character. Finally, we will explore the place of writing in contemporary forms, specifically asemic (nonsense) writing and graffiti culture.
This class will be useful to students in a variety of ways. The history of writing provides a unique lens thorough which to understand the social and historical changes that produced Western civilization. For instance, the transition from the so-called Dark Ages to the high Middle Ages is marked by a shift from local letter forms to standardized, Imperial Carolinian script. This class will argue that the mutation of writing tracks the ebb and flow of power in European history. Further, an enriched historical understanding of letters and lettering provides students with an enormous toolbox for use in other aesthetic applications, from design generally to the lettering of graphic novels, etc. In this sense, the history of lettering will be an interdisciplinary platform for both liberal studies and the practical aspect of lettering.
Prerequisites: HU101, HU102
HU326 Special Topics: Queers in Space: LGBTQ Geographies in the United States
“Whose street? Our street!” This phrase was a rallying cry of the gay and lesbian rights movement in the 1970s. The movement’s focus on visibility and on access to public space, stood in marked contrast to the secrecy and repression that activists felt had characterized gay and lesbian life for the past several decades. In this and many other historical moments, the politics of space—who had access to it, the terms of its use, and how it shaped and was shaped by the people who occupied it—has been crucial to the formation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer sexualities and identities in the United States.
This combined lecture and discussion class will explore people’s travels in and across spaces as diverse as homes, farms, bars, city streets, military bases and international borders to reveal how LGBTQ people have formed individual identities, created varied and diverse communities and challenged social and political oppression through the spaces that they claim and those from which they are excluded.
Prerequisites: HU101, HU102
HU327 Special Topics: Poetry Writing and Performance
Building on the traditional poetry workshop model, this course will also add a significant emphasis on the oral poetry reading and the live spoken word performance. Like a traditional poetry workshop, students will develop their poetic technique through extensive writing, close reading and active discussion of student work. We will also place strong emphasis on the art of reading poems aloud—through in-class performance, listening to recorded performances and through a consideration of theoretical approaches from critics and poets alike. We will also devote a period of each class to critical analysis of poetry and theory by established writers. In each case, close attention will be paid to form, language, sonic elements, and the relevant poetic traditions. The culmination of the course will be a final portfolio of revised work and an in-class performance.
Prerequisites: HU101, HU102
MA222 Special Topics: Geometry in the Arts
Geometry in the Arts is a study of topics in geometry with examples of its historical application to the arts. The emphasis is on geometric concepts. The course is designed to illustrate the relationship between two fields of endeavor: geometry and the arts. The course includes all the topics necessary for a solid foundation in geometry—plane, solid and fractal. It goes beyond the traditional geometry course by delving into the history of geometric ideas, the mathematicians who developed them, the symbolism of geometric figures and the influence of geometry in the arts and architecture.
Prerequisites: HU101, HU102
NS221 Special Topics: Human Evolution
This course provides a broad perspective on what it means to be a human being and how our species fits into the wider biological framework. Evolution theory (including common misconceptions), modern human variations and adaptations and the range of human behavioral and biological diversity will be covered.
Prerequisites: HU101, HU102
SS324 Special Topics: Campaigns and Elections
Through both discussions and lectures, this course will examine the dynamics of elections in contemporary American politics. We will explore how political scientists study electoral politics, what we have learned and how these academic endeavors apply to political conduct. To this end, we will examine why candidates, voters and others think and behave the way they do; the rules that govern their behavior; and who wins elections and why. Our analysis will focus on the ways in which factors within the candidate’s control (e.g. strategy, fundraising, advertising) interact with factors largely outside the candidate’s control (e.g. regulations, gender, race, partisanship), in order to assess what difference (if any) campaigns actually make in election outcomes. Finally, we will explore how we might use what we know about campaigns and elections to make them better.
Prerequisites: HU101, HU102
Past Special Topics
HU220 Humanities: Special Topics American History.
This course examines the economic, political, geographical and social background of life in the United States from the Civil War/Reconstruction era to present times. Emphasis will be placed upon vital intellectual, cultural, political, and social movements that have shaped and continue to impact the current American scene. In addition to a general course textbook, primary documents will also be examined in order to expose students to firsthand historical sources of American history.
HU221 Humanities: Special Topics Oral Communication.
Basic Oral Communication introduces students to the principles and theories of effective public and small group communication as well as interpersonal and interpersonal communication. The course explores the demands on, and effects of, communication in the 21st century and will briefly explore ideas specific to the professional art world. The students’ own artwork and artist statements will be used as subject material for their final projects.
HU387 Forms of Fiction: Horror.
This course traces the evolution of the modern horror novel from its roots in the Gothic and examines its enduring popularity. The reading list will consist primarily of novels, but some short stories will also be included.
HU420 Humanities: Special Topics Black on Film: Race and Cinema.
Close analysis of the metaphor of race in cinematic texts, including American, European, AFrican, Caribbean, and Latin American films. The class will be structured around daily viewings with films augmented by a variety of other textural and contextual sources: literary, musical, philosophical, and historical. Students will write 3 short essays that develop class discussion.
NS221 Special Topics: Human Evolution.
This course provides a broad perspective on what it means to be a human being and how our species fits into the wider biological framework. Evolution theory (including common misconceptions), modern human variations and adaptations, and the range of human behavioral and biological diversity will be covered.
SS320 Social Science Special Topics: Government.
Students will learn about the history, development, and structure of the federal and state governments and outside forces that influence government. Students will analyze the role and the interaction between the three branches of government, concepts of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights, and the impact of individual participation in government.
