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Academic Catalog 2019-2020 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
Courses
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Liberal Arts: Social Sciences |
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LASS206 Seminar in Romanticism 3 cr.
What is Romanticism? To what areas of intellectual life does the term have reference? To art? Literature? Philosophy? Religion? History? Politics? The answer is yes to all the above, and then some. The seminar explores the nature of this immense cultural movement while focusing on the work of the great Romantic poets, writers and artists of the nineteenth century in Europe and America.
Prerequisites: LALW100; FRSM100
Lecture/Seminar
Undergraduate Elective
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LASS208 Social Psychology 3 cr.
Social Psychology explores the behavior of individuals and groups in social contexts. In this course, emphasis is placed on how social aspects may be relevant to being an artistic individual in today’s society. Topics include: How are our thoughts, feelings, and behavior influenced by the presence of other human beings? Can we manipulate someone else’s opinion? Does self-fulfilling prophesy exist? What are social norms? Questions related to how a person’s self-image develops, how individuals think about and react to the world, and how they understand themselves and others are explored. In addition, students learn about concepts such as impression and attitude formation, persuasion, pro-social behavior, prejudice and discrimination, obedience and compliance, aggression, group psychology, and personality
Prerequisites: LALW100; FRSM100
Lecture/Seminar
All College Elective
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LASS211 The American Century 3 cr.
From the Spanish-Cuban-Filipino-American War to the present.
Prerequisites: LALW100; FRSM100
Lecture/Seminar
All College Elective
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LASS229 History of Jazz 3cr
The history of jazz music, people, and culture, from nineteenth century origins to today. A survey of major artists, groups, and periods, including New Orleans jazz, the Swing Era, Bebop, and other movements. Reading of historical sources and recent commentary inform the study of jazz in American society and global culture. Guided listening builds understanding of form and structure in this art form. No knowledge of music notation required.
Prerequisites: FRSM100
Lecture
Undergraduate Elective
Fall & Spring
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LASS230 Financial Literacy 3cr
Practical knowledge about personal finance (budgets and credit) and money management (banking and the ABCs of investing). Readings and discussion on current financial topics.
Prerequisites: LALW100 and FRSM100
Lecture
Undergraduate Elective
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LASS230 Financial Literacy & Careers 3cr.
Practical knowledge about personal finance including taxes, credit, how to budget, save, and
invest. Learn how to define your career goals to explore opportunities and successfully present
yourself to the working world. [Formerly titles Financial Literacy]
Prerequisites: FRSM-100 and LALW-100
Fall and Spring
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LASS232 Free Speech, Democracy and Artists 3cr
This course examines freedom of speech, a fundamental right indispensable to democracy and indispensable for artists. The tension between liberty and control of speech is central to many forms of media and artistic expression. The course examines speech broadly by examining topics such as: speech during wartime or in time of fear; hate speech; speech by students; and libel and slander. In addition, the course examines free speech controversies involving obscenity and pornography, or merely nudity, including controversies concerning artistic expression in film and literature. Students consider speech on television, the Internet, and social media. The course also treats symbolic expressions of speech, such as flag burning and painting; as well as campaign financing as speech. The course focuses primarily on U.S. law–most of the readings will be excerpts of U.S. Supreme Court cases–but the course includes a comparative component, incorporating laws regulating speech and expression in other nations.
Prerequisites: FRSM100, LALW100
Lecture
Undergraduate Elective
Fall & Spring
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LASS233 Music Cultures of the World 3cr
The course explores selected music and rhythms from throughout the world. Students explore various folk, popular, indigenous, and hybrid music from every continent and surveys the development of musical traditions through the development of contemporary world music. The course also treats several American musical traditions, including country, folk, and musical transmissions from Europe, expressive cultural traditions from indigenous peoples of America, and black musical traditions in the New World. This is a Liberal Arts course with required readings, written assignments, and listening work. Under a different course number and requiring different assignments, this course may also provide studio credit in selected studio departments. [Formerly titled: The World of Music]
Prerequisites: FRSM100. LALW100
Lecture
Undergraduate Elective
Fall & Spring
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LASS236 Music and Society 3cr
The course considers how music expresses and inspires social change. By examining the origin and inspiration of major works of classical music, such as Haydn’s Farewell Symphony, Mozart’s opera The Marriage of Figaro, Mendelssohn’s Reformation Symphony, Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, and Shostakovich’s Babi Yar Symphony, the course considers what music reveals about history.
Prerequisites: FRSM100; LALW100
Lecture
Undergraduate Elective
Fall & Spring
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LASS241 Twentieth Century World History 3cr.
World history from 1900 to 2001. The course
introduces students to major events and major
themes in twentieth century history, including
world wars, the rise and fall of totalitarian
philosophies and empires, economic contractions
and expansions, colonial empires and liberation
movement, antithetical internationalist,
nationalist, regionalist, and faith-based
movements, and the gradual process by which the
machine age became the information world.
Prerequisites: LALW-100 & FRSM-100
Lecture
Undergraduate Elective
Fall & Spring
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LASS242 Film Music 3cr.
This course treats the evolution of film music
from silent movies until the present. It
introduces students to musical syntax, the
aesthetics of film music, and the means by which
composers synchronize music and script to convey
mood and render action vivid. Working
chronologically, the course explores the
increasing importance of music in cinema and how
music functions as an expressive element in a
film. The course treats composers who wrote
almost exclusively for the cinema (i.e., Charlie
Chaplin and the contemporary John Williams),
treats classical central European composers who
migrated to the screen composition from wartime
Europe (i.e., Korngold, Waxman, Alexandre
Tansman, Bronislaw Kaper), and treats
composer-director/producer collaborations such as
Eisenstein-Prokofiev, Rota-Fellini/Visconti, and
others. The course additionally treats the role
of ethnic music (Morocco, India, China, Japan) in
world cinema. Two term papers are assigned, one
dealing with a composer-director partnership, the
second treating the function of score in a major,
iconic film such as Gone with the Wind. The
textbook is Mervyn Cooke’s A History of Film
Music.
Prerequisites: LALW-100 & FRSM-100
Lecture
Undergraduate Elective
Spring
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LASS245 Cities and Society 3cr.
Cities are fascinatingly complex places, and for millennia people have flocked to them for a host
of reasons. Some people have looked to cities as a way to escape the ennui of rural existence,
some have gathered in cities for economic opportunity, and many others have arrived simply
to be in close contact with different groups of people. Taking “the city” as our primary unit of
analysis in this course, we will attempt to explore some of the major themes and processes
that affect most urban areas, along with offering some historical perspective on the trends that
have created “the city” as we find it today.
Prerequisites: LALW-100 & LALW-200
Fall and Spring
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LASS248 White Privilege: How Official Policies & Private Prejudice Shaped Your Neighborhood 3cr
At the time of Black Lives Matter – a movement that has been called our Third Reconstruction –
the course examines three sets of interrelated themes: 1) The American inner city: its
multiple and entangled historical, socio-political and economic origins. 2) The
role of segregation in housing, education, employment, policing and criminal justice in the
life of the people in the inner city. 3) The forces maintaining the inner-city status quo, and
the promise of Black Lives Matter. [Formerly titled The Hood: Life and History]
Prerequisites: FRSM-100 and LALW-100
Lecture
Spring
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LASS249 Queer Studies:Beyond Traditional Ideas of Gender and Sexuality 3cr
This class offers students a chance to ground
their own artistic and academic projects in a
working theoretical and practical knowledge of
the discipline of Queer Studies; both the
historiography and current work being done in the
field. Our goal is to establish a classroom
environment of mutual respect where queer ideas
about artistic challenges and choices can be
developed and shared in a supportive and safe
academic and working environment grounded in
solid social science methodology. We will examine
the development and current state of the academic
discipline of Queer Studies as it has emerged
from both Women’s Studies and Gender Studies. Our
method will be to research both archival and
current academic and multi-media sources to see
where the field stands as an academic discipline
but also as an applied paradigm for social
justice and artistic action. Special attention
will be paid to the development of connections
between applied Queer Theory and artistic and
life choices for today’s working artist. The list
of class materials will be fluid and
inter-disciplinary and rely on input and research
from all class members, reflecting the core
nature of the discipline itself.
Prerequisites: FRSM-100 and LALW-100
Lecture
Spring
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LASS250 Philosophy of Religion 3cr
The course explores the concept of God and the sacred, the grounds forand challenges to religious belief, the credentials of mystical experience, the implications of religious pluralism, and the idea of a religiously ambiguous world. Readings will be drawn from classical and contemporary thinkers.
Prerequisites: FRSM-100 and LALW-100
Seminar
Spring
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LASS253 East Asia: Modernity Redefined 3cr
With astonishing rapidity, the nations of East
Asia have emerged as an imposing presence on the
world stage. Their rich and varied cultures have
influenced other regions of the world in ways
that have helped to redefine modernity. Along
with the recent US strategic shift to the
Asia-Pacific, it has become imperative in our
time to study modern East Asia and to understand
its impact on global politics and culture and its
relevance to our daily lives. This course follows
the main themes in East Asian history since 1600,
focusing primarily on China, Japan, Korea, and
Vietnam. We will study long-term changes and
continuities in East Asian society, politics,
culture, art, and economy. We will also study the
dramatic changes that have taken place in East
Asia’s relationship with the rest of the world.
Classes will combine lectures with class
discussions, presentations, and films.
Lecture
Fall
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LASS254 Immigration and Race in the USA: The American Experience 3cr
Often portrayed as a “nation of immigrants” with
ample and equal opportunities for the “huddled
masses,” the United States has a long and
complicated history of immigration marked not
always by open doors but rather by exclusion,
marginalization, and contestation. Immigration
has helped define American national identity, and
it continues shaping its political debates,
economic patterns, social transformations, and
cultural life. It has become even more salient
and contentious since the 2016 presidential
election. This class places contemporary
immigration debates in historical context and
provides a systematic review of American
immigration history in local, national and global
contexts.
We will start with the early stages of
immigration since the colonial era and then place
the great waves of European, Asian, and Mexican
immigration during the nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries in the context of comparable
and relatable global migrations across the world.
We will discuss the rise of federal laws on
immigration in the late 19th century and the
tightened immigration control and restriction in
the early 20th century, followed by the impacts
of WWII and the ensuing Cold War on immigration.
The rest of the class will focus on the more
recent immigrant and refugee communities from
Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Africa,
highlighting the changing patterns of migration
since the 1965 immigration reform (including the
changes in post-9/11 America).
Lecture
Spring
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LASS280 Introduction to Psychology 3 cr.
An examination of the dynamics of the self from the interpretative, clinical perspective. The course discusses the growth and the making of the “solid self” and explores the influences that can further or hinder the constitution of a coherent, stable personality. Narcissistic disorders, the most common psychic disorders of our time, are also addressed.
Prerequisites: LALW100; FRSM100
Lecture/Seminar
All College Elective
Fall/Spring
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LASS281 Psychology of Flourishing 3 cr.
This course examines the human potential for growth and flourishing as well as for resiliency. Traditionally, psychologists have aimed at helping individuals notice and fix unwanted or dysfunctional habits, uncover and repair unfortunate or traumatic childhood experiences, or calibrate damaged brain chemistry. Rather than focusing on human weakness and dysfunction, this class explores the human condition from a positive psychology perspective. Students study concepts such as hope, happiness, optimism, and resiliency, and surveys human core character strengths and virtues.
Prerequisites: LALW100; FRSM100
Lecture/Seminar
All College Elective
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LASS300 Race in America 3 cr.
How did various peoples from America, Africa, and Europe, speaking different languages and possessing different cultures, come to be defined as “red”, “black”, and “white,” and how did later immigrants or conquered peoples from Asia and the western hemisphere get fitted into this scheme? This class examines how race categories were formed in the colonial period and have been repeatedly remade up to the present.
Prerequisites: LALW100; FRSM100
Lecture/Seminar
All College Elective
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LASS302 Gender, Class and Race in American Film 3 cr.
This class analyzes film as an important part of mass culture. The course is a social science course, not a “film viewing” one. It treats sociological themes such as gender, class, and race as these themes are reflected in the actions of the film’s characters; in their relations with other characters; in their expectations, hopes, and dreams; and, implicitly, in the film’s cinematic, visual aspects.
Prerequisites: LALW100; FRSM100
Lecture/Seminar
All College Elective
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LASS307 Medieval and Renaissance History 3cr
This course encompasses no less than twelve centuries of European history extending from the last decades of the Roman Empire in the West to what is often referred to as the Early Modern period (I.e., the 16th century), the era characterized by the rise of powerful centralized monarchical states and empires. Throughout, a determined effort is made to precisely define broad historical concepts such as “civilizations” and “intellectual revolutions.” For example, we will ask what particular historical and cultural elements made the Medieval West a distinct civilization? In the same manner, what presumably different and distinct elements formed and shaped the civilization of Byzantium? What was the Renaissance, both in Italy, and north and west of the Alps? Where and how does the Renaissance intersect with the Reformation and the Reconnaissance, enormously significant historical phenomena in themselves?
Prerequisites: LALW100, FRSM100
Lecture
Undergraduate Elective
Fall & Spring
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LASS308 Narcissism, Aggression and Creativity 3cr
Are we really capable of falling in love with an image of ourselves, as in the story of Echo and Narcissus? If so, what are the consequences? Do contemporary cultural themes cast a light on the story? What impulses motivate these thoughts and processes? This course utilizes a psychoanalytic approach to discover and analyze themes that emerge from an awareness of creative impulses. What blocks them? What role does aggression play in the responsiveness to the creative impulse? Psychoanalytic literature, in combination with contemporary themes, questions and illuminates the art making process.
Prerequisites: LALW100, FRSM100
Lecture
Undergraduate Elective
Fall
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LASS309 History of Modern Europe 3 cr.
A comprehensive overview of the last four centuries of European history. The course surveys political and international history, social history, and intellectual history. Students gain a deep appreciation for the rich complexity of European civilization and an understanding of the continuity of events from the seventeenth century onward.
Prerequisites: LALW100; FRSM100
Lecture/Seminar
All College Elective
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LASS312 Technology and Language 3cr
The course investigates the relationship of languages of expression to tools and communication technologies. Through interdisciplinary exploration of various modes and practices, from the language of typography, audio/visual expression, to dynamic languages of interaction, social media and crowd sourcing, students gain knowledge and understanding of current issues of social communication in the context of dynamic media technology. The course introduces students to recent developments, theory and criticism of communication design and technology through selected case studies involving the work of historical and contemporary inventors, designers, artists and new media innovators.
Prerequisites: LALW100,FRSM100
Lecture
Undergraduate Elective
Fall
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LASS314 Race Uncut:America in Black and White 3cr
How do race and class operate not just in categorizing people, but in maintaining and reproducing the socio- economic life and in
shaping common experience of history and present. We will focus on African Americans and white Americans and discuss what race means, and what class means – historically, culturally, and economically – in the context of the American dream. 6 cinematic representations will serve
us as prompts to examine in depth selected historical themes, from the Civil War to the
present. [Formerly Titled Race,Class and the American Dream]
Prerequisites: LALW-100 and FRSM-100
Lecture
Undergraduate Elective
Fall and Spring
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LASS315 Cultural Cold War 3cr.
From an ideological weapon to an instrument of peaceful understanding, the role of culture in
the Cold War has recently become a topic of much study and debate. This course will go beyond the
traditional parameters of the Cold War as a Soviet-American conflict fought through high
politics, the space race, and limited hot wars, by examining the political,diplomatic, social,
and imperial utilization of and impact on culture in Britain, the US, the Soviet Union, China, and
their respective empires. The course will consider official policies like the Soviet VOKS
(Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries) and exchange programs in arts and
education as well as processes like tourism, literature, film,consumerism, and sport.
Prerequisites: LALW-200
Spring Only
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LASS318 Seminar: Reading Marx 3 cr.
A critical reading and discussion of some of Karl Marx’s writings on history, philosophy and society, plus commentary.
Prerequisites: LALW100; FRSM100; LALW200
Lecture/Seminar
All College Elective
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LASS320 Fashion and Culture 3cr.
Fashion is both a reflection of and influence on culture. This course can examine clothing in
context, exploring the phenomenon of fashion in terms of technological developments, aesthetics,
and body politics (gender, race, sexuality, and class) as well as its connection to cultural
identity and the global economy. Focusing the examination on specific key moments in fashion
history from the French Revolution to today, the course will foster critical thinking and writing
about fashion from a multidisciplinary perspective. The meaning of fashion at these
select and pivotal historical periods will be gleaned through diverse sources - fiction,
diaries, paintings, histories, and design theory- and be complemented by direct examination of
objects.
Prerequisites: LALW-100 & FRSM-100
Fall Only
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LASS323 Minds,Brains&Consciousness 3cr
What is the mind? Some of history’s most profound
thinkers have attempted to answer this question,
yet the nature of the mind remains elusive and
hotly debated in contemporary philosophy. Can the
mysteries of conscious experience be reconciled
with a naturalistic, scientific world view? Is
the mind really just a kind of computer, a
machine made of meat? What is thinking, and can
computers do it? In this course, we will
investigate what Francis Crick has called the
Astonishing Hypothesis-“that “You,” your joys and
your sorrows, your memories and your ambitions,
your sense of personal identity and free will,
are in fact no more than the behavior of a vast
assembly of nerve cells and their associated
molecules.
Prerequisites: FRSM-100 and LALW-100
Lecture
Fall and Spring
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LASS325 Gender Identity and the F-Word(feminism) 3cr
What does it mean to call oneself (or someone
else) a ‘feminist’? How does gender intersect
with other social hierarchies to shape both how
we see, and how we are seen by, others? In this
advanced undergraduate elective, we will consider
efforts to reveal, unravel, and remedy the
conceptual, psychological, and economic
dimensions of gender oppression. We will examine
the intersection of sexism with racism,
heterosexism, and class exploitation, and
investigate the role of the concept of difference
in creating and maintaining structural
inequalities.
Prerequisites: FRSM-100 and LALW-100
Lecture
Spring
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LASS326 American Slavery 3cr
This survey history course provides a broad
overview of the origins and evolution of American
slavery. Lectures provide historical context for
analysis of a wide range of documents and films
analyzing the construction of laws defining
American slavery, religious ethos of slaves,
gender identities, resistance, slave culture, the
role of free people of color in the period of the
American slave regime, the coming of the Civil
War, and the aftermath of emancipation.
Lecture
Spring
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LASS360 Memory and Dreams 3 cr.
This course explores the intersecting realms of memory and dream. Dreaming is an entirely subjective experience, but how objective is remembering? How do we understand phenomena like post-traumatic or implanted or false memories? How can culture construct our memories–and our forgettings–for us? How can we separate identity from memory and either from forms of fiction? The world of dream: is it meaningful, nonsense, prophetic, usable? This course treats current neuroscience and neuropsychology, film clips, case histories, fiction, and analytic theory. In preparation for the final project, students keep a nightly dream journal. The course treats the nature of consciousness and subjectivity, the existence of a coherent self over time, and the creative uses to which memory and dream may be put.
Prerequisites: LALW100, FRSM100
Lecture/Seminar
All College Elective
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LASS401 On Truth and Value 3 cr.
The course is organized around the following core questions: What is truth and is it attainable? Why is truth important? How do we get to know objective reality? What is a “good life” in the ethical sense, and why should one desire to live a “good life?”
Prerequisites: LALW100, FRSM100
Lecture/Seminar
All College Elective
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LASS402 Minds,Brains&Consciousness 3 cr.
What is the mind? Some of history’s most
profound thinkers have attempted to answer this
question, yet the nature of the mind remains
elusive and hotly debated in contemporary
philosophy. Can the mysteries of conscious
experience be reconciled with a naturalistic,
scientific world view? Is the mind really just a
kind of computer, a machine made of meat? What
is thinking, and can computers do it? In this
course, we will investigate what Francis Crick
has called the Astonishing Hypothesis-“that
“You,” your joys and your sorrows, your memories
and your ambitions, your sense of personal
identity and free will, are in fact no more than
the behavior of a vast assembly of nerve cells
and their associated molecules.”
Prerequisites: LALW-100 and FRSM-100
Lecture
Fall
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LASS403 China-U.S. Relations 3cr
This course explores the relationship between
China and the United States from its beginning to
the present. Unlike conventional narratives of
Sino-U.S. relations focusing on politics and
diplomatic relations, this course will cover more
broadly social, cultural,and economic
interactions, such as mutual perceptions and
images,cultural/educational exchanges, migration
and foreign policies, and international trade.
Accordingly, we will look at a wide array of
individuals and institutions such as
missionaries, educators, merchants, migrants,
non-government organizations, corporations and
mass media rather than nation-states as the sole
actors on the stage. We will place China and the
United States in their regional and historical
contexts while focusing on the interactive
dynamic to show how their relations shaped their
own histories as well as the global history. This
course is to help students develop a solid
understanding of the evolution of Sino-U.S.
relations over time as well as a sharp and well
informed
perspective on current challenges and
opportunities, especially the new face of
Sino-U.S.relations with China’s rise as a major
economic powerhouse and the repositioning of the
United States in the world. In addition to
learning about the substance of these facets of
Sino-U.S. relations, the course is designed to
teach several important skills to students:
informed reading of various types of sources,
historical and critical thinking, policy analysis
and debates,oral presentation and writing, and
teamwork. Different assignments are designed to
develop and advance these skills.
Prerequisites: FRSM-100 and LALW-100
Seminar
Fall
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LASS404 Asian Diaspora and American Experience 3cr
This course surveys Asian American history (1850-
present) from international and global
perspectives. It starts with the massive
migrations of different Asian groups to the U.S.
from the Gold Rush to WWII, focusing on themes
such as colonialism, imperialism, labor,
communities, legal exclusion, and foreign
policies. Then it moves on to the great changes
within the Asian American community since 1965
and how Asian Americans are changing American
society and the relations between the United
States and Asia.
Prerequisites: LALW-100 and FRSM-100
Seminar
Spring
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LASS406 Seminar on Romanticism 3cr
A seminar in the study of Romanticism in Europe
and America in the late 18th and early 19th
century.
Prerequisites: LALW-100, FRSM-100 and LALW-200
Seminar
Fall
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