1946

T

1:00-3:40pm

Debora Hammond

CH 59

This is a course required of all incoming upper division students to acquaint them with the specific skills and concepts basic to a Liberal Studies education: 1) analysis of assigned readings, 2) participation in seminar discussions, 3) development of writing skills, 4) introduction to the Portfolio, 5) researching of materials leading to the completion of an Independent Study Project, and 6) application of these skills to issues developed in Hutchins Portfolio binder available on the web. The divider categories are: Major & Portfolio, Introduction to Liberal Studies, Core Areas, Senior Synthesis, and Advising Keys.

SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF LIBS 302 IS REQUIRED TO CONTINUE IN THE HUTCHINS PROGRAM. Students earning a grade of C- or lower will not be allowed to continue in Hutchins.[Top]

2033

TH

1:00-3:40pm

Les Adler

CH 68

While the emphasis is placed on a non-European developing country, this course will explore the practice of culture at a global level. Politics, economics, nationalism, imperialism, colonialism, traditions, literature and film are among the topics that enable students to understand the contemporary world. Our primary focus in this section will be the Third World Cinema and its attendant political, aesthetic, and cultural underpinnings. Through a combination of film screenings, weekly reading, writing, and research assignments, students will develop an understanding of global cultural exchange through the medium of film. Thus, while we will primarily be viewing cinematic representations stemming from India, Algeria, Senegal, and Brazil, the focus of this course will be how particular films engage with broader issues, such as the struggle for representation, autonomy, cross-cultural dialogue, and what constitutes - or can constitute - a "Third World" cinema or, indeed, a "Third World" perspective. NOTE: Before enrolling please be advised that some of the films in this course contain graphic sexual and/or violent material that may be disturbing. [Top]

2034

T

1:00-3:40pm

Ben Frymer

TBA

This section of 308 will focus on the interconnections between media and global culture. We will explore the extent to which the mass media and recent media technologies have led to the creation of a global “common culture” or, alternatively, accentuated the diversity of the world’s local cultures. We’ll also explore the production and presentation of news around the world in terms of the globalization of information. To what degree are news media either enhancing our ability to know about other areas of the world or creating misleading perceptions and representations of national and international issues? How does this impact citizenship and activism in a world with urgent global problems? Students will be required to participate in a research project for Project Censored, in which they examine significant contemporary news stories. [Top]

2035

W

4:00-6:40pm

Janet Hess

CH 68

Contact Instructor for description.

[Top]

3701

M

4:00-6:40pm

Mutombo M'Panya

CH 68

Contact Instructor for description.

[Top]

Contract course. Must use form to register. All tenured or tenure-track faculty.

May be repeated for credit. Prerequisites: LIBS 302 and consent of instructor. Contracts available in department office. Students propose a particular study they want to do, and advisors assist with completion of agreement. Form with advisor's signature is then left in Director McGuckin's mailbox (top right, outlined in blue) for signature. [Top]

2096

T

1:00-3:40pm

Richard Zimmer

CH 68

This course is an interdisciplinary examination of the American Educational System. The course reviews the history of American schooling, philosophical issues that continue to shape its foundations, the effect of ethnicity, gender, class and disability on it, and the ways in which curriculum affects it. Appropriate readings and papers will explore these areas. In addition, students will perform forty five hours as volunteers in public school settings. This will allow students to complete their volunteer prerequisite requirement of the School of Education. Students will share their experiences from volunteering with the class. [Top]

Contract course. Must use form to register. All tenured or tenure-track faculty.

See additional information under LIBS 310. [Top]

2130

TH

4:00-6:40pm

Ianthe Brautigan Swensen

CH 68

3926

TH

7:00-9:40pm

Ianthe Brautigan Swensen

CH 68

This course for pre-credential students examines the pedagogy and socio-political context of literacy in the contemporary world, including the process of language development and the significance of literacy as a broader educational and social issue. Students will explore the philosophies of pedagogy, the politics of language and classrooms lesson designs. [Top]

2100

M

1:00-3:40pm

Wendy Ostroff

CH 68

This course is a close inspection of child development through the windows of Western culture, emphasizing relevant social, linguistic and cultural factors as well a major theoretical views of physical, emotional, and personality growth. Subjective views of childhood experiences will be contrasted with objective observations. Particular focus on school-related concerns such as ADD/ADHD, will be addressed. This course is restricted to seniors only until the beginning of the semester. If there are open seats after Reg I, we will open it to juniors for Reg II in January.[Top]

2097

NA

Anthony Mountain

Intended for students seeking an elementary credential and wishing to assemble resources in children's literature projects. Register for this course on-line. [Top]

2098

NA

Janet Hess

Intended for students seeking an elementary credential and wishing to assemble resources in children's art projects. Register for this course on-line.[Top]

Mass media are a critically important part of the modern world, shaping virtually every conceivable aspect of our lives from our understanding of the world around us and our nation’s contemporary affairs to our own identities, attitudes and beliefs.  We are so saturated with various media forms that we often aren’t even aware of our immersion in the vast sea of media forces that constitute the “white noise” of our culture. This series will aim to develop critical media awareness and action through an examination of our contemporary media age from numerous disciplinary perspectives, including communication studies, history, sociology, and journalism. This 1-unit course consists of a series of 14 lectures/dialogues with guest speakers each week. The series will provide a forum for students, academics and journalists interested in studying the current media system to learn from, and engage in conversation with, local and national experts in the study of media and practice of journalism. Guests will include authors from the Censored 2010 yearbook. [Top]

NOTE ABOUT LIBS 310, 315, 410 AND 415:
May be repeated for credit. Prerequisites: LIBS 302 and consent of instructor. Contracts (Independent Project Form - #10 in rack) are available in department office. Advisors assist with completion of agreement. Completed form with advisor's signature is then left in Provost's mailbox for signature (top right). Approved forms will be hand carried by staff to Admissions & Records.

NOTE ABOUT PORTFOLIO: Don't forget to include your major essays and projects under the corresponding core in your Portfolio at the end of the class. [Top]

Courses in this area address the following issues and themes:

• Problems and possibilities before us at the start of a new century as we move toward a genuinely global culture.
• The relationship between the individual and all kinds of human groups, the context of human interaction in which the individual finds many of the dimensions of the self.
• Ideas, attitudes, and beliefs that flow between society and the individual and which result in the political and economic arrangements that make life-in-common possible.
• Historical and economic developments, geographical facts, analytical models, and moral questions necessary to understand the dynamics of individuals and their communities.
• Moral and ethical underpinnings of our patterns of social interaction and how these affect issues such as race, gender, and class.
• Questions concerning whether the goals of human dignity, political justice, economic opportunity, and cultural expression are being enhanced or destroyed by specific historical developments, cultural practices, economic arrangements, or political institutions. For example: How, in the face of that compelling force, do we shape the kind of society that values and protects the individual? How do we become the kinds of individuals who understand and help foster the just society?

Every aspect of American life from the end of World War II to the current 'War on Terror" has been shaped or reshaped by the enormous Cold War conflict which dominated the last half of the 20th century.  This course is an effort to understand the Cold War as a cultural phenomenon in which the perceived and constructed image of the Communist "enemy" at home and abroad led to the transformation of American domestic politics, economics and social relationships while launching the country on an imperial path in the world.  

Prerequisite: LIBS 302 or LIBS 101-202.[Top]

This seminar group will attend and participate in the Modern Media Dialogue Series and offer the opportunity to discuss readings and ideas presented each week at the series. Offering a variety of perspectives, the series will examine the nature of media culture and information distribution in the most complex and pervasive media system that has ever existed. The aim of the seminar and series is to foster dialogue about the problems and possibilities in our existing media system and culture, and to focus attention on some of the potential, concrete solutions available to those interested in becoming active media citizens.

Prerequisite: LIBS 302 or LIBS 101-202 [Top]

The study of a world historical, continental quest for democracy as manifested in English America and in Spanish American. Using three different kinds of analyses of power (liberalism, Marxism, discourse) and a comparative framework, we explore the historical presence and issues of major Latino groups in the United States and similar struggles currently taking place in other parts of the world. We examine definitions of politics, class, democracy, will of the people, colonialism, patriarchy, the State, global economy and their impact on issues like immigration and, ultimately, on human bodies.

Prerequisite: LIBS 302 or LIBS 101-202[Top]

LIBS 320A.4 CONSPIRACY THEORIES (3 Units)

This course will examine several conspiracy theories, including the Kennedy assassination and the events of 9/11, focusing on popular perceptions and misperceptions, their representations in the media and in scholarly research, and possible cover ups.  Following our construction of a critical framework for analyzing conspiracy theories, students will research particular conspiracies of interest to them individually and in groups. The "Truth" is out there!

Prerequisite: LIBS 302 or LIBS 101-202[Top]

Contact Instructor for description.

Prerequisite: LIBS 302 or LIBS 101-202 [Top]

Courses in this area address the following issues and themes:

• Science and technology and their relationships to the individual and society.
• The methods of science and important information that has been discovered through their applications.
• Some of the crucial issues posed by our culture's applications of science and technology and, adversely, the cultural consequences of a materialist world view.
• How science and technology impact all areas of our lives.
• How, for better and for worse, as inheritors of the Scientific and Industrial Revolutions, we intervene in our material world technologically.
• Scientific aspects of particular social issues, or an issue of personal concern, the sense of science as a social endeavor.
• The values implicit in a particular technology.

A Mars Colony comprises of one hundred colonists. Students will deal with the scientific and technical aspects related to the colony and its future. Readings will include Robinson and Zubrin. Field trip(s) to be arranged at cost.

Prerequisite:LIBS 302 or LIBS 101-202 [Top]

How many people can sustainably survive on planet earth? Where does the material wealth of nations and individuals come from? Could you live your current life without a car, air travel, or other mass transportation? How different would your life be without household electricity? Could you feed yourself without supermarkets or restaurants? The answers to everyone of these questions, and many more just as significant, can only be answered by understanding where energy comes from, and what happens if the master switch gets turned to “OFF.” Do you really think that is impossible?

Prerequisite: LIBS 302 or LIBS 101-202 [Top]

For thousands of years everything that humans have done, and everything that they though affected them (including religious ideas) was represented either by tasks or things done by manual or animal labor, or simply the forces of nature. That began to change in the Middle Ages, as wind- and water-mills became more common, and new building techniques produced marvels like the great cathedrals. Perhaps more disturbing to everday thinking was the arrival of clocks. Still, nothing could prepare societies for the ways that steam power, gasoline power, and electrical power redefined absolutely EVERYTHING that humans did in their day-to-day lives.

Prerequisite: LIBS 302 or LIBS 101-202 [Top]

This course will explore the economic, environmental scientific, and psychological dimensions of health and healing. We will begin with an overview of the economics of health care and a brief examination of the relationship between individual, social, and environmental health. The majority of the course will focus on developing an understanding of the major systems of the body, drawing on the Western scientific and medical tradition, as well as insights from Eastern traditions, focusing specifically on the East Indian chakra system and the Chinese meridian system. We will contrast the foundations and approach of the modern medical model with those of alternative approaches to healing and explore the mind/body connection through an inquiry into the psychological and spiritual components of wellness and disease. An important consideration in this process will be to explore the ways in which each tradition defines the key elements in the human system. Students will gain some familiarity with basic physiology as well as a basis for making informed choices in relation to their own health.

Prerequisite: LIBS 302 or LIBS 101-202 [Top]

Courses in this area address the following issues and themes:

• Why humans create literature, epics, poetry, drama, and other literary forms, the visual arts, languages, architecture, music, dance, the writings of philosophers, and the thought and literature of the world's religions.
• The inner world of creativity and individual values as well as the questions about how we arrive at a sense of meaning and purpose, ethical behavior, and a sense of beauty and order in the world.
• Deep and significant aspects of ourselves which may otherwise remain obscure and therefore troubling.
• Important questions - and occasional answers - about life and death, about feelings, and about the ways we see things.
• The metaphors that help us recognize and become aware of the interrelations of all the areas of inquiry humanity has developed.
• Images from which we may learn about our reality or realities of other times.
• Creative and intuitive thinking processes that lead to an understanding of the aesthetic experience.
• How the arts can be an end in themselves, as well as a means to an end.

New York Beats and Parisian Surrealists. London Punks and San Francisco Hippies. The Lost Generation. Rappers and Slackers. Anarchists and Nike ads. Through literature, film. sociology, and art, this course will examine Bohemian movements and artistic avant-gardes on the fringes of bourgeois society from 19th century Paris to the present.

Prerequisite: LIBS 302 or LIBS 101-202[Top]

In Western society the Barbie is an icon of feminine sexuality, a site simultaneously of innocence and desire, commodification and psychological projection, and the fetishization of gender ideals and the construction and perpetuation of the feminine "mystique." What is the power of barbie? Why do we adore her? How do we resolve the apparent conflict between damage and play/desire? Does Barbie reveal, as her creator Ruth Handler argues, "the endless possibilities available [to young girls] . . . encouraging them to actively use their imagination" to interpret the adult world and "work through growing up to explore their dreams and their future?" Or do Barbies replicate an oppressive gender hierarchy? More radically yet, in a post-feminist age of interactive media and gender, is Barbie an anachronism? This class will explore these and other questions, using Barbie as an opportunity to explore the manner in which gender is constructed, commodified, and disseminated, the role of play in indoctrination and social formation,and the power of individual agency and resistance discourse in interrupting fixed social and political narratives. We will also consider the possibility of Barbie as a phenomenon beyond irony, open to our own interpretations, objectives, and desires.

Prerequisite: LIBS 302 or LIBS 101-202 [Top]

This course will examine musicals from around the world. From classical Hollywood numbers to Bollywood song and dance, from the early twentieth century to the early twenty-first, we will explore the multifaceted nature of the musical genre and how it has been and continues to be deployed by
various cultures around the globe, even as it reformulates these cultures via its hybrid, innovative strategies. Along with frequent screenings of musicals, we will engage in readings spanning the disciplines, including film and theatre theory, cultural studies, postcolonial theory, and gender studies, to name but a few.

Prerequisite: LIBS 302 or LIBS 101-202 [Top]

Contact Instructor for description.

Prerequisite: LIBS 302 or LIBS 101-202 [Top]

Contact Instructor for description.

Prerequisite: LIBS 302 or LIBS 101-202 [Top]

Courses in this area address the following issues and themes:

• Reality as a result of many factors, some of them psychological, some biological, some philosophical, some social and the many aspects of being or existence as reaching from the physical to the metaphysical.
• Consciousness as, somehow, the result of our gender, our ethnicity, our health, the ways in which we were reared, the social stratum in which we find ourselves, the beliefs that were engendered in us, and other factors.
• Consciousness as occurring across a spectrum of potentials (conscious/unconscious, rational/irrational, egocentric/transpersonal, masculine/feminine) that influence our personal and collective realities.
• Human needs at various levels of emotional, religious or spiritual, intellectual, and transpersonal or universal disciplines, practices, and experiences.
• One of the major concerns of people in all places at all times has been: what are the components of being human?
• The range of answers which are sometimes perplexingly inconsistent with one another, and yet their very divergence itself suggests something about the powerful complexity of the human individual.
• The study of biology as it relates to psychology, and consciousness as it affects and is affected by perceptions of reality.
• Meaning-making as a necessary human achievement, and identity formation as it is understood in the light of developmental psychology and the nature-nurture controversy.

Empathy is the ability to actually understand the internal conscious state of another being. This quality goes beyond sympathy and, some would argue, beyond compassion. Empathy is not the mere intellectual understanding of the felt-experience of another, but the actual vicarious LIVING of that experience. Widely considered to be fundamental to the deepest and richest human relations, this ability may be the one quality humanity most needs to solve the enormous problems of a global society.

Prerequisite: LIBS 302 or LIBS 101-202 [Top]

Many of us have an increasing everyday sense that people are struggling
these days- with anxiety, with depression, and with a general unease about
their lives and the future.  When so many people are finding difficulties
in coping with their lives, are we to look outside the individual for
causes and solutions?  Is our society itself insane?  Or are mental health
and mental illness best seen as ordinary existential problems of life?
This course will address these wide-ranging and increasingly important
concerns, and others such as the role of therapy in healing, the maladies
of youth, the psychological and spiritual bases of health and healing, the
ethics of drug treatment, and the link between artistic creativity and
madness- through interdisciplinary readings and films, everything from
Erich Fromm's The Sane Society to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and
Donnie Darko.

Prerequisite: LIBS 302 or LIBS 101-202 [Top]

Many of us have an increasing everyday sense that people are struggling
these days- with anxiety, with depression, and with a general unease about
their lives and the future.  When so many people are finding difficulties
in coping with their lives, are we to look outside the individual for
causes and solutions?  Is our society itself insane?  Or are mental health
and mental illness best seen as ordinary existential problems of life?
This course will address these wide-ranging and increasingly important
concerns, and others such as the role of therapy in healing, the maladies
of youth, the psychological and spiritual bases of health and healing, the
ethics of drug treatment, and the link between artistic creativity and
madness- through interdisciplinary readings and films, everything from
Erich Fromm's The Sane Society to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and
Donnie Darko.

Prerequisite: LIBS 302 or LIBS 101-202 [Top]

Due to budget cuts, this class has been cancelled.

Prerequisite: LIBS 302 or LIBS 101-202 [Top]

This course will explore film as a storytelling medium, as well as the
unique ways in which this medium has been and continues to be used by
filmmakers around the world. Moving chronologically, we will examine a
variety of narrative film forms, including the classical Hollywood style,
innovations within this form, as well as multiple, international
alternatives from the 1960s up to the present. Through frequent film
screenings and readings in film theory, psychoanalysis, semiotics and
cultural studies, students will develop a basic understanding of film
language as well as a deeper understanding of how films operate, how they
create meaning, and how, as viewers, we participate in this process. Along
with brief weekly responses and a final paper, students will conduct their
own research on course-related themes.

Prerequisite: LIBS 302 or LIBS 101-202 [Top]