Course Offerings

Here are just some of the upcoming courses that are cross-listed with American Studies. You can scroll down or click on the department here:

English BACK TO TOP ^

ENG 17 Modern Poetry
This course will take up the work of several English-language poets in the first half of the twentieth century, including T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, W. B. Yeats, Robert Frost, William Carlos Williams, Wallace Stevens, Hart Crane, Robinson Jeffers, and Marianne Moore. Each of these poets is difficult in his own particular way-and, in fact, we could think of the Modernist period as a great flourishing of idiosyncrasy and difficulty. A large part of our work in this course will be finding our way into these difficult minds. We will also, however, be concerned with what these iconoclasts have in common, and what it meant (or means) to be “modern.” Work for the course will consist of several brief take-home writing assignments, a mid-term exam, and a longer final exam.

ENG 44 Non-Canonical Writers

Graphic Novel (Cates)
This course will offer a survey of the recent literary movement in English-language long-form comics (also known as “graphic novels”). Don’t expect any superheroes or manga romances: the texts we examine will mainly be in the genres of memoir, autobiography, and realist fiction. We’ll be looking at the ways in which these recent comics are genuinely literary—not only in their content or their meaning, but in their approach to meaning, and in the techniques their author-artists employ. Texts will include works by Art Spiegelman, Scott McCloud, James Sturm, Craig Thompson, Jessica Abel, Daniel Clowes, and others. We will average roughly one new book per week.

The Harlem Renaissance in Black and White (Fahy)
With a particular emphasis on the Harlem Renaissance, the Black Arts Movement, and Black Feminism, this class examines African-American literature of the twentieth century. What impact have these works had on American culture more broadly? How do they engage with questions of class, gender, and sexuality? How does this literature interrogate the very notion of race itself? Through the works of Jean Toomer, Nella Larsen, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, Ralph Ellison, Amiri Baraka, Gayl Jones, and Toni Morrison, we not only explore the social changes affecting African Americans in this country, but we also assess the impact that African-American art has had on contemporary social and political ideas.

Native American Literature (Scheckter)
This course will examine the works of writers who identify themselves as indigenous or native within nations that are predominately populated by decedents of European conquerors/settlers/immigrants. In many ways, European domination has produced a common heritage for Native Americans (in the United States), First Nations (in Canada), Maori (in New Zealand), and Aboriginals (in Australia): historically, these groups have experienced similar loses of physical territory, spiritual strength, and political empowerment. Likewise, current problems seem depressingly widespread: chronic conditions of poverty, including family disruption and substance abuse; disproportionately high rates of incarceration and death in custody; powerful opposition to attempts at equalization and reconciliation. Yet to a degree, this depressing history has been offset in the past twenty-five years by the common use of English as a flexible global language, by increased educational and commercial opportunities, and by growing acknowledgment and respect on the part of white audiences. The political dimension of writing within such cultural dynamics may seem inescapable, but the results are often unpredictable, well balanced, and remarkably beautiful. This course will explore what “native” now means and how it coincides with the changing definitions of “nation” and “culture.” The class will also try to look at the changing field of literature in general and how literature and literary study are affected by other media, including film and video, music recording, wireless communications, and above all, the internet.

ENG 71 Survey of American Writers to the Civil War
This course is a study of the works of such major writers as Bradstreet, Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Poe, Whitman, Dickinson, and Melville.

ENG 72 “Make It New”: American Literature from 1865-1939 (Fahy)
This class will examine the shape of American literature, art, and culture after the Civil War. You will read fiction, poetry, and drama, examine visual art (Homer, Eakins, Duchamp, Picasso, Matisse, Cézanne), listen to music (Ravel, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Ellington), and do research on historical and social context, including topics such as lynching memorabilia, nineteenth- and twentieth-century etiquette manuals, World War I propaganda, and Diaghilev’s Les Ballets Russes. This interdisciplinary approach will not only expose you to the writings of Henry James, Kate Chopin, Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, T. S. Eliot, and F. Scott Fitzgerald, for example, but it also challenge you to think critically about the social and cultural changes shaping this period in America and Europe. How are early twentieth-century artists working against artistic trends of the nineteenth century? How are they engaging with issues of ethnicity, gender, and sexuality? How are they responding to changes in technology? How are they challenging audiences to be new readers, viewers, and listeners?  

ENG 73 African-American Literature
This course traces the development of a public persona by African-American writers in autobiographical works. In addition to shorter works of fiction (for example, Cane by Jean Toomer), poetry (for example by Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, and Rita Dove), and drama (for example, Dutchman by Imamu Amiri Baraka), five or six longer works are studied in more depth. A major text to study is the Narrative of Frederick Douglass. Other likely texts are Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, Manchild in the Promised Land by Claude Brown, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Go Tell It to the Mountain by James Baldwin, Beloved by Toni Morrison, and The Autobiography of My Mother by Jamaica Kincaid.

ENG 74 The American Novel
This course looks at novels by such authors as Hawthorne, Melville, Twain, Stowe, James, Wharton, Hemingway, Cather, Faulkner, Ellison, Morrison, and others.

ENG 75 American Drama
Drama always reflects its culture, so American plays, interesting in themselves, also show America finding its voice in the theater, and reflecting American civilization. The plays discussed range from the 18th century through the 20th. Topics include those elements that help shape our indigenous drama, such as staging, touring, off-Broadway, melodrama, musical comedy, circuses, vaudeville, and burlesque.

ENG 76 American Poetry
This course studies such authors as Longfellow, Whitman, Dickinson, Robinson, Stein, Pound, H. D., Eliot, Jean Toomer, Langston Hughes, Crane, Williams, Stevens, Frost, Adrienne Rich, Rita Dove, and others.

ENG 100 Seminar in English

Freak Shows and the Modern American Imagination (Fahy)
The freak show was one of the most popular forms of entertainment in American culture between 1840 and 1940. Audiences clamored to see human exhibits featuring dog-faced boys, Siamese Twins, giants, dwarfs, hermaphrodites, and savage cannibals. Today, only remnants of these shows can be found in museums and state fairs, yet the freak show continues to have a powerful impact on contemporary literature and art. Why? How do these texts use freak shows and the freakish body to address social anxieties about difference? How do these images critique racial hierarchies and heterosexual norms in American culture? As spectators, what is our role in the othering of certain individuals and groups? Some of the texts include Robert Bogdan’s Freak Show: Presenting Human Oddities for Amusement and Profit, Elizabeth McCracken’s The Giant’s House, Darin Strauss’s Chang and Eng, Katherine Dunn’s Geek Love, and Truman Capote’s Other Voices, Other Rooms.

Irish-American Literature (Hallissy)
This course is a reading and discussion of works of literature which explore the experience of the Irish in America from the nineteenth century to the present, with particular focus on novels of the late twentieth century. Readings from Charles Fanning's Emigrants and Exiles: Nineteenth-Century American Fiction will include representative examples of nineteenth-century American fiction written by, for, and about the wave of immigrants which arrived in America in the wake of the Great Famine in Ireland (1845-50). Transitional figures such as Finley Peter Dunne, James T. Farrell, J. F. Powers, and F. Scott Fitzgerald will be considered in preparation for such twentieth-century novels of Irish-American life as Alice McDermott's Charming Billy and Katharine Weber's The Music Lesson. This course will be taught in the writing-intensive mode and will fulfill the requirements of the Writing Across the Curriculum Program.

ENG 510 Staging Modernism: Avant-Garde Theater and the Culture of Modernity in America (Fahy)
This course will begin by examining some of the literary, artistic, and musical innovations of the modernist movement to understand better its political and social goals. Oftentimes, the role in avant-garde theater is overlooked in this discussion, and in some respects, this class will address this neglect. We will primarily focus on the modern drama—with a particular emphasis on The Provincetown Players. How are their goals conterminous with the other trends of modernism? How did the artistic agenda of the Players inspire other modern playwrights, such as John Dos Passos?

ENG 350 (Honors)/688B Bodies on Display: Perspectives on the Body in American Culture from the Nineteenth Century to the Present (Fahy)
This course seeks to explore some of the rich historical materials treating aspects of the human body as it has been viewed, exhibited, analyzed, and objectified in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. We will examine some key primary works, fiction, film, photography, and a selection of interpretive studies that consider the social and cultural construction of bodies in America. The readings in this course are intended not to add up to some neat thesis but to raise questions of interpretation and meaning. From the history of blackface minstrelsy and freak shows to more contemporary displays of female and male bodies, these readings—both primary and secondary—will challenge us to think about some of the forces that have shaped—and continue to shape—the ways in which we think about the body. Some of the texts include Susan Gubar’s Racechanges: White Skin, Black Face in American Culture (1997), Wesley Brown’s Darktown Strutters: A Novel (1994), Robert Bogdan’s Freak Show: Presenting Human Oddities for Amusement and Profit (1988), Ariel Levy’s Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture (2005), Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Tarzan of the Apes (1914), John Kasson’s Houdini, Tarzan, and the Perfect Man: The White Male Body and the Challenge of Modernity in American (2000), and David M. Lubin’s Shooting Kennedy: JFK and the Culture of Images (2003). This is open to non-honors junior and senior American Studies majors with permission of Professor Fahy and of Professor Digby in the Honors Program.

History BACK TO TOP ^

HIS 3 American Civilization, 1607-1877
Major developments in American history from colonial times to the end of Reconstruction are covered in this course.

HIS 105 Historical Perspectives on Contemporary Issues
This course explores the historical “back story” of crucial issues facing the US and the larger world in the early 21st century, by tracing the narrative background of events from their origins to the present day, contrasting current issues with seemingly analogous earlier issues, and examining changing popular, policy and scholarly perspectives on given issues over time.  Topics will vary by instructor.

HIS 110 The Early Modern Atlantic World, 1450-1800
During the dynamic 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, the areas around the Atlantic rim were drawn into sustained interaction. This course includes such topics as Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, French, and English empires, interactions between Europeans and Native Americans, the development of the Atlantic slave trade, and the growth of merchant capitalism. Prerequisites: 6 credits of history; recommended. HIS 1 and/or 3, or permission of instructor.

HIS 111 Colonial America, 1607-1763
This course examines modifications in North America of Old World institutions, ideas, and practices, and the development of colonial politics, economy, demography, and culture during the 17th and 18th centuries. Prerequisites:  HIS 3 or permission of instructor

HIS 112 Era of the American Revolution, 1763-1789
In this course, students study explanations for, the character of, and the outcomes of the American Revolution.  Students will deepen their understanding about the search for a new political order, the international context for the war, the effect on social relationships, and the ideological and institutional foundations for the new nation.

HIS 114 The Old South
History of the South from its early settlements to the Civil War. This course will explore evolving notions of the South as a distinct region; the agricultural nature of the southern economy; the ways slavery shaped the lives of slaves, free blacks, slave owners, yeomen, and women from all social groups; the growth of racism; the relationship between freedom and slavery; distinctive white southern ideas about gender, honor, and leisure.
Prerequisites: HIS 3 or permission of instructor.

HIS 115 The Era of Civil War & Reconstruction
The history of American society during the era of its most cataclysmic event - the Civil War –and its boldest experiment in social change and civic equality – Reconstruction. The course will explore the social and political changes that led to war: the expansion of slavery in the South, the spread of industrial capitalism in the North; the emergence of ideologies of reform, abolitionism, and free labor, and the defense of slavery by southern ideologues. We will analyze the political compromises over slavery that defined the American polity since the ratification of the Constitution, the failure of those compromises, and the crisis of secession. Will cover the military, political and social character of the Civil War, the process of emancipation, and the legacy of Reconstruction. Prerequisites:  HIS 3 or permission of instructor

HIS 116 American Society and Culture, 1876-1919
The emergence of modern America from the end of Reconstruction through the First World War. Covers eras known as the “Gilded Age” and the “Progressive Era,” the rise of corporate structures, large-scale industry, and the growing links between financial leaders and political figures. Will analyze the consequences of rapid industrialization and urbanization, immigration, the rise of eugenics, Jim Crow legislation, Populism, the labor movement, movements for suffrage, and the reach for empire.Prerequisites: HIS 4 or permission of instructor.

HIS 117 The U.S., 1920-1945: From the Jazz Age to Total War
Course examines the dramatic changes and frustrating continuities in an era that spans the “Roaring Twenties,” the Great Depression during the 1930s, and World War II, which paved the way for the emergence of the US as the most powerful nation in the world. Topics include the urbane culture of the 1920s, rise of modern organized crime, Republican Party dominance and downfall, FDR and the New Deal, women in society and politics, racial segregation, the “Golden Age of Hollywood” as a force in American culture, the consolidation of a modern consumer society and homefront experiences of World War II. Prerequisites: HIS 4 or permission of instructor.

HIS 118  The U.S. Since 1945: The Age of the American Colossus
American history from the end of World War II to the present.  Covers rise of domestic prosperity, unprecedented international power, and social-cultural ferment. Topics include the civil rights movement, the Cold War at home and abroad, the Vietnam War, modern feminism, the sexual revolution and the gay rights movement, the shift from Democratic to Republican Party dominance in American politics, the rise of the religious right, environmentalism, large-scale immigration from the developing world, the societal shift from the boom mentality of the 1990s to the “War on Terror.”  Prerequisite: HIS 4 or permission of instructor.

HIS 119 History of International Relations Since 1815
This course provides a narrative and thematic examination of major events and trends in international relations history from the end of the Napoleonic era through the post-Cold War period and up to the present. Although much attention will be focused on traditional great power state-to-state relations, we will also examine other dimensions of modern/contemporary international relations as well, such as culture, economics, international organizations and non-state actors, ecology, immigration, and the role of technology. Prerequisites: HIS 4 or permission of instructor

HIS 120 African American History
The history of African Americans from the origins of slavery to the present. Will explore African American slavery, experiences of blacks during Reconstruction, and the impact of white “redemption”. Topics include: Jim Crow legislation, rise of the “New Negro,” lynchings, anti-lynching campaigns, the “Great Migration,” the Harlem Renaissance, African American life during the depressions and World War II, the Civil Rights movement, black nationalism, Black Power, and black urban politics. Will pay special attention to the myriad ways in which diasporic Africans have shaped American society, politics and culture, the problems embedded in notions of “race,” and the history of racism. Prerequisites: HIS 3 and 4 or permission of instructor.

HIS 121 The Peopling of America
This course will examine the historical sources of America’s ethnic diversity by studying the coming together of people from five continents over the course of four centuries.  It will explore changes in “American” national identity, definitions of citizenship, immigration and migration policies, and the multiplicity of migrant experiences.
Prerequisites:  HIS 3 and HIS 4 or permission of instructor

HIS 122 American Urban History
The rise and development of American cities and suburbs from the late 18th century to the present.  Will cover the growth of cities in the early national period, the separation of residential and work sites in the antebellum era, the commercialization of urban leisure, immigration, tenement housing, sweatshop labor and urban industries. Course will explore the impact of government policy on urban and suburban development, including postwar federally-subsidized mortgages, federal support for the highways and suburbs, racialized urban renewal programs, public housing, white flight, racial steering and urban crises. Will pay particular attention to the tension between public and private ownership of urban spaces. Prerequisites: HIS 3 and 4 or permission of instructor.

HIS 123 Gender in American History
Gendered ideals and practices have varied widely in tandem with historical changes in society and culture.  Students will analyze selected problems in the history of femininity and masculinity in the United States.  Topics may include the family, sexuality, labor, race and ethnicity, popular culture, and ideology.

HIS 124 The American West
The trans-Mississippi West is a region that has a distinctive place in the American cultural imagination.  This course will present students with diverse perspectives on the history of this region through the consideration of topics such as frontiers and borderlands, nature and the environment, cultural diversity and conflict, competing visions of government, and the representation of the region in art and film.

HIS 125 U.S. Environmental History
An historical examination of changes in the relationships between humans and the natural environment from the colonial period to the present in different regions of the United States.  The course will draw on the natural sciences, economics, public policy, philosophy, and popular culture in order to offer students a variety of perspectives on historically significant environmental issues.

HIS 126 Resistance and Rebellion in America
From the Boston Tea Partiers to abolitionists, from beatniks and hippies to hip hop artists and “riot grrls,” Americans have a reputation for being rebels. Sometimes roundly censured, sometimes read as the very spirit of American heroism, how does resistance shape our national experience of identity, of freedom? This course examines instances of American political rebellion – grassroots uprisings, slave revolts, prison riots, wildcat strikes and cultural rebellion – like the youth cultures of the Jazz Age and the Sixties, to the grunge and rap movements of the 1990s. Prerequisites: History 3 and 4 or permission of instructor.

HIS 128 History of American Capitalism
Examination of the rise of industrial capitalism in the 18th century, its spread over time and space to the recent “post-industrial” era. Will cover structural economic changes, role of government in American economic development, effects of commercialization on society, and historical critiques of capitalism. Will examine the ways in capitalism altered the nature of work, gender and family relations. Other topics include the evolution of the division of labor, racial, gender, and ethnic segmentation of the workforce, labor struggles, cultures of consumption, and the strategies of corporate power. Prerequisites: HIS 3 and 4 or permission of instructor.

HIS 130 Nineteenth-Century American Popular Culture
An exploration of the forms of popular culture that emerged in nineteenth-century America in response to the rise of industrial capitalism and democratic politics.  Novel cultural forms developed to express new ideologies about manhood, womanhood, race, frontier, and empire.  Course will analyze the birth of a commercialized popular culture that included museum exhibits, street amusements, pornography, burlesque, sports, genre paintings, daguerreotypes, photography, and a "self-culture" movement.  Will examine the emergence of narratives that captured popular imaginations, including sentimental novels, mysteries, and stories of scandal. Prerequisites:  HIS 3 or permission of instructor

HIS 132 American Popular Culture since 1900
Traces the era in which American popular culture consolidated mass art/entertainment forms such as Hollywood films, jazz, rock and roll, rock and rap, radio and television programming, tabloid journalism, computer gaming, and Internet entertainment.  Topics include modern mass communication and information technologies, tensions between art and commerce, the role of outsider groups, especially Jews and African-Americans, as well as gays, in the making of American pop culture, popular portrayals of the powerful and the marginal, the “culture of celebrity,” the mainstreaming of erotica and pornography, and the extent to which popular culture caused, as opposed to reflected, changes in American social norms. Prerequisite: HIS 4 or permission of instructor.

HIS 135 History of Cartography
While representing material space graphically has been a common human practice in virtually all times and places, the ways people have mapped and what they have chosen to represent as significant has varied enormously.  In this World History course, students will study the mapping practices of such disparate people as Australian Aborigines, Aztecs, and Ming Dynasty Chinese, and will examine the relationships between mapping and their larger cultures. Students will also study the development of modern mapping.

HIS 136 Disease and History
An exploration of the history of illness and medicine in relationship to changing social and cultural contexts, this course allows students to link global historical change with microhistories of particular times and places.  Topics may include the impact of epidemics on politics and economics, changing conceptions of the body and disease, warfare and disease, public health and social policy, and technologies of healing.

HIS 138 History of American Militarism
History of militarism in America from political, economic, social and cultural perspectives.  Focuses on Americans’ experiences in wars, the intersection between society and military institutions from the 18th century to the present. Course will examine changing styles of warfare, technology and military ideologies, definitions of a “just war,” defensive and offensive wars.  Will explore the composition of military establishments (militias, citizen armies, paid professionals, mercenaries), and people’s perceptions of military conflicts. Topics may include: concept of “Manifest Destiny,” conquest, settlement, Indian wars, foreign wars, world wars, the Cold War, the Vietnam War, the “Vietnam Syndrome,” the Iraq war, recruitment, draft, and resistance, as well as antiwar, disarmament and peace movements. Prerequisites:  HIS 3 and 4 or permission of instructor.

Art History BACK TO TOP ^

ART 70 Modern Art
This course examines art from the 1880s to the 1940s: Impressionism, Art Nouveau, Symbolism, Fauvism, Cubism, Futurism, Expressionism, Surrealism. The emphasis is on the contributions of individual artists and movements toward the development of abstractionism and nonobjective art.

ART 72 Contemporary Art
This course surveys the continuing impact of earlier 20th century styles on European and American art from the 1940s to the present. The development of new approaches to form and the creative experience in recent art includes Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, Op Art, Kinetic Art, Environments and Happenings, Minimal Art, Earth Art, the formal idea versus execution, and other innovations in today’s art.

ART 75 American Art
This course is a survey of American art from the colonial beginnings to the work of contemporary American schools.

ART 77 Primitive/Pre-Columbian Art
This course examines aspects of the Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas from body painting and simple dwellings to elaborate ceremonial centers with complex mask and sculpture traditions. Stress is placed on the interrelationship of art and ritual.

ART 79 History of Photography
This course covers the development of photography from its earliest days as both a technique and as an art and its relation to the other arts in terms of mutual influence. This course examines the relationship of technique to photographic form as seen in daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, calotypes, wet plates, tin types, and today’s 35mm photography.

ART 80 Concepts & Issues in Contemporary Photography
A look at photography as practiced in the Contemporary Era (i.e., post 1950) taking into account the historical, sociological and artistic concepts and issues that shape and inform the medium. Prerequisites: ART 79 or permission of instructor.

ART 101 Interpreting Art in the 21st Century
This interpretive investigation of contemporary art explores traditional and new theories of art criticism and fosters aesthetic awareness of the relationship between works of art, cultural concepts, and human experience. Students engage in critical discourse as they respond to image-based lectures, readings, websites, exhibition visits, and a sampling of reflexive exercises in the visual arts. Content develops from diverse application for understanding all artistic expression and practice guides future analysis of visual art in the 21st century.

Music BACK TO TOP ^

MUS 24 History of Rock Music
The development of Rock Music from the 1950s to the present is covered. The emphasis is placed upon the music as well as its links to earlier styles of popular music including folk, jazz and blues. The cultural and social positions of rock and its interaction with other music are examined.

MUS 28 History of Jazz
A study of this unique American invention from its African and European roots to the present is included in this course. The focus is on the musical and historical evolution of its many styles and its main performers and composers.

MUS 34 Music of Latin America and the Caribbean
An introduction to the rich musical traditions of Latin America and the Caribbean, this course explores a wide variety of genres and the social contexts of their performance. Special attention is given to the presence of many of these musical cultures in the New York area.

MUS 48 History of American Musical Comedy
This is an interdisciplinary course in the study of musical comedy from its origins in the 18th century through its development in the 19th to its fruition in the 20th. Emphasis is on various guises musical comedy has taken and on experiments in the form. Same as THA 48

Theater, Film, and Dance BACK TO TOP ^

CIN 1 The Art of the Film/1900-1930
This course studies the silent film and the birth and development of film as an art form in the United States, Germany, Russia and France.

CIN 2 The Art of the Film/1931 to Present
In this course, students study the sound film: the international development of creative motion pictures from the advent of sound through Neorealism, the New Wave and the work of major new directors.

CIN 22 Current Cinema in New York
This course meets once a week in New York City or in specialized movie houses on Long Island to explore little known films and filmmakers at museums, film societies, filmmakers‚ studios and art film theatres.

CIN 28, 29 Film Theory
This course is an analysis of theories related to realism, montage, narrative and non-narrative films. Writings by Eisenstein, Vertov, Bazin and others are examined and films are viewed and discussed. Prerequisites: CIN 1 and 2 or permission of instructor.

DNC 1 Beginning Movement 1
This course is an introduction to basic technique within one of the following dance forms: African Modern, Jazz, or floor barre. Emphasis is on body alignment and body awareness, which is explored through both exercise and improvisation. Fulfills Fine Arts Core requirement for non-majors. A performance may be required.

DNC 9 Current Dance in New York City
This course provides meetings once a week in New York City to attend dance concerts, performances and meet with dancers and choreographers. Special ticket charge.

THE 6 Acting for Non-majors
A comprehensive second-level course that combines exercises, improvisations, and rehearsal and performance of scenes especially designed for the student who is not a Theatre major. May be taken twice for credit. Prerequisite: THA 1

THE 42 History of Theatre: Modern
This second semester investigates historical periods, dramatic genres and theatre literature from Realism to the present. 

THE 304 Theatre and Society
Theatre is a sensitive barometer of its time, revealing and reflecting whatever is urgent, relevant, or merely fashionable at a particular moment. This course will investigate a multitude of performances ranging from Greek Religious Drama, Shakespeare, and Japanese Kabuki to Environmental Theatre and Performance Art. The class will explore issues of performance and power, politics, religion, race, ethnicity, patriotism, authorship, and censorship from cultural and historical perspectives.

THE 304 Theatre and Society (DesRochers - Spring 2008)
Looking at contemporary socio-political thought in society around the world through the lens of theatre practices and play texts.  This course will compare and contrast themes, ideologies and practices of selected contemporary playwrights (United States based), and their relationship to geo-politics and current events around the world.   Using The New York Times as a source for current news events, we will discuss and write about these trends and their relationship to theatre as a forum for analysis and discussion.  This will be a discussion and writing intensive course intended to develop critical thinking as well as verbal and written skills. This course is open to non-Honors Program American Studies majors with permission of Professor DesRochers and of Professor Digby in the Honors Program.

Philosophy BACK TO TOP ^

PHI 10 Life and Death
This course covers fundamental philosophical questions about life and death. Topics may include the following: surrogate motherhood and reproductive technologies, abortion, euthanasia, suicide, artificial prolongation of life and the concept of death with dignity, immortality and the concept of the soul.

PHI 15 Philosophy of Education
This course is an examination of the major topics in the philosophy of education. Readings from the major philosophers of education (Plato, Rousseau, Schiller, Dewey, William James, Whitehead, Buber) and from other important traditional and contemporary theorists (Piaget, Montessori, A.S. Neill, Chomsky, Coles, Illich, Freire, Kozol, Goodman, Gilligan) are discussed. Topics include: the world of the child, play and imagination, the acquisition of language, the maturation of mind, ethics and the education of character, the social and political role of education.

PHI 16 Aesthetics and the Philosophy of the Arts
This course is an examination of the major topics in traditional and contemporary philosophy of art: the nature of aesthetic experience, artistic creation, aesthetic judgment, objectivity and truth in art, the meaning of beauty, the social role of art and art criticism. These issues are examined in connection with the practice and appreciation of the various arts including: literature, theatre, painting and sculpture, architecture, dance, music, photography and film.

PHI 18 Social and Political Philosophy
This course is an examination of traditional and contemporary theories of the relation between individuals and the state or community. Topics include: the nature of the state, political obligation, distributive justice, social contract theory, individual rights and majority rule, the relation between political and legal power and punishment, the concept of ideology, civil disobedience, revolution, alienation. Representative selections from the writings of traditional and contemporary political philosophers are discussed.

PHI 20 Philosophy of Religion
This course is an examination of such topics in the philosophy of religion as the varieties of religious experience, arguments for and against the existence of God, the relation of faith to reason, the problem of evil, the concept of the soul and its immortality, the relation of religion to science, ethics and the arts, Some attention is given to non-Western traditions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism and the world of Islam.

PHI 21 Philosophy and the Novel
This course is an examination of the novel as a medium of philosophical expression. Readings from works of major novelists such as Melville, Dostoevsky, Proust, Kafka, Joyce, Mann, Faulkner, Lawrence, Hesse, Camus, Calvino and Kundera are included.

PHI 22 War and Peace
The continued inability of people to make peace worldwide and the ever threatening possibility of nuclear war causes thinking people everywhere to ask philosophical questions about war and peace. Is lasting peace possible or is war inevitable? What kinds of moral issues are raised by contemporary war technology? Is nuclear war a rational option? Is pacifism defensible? Course materials come from philosophy, films, fiction and other sources.

PHI 28 Philosophy and the Environment
The contemporary environmental crisis raises profound philosophical questions about the relationship of the human person to the natural world. How can we balance control over the environment with reverence for it? Is technology necessarily exploitative? Are there limits beyond which humans should not go in their control of the environment? Is an aesthetic environment a human need? What can philosophy contribute to an understanding of ecology?

PHI 29 Philosophical Psychology
This course is an examination of the topics in contemporary philosophical psychology. These include: the nature of consciousness, the relationship between the mind and the brain; mental causation; intentionality; the perception of time; space and color; the significance of artificial intelligence; the nature and roles of memory, will, imagination, and desire; dreams and the concept of the unconscious; personal identity. Representative selections from the most important contemporary philosophers and others working in this area are discussed.

PHI 31 Philosophy of the Nineteenth Century: Hegel to Nietzsche
This course is an examination of the major movements of 19th century European and American philosophy. Topics include: Hegel and German idealism; critiques of Hegelian idealism by Feuerbach, Marx and Kierkegaard; the utilitarianism of J.S. Mill; the transcendentalism of Emerson and Thoreau; the idealism of Schopenhauer, Royce and Bradley; the early pragmatism of C.S. Peirce; the new psychology of William James; and Nietzsche’s critique of Western philosophy and culture.

PHI 32 Philosophy of the Twentieth Century
This course is an examination of the major movements in 20th century philosophy including logical positivism, ordinary language philosophy, pragmatism, phenomenology and existentialism. Selections from such 20th century philosophers as Russell, Wittgenstein, Moore, Heidegger, Sartre, Merleau-Ponty, James, Dewey, Whitehead and Quine are discussed.

PHI 33 Philosophy and Film
What philosophical questions does the experience of film present? How can film sharpen or even change consciousness about reality? How may film be used as a medium of ideas? This course draws on the recent literature on film and includes screenings of major motion pictures. Prerequisite: 6 credits in Philosophy or permission of the chair.

PHI 34 Philosophies of Love and Sex
This course examines the nature and meaning of romantic love and human sexuality. Observations by philosophers, psychologists and psychoanalysts as well as by writers, film-makers and painters are studied in attempting to clarify our thoughts about love and sex.

PHI 37 American Philosophy
This course is an examination of the major topics and trends in classical and contemporary American philosophy. Representative selections from the writings of America’s greatest philosophers such as Emerson, Thoreau, Peirce, James, Dewey, Royce, Santayana, Whitehead, Mead and Quine are read. The emphasis is on the pragmatic movement in America including its major critics and its resurgence in recent years both at home and abroad. Some attention is given to the relationship between American philosophy and American culture and the similarities and differences between the American and other modern and contemporary philosophical traditions. Not open to students who have had PHL 47.

RPHL 8 The American Religious Imagination
Explores the fertility of the American religious imagination, from the Puritans to the present. Topics include the central religious ideas of the classical American philosophic, theological, and literary traditions; challenges to normative ideas by multiculturalism, including the thought and practice of the Native American and African-American traditions; the role of the arts in the development of the American religious imagination; the tradition of unbelief; the relationship between science and religion; and major spiritual voices of the contemporary United States.

Political Science BACK TO TOP ^

POL 5 Ethnicity, Race, and Politics
The influences of race and ethnicity on politics within selected states and regions of the world are covered in this course.

POL 18 Women and Contemporary Politics
This course is an examination of the current political role of women and an evaluation of their impact on the political system.

POL 21 American Political Theory
Origin and nature of political theory in the United States is reflected in the writings of American political theorists from colonial times to the present. Must be taken by all Political Science majors.

POL 31 American Constitutional Law I
This course covers American constitutional law, its historical evolution and the Supreme Court as a political institution. Emphasis is placed on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.

POL 32 American Constitutional Law II
This course covers American Constitutional law, its historical evolution and the Supreme Court as a political institution. Attention is given to federal courts and the law, the federal system, powers of the various branches of government, economic regulation and taxation.

POL 34 Legislative Process
This course covers legislative bodies particularly Congress, the New York legislature, and the City Council of New York; the effect political parties exercise and the bureaucracy, pressure groups and public opinion.

POL 35 The American Judicial Process
This course covers the structure and function of judicial systems; organization, administration, and politics of judicial bureaucracies; roles of judges, juries, counsel, litigants and interest groups in the adjudication process.

POL 36 Public Opinion
This course covers the nature and formation of public opinion and its role in political and social affairs; influence of leadership, pressure groups and propaganda; areas of consensus; efforts to measure public opinion.

POL 37 Political Parties
This course covers the development, organization, and activities of American political parties and the social and political conditions that influence their character and purpose.

POL 38 Radical Movements and Politics of Change in the United States
This course studies the growth of organizations and associations representing the interests of the radical movements in the United States and their impact on the political scene.

POL 39 American Government: State and Local
This course is a study of the constitutional structure, major functions and operations of state and local governments.

POL 40 Women and the Anglo- American Legal Experience
This course covers the legal position of women as it developed from English common law into American law. Among other topics, the following are considered: English common law and its initial effect on present American law; domestic relations; political and civil rights; abortion, adoption, and sterilization; equal opportunity employment and pay issues; credit; and women in the American legal profession.

POL 42 Law and Aging in America
A general introduction to law as it relates to gerontology. The course covers statutory, case and administrative law. Consideration is given to entitlement programs, tax implications, disposition of property upon death or incompetence, housing for the elderly, medical care and sources of income. Same as Gerontology 42

POL 44 Urban Government
This course examines the urban community: its legal basis, functions and problems with a special reference to the various approaches to the study of community power.

POL 45 U.S. National Security
This course evaluates the area of U.S. national security with emphasis on military and strategic problems during the Cold War and Post-Cold War eras; defense policy-making; conventional and nuclear dimensions of defense issues; and strategic interests of the United States around the world.

POL 46 American Foreign Policy I
This course covers the continuity and change in American foreign policy goals, strategies, and tactics from the 18th century to World War II. Particular attention is devoted to constitutional issues and the decision-making process.

POL 47 American Foreign Policy II
This course covers contemporary issues in the formulation and implementation of American foreign policy.

POL 48 Metropolitan-Area Problems
This course uses an interdisciplinary approach to current problems of the metropolitan region. The course examines major issues from the viewpoint of the social sciences. A seminar approach is used with emphasis on writing a paper under the supervision of an instructor.

POL 49 Politics and Personality: The American Context
This course focuses on the impact of personality on politics. An examination is made of the meaning of “personality” in political science and the responsiveness of the political environment to the psychological aspect of political performance by citizens, activists and leaders. Political style, behavior and choices are viewed in relation to concepts of identity and need, conflict management, etc.

Psychology BACK TO TOP ^

PSY 25 Developmental Psychology: Childhood
Behavior and development during childhood is covered. The emphasis, in this course, is on normal physical, intellectual, emotional, and social growth and development.
Prerequisite: PSY 2 or 4 or permission of the Instructor. Not open to students who have had EDU 15.

PSY 26 Developmental Psychology: Adolescence
Behavior and development during adolescence is covered. The emphasis, in this course, is on normal physical, intellectual, emotional, and social growth and development.
Prerequisite: PSY 2 or 4. Not open to students who have had EDU 15.

PSY 34 Advanced Issues in Social Psychology
This course offers students an opportunity to learn more about specific topics within Social Psychology. The course will cover in detail one aspect of Social Psychology, such as persuasion & attitude change, prejudice & stereotyping, social cognition, applications of social psychology. The specific topic will be announced in advance, and will appear after the course title in the registration booklet. May not be taken more than once even if topic is different. Prerequisite: PSY 32.

PSY 36 Environmental Psychology
Emphasis is placed on human adaptation to the built and natural environment. Topics include: architecture and the use of space, housing and home, residential mobility, privacy, crowding, and environmental stress. Prerequisite: PSY 2 or 4.

PSY 40 The Psychology of Gender
The psychological influences on the nature and development of women and men are examined from social-learning, psychoanalytic, and cognitive-perceptual viewpoints. Topics include family and work roles, sexual identity, interpersonal attraction, friendship, achievement and health. Prerequisite: PSY 2 or 4.

PSY 68 Psychosomatics: Bodily Protest
This course is a study of physical disease as influenced by the emotions from historical, causative and research points of view. Psychophysiological disorders of every bodily system are studied including cancer, heart disease and obesity. Prerequisite: PSY 2 or 4.

PSY 70 Developmental Psychology: Adulthood & Aging
This course covers understanding adult life, growing old in contemporary society and experiencing changes in body, ability and personality. Same as Gerontology 70. Prerequisite: PSY 25 or 26, or Gerontology 1.

ANT 21 North American Indian Cultures
This course examines American Indian cultures north of Mexico from prehistoric to modern times with special emphasis on Indian reactions to European and American contact.

ANT 22 The Anthropology of Middle and South America
This course covers the origin and development of indigenous cultures, culture areas and culture types and Indian and African influences on contemporary cultures.

ANT 32 Anthropology of Aging
A recurrent theme in modern society is that older people are tolerated at best and that in pre-industrial societies they were honored with economic and social importance. In studying aging and old age, this course subjects these views to scrutiny by examining the diverse conceptions of old age across time and cultures.

ANT 35/SOC 35 Global Culture: The Integration of the World Community
This course examines the cultural and social connections of one selected area (to be announced each semester) to the large international community. It first describes the indigenous cultural and social features of the selected area and then explores forces of social change.

ANT 63/SOC 63 Gender Roles
This course explores the beliefs and expectations about the appropriate conduct and characteristics of men and women in diverse cultures with special focus on the United States. The social factors that contribute to the changing status of women in the family, education, and work, as well as other sectors of society are critically examined.

ANT 64 Individual, Culture, and Society
This course discusses how culture shapes the individual. It will address socialization processes and the development of selves and identities. The course covers concepts such as symbols, language, cognitions, attitudes, and emotions. Social issues concerning mental health, stereotyping and communication problems will also be discussed.

ANT 70 Language and Culture
This course examines language as a matrix of culture, the structure of languages, relationship of language to culture with an emphasis on preliterate cultures and the use of language as a tool in anthropological research.

SOC 10 Sociology of the Mass Media: Film, TV, Music, News
This course is the sociological analysis of mass media and how the media both influence and are influenced by society. Particular attention is paid to the social impact and meaning of movies, TV programs, music, journalism and advertising.

SOC 17 Women: A Cross-Cultural and Literary Perspective
This is an interdisciplinary course that covers the reading and evaluation of a number of sociological, literary and historical works that concern the role of women in the United States and other cultures. Contemporary change in the status of women is examined with reference to the effect it has on the social and psychological options open to them. Selected readings provide students with a historical and comparative perspective.

SOC 19 Political Sociology
This course is an examination of power in society: definitions, theories, and studies of who has power to do what to whom. In addition, the course includes: the symbolic uses of politics, the politics of status, the subordination of economic interests, the political roles of intellectuals, voting and political participation, democracy, totalitarianism and mass society.

SOC 20 Sociology of Aging
Issues studied include social psychological theories of aging, health, quality of life, primary relations, housing, retirement and leisure, death and dying.

SOC 21 Sociology of Health and Illness
This course examines social factors affecting the health of individuals and populations. This course investigates medicine as a major social institution including: sociological conceptions about physical and mental health illness, the “sick” role, comparative medical beliefs, practices and organization, U.S. health care organizations, medical and paramedical occupations, doctor-patient interaction, problems of medical care in the U.S. today.

SOC 24 Sociology of Adolescence and Youth
This course is a socio-cultural examination of typical issues troubling adolescents and youth. The study of broken homes, unemployment, health, sexually transmissible diseases, family abuse, runaways, career planning, nuclear fears, blended families, suicide, and confusion over traditional and emergent androgynous sex roles are included in this course.

SOC 25 Sociology of Education
This course examines the social nature of education. Sociology and education are structured to illuminate new pathways to dynamic social awareness. A group-oriented human relations examination of social values and beliefs that reshape mass attitudes and behavior is included.

SOC 26 Gender, Race and Ethnicity
This course explores the relationship among categories of race, ethnicity and gender in addition to the ways that race, ethnicity and gender interact with one another and affect the nature of social life and relations. Prerequisite: SOC 1.

SOC 28 Men, Women and Power
This course explores the relationship between gender roles and empowerment. A cross-cultural approach enables the student to see what variables (e.g., political, socioeconomic, and patriarchal) correlate with models favorable to empowering women in the public domain.

SOC 29 Sociology of Latino/a Culture and Identity
This course considers Latino/a people’s cultural and identity struggle. The different forces, events, activities and individuals shaping the way culture and identity are ultimately defined and practiced are examined.

SOC 32 Justice and Society
This course examines the relation between law, social policy and inequality. The social construction of justice through legal definitions of rights, evolving problems in policing social groups across racial and class lines and areas of conflict in the judicial system are emphasized. Prerequisite: SOC 1.

SOC 33 Deviant Behavior
This course examines the causes and patterns of social norm violation. The evolution and conflict of American social norms and rules, styles of social control, the development of unconventional ideologies and world views and alleged deviant subcultures are emphasized.

SOC 34 Sociology of Religion
This course is a discussion of religion as a social phenomenon. Topics discussed include: definitions of religion, “civil religion” and other explanations of the way religion affects societies, Max Weber’s Protestant ethic theses, secularization, anticipated trends in religion and types of religious organizations.

SOC 35/ANT 35 Global Culture: The Integration of the World Community
This course examines the cultural and social connections of one selected area (to be announced each semester) to the larger international community. It first describes the indigenous cultural and social features of the selected area and then explores forces of social change.

SOC 43 Juvenile Delinquency
This course covers the development of the scientific study of juvenile delinquency, with emphasis on methods, theories, and studies concerning causation, treatment and prevention.

SOC 48 Substance Abuse in American Society
This course deals with the social history of drug and alcohol abuse in American society. It reviews rehabilitation/treatment programs currently in use and the efforts to manage the problem.

SOC 60 Sociology of Gender
This course explores gender issues in contemporary society with an emphasis on the United States. Both historical and theoretical perspectives are used to examine the social construction of gender and how these constructions are applied in society.

SOC 61 Feminism and Social Change
This course explores social movements which are feminist in content. Three waves of feminism will first be presented. Students will also be exposed to social movement theory as it relates to feminist social change. Definitions of “feminism” will continually be explored as students begin to examine local examples of feminist activism.

SOC 62 The Sociology of Human Sexuality
This course explores human sexual expression and influences on sexual activity from a sociological perspective. The focus will be upon examining ways in which human sexuality has been socially constructed.

SOC 63/ANT 63 Gender Roles
This course explores the beliefs and expectations about the appropriate conduct and characteristics of men and women in diverse cultures with special focus on the United States. The social factors that contribute to the changing status of women in the family, education, and work, as well as other sectors of society are critically examined.

SOC 66 The African-American Experience
This course explores the persistent concern for the distinctive character of African-American identity. Historical and contemporary analyses of African- American social thought and experience are included.

SOC 67 Gangs and American Society
This course examines various contemporary gangs and focuses on the transformation and spread of gang cultures by clarifying the differences among groups that are defined as gangs and tracing their evolution, diversification and diffusion.

SOC 68 Sociology of Asian Americans
This course examines the diverse experiences of Asian Americans from a sociological perspective. We will focus on topics such as immigration policies and ethnic acculturation, ethnic entrepreneurship, conflict and the urban community; gender and family; and the portrayals of Asian Americans in popular culture. The course also explores concepts such as panethnic identity, race, racism, ethnicity, prejudice, and discrimination.

SOC 69 Race and Ethnicity
This course is an analysis of the adjustment and mobility pattern of immigrant and racial groups that focuses on the internal organization and disorganization of their communities. Attention is given to the “new ethnicity” and its consequences for intergroup relations in contemporary society.

SOC 70 Sociology of Poverty
This course examines the causes of poverty in American society, consequences of poverty for major institutional structures and for individuals involved, action programs and long-term policies.

Economics BACK TO TOP ^

ECO 5 Current Economic Problems
This course is a one-semester survey of basic economic principles. Topics include: nature and functioning of American capitalism, the socialist alternative, big business and competition, the role of money, inflation and deflation, the economic system and environmental problems, the economy of the city, the ghetto and other urban problems, the U.S. and the international economy. Not open to students who have taken ECO 11.

ECO 32 Industrial Organization and Public Policy
This course examines the structure and performance of the American economy with particular attention to the theory of the firm, market structures, and market behavior. Course study includes the role of technological change and the measurement of productivity and market concentration. A discussion of public policy and the economic features of antitrust regulation is included. Prerequisite: ECO 12.

ECO 47 Economics and Aging
This course focuses on the economic issues and policies impacting the aging and the aged in addition to the market and non-market solutions to the problems of economic security and retirement for the aging portion of our population. Same as Gerontology 47.Prerequisites: ECO 11 and 12 or consent of instructor.

ECO 49 Economics of the Environment
Focuses on economic issues of vital interest in domestic and global environmental policy. This course demonstrates how solutions to environmental problems exhibit costs as well as benefits and examines ways in which public policy can be crafted to meet environmental concerns while maintaining important economic objectives such as economic growth, increased employment and international competitiveness.
Prerequisite: ECO 12.

ECO 55 American Economic History
This course is a descriptive and analytical account of economic growth of the United States and institutional and organizational changes that gave rise to rapid growth in living standards.

Education BACK TO TOP ^

EDI 15A Psychological Foundations: Teaching and Learning
This course examines how people learn and the application of learning principles to classroom instruction. Divided in two sections, the first portion of the course explores learning theories and insights from cognitive science about basic processes and structures of learning. We focus on educational research methods as investigative tools and examine findings that support research claims. Topics include developmental changes related to learning, the nature of expertise, and learning with understanding. International approaches to teaching and learning are also examined and contrasted with current practices in the United States. We also discuss the role of technology, assessment, and teacher professional development in the design of learning environments. To deepen our appreciation of research as a source of knowledge, students conduct their own research project, interviewing practicing teachers and conducting classroom observations.

Foreign Languages and Linguistics BACK TO TOP ^

FRE 56 French Literature of the 20th Century
This course surveys French literature and its development in the 20th century. Lectures and readings include major trends and authors such as Gide, Mauriac, Ionesco, Beckett, Malraux, Proust, Anouilh, Sartre and Camus. Given in English

HEB 40 Jewish Culture in America
In this course, the modern American Jew is seen through the works of contemporary writers. An examination of writings explores the role of Jews in America, their relationship to the majority group and the resolutions of their anomalies. The works are approached topically: the immigrant culture, the literature of conflict and the alien as presented by authors Kazin, Bellow, Malamud and Roth.

HEB 41 Holocaust Literature
The literature of the Holocaust conveys that which cannot be transmitted by facts and figures. This course is a critical study of the literature from the standpoint of language and history. Given in English

LIN 41 Applied Linguistics: English
This course is a study of the application of modern linguistic science to English. Study includes structural analysis, practice in phonemic and morphemic analysis of current American English. Recommended especially for TESOL, Bilingual/Bicultural, and English teachers.

SPA 71 Contemporary Culture and Civilization in Latin America
This course examines Latin America: life, thought, art and folklore; historical, social, and economic backgrounds; regional similarities and contrasts. Ample use of audiovisual materials. A free elective for all majors. Given in English

SPA 73 Hispanic Literature of the 20th Century
This course examines masterpieces of Spanish and Spanish-American literature in English translation. The course emphasizes major authors such as Unamuno, Ortega y Gasset, Garcia Lorca, Borges, Neruda, Garcia-Marquez.

WLT 37 The Making of the Superhero
The course explores the superhero as an American culture phenomenon.

Earth and Environmental Sciences BACK TO TOP ^

GGR 11/ERS 11 Conservation of Natural Environmental Resources
This course is an overview of humanity’s exponentially increasing demands on natural resources; the resultant raw material and environmental pollution problems and possible solutions. Demographic, cultural, historical, economic and locational factors are considered.

GGR 21/ERS 21 Applied Conservation
In this course, the practical applications of conservation theory including such topics as wildlife management, forest and grassland management, outdoor recreation resource management, soil conservation (including the organic approach), and energy conservation are covered. Prerequisite: GGR 11.

GGR 27 American Urban Planning
The geography of modern life - our homes, roads, commercial centers, parks, and beaches - is an outgrowth of planning. Students examine key planners of the past 125 years to understand how we got here, traffic jams and all. Students explore how contemporary planners balance the complex interconnections among taxes, housing, environmental quality, transportation, economic development, and cultural diversity. Challenging questions about whether planners can move beyond today’s fixation on economics and security and create cities that are more joyful, healthy, and socially just are considered.

GGR 43 The Geography of the United States and Canada