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Home > Curriculum > Course Descriptions > Fall 2003 Newsletter
Fall 2003 NewsletterCalendar |
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Winter Term 2004
CALENDAR (Back to Top) September 22 - 23 September 24 - 26 September 29 - Monday October 10 - Friday November 11 November 17 - 26 November 27 - 28 December 5 - Friday December 8 - 12 December 11 - Thursday WELCOME TO CLARK HONORS COLLEGE (Back to Top) The Robert D. Clark Honors College faculty and staff welcome our new and continuing students to the 2003-2004 academic year. We hope that you will take full advantage of the many resources available to you at Clark Honors College. We encourage you to meet with your CHC Faculty Advisor often with questions about current and future coursework and graduation requirements. Graduates of Clark Honors College have told us that regular meetings with their advisors made a positive difference in their academic careers. If you have non-academic questions, please feel free to visit the CHC Office staff in Chapman 320. NEW DIRECTOR (Back to Top) After a successful search we are pleased to announce that Professor Richard C. Kraus will begin a three-year term as Director of the Robert D. Clark Honors College effective July 1, 2003. Professor Kraus has been a prominent member of the UO faculty since 1983. He has served the campus in a variety of capacities. He was head of Political Science from 1992-95 and director of the Asian Studies Program in 1999. His internationally recognized research focuses on the relationships between politics and the arts in China. FALL 2003 COURSE DESCRIPTIONS LITERATURE (Back to Top)
Professor Bennett Huffman HONORS COLLEGE LITERATURE I think it only appropriate at this time in history to begin an exploration of world literary history with the oldest - that of Iraq: cradle of civilization. So, we begin with Gilgamesh and work our way through the Western Classics: Homer's Odyssey, Sophocles' Oedipus Rex, Virgil's Aeneid, Dante's Inferno. Somewhere in there we will make time to recognize the other great ancient birthplace of civilization with China's fourth century B.C. Tao Te Ching attributed to Lao Tzu. And the Anglo-Saxon Beowulf because it is fun and important, especially to later English literature. Through all these works we will try to understand what created them, what is at stake in their production, and why they have lasted as works still worth reading after hundreds or thousands of years. No exams of any kind will be given. Course work includes daily informal response papers, class participation, and 20 pages of critical writing on the set texts.
Professor Cecilia Rosenow HONORS COLLEGE LITERATURE Some of the most interesting, and at times humorous, literature comes from travel writing in the broadest sense of that term. This course covers a selection of travel-related texts ranging from the epic poetry of Ancient Greece to the travel diaries of Medieval Japan. By considering the formal conventions as well as the tales themselves, we will explore how and what these works teach us not only about the cultures the writers encounter but, more importantly, about the cultures to which the writers belong. Class time will include lectures, small and large group discussions of the literature, and in-class activities. There will be two short papers (3-5 pages), a mid-term, and a final exam.
Professor Helen Southworth HONORS COLLEGE LITERATURE This course will cover a selection of ancient and early medieval texts. We will explore literary genres, use of literary language, ethical and moral issues, and social, cultural, and religious questions. We will explore how these texts provide and undermine the traditional interpretations brought to bear on them. We will also explore questions of canon formation, and ask what makes a book "great" or "classic." Readings to include: Book of Job, Virgil's Aeneid, Homer's Odyssey, Sophocles' Oedipus the King, Euripides' Iphigenia at Aulis, Irish Myths and Legends and Dante's Inferno. Films to include: Michael Cacoyannis' Iphigenia in Aulis, Pasolini's Oedipus, and Peter Greenaway's The Divine Comedy. Students will be required to write three short papers (3-5 pages), in-class writing, and take a final exam. Class will consist of some lecture, large and small discussion groups, with an emphasis on close textual analysis. HISTORY (Back to Top)
Professor André Lambelet HONORS COLLEGE HISTORY In this course, we will explore the origins of Western civilization from the earliest human societies in the Near East to the culture of Europe in the early middle ages. We will examine evolution within European societies, but we will also work comparatively, looking at the diverse external influences, particularly from the Mediterranean that helped shape what we know as Europe. Our themes will include contact, conflict and cross-fertilization between civilizations. One set of aims will be to gain an understanding of each society we study: its political and legal institutions; its social order, including class and gender divisions; its economy and the division of labor; and its cultural forms. We will try to understand how people in these societies lived their daily lives, but we will also try to understand what each society held up as the "good life"-in religion, philosophy, politics, and art. Another set of aims will be to develop an appreciation for historical questions and methods. How and why do societies change and evolve? What constitutes historical evidence? What is important about the past? How does the past shape our present and our future? An important goal for this course is to develop the skills to articulate these questions-and answers to them-orally and in writing. Class meetings will be a combination of lecture and discussion. Discussions will be based on reading of primary materials. These readings will include: the Epic of Gilgamesh, selections from Plato's Republic, Thucydides' Peloponnesian War, Sophocles' Oedipus the King, the Bible, the Koran, and the Song of Roland.
Professor Roxann Prazniak HONORS COLLEGE HISTORY This course will unfold the layers of political and cultural history around two literary classics in the European tradition, Augustine's The City of God and Christine de Pisan's The Book of the City of Ladies. Our goal is to understand each work as an expression of European history and human culture. Consequently, we will need to explore both the specific historical contexts of these works and their relationship to works of similar subject matter in additional historical settings. Wu Cheng-en's novel Journey to the West and The Tale of Genji by Lady Murasaki will be our cross-societal reference points for this study. Selections from historical and contemporary sources will illuminate these core texts. Throughout, our goal will be to develop skills for thinking both historically and comparatively.
Professor Daniel Rosenberg HONORS COLLEGE HISTORY Traditionally, Western civilization has been taught as a "roots" curriculum. In the United States, educational institutions taught a "Western Tradition" that was supposed to have led directly from Greece and Rome to western Europe and finally to North America. It was also understood to represent the highest of history's cultural and intellectual achievements. In recent years, critics have argued that this story excludes the many other building blocks of the modern world, be they the stories of the historically silenced or those outside of the "West" entirely. In this course, we will set out to understand what has been called the "Western Tradition" in different terms. On the one hand, we will try to ground ourselves in some of the historical and literary foundations for modern institutions and ideas. On the other hand, we will constantly observe and examine divisions, conflicts, contracts, multiplicities, and hybrids. And we will treat the study of ancient and medieval history as an opportunity to understand historical difference as well as historical continuity. In general, we will try to understand the cultural power of stories and symbols. We will be particularly attentive to origin stories, whether they are narratives of the beginning of the world, of a particular faith or nation, or of new periods in history. And we will try to develop a historical language in which to discuss both the meaning of "civilization" and of the "West."
Professor TBD HONORS COLLEGE HISTORY Course Description Unavailable. SCIENCE (Back to Top)
Professor Dennis Todd HONORS COLLEGE SCIENCE Humans are intensely social animals-and, in a sense, so are our genes. We aggregate in great crowds to celebrate and to mourn. Our genes combine and create an individual. We court, we fight, we jostle for power. Our genes cooperate or compete for dominance. Many of our social behaviors seem exceedingly odd, and approaches to understanding have ranged from mysticism to experimental psychology. A newly developed field of biology, sociobiology, applies a Darwinian model to animal behavior and reveals that much human behavior has deep evolutionary roots. Sex, selfishness, altruism, dominance and submission, nepotism, deceit, and parent-offspring conflict can be observed in animals other than humans; insights gained in studying their behavior may illuminate our own habits and proclivities. While sociobiologists may posit that it is the individual or a kin group of related individuals that survives and reproduces or perishes without offspring, and thus is the unit subject to natural selection, other biologists argue that it is the gene or a group of related genes that is the fundamental unit of selection. They propose that an organism is just the manifestation of and vehicle for the expression of the genes, and that genes may compete with one another, even to the detriment of their host, in the struggle for existence. Recent research has demonstrated, for example, that the genes of the sperm and egg battle to suppress one other when they first unite to form a new individual. We will examine historical and current theories on social behavior, investigate the results of experiments in animal and human behavior and genetics, and perform experiments and observations on social behavior. This course is designed for non-science majors. No background in physics, chemistry, biology, or mathematics is required. Students will write two papers and give one oral presentation. Open book exams. There will be two 1.5-hour lectures and one lab period per week. SPECIAL STUDIES (Back to Top)
Professor David Frank This course is open to non-CHC students. SPECIAL STUDIES Clark Honors College hosts the nationally ranked University of Oregon Forensics Program. The program is designed to teach rhetorical habits of mind and speech through intercollegiate debate and individual events. The program travels to about 13 tournaments, hosts two on-campus tournaments, and engages in some on-campus speaking activities. Two graduate teaching fellows are assigned to the program. Debate students will be paired with partners and will be expected to conduct extensive research on the debate topics selected by the Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA) and the Parliamentary Debate Association. Novice and experienced student debaters are welcome, and students do not need to be Honors College students to enroll. Individual events students select from among ten to fifteen public speaking and oral interpretation events and, in addition, work to prepare and perfect speeches designed to persuade, entertain and move. Students are graded on their performances.
Freshman Seminar - open to non-CHC students. Professor David Frank SPECIAL STUDIES Through careful examination of famous public speeches by Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Jessie Jackson, Barbara Jordan, and others, we will identify the principles of moral reasoning and effective public speaking. Students will write one three-page paper on one famous speech and will take a short examination on the principles of moral public speaking. Once these principles are identified and understood, students will present three speeches and engage in two debates on race relations in America. These exercises will be designed to help in the development of habits of mind and speech needed to wed knowledge to eloquence. COLLOQUIA (Back to Top) COLLOQUIA ARE LIMITED TO STUDENTS WITH SOPHOMORE STANDING AND ABOVE.
Professor Jeffrey Hanes This course satisfies UO's Identity, Pluralism, and Tolerance multicultural requirement. HC IDENTITIES COLLOQUIUM How have modern urban residents the world over created social places out of the abstract spaces created by planners? This is the main question that I propose to ask in this course on the production and consumption of urban space. We will take our theoretical cue from cultural geographers such as Henri Lefebvre, David Harvey, and Edward Soja, then will examine historical case studies of residential settlement, ghettoization, ethnic neighborhood formation, working class housing, and other relevant issues from cities across the globe.
Professor Suzanne Clark HC ARTS & LETTERS COLLOQUIUM This course is about the rhetoric of the sixties, student protest, civil rights, and the Vietnam era. We will examine the involvement of universities, particularly Oregon universities, in the rhetoric of peace and war, using literary and rhetorical texts and documents as well as university archives. The focus will be on the period from the 1950s era of nuclear confrontation (in particular the opposition of scientists), to student protest and the Vietnam War (1945-1975). We will carry out archival research and interviews as well as textual analysis to write a paper (one long or several equivalent short papers) about the arguments involved in a particular event or text. There will be guest speakers with special knowledge of that period, help from writers and archivists about effective uses of interviews, archives, collections, and documents. There will be a final conference during which students and guests may present and discuss the ideas developed in their papers. Texts and documents to consult: Protest documents from the Sixties; Papers from archives and special collections of the University of Oregon; Linus Pauling, No More War! and the Pauling papers at Oregon State University Special Collections (which has an extensive archive on the protest of scientists against nuclear weapons proliferation); Kenneth Metzler, Confrontation, (the tapes and materials used in research for this book are in the UO library); Long Time Gone : Sixties America Then And Now (ed. Alexander Bloom) Todd Gitlin, Years of Anger, Days of Rage, Marge Piercy, Vida, Angela Davis: an Autobiography, Eldridge Cleaver, "The White Race and Its Heroes," from Soul on Ice; Robert Bly et al, A Poetry Reading against the Vietnam War, Tom Wolfe, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. Films include: Arguing the World (Bell, Glazer, Howe, and Kristol), Berkeley in the Sixties, Getting Straight Interviews and guest speakers include: Heather Briston, university archivist, former president Robert. D. Clark, President David Frohnmayer; VP Dan Williams, members of the faculty, former student activists, journalists, and others.
Professor Frances Cogan HC ARTS & LETTERS COLLOQUIUM This class will explore the devices used in a variety of incredible first-person accounts in order to achieve credibility. Class work will explore Creating Persona, Rhetorical Devices, kinds of Argument, the effect of Form, and the use of Extra-Textual Elements such as affidavits, introductions and forwards by important persons, selected letters and various documents. Texts will include: Lucaites, John, Celeste Condit, and Sally Caudell, eds. Contemporary Rhetorical Theory: A Reader (1999). Narratives for study will include: Brent, Linda [Harriet Jacobs], Life as a Slave Girl, Howes, Craig. Voices of Vietnam POWs, Hearst, Patty. My Story (excerpts), Selected Captivity Narratives: (Rowlandson, Dunstan, Manhiem), Sewall, Samuel. Diary (Witchcraft Trials), Walton, Travis. Fire in the Sky, Young, Ann Eliza. Wife No. 19 (excerpts). Requirements: Two critical papers, 5-7 pgs from outside list and one oral report. Essay final or project: Project will be to produce a first-person narrative of an extraordinary event in which the writer makes him or herself as credible as possible.
Professor Dorianne Laux HC ARTS & LETTERS COLLOQUIUM This ten week critique workshop will give special attention to revision and creating new writing through exercises and discussion. Submitted poems can be a work in progress, a new poem created from an exercise or a revision. The required text for the course is The Poet's Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry, W.W. Norton, Addonizio/Laux. We will also read a single collection of contemporary poems by one of three authors. Students have a choice of either Rose, Li-Young Lee, The Dead and the Living, Sharon Olds or Overtime, Joseph Millar. Students will choose one poem from among the course offerings for memorization and recitation. Essays, interviews, videos and biographical works will be reviewed as well. The class will also enjoy a visit from a guest poet. Course Requirements: one discussion paper (40%), one writing lab (10%), one major revision (20%), one memorized poem (10%), attendance and participation (20%).
Professor Rennard Strickland HC SOCIAL SCIENCE COLLOQUIUM Native American Law and Policy explores both contemporary and historic American Indian law and policy with focus on both tribal and federal perspective. Students will create and evaluate specific policy proposals through a series of small papers and a final document policy recommendation. Within the framework of policy analysis, students will identify a policy area, outline the historic policy, evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the historic policy, propose a new policy designed to correct the weaknesses and demonstrate how their proposed policy will address the major policy concerns. The class will, from time to time, be organized as a congressional Indian committee charged with recommending and adopting new Native American policy. Among policy areas under consideration will be: education, health care, cultural programs, economic development, natural resources, housing, land and water use, trust, jurisdiction, criminal and family law, taxation, hunting, fishing and gathering rights, property and governmental services. Materials to be read will include cases, statutes and treaties as well as primary and secondary analytical reviews and historic studies. Texts will include: Felix Cohen's Handbook of Federal Indian Law (selected sections) and Rennard Strickland's Tonto's Revenge: Reflections On American Indian Culture And Policy.
Professor Cheyney Ryan HC SOCIAL SCIENCE COLLOQUIUM This course will address some of the central topics in the Western philosophical tradition, focusing on issues about the nature of justice, the good life, and place of rationality in envisioning both. We will begin by focusing on some of the key ideas of the Greeks, with specific reference to Plato and Aristotle, and then move on to more modern concerns. We will read both primary and secondary works; special emphasis will be placed on developing philosophical skills of reasoning and reflection.
Professor John Orbell HC SOCIAL SCIENCE COLLOQUIUM This course will introduce students to the art and (I hope) pleasure of constructing theory in science, in particular social science. It is intended to teach some basic skills and techniques, to give you practice and confidence in constructing your own theories and-for better or worse-to make you a habitual theorizer. The course is divided into five two-week modules, each presenting a distinct mode of theorizing in the social sciences. At the end of each module, you will write a brief theoretical paper (up to four pages, plus diagrams when necessary) using the theoretical mode in question to construct your own theory about some (broadly "social") process that interests you. Your subject matter might be chosen from your own life, from some fictional account, or some other social narrative that interests you. Each exercise will count for 20% of your final grade. In addition, I will ask each class member to present two or three (depending on the size of the class) abstracts summarizing the work of other scholars who have constructed theories using one or other of the theoretical modes in question. I plan to spend a good part of the class time in a "workshop" mode.
Professor James Schombert HC SCIENCE COLLOQUIUM Cosmology, the study of the formation and evolution of the Universe, has progressed from its origins in early man's ideas of Nature, to Chinese and Greek worldviews, to Dante's vision of Heaven and Hell, to Newton's Clockwork Universe. Today, cosmology has entered a Golden Age with the launch of numerous space telescopes and development of technology that allows us to study the echo of the Big Bang. In addition to exploring the processes behind the origin of spacetime and matter, the science of cosmology has also expanded to resolve a number of philosophical and theological issues, such as Creation (i.e. Genesis 1:1) and the anthropic principle. This course is a historical and philosophical review of our cosmological worldview from mythical times to modern science. We will explore topics in the geometry of the Universe, expanding spacetime and the Big Bang, dark matter, black holes and wormholes, quarks and mesons, galaxies and quantum physics. Our goal is to provide the student with a summary of our current understanding of astrophysics as it relates to the structure of the Universe and what topics remain to be explored in the 21st century. The material is presented without complex mathematics, but an understanding of algebra is required. SPECIAL COURSE OFFERINGS (Back to Top) These courses do not satisfy CHC requirements, but may reserve spaces for CHC students or may feature CHC professors teaching in other departments or schools.
Professor Jason Younker Eight spaces will be reserved for Clark Honors College students in this course. To register, go to the Anthropology Department (308 CON) for an override. "Native American Education" The cultural identities of American Indians have been misshapen by countless misrepresentations made by non-Indians over the last 500 years. From Columbus's initial geographical blunder, centuries of academic speculation, and the homogenized images portrayed in Hollywood, we will examine how such portrayals become virtually unrecognizable to many indigenous peoples. This lecture and research seminar provides an indigenous perspective on American Indian education and its history. Oral traditions, Indian boarding school experiences, and Indian stereotypes will be surveyed. Students will be introduced to the Southwest Oregon Research Project collections and will examine how Oregon Tribes have initiated educational reform through partnerships with academic institutions. This course is designed for the advanced student, in particular those with interests in anthropology, linguistics, education, and history.
Professor Roxann Prazniak "The Political Culture of Rural China" Drawing on literature and folk art as well as anthropological and sociological sources, this course explores political and cultural life in rural China from the imperial era to the present. Our first goal is to discover the dynamics of village life in China and to understand how these have changed over time through the eras of imperial rule, industrial challenges, and communist leadership. Our larger goal is to raise questions about the contributions of rural histories to our understanding of history in general. We will look at selected material from other agrarian societies to develop this inquiry. Specific topics on rural China include perceptions of the natural environment, food as a social medium, popular religion, family dynamics, and the rural culture of protest. SEMINARS (Back to Top)
PASS/NO PASS ATTENDANCE MANDATORY THESIS SEMINAR Students will spend a majority of their time in the seminar polishing their prospectuses and then participating in a mock oral examination. Before enrolling in the seminar, students should have done the following:
The seminar will begin with two weeks of instruction and aid in polishing prospectuses. The majority of the term will involve oral presentations by all students with the primary thesis advisor present. OPEN-ENDED COURSES (Back to Top) If you wish to take an open-ended course, as listed below, please follow these steps.
Please note that open-ended courses are subject to the same deadlines as all other courses.
WINTER TERM 2004 (Back to Top) LITERATURE HISTORY SPECIAL STUDIES SEMINARS COLLOQUIA |
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