PRF1200: Acting Workshop

2 free elective credits

This course will introduce the methods and tools required for stage performance. Through various exercises, games, improvisation, and assignments you will create characters, gain an understanding of theatre terminology, and attempt to find not only meaning but also the performance potential of dramatic literature. Most importantly, you will develop the confidence to approach the craft of acting with the discipline and rigor required for compelling performance.

The art of acting not only requires you to call upon knowledge in history, languages, and literature but also to understand your capabilities physically and vocally. The lessons you will learn this semester in active listening, characterization, vocal capabilities (resonance, range, enunciation, and delivery), collaboration, and bodily awareness are some that you can use in any career and in any field.

Prerequisites: none

LTA2010 African American Literature
4 Intermediate Liberal Arts CreditsThis course will introduce students to the African American literary tradition starting with the slave narrative and concluding with contemporary literary production. Along the way, we will consider the move from oral to written literatures, the aesthetic forms created and adapted by African American writers, and the role of African American letters in chronicling and shaping the experience of African American people. Our study will be informed by major historical moments -slavery, reconstruction, Jim Crow, the Great Migration from south to north, the Civil Rights and post-Civil rights eras-and we will read work by writers such as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, W.E.B. DuBois, Booker T. Washington, Nella Larsen, Richard Wright, Zora Neale Hurston, Gwendolyn Brooks, James Baldwin, and Toni Morrison.

Prerequisites: (FCI1000 or AHS1000) and (WRT1001or RHT1000)

LIT4661 American Autobiography
4 Advanced Liberal Arts CreditsAutobiography, always popular, has reached new heights of acclaim in recent years - especially in the United States. Why do readers find it so attractive? Sensationalist, exhibitionist, self-serving, revelatory, probing: while it can be all of this and more, autobiography as a literary genre has its roots in a person's desire for expression and meaning. As its writers explain themselves to the world, they explain the world to themselves, imposing on it their views and causes. Autobiography can demonstrate how history is made in words, not found; how people make sense of their own lives. Reading a cross-section of such works written by authors living in what is now the United States compels us to question simplistic notions of what _America_ stands for, and to rediscover its promises and its meanings in its variety and conflict.

This is an upper-level liberal arts course. Readings range from Benjamin Franklin to the present.

Prerequisites: Any combination of 2 ILA (HSS, LTA, CSP, LVA, CVA)

LIT4608 American Romanticism, Realism, and Naturalism
4 Advanced Liberal Arts CreditsThis course is a deep dive into literary works representing three major movements in American literature: Romanticism, Realism, and Naturalism. Romanticism is thematically concerned with nature and the common man, the frontier and immigration. Our study may include Thoreau, Whitman, and Morrison, as well as the genres of the gothic story and the slave narrative. Realism and Naturalism are often understood as reactions to Romanticism and are thematically concerned with man-made reality, objectivity and Darwinian ideas. Our study may include Wharton, Dreiser, and contemporary U.S. fiction.

Prerequisites: Any combination of 2 ILA (HSS, LTA, CSP, LVA, CVA)

ARB4650 Arab Culture for Business

(Formerly Business Arabic)

4 Advanced Liberal Arts Credits

This course aims to help students acquire cultural intelligence and develop the tools necessary to learn about business culture of the Arab world and be aware of local traditions and sensitivities. It provides an understanding of Arab business etiquette and culture, and discusses related topics such as travel, dress codes, Islam and business, communication and negotiation styles, attitudes, and hierarchy in the workplace. Students survey countries like UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Lebanon, Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia …etc. They use diverse forms of authentic and recent media and examine materials from different Arabic newspapers and media sources such as Al-Hayat, Al- Ahram and Al-Jazeera to comprehend practical business issues, cultural values and social etiquette in the Arab world and the Middle East.

The course is taught in English. No prior knowledge of Arabic is needed.

ARB4640 Arab Cinema and Culture

(Formerly ARB4600)
4 Advanced Liberal Arts CreditsThis course is designed as an advanced-level conversation class, with a strong cultural component. It explores Arab cinema from the colonial period to the present, and provides an in-depth exploration of "cultural identity" and "politics" in the Arab World. Although Egypt is considered the biggest film producer in the Arab world, the course aspires to represent various cinemas across the region, from Morocco and Algeria to Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Palestine, introducing students to notable moments and phenomena in the history of these cinemas. The course will be taught in Arabic and all films will be in Arabic with English subtitle. In addition to film viewings, students will be required to read critical and theoretical articles that pertain to class discussion. These films and readings serve as the basis for debate, discussion and written analysis of issues relevant to the history, culture and politics of the Arab world and the Middle East. Films will be on reserve at Horn Library, and screenings will be scheduled.

Prerequisites: Students need to be at least at a high intermediate level
This course is open to advanced and heritage speakers of Arabic

ARB4610 Arabic II: Culture, Cuisine and Communication
4 Advanced Liberal Arts Credits

Get ready for a culinary journey around the Arab world!

Arabic 4610 is designed to learn Arabic language and culture through food. It will help you enhance your linguistic and communicative skills by exploring food, traditions and cultural values. It will incorporate hands-on cooking projects and discussions about the significance of food in Arab culture. These projects aim to introduce you to the diverse dialects and rich cultures of the Arab World. They will also help you develop vocabulary, reading and writing, and enhance the spoken skills necessary for a variety of daily life activities such as sharing meals, talking about ethnic foods and favorite cuisines, buying grocery, inviting family and friends for a meal, and ordering at a restaurant. By exploring practices around food, you will observe Arab society and culture while using your senses and curiosity.

Projects might include: cooking at the Foundry, learning recipes, visit a local market, visit local Arab restaurants and/or cafés, learning about the history of Arab cuisine, researching the link between food and festivals, and much more.

Prerequisite: you may sign-up for this class if you have successfully completed ARB2200 or its equivalent, or you are a heritage speaker who can understand Arabic minimally.

Prerequisites: ARB2200

LTA 2006: Art in Latin America

4 intermediate liberal arts credits

This course presents a panorama of art and culture in Latin America from ancient times to the present. Topics include Pre-Columbian Empires; Spanish Colonial Cities; Revolution, Reform and Modernism; Indigeneity, African diasporas, and Nationalism. Looking through the lens of art and architecture, the course pays special consideration to Latin America's enduring legacies and dynamic processes of change. This is an introductory survey intended for students of all academic and professional interests: no previous art history courses or experience with Latin America necessary.

Prerequisites: (AHS 1000 or FCI 1000) and (RHT1000 or WRT1001)

ART 4605: Art in the Age of Enlightenment

4 advanced liberal arts credits

This class examines the history of art during the Age of Enlightenment (1600-1800), a time marked by revolutions in science, industry, philosophy, and the declaration of human rights. Students will learn about artists who grappled with the image of a changing world, picturing what was before inconceivable: a surgeon publicly dissecting a human body, a former slave turned politician, etcetera. Throughout the semester, students will critically assess how art shaped the founding ideologies of our modern world.

Prerequisites: Any combinations of 2 intermediate liberal arts (HSS, LTA, CSP)

ART1175 Beginning Painting Watercolor and Acrylic
4 General CreditsThis is an introductory level course designed to bring students through basic aspects of drawing in a wide range of media. No previous experience is required. Issues such as line, tone, mark making, gesture form, light sources, figure/ground relationships, and perspective to overall compositions will be addressed separately and in the many ways that they relate to one another in a drawing. Students will draw observationally from life and from their own drawings, learning how to use each of these concepts as tools in order to draw and see more analytically. We will work with a wide range of materials from basic graphite pencils and charcoal to ink washes, conte crayon on gesso treated paper, silverpoint, collage, and printmaking. Slides of various artists' work will be discussed in relation to concepts and processes explored in class. Student work will be discussed in group critiques with full class participation. Students should be committed to expanding their skills and can expect project deadlines. There will be some expense for materials.

Prerequisites: None