LTA2029 Literatures of Empire and Beyond
4 Intermediate Liberal Arts CreditsEmpires have been built and toppled all over the world since the beginning of recorded history, and literature has served both in the building and in the toppling. This course begins by examining 19th century imperialism with a focus on European colonization of territories in Africa and South Asia; moves through the nationalist movements that arguably brought political but not economic independence or prosperity to these places; and concludes by examining the shape of the global landscape today with its "remote control" empires that work through markets and information channels rather than territory and raw resources. We will explore these great geopolitical shifts by studying literature and film from European, African, and South Asian perspectives that can reveal the many perspectives on the impacts of cultural, political, and economic contact through imperialism.

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

LTA2004 Love, Sex and the Family in Mid-Twentieth-Century American Literature
4 Intermediate Liberal Arts Credits_First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby in the baby carriage_. This childhood ditty seems to inculcate the _right_ order of things in the act of family-making in America. But lives played out in times of cultural transition aren't always as neat as nursery rhymes. Mid-twentieth-century America was characterized by changing gender roles and definitions, geographic and demographic shifts, war, and burgeoning technology, among other things. This course looks at fiction and drama to see how great American authors such as Tennessee Williams, Flannery O'Connor and Richard Yates portrayed and, perhaps, shaped the mid-century American understanding of love, sex, and family. We will supplement literary readings with relevant non-fiction from the time period. Students will propose, research, and develop a major essay about an author and/or a concept related to the course materials. Students will also formally present their ideas to the class.

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

LTA2078 Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know: Rebels and Anti-Heroes
Intermediate Liberal ArtsWhen Lady Caroline Lamb described her former lover, the poet Lord Byron, as _mad, bad, and dangerous to know, she vividly captured a widespread fascination with figures who reject society's norms. Simultaneously alluring and threatening, rebels and anti-heroes unsettle the outer limit of acceptable behavior through their transgressions. This course will examine how rebels and anti-heroes shape a society's identity while living at - or beyond - its margins. We will also pay particular attention to questions of gender when considering these figures' own identities. We will read novels, plays, poetry, and cultural critique in order to trace the development of rebels and anti-heroes in western literature, as well as to understand them in their specific cultural and historical contexts.

This course is typically offered in the following semesters: Spring

Prerequisites: RHT and AHS

HSS2020 Media Studies
4 Intermediate Liberal Arts CreditsThis course explores the structure and functions of the mass media in contemporary society, looking at social, cultural, economic and political issues relevant to television, film, radio, recorded music, books, newspapers, magazines, internet and new communication technologies. Exploration of relationships between media and individual, media structure, media policy, law and ethics, and globalization of communications media is emphasized.

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

CSP2020 Media Studies
(Formerly CVA2020)
4 Intermediate Liberal Arts Credits

If you took and passed CVA2020, you cannot take CSP2020, as these two courses are equivalent

This course explores the structure and functions of the mass media in contemporary society, looking at social, cultural, economic and political issues relevant to television, film, radio, recorded music, books, newspapers, magazines, internet and new communication technologies. Exploration of relationships between media and individual, media structure, media policy, law and ethics, and globalization of communications media is emphasized.

This course is typically offered in the following semesters: Spring or Fall

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

CVA2020 Media Studies
(Formerly HSS2020)
4 Intermediate Liberal Arts Credits

If you took and passed HSS2020, you cannot take CVA2020, as these two courses are equivalent

This course explores the structure and functions of the mass media in contemporary society, looking at social, cultural, economic and political issues relevant to television, film, radio, recorded music, books, newspapers, magazines, internet and new communication technologies. Exploration of relationships between media and individual, media structure, media policy, law and ethics, and globalization of communications media is emphasized.

This course is typically offered in the following semesters: Spring or Fall

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

MDS4620 Mediating the Wild
4 Advanced Liberal Arts CreditsWilderness is disappearing faster than ever due to humans' radical transformation of the earth. Yet, consumer cultures have developed an ever so strong desire for the wild. In the industries that sell "Wildness", media have played a large role in telling it, showing it, measuring it, and manufacturing it. This course focuses on the ideologies, discourses, and technologies that mediate between contemporary consumers and the disappearing Wildness. We will explore a variety of cultural phenomena including the usage of smart phones, selfie sticks, and Go Pros in ecotourism, backpacking cultures, and outdoor adventure sports industries, the appropriation of drones and GPS-tracking devices by environmentalists, wildlife poachers, and virtual/augmented reality game designers, the trending of the "wild food" diet and the NGO campaigns protesting it, as well as the adoption of sound recordings of wild landscapes as new age music therapies. This course incorporates a multicultural and "multinatural" view to look at technology's role in representing, mediating, and recreating nature. We also address difficult ethical questions such as: How to maintain a proper distance with the Wild? Should we tame it, save it and thereby annihilating it? Or should we leave it on its own terms, and thereby letting it live or die?

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

LTA2073 Middle Eastern Literature
4 Intermediate Liberal Arts CreditsThis course explores the most provocative literary movements of the contemporary Middle East, including authors from the Iranian, Arab, Turkish, Armenian, and North African areas of the region. From the experimental novels of Naguib Mahfouz and Orhan Pamuk to the prison poetry of Ahmad Shamlu, from such legendary voices of exile as Adonis and Mahmoud Darwish to the dark sensual narratives of Joyce Mansour and Forugh Farrokhzad, we will cover a range of creative experiments with romanticism, mysticism, surrealism, existentialism, and post-modernism. As such, this will also allow us to unravel the many intricate concepts (those of desire, violence, time, space, power, revolution, and catastrophe) that form the Middle Eastern cultural imagination.

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

ART1171 Mixed Media Drawing
4 General Credits

This is an introductory course designed to engage observational and experimental approaches to drawing. Employing a broad range of materials, from charcoal and pastels to ink and found materials, students will study and synthesize fundamentals such as perspective, mark making, line quality, value, and figure-ground relationships. Guided observational exercises will aid in deconstructing objects and translating spatial relationships. In addition to these techniques, the course will engage found imagery and printmaking strategies to explore drawing's vast possibilities as a methodology, a record, and a problem-solving tool. Critiques will provide an opportunity to collectively assess, interpret, and reflect upon students' work. A selection of artists' writings, interviews, and videos will complement the drawing prompts, investigating drawing as an evolving, contemporary practice.

Prerequisites: None

LIT4600 Modern Drama
4 Advanced Liberal Arts CreditsThis is a survey of Western drama from the late nineteenth century to the present day. We'll study representative works of major dramatists of this period such as Ibsen, Strindberg, Chekhov, Shaw, Brecht, O'Neill, Pirandello, Beckett, O'Casey, Soyinka, Churchill, Wilson, Stoppard, Mamet, Kushner, and Parks. You'll research and report on theatre movements such as symbolism, expressionism, realism, naturalism, epic theatre, and theatre of the absurd. We'll consider the play as both text and performance, making use of theatre reviews, director's notes, interviews, photographs, videos, and, when possible, live performances. Grades will be determined by two papers, a midterm and a final exam, a group performance project, and a thoroughly researched oral presentation.

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