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SESSION I
UCART 2995. Special Topics in Art: World
Cinema Traditions.
Session I. Saturday. 8:00 a.m. – 12:50 a.m.
(Palmer)
This course offers an in-depth examination of
four non-Hollywood traditions: Italian
Neorealism, French New Wave, British New Wave,
and German Expressionism. The emphasis will be
on identifying the specific elements of each
tradition and relating them to the cultural
and historical context in which these films
will be produced. The aim is to make students
more acute, knowledgeable, and sophisticated
in their understanding of the most popular and
pervasive art form of contemporary society.
Lectures/discussion/film viewings. At-home
essay assignments.
UCENG 2995. Special Topics in English:
Asian American Literature.
Session I. Monday/Wednesday. 8:25 p.m. – 10:40
p.m. (Head)
This course will explore the varieties of
Asian American experience by considering the
literary forms they take. Texts will range
from poetry to fiction to film to cultural
study artifacts. The course will consider
literary representations of a broad range of
Asian American experiences with an emphasis on
how writers/performers interpret their Asian
American experiences in the various literary
genres represented.
UCPHI 2995. Special Topics in
Philosophy: Philosophy of Religion.
Session I. Monday/Wednesday. 8:25 p.m. – 10:40
p.m. (Rissler)
Philosophy of Religion combines a love of
wisdom with a search for Ultimate Reality,
bringing to bear the tools of careful
reasoning upon questions concerning God and
faith. This course will seek to develop
students’ philosophical reasoning abilities by
engaging arguments that have been advanced
historically and by contemporary philosophers
as answers to particular religious questions.
Among these questions will be: What is or
should be the relationship between faith and
reason? Can the existence of God be proved?
Disproved? Need one have good arguments for or
against the existence of God in order to be a
theist or atheist? How should a proponent of
one faith view other faiths? Course
requirements include class participation, two
mid-length papers, and a final exam.
Prerequisites: UCCOM 1711 and UCCOM 1712 with
a grade of C- or better.
SESSION II
UCENG 4950. Special Topics in Literature
and Culture: Representations of Eva Peron and
Che Guevara in Literature and Film.
Session II. Tuesday/Thursday. 6:00 p.m. –
8:15 p.m. (Plotnik)
This course explores the impact and legacy of
two legendary figures from Argentina, Eva
Perón and Ernesto “Che” Guevara. We will study
the various Evitas and Ches created at
different times and places since the 1950s
until the present by examining essays,
short-stories, plays and films. By the end of
the course you should be able to answer the
following questions: Why are they such
powerful icons? How and why have
representations of these historical characters
changed? At the same time you will have become
aware of historical, social and cultural
processes which have widened your knowledge of
Latin America. (No Spanish knowledge is needed
for this course). Prerequisites: Junior or
Senior status recommended.
UCHIS 4995. Special Topics in History:
the Age of Elizabeth.
Session II. Monday/Wednesday. 8:25 p.m. –
10:40 p.m. (Smith, B.)
The age of Elizabeth was a critical time in
the evolution of modern political ideas and
institutions, in no small measure because
during her lifetime the great powers of Europe
were often ruled by women. Isabella of
Castile, Marguerite of Angoulême, Catherine di
Medici, Mary of Guise, Mary Stuart -- all of
these women played dominant roles in European
politics. Yet the prominent place of so many
women provoked serious debates over the
character of women rulers and, by extension,
of rulership in general. But while
Elizabeth’s reign comes at a critical time,
that presents scholars with a thorny problem.
How does one study the reign of an individual
ruler? What is more important, the institution
or the (wo)man? Political biographers often
find themselves wrestling with such a problem.
In general, the professional historian avoids
personalities -- it is far too difficult to
prove what people thought or what motivated
them -- preferring to deal with institutions
and policies. Film makers, on the other hand,
delight in representing personalities but find
trivial details such as "fact" irrelevant or
bothersome. The two varieties of source
material we will use in this class --
scholarly studies of Elizabeth’s reign and
film treatments of Elizabeth and female
rulership generally -- stand in tension with
one another. My hope is that this tension will
provide the basis for discussion and a deeper
understanding of the significance of theVirgin
Queen.
UCPOL 2995. Special Topics in Politics:
Civil Rights to Hurricane Katrina: the
Political Implications of Race in America.
Session II. Tuesday/Thursday. 6:00 p.m. –
8:15 p.m. (King)
Conversations about race in America tend to
produce highly volatile, knee jerk reactions
wherein all parties take sides based on their
views and experiences with others. In this
course, using African - Americans as the
primary group of study, we will examine the
history of race in America from the onslaught
of the Civil Rights movement to the triumphs
and tragedies of Hurrricane Katrina and
examine several interrelated themes and topics
including the scar of race in America, the
rise, fall, and sellout of Black leaders, the
power and persistence of racism in America,
inter and intra racial cooperation and
conflict, and the future of race-based
politics in America. |
