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Course Descriptions
Chinese Food Cultures
Mondays & Thursdays
11:10-12:25
Room 412 West
Code 4848; 3 hours, 3 credits
In this colloquium we will examine Chinese foodways from an interdisciplinary and comparative perspective. We will familiarize ourselves with the richness and complexity of Chinese cuisine, and consider what is distinctively Chinese about Chinese food. We will examine the history of food and eating in China and explore how it has developed and evolved over time. We will look critically at the metaphorical uses of food and food consumption in Chinese late-imperial, and contemporary literature and film. We will consider food and eating as components of Chinese medicine and traditional conceptions of health and bodies. We will also investigate contemporary issues surrounding food and eating, including food and Chinese identity, Chinese food abroad (how it is altered and how it is adopted within other cultures, especially in the US and Japan), changing patterns of food production and consumption within China, and the problem of food safety and security. The goals of this course include both taking food/eating as a means by which to better understand China; establishing this approach as a model to consider the foodways of other cultures, and finally enriching your learned appreciation of Chinese food for the rest of your lives.
Students will be expected to write numerous short papers and one longer (12-15 page) research paper. Class participation in discussions of readings will be required, and we will also see if we can find some way to fit a few tastings in as well.
Possible readings and viewings include:
Anderson, Eugene N.. The Food of China (New Haven : Yale University Press, 1988).
Chang, K. C., (edited). Food in Chinese culture: anthropological and historical perspectives (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977).
Chen, Nancy, N. Food, Medicine, and the Quest for Good Health (New York, Columbia University Press, 2009).
Farquhar, Judith. Appetites : food and sex in postsocialist China (Durham, NC : Duke University Press, 2002).
Lu Xun, “Diary of a Mad Man” 1918.
Mintz Sidney W. and Du Bois, Christine M. “The Anthropology of Food and Eating”
Annual Review of Anthropology , Vol. 31, (2002), pp. 99-119
Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4132873
Watson , James L; and Caldwell, Melissa L. (ed). The Cultural Politics of Food and Eating : A Reader (Malden, MA : Blackwell Pub., 2005
——— (ed.) Golden Arches East : McDonald's in East Asia (Stanford, Calif. : Stanford University Press, 2006.)
Tampopo (タンポポ) [video recording]; written and directed by Juzo Itami. 1986.
Eat drink man woman [video recording] / Samuel Goldwyn Home Entertainment ; Central Motion Pictures presents in association with Ang Lee Productions and Good Machine ; an Ang Lee film. 1995.
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Demography
Mondays & Thursdays
1:10-2:25 p.m.
Room 412 West
Code 4849; 3 hours, 3 credits
In this course, we will discuss processes and issues related to the size and the composition of the population of countries around the world. We will look at birth rates, life expectancy and mortality, and migration as the three basic factors determining population change. Beyond mere description -- we will look at the connection between economic wealth/level of development and key demographic indicators comparing "more developed" and "less developed countries" and the ongoing efforts by the United Nations to improve life in the less developed countries ("Millennium Development Goals"). We will discuss the social, economic, and political consequences of demographic trends like "population aging" and "declining birth rates" in both less and more developed countries.
Learning Objectives:
At the end of the course, students should
- have a good grasp of the basic concepts in demography (fertility, life expectancy, mortality, migration) and be aware of the problems with measuring these concepts;
- know where to find and retrieve demographic data from online data bases like those maintained by the US Census and UN Population Division and intended for use by the general public;
- understand the links between population changes and select social problems and public policies like the effect of declining birth rates on the composition of the work force and - in turn - providing for the elderly;
- understand the relation between economic wealth and public health of countries and - more generally -- the role of demographic factors in the development of countries.
Required Readings:
Dudley L. Poston and Leon F. Bouvier: Population and Society - An Introduction to Demography. Cambridge University Press. 2010.
In addition, we will use various reports published by international agencies and independent research institutes.
Writing Requirements:
Each student will be assigned two specific countries (one less developed, one more developed) and will have to write a demographic country profile on one of them based on searches of primary data sources. This will be a fact-based research paper including suitable visualizations (charts/graphs) and proper attribution of sources using hyperlinks. The net text (not counting charts and tables, bibliography) is expected to be about 1500 words (roughly 6 pages).
Method of Evaluation:
The final course grade will be based on three components: short online quizzes based on the assigned reading (20%), a midterm classroom exam (30%), country profile paper (20% based on initial submission,
30% based on final submission) in lieu of a final exam.
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Timeless Don Juan
Tuesdays & Fridays
12:45-2:00 p.m.
Room 412HW
Code 4850; 3 hours, 3 credits
In this course, we will examine representative manifestations of Don Juan in the arts and the voluminous commentary these diverse works have inspired. Beginning with his birth during the Spanish Counterreformation in Tirso de Molina's denunciatory play, we will accompany Don Juan up to our own day as he crosses cultures and centuries with the same swift agility with which he transgresses the bounds of morality. The theater, poetry, novel, essay, music, opera, ballet, film and the plastic arts have all attempted to capture this elusive character. How does each genre, age, and creator interpret and recreate the legendary seducer? As we try to define the constants and variables in these representations, each work will be addressed with attention given to its own particular form and context. As complement and stimulus to our discussion of the various reworkings of the myth, we will look at interpretations of Don Juan and donjuanism offered by several disciplines, including psychology, linguistics, anthropology, and philosophy, in addition to criticism specific to the medium/work in question, and the problematization of the issues involved in transcultural comparative analyses. The idea of seduction-not only as presented in the works, but also in terms of Don Juan's seduction of Western culture, will be central to our discussion. What does he have that keeps us coming back?
Writing requirement:
--2-3 short papers on specific works/interpretations
-- Mid-term exam: application of theoretical concepts to works studied thus far
--final paper: analysis of a work not discussed in class that is either an acknowledged reworking of the legend or a work the student deems representative of the myth in some way. The work chosen and the methodological approach employed are to be discussed with the instructor beforehand.
--final presentation: students will make a presentation of the work studied for the final paper and give a brief synopsis of their research to the class
Primary works to be studied (with more to follow, preferred editions and translations will be announced):
Tirso de Molina (attributed) El burlador de Sevilla (ca. 1619)
Molière, Dom Juan ou le festin de Pierre (1665)
Mozart and DaPonte,
Don Giovanni (1787)-because the opera is so fundamental to our work, it is suggested that students familiarize themselves with it by listening and watching at least one recorded performance (which instructor will facilitate) during the winter break.
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Political Leadership
Mondays & Wednesdays
2:45-4:00 p.m.
Room 412 West
Code 4852; 3 hours, 3 credits
Course Description
Leadership has been a focus in the study of politics since ancient times and remains a central theme across the social sciences. For all the attention, though, scholars differ over the importance of leaders and the role they play, with views that range from the "Great Man" conception of history to perspectives that reduce leaders to conduits of other forces and factors. Scholars have also disagreed about the significance of leadership styles, the relationship between leaders and their supporters, how important formal authority is to the exercise of leadership, and more. This course examines political leadership from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. We begin with classical views of leadership that mix analysis with prescription. Next we consider influential contemporary approaches to leadership, works that have framed how scholars in sociology, political science, and psychology conceptualize leadership and its impact. We will engage concepts such as charisma, opportunity structure, and "followership," as well as how leadership is influenced by gender, race and ethnicity, and culture. We then turn to leadership in specific empirical settings - leadership in different national contexts, crisis and wartime leadership, and grassroots leadership in social movements.
Readings
We will read two books and many articles/chapters over the course of the semester. The books are Nannerl O. Keohane, Thinking about Leadership (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2010) and Andrew J. Polsky, Elusive Victories: The American Presidency at War (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012). Relatively inexpensive used copies are available online.
Course Objectives
This course has both a substantive focus and skill development goals. The syllabus is designed to introduce you to influential analytical perspectives on political leadership that can illuminate broad historical patterns and contemporary trends. In substantive terms, at the end of the term you will know a good deal more about theories of political leadership, scholarly debates about the influence of political leaders, variations in leadership roles, influence, and expectations across political systems, how crises promote or constrain the exercise of agency by leaders, and how followers in participatory settings shape leadership. At the same time, this course aims to improve your critical thinking skills, understood here to mean your capacity to (1) grasp abstract concepts and theories, (2) appreciate how such concepts and theories can be translated into concrete empirical claims about leadership, and (3) grapple with the difficulty of using evidence to evaluate the validity of these claims.
Requirements
Written work for the course consists of two essay exams (each 25% of the course grade) and one research-based comparative review essay of 3600-4500 words (25%). In addition, students will be graded based on class participation (25%), which will reflect attendance, short response papers, and contributions to discussions.
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Greek Myths in the Arts
Mondays & Wednesdays
5:35-6:50 p.m.
Room 412 West
Code 4851; 3 hours, 3 credits
Painting, literature, music, film-all the arts-- have drawn deeply on the wellspring of Greek mythology-myths of Alcestis, Dionysus, Orpheus and Eurydice, Prometheus, and Electra. This course will examine in depth several Greek myths and show how and why Western artists throughout the ages have used and transformed them. Sometimes, the myth has been employed as a structuring device; at other times, as artistic embellishment. Often, a mythological parallel is suggested as an analogy or contrast to the world in which the artist lived. Among the works to be discussed are: Euripides' Bacchae, Electra, and Alcestis; Mann's Death in Venice; Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire; Boffa's You're an Animal, Viskovitz; Frisch's Homo Faber; Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound; Shelley's Frankenstein; Sartre's The Flies; Atwood's The Penelopiad; and T.S. Eliot's The Cocktail Party. Among the films viewed: Kazan's A Streetcar Named Desire, Marcel Camus' Black Orpheus, and the Coen Brothers' O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Three essays six pages in length are required.
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Interdisciplinary Independent Study
HONS 301.99
Section 01 - Code: 1538
3 hours, 3 credits
Hours to be arranged
Students wishing to take this course will need two readers, from different disciplines, one of whom generally should be a member of the Council on Honors. In principle, the Council must approve the subject matter of such a paper before the student can register for the course. This course may be taken only once and does not count towards the three Honors Colloquia required of every member of the Program.
HONS 301.99 cannot replace any of the three required Honors Colloquia.
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Advanced Interdisciplinary Study
HONS 491.51
Section 001 - Code: 1539
6 hours, 6 credits
Hours to be arranged
Upon completion of 90 credits, certified Honors Program students may be admitted by the Council on Honors to Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, with the opportunity of engaging in advanced independent study under the Council's supervision. A project for a thesis or other appropriate report of the results of the student's research is presented to the Council, which must approve it the semester previous to registration. Three sponsors, from at least two departments, one of whom must be a member of the Council on Honors, will supervise the work. The final product must be approved by all three sponsors and the Council.
HONS 491.51 cannot replace any of the three required Honors Colloquia.
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