Colloquia & Booklists

Professor Monica Calabritto (Romance Languages, Italian)
HONS 2011Y
Mondays and Thursdays; 1 pm - 2:15 pm
Room: 410HW
3 hours, 3 credits

This seminar will examine love in its dual nature: as a physical, erotic passion and as a spiritual, noble emotion. We will also investigate how love can give rise to violent passions—jealousy, possessiveness, cruelty, hatred, and physical harm, among others—in literary and historical accounts from the Middle Ages to the seventeenth century.

We will begin with Plato’s dialogue the Symposium, and the Treatise on Love by the Arab polymath Avicenna, who authored the Canon of Medicine, one of the most influential texts in the Islamic and European medical traditions until at least the seventeenth century. These two works exemplify the tension between the body and the soul, which is elaborated and expanded upon in the other texts we will read. In both works, the physiological and medical dimensions interact with the philosophical dimension. This interaction is replicated and amplified in Marsilio Ficino’s commentary on Plato’s Symposium, written in the fifteenth century and widely read by philosophers and writers alike. A selection of medical documents written between the early sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries will further illustrate the connection between philosophy, medicine, and literature in connection with the concept of early modern love. A selection of Italian, French, and English texts composed between the beginning of the fourteenth and the end of the seventeenth century will help us address, among others, the following questions:

• How are the tensions between body and soul on the one hand and erotic passion and spiritual emotion on the other elaborated in these texts?
• In which way did the Neo-Platonic fifteenth-century elaboration of Plato’s Symposium and Petrarch’s sonnets affect the love literature written between the sixteenth and the seventeenth century?
• Do genre and gender influence the way love is enacted in these works, and how?
• What insights can we gain about the cluster of negative and violent emotions linked to love in several literary texts we will explore?

What follows is the reading list:

1. Plato, Symposium
2. Avicenna, Treatise on Love (scanned copies will be provided)
3. Francesco Petrarca, Canzoniere (translated selections will be provided)
4. Marsilio Ficino, On Love, tr. and ed. Sears Jayne (Spring Publications, 1985)
5. Baldassarre Castiglione, The Courtier, tr. J. Singleton, ed. D. Javitch (New York; London: Norton & Company, 2002) (with special focus on book IV)
6. Michel de Montaigne, “On affectionate relationships,” in Essays (scanned copies of these essays will be provided)
7. Michelangelo, Rime (selections will be provided)
8. Louise Labé, Complete Poetry and Prose, ed. and tr. D. Lesko Baker (selections of the text will be provided)
9. Jacques Ferrand, A Treatise on Lovesickness (selections will be provided) and Girolamo Mercuriale, Consilia Medica (translated selections will be provided)
10. William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Folger Shakespeare Library
11. Madame de la Fayette, The Princess of Clèves, tr. Terence Cave (Oxford UP, 1992)

Professor Larry Shore (Film and Media Studies)
HONS 2012C
Mondays and Wednesdays; 5:30 pm - 6:45 pm
Room: 410HW
3 hours, 3 credits

This course will examine, from an interdisciplinary perspective, the events and forces that have shaped the history of South Africa and Southern Africa and America’s special relationship with South Africa.

We will compare the history of white supremacy– and the anti-racist struggles– in the United States and South Africa. Black-white relations have been central to the historical narratives of both countries.

The course will consider the history of the expansion of Dutch and British colonialism and eventual Afrikaner rule in South Africa culminating in the system of Apartheid and the opposition that it spawned. This will lead to an analysis of the dramatic transformation that took place in South Africa from February 1990 to April 1994– the negotiated end of Apartheid and the first democratic elections. We will also analyze the 30 years of South African democracy, the current situation, and possible future scenarios in South Africa and the region.

In general, South Africa provides a useful comparative case study for other countries that have made the transition from authoritarian rule to democracy. The course will also compare South Africa to other post-colonial African countries and South Africa's post-Apartheid role as a continental power. We will also analyze US policy towards the region and Africa as it competes with China for influence.

Grading for the class is based primarily on an in-class exam and a research paper.

Professor Jonathan Shannon (Anthropology)
HONS 2012M
Tuesdays and Thursdays; 4 pm - 5:15 pm
Room: 410HW
3 hours, 3 credits

“It is impossible to escape the impression that people commonly use false standards of measurement – that they seek power, success and wealth for themselves and admire them in others, and that they underestimate what is of true value in life.”

Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents.

What is “of true value” in life? What is the value of life, of a single life? How is the value of human life and of humanity socially constructed in particular political, economic, and cultural contexts? When one society honors athletes and movie stars more than factory laborers, does that mean people with fame, wealth and beauty are inherently more valuable? How do individuals create value and meaning in their lives in different contexts? Moreover, what is the meaning of life, and how does the answer to that question help us better to understand its value?

Drawing on multiple disciplines, from anthropology, political economy, and moral philosophy to literature and the creative arts, this seminar will deconstruct the historical definition of human value across a variety of cultures, from foragers to members of contemporary global capitalist societies. We will examine human value in terms of such themes as worth, utility, beauty, status, wealth, origin, and fulfillment via close engagement with texts, the arts, and mass media. We will engage such texts as Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions, Albert Camus’s The Stranger, Epictetus’s The Art of Living, and Peter Singer’s Ethics in the Real World. We will also engage with such films as Wolf of Wall Street, Crazy Rich Asians, and Blindspotting, among others.

The seminar will include a mixture of lectures, presentations, and critical discussions based on the analysis of texts and various artistic examples. In addition, an applied component of the course will challenge students to explore concepts of human value through artistic practices ranging from sketching and poetry to photography and multi-media projects. Practical sessions will include time for students to learn and engage with the technical tools used for expressing human value: pencil, pen, photography/videography, animation, video editing, and the like. No experience necessary! We are all artists and thinkers!

Students will be expected to write short response papers and assemble a dossier of creative work culminating in a final project and analytical essay. In the end, this seminar is meant to provoke deep thinking on the value – and meaning – of life from a broad variety of perspectives, including exploration of students’ own experiences of and engagement with the world. There are no finite answers to the questions, “What is of true value in life?”, “What is the value of (a) life?”, and What is the meaning of (a) life?” Together we will explore, debate, and confront them in sensitive yet bold, analytical yet creative ways.

Floor Grootenhuis, Artist in Residence (Biological Sciences)
HONS 3011X
Wednesdays; 11:30 am - 2:20 pm
Room: 410HW
3 hours, 3 credits

adrienne maree brown explains, existence is fractal—the health of the cell is the health of the species and the planet…emergence is a system that makes use of everything in the iterative process. It’s all data. The body is where and through which we experience, move and engage with the world. We can map ourselves, measure where we are and perceive our relationship to each other and our environment. All of this is valuable data for us to understand our place in the world. The body can be seen as a unique and diverse vessel that has been idealized, romanticized, collected, performed, objected and obsessed over.

Social practice // art, science and mapping the collective body brings together the creative connections between socially engaged art, science and geography. It combines the scientific method with the experience and knowledge of our own bodies as living organisms moving through the world and being in connection as one ecosystem. The course is grounded in an interdisciplinary pedagogical approach that comes from the premise that we are learning resources for each other. It will build on and respond to the curiosity of the class.

Through an emergent practice of experimentation the class will use the principles of scores in art, protocols in science and mapping exercises to research the relationships between identity, place and the collective body. The class will: practice listening through an embodied structured listening score and experiment with different methods of research; the scientific, the experiential, and the embodied. The class will work with scores/protocols - research tools in art, music, movement and science; develop your own research project and work together as a group to present a social practice collaborative score/protocol.

There are no pre- and/or co-requisites and/or other special conditions for this course. Participation is 20% of class assessment, personal reflections readings and class material is 10%, a one page essay on identity for 5%, a body map 5%, a creative project on Our Collective Fabric // the Microbiome10%, a personal research protocol/score for 20%, group work protocol/score for 15%, and a final paper for 15%.

A core part of this class is building community. We will learn how to listen to each other and share our curiosity related to our personal and collective relationship to identity and place. We will bring the inside space of our bodies in connection to the outside spaces that we live in and with. The emergent characteristic of this class allows for flexibility to adjust and bring in topics and questions from the class that are important to the group. This specific content and readings may change, however the basic structure and grading rubric stands.

Key Readings

• Brown, A. (2017). Emergent strategy. AK Press (pdf available)
• Buzzarté Monique Bickley T. & Oliveros P. (2012). Anthology of essays on deep listening. Deep Listening Publications.
• Giraldo O, Garcia A, Corcho O. (2018). A guideline for reporting experimental protocols in life sciences. PeerJ.
• Ono Yōko. (2000). Grapefruit : a book of instructions drawings. Simon & Schuster.
• Overlie, M. (2016). Standing in Space: The Six Viewpoints Theory & Practice. Movement Publishing
• Rees T. Bosch T. & Douglas A. E. (2018). How the microbiome challenges our concept of self. Plos Biology.

Christian González-Rivera (Brookdale Center for Healthy Aging)
Includes Guest Speakers
HONS 3012B
Mondays and Thursdays; 11:30 am - 12:45 pm
Room: 409HW
3 hours, 3 credits

People are living longer than ever, and yet our policies, workplaces, and cultural attitudes haven’t caught up. What does it mean to grow older in a society that still operates as if aging is a problem to be solved rather than an opportunity to be embraced? In this course, we will explore the aging process—not just the challenges faced by the “elderly” but the lifelong dynamics of aging—through the lenses of policy, social equity, and the economy. We will examine how global cultural attitudes and diverse policy contexts shape the way people experience later life, and how those systems might be transformed.

We’ll discuss topics such as the dynamics of employment throughout your life, retirement, healthcare, housing, and caregiving while critically analyzing ageism—its origins, its impact on daily life and policy decisions, and the potential for a more inclusive political and economic future. This course invites you to think about aging as a process that touches all our lives, making the issues immediately relevant whether or not you grew up with a grandparent, are already involved in caregiving, or simply thinking about your own future.

Throughout the course, students will engage in weekly discussions, generate their own questions about the readings, and build conversations with their peers. Rather than simply absorbing knowledge, you’ll be an active participant in creating it. By the end of the semester, you should have a deeper understanding of the role aging plays in shaping the economy, social structures, and public policy—and plenty of practice in how to think critically about solutions that support people at every stage of life.

Rather than the typical seminar format of lectures and exams, this course is a sustained conversation with me and with your peers. I designed the work of the course, which includes weekly readings, written responses, a letter to one of the authors you will be reading, a mock conference, and a final paper, to give you a hands-on experience that shows you how these issues mater to people of any age.

Through this work you will see how long-standing inequities and contested ideas about aging shape our future, our communities, and your own path forward.

Assessment Breakdown:

• Discussion Assignments: 40%
• Letter to an Author: 25%
• Panel Presentation: 15%
• Final Paper: 20%

Professor Linda Alcoff (Philosophy)
Includes Guest Speakers
HONS 30138
Mondays and Thursdays; 2:30 pm - 3:45 pm
Room: 409HW
3 hours, 3 credits

Latin America's rich tradition of essay writing, philosophical debate, and cultural criticism spanning several hundred years is sometimes referred to as pensamiento, or 'thought,' to mark it as a broader domain of public discourse than that which occurs only within academic institutions. The Cuban José Martí, for example, one of the greatest thinkers of Latin America, wrote much of his writings for journals and newspapers. The Argentinian Faustino Sarmiento wrote his most influential work in a form that is part memoir, part travel writing. The founding conceptualization of human rights that emerged from the discussion between the Spanish priests Las Casas and Sepúlveda was developed in the form of theological debate in the royal court. The Incan Garcilaso de la Vega's critical commentary on the Conquest takes the form of a historical account. The world-renowned Chilean Pablo Neruda used the poetic form to convey the values of the Conquest, and the historical uniqueness of the peoples and cultures it helped to produce through transculturation. And Peruvian theorist José Carlos Mariátegui developed his ideas through a sociological analysis of how to make radical social change in Peru. Each one of these thinkers, whether through literature or philosophical analysis, has contributed to a body of knowledge that constitutes a philosophical outlook on the history and culture of the region that is crucial for an understanding of present-day Latin America. The object of this course, then, is to explore the way in which questions of colonialism, politics, economics, human rights, and mixed identity have been dealt with across disciplines and genres. And as such, many of the texts we will read operate simultaneously as philosophy, as essays, and as literature. The goal is to help students learn to read the texts through multiple frames of analysis.

This course will give students an appreciation of the complexity and history of Latinx and Latin American intellectual culture; provide examples of good interdisciplinary work; teach students how to understand and assess primary texts using a number of diverse criteria; and most importantly, engage students in exploration and active debate over the topics of the readings, from cultural autonomy to identity to the nature of modernity.

There will be several short in-class writing assignments, student presentations, and exams.

In-class writing assignments: 40%; Student presentations: 20%; Exams: 40%.