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Thinking About the Symbolic World
USSY 203 - Myth, Ritual & Society in the Ancient World
This course introduces students to Greek, Roman and some near Eastern myth as well as issues of interpreting these stories. The focus will be on myth as a concomitant feature of religious ritual. What do myths and rituals tell us about society that generated it? What were its values, its collective memories, and how do they compare to ours?
USSY 204 - System Thinking
This is a seminar course in which students critically examine the way that language is used to model and analyze the social world and its organizations. System thinking is used by business leaders, economists, policy analysts and planners to represent the socio-economic world so that they can manage it. During the seminar, students will read and discuss key works that lay the foundations of system thinking and will apply system thinking techniques to a socio-economic situation of interest to them. The emphasis will be on questioning the premises of system thinking, surfacing its strengths and weaknesses, and grappling with its ethical implications. Some key ideas related to system thinking that will be explored include: information theory, cybernetics, system modeling, language, meta language, modeling and intervention in social systems.
USSY 205 - Religious and Ethical Bodies
Religion, ethics, philosophy, law, government, medicine, psychology, nutrition, athletics, fashion, the media, film, music, corporations, and the military are just a few of the areas of discourse that have specific things to say about what we should or should not do with our bodies and how our bodies should be conceptualized. It is difficult to imagine any human activity or field of endeavor that does not also implicate the body and embodiment.
This course focuses on religious and ethical views of the body and embodiment. Among the questions we explore are: Does a particular tradition value or devalue the body? What role does the body play in the actualization of religious and ethical values? How is the body conceived, symbolized, represented, and otherwise disciplined through religious and ethical discourse? We also consider representations of the body in contemporary popular culture and the values these images engender.
This seminar explores these issues through a combination of reading, writing, discussion, research, and oral presentations. The final four weeks of this course will be used for presentation of student research. Besides oral presentations of research findings and analysis, students will be responsible for assigning course readings in conjunction with their research areas and presentations.
USSY 211 - Beethoven and the Age of Revolution
Beethoven's music is symbolic of the age and spirit of change which reached its zenith with the French Revolution. Fueled by political, social, and emotional reactions, his oeuvre was remarkable in every way. From the early works, imitative of Haydn and Mozart, through his truly unique later compositions, Beethoven was revolutionary in his person and in his music. The course will center around specific Beethoven masterworks which are being presented by University Circle institutions, and student attendance at these concerts will be required.* Class sessions will involve discussions concerning the historical and cultural setting, influences, and analytic investigation into these masterworks. Readings will be taken from Joseph Kerman and Alan Tyson (The New Grove Beethoven), Frida Knight (Beethoven and the Age of Revolution), and George Marek (Beethoven; Biography of a Genius). This course is directed towards the general university student, and no specialized knowledge of music is necessary, although certain rudimentary aspects of musical discourse will be covered.
USSY 219 - Everyone's a Critic
A practical, reading- and writing-intensive course requiring attendance at local theater productions, films, art exhibitions, classical music concerts, and dance events. Some events will take place off-campus on weekends or evenings. Transportation and tickets will be provided if necessary. Using these events and published materials as fodder for discussion and analysis, students will develop appreciation skills and refine their ability, write and converse critically, accurately, concisely and insightfully about the arts. Writing projects will include short weekly reviews and one longer research paper.
USSY 222 - Writing Rock and Roll: From the Critical to the Ethnographic
To write about music is finally an act of translation. When one writes about music, s/he attempts to bring a thing conceived in one symbolic world into another. The task is neither simple nor straightforward. As one musician, fed up with the critics who put pen to paper in the effort to capture his music, put it: "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture." And for a moment, this musician's point might seem apt. The experience of music, often intense, is arguably "beyond words." Why try to tame it by putting it in the cage of language? This course considers the pitfalls and the possibilities of the symbolic translation that is at the heart of writing about music. Focusing on the writings associated with rock and roll culture (1954-2005), the class will consider the multiplicity of approaches and styles used to capture music.
USSY 227 - Travel Writing on Screen
Through the image of the traveler in a wide range of films, we will examine such issues as border crossing, culture shock, and the nature of memory. Topics include: The Grand Tour, pilgrimage, exile, and imaginary journeys. A group presentation, 5 short-reaction papers, and a take-home final essay are required.
USSY 228 - Women in Outer Space
We will study the history of women astronauts and the representation of women as aliens and astronauts in popular culture. We will see films such as Alien, Apollo 13, and Contact, and will also read two novels. Film and women's studies theory and criticism will be used to examine the texts.
USSY 229 - Art Mirrors Art
At the beginning of the Renaissance, about the year 1400, an important new theme arose in painting, sculpture and printmaking--the theme of art about art. At a time when the status of artists in society was rising, new subjects began to appear in western European art that depicted both the artist and the process of making art. Self portraits of artists, depictions of Saint Luke painting the Virgin Mary, images of women as artists and muses, classical and mythological stories of art making (Pygmalion and Galatea, Apelles painting the mistress of Alexander the Great), depictions of painting and sculpture studios and of art academies and instruction, scenes of art galleries and collections, still lifes about art, all reflected this new cultural interest in art as a topic in itself. This seminar will look at individual works of art and subject types to understand what they tell us about the role of the arts and the changing status of the artist in the Renaissance and early modern period, up to the eve of the French Revolution, about 1789. The works we study will thus be understood as symbolic indicators of social status and ideas about what art meant to European society.
USSY 230 - Sexualities, Citizenship, Social Action
This course will explore themes in both the symbolic and cultural domains. While sexuality and citizenship, in reality and in academic discourse, cuts across the areas, this course will consider methods and concepts (see syllabus for details) in the human sciences and humanities. In the humanities, students will learn fundamental ideas in the philosophy of social science. They will be taught how to recognize, in social theory(s) and theorizing, underlying arguments: ontological, epistemological, and methodological. It is not our purpose to add these ideas to our conceptual language within a discipline or to a specific topic; we will explore how they can be applied to other areas of learning and practice. They will then be applied to a current and highly controversial aspect of academic and political practice: to explore the relationship between sexuality and citizenship.
USSY 235 - Towards a New Museum
How do you know a museum when you see one? How has our idea of a museum evolved, and where is it going? How do we go from mummies to multimedia? Museums are more popular than ever and include some of today's most exciting architectural designs. Explore the changing nature of museums as buildings, institutions, and cultural symbols. Uncover controversies in the museum community. Are museums sacred spaces or edutainment--or both? How does the architecture reflect what they are and who built them. Active discussion, critical thinking, local field trips, guests from local museums, and thoughtful writing are essential parts of this seminar.
USSY 237 - Transformation of the American South
The purpose of the course is to increase the student's understanding of the remarkable transformation of the American South from an isolated regional backwater committed to racial segregation to a vibrant, complex, rapidly growing, diverse biracial society that has rejoined the national mainstream. In fact, a quick look at where our national political leaders have come from recently--President Bill Clinton of Arkansas and President George W. Bush of Texas, to name the two most prominent examples--indicates how central the South has become to the nation. We will explore all aspects of the transformation of Dixie during our course. Central to the story will be political change, although, of course, politics cannot be easily isolated from social and economic life. Thus, it was a grassroots social development--the Civil Rights Movement--that gave important impetus to the key political changes that occurred in the mid-1960s and beyond, as we shall see.
USSY 241 - Birth of the Modern: 1905-1925
"The Birth of the Modern: 1905-1925" will attempt to answer the question "What is the modern?" by exploring some of the breakthrough works of literature, music, art, and scientific theory in the first decades of the twentieth century. We will study what characterizes the new modes of thinking or "language" of modernity, developed in experimental work across the arts, the sciences, and the social sciences. We will be examining some of the major manifestos of and statements about the nature of Modernism in order to see how they illuminate, for example, a novel by James Joyce or a painting by Picasso, a composition by Stravinsky, a scientific theory of Einstein's, or a psychological theory of Freud's. At the conclusion of the seminar, students will present their findings and write a research paper about "the modern" as it relates to a field of particular interest to them.
USSY 246 - How to Make a Leader
Leaders are both born and made. Some seem to naturally know what to do and some need to study and practice to gain the necessary skills. Both groups can be successful and it usually requires a combination of natural ability and effort to become the very best. Leaders often point to role models as being important to the development of "natural" or acquired ability. This course is appropriate for both those who are intellectually curious about leadership. The course will be divided into three sections. The first part will involve reading and discussions to explore and identify what leaders are like and what they do. During the second part you will observe leaders in action and talk to them about what they think makes them successful. Some examples of what you may observe will include a surgeon in the operating room (theater), a coach with his/her players, an executive in the board room, a concertmaster with his/her musicians and a judge in a courtroom. The third part of the course will involve readings and discussions during which you will develop a personal approach to the level of leadership to which you aspire.
USSY 254 - Nonverbal Communication
Our purpose is to explore the nature of nonverbal communications and analysis in several different contexts. Because nonverbal communication is so closely related to emotional processes, we will also become acquainted with basic ideas surrounding communication and emotion. Within this framework, we will discuss and apply a variety of theoretical approaches to understanding this channel of human communication. Upon completion of this course, students will have a better understanding of decoding and encoding nonverbal messages. Additionally, the student will have a thorough understanding of the functions of nonverbal communication in social and rhetorical life.
USSY 255 - Holiday Celebrations
Why do Americans exchange gifts on Christmas and Chanukah? Who made Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a national holiday? Why are wedding dresses white? How did Earth Day become a nation-wide celebration? This course addresses these questions and more by examining the meanings of holiday rituals and symbols. Holiday celebrations play an important role in reinforcing, and sometimes redefining, our values as a society. Rituals we attach to important days help define and maintain a moral order as well as build family bonds, encourage community interactions, and create national identity. But holiday rituals are also connected to the exertion of power and struggles between various social groups. The people who define the meaning of holiday rituals and symbols also define the meaning of family, country, and religion. In this way, culture and society are intimately linked. The readings, discussions, and writing assignments in this course will encourage us to recognize how our own holiday celebrations shape the way we understand ourselves and the world around us.
USSY 256 - Violence and Identity
When people ask you to tell them "a little bit about yourself," do you tell them where you are from? Or what you like and dislike? What do they mean by and what do you understand as your "self"? Conceptions of self change in different contexts, seeming more or less embodied, more or less manipulable. One need only look at the "War on Terror" to see the deep relationship between violence and identity. By exploring historical and cultural constructions of violence, the processes by which identities are created and maintained come to light. Starting from the assumption that cultural positions are always multiply defined, this course will look at contemporary film and print media in conjunction with Renaissance texts, such as Marlowe, Malory, and Shakespeare to try and understand how these texts both create identities for their characters and impact our own understandings of ourselves.
USSY 257 - Women and Folklore in the Bible
From Ishtar to Esther, the Virgin Mary to Mary Madalene, we will examine women in biblical text to determine how these texts came to be, and how their traditional interpretation has shaped images of, and attitudes toward, women in western civilization. Following this line of inquiry, we will examine key distinctions between traditional and academic sense-making strategies to account for differences between traditional and modern visions of womanhood.
USSY 258 - What is a Soul?
Soul food. Soul music. Soulless. No-soul. Over-soul. Who will save your soul? WHAT IS SOUL? Do some people have it while others don't? Do some things (a song, a chicken wing) have it while others don't? Can it be lost? Found? Does it live beyond the body, the grave? In this seminar, we will explore the cultural history of soul. Cultural history is the history of meaning. So we will be exploring the different meanings of soul in different cultural contexts, from the teachings of Moses, Jesus, and the Buddha to the music of Sam Cooke, Zap Mama, and the Black Eyed Peas, from the church to the kitchen to the hospital bed. Co-led by a professor of medicine and a professor of religion, we will be especially interested in how people understand illness and death in relation to ideas about the soul. How do different concepts of soul figure into the ways people make sense of their sickness and mortality? Course requirements include class preparation and participation, weekly short papers, discussion leadership in one seminar session, and a final essay. Three field trips (to the Rock Hall, the VA Hospital, and a good soul food joint) will be scheduled.
USSY 260 - Divisiveness or Dialogue
Students in this seminar will explore how the language and images that shape our national discourse contribute to the increasing polarization of American society. What techniques do partisan media manipulators, including politicians, political pundits, bloggers, documentary film makers and televangelists use to shape the perceptions of their audience to reflect an "us vs. them," "good vs. evil" worldview? Students will also learn how individuals like Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy used language and imagery to draw us together, and we will explore and practice the use of dialogue as a method of non-polarizing communication in discussions of contemporary issues. The primary reading will be "The Argument Culture," by Deborah Tannen, a well-known linguist, and this will be supplemented with articles on dialogue and social psychology. In addition to these readings, the class will view samplings of recent documentaries, political speeches, print and television punditry. Students will be asked to write several papers designed to help them identify polarizing language and see through its manipulation.
USSY 261 - Artists' Statements
Do you listen to Hip Hop or Christian Rock? Do you read Sci Fi or Zines? Do you watch Southpark or Family Guy? Both popular culture and the "high arts" help us to describe, interpret, and critique our society. In this course, we'll explore how artists working in various media have expressed their feelings and beliefs about contemporary issues, and how their work has helped their audiences to reshape their own understandings of their lives and their societies in the shifting context of the United States from the late 19th century to the present. As we read, view, and listen to such works as the fiction of Richard Wright and Octavia Butler, the photography of Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange, the drama of Tony Kushner and Eve Ensler, and the music of Woody Guthrie, Aretha Franklin, Ice-T, and Pillar, we'll discuss and write about how the arts help us to interpret the world around us emotionally and intellectually.
USSY 262 - What's Going On: Marvin Gaye
In this course, students will discover how social forces, pop culture, and a singularly talented individual converged at the perfect point in American life to produce enduring art. We will begin with an overview of U.S. history that coincided with the rise and height of Marvin Gaye's career. Next, we will look at the twin influences of black religious traditions and secular pop music to understand the dual forces that drove both Marvin Gaye's personality and his music. In a series of writing assignments, students will reflect on the power of music in their lives and in others', and examine how social themes--justice, racism, sexual identity and religion--mixed with artistic freedom to produce Gaye's catalog of songs. They will also contemplate the impact of Gaye's work on contemporary recording artists. One or two field trips are a possibility, including a visit to hear a Pentecostal church service in Cleveland. Guest speakers may include representatives from Motown and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, as well as contemporary musicians who are replicating Gaye's music.
USSY 264 - Censorship and Iconoclasm
How are new symbols created out of the ashes of the old? In this seminar we explore the history and interpretation of the destruction of images. We will consider several diverse world historical case studies: from Byzantium and the Reformation to Islamic art, the Modernist avant gardes, and attacks against monuments during the fall of the Soviet and apartheid ideologies in Russia and South Africa. We will read classic theoretical texts on the question of iconoclasm, and examine the connections between a number of categories of the "Image" that often share symbolic destruction as one of their important aspects: propaganda, pornography, avant-gard art, and censorship. We will also explore how destruction is integral to the creation of new symbols, new ideas, and new ideologies. This seminar is reading-and writing-intensive. It is a student-led reading group whose object is to understand the symbolic life of destructive acts and the destructive life of symbolism. Individual students will be responsible for introducing readings and initiating class discussion several times during the semester.
USSY 265 - Nature Writing
From the Galapagos to the Arctic, from the Laguna Pueblo to the barrier islands of Mississippi, the course explores the territory of "nature writing." We'll read Aldo Leopold's account of life in a Wisconsin "sand county," a short book nicknamed "the environmentalist's Bible." With Barry Lopez as our guide and interpreter, we'll imagine visiting the frozen tundra. In a memoir of life with the artist and nature writer Walter Anderson, we'll ponder the limits of passion and sacrifice. Through reading a poetic novel by Leslie Marmon Silko, we'll experience an unforgettable vision of a journey toward salvation and harmony. Additional readings include essays, poems, and other short works, plus a survey of commentary from interdisciplinary fields like environmental ethics; ecocriticism; feminism; and biography. We'll visit Cleveland nature centers and museums, and we'll hope to have a few guest speakers. After several short assignments (both written and oral), each student's individually designed research project will recommend a specific means of integrating nature writing into the activities of a local organization or school.
USSY 266 - Writing Difference
How does one attempt to understand people who seem radically different from oneself? This is a question that fiction writers and anthropologists grapple with in different ways. In this course, we will examine how difference is performed in a variety of texts ranging from ethnographic studies to science fiction. By juxtaposing fiction with ethnography, we will examine the claims that different texts make to represent reality and the "Other." We will also explore how these claims are linked to writing styles.
USSY 267 - Medieval Love Songs
In the high and late Middle Ages (c1100-c1450), love songs accounted for much of the poetry and music composed at the secular courts and urban centers of Europe. At the same time, spiritual love songs were an important element of medieval Christian theology and worship. What may surprise a modern audience is that the worldly love songs were often intensely spiritual, while the religious ones were often highly sensual and erotic. This seminar investigates the convergence of worldly and spiritual elements in the poetry and music of medieval love songs. Students will learn basic tools for analyzing medieval poetry and music, and through such analysis, coupled with discussion of readings from the scholarly literature, they will explore the provocative interactions between literal and allegorical, sacred and profane, and ascetic and erotic elements in medieval culture. Primary texts will be drawn from Bernard of Clairvaux's commentaries on the Song of Songs, the courtly lyrics and melodies of the troubadours and trouveres, and the lyric poetry of Dante, Pertrach, and Boccaccio. No prior musical training required.
USSY 268 - The Language of Images
Discussions of the relationship between texts and images embody some of the most important issues facing any culture of any time period, such as race, class, and gender. This seminar will provide its participants with a critical awareness of the complex and ever-evolving interaction between texts and images in literature, history, and the popular media. By comparing two time periods in which new visual technologies were developing and remaking the practices of everyday life--the decades before and after 1900 and 2000--we will examine the relationships between texts and images from a historical and theoretical perspective, while emphasizing the illuminating or destabilizing effects of this interaction for the reader/viewer. We will analyze periodicals, novels, and films from these time periods in particular, each of which contains text that incorporates visual images or visual images that incorporate text. One result of this seminar will be a student developed and designed website with resources on text/image relationships available to the larger academic community.
USSY 269 - The Symbolism of Evil
The tapestry of history is replete with the irrational, complex, and hidden motives, genius, madness, deeds of religious inspiration, frenzy, and devotion. From the Slaughter of the Innocents, to the Crusades, to the rise of the Third Reich, we know evil from violence and destruction, from insidious and malicious acts, from immoral choices and the sting of conscience. But is evil what one intends to do, or is evil what happens when we remain ignorant, apathetic, unconcerned, or just follow orders? Do we define evil according to religious inspiration or by what frightens us? Tribal religions often conceive of evil as taboo, pollution, and dangerous magic. Religion in the Western tradition has alternately defined evil as the breaking of covenants, straying from the path of God, sinful acts, and malicious thoughts. Kierkegaard experienced evil as the experience of dread at one's finiteness and nothingness. This course will attempt to understand evil as the symbolization of human fear, rage, shame, and suffering. Readings will bridge anthropology, psychology, sociology, and history to delve into the nature of the human encounter and imagination of evil.
USSY 270 - The Scientific Mind
We often use the phrase "think like a scientist." What does it mean to think like a mathematician? A physicist? A psychologist? This course will explore how scientists actually think by studying writings of scientists of various types. We will read several biographies, but our focus will be on how individuals develop groundbreaking ideas and how they test and market those ideas. We will consider how an Einstein or Hawking must visualize the world to do theoretical physics, how creativity is similar across disciplines, the abilities of mathematical savants, and how gender influences the scientific mind. Readings will include Freud's views of the mind, Euler's ideas on the purity of numbers, Summers' articles stating that women can't compete in science, as well as newspaper articles related to recent inventions such as the Segway or Google's innovative practices. Student input and interests will predict the specific direction of the seminar, as targeted areas of scientific exploration will be dependent upon the interests and areas of students in the class. Students will leave the class with an idea of the effort, unconventional actions, and creativity typical of the scientific mind.
USSY 271 - American Wilderness
The idea of wilderness has been crucial to American identity and imagination since the first European discoveries of a "New World." This course takes a broad, interdisciplinary approach to American understandings and representations of natural space, investigating how they have been entangled with other cultural forces, how they have changed over time, and with what implications. We will consider questions of land policy, including debates over the preservation and exploitation of "empty" spaces, but we will also be concerned with the status of people on the land, including both indigenous and immigrant populations. We will be particularly interested in how ideas about "natural" spaces inform our ideas about human nature and vice versa. What is the relationship between the wilderness without and the wilderness within? How do our views of wilderness influence our aesthetics, politics, social systems? The class will consider wilderness in a variety of representations (including literature, film, and the visual arts), and from a number of theoretical and critical approaches (including philosophy, history, anthropology, economics, and biology).
USSY 272 - Revolution and Cultural Change
This seminar focuses on the dynamics of revolutions since the 17th century and the efforts by revolutionaries to alter their cultures and societies. Through focusing on selected facets of revolutionary periods in England, France, Russia, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Iran, we will examine the following themes: ideologies of revolution, class and conflict, gender roles in revolutionary cultures, the impact of modernity, and the cultures, representations and mythologies of revolution.
USSY 273 - Intellectual Property
We take it for granted that our cars and camels are our "property" but what about intangible objects like poems or songs on CDs? In this seminar we will examine the development of this relatively recent form of property through the lens of piracy. We will begin with piracy on the high seas. Through analysis of historical, literary, and cinematic representations of piratical activity in the early modern era we will develop a critical methodology to aid us when we turn our attention to the newer "intellectual" property. Intellectual property is rapidly becoming the linchpin of the burgeoning global "information economy," and the U.S. is among its staunchest and most powerful enforcers. Yet only a century ago the U.S. was itself a pirate nation. After examining this piratical moment in the history of intellectual property we will turn for comparison to a selection of present-day transgressions--from peer-to-peer file sharing, to Asian software and CD/DVD bootlegging, and South American patent busting. Our aim will be to develop an informed position in the current public debate about the legitimacy and limits of private ownership of ideas in our globalizing information economy.
USSY 274 - Beauty, Pleasure and the Arts
This course will explore human responses to beauty in a wide range of artistic works of literature, music and painting. How do the arts give us pleasure? What do we learn from them that is of a non-trivial and moralistic nature? What, given the inherent constraints on human creativity imposed by human cognitive abilities, are the unique artistic conventions that contribute to experiencing a work of art as 'beautiful'? What are artistic creativity, talent and appreciation? Despite its subject matter, this is not a course on philosophical aesthetics, although selected readings will be informed by the thoughts of some of the great thinkers in the field. Instead, we will use selected findings from cognitive science and evolutionary biology to explore topics such as: facial asymmetry and the judgment of beauty in portraits, the relationship between beauty and the experience of color, emotional reactions to film and the imagined, autism and creativity, among others.
USSY 275 - Colors, Capes, and Characters
The history of the comic book is a vital site for critical questions about intersections of art and popular culture in America. In this course we will not simply read "funny books", but will examine a genre that is as unique as its many colorful protagonists: from Popeye to Superman, Wonder Woman to the X-men, comics have given us larger-than-life characters who are often caricatures of dominant (and sometimes subversive) American ideologies. We will learn not only the history of this unique genre, but will interrogate what it means to truly read comics artistically, politically, culturally, and symbolically. At heart, reading comics in an exercise in interpretation: given visual symbols, what meanings can we take from them? What can comics tell us? And how can we write about them in intelligent, critical ways? In this course we will learn to approach comics through critical thinking strategies; the is, questioning what they are, what they say, and where they come from.
USSY 276 - Music and Meaning
Musical phenomena include all sorts of practices by which human beings individually or collectively produce coordinated sounds that are tonal--hence possibly melodic--and rhythmic. All known cultures have times and places when and where musical events unfold. These events make sense on many levels of social life: religious cults, military parades and signaling, information broadcasting, cinema, public or domestic acts and celebrations, etc. Music creates social feelings, and also influences the embodied individual mind, its moods, emotions, passions, forms of attention and awareness. In itself, as 'discipline' and art form, it generates schools and both instrumental and formal forms of learning, techniques, technologies, and discourse. The field of study covers a large span of interests from the phenomenological to the neurological aspects of musical cognition. In the seminar, we will read selected research papers from this extensive field, and we will analyze a variety of music types and 'pieces' of music--folk music, jazz performances, themes and principles of playing, as well as academic, written music forms.
Thinking About the Social World
USSO 201 - Society and Technology: How Do They Impact One Another?
This course focuses on a systematic analysis of the relationships between society, and the specific institutional elements of technology and technological innovation. It describes the social aspects of computers and related technologies and explores the ways in which these technologies influence and impact organizations and individuals. The course explores the design, use and cultural significance of technologies and uses a historical focus to assess the integration of technology into all aspects of our society. The restructuring of traditional human interaction by information technology will provide a contemporary focus for the course. Offered in a seminar format, the course will provide opportunities for scholarly discussion systematic inquiry and written communication.
USSO 205 - Human Struggle through the Lens of Sport
This seminar explores, through the medium of sport literature, the interaction of sport, society, and self. Students will examine the social and psychological effects on participants, consumers, and society of sport through the study of fiction, research studies, essays, and poetry having a sport motif. Topics include racism, and sexism (valuing diversity), love (cooperating), death (losing), transformation (aging), and achievement (winning).
USSO 212 - Sport and American Culture in the Twentieth Century
This seminar will examine the role of athletics in U.S. society throughout the century, examining in particular its influence on issues of race and gender as well as the religious and mythic aspects of sport. The focus will be on the grasp athletics has, at all levels, on our collective psyche, and as such the influence it wields on vast realms of U.S. society. The tendency in popular press is to cast sports in absolute terms. It is evil: look at the millions spent on professional players and sports complexes, unrelenting wagering and the corruption of college athletics through the near-endless accounts of recruiting violations, under-the-table booster payments and fudged test scores. Or it is noble: consider the Olympic ideal, the pursuit of excellence for its own sake, the power athletes have to inspire spectators and play a key role in influencing public attitudes about everything from race (Jackie Robinson) to gender (Billie Jean King). The following topics will be explored through readings, movies, guest speakers, and writing assignments based on controversial issues within each topic: Sport and Race, Sport and Gender, Sport and Community, Sport and Celebrity, Sport and the Individual, Sport and the Academy.
USSO 213 - Accountability and Governance in Corporation
Who is minding the store for the shareholders/owners? Why do CEOs get paid so much? How did corporate scandals such as Enron, WorldCom, and Tyco occur? This seminar focuses on issues of accountability and governance in the modern corporation. While the main emphasis is on the business corporation, the relevance of these concepts to not-for-profit corporations and government agencies will also be addressed. Much of the economic wealth of the modern society is generated by corporations. To understand the role of the corporation in society, it is important to gain an insight into the mechanics of corporate governance, both in theory and in practice. As such, what these entities do and how they are held accountable is at the heart of the social contract that binds the citizens together in a democracy. This seminar uses readings, cases, independent inquiry, role playing, guest lecturers, and discussions to allow students to develop an understanding of the challenges of accountability and governance.
USSO 217 - Ethics: An Interdisciplinary Introduction to Truth and Trust
What is trust? Whom/what should we trust? Is it morally acceptable to trust in someone's stupidity or cowardice? What are the criteria for being a trustworthy friend or parent? What is entrusted to professionals of various types? What is a lie? Is there a moral difference between types of lies? What factors are relevant to deciding when, if ever, lying is justified? What does lying do to the liar? What is the effect on the person who is deceived? What does lying do to trust within a culture? This course introduces students to classical and contemporary methods of ethical reflection and reasoning from several disciplines, including philosophy. The goal of the course is to enhance students' understanding of ethical concepts and moral reasoning, to prepare them for a life-time of ethical reflection, discussion, and problem-solving, as well as for more advanced study in the disciplines introduced. We will examine issues of truth, honesty, trust, trustworthiness, and responsibility in contemporary public, private, and professional life. Discussion, active learning methods, and short written assignments and oral reports are the principal methods of learning used.
USSO 224 - Women as Ordinary and Extraordinary Leaders
This seminar will explore the lives of women who are leaders or who influence culture in everyday life and/or in public life, today and across past centuries. Characteristics of women and their environment that contribute to the development of leadership and/or influence on society will be explored and analyzed along with the barriers to leadership. Themes exhibited across various types of women leaders or women of influence will also be identified. Guest speakers of local leadership and/or influence who have expertise in identified areas of interest will also be utilized.
USSO 228 - Our Plastic World
If one were to look around the general store of 1900, few man-made "synthetic" items would be evident. One hundred years later, the shelves of any Wal-Mart would be filled with plastic items, plastic packaging, and clothing produced from synthetic fibers. Questions that might be posed include: 1) How did this change happen? 2) How are the historical events of the 20th century and the development of the U.S. chemicals/plastics industry interconnected? 3) What are the societal benefits and costs of this change? 4) What can we learn from the past 100 years, and how can we use these insights going forward into the coming century? These issues will be discussed at length.
USSO 230 - Leadership and the Global Agenda
The pervasive media climate of the 21st century has put the challenges of world in front of all of us: four billion of the world's people are living on less than $2.00 a day, whole continents are under siege by pandemics of the HIV/AIDS virus, and instances of man's inhumanity to man are daily headline news. The earth itself is weakened by emissions in the atmosphere, toxins in the rivers and oceans, and soil that is so thin and exhausted that the food it produces is a fraction of what it once was. In this seminar, students will develop an executive view of the state of the world, build skills in "Appreciative Inquiry," for conducting action research into the best practices of organizations, and develop a global consciousness, not only about the common issues experienced by peoples the world over, but also about a larger set of global values.
USSO 231 - Evolution as Metaphor and Model
Evolution will be used to examine biological, historical, and social issues associated with health, illness and aging. In this overview course, evolution is a paradigm that is used to understand how systems change over time. The readings and discussions will identify universal processes and patterns in order to understand the effect of disease on history and explain how and why humans remain vulnerable to aging.
USSO 232 - Economic Challenges
This course examines economic challenges from a wide array of perspectives including philosophical, historical, psychological and practical. This course provides an avenue for a non-analytical yet economic and intellectual discourse on some of the most challenging present day economic issues, such as welfare reform, technological progress, changes in privacy norms, globalization, efficiency and the role of religion. We will explore these challenges through diverse readings from both classic economic thinkers such as Marx and Smith and modern academic scholars and journalists; analyzing the validity of their views for timely issues such as environmental questions, minimum wage laws, redistribution and educational policies. The seminar style in-depth discussions and flexible reading and project choices will provide students with an opportunity to examine and share knowledge related to their particular interests. We will also regularly discuss topical news items related to the class themes.
USSO 233 - Equity/Quality in Public Education
Public schools are regularly excoriated at the hands of the press, politicians, taxpayers, parents, employers, and just about every other segment of the general public. Yet our system of public education has long been regarded as the gateway to the American Dream and is (arguably) what has made our country (arguably) great. What is the status and future of this original American institution? The stakes are high: nothing less than the future of 90% of our country's children, the fabric of our society and the strength of our nation. This seminar will explore current challenges facing public schools, such as resegregation, the impact of high-stakes testing, the "achievement gap," and the political, moral, legal, and public policy issues surrounding the quest for equity and adequacy in funding and programming. We will discuss various visions for reform including pedagogical and legislative "solutions." Our discussions will be informed by some historical and authoritative sources, but we will also give attention to continuously unfolding local and national events.
USSO 234 - Questions of Identity
Who we are informs the ways in which we act in the world. How we respond to society in the individual, local, and global community is impacted by the way we see ourselves, the way others see us, and the way we see others. Who am I? How do I look at myself in relationship to others? How does the way in which society views me affect the way I think of myself? How have writers, historians, and philosophers dealt with the challenges of self and group identity? We will explore these issues through readings from the Civil Rights Era, the Holocaust, and the period of decolonization in Africa.
USSO 236 - What is a Nation?
What makes a nation a nation? Is it a common history traceable to a primordial antiquity? Must a nation retain racial commonality? Does representative democracy mark "legitimate" nationhood? The history of modern China is used as a template against which we will ponder these questions: what is a nation, what is modernity, how did we come to assume certain characteristics of nationhood, and is there only one model for all the nations? We will study these issues by examining the views held by different Chinese figures on the meaning of China's modern nationhood: old and young, northerners and southerners, politicians and students, and people from the heartland of China to the peripheries. We will examine the tension between the nationalist rhetoric of unity and cohesion versus the political and military reality of disunity and fragmentation. This seminar will explore the interactions between notions of democracy and dictatorship, military and civil discourse, economic development, diplomacy and geo-politics, and political parties and ideologies and how they influenced and detracted from stated nationalist objectives.
USSO 238 - The First Amendment
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution states that "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech." In this seminar we will explore what this right has meant in America and how it has been limited throughout American history. We will discuss the importance of free speech in a democratic society and how the government balances the freedom of speech with other government interests. This course is also designed to give you a glimpse of law school and what being a lawyer is like.
USSO 239 - Change Agents
We will focus our attention on the way change happens as a result of an individual's commitment to an ideal and what that person chooses to do. The context will be set through the historical lens of social change movements and organizational turnarounds in the mid- to late 20th century. The important role that groups and organizations play in conjunction with individual commitment and action will be an integral component to our search for understanding change agents. Throughout this course, we will study the dynamics of effective change, identify change strategies, and investigate the critical role of the individual as well as groups in making change happen. In addition to diagnosis and analysis, we will engage in creative thinking about our own individual role in making change happen and how to become change agents. We will apply what we read and learn to our current and future lives.
USSO 243 - Making Facts Dance
As evidenced by the tragedy that unfolded in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, we ignore the consequences of endemic poverty at our peril. How do you evacuate a city filled with thousands of people too poor to own cars? Where do you house them after they've been rescued from their drowned neighborhoods? Although Cleveland won't likely be erased by flood, it's one of the poorest big cities in the nation making it vulnerable to disaster in times of crisis and an incubator for a host of thorny social problems. Often, it's up to journalists to bring attention to these issues, give voice to the voiceless and force policymakers to come up with solutions to seemingly intractable problems. In this seminar, we'll read and dissect the works of journalists who've written stories about complex social problems and have done so using many of the conventions employed by writers of fiction. Writer Ben Yagoda described this literary journalism as "making facts dance." We'll spend our time researching numerous social issues and learn to write about them in a clear and compelling voice.
USSO 253 - A Widening World
This course introduces students to globalization debates. It begins with a broad overview that addresses core questions: What is globalization? Is it occurring? Is it novel, and what are its effects? The course then turns to contrasting perspectives on the relationships among markets, political units, culture and individuals, and the causes, extent, effects and desirability of economic globalization. Students use these theoretical lenses to develop arguments of their own and debate contentious contemporary and historical issues. Topics include: foreign economic strategies for the United States and poor countries; the origins of and solutions to financial crises; fair prices for basic commodities; intellectual property rights of medicines; workers rights and sweatshops; disputes over 'frankenfoods;' film wars; and the environment. The course is writing intensive.
USSO 260 - Spin, P.R., and American Today
This seminar analyzes the role of p.r., or public relations, in America today. This ubiquitous (some might say pervasive and pernicious) industry seems to shape what we think, believe and say about politics, industry, entertainment, the media and popular culture. What's going on here? How and why has p.r. become such a seemingly potent force in our time? What does this say about America and its values, the place of image in our society, even the meaning of truth? Rooted in both the 19th century carnival world of P.T. Barnum and in the early 20th century Progressive movement's noble crusade for an educated citizenry through mass communication, p.r. is a window into America today. This seminar proposes to take students through that window. They will learn to use analytic tools for exploring the mechanisms, institutional relationships and values that propel and shape both the media and the way Americans view reality. We will learn how p.r. is produced--the strategy and tools of the trade--and how it differs from journalism (and if it does). We also will examine the relationship between corporations and p.r. and the symbiosis between p.r., the media, and American values.
USSO 262 - Shame, Honor, and the Self
Cultural conceptions of shame and honor register different understandings of the self, revealing how identities are created and maintained. Shaming can be a way of separating insiders from outsiders and cementing communal identity, but it can also be a very visceral feeling of inadequacy. Thus, shame and honor are ways whereby individuals negotiate their place in a social community. Considering the transformation of these ideas at different temporal moments, this course will look at literary depictions of shame and honor from the classical period to the present including works by Seneca, Marlowe, and contemporary films to uncover the different conceptions of selfhood, and their relationship to their social context, at work in these texts.
USSO 263 - The Politics of Consumption
How do the things we like and the things we buy indicate who we are? What role has consumption played in the development of ideas about masculinity and femininity? Has the emergence of modern consumerism altered the way we interact with art and history? In this course, we will consider the political and ethical implications of consumerism. We will investigate the history of commodity culture, read about the early department stores in Paris and the first cases of kleptomania, and look at Victorian advertisements and popular magazines for collectors from the turn of the century. We will use the works of Karl Marx and Oscar Wilde to theorize the ethical implications of taste. The philosophical, economic, and literary texts we read will help us to understand why it is pleasurable and why it might be problematic to be manipulated by the marketplace. In addition, we will ask if there are methods for maneuvering within the possibilities of commodity culture in an ethical manner. Can we express our politics or preserve cultures and traditions with the right kinds of shopping? Can we be moral consumers?
USSO 264 - Government and Race Relations
Current debates over such issues as immigration and affirmative action raise core questions about the government's influence upon American race relations. What roles have various governmental entities--e.g., federal courts, state governors, and city councils--played in promoting racial equality or defending racial hierarchies? What roles should they play? And how much can the government (re)shape cultural attitudes and social practices? How much authority over race relations should remain with states and localities, and how much should be exercised by the federal government? This course offers a forum to investigate and debate such questions more thoroughly by examining a range of instances in the period from the late 19th century to the present day in which different kinds of government action have significantly influenced American race relations.
USSO 265 - Social Structures of Courtship
How have dating practices changed over the past centuries? What links exist between on-line dating and sixteenth century love poetry? This course will explore western forms of courtship in literature (poetry, fiction, magazines, guidebooks, film, and critical studies) from the Renaissance to the present day. By tracing how practices of courtship and the expectations of relationships have changed over time, we will explore how romantic relationships both reflect and shape cultural attitudes about women, men and social and political order. We will consider particularly how changes in acceptable practices of dating are linked with the development of the women's movement. By exploring how the lovers' discourse remains stable and/or varies over time and place, students will be encouraged to question the often unspoken social rules and expectations that govern romantic relationships, and thus to consider how the private affair of love is a subject of intense public concern.
USSO 266 - Law in the Movies
This course explores important themes in the study of law, lawyers, and legal institutions by regarding their representations in movies. We will cover such issues as race/class/gender and the law, legal ethics, legal education, the adversarial system, and the image and status of the lawyer in American culture. We will also look at the ways in which law and the legal profession affect popular culture and, conversely, the ways in which popular views of legal problems and lawyers affect law.
USSO 267 - Modern American Folklore/Life
American history and geography will serve as contexts for identifying, documenting and interpreting modern folklore and folk life across the United States, and in our own region. Students will come to understand the development of the discipline, will recognize major contributors to its scholarship, and will master the basic vocabulary, concepts, theories, and methods of folkloristic research and documentation, honing their skills as cultural observers, interpreters, writers and oral presenters.
USSO 268 - Moral Judgments and Public Event
We will examine basic events of the last century and judge those events against the two prevailing but competing moral theories--utility theory (which measures goodness versus badness and attempts to use the common currency of utility to understand how to formulate policy and make judgments) and rights theory (which uses moral concepts such as equality and justice to see not whether are right or wrong rather than good or bad). Both theories will be analyzed, criticized and then used to understand and assess modern history. There will be readings from the Nuremberg Trials and Geneva Conventions which present the problems of doing the right thing and achieving good results when only terrible alternatives seem available. We also will read from Tolstoy on the Napolenic Wars and Thucydides on the Peloponnesian Wars to judge actions and motives and to examine historical results. By making the moral framework clear or, even objective, and by reflecting on familiar historical events (including the World Wars and the rise and fall of Communism, Fascism and Colonialism), we will seek a framework and vocabulary for judging the 21st Century.
USSO 269 - Create-A-College
In seminar format, students will develop plans for a new institution of higher learning, shaping and communicating in several different formats its mission, goals, academic focus, and physical and financial needs. Supporting the course's research, writing, and presentation expectations will be documents from existing colleges, information on the policy and social environment for such a venture, and requirements imposed by external entities such as governmental and accrediting agencies. Course will include interactions among two sets of student teams and several intermediary presentations, culminating in a group presentation of plans for the new college to a panel of experts including current or former members of the University's Board of Trustees and the Ohio Board of Regents.
USSO 270 - The Geography of Wealth
While many of us are familiar with thinking about wealth in social, political and economic terms, wealth can also be understood as a function of geography. This seminar will look at American history and culture to seek a deeper understanding of how place and wealth interact; some of the government policies that affect those interactions; and some of the grand experiments in philanthropy, law, and social policy that have tried to reverse the perceived evils of "concentrated poverty." The seminar will not require an advanced mathematical or statistical background. However, we will analyze how statistics can illuminate (and disguise) the many systems--geographic and otherwise--that serve to allocate the wealth spin-off from the vast American economic engine. We will necessarily and intentionally wander into matters of race, employment, power, class, popular culture, history, and government. All are in some sense "geographic" issues and most will lend themselves to presentations from class visitors, local research possibilities, field trips and, most importantly, mind-opening conversations about wealth and the larger American social order.
USSO 271 - Schoolhouse Rocked
Today, the term "education reform" may bring to mind standardized tests and No Child Left Behind. Many believe that our schools must become more rigorous, with stricter rules and definable goals. "Reform," however, used to be defined differently. John Dewey, Maria Montessori, and Paulo-Freire, for example, struggled to make schools freer and more humane. They hoped not to make the classroom less challenging, but more child-centered. Some disciples of such reformers, discouraged by schools' resistance to change, eventually turned to home-schooling--pulling kids out of school and educating them with real-life learning experiences. In this seminar, we will explore progressive educational theory and connect it with contemporary alternative schools and home-schooling. Visits to nearby Montessori and Waldorf schools and discussions with home-schoolers will make real-life connections to seminar reading and class work. Challenging assumptions about how well our schools work and raising questions such as, "How do we learn?" and "What is good teaching?" will provoke thought, conversation, and interesting writing.
USSO 272 - The City
In this course, we will examine literary, cinematic, and theoretical representations of the city, focusing on the ways in which images of the urban reflect anxieties about class, sexuality, race, and gender. In the first section of the course, we will situate Victorian and modernist literary representations of the city in relation to historical events such as the Jack the Ripper murders, the birth of the modern gay and lesbian movement, and the Harlem Renaissance. In the final part of the course, we will look at more recent images of the urban in films, such as "Bladerunner" and "Do the Right Thing," and discuss the historical and economic phenomena that have contributed to the decline of rust belt cities like Cleveland. Our readings of history, films, and literary texts will position the city as a protagonist in, rather than simply a setting for, these stories of the radical social transformations occurring in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
USSO 273 - The Science Wars and Beyond
In an essay published in the May-June 1996 issue of "Lingua Franca," the physicist Alan Sokal revealed that his article "Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity," which had been published in the cultural studies journal "Social Text" (Spring-Summer 1996), was a parody. Over the last fifty years, scholars in the social sciences and the humanities have argued that scientific knowledge claims that appear to be objective are actually socially constructed. Sokal's parody was an attempt to defend the idea of scientific objectivity against the ideas of social constructionism and epistemic relativism. In addition to examining exchanges between Sokal and the editors of "Social Text," we will study responses to the controversy from both the scientific community and the mainstream media. We will then go on to explore how contemporary approaches to Science Studies attempt to work out a middle ground that accounts for the materiality of the world as well as for the role that social factors play in knowledge production.
USSO 274 - Morality in Ancient Athens
Students explore the social fabric of Athens at its height--the various social and economic institutions that shaped households and the city--state in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE. Primary source material will include courtroom speeches, two comedies of Aristophanes, and Aritotle's Ethics. Topics: lust, love, marriage, prostitution, slavery, elite drinking parties, street life, hubristic violence, competition, feuding murder, the legal system, diverse concepts of virtue, and how ordinary people were expected to treat one another in good times and bad.
USSO 275 - Psychology of Creativity
The purpose of this course is to explore how individuals become creative. What are the most important qualities, emotional and cognitive, that are related to creativity? Is there a creative personality? What is the difference between artistic and scientific creativity? How does creativity relate to mental illness? How can we foster creativity in people? The course will study creativity in children and adults and will include research studies as well as descriptions of creativity from creative individuals. We will also discuss how different cultures view and effect creativity and the ethical issues involved. This course is a seminar and will use a discussion format.
USSO 276 - Being Human in the Holocaust
The purpose of this course is to explore how individuals become creative. What are the most important qualities, emotional and cognitive, that are related to creativity? Is there a creative personality? What is the difference between artistic and scientific creativity? How does creativity relate to mental illness? How can we foster creativity in people? The course will study creativity in children and adults and will include research studies as well as descriptions of creativity from creative individuals. We will also discuss how different cultures view and effect creativity and the ethical issues involved. This course is a seminar and will use a discussion format.
USSO 277 - 20th Century Art and Politics
This course examines the intersection of modern art and politics, beginning with the Dada movement and World War I. If technological progress and rational science were responsible for modern warfare, then artists must "destroy the hoaxes of reason and discover an unreasoned order," in the words of Jean Arp. Surrealism will be viewed against the backdrop of the rise of Fascism in Europe, and also Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic investigations of the subconscious mind. Turning to 1930s America, we will look at the politics of the Great Depression and the impact of the New Deal on American art. After World War II, Abstract Expressionist painters in New York were influenced by Surrealism in their explorations of human nature. The notorious conservatism of the McCarthy era, and booming postwar consumerism were addressed by "neo-Dada" and Pop Art in the late--1950s and the 1960s. We will consider how the war in Vietnam, Civil Rights, and the women's movement impacted both Pop Art and abstraction in the 1960s. Finally we will look at the legacy of Pop Art as a global phenomenon and its usefulness among contemporary Chinese artists as a means to parody communist propaganda.
USSO 278 - Magicians, Healers, and Holy Men
This course will examine magic, divination, and other unconventional religious phenomena in the Greco-Roman world primarily during the Roman period by focusing on several extraordinary practices and practitioners. The focus will be on a number of forms of "unofficial" practices: seeking the healing power of a god by visiting that divinity's temple in the hope that the god would appear in one's dream and lend aid; using forms of beneficial magic to restore or maintain one's health; using more aggressive forms of magic to ensnare the object of one's sexual desires, or to affect the outcome of competitions in such disparate settings as the arena and the courtroom; and, attempting to foresee the future through astrology or various forms of divination. This course, then, is not about traditional civic religion, but rather religious phenomena which were for the most part outside of the mainstream of "official" religion--phenomena which often get less attention in traditional courses about Greek and Roman religion.
USSO 279 - Making Men
Aphorisms like "boys will be boys" simultaneously suggest that boyhood is a social problem to be solved and a privileged position. This course will explore what it means to be a boy in different historical contexts. In some texts, boys are understood as incorrigible miscreants. In others, they are the repositories of their families' hopes and dreams. What is at stake in the way boys are treated differently from girls or from men? We will consider the relationship between boyhood and manhood not only in contemporary culture but also in texts ranging from ancient Rome to 19th century. Through memoirs, advice books, psychological explorations, and contemporary film, this class will examine both conceptions of boyhood and their place in the production of masculinity.
USSO 280 - Democracy?
"Democracy?" poses democracy as a question, in two forms. First, what do we mean by democracy? Second, where should democracy be practiced? Although conventional understandings link democracy to political systems and issues of governance, the course will consider democracy in other institutions and locations. Course questions include: What is democracy? Why do we value democracy? Does democracy in the state require democracy in the economy? What would that look like? What are the potential conflicts between economic and political democracy with full citizen involvement? Is direct democracy democratic? Does democracy in the state require democracy in the family? In universities? In the workplace? In prisons?
USSO 281 - Thinking about Globalization
This course will explore the economic, social, cultural, and political dimensions of globalization from a public policy perspective. We will be asking what policies make sense in light of globalization for our country and our world, and how we might achieve them, recognizing that the economic, social, cultural and political dimensions of globalization are interrelated rather than independent. Our goal is to establish a framework for understanding globalization by understanding models of public policy analysis, collective action, markets, and political interaction that help us analyze policy choices presented by globalization.
USSO 282 - Community Policing
Community Policing is becoming increasingly popular around the globe, as well as in the U.S., where it is only found in a few cities. The objective of this course is to expand the student's knowledge and understanding of the police systems in Japan and Sweden, since these nations are leaders in the successful introduction of community policing in their societies. It is instructive to go beyond one's political boundary in order to draw on different experiences in other countries. While it may not be possible to "adopt" some ideas from another country's police system, we might be able to benefit from "adapting" them to our own community needs.
USSO 283 - Life is a Contact Sport
This class will take students places most people have never been. We'll come face-to-face with the homeless, explore the realities of prison life, and meet people who struggle to survive in the wealthiest country in the world. We'll also meet people who have demonstrated both the vision and commitment to be change agents making a difference in the world. The interdisciplinary course will examine the shadow-line between self-interest, greed, and the common good in a capitalist society. We will look at the needs and (sometimes competing) values in democracy. We will examine ethical systems and discuss the role that leaders, managers, and ordinary citizens play as moral agents in promoting integrity and social responsibility for a just society. From interactions with real people, readings, and class discussion, the course challenges assumptions and explores core values to stretch your intellectual, ethical, and social muscles. Life is a contact sport that asks you to engage, to participate in making your talents and presence felt, not merely sit on the sidelines watching.
USSO 284 - The Kaleidoscope of Birth
The course will explore topics in science, technology and culture across time as they relate to the social construction of birth. Students and faculty will critically examine the seminar topics through an interdisciplinary approach. The learners will develop their own understanding of how science and technology related to birth have and continue to change. What happens when newer technologies supersede the old? What happens when older ideas are revived? Students will be introduced to the influence of culture and technology. Students will interview a family (birth or adoptive) and an expert in a discipline such as an anthropology, history, psychology, sociology, engineering, art or museum curator who holds an interest in birth. From the interviews the student will develop an oral and written report for the seminar class. Offered in a seminar format, the course will provide opportunities for scholarly discussion, experiential learning and written communication to encourage the student in the pursuit of life long learning.
Thinking About the Natural or Technological World
USNA 206 - Land and Life in the Americas
This course investigates the physical processes that shape the Earth's environments and how these environments have influenced, and been influenced by, human history. A principle focus will be the evolution of the Americas since the end of the last ice age. We will apply what we learn to the history of cultural development and to debate environmental issues facing us today.
USNA 210 - Forensic Sciences: How They Impact Your World
Forensic sciences provide a unique opportunity to apply basic science knowledge to help solve medico legal problems. Expert input can be invaluable in improving the lives of the living along with providing crucial information for identification of the deceased, as well as cause, mechanism, and manner of death. This seminar will allow students to interview forensic scientists that relate to their careers and interests, for example, forensic pathology, trace evidence, DNA, toxicology, anthropology, radiology, and odontology. They will then be responsible for giving oral and written reports to the seminar class. Dr. Simmelink has over 25 years experience in forensic odontology and has arranged facility tours and expert interviews with staff from the Cuyahoga County Coroner's Office in University Circle.
USNA 211 - Einstein, Space, and Time
This course will explore the profound changes in our conception of space and time brought about by Einstein's theories of special and general relativity. As a University Seminar, it will also integrate writing and discussion about these topics into the class and explore the philosophical and technological context in which the ideas were developed.
USNA 216 - Fuel Cells: Reality, Prospects, and Myth
Fuel cells have been recently identified as a key source for non-polluting, oil-independent energy in the future. In this course, we will study and critically analyze the prospects, barriers, and impact of broad implementation of fuel cells, focusing primarily on the transportation sector. Major topics of the course include: (i) World and U.S. energy outlook; (ii) Potential role and impact of fuel-cells, their advantages, limitations and prospects for improvements; (iii) Alternative fuels - source, availability, distribution and cost; (iv) Potential political, public policy, economic, and environmental impact of large-scale implementation of fuel-cells technology. The course is designed for students from all disciplines. Students will be expected to read assigned texts and articles and critically analyze statements and points of view presented. Quantitative analysis is expected where appropriate.
USNA 220 - Suburban Landscapes
This course will examine suburban neighborhoods by focusing on the design of technology and nature in these spaces. The way that people understand and operate in the world is so entangled with values and assumptions that the physical shape of the world cannot be separated from human culture. In this sense, suburban landscapes are not simply neighborhoods but also examples of culture. The form of the land and the technologies in the suburbs are continually reshaped to correspond with the cultures of the people occupying those spaces. By studying suburban landscapes we can see how the ideas in people's heads become part of the physical world in which we live.
USNA 221 - Waves, Wireless, and Faraday
The main objective of this SAGES course is to develop concepts and inquiry techniques regarding important characteristics of waves such as: What are waves? What determines their speed, frequency, wavelength, polarization, etc.? How to generate and detect waves? How waves interact with each other, other waves and with materials? How many different types of waves exist? How these waves differ from each other? A series of class demonstrations will be used to complement the reading materials and class discussions. The class will be divided into four groups and each group will design a test and will administer it to the rest. There will be four tests and each responsible group will be in turn graded for the clarity and relevance and quality of the test they design. The process of being involved in thinking about how to design a test is very valuable and plays a central role in understanding the concepts being discussed. It also brings in the "human" component that is crucial in designing unambiguous and clear questions.
USNA 228 - Time
This seminar course will explore the nature of time from many stances, including those of Psychology, Biology, Technology and Philosophy. Yet time is central to Physics, and in Physics we will orient our explorations of time. Our understanding of time has sharpened a great deal in the last few centuries, the most obvious markers being Newton's Absolute time, which remains entrenched in modern culture, and its subsequent physical overthrow by Einstein's relativity. Given the physical primacy of Einstein's time, many questions arise: How malleable is the concept of time? Is there a fact of time? Can the present be defined? The past? The future? The successes of modern Cosmology lead us to ask: Was there a beginning of time? Will time end? The symmetry of fundamental physical laws with respect to the direction of time, counter pointed by asymmetric phenomena, lead to: Is there a master arrow of time? Is the flow of time an illusion? In this course we will investigate what "Time" is telling us about the natural world and ourselves.
USNA 229 - Astronomical Arguments
This course explores how scientific controversies are resolved, using examples from astronomy and cosmology. We start with a discussion of the scientific process--both as an ideal and as a practical reality--and an overview of the scale of the universe in space and time. Then we address some historical controversies (with the benefit of scientific hindsight), before turning to modern examples of astronomical debates which remain unresolved. Examples include the Copernican Revolution, the nature of galaxies, the Big Bang, the elusive search for dark matter, and the identity of Pluto. In each case, we will examine the scientific basis of the controversy as well as the roles played by cultural and human biases.
USNA 230 - Attention! Understand Human Attention
You're in a crowded room, in the middle of a heated conversation. Suddenly you hear someone across the room say your name. How were you able to pick out that particular sequence of sounds from all the noise around you? Why did you even notice it, given that you were talking to someone else? This course looks at this phenomenon and others having to do with the human attention system. While much of what we read will be from the fields of psychology and neuroscience, we'll also consider aspects of attention that have to do with literature, the arts, and religion.
USNA 232 - Implementing Tech Solutions
This course is focused on the means by which technical resources and solutions can be brought to bear on an identified set of wants or needs. It includes both a lecture and laboratory component. Academic study will include topics such as: developing an understanding of a problem; communication strategies; intended and unintended impacts of technology; work plan development and resource management. The laboratory component will be team-based and involve interaction with a service-oriented nonprofit. Some off-campus travel will be required.
USNA 233 - Science and Engineering in Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology is about materials and the processing of materials that have at least one dimension in the nanometer size scale. Surfaces are a nanometer, or smaller thick, but with macroscopic area. Lines are a nanometer or less in diameter but macroscopic in length. A dot is a nanometer or so in diameter. While the word "nanotechnology" was coined recently, the history of nano-systems is ancient impacting the arts, crafts and technology. The focus of the course is the structure, dynamics and function (including applications) of nano-systems in modern technology along with speculations about future applications. The technical level anticipated is that of first college level chemistry or physics. Additional technical background will be developed as needed
USNA 234 - The Engineering of Sports
The relationships between optimizing sports activities and the performance requirements of sports equipment are developed. The inherent properties of materials are demonstrated to be the controlling factors in the design of a vast array of sports equipment. Properties of the major classes of materials used to produce sports equipment are examined. Materials discussed include advanced composites, foams, liquid metal, titanium, ceramics and natural composites, e.g., wood and leather. The absorption, storage and release of energy by equipment during sports activities are shown to relate to the basic structure of the material used in its manufacture. Individual projects will involve analysis of the linkages among training, technique and equimpent design with the goal of inventing ways to achieve enhanced performance.
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