Fall2015 Course Descriptions_1(1).pdf

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COOPER UNION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE AND ART

FACULTY OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

FALL 2015-COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

4/6/15

HSS1 (3 Credits)

HSS1 Freshman Seminar. A literature course concentrating on poetry and drama.

Selected texts from antiquity and the Renaissance are common to all sections, with works

from other genres, periods and cultures chosen by individual instructors. The coursedevelops aesthetic appreciation of literary texts and encourages a range of critical

responses. Through close reading and extended discussion students learn to articulate

their responses in written and spoken form. 3 credits.

HSS3 (3 Credits)

HSS3 The Making of Modern Society. A study of the key political, social andintellectual developments of modern Europe in global context. This course is organized

chronologically, beginning with the Industrial and French Revolutions. Students develop

an understanding of the political grammar and material bases of the present day byexploring the social origins of conservatism, liberalism, feminism, imperialism and

totalitarianism. In discussions and in lectures students learn to study and to respond

critically in written and spoken form to a variety of historical documents and secondary

texts. 3 credits

HUMANITIES (3 Credits)

HUM207 Music Cultures of the World. Examines music from a variety of musical

cultures around the world, from Native American to Indonesian Gamelan music,

including ethnic musical events in New York City.

3 credits. Jason Oakes

HUM306 Native America. An examination of Native American world views against abackground of history. The stress will be on written literary texts drawn from oral

cultures, including collections of traditional songs and stories, as well as contemporary

writers. In addition, we will watch videos and listen to music.

3 credits. Brian Swann

HUM323 The Presence of Poetry. This will be a class in which the center of attentionis the poem itself. We will concentrate on modern English and American poetry. The

common text will be The Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry Vol. 2,

third edition (Jahan Ramazani, Richard Ellmann, and Robert O’Clair) but students are

encouraged to look into other anthologies and into such studies as those of WilliamEmpson in Seven Types of Ambiguity and Martin Heidegger in Poetry, Language,

Thought. 3 credits. Brian Swann



HUM325 Puppet, Automation, Robot. They are us, and not us: puppets, automata, androbots are toys or machines that look like us (or parts of us). From antiquity to the

present, we have imagined, and then invented, inorganic versions of ourselves,

sometimes for entertainment, sometimes to perform essential tasks. This course will draw

upon an interdisciplinary range of materials –from philosophy, the history of science, andpsychoanalysis to drama, popular culture, and art. Instead of separating the “scientific”

from the “poetic,” this course will introduce and explore ways in which we can think about what we want from our “artificial life,” and how the boundaries between

living/non-living require constant rethinking. 3 credits. William Germano

HUM328 The History of Cinema I : 1895-1945. A history of the motion picture from

its origins until now, emphasizing the evolution of the language of cinematic

representation-in feature, documentary, animated and experimental filmmaking.

Canonical works and the major figures of the silent and sound cinema are treated,including Griffith, Chaplin, Eisenstein, Vertov, Renoir, Welles, Deren, Hitchcock and

Godard. 3 credits. tba

HUM356 Issues in Contemporary Fiction. Issues in Contemporary Fiction from writers

from around the Globe in the Post-WWII Era. 3 credits. Sohnya Sayres

HUM373D Plato’s Republic. A seminar devoted entirely to a close reading and critical

analysis of Plato’s greatest dialogue, the Republic, and its reverberations down through

the ages as a model of political theorizing, if not a template for an ideal society. As we

work through the text book by book, we will create our own "Socratic dialogue," that is, aseries of problems, questions, deliberations, and considerations that would run parallel to

the text, with the ultimate aim of assessing what Plato means, and intends, with this

enigmatic work. Comparative material in the form of historical and contemporary (toSocrates and Plato) influences, precedents, and references will be introduced where

appropriate. We will then venture briefly into the analogous genre of “utopian” literature

which the Republic inadvertently engendered, finishing with the most influential moderncritique, that of Popper.

3 credits. Mary Stieber

HUM392 Ethics. The course considers real-world ethical dilemmas in a philosophicalcontext. Throughout the course, students will examine and critically evaluate a

variety of ethical theories with the aim of gaining a fuller appreciation of the complexities

of difficult or controversial ethical situations. Particular emphasis will be placed onquestions concerning the nature and importance of value, virtue, relationships,

commitment, duty, moral disagreement, moral skepticism, and relativism. Student

interest will determine the ethical situations that we explicitly discuss in key weeks of thecourse. 3 credits Chloe Layman



SOCIAL SCIENCES (3 Credits)

SS318A Environmental Sustainability. This seminar will be a dialogue onsustainability, the concept of a society that flourishes by living within the limits of, and in

harmony with, the natural environment. Taking an integrative approach to all aspects ofsustainable development, the course will stress the ecological characterof human life and

human history, how both have been shaped by the natural environment and have shapedit in return, and how issues of environmental sustainability shape our lives and careers. 3 creditis. Al Appleton

SS318H Disaster, Popular Culture, and the Modern Imagination. The

interdisciplinary seminar will focus on cultural expressions, in the popular imagination

and public discourse, of disaster in the global twentieth and early twenty-first century.We will analyze films and television series, graphic novels, artworks, memorials, press

debates, and social media in order to better understand varied responses to catastrophes

or apocalyptic scenarios, past, present, and imaginatively anticipated. Students willinvestigate a diverse set of examples, including the cultural echoes of key events such as

genocide in Armenia during World War I, the Holocaust, and the Rwandan genocide in

1994, as well as “natural disasters" (for example, Katrina, tsunami), technological

disasters (from bridge collapses to nuclear plant accidents), or terrorism (such as 9/11),and ask how the current boom in disaster imagery shapes our imagination and sense

of future. 3 credits . Atina Grossman

SS318I The Psychology of Consciousness. This course is an investigation into the

scientific exploration of subjective experience, what some have called the last great

mystery of science. We will examine the relationship between objective brain processes

and first-person awareness, findings from psychology and neuroscience, as well asdiscussing altered states (drugs, out-of-body-experiences), lucid dreams, mysticism, and

Western and Eastern approaches to the subject. Some representative questions we will be

discussing are: What is the function of consciousness? How intelligent is theunconscious? What is the relationship between consciousness and attention? Can a

machine ever be conscious? Is consciousness fundamental in the universe (as Eastern

philosophies argue) or did it emerge as matter became ever more complex (as Westernscience insists)? Is there a stream of consciousness or is it just an illusion? Do we really

ever make conscious decisions or are these decisions already made before we become

conscious of them? Can science (as it currently stands) explain subjectivity or is ascientific revolution (comparable to the change in worldview that occurred due to

relativity and quantum theory) necessary?3 credits. Jason Clarke

SS334 Microeconomics. Microeconomics is the study of individual economic behavior

and how it leads to specific social outcomes in a capitalist economy such as relative

prices and the distribution of income. This course presents an overview of the essentialtheoretical, historical and policy debates in the study of market processes in capitalist

economies. We begin by developing fundamental economic concepts and examining



some of the pertinent historical facts relating to life in capitalist economies such as

wages, prices, profits, productivity and technological change. We then compare andcontrast theories that purport to explain these historical trends. Course topics include:

consumer behavior; supply and demand; production and the business firm; allocation of

resources and business competition; the distribution of income; financial markets; global

trading systems; and the relationship between markets, hierarchies and democracy.Questions that we will address include: How, exactly, do individuals and firms relate to

the institutional structures in which they find themselves (the fundamental question ofmicroeconomics vs macroeconomics)? Are there empirical regularities and patterns

produced by market processes that can be explained using economic theory? Are the

forces that produce these phenomena historically determined? Are social phenomenasimply the sum of individuals’ choices? How are individual choices constrained by

social institutions? How do legal/political institutions shape market outcomes such as

prices and profit? How do competing economic theories explain these phenomena? Do

market processes lead to fair and optimal outcomes? What is meant by the term‘efficiency’? Are market processes stable? What are the benefits and costs of business

competition? How should governments regulate and shape market behavior? What is therole of financial markets? Is ‘free trade’ desirable? The course is intended for studentswho have little or no background in economics. 3 credits. John Sarich

SS342 Anthropology of Ritual. The study of ritual takes us to the heart ofanthropological approaches to experience, performance, symbolism and association.

Once thought to be "vestigial" organs of archaic societies, rituals are now seen as arenas

through which social change may emerge and are recognized to be present in all

societies. Throughout the course we will explore varying definitions of ritual and itsuniversal and particular aspects, while surveying ethnographic case studies from around

the world. 3 credits. Nicholas D’Avella

SS358 Social History of Food. A study of the transformations in food production and

consumption, 1492 to the present. The course examines the passage of "new world" foods

into Europe and Asia, the rise of commercial agriculture in the colonies, especially sugar,the rise of national cuisines, the advent of restaurant culture and the perils of fast and

industrial food. 3 credits. Peter Buckley

SS372 Global Issues. This course will examine current issues of global significance andtheir implications for policy and decision-making. Among the trends we will consider are

the tensions between resource competition and authority; the emergence of a global

economy; the environment and sustainable development; demographic change; and theemergence of new security issues, including societal and environmental stress.

3 credits. Anne Griffin

SS382 Game Theory. Since its introduction in 1943 by John von Neumann and Oskar

Morgenstern, the general theory of games has been instrumental to our understanding of

various social behaviors. With key contributions of such renowned scholars as JohnNash, Robert Arrow, Thomas Schelling and John Harsanyi, among other Nobel

Laureates, game theory has quickly gained a large following among students of



economics, evolutionary biology and even political science. Though at times seemingly

abstract, game theory has shown us that it has practical value with applications in firm-level management and strategic decisions making in military campaigns. The course has

two dimensions: the first is to explore the theoretical basis of games; the second is to

consider the application of these concepts in economics and political science.

3 credits. Jennifer Wilson

ART HISTORY (2 Credits)

HTA101(Fall), 102 A-D (Spring) Modern to Contemporary: An Introduction to

Art History. This two-semester art history core course, developed as part of the

Foundation year for students in the School of Art but open to all students, is organized

around a set of themes running through the history of modernity from the 18th

century tothe present. Within specific themes, significant works, figures and movements in

art/design will be presented chronologically. Students will be able to identify and

critically evaluate significant works, figures and movements in art/design in the modernperiod; be able to describe the main social and political contexts for the changes in

art/design over the last two hundred years; and engage, in writing and class discussion,

with theoretical perspectives on art/design production. The course will involve museum

visits. Grading will be based on class participation, papers and exams.

2 credits. Bedarida, Leigh, Llorens

HTA220 Japanese Art.. An introduction to the art of Edo period Japan (1603-1867),covering painting, printmaking, and the allied arts. 2 credits. tba

HTA231 History of Industrial Design. In tracing the history of industrial design from

its emergence at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution to the present, this course willexamine not only aesthetics (of furniture and the decorative arts, typography, advertising,

machinery, toys, etc.) but also the social and political forces that have shaped the many

styles. Throughout, we will also demonstrate how movements in industrial design relateto parallel developments in the history of painting, sculpture, and architecture.

2 credits. Andrew Weinstein

HTA232 Is Painting Like Poetry? Inspired by the famous dictum, “ut pictura poesis”

(literally, ‘as painting, poetry,’ or more loosely, ‘poetry is like painting’), from Horace’s

Art of Poetry, the course examines the interconnections between literature and the visualarts, whether as rivals or as allies, from antiquity through the present. A diverse group of

topics will be considered, within a specific historical time frame and context, with thegoal of seeking a common ground for a discourse with which to evaluate the nature,significance, and aesthetic parameters of each of the two modes of expression in the

shared enterprise of the representation of reality and/or the world of ideas.

2 credits. James Wylie



HTA 270 The Art of Greece and Rome. An introduction to the sculpture, painting, andarchitecture of ancient Greece and Rome with attention to the impact of the classical

imagination on the art of succeeding ages.

2 credits. Ceilia Bergoffen

HTA273 Topics in the History of Photography: Altered Images. Photography wasinvented by a creator of stage sets and dioramas; from the beginning photographs havecombined realism with theatrical illusion. This course studies altered photography. We

consider early double exposure and double printing, hand-drawn manipulation, distorting

lenses, collage and pastiche, airbrushing, and the many possibilities offered bydigitalization. But in addition to technical methods and their esthetic effects, we consider

social context, asking why we have wanted to alter photographs, and what roles altered

images have played historically. 2 credits. Maren Stange

HTA275 20th

Century Art History. Considers the flourishing “isms” of the 20th

century, as well as historical events, intellectual currents and conflicting aesthetic views,

explored in relation to such enduring artists as Picasso, Matisse, Malevich, Kandinsky,Miro, Klee, Dubuffet, Giacometti, Pollack, Smith Calder and others. 2 credits. Joshua Decter

HTA282 Public Sculpture in New York City. This course will examine trends that have

informed the history of public sculpture in New York City, including commemoration of

historical events, artistic and civic education for the masses, natural history in the serviceof the nation, and the cult of great men and women. We will also examine individual

monuments such as Augustus Saint-Gaudens’s Farragut Monument (1880), Frédéric

Auguste Bartholdi’s Statue of Liberty (1886), the sculptural programs of Central Park,

Prospect Park, and Green-Wood Cemetery, the decorations of Rockefeller Center

(including Paul Manship’s 1934 Prometheus and Lee Lawrie’s 1937 Atlas), IsamuNoguchi’s News (1940) and the sculpture garden he created at his Long Island City

studio, and Richard Serra’s Tilted Arc (1978). Emphasis will be placed on reading worksor art as primary texts; viewing sculpture, in local museums or in situ, will be a key

component of the course. 2 credits. Natasha Marie Llorens

HTA283 The “Genius” of the Baroque. This course examines the genius of European

Baroque art as distilled in the work of its greatest exemplars. We will also address theideology of the counter-reformation church, the emergence of Protestant capitalism and a

pluralist, bourgeois society in the north, patronage and social identity, propaganda,

religious faith, skepticism, sexual identity and the family, all focused through the position

of the artist in society. In no other period were body and spirit, sensual and sublime, soclosely intermeshed. Art history resides precisely in the relation between our present

interest in these artists and the past conditions in which they worked.

2 credits. Benjamin Binstock

HTA 285 Single-Work Seminar: Chartres Cathedral. The focus of this seminar will

be the great 13th-century cathedral of Chartres.

2 credits. Elizabeth Monti



HTA296 Synartesis. This seminar centers on the idea of *synartesis* – the act of

fastening or knitting together to produce union even among disparate kinds of knowledgeand materials. Drawing on what has often been pejoratively referred to as anachronistic

or philosophical art history, this course will explore new potentials for understanding

works of art outside the bounds of traditional linear narrative by experimenting with how

inter-chronological and thematic comparisons of artworks might allow us to develop amore personal relationship to the past as it intersects with the constantly unfolding

future. 2 credits. Allison Leigh

HTA313E Fluxus. This course examines the international artists collective Fluxus as itemerged on three continents from 1962-1978. Cooper Union is a part of this history. The

founder of Fluxus, Lithuanian-born artist George Maciunas, studied art, architecture and

design here from 1949 to 1952, developing many of his formative ideas. We will explorethe roots of Fluxus in New York and internationally. Students will be introduced to the

diversity of Fluxus artists and their practices. Broad topics include, but are not limited to:

Fluxus’s relationship to Modernism, the avant-garde, and so-called neo-avant-garde;artist collectives; the transgression of traditional media boundaries in new performance,

objects, and video; concurrent art trends such as Environments, Happenings, Pop Art and

Conceptual Art; cross-cultural exchange; productive intersections with ideas aboutorganization, communication, systems, commodification and globalization; DIY

practices; and the legacy of Fluxus in contemporary art. We will study the “new media”

of Fluxus in all its forms, reading texts to help us understand Fluxus’s contributions to a

history of critical art practice and continued relevance today.

2 credits. Mari Dumett

HTA333 Islamic Art and Architecture. This course looks at the Islamic art andarchitecture with a concentration on the Gunpowder Dynasties: the Ottomans, Safavids,

and Mughals. In addition to examining samples of architectural monuments, painting,

ceramics, metalwork’s and calligraphy, lectures will include reading literary texts,listening to Koranic recitations, and watching films. Upon finishing the course, students

will be familiar with the socio-political and circumstances that led to the birth of this last

of the monotheistic religions and the evolution and final decline of what art history calls

“Islamic civilization”. Students will also research and help to answer the followingquestion: why such a pragmatic philosophy gave rise to an almost exclusively abstract art

while there is no explicit text in its dogma that prohibits naturalistic depiction.

2 credits. Haitham Abdullah

Documents

Fall2015 Course Descriptions_1(1).pdf