First Year Seminars 2013-14

Semester Course Number Section CRN Course Title Description Instructor Meeting Time

* Fall 2013 AFRI0110C S01 14496 Autobiography of the Civil

Rights Movement

Most of the rich written history of the civil rights movement

originates from first-hand accounts documented in oral

histories and autobiographies. This interdisciplinary course

plots the milestones of the civil rights movement through

the lens of several autobiographies. The aim is to critique

autobiography as a historical document as well as use it to

tell the stories of the civil rights movement. We will

compare and contrast different texts, analyze content and

map a history of the era. Students will work with a writing

fellow to develop one critical paper and one

autobiographical paper. Enrollment limited to 20 first year

students. FYS

Francoise Hamlin Wed 3:00-5:20

Fall 2013 AFRI0700 S01 14494 Freedom Films "Freedom Films" is a First Year Seminar which will focus

on historical documentary films related to the Southern

Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. We will analyze how

these films reflect, change, and inform our views of the

traditional Civil Rights Movement and how some offer

contrasting narratives of that movement. We will also

examine how and in what ways the films accurately and

adequately reflect the historical realities of the Southern

Civil Rights Movement based on readings and research.

Enrollment limited to 20 first year students. DVPS FYS

Judy Richardson Tues 4:00-6:20

Fall 2013 ANTH0066S S01 16147 Contemporary Egypt in

Revolution

On January 25, 2011 protestors in Egypt amassed in

Tahrir Square in Cairo with basic demands: Bread,

Freedom, Social Equality, and Human Dignity. After

hundreds of peaceful protestors were killed at the hands of

riot police and hired thugs, eighteen days later, President

Husni Mubarak resigned. Yet since then, hundreds more

have been killed, Egypt's revolution continues, and the

basic demands are as crucial today as they were at its

inception. We will read contemporary Egypt from the

perspectives of anthropologists and social historians, and

discuss the value of social theory and analysis for

understanding current political turmoil. Enrollment limited

to 20 first year students. DVPS FYS. S/NC

Ian Straughn Tues 4:00-6:20

First Year Seminars 2013-14* Indicates a Brown Curricular Advising Program course. This allows first-year students to enroll in a course taught by a faculty member who is also their academic advisor.

Fall 2013 ANTH0066T S01 16157 Postcolonial Matters: Material

Culture between Colonialism

and Globalization

This course is about things - 'stuff' - as it is about people

past and present and their entanglements in and through

colonial situations. It explores colonialism past and

present through the combined lenses of postcolonial

theory and material culture - the emphasis is thus not so

much on literary and figurative representations of colonial

conflicts and engagements but rather on the material

surroundings of people living those colonial worlds. In

other words, this course is about what people did and

about the things they used to construct their daily lives in

colonial situations across the globe and through time.

Enrollment limited to 20 first year students. FYS

Peter van

Dommelen

Wed 9:30-11:50

Fall 2013 APMA0100 S01 16159 Elementary Probability for

Applications

This course serves as an introduction to probability and

stochastic processes with applications to practical

problems. It will cover basic probability and stochastic

processes such as basic concepts of probability and

conditional probability, simple random walk, Markov

chains, continuous distributions, Brownian motion and

option pricing. Enrollment limited to 20 first year students.

FYS

Boris Rozovsky TuesThurs 1:00-2:20

Fall 2013 ARCH0270 S01 14879 Troy Rocks! Archaeology of

an Epic

What do Brad Pitt, Julius Caesar, Dante, Alexander the

Great, and countless sports teams have in common? The

Trojan War! This course will explore the Trojan War not

only through the archaeology, art, and mythology of the

Greeks and Romans but also through the popular

imaginings of cultures ever since, to figure out what

"really" happened when Helen ran off and Achilles got

angry and the Greeks came bearing gifts. Enrollment

limited to 20 first year students. FYS.

Foteini Kondyli TuesThurs 9:00-10:20

Fall 2013 BIOL0190E S01 14217 Botanical Roots of Modern

Medicine

This course will explore a variety of medicinal plants found

throughout the world, the diverse cultures that use them in

their daily lives and the scientific underpinnings of their

medicinal uses. In conjunction with readings, students will

gain a hands-on approach in lab, observing, identifying

and growing these plants. Enrollment limited to: 20.

Students MUST register for the lecture section and the

lab.

Fred Jackson MonWed 3:00-4:20

Fall 2013 BIOL0190F S01 14219 Darwinian Medicine Explores evolutionary explanations of why we get sick, and

how this can shape, or misshape, our interpretations of

medicine. Draws on evolutionary genetics, population

biology, molecular biology and physiology. This course will

build on evolutionary biology and then focus on disease

processes such as infection, aging, cancer, allergy,

diabetes, and obesity. Enrollment limited to 20 first year

students. FYS

Marc Tatar TuesThurs 1:00-2:20

*Fall 2013 BIOL0190P S01 14220 Development of Scientific

Theories: Context and the

Individual

We will examine how the pace and shape of scientific

progress is affected by the social/cultural context and the

"personality" of the individual. We will look into how the

interplay between society and the individual affects how

scientific theories arise, are presented, are debated and

are accepted. The course will initially focus on Charles

Darwin and his theory of Natural Selection using the

biography of Adrian Desmond and James Moore, "Darwin:

The Life of a Tormented Evolutionist." Enrollment limited

to 20 first year students. FYS

Stephen Helfand TuesThurs 2:30-3:50

Fall 2013 BIOL0190Q S01 14221 Climate Change and Species

Extinction

This seminar will explore the newly emerging issue of how

climate change will contribute to species extinctions. Two

over-night field trips will familiarize students with how

climate influences the distribution of species. Readings

from a text book will consider the geographic distribution

of species, species immigration, change in climate since

the last ice-age, and the geography of previous species

extinctions. Most readings will be directly from the

scientific literature, ones that are too new to be described

in text books, focusing particularly on future climate TBA

Fall 2013 CLAS0210B S01 15378 Death in Ancient Greece Examines how ancient Greeks understood, described, and

experienced death. Making use of sources in translation,

considers how death is anticipated, imagined, feared, and

sometimes sought. Also contrasts classical ideas with

current experiences in our own society in order to see

whether and how our assumptions concerning death are

culturally determined. Enrollment limited to 20 first year

students. FYS LILE WRIT

Pura Nieto

Hernandez

MonWedFri 2:00-2:50

Fall 2013 CLAS0210P S01 16302 Dead and Loving It: The Cult

of the Saints in the Eastern

Mediterranean

This course introduces students to the literature, history,

and religious life of the late ancient and medieval

Mediterranean through the lens of a highly significant

socio-cultural phenomenon: the Christian cult of the

saints. Students will have the opportunity to engage with a

variety of primary source texts in translation, while

examining the subject from the perspectives of

anthropology, religious studies, material culture, history

and literary studies, to approach this rich topic through an

interdisciplinary framework. Enrollment limited to 20 first

year students. FYS

TBA

MonWedFri 9:00-9:50

Fall 2013 CLPS0050A S01 15567 Computing as Done in Brains

and Computers (formerly

COGS 0100A)

Brains and computers compute in different ways. We will

discuss the software and hardware of brains and

computers and with introduction to the way brains are

organized, the way computers are organized, and why

they are good at such different things. We will talk about

our current research, the Ersatz Brain Project, an attempt

to design a first-class second-class brain. Enrollment

limited to 15 first year students. FYS

James Anderson MonWedFri 10:00-

10:50

Fall 2013 CLPS0050B S01 15568 The Two Visual Systems:

Visual Perception and Control

of Action (formerly COGS

0100C)

In a series of theoretical articles, Melvyn Goodale and his

collaborators have proposed that separate, but interacting

visual systems have evolved for the perception of objects

on the one hand and the control of actions directed at

those objects on the other hand. This seminar will cover

the basic literature addressing this problem with studies

involving human and animal studies. Enrollment limited to

20 first year students. FYS

Fulvio Domini TuesThurs 1:00-2:20

Fall 2013 CLPS0050J S01 16265 Psychology of Creativity This course is a first year seminar intended to introduce

students to the lively word of creativity and the science

thereof. Classic and contemporary readings will be

discussed covering topics ranging from theory and

assessment to applications in education, product design,

organizational behavior, the arts, and science itself.

Students will also be nudged to become more mindful of

the role of creativity in their everyday lives. The course will

emphasize class discussion and the production of tangible

projects. Enrollment limited to 20 first year students. FYS

Joachim Krueger MonWedFri 12:00-

12:50

Fall 2013 COLT0610D S01 14342 Rites of Passage Examines a seemingly universal theme-coming of age-by

focusing on texts from disparate periods and cultures.

Proposes that notions of "growing up" are profoundly

inflected by issues of class, gender and race, and that the

literary representation of these matters changes drastically

over time. Texts from the Middle Ages to the present;

authors drawn from Chrétien de Troyes, Quevedo,

Prévost, Balzac, Brontë, Twain, Faulkner, Vesaas, Rhys,

Satrapi and Foer. Enrollment limited to 20 first year

students. FYS

Arnold Weinstein TuesThurs 1:00-2:20

*Fall 2013 EDUC0400 S01 14778 The Campus on Fire:

American Colleges and

Universities in the 1960's

Ole Miss, Berkeley, Columbia, and Kent State: just a few

of the campus battlegrounds where conflicts over civil

rights, the Vietnam War, and other major issues were

fought in the 1960's. Students consult primary and

secondary sources about higher education's role in these

conflicts, and why the consequences of its involvement

still linger today. Enrollment limited to 20 first year

students. FYS WRIT

Luther Spoehr MonWedFri 11:00-

11:50

*Fall 2013 ENGL0360E S01 14513 The Medieval King Arthur Where did stories of King Arthur come from and how did

they develop in the Middle Ages? We will read the earliest

narratives of King Arthur and his companions, in histories

and romances from Celtic, Anglo- Norman, and Middle

English sources, to examine Arthur's varying personas of

warrior, king, lover, thief. Enrollment limited to 20 first-year

students.

Elizabeth Bryan TuesThurs 2:30-3:50

*Fall 2013 ENGL0360F S01 14514 Shakespeare's Present Tense Shakespeare in Love suggests how Shakespeare was

clued in to elite and popular cultures. Current adaptations

like O and 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU demonstrate

how Shakespeare provides anachronistic clues to issues

of the present. This course will trace such clues by

examining the cultural origins and ongoing adaptations of

Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Othello, Twelfth Night, Henry

V, and the sonnets. Enrollment limited to 20 first-year

students. FYS

Stephen Foley TuesThurs 10:30-11:50

*Fall 2013 ENGL0560E S01 14516 Inventing America One of the distinguishing features of American literature

may be its seemingly constant struggle with the idea of

America itself. For what, these authors wonder,

does/should America stand? We will examine the

rhetorical battles waged in some major works over the

meaning and/or meanings of America’s national identity.

Authors may include Franklin, Hawthorne, and Fitzgerald.

Limited to 20 first-year students. Instructor permission

required. FYS LILE WRIT

James Egan Wed 3:00-5:20

Fall 2013 ENGL0760H S01 14591 Realism and Modernism The novel as a genre has been closely identified with the

act of representation. What it means to represent "reality,"

however, has varied widely. This seminar will explore how

the representation of reality changes as modern fiction

questions the assumptions about knowing, language, and

society that defined the great tradition of realism. English

and American novels will be the primary focus of our

attention, but influential French, German, and Russian

works will be studied as well. Limited to 20 first-year

students. Banner registration after classes begin requires

instructor approval. FYS LILE

Paul Armstrong MonWedFri 11:00-

11:50

*Fall 2013 ENVS0070C S01 15258 Transcending Transportation

Impacts

Students will be engaged in interdisciplinary analyses of

the life-cycle costs, environmental impacts, technical

developments, and policy innovations at the local and

regional level. We will discuss technical modifications in

vehicles, such as plug-in hybrids, as well as policy and

planning on intermodal systems, recycle-a-bike programs,

intelligent transportation systems, and other innovations.

Enrollment limited to 20 first year students. Instructor

permission required. FYS LILE WRIT

Kurt Teichert Tues 4:00-6:20

*Fall 2013 ENVS0070D S01 15249 The Misuse of Scientific

Information in American Life

Many important political issues hinge on matters of

science or technology. But most Americans are ill-

equipped to assess these matters. As a result, we are

vulnerable to spin when scientific information is distorted,

cherry-picked or otherwise misused to advance financial,

political or even religious goals. This course examines

ways these phenomena skew public discussion of climate

change, vaccine safety, the teaching of evolution, cancer

screening, GM food and a host of other issues. Enrollment

Cornelia Dean TuesThurs 2:30-3:50

*Fall 2013 GEOL0160C S01 15317 Global Environmental Change Examination of evidence that supports or refutes various

perspectives on global environmental change, with a

foundation in the principles that govern the fundamental

underlying processes. Example topics include climate

change (warming, cooling, neutral), population growth

(how many, how fast), and loss of natural resources

(diversity). Topics explored through selected readings from

the natural and social sciences. Enrollment limited to 20

first year students. FYS

John Mustard MonWedFri 10:00-

10:50

*Fall 2013 GEOL0160E S01 16356 Volcanos, Windows into the

Deep Earth

Examines the physical and chemical principles controlling

the generation of volcanoes and their different styles of

eruption. Investigates where and why volcanoes occur,

and what volcanic lavas can tell us about the composition

and evolution of the Earth and other planets. Evaluates

volcanic hazards and the economic benefits and cultural

aspects of volcanism. Two-day field trip. Enrollment


Alberto Saal

*Fall 2013 GEOL0160N S01 15985 Monsters of the Abyss:

Oceanography and Sea Tales

We will read from the logbooks of Cook, Darwin, Wallace,

and Nansen. Their discoveries and expeditions inspired

and were inspired by fiction that we will also read,

including Moby Dick and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

The daring successes and cannibalistic dooms of the

Essex, Beagle, Terror, Challenger, and Fram inspired 19th

century writers to imagine what lay far across and deep

beneath the oceans. These retellings--fictional, narrative,

and scientific--helped formulate and fund further research.

Who risks their life for a bird, a map, a widow, or an

eclipse? How would these scientists and their ideas do

today? Enrollment limited to 20 first year students. FYS

Baylor Fox-Kemper TuesThurs 1:00-2:20

*Fall 2013 GRMN0750B S01 14910 Tales of Vampirism and the

Uncanny

This course compares literary texts of horror and haunting

in English and German Romanticism. The psychoanalytic

foundations of vampirism are discussed to enable

students to boldly go beyond mere fandom and engage

these texts on a more sophisticated level. Readings by

Walpole, Coleridge, Poe, Tieck, E.T.A. Hoffmann and

others. In English. Enrollment limited to 20 first year

students. FYS

Thomas Kniesche TuesThurs 10:30-11:50

Fall 2013 HISP0750M S01 14167 The Spanish Civil War:

Image, Text, and Memory

The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) has inspired a vast

trove of scholarly and artistic production. In this course,

we will analyze documentary and feature-length Spanish

films in order to understand the social and political causes

of the war and its central players. We will complement our

film discussions with relevant poetry, novels, and art works

to expand our critical perspectives on ways of representing

and remembering the Civil War. In Spanish for first-year

students with SAT II of 750 or above, a 5 on the AP

Literature exam, or a Brown Placement Test score of 651

or above. Enrollment limited to 20 first year students. FYS

Beth Bauer MonWedFri 2:00-2:50

*Fall 2013 HIST0970A S01 14545 Object Histories: The Material

Culture of Early America

History is not just about people; it is also about things!

Come explore the world of early America through the lens

of objects--boats, dresses, plows, houses, wagons,

watches, silver cups, wigs, blankets, land, gardens,

hammers, desks--and the cultures that produced and

consumed them. As a first year seminar, this course is

designed to engagingly introduce students to the basic

concepts of historical study. We will take several field trips

to local historical sites, both on and off campus. Our

primary focus will be specific objects and their contexts

and histories. Enrollment limited to 20 first year students.

FYS WRIT

Linford Fisher Thurs 4:00-6:20

Fall 2013 HIST0970J S01 14653 Slavery and Historical

Memory in the United States

How has America chosen to remember and forget the

enslavement of millions of its own people? What are

appropriate ways to acknowledge slavery in monuments,

museum exhibitions, film, literature, and public policy? By

approaching these questions through a wide range of

visual and textual sources, we will explore the

indeterminate space between history and memory.

Enrollment limited to 20 first year students. FYS WRIT

Seth Rockman Wed 3:00-5:20

Fall 2013 HIST0970P S01 14860 Culture and U.S. Empire This seminar examines the relationship of American

culture to U.S. imperial project. We will look at how

cultural ideologies such as those about race, gender, and

American exceptionalism have not only shaped

Americans' interactions with other peoples but also

justified the spread of U.S. power. Enrollment limited to 20

first year students. FYS

Naoko Shibusawa Mon 3:00-5:20

Fall 2013 HIST0971E S01 14662 The U.S. and the Middle East:

Image and Imperialism

The Middle East has figured prominently, in narrative and

image, in the Western imagination. We will assess some

of those narratives and images in their historical contexts,

first tracing U.S. - Middle Eastern relations in the 19th and

20th centuries, then focusing our attention on

representations of the Middle East in sources such as

diplomatic reports, films, travel narratives, religious tracts,

magazine advertising, and cartoons. Topics include the

role of the press, the creation of the Middle Eastern "bad

guy," imagining the "Oriental" female and male, imperial

ethnographies, and visions of the "Holy Land." Enrollment

limited to 20 first year students. Instructor permission

required. FYS WRIT

Palmira Brummett Tues 4:00-6:20

Fall 2013 HIST0971G S01 15309 The Age of Revolutions, 1760-

1824

In the middle of the eighteenth century, the Americas

belonged to a handful of European monarchies; within a

few decades, most of the Americas was composed of

independent republics, some of the European monarchs

were either deposed or quaking on their thrones. Usually

considered separately, revolutions in British North

America, France, Saint-Domingue (Haiti) and Spanish

America had diverse local circumstances yet composed a

single cycle of intellectual ferment, imperial reform,

accelerating violence and, forging of new political

communities. We will examine revolutions that helped

create the world we live in. Enrollment limited to 20 first

year students. FYS WRIT

Jeremy Mumford Thurs 4:00-6:20

*Fall 2013 HIST0971I S01 15957 Science and Society in

Darwin's England

This course is a first year seminar designed to introduce

students to the study of history. It will be divided into two

very different parts. The first part will be organized as a

traditional history seminar in which we explore together the

world in which Darwin developed his theory of the Origin of

Species. The second part will be a historical re-enactment

of an 1863 discussion in Britain's Royal Society about

whether to award Darwin their highest honor, the Copley

Medal. Enrollment limited to 20 first year students. FYS

Joan Richards TuesThurs 6:30-7:50

*Fall 2013 HIST0971J S01 15948 Athens, Jerusalem, and

Baghdad: Three Civilizations,

One Tradition

This FYS examines the core beliefs of early Greek,

Jewish, Christian, and Islamic civilizations that form the

basis of Western thought. Serving a similar ideological

purpose in the pre-modern world as have political and

economic theories for the modern world, religion and

philosophy defined individual lives and collective identities.

We focus on the manner of appropriation and modification

of thought from one culture to another in order to

appreciate that there is far more similarity than difference

in belief systems among what are today viewed as

separate, even contesting, cultures. Enrollment limited to

20 first year students. Instructor permission required. FYS

WRIT

Kenneth Sacks Mon 3:00-5:20

Fall 2013 HIST0971M S01 15694 The Rise of Abolitionism in

the Atlantic World: Americas,

Europe, and Africa

This class examines the rise of abolitionism and

colonialism in the Atlantic world in the eighteenth and

nineteenth centuries. We will begin by analyzing the

intellectual, political, and economic foundations of the

movement for the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade,

assessing its spread and impact to the Americas and

Africa. The class devotes significant attention to the

suppression of the slave trade in the Lusophone Atlantic

world (Angola, Brazil, and Portugal). Enrollment limited to

20 first year students. FYS WRIT

TBA

Wed 10:00-12:20

Fall 2013 ITAL0951 S01 15802 The Grand Tour, or a Room

with a View: Italy and the

Imagination of Others

Italy has for many decades been the place to which

people traveled in order to both encounter something quite

alien to their own identities and yet a place where they

were supposed to find themselves, indeed to construct

their proper selves. This course introduces students to

some of the most important texts that describe this "grand

tour." Readings, both literary and travelogues by Goethe,

De Stael, Henry James, Hawthorne, Freud, among others,

and films like "A Room With a View" - all in order to

determine the ways in which Italy "means" for the cultural

imagination of Western civilization. Enrollment limited to

20 first year students. FYS

Suzanne Stewart-

Steinberg

Mon 3:00-5:20

*Fall 2013 JUDS0050A S01 15619 Believers, Agnostics, and

Atheists in Contemporary

Fiction

Contemporary society is divided over issues of religious

faith. In recent decades there has been a resurgence of

religious faith, while at the same time many have been

skeptical and even hostile to religious belief and practice.

Others are just not sure what to believe. In this seminar,

we will read and discuss contemporary short stories that

explore the ways that these ongoing differences over

spiritual matters affect people. These works portray a

variety of human situations: the affirmation and rejection of

religious faith, confusion over the existence and nature of

God, and positive and negative views of religious

institutions and the clergy who lead them. Writers of both

Christian and Jewish background will be studied.


David Jacobson MonWedFri 10:00-

10:50

Fall 2013 JUDS0050L S01 15824 The Jew in the Modern World How have Jews come to terms with dynamic nature of the

Modern World? How has life in new places and new times

affected Jewish life? We will look at the changing

structures of Jewish identity in the modern period as the

Jews came to terms with their new, and ever changing

situation in society. Each week a different form of Jewish

identity will be examined in its specific historical setting.

Among others we will look at a Court Jew, an Enlightened

Jew, a Jewish Nationalist, a Jew in a Nazi Ghetto, an

Israeli Jew, and a contemporary American Jew.


LILE WRIT

Adam Teller Mon 3:00-5:20

Fall 2013 LITR0110A S04 14669 Fiction I A workshop for students who have little or no previous

experience in writing fiction. Enrollment limited to 17 per

section. This course is limited to undergraduates. S/NC.

WRIT TBA

Fri 3:00-5:20

Fall 2013 LITR0110B S03 14672 Poetry I A workshop for students who have little or no previous

experience in writing poetry. Enrollment limited to 17 per


WRIT

TBA

Thurs 5:00-7:20

Fall 2013 LITR0710 S01 14684 Writers on Writing Seminar Offers students an introduction to the study of literature

(including works from more than one genre) with special

attention given to a writer's way of reading. This course

will include visits to the course by contemporary writers

who will read to the class and talk about their work.


Joanna Howard TuesThurs 2:30-3:50

Fall 2013 MATH0010B S01 14981 Exploring the Fourth

Dimension

This interdisciplinary seminar explores all the mathematics

students have seen or ever will see, concentrating on an

engaging topic that begins with elementary geometry and

branches out to literature, history, philosophy, and art as

well as physics and other sciences. Guideposts to the

fourth dimension include Salvador Dali's Corpus

Hypercubicus, Edwin Abbott Abbott's Flatland, and Jeff

Weeks' The Shape of Space. Students will investigate

new mathematical topics such as combinatorics, regular

polytopes, topology, and non-Euclidean geometry.

Although students will use computers for visualization, no

computer experience is required. There are no specific

mathematical prerequisites except curiosity and a

willingness to participate actively. Students considering

concentrations in humanities, social sciences, and the arts

are especially invited to this first-year seminar. Enrollment


Thomas Banchoff TuesThurs 2:30-3:50

Fall 2013 MUSC0021H S01 15522 Manifestos: Art, Politics and

the Idea of Progress

Ever since Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote their

"Communist Manifesto" (1848), artists, activists and

politicians have used manifestos to announce radical

change and justify provocative new ideas or practices.

This seminar examines the manifesto as a genre of writing

with a particularly strong influence on artistic movements

in 20th century Modernism. Looking at examples by poets,

musicians, and visual artists, we consider how they are

informed by visions of progress, social action, political

efficacy, and artistic or historical necessity. Authors

include Russolo, Apollinaire, Schoenberg, Munch, Klee,

Kandinsky, Stravinsky, Dali, Borges, Artaud, Frank

O'Hara, Duchamp, Mallarmé, and Boulez. Enrollment

limited to 20 first year students. FYS WRIT

Dana Gooley TuesThurs 2:30-3:50

*Fall 2013 PHIL0200E S01 15251 Global Justice In this course we will study contemporary treatments of

issues including the following: Is patriotism a morally

respectable stance? Is war ever morally permitted? What

are the moral rules of conduct within a war? Are soldiers

permissibly targeted in a way that others are not? How

should obligations to remediate global climate change be

distributed across developed nations (who have

disproportionately contributed to the problem) and

developing nations (given that economic development

tends to produce pollution)? There will be short reading

reports and two papers. Enrollment limited to 20 first year

students. FYS WRIT

David Estlund Mon 3:00-5:20

Fall 2013 PHP0050 S01 16562 Pain and the Human

Condition: Exploring the

Science, Medicine, and

Culture of Pain

Pain is a universal human experience, yet it is highly

subjective. For most, pain represents an occasionally

unpleasant, self-limited experience. However, for others,

chronic pain persists beyond the recovery from an injury or

as a result of a chronic health condition. Persons with

chronic pain often describe their pain as permeating every

aspects of their lives. While an active area of research,

pain remains a significant challenge to the individual

seeking treatment, the health care provider and society.

This multidisciplinary course introduces students to

scientific, medical, and public health aspects of pain and

explores personal narratives and cultural meanings of

pain. Enrollment limited to 20 first year students. FYS

Nisha G. Trivedi TuesThurs 01:00 pm -

02:20 pm

*Fall 2013 POBS0810 S01 15676 Belonging and Displacement:

Cross-Cultural Identities

Focuses on the representation of immigrants, migrants

and other "border crossers" in contemporary literature

from Brazil and other countries. How do people respond to

the loss of home and the shift to a new culture? Is "going

home" possible? How do individuals deal with their dual or

triple identities? Piñon, Lispector, Scliar, Rushdie, Salih,

Cristina Garcia, V. S. Naipaul and others. Conducted in

English. Enrollment limited to 20 first year students. FYS

WRIT

Patricia Sobral TuesThurs 9:00-10:20

*Fall 2013 POBS0910 S01 15684 On the Dawn of Modernity We will analyze how a new mindset that would later be

called modernity slowly emerged from the medieval world

and how the trials and errors of the 15th and 16th century

navigators helped shape that transformation. The seminar

is interdisciplinary insofar as the readings will include

developments in astronomy, geography, shipbuilding,

mathematics, philosophy, as well as what could be called

early anthropology, as stepping stones to the first scientific

revolution. Conducted in English. Enrollment limited to:

20. Reserved for First Year students. FYS LILE WRIT

Onesimo Almeida

*Fall 2013 POLS0820B S01 14432 The Politics of Leadership Many people are placed in leadership positions but most

never become real leaders. What separates leaders and

non-leaders? What are the characteristics of a real

leader? The course will focus on American politics and

investigate two institutional arenas: the presidency and

congress. Several case studies will be investigated where

people use different skills to perform leaderhsip roles.

Among the factors to be considered are; personal

qualities, prior preparation, selection of a challenge and

the use of rhetorical skills. Enrollment limited to 20 first

year students. FYS

Roger Cobb Mon 3:00-5:20

Fall 2013 POLS0820D S01 14439 Freedom What is freedom? Is it important? How do we know? What

should we do about it? We will analyze the different

conceptions of liberty - liberal egalitarian, classical liberal,

Marxist, and fascist views. We will determine how the

various aspects of freedom - political, personal,

psychological, economic, and moral - are complementary,

and determine what sorts of institutions promote or

undermine these aspects. Enrollment limited to 20 first


John Tomasi Wed 3:00-5:20

Fall 2013 PPAI0700J S01 15331 Comparative Policies:

Analyzing Policy Making

Around the Globe

Who determines how public policy is made? Do public

policies reflect what voters want, or do lobbyists,

politicians, and bureaucrats really make the decisions?

What factors motivate these different actors?

This course examines public policy from the perspective of

comparative politics. Over the course of the semester, we

will examine policy making in the US and a number of

industrialized countries in Western Europe and Japan.

Topics studied include immigration policy, education

policy, and family policy.


Andrew Pennock Thurs 3:00-5:20

*Fall 2013 RELS0090F S02 16339 Friendship in the Ancient

World

How have ancient societies understood friendship, and

how do ancient ideas about friendship differ from or

resemble those of contemporary Westerners? This

seminar, a comparative investigation of the ways in which

friendship has been represented in the Hebrew Bible,

Mesopotamian literature, and Greco-Roman texts, will

addresses these and other questions through study of

materials such as the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Iliad, the

Book of Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel (on Jonathan and David),

the Wisdom of Ben Sira (Sirach), and Aristotle’s

Nicomachean Ethics. Enrollment limited to 20 first year

students. FYS

Saul Olyan Mon 3:00-5:20

Fall 2013 RELS0090G S01 15976 Women and Religion in

Classical India: From

Commoner to Queen,

Courtesan and Nun

Classical Indian religious law books present a rather grim

view of the options of women. Famously, for example,

they declare that women can have no

independence—religious, legal or otherwise. As girls, they

are under the authority of their fathers; as wives, the

authority of the husbands; and as widows, that of their

sons. The seminar will look at a variety of other

sources—Buddhist and Jain texts and stories, classical

Indian plays and literature, and, importantly, a range of

inscriptions which record the behavior of actual Indian

women—to see if this view was anything more than

theory. Enrollment limited to 20 first year students. FYS

Gregory Schopen Tues 4:00-6:20

*Fall 2013 RUSS0320C S01 15663 Demons and Angels in

Russian Literature

The literary images of fallen angels, as well as various

poetic demonologies in Russian literature extend from the

medieval apocrypha, up to famous works of the twentieth-

century literature, like, for example, Bulgakov's Master and

Margarita or Dostoevsky's Demons. Although, the Russian

literary angels are in many respects related to their

Western counterparts, the apocalyptic character of

Russian spiritual culture makes them in many respects

unique. Examining these images, the course addresses

the important questions concerning the human condition in

general. Angels as one critic said, "represent something

that was ours and that we have the potential to become

again"; their essence is otherness. Consequently, their

literary representations explore the possibilities of human

existence as well as its central paradigms like, love,

rebirth, mortality, or 'fallenness.' The course will analyze

the images of angels and fallen angels (devils) in the

works of the nineteenth and the twentieth-century Russian

prose, visual art, and film - from romanticism to

'postmodernism' - in the context of the world literature and

culture. Authors to be studied: Byron, Lermontov, Balzac,

Dostoevskii, Sologub, Bulgakov, Nabokov, Erofeev. We

will also discuss films by Tarkovskii and Wenders,

Russian icons, and paintings by Vrubel. In English.


LILE

Michal Oklot Wed 3:00-5:20

*Fall 2013 RUSS0320E S01 15344 Crime and Punishment

through Literature

The seminar will explore how texts of different epochs and

cultures, ranging from Ancient to Modern and from drama

to poem, novel, and film treat the issues of transgression,

punishment, justice, and forgiveness. We will examine

each text both in terms of its artistic merit and its place

within its cultural and historical milieu. Enrollment limited

to 20 first-year students. FYS WRIT

Vladimir Golstein Mon 3:00-5:20

Fall 2013 SOC0300K S01 14356 Inequalities and Health We start from the assumption that the social organization

of society shapes definitions and experiences of health

and illness, the distribution of diseases, and the responses

to them. We explore the relevance of social structure and

social interaction to health and well-being, emphasizing

socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, gender, and social

contexts such as relationships, families, schools, and

neighborhoods. This is not a "sociology of medicine"

course. It will not emphasize the profession of medicine,

health care policy, or health care organizations.


permission required. FYS WRIT

Susan Short Mon 3:00-5:20

Fall 2013 URBN 0320 S01

Urban Life in Providence: An

Introduction

This first-year seminar is an interdisciplinary exploration of

cities and city life. Using Providence as a first-hand case

study, students understand urban life and change –

examining local history, the diverse configurations of

people and place, social-environmental concerns, and

urban sustainability. Course activities include lectures,

discussion, writing, films, and local excursions.

Rebecca Carter W 3-5:20

*Spring 2014 AMST0150K S01 25284 Culture, Communities, and

Change

Studying varied organizations such as museums,

community arts groups, rock bands, and dance

companies, this seminar works on three levels. Students

consider the role of cultural production in local, national,

and international economies and lives; think about

methods for studying creative communities; and write the

"biographies" of Providence cultural organizations. Issues

of tourism, representation, hierarchy, urban space, and

social change as well as questions about who puts culture

to work and the role of cultural workers will be addressed.

We will consider public humanities, engaged scholarship

and community organizing as methods as we explore the

Providence cultural scene. Enrollment limited to 17 first


Susan Smulyan Wed 3:00-5:20

Spring 2014 ANTH0066N S01 25415 Peoples and Cultures of

Greater Mexico

This course will focus on the cultural area known as

Greater Mexico, incorporating Mexicans resident south of

the Rio Grande, as well as the approximately 25 million

Mexicans living permanently or for at a time in the United

States. Specific topics to be covered in the class include:

urban peasants and rural proletarians, recent challenges

to gender conventions, national and international

migration, nationalism and the changing meanings of the

Conquest and colonial periods, land and indigenous rights,

Matthew Gutmann

Spring 2014 BIOL0150A S01 23664 Techniques and Analyses

using DNA-Based

Biotechnology

Students will study and practice a range of methods used

in molecular biology while examining the ways in which

those tools are used in research and in the development

of medical treatments. This experience, combined with the

reading and discussion of selected papers from the

primary literature, fosters development of a skill set

critically important for the modern day biology student.

Expected background: high school Biology course.


permission required. Half-credit course. S/NC. FYS

Jody Hall

Spring 2014 BIOL0150C S01 23665 Methods for Extraction and

Analyzing Secondary

Metabolites of Medicinal

Plants

Plant secondary metabolites are currently the subject of

much research interest when investigating new target

compounds for potential medicine from natural products.

New leads for drugs and phytomedicines from plants and

plant parts have been increasing at a rapid rate especially

by the pharmaceutical industry. Many plants have been

selected and collected for their specific secondary

compounds and healing powers by ethnobotanists in the

field. The final step is the extraction, analyzing and

identification of these plant specimens. Enrollment limited

to 10 first year students. Instructor permission required.

Half-credit course. S/NC. FYS

Fred Jackson

Spring 2014 BIOL0150D S01 23809 Techniques in Regenerative

Medicine: Cells, Scaffolds and

Staining

Regenerative Medicine, also known as Tissue

Engineering, is the process of creating living, functional

tissues to repair or replace native tissue or organ functions

that have been lost due to disease or congenital defects.

As such, it is a prominent scientific discipline that can

either "stand alone" or complement material-based

research efforts in the areas of device design, drug

delivery, diagnostics and pharmaceuticals. Students will

develop proficiencies in basic cell culture techniques, early

stage tissue regeneration strategies and histochemical

characterization of mammalian cell constructs. Enrollment

limited to 10 first year students. Instructor permission

required. Half-credit course. S/NC. FYS

Beth Zielinski-

Habershaw

Spring 2014 CHEM0080F S01 25550 Kitchen Chemistry Have you ever wondered why olive oil is a liquid but butter

is solid? Or why bread and cookies rise when baked? This

Kitchen Chemistry course is an experimental approach to

chemistry, as seen in cooking. We will examine topics

such as trans fats, baking soda as a leavening agent in

baking, ripening of fruit, artificial sweeteners, GMOs, and

enzymatic and non-enzymatic browning of foods. Edible

experiments will be used to discuss the science behind

recipes. Enrollment limited to 14 first year students. FYS

WRIT

Sara Delaney TBD

Spring 2014 CLPS0050I S01 24796 Art and Science of Learning The course will emphasize normal adult learning, in

comparison with learning of special populations,

nonhuman animals, and computers. Topics will include

perceptual learning, memorization, search, conditioning in

changing environments, and motor learning. The role of

types and amount of practice, motivation, and talent in the

development of expertise in art, music, dance, science,

sports, and games will be examined. Readings will be

based on laboratory experiments and case histories of

experts in a range of fields. Enrollment limited to 20 first

year students. FYS

Russell Church

TBA

Spring 2014 EDUC0410B S01 24070 Controversies in American

Education Policy: A

Multidisciplinary Approach

Introduces perspectives on education based in history,

economics, sociology, and political science. Students

engage foundational texts in each of these fields, using

the insights gained to examine controversial issues in

American education policy, including policies to address

ethnic disparities in student achievement, test-based

accountability, class-size reduction, and school choice.


John Papay MonWedFri 2:00-2:50

Spring 2014 EDUC0410E S01 24073 Empowering Youth: Insights

from Research on Urban

Adolescents

Together, we consider the design, analysis, and

interpretation of research on youth in urban settings. In

doing so, we examine the roles of power, privilege, and

multiculturalism in research. In the experiential component

of the course, students engage in fieldwork in a local

school or community-based youth organization. As part of

their fieldwork, students design and undertake a research

project, thereby bridging theory with practice. Reserved for

First Year students. Enrollment limited to 20 first year

students. Instructor permission required. FYS DVPS

WRIT

TBA TuesThurs 1:00-2:20

Spring 2014 ENGL0760O S01 24407 The Terrible Century Although the term "terrorism" was coined in the 18th

century, and although its contemporary resonance has

reached an unprecedented pitch, the truly terrible century

was arguably the 20th. This course introduces 20th

century literature in English through a historical and

philosophical examination of terror and terrorism. We will

focus on several historical contexts, including: British

colonialism in Ireland and Africa, South African apartheid,

and the post 9/11 world. Readings include Conrad,

Bowen, Farrell, Gordimer, Coetzee, Foulds, Walters,

Hamid. Enrollment limited to 20 first-year students. FYS

Timothy Bewes Wed 3:00-5:20

Spring 2014 ENGN0120A S01 24997 Crossing the Consumer

Chasm by Design

Technologies have shaped human life since tools were

sticks and flints to today's hydrocarbon powered, silicon

managed era. Some spread throughout society; bread,

cell phones, airlines, but most never do; personal jet

packs, Apple Newton, freeze dried ice cream.

Space Tourism, the Segway, electric cars: Can we predict

which ones will cross the chasm to broad application?

Can we help them to by combining design, engineering,

marketing, communications, education, art, and business

strategies? Student teams identify potential new products,

conceptualize, package, and define their business mode.

By plotting their course across the chasm, we confront the

cross-disciplinary barriers to realizing benefits from

technology. Enrollment limited to 18 first year students.

Instructor permission required. FYS WRIT

Richard Fleeter Thurs 4:00-6:20

Spring 2014 ENGN0120B S01 24998 Crossing the Space Chasm

Through Engineering Design

Five decades of human activity in space has provided the

world community with benefits including instant global

communications and positioning, human and robotic

exploration of the moon, planets and sun, and a

perspective of earth which continues to inform and

influence our relationship with our environment. Unlike

other technical revolutions of the 20th century space has

not transitioned to a commercial, consumer market

commodity. Rather its users and applications remain

primarily large and institutional. To experience the

challenges of engineering design and of changing an

industrial paradigm, we will work in one or several groups

to identify a use of space, and a plan for its

implementation, that could help transition space from its

status as a niche technology. Through the process of

design, we will confront the technical, economic, societal

and political barriers to obtaining increased benefits from

technologies in general, and space in particular, and to

making new technologies beneficial to a wider range of

users. Enrollment limited to 18 first year students.


Richard Fleeter MonWedFri 11:00-

11:50

Spring 2014 FREN0720A S01 24463 From Courtly Love to

Postmodern Desire

From twelth-century courtly literature fo contemporary film,

this course explores the enduring romance between

French culture and Eros. The ambiguities of desire are

brought to the fore across changing religious and social

contexts. Readings include Duras, Flaubert, Freud, and

Baudrillard. Open to students who receive a 5 (AP test),

700 and above (SAT II) or with instructor's permission.

Open to first year students only. Please email

[email protected] if you have questions. FYS

Virginia Krause MonWedFri 2:00-2:50

Spring 2014 GNSS0090C S01 24434 Reproductive Health: Science

and Politics

Reproductive health issues such as contraception,

abortion, sexually transmitted infections and gay and

lesbian health are some of the most controversial and

politically charged issues in the US today. After an

introduction to the interpretation of medical literature we

will explore scientific, political, religious and cultural

aspects of these important public policy issues.

Successful national and international programs will be

discussed. Although all views are welcome, it is expected

that students will be respectful of other's opinions and will

incorporate the best available scientific data into their

conclusions. Enrollment limited to 20 first year students.

Instructor permission required. FYS DVPS WRIT

Sarah Fox TuesThurs 2:30-3:50

Spring 2014 GRMN0750E S01 25427 Reading Film: An Introduction

to German Cinema

What is it that fascinates us about cinema? What desires

and drives have held us in thrall to the moving image?

This seminar introduces you to writing about film, not just

within the specific field of media studies but within the

humanities as a whole. We will examine 12 filmic

examples (ranging from early silent film to contemporary

popular cinema) alongside a selection of theoretical and

historical readings. The course will impart the basic skills

needed to write in a critical, reflective, and rigorous way

about film. For those interested in film in the context of any

humanities field. Enrollment limited to 20 first year

students. FYS WRIT

Zachary Sng Mon 3:00-5:20

*Spring 2014 HIST0970S S01 23977 Sport in American History This course covers the relationship of sports to aspects of

American culture since 1900. Topics include gender, race,

amateurism, professionalism, intercollegiate athletics, and

sports heroes. Enrollment limited to 20 first year students.

FYS

Howard Chudacoff TuesThurs 1:00-2:20

Spring 2014 LITR0110A S03 23937 Fiction I A workshop for students who have little or no previous

experience in writing fiction. Enrollment limited to 17 per


WRIT TBA

Mon 3:00-5:20

Spring 2014 LITR0110B S04 23942 Poetry I A workshop for students who have little or no previous

experience in writing poetry. Enrollment limited to 17 per


WRIT TBA

Thurs 5:00-7:20

Spring 2014 LITR0710 S01 23953 Writers on Writing Seminar Offers students an introduction to the study of literature

(including works from more than one genre) with special

attention given to a writer's way of reading. This course

will include visits to the course by contemporary writers

who will read to the class and talk about their work.


Forrest Gander Fri 3:00-5:20

Spring 2014 MCM0800J S01 25294 The Revolution is Being

Photographed

The course will examine the following idea: revolution is

not an epoch making event but a dialect, a genre and

grammar of practices and gestures. Images and moving

images will be read as the "written" signs of this dialect,

which document more and less known revolutionary

moments. The recurrent familiar gestures repeated by the

demonstrators will be studied as components of a

language rather than planned actions carried out to

achieve a given goal. The recurrence of the same idioms

and gestures in various parts of the world requires

questioning the universal and regional dimension of this

language. Enrollment limited to 20 first year students. FYS

Ariella Azoulay TuesThurs 2:30-3:50

Spring 2014 MCM0800K S01 25291 Pirates! This course examines the figure of the pirate and

understandings of piracy from Treasure Island and Pirates

of the Caribbean to Pirate Bay and the WTO–that is, from

sea-faring pirates and early print culture to the Internet and

"pirate modernity." What do pirates do, mean, stand for,

teach us? Readings, discussions and screenings will focus

on both the history of pirates and piracy as well as the

Joshua Neves Wed 3:00-5:20

Spring 2014 PHP0030 S01 24846 Health of Hispaniola Two developing countries, Dominican Republic and Haiti,

have widely differing health outcomes despite centuries of

shared experience on the Caribbean Island of Hispaniola.

This course will examine the history, politics, economics,

culture, international relations, demography, and

geography, as well as epidemiology and health services,

to demonstrate that multiple factors, both recent and long-

standing, determine the present health of these

populations. Enrollment limited to 20 first year students.


Timothy Empkie Thurs 4:00-6:20

Spring 2014 PHYS0100 S01 24889 Flat Earth to Quantum

Uncertainty: On the Nature

and Meaning of Scientific

Explanation

Physics has had a dramatic impact on our conception of

the universe, our ideas concerning the nature of

knowledge, and our view of ourselves. Philosophy,

sometimes inspired by developments in physics,

considers the impact of such developments on our lives.

In this seminar, students will explore how classical and

modern physical theory have affected our view of the

cosmos, of ourselves as human beings, as well as our

view of the relation of mathematical or physical structures

to 'truth' or 'reality.' Through a study of physics as well as

selected philosophical readings, we will consider how we

can know anything, from seemingly simple facts to

whether a machine is conscious. Enrollment limited to 20

first year students. Instructor permission required. FYS

WRIT

Leon Cooper TuesThurs 6:30-7:50

*Spring 2014 RELS0090H S01 25216 The Bible and Social Media The success of the Protestant Reformation has been

linked to the invention of the printing press. The Bible's

translation into vernacular languages and its mass

production meant that for the first time, people could read

and interpret the scriptures outside the Church. Now, the

internet and social media such as Facebook and Twitter

give people a new way to access, interpret, and use the

Bible at home. This course will examine the Bible's use

within social media in American culture. We'll look at

tweeting the Bible, blogging, podcasting, and the

popularity of Bible memes through sites like tumblr and

reddit. Enrollment limited to 20 first year students. FYS

Nicola Denzey Mon 3:00-5:20

Spring 2014 SOC0300C S01 25511 The Nature of Community What is community? How can it best be organized and

developed? How can communities contribute to social

justice? This course investigates such questions by

examining the nature of community life, rights and

responsibilities of individuals in relation to communities,

approaches to community service, and the roles of

leadership, ritual, and narrative in community building.


Ann Dill Tues 12:00-2:30

Spring 2014 SOC0300D S01 23774 Who Am I? A study of self in contemporary society. We examine the

structural and situational forces that shape the self and

their impact on personal development, orientations to the

world, and interpersonal behavior; we investigate the

development of the self as a way of being in the world that

makes everyday doings and, ultimately society, possible.


permission required. FYS WRIT

Gregory Elliott Mon 3:00-5:20

Spring 2014 SOC0300L S01 23775 Environment and Society in

Africa

This seminar will actively examine contemporary

environmental issues in Africa. The African setting is a

key site for the world's environmental challenges and

polices, with a large number of highly visible and valued

flora, fauna, and ecosystems. At the same time, Africa

nations are severely pressed with competing social issues:

poverty, economic development, health, refugees. How

can these be reconciled? What roles do the many actors

play? This course is multidisciplinary in orientation and

broad in scope geographically. Seminar discussion

admits a variety of perspectives. Readings span a wide

variety of approaches. Enrollment limited to 20 first year

students. S/NC. FYS

Michael White TuesThurs 1:00-2:20

Wed 3:00-5:20

Documents

First Year Seminars 2013-14