College Writing Program

Reasoning & Writing in the College WRT 105/105E and 245

(formerly CAS 105/105E and 245)

Spring 2012

Each section has a unique content and grows out of the general WRT 105/105E course description developed by the Interdisciplinary College Writing Committee.

Content Areas:
Cultural Studies
English Language & Literature
History
Philosophy
Psychology
Science & Engineering
Extended Courses (WRT105E)
WRT 108
ESOL Program Courses

**Courses address issues of diversity

Writing about Cultural Studies

No Place Like Home: Constructing Utopia
Bunker, Sarah
MW 2:00-3:15 Morey 402 CRN 68509

In literature, utopia is a paradox, the perfect place that is nonexistent. Yet history is filled with attempts to make utopia a reality; from communes to colonies to intentional communities, utopia has long been an important (if often peripheral) part of many societies. In the first part of this course, we will read several early modern utopias, including Thomas More's "Utopia", as well as selections from ancient works that may have influenced Renaissance conceptions of utopia. After reading early modern utopian texts, we will examine some utopian communities from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Our examination of these communities will center upon their level of participation in mainstream society, their domestic practices, and factors contributing to their success or failure. Throughout the course, students will explore the following questions (among others) through writing, class discussion, and critical reading: Where can utopia be found? How (and why) is utopia constructed? How does utopia (in text and/or practice) reflect the concerns of the larger society? In this writing course, students will examine society's influence upon the construction of utopia, as well as utopian influences inherent in social reform. While exploring a number of texts, students will produce a series of short critical papers, which will culminate in an eight to ten page argumentative research paper. Peer review, self-assessment, and consistent revision will be central to the work of this course.

Fantastic Reveries: Dreaming and Desire in Literature, Art, and Film
Castleberry, Kristi
TR 9:40-10:55 Lattimore 203 CRN 68201

Many of us have had experiences in which the line between dreams and reality is unclear. We wonder if dreams represent our unconscious desires or anxieties. We wonder if they can predict the future. In some cases, dreams represent what we hope for the future. From Freudian analysis to Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I have a Dream" speech, we validate the study of dreams. And yet it is very hard to define them. Are dreams manifestations of human creativity or problem solving? Are they simply hallucinations? Can we establish a clear line between dreams and reality? Are dreams, perhaps, individual, while reality is shared? Or can dreams be cultural and reality frighteningly particular? In this class, we will attempt to grapple with such questions through formal and informal writings and group discussions of a variety works, ranging from medieval dream vision such as Chaucer's "Book of the Duchess," to texts where reality is dreamlike such as Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, to contemporary texts and films like the recent Inception. The main goal of the course is to engage in critical inquiry and to write organized and thoughtful essays using peer review, self-assessment, and revision. Students will practice various kinds of writing, and will ultimately produce an 8-10 page research paper.

Art in the Age of Globalization
Condit, Bryce
TR 12:30-1:45 Rush Rhees Library G108A CRN 68546

“Cultures are active processes of assimilation and hybridization. All cultures are mixtures of the global and local, the past and the present. Cultures are not pure states, they are active processes of hybridization.”
–John Rennie Short. Global Dimensions: Space, Place and the Contemporary World.

How has globalization affected our understanding of and relationship to the world? This has been an ongoing question for many artists in recent history. Unprecedented developments in travel, telecommunications and trade have connected our planet like never before, freeing an ever-growing number of people from traditional boundaries. This class will consider the implications of globalization through the lenses of various 20th and 21st-century artists. During the course of the semester, we will address such questions as: What makes art “global”? What effect has globalization had on artistic production? In what ways can art inform our worldviews?

Students will engage these and other issues as they develop, test, and communicate their ideas through writing a series of short papers and one longer 8-10 page paper on artists such as Andy Warhol, Noguchi Rika and Jorge Macchi. Class discussions, peer review, and self-assessments will be required to aid students in the invention process and to facilitate ongoing revision. Interdisciplinary perspectives are welcome

Science and Literature
Coyne, Justin
MW 12:30-1:45 Lattimore 431 CRN 68227

Science and literature are two fields that are often thought to have little to do with one another. Yet, for centuries, science and technology have provided the inspiration for many important works of literature. This course will explore the various ways science enters literature, from the figure of the mad scientist, to Einstein's Theory of Relativity and its influence on literary modernism, to developments in forensic science and the changing genre of detective fiction, and, of course, that hybrid genre science fiction itself. Questions that we will consider will be: what is the relationship between science and literature? How do scientific versus literary notions of truth, beauty, the human, and the natural differ? And in what ways do science and literature reinforce each other as complementary fields of human endeavor?

Weekly assignments will cover various literary genres, film, and also scientific writings by authors such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Aldous Huxley, Wallace Stephens, Philip K. Dick, Stephen Hawking, and others. Our in-class discussions of these materials will be oriented around close, critical reading practices which will lay the foundation for clear, precise, and persuasive reader-based essays. Students will submit three shorter essays and an 8-10 page research paper. The writing process itself will involve drafting, peer review, self-assessment, and revision.

Ephemeral Movements: Contemporary Dance on Film
Graham, Amanda
TR 12:30-1:45 Meliora 206 CRN 68367

More than entertainment, contemporary dance is a physical and artistic portrayal of the social landscape. Yet dance's cultural significance is often lost due to its ephemeral form. However, through video and film documentation dance is preserved and disseminated, and viewed by a global audience. Examining the mutually productive relationship between dance and film is a means of exploring topics including movement, technology, politics, the body, identity, and the limits of human vision. From Thierry De Mey's videos of Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker's dance company, Rosas, to Czech-born Yemi Akinyemi's choreography for Kanye West's music video, "Runaway," this course will explore representations of dance on the screen.

Just as dancers and filmmakers ask for reactions from their spectators, writers expect their readers to react to their arguments. Through a consideration of images, videos, criticism, and journalistic texts, we will analyze dance performances and choreography. We will use research and writing as a means of recording our own interactions with dance, in and outside of the classroom. Like the most effective of choreographers, we will experiment with form and style in order to communicate ideas and design cohesive interpretations. Course requirements include class involvement, self-assessments, peer review, a series of short review and reflection papers, and a final 8-10 page research paper.

Navigating Multiple Realities: Science Fiction and Society
Grenert, Alison
TR 11:05-12:20 Goergen 110 CRN 76275

How do filmmakers and creative writers visually and discursively shape our participation with the text, enabling us to successfully navigate unfamiliar, imaginary worlds? How do these imaginative, alternative realities interact with our own perception of reality? In order to attempt to answer these questions, the course will focus on the visual and narrative conventions of Science Fiction, specifically the socially constructed categories of gender, race, and class.

This course will bring into conversation a range of texts from literature, film, television, and popular culture. Literary texts might include works by Ursula LeGuin, Octavia Butler, and Orson Scott Card. Potential films might include Metropolis (1927), 2001: A space Odyssey (1968), and Blade Runner (1982). The broad range of science fiction texts and the diversity of media will provide students a variety entry points for their writing assignments. Through peer assessment, revision, and editing, students will develop the ability to produce clear and engaging arguments, providing them with a foundation to produce knowledge, advance claims, and conduct research in future college courses and their eventual professional lives. The final project of the course will consist of an 8-10 page research paper, critically engaging the themes and questions generated through readings, screenings, and class discussion throughout the semester.

Strikes and Gutters: Considering the Coen Brothers
Hannum, Dustin
TR 2:00-3:15 Rush Rhees Library G-108 CRN 68424

Joel and Ethan Coen, directors of films such as Barton Fink, Miller’s Crossing, The Big Lebowski, and Fargo, have garnered wide critical and popular attention for their tendency to play on a number of conventions from genres such as film noir, slapstick, gangster movies, crime thrillers, westerns, epics, and more. They often play on several different genres within the same film, making it difficult to place many of their films in any particular genre. In addition, while their films are often comic, they are just as often dark and violent—indeed, the most violent elements of their films are sometimes used for comedic effect. These tendencies make their films excellent points of departure for broader discussions of several film topics. In this class, we will view several films by the Coen brothers—including (but not limited to) True Grit, No Country for Old Men, The Big Lebowski, and O Brother Where Art Thou?—with a mind to learning how to write about film and popular culture. This will include reading what other writers had to say about the films, and learning how to join a critical discussion about these films, which we will use as the subject matter for our own discussions and writing about the Coens, their movies, genre, comedy, violence, and more. Students will be responsible for writing a series of response papers, as well as 3 shorter formal papers that will lead up to a major 8-10 page research paper. The writing process will involve drafting, peer feedback, self-assessment, and revision. In addition to this, students will be asked to participate in and contribute to class discussion on writing and the course theme.

**Battlefield Masculinities
Haught, Leah
TR 3:25-4:40 Dewey 4162 CRN 68312

Few images are as stereotypically masculine as that of a solider going to war. What is it about fighting that is supposed to be so “manly”? How do the increasing numbers of women serving in the armed forces challenge traditional notions of gendered behavior? What do these challenges suggest about how society constructs notions of gender? How do our different opinions today relate to those of other countries and time periods? Together we will explore these and other related questions while discussing an assortment of memoirs, short stories, poems, plays, and opinion pieces by authors such as the anonymous Beowulf-poet, Maxine Hong Kingston, and George Bernard Shaw. We will also examine how war has been depicted in a selection of historical documents and films, including videos made by soldiers currently deployed overseas. Through a variety of formal and informal writing assignments culminating in an 8 to 10 page research paper, students will learn to not only identify, but also actively shape their own writing processes, ultimately developing the skills necessary to be both critical and effective participants in the academic discourse of their choosing.

**Battlefield Masculinities
Haught, Leah
TR 11:05-12:20 Hylan 306 CRN 68196

**Body Politics: Shaping the Body in 20th and 21st Century America
Heck, Julianne
MW 3:25-4:40 Hylan 307 CRN 68381

In the fast-paced world of 21st century America, the body is no longer seen as a fixed entity. Rather than viewing the body as something static, we now see it as an ever-evolving project. With the phenomenal advancements made in the fields of science, medicine, and technology, we are now able to not only transform but also control our bodies in ways not imagined before. We also live in a time when there is considerable pressure and influence exerted on us—by the mass media along with governmental ordinances—which tells us how to correctly control our bodies or what exactly we are allowed to do with our bodies. In this class, we will examine a variety texts—ranging from the theoretical, such as Foucault's Discipline and Punish, to the cinematic, such as Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, to the commercial—as a way of uncovering some of the central issues surrounding notions of embodiment in order to determine how the body is read and interpreted in the United States and what these interpretations tell us about who we are. Some questions we might consider about these notions of embodiment are: which bodies are deemed as desirable/acceptable and why? How do these bodies come to achieve this status? How are bodies affected by and how do they function within consumer culture? How are identities constructed through manipulations of the body? How have medical advancements changed the way we use or perceive our bodies? How do laws function to limit the control we have over our own bodies? How is the bodily experience shaped by gender, class, race, sexuality, etc.? Together, we will work to find potential answers to these questions through group discussions and writing assignments, which will include peer-reviews and self-assessments. In our discussions and writing, we will focus on developing original questions and answers in response to the texts we will be studying and will hone our skills in critical essay writing. Class assignments will include several short papers and a final 8-10 page essay.

Can't See the Forest for the Trees: Perceptions of Landscape in Modern Culture
Johnson, Valerie
TR 11:05-12:20 Hylan 307 CRN 68585

This course will examine the development of modern attitudes towards nature and landscape, especially the perception that human and "natural" environments are mutually exclusive. We will begin by exploring the Western European medieval attitudes which have partially shaped modern perceptions of landscape, and continue with post-medieval works of authors and artists who have intertwined politics and ecology. The course will use readings, class discussions, and informal writing assignments to examine and investigate the assumptions underlying American perceptions of nature, and thus directly affecting ecological policies. The class will consider the topic from multiple perspectives, such as literary and cultural "eco-critics," ecologists, and forestry experts. Formal writing assignments will include several short papers and one longer argumentative research paper of approximately 8-10 pages. All formal assignments will incorporate a revision process, which will include drafts, revisions, peer feedback, and self-assessments.

Can't See the Forest for the Trees: Perceptions of Landscape in Modern Culture
Johnson, Valerie
TR 2:00-3:15 Hylan 303 CRN 68394

**Go West, Young Scholars: The Many Faces of the West in American Culture
Knopf, Nicholas
TR 6:15-7:30 Rush Rhees Library 304 CRN 68330

This course will focus on how Americans have interpreted the American west since the late nineteenth century. Our course will focus on how specific conflicts over identity, natural and economic resources, and political debates in the region relate to national challenges. Students will apply multiple disciplines—chiefly literary studies, history, ecology, and economics—to perform careful analyses of literary works, visual art, and music. We will foreground themes that have engaged critics of the west for generations. Major themes will include: the challenge of defining "authenticity," the ideology of American exceptionalism, and how changes in the image of western heroes reflect developments in Americans' understanding of America's role in the world. Coursework features regular peer feedback, development of strategies of self-assessment and revision, and several written assignments, culminating in an 8-10 page argumentative research paper.

Comparative Cosmologies: World Creation Stories
Newmark, Samantha
TR 2:00-3:15 Rush Rhees Library G-108A CRN 68560

Whence do we come? Countless civilizations sought to understand and explain the existence of humankind and the world around it. Many societies created a cosmology that explained the most important aspects of the world in which they live. What can one understand about a culture through its cosmology? What elements do stories from different parts of the globe share? Why might these topics be so common in creation stories?
This course will examine various cosmologies from around the world and across time. Texts will include the Maya Popol Vuh, the Babylonian Enuma Elish, and even a part of J.R.R. Tolkien's Silmarilion, along with other Western, New World, and modern excerpts. These stories will be approached through an anthropological lens, seeking to understand why societies created the mythical framework they did. The emphasis of the course will be argumentative writing, requiring several short papers and one final 8-10 page research paper. Students will learn basic argumentative and rhetorical skills, and use peer review and self-assessment in order to improve their academic writing.

Nostalgia
Rhodes, Sharon
MW 4:50-6:05 Morey 506 CRN 68486

Nostalgia
noun
a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations

Originally coined in the 18th century to name a medical condition, nostalgia has transformed over the years to mean "sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past." In this course we will explore how nostalgia can rewrite the past, why writers, and humans in general, so often believe in long lost golden years, and what purpose this belief may serve. What gives rise to nostalgia? Do different causes make for different versions of this feeling? Further, how can homesickness exist for a time or place that was never home, and is nostalgia harmless, or does it injure our ability to live well? In spite of its modern definition, is nostalgia a disease? In the interest of informing our discussions we will read a variety of nostalgic texts from selections from the works of Alfred Tennyson and Kazuo Ishiguro to Old English elegies (in translation), historical texts and essays. Students will explore these questions and practice the fundamentals of college level writing--peer and self assessment, revision and editing--through a variety of assignments: in class writing exercises, a short nostalgic essay and a final 8-10 page research paper.

Walkabout: Examining Identity Abroad
Stokes, Daniel
MW 2:00-3:15 Hylan 206 CRN 68216

Traveling allows us to journey outside of ourselves, to leave our real lives behind and exist, for a time, in a different place, in a different lifestyle, and, potentially, as different people. By seeing other parts of the world, people expand their knowledge about alien cultures and individuals, learn to imagine different ways to exist as human beings, and can often gain new perspectives, not only on the world in which they inhabit, but about their own place within that world. In this section of WRT 105, we will be reading and viewing literature and films that center around the idea of traveling as a vehicle for self-exploration. We will be discussing such topics as what value there might be in learning about the rest of the world from first-hand experience; who individuals become when they leave the comforts and restrictions of the known and reinvent themselves in foreign places among foreign peoples; how itinerant communities form; and how individuals translate their selves to new communities in alien environments. Students will hone their writing skills, learning the tools of argument, analysis, organization, revision, and editing, while exploring their own ideas. The class will utilize informal writing exercises and discussion to help students develop and test ideas. Students will write three formal essays and an eight-to-ten page research paper; they will learn how to develop and support their own arguments, engage with academic sources, and critique their own, as well as their fellow classmates', compositions.

**American Dreams
Sydelnik, Stefanie
MW 2:00-3:15 Rush Rhees Library G-108A CRN 76032

Stories of individual opportunity and self-made success are a mainstay of American history and culture. Despite their diversity, these narratives are classified together as manifestations of "the American Dream." This phrase permeates our national discourse, shaping our conceptions of success and failure, but we rarely step back and critically evaluate its meaning. What is/are the American dream/s? Who creates the dreams? Is the dream realizable? We will address these questions, embarking on an analysis of American dreams and their role in shaping individual and national identities.

Through our examination of a diverse array of texts—film, scholarly writing, fiction—we will consider the concept of American dreams from a variety of cultural, historical, and disciplinary perspectives. Course materials will include: Sugar (2008), a film that explores the journey of a Dominican baseball player trying to make it in American baseball; sociologist John Brueggemann's Rich, Free, and Miserable (2010), a critique of the negative consequences brought about by the logic of the market that so often fuels our quests for better lives; and Forrest Gump (1994), a Hollywood blockbuster whose hero's success pushes the concept of the American dream to its extreme. These texts will provide themes and arguments for us to consider as we develop strategies for becoming more confident and effective academic writers; the course will emphasize the writing process, incorporating informal writing, self-assessment, peer-review, and frequent revision. Formal paper assignments include three shorter analytical papers and an eight to ten page argumentative research paper.

The Dungeon and the Ivory Tower: Gaming Across Disciplines
Wasmoen, Nikolaus
TR 12:30-1:45 Rush Rhees Library 304 CRN 68459

Video games became an object of popular debate in the 1980's, when consoles and arcade machines found a wide audience. This debate has tended to limit itself to the sociological and psychological effects of video games on individuals. More recently, however, researchers from an array of fields have opened a much broader set of quantitative and qualitative approaches to the study of video games. Today scholars are developing methods for the investigation of games and their uses within disciplines including education, cognitive science, medicine, economics, anthropology, media studies, cultural studies, art history, and literature, among yet others. As a class, we will explore several of these approaches and the fundamental questions they pose. In the first section of the course we will focus on video games as cultural objects, asking how a video game reflects the social and historical contexts of its production and its use. In the second section of the course we will question how the various codes and protocols underlying video games reflect on human relationships to systems, rules, laws, and conventions more generally. Finally, we will address the use of video games in cognitive science to ask what video games reveal about the workings of the mind and the brain. Students will develop their own responses to these and other interdisciplinary problems raised by video games and gamers in dialogue with critics such as Espen J. Aarseth, Jesper Juul, Nick Montfort, and N. Katherine Hayles. A series of informal response papers and short formal essays will prepare students to design and launch their own extended critique of one or more video games in a final 8-10 page argumentative research paper. This course prepares students for writing in the college by developing clear, effective argumentative prose through a process of peer feedback, self-assessment, and revision.

Wiseguys & Goodfellas: Organized Crime in Popular Culture
Katie Van Wert
TR 9:40-10:55 Morey 505 CRN 68445

What should we make of the recent explosion in popular representations of organized crime? What are the powers and limitations of the crime fiction genre, and what sort of window does it open onto the politics of violence, gender, family, justice, and markets? In what ways is the Mafia like any American business? And if murder, prostitution, and drugs are the name of the game, why does my little brother have a poster of Scarface on his wall? To answer these and other questions, we'll look at new and old classics such as The Godfather and The Departed, television incarnations such as The Sopranos and The Wire, various nonfiction accounts of organized crime culture, and critical scholarship on the subject. The thinking you do in class discussions, weekly writing assignments, and independent research will culminate in a final essay, which you will develop for presentation or publication. In the process of joining an evolving scholarly conversation, you will develop your voice as a writer through revision, peer response, and self-evaluation.

Top

Writing about English Literature & Language

What would Sherlock Holmes do? Murder, mystery and method
Bell, Laura
TR 12:30-1:45 Morey 504 CRN 68477

Much more than a guilty pleasure, reading detective fiction teaches us to think logically, to examine facts, and to decipher puzzles; it shows us how to read clues and signals and to deal with questions of knowledge and identity as we try to work out "whodunnit" and why. In giving us tools to convey ideas, organize an argument, and resolve problems, the skills we learn from reading mystery stories teach us to communicate in a clear, more compelling way.

This course will focus on a range of materials including works from American, British, and French authors. The latter part of the course will consider how the genre has evolved, for example into films, TV series, video games and board games. Students will be assessed through writing projects and an 8-10 page research paper. Peer review, self-assessment, revision, and class discussion will all be an integral part of the course.

Fantastic Reveries: Dreaming and Desire in Literature, Art, and Film
Castleberry, Kristi
TR 11:05-12:20 Lattimore 203 CRN 68201

**Risky Business: Risk-Taking in 20th century American Literature and Film
Chasin, Carly
MW 12:30-1:45 Morey 524 CRN 68303

America is obsessed with risk-taking. From gambling to extreme sports to Fear Factor, dangerous behavior pervades our society. Why are we fascinated with risk-taking, and what do the risks we take say about us? In this course, we will address these questions by exploring the theme of risk-taking in twentieth-century American literature and film. We will consider obvious forms of personal risk-taking, such as backpacking through the Alaskan wilderness, as well as more nuanced types of social risk-taking, like rebelling against traditional racial and gender norms. Using works such as Into the Wild, Passing, and Thelma and Louise, we will explore individuals' motives for risk-taking, and will consider what our fixation with risk-taking says about our society. Students will engage these topics through group discussions, formal writing assignments, and an 8-10 page final research paper. This course will also emphasize peer review, self-assessment, and revision as integral parts of the writing process.

Translating Mediums: Adapting Drama from Page to Stage to Screen
Evanochko, Dianne
MW 3:25-4:40 Rush Rhees Library G-108 CRN 68238

It is often said that when we translate a work into another language, we are in fact creating something entirely new. Translation doesn't just change the language; it fundamentally alters the text, its significance, and the way it is interpreted. Dramatic works, whether for stage or screen, always involve some form of translation. A script must first be written before it can be interpreted by directors and later adapted to fit a new medium. The questions we ask in this course are: How do we read these adapted works? How does this adaption affect interpretation, audience, and genre? And can the medium itself change the meaning of the work?

We will investigate these questions through the interpretive lenses of performance theory, theories of adaption, and audience reception theory, and examine dramatic works from a variety of mediums, from Shakespeare to YouTube videos. The goal of this exploration is to build thoughtful arguments through discussion and writing, and develop strong compositional skills in order to better express these arguments. The class work will consist of informal responses, in-class discussion, peer-assessment and self-assessment, two short analytical papers, one 8-10 page research paper, and an annotated bibliography.

African-American Women's Literature: Marginalized Community, Forgotten Legacy.
Ewans, Dave
TR 12:30-1:45 Lattimore 203 CRN 68537

This course will involve a reading of African-American women writers, tracing a legacy from Phillis Wheatley to Toni Morrison. Through reading and writing we will examine the critical position that African-American women occupy in the literary canon. We will explore the ways in which African-American women speak to forces of misogyny and racism; how they depict the experiences of women who are oppressed on multiple fronts, and how notions of community and legacy figure into the African-American woman writer's ability to reconcile her seemingly conflicted identities as woman, black, and writer.

We will engage in inquiry concerning critical race theory, feminist theory, and cultural poetics, but our discussion will be simply informed by these topics, not limited to them. The course will culminate in an 8-10 page research paper, and throughout the course, writing, sharing, and peer review will help us all to cultivate a scholarly community designed to enhance our engagement with this material in particular, and collegiate writing in general.

So What? Who Cares? Questioning Contemporary Poetry
Helm, Daniel
TR 3:25-4:40 Lattimore 413 CRN 68168

This course considers the challenges presented by poems that reshape and expand our expectations of poetry. When contemporary poets explore and extend what poetry can do, they often produce some strange results: some poems read more like prose; others don't seem to make any sense. Many contemporary poems seem unrecognizable next to more familiar ones from Shakespeare or Emily Dickinson, for example. Can poets write whatever they want? Are poems just personal expressions? This course investigates poems that might provoke such questions, supposing—since contemporary poets challenge how people interact with words—that they imply further questions about the limits and possibilities of language.

In addition to poetry, we will read and discuss relevant theory and criticism to help us articulate and critically engage problems posed by contemporary poems. Most importantly, we will use writing to think, even to discover what we think, as well as to participate intelligibly in an enduring conversation about an enduring art. The purpose of the course is to practice constructing clear and convincing argumentative papers. Because thoughtful arguments require development, the course utilizes peer review, self-assessment, and revision. Requirements are regular reading and writing assignments, and an 8-10 page research paper.

Intelligence, Common Sense & Criticism: The Life & Times of New York Intellectuals
Mills, Wesley
TR 9:40-10:55 Dewey 4162 CRN 68348

Do we as university attendees have, as Lionel Trilling claimed, "a moral obligation to be intelligent"? As students, do we owe something to the larger conversation of the academy, and is it incumbent on us to leave the academy a little better off than we found it? This class will explore the writings, ideas, ideals, and critical comments of one of the most prolific groups of writers and critics from the mid-20th Century, the New York Intellectuals. We will be reading selections from Lionel Trilling, Alfred Kazin, Mary McCarthy, Philip Rahv, Susan Sontag, and others who belonged to this group. We will also be reading selections from their literary journal, The Partisan Review. Our goal will be to explore and discover what it means to be intelligent and what it means to be part of a larger community of thinkers and scholars. In this course, students will be required to write four papers: a summary/reaction paper, an essay of claim, a literary analysis, and a larger research paper. Students will also be required to take part in peer review of those papers and self-assessment of their work. Students will also keep a journal and assemble all of their work into a final portfolio.

Un-real Depictions of Reality in 20th Century European Drama
Shukla, Abhishek
TR 2:00-3:15 Bausch & Lomb 270 CRN 68173

When we praise a book or a play, we often justify our approval by remarking that it is "true to life". To be able to speak effectively to our experience, we imply, a work of literature must be realistic: not only should it be about something we recognize as pertaining to real life, it should also articulate reality with a certain degree of formal and linguistic realism. But must this necessarily be the case? Can there be other, non-realistic, ways of writing about reality that can be equally compelling? We shall examine these questions by reading, and writing about, some of the major works of 20th century European drama, which, written amidst turbulent incidents of social and political upheavals, attempted to write about them by departing from the conventions and constraints of literary realism. We shall assess what different techniques (humor, metaphor, fantasy, etc.) the plays use to relate reality in a manner both compelling and entertaining. The dramatists we shall read will include Strindberg, Ibsen, Brecht, and Beckett. The coursework shall be designed to familiarize students with the different processes involved in academic writing. Classes will consist of discussions, peer-reviews, self-assessments, and revisions. Students shall be assessed through a number of short writing assignments and a final long paper of 8-10
pages.

The Modern Travel Narrative
Sidhu, Hardeep
TR 9:40-10:55 Lattimore 431 CRN 68295

The "traveler's tale" is a long-established literary genre: having ventured through distant and unfamiliar lands, the traveler returns to tell his or her story to a captive audience at home. The object of our course will be to consider how this genre has evolved in 20th- and 21st-century literature and film, when increasing globalization and the tourism industry have perhaps changed what it means to be a traveler, and what it means to read travel narratives. Students will analyze how writers such as Ernest Hemingway and Jack Kerouac, and films such as Lost in Translation and The Motorcycle Diaries, affect the way we think about visiting new places and cultures. What rhetorical choices and narrative techniques do these writers and filmmakers use to relate their tales? And what are the political implications of both producing and consuming travel narratives today? In class discussions and regular writing assignments (including an 8-10 page research paper), students will develop their ideas into full-fledged argumentative papers. We will practice a multi-step writing process, which will include critical self-assessment, peer review, and various revision strategies.

Fearful Innocence: Exploring Childhood in Literature, Music and Film
Vogel, Joseph
MW 4:50-6:05 Morey 502 CRN 68431

"Within us, still within us, always within us, childhood is a state of mind." –Gaston Bachelard

In this course we will explore and write in response to the ways childhood has been conceived and represented from the late 17th Century to the present. We will begin by interrogating traditional assumptions about children and childhood: Do children begin life as blank slates? How have they (and how should they) be educated and socialized? When and why does childhood end? And what role does it continue to play in the adult imagination? We will start with some early catechistic texts by Isaac Watts and Anna Barbauld, before transitioning to key philosophers like Locke and Rousseau. We will proceed by exploring representations of the Romantic child in the work of Blake, Wordsworth and Mary Shelley. With the themes and debates raised by these influential figures, we will then investigate conceptions of the child/childhood in our own time, by watching documentaries and films, examining literature (both for and about children), and listening to music. Each of these "texts" will be used to stimulate ideas for writing. The goal of the course is to use the subject matter, and its surrounding "conversations," to help students produce a series of informal, exploratory papers and two short, critical papers, all of which will prepare for the final, 8-10 page argumentative research paper. Class discussion, instructor feedback, peer feedback, self-assessment and revision will play a significant role in this course.

Animal Allegories
Yee, Pamela
TR 3:25-4:40 Lattimore 431 CRN 68274

Simba. Bambi. Pongo. Aslan. Despite their beastly forms, each of these animal characters has been immortalized as the all-too-human protagonists of our most beloved stories. Why do animals pervade our folktales and popular culture? What, if anything, do animal characters offer that human characters don't? Why are animals so prevalent in "children's literature" but comparatively rare in adult or "high" literature? And, most importantly, what do beast fables reveal about our society and values?

We will explore the ways in which authors use animal allegories as social commentary, tackling such diverse issues as morality, politics, racism, religion, and environmentalism. We will begin by looking at early natural history in the form of medieval bestiaries, move into children's literature, literary fiction, and film. Possible readings include selections from Aesop, E.B. White, C.S. Lewis, London, Kipling, Kafka, and Orwell. Through close analysis of our texts and movies, we will learn to develop our academic writing and critical thinking. Students will be expected to write several short argumentative essays as well as a final 8-10 page research paper. The course will emphasize self-assessment, revision, and peer review as crucial components of the writing process.

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Writing about History

The Individual and American Culture
Fisher, Michael
TR 2:00-3:15 Morey 502 CRN 68283

What does it mean to be an American individual in the year 2012? We live in a culture full of options, and most of us fashion goals and priorities that we think will make us both happy and free. But what are the consequences of a culture in which everyone wants to be both happy and free? Is there a conflict between these two goals? If so, how does this conflict play out in American culture? In this class we will begin exploring these questions by examining our own attitudes and assumptions about individuality and its costs. Through focused readings of American writers ranging from poet Walt Whitman to social critic Neil Postman, students will join the debate over American individualism, and try to come to terms with the meaning of this idea both presently and historically. The goal of this course will be to acquaint students with argumentative writing through multiple stages. Class meetings will include discussion of reading material, weekly writing assignments, and peer-review designed to help develop self-assessment and revision skills. By the end of the semester, students will be ready to write an 8-10 page research paper on a topic of their choosing.

American Myth, American History
Negley, Amy
MW 12:30-1:45 Morey 502 CRN 68375

Although history is often associated with facts, this course introduces and examines the significance of myth to American history. Is there any truth to the stories of Washington and the cherry tree or Paul Revere's famous ride? What role have they played in our conception of history? Our investigation of founding myths will allow us to examine how and why myths such as these are created. We will then explore the perpetuation of American myths. We will spend some time with the pioneers and cowboys of the American West, including Buffalo Bill Cody – both as a man and a character. Finally, we will explore Americans who rebel against these myths when we examine the façade of the "good old days" of the 1950s. In this course, students will learn critical skills of writing and revision. They will take part in a peer review process, perform self-assessments, and write several small papers. The course will culminate in an 8-10 page research paper that will challenge the students to think twice about the American history they thought they knew

Mind in the Machine: Technology, Culture, and the Meaning of Humanity
Picard, Danielle
TR 9:40-10:55 Bausch & Lomb 269 CRN 68269

As technology has grown to play a more prominent role in everyday life, the tension between nature and technology has appeared in a wide variety of literature, film, and other cultural artifacts. Since the Industrial Revolution, fictional mechanical men, robots, and other automata have enraptured audiences in the Western world. Using works such as Metropolis, R.U.R., Battlestar Galactica, and stories by Isaac Asimov, we will look at how the automata represent the feelings towards the increased mechanization of society and individuals at critical points in the twentieth century. In particular, we will explore how automata simultaneously reflect both the love of technology and the fear of losing what it means to be human in an increasingly mechanical world.

Students will develop their ideas through discussion, writing, and a process of peer review, self-assessment, and revision. As a capstone to the seminar, students will write an 8-10 page research paper exploring how representations of automata embody the prevailing hopes and fears of technology.

American Freethinkers and Infidels
Zogas, Peter
MW 4:50-6:05 Rush Rhees Library G-108 CRN 68558

Contemporary political discourse often stresses the importance of religious pluralism to the health of a democracy, but such discussions rarely include a serious consideration of atheists and religious non-adherents. However, political writing during the United States' revolutionary period reveals an intense debate between Christians, freethinkers, infidels (meaning those without faith), and religious non-sectarians on the role of secularism in the developing nation. Our focus in this course will be the contentious—though often immensely productive—series of conflicts engendered by such writing. We will use critical reading practices, group discussion, and analytical writing to explore a series of questions arising from this discourse: What is the place of secularism in the founding documents? Why was the separation of church and state instituted, and to what extent does it exist in practice? What is the relationship of religion to 19th-century social movements and to the 'problem' of Darwinism? Readings will include work by Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and documents surrounding the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial. Students will engage in peer-review and self-assessment, and they will complete three short essays and a longer research paper.

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Writing about Philosophy

Free Will and Moral Responsibility
Arellano, Adrian
TR 9:40-10:55 Bausch & Lomb 315 CRN 68252

Human beings are generally thought to be responsible for many of their choices and actions insofar as those choices and actions are made freely. However, different forms of determinism (e.g. causal, psychological, or theological) have also been thought to pose a threat to both freedom of the will and moral responsibility. In this course, we engage with the following questions: Why do we want free will? How much freedom do human beings actually have? How much freedom does moral responsibility require? Over the course of the semester, we will read what different determinist, indeterminist, and compatibilist theorists have proposed as answers to our guiding questions.

This course will focus on developing the writing and argumentative skills that students will employ throughout their undergraduate careers. Argumentative skills will be learned through the use of argument extraction, argument evaluation, and the development of original arguments. Students will become better writers through the use of short writing assignments, draft revision, self-assessment, peer review, and an 8-10 page argumentative research paper.

Philosophy and Science Fiction
McCain, Kevin
TR 11:05-12:20 Dewey 4162 CRN 68240

Works of science fiction often provide great illustrations of philosophical puzzles. In this course we will examine some of the perennial questions of philosophy as they are presented in works of science fiction. Through writing, we will explore such questions as: Could all of our experiences be the result of a computer simulation such as in the movie The Matrix? If we might be victims of a Matrix-type computer simulation, can we know anything about the external world? Is there such a thing as free will? If we do have free will, is it possible to predict what we will do in the future? Is time travel possible? If it is possible, can we change the past? Does the time travel in movies such as the Terminator, Back to the Future, and Hot Tub Time Machine make sense?

During the course of our examination of these issues, students will learn to extract and evaluate arguments from various philosophy texts, as well as write clear argumentative essays of their own. This will be accomplished through class discussion, peer review, self-assessment, and revision of the student's written work. Writing assignments will include several short papers and an 8-10 page research paper.

The Ethics of Discovery
Rowley, William
TR 11:05-12:20 Morey 506 CRN 68356

Science extends our knowledge of the natural world and yields technology that has improved and transformed our lives. But does science have a dark side? Current ethical issues like stem cell research, whether to allow widespread genetically modified agriculture, and the rights of research subjects deserve careful ethical thought. Is the cost of knowledge and technology ever too high? Does the promise of future advances ever outweigh human rights? Do we have a right to use knowledge and technology that we know was obtained unethically? Using resources from classical ethical theories, we will try to sort out how to answer these and other questions at the intersection of science and morality.

In examining these ethical issues, students will learn to extract and critique arguments, discuss them critically, and learn to formulate arguments of their own. Each student will write several papers during the course, including an 8-10 page research paper. Writing these papers will be supported by in-class exercises, informal writing assignments, peer review, and self-assessment.

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Writing about Psychology

Adolescence: War or Peace
Comer, Jessamy
TR 9:40-10:55 Dewey 4131 CRN 68523

Generations of adults have deplored adolescence as a time of rebellion, moodiness, peer conformity, antisocial behavior, and lack of morality. In a recent Public Agenda survey, only 37% of American adults believed that today's youth would make America a better place in the future. In fact, the most common adjectives used to describe teens were rude, irresponsible, and wild. Are adolescents really undermining the moral fabric of America? Is there truth to this "storm and stress" hypothesis? Why does society continue to believe that teens are problematic despite research evidence to the contrary? Through writing, students will be able to critically evaluate the validity of these stereotypes by comparing literature promoting the "storm and stress" hypothesis with contemporary research on adolescents.

Students will examine various sources of literature on adolescence, such as empirical journal articles, contemporary parenting books, opinion pieces from popular media, and film. These sources will provide a background for class discussion and written exploration of the role of adolescents in society. Students will develop their ideas through several short papers (both formal and informal) utilizing a process of peer review, self-assessment, and revision. Students' ideas will culminate in a formal 8-10 page research paper.

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Writing about Science & Engineering

Preventable Disease
Kaminski, Denise
TR 2:00-3:15 Rush Rhees Library 304 CRN 68514

Humans can prevent disease via sanitation, nutrition and lifestyle choices, vaccination, and pollution control. Ironically, preventable diseases still occur. For example, we have ample information about the causes and clinical consequences of obesity, yet this condition continues to increase in the U.S., and is predicted to spread to developing nations. Who is responsible for executing disease prevention? How does socioeconomic status affect the likelihood of developing a preventable disease? Should anyone be allowed to decline vaccination against devastating communicable infections? In this course, we will address these questions through literature, discussion, and writing.

We will analyze primary research articles, reviews, and policy communications addressing these issues. Each student will write three argumentative essays and one 8- to 10-page research paper. Each assignment will be peer- and self-critiqued to foster revising and improvement. These processes will help us advance as both writers and critical readers.

Disease and Society: NEW HYBRID COURSE
Schaefer, Katherine
MW 12:30-1:45 Rush Rhees Library G-108A CRN 68462

In 2008, total health care spending represented 17 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) 1, and current projections suggest that this fraction will rise rapidly in the years to come. As a society, we have to make choices about how to spend on health care, balancing the desire to achieve the best possible health for everyone with the reality of limited resources. Underlying these decisions are both ethical and practical concerns, and a coherent national health care plan requires clear answers to a number of questions. For instance, which diseases get the most attention and why? Are contagious diseases in a different class from heart disease, cancer, and diabetes? What about diseases that are devastating but that affect only a few people? How do we divide scarce resources between prevention and cure? In this class, we will explore these issues using readings, class discussions and written assignments.

Students will read and analyze a variety of sources that look at the sociological, psychological, linguistic, artistic, economic, ethical, and medical aspects of how people interact with disease and make healthcare policy decisions. Drawing from these sources, students will write three shorter argumentative papers and one comprehensive 8-10 page end of term paper. Peer feedback, self-assessment, and revision of multiple drafts will allow the student to develop the skills necessary to construct logical arguments and write persuasive essays in the academic style.

This course will meet in person once a week and online once a week. The online part of the course will require “virtual attendance” via internet link. During the “virtual attendance” part, we will interact with each other using multiple writing-based (discussion board, chat, etc.) and visual-based (taped video interactions; virtual classroom, etc.) technologies.

1 Hellander I. The deepening crisis in U.S. health care: a review of data, Spring 2008. Int J Health Serv 2008;38:607-23.

**Searching for Whales: Myth, Science, and Ecological Sustainability
Wang, Stella
TR 3:25-4:40 Rush Rhees Library 304 CRN 68184

Although the majority of us have never been in direct contact with the legendary "big fish," whales move in the deep blue of human imagination. From ancient whalebone tools and artifacts, to literature such as Beowulf, Moby Dick, and Maori myths of the whale rider, to the recent, never before recorded song of the blue whales just off the New York harbor, the elusive cetaceans continue to roam large on the horizon, evoking complex emotions towards the identity and placement of humans in the interconnected natural world. How have whales come to be associated with hero-making and to shape distinct cultural memories of marine communities around the globe? While feared, revered, and surely totemized, whales have also been intensely pursued from the Arctic to the Antarctic, consumed as a major food source, and harvested for lucrative trades involving virtually every part of the whale's body. What topics are key to the current debates concerning historical and modern whaling? In what ways, for example, might concepts such as sustenance vs. industrial whaling complicate the discussions? Where do cultural differences, economic considerations, political agency, scientific research, and ethics stand in the pro- and anti-whaling arguments? In this course we will read, watch, and consider materials that cut through genres and media in search of the monstrous fish that are neither fish nor particularly monstrous but, for all we know, are of deep psychological, cultural, and ecological significance to humans. We invite writers from the humanities, social sciences, and sciences to join our interdisciplinary conversations and research-based investigations. Along the way, all are expected to develop their critical reading, thinking, and writing skills by actively participating in the class work, including small-group and whole-class discussions, informal and formal writings, revision workshops, peer reviews, self-assessments, and individual student-initiated final research projects.

**Searching for Whales: Myth, Science, and Ecological Sustainability
Wang, Stella
MW 3:25-4:40 Hylan 303 CRN 68408

**Searching for Whales: Myth, Science, and Ecological Sustainability
Wang, Stella
TR 12:30-1:45 Rush Rhees Library G-108 CRN 68413

WRT 105E (extended)

The Machine in the Garden: Science in American Society
Havard, John
TR 11:05-12:20 Rush Rhees Library 304 CRN 68653

Although science is often idealized as a dispassionate pursuit of progress, it provokes dissension in American society. Does America's commitment to pluralism mean that the nation should respect the hostility some traditional cultures have towards science? Should we be concerned about the increasing influence politics and the market exercise on research, as in big pharmacy's impact on medical studies? In this course, students test ideas and relate discoveries while reading and writing about these and other questions; our goal is to develop expository, analytic, and argumentative skills. Readings and viewings range from Henry David Thoreau; films based on Philip K. Dick's science-fiction novels; to contemporary science journalism. Our queries guide discussions and initiate a revision-focused process through which students produce short written exercises, peer reviews, self-assessments, three formal essays, and an eight- to ten-page argumentative research paper. Students are encouraged to approach their assignments from several disciplinary perspectives.

Recitation—students must register for this with CRN 68622

**Depicting "Minority" in Film
Johnson-Olin, Martha
TR 9:40-10:55 Rush Rhees Library G-108 CRN 68664

When we watch movies, do we look for versions of ourselves onscreen? What happens when an African American child watches a film that includes only Caucasian characters? Does including one character of another race count as diversity? How do perceptions of gender undermine and/or complicate depictions of race? How does the label "minority" affect audience/reader expectations? How does one even depict the idea of "minority"? This course will explore these questions and many other ideas as it looks at depictions of race in the media, particularly in film. It will begin with a discussion of race in Disney fairy tale films before moving to discuss how racial depictions sometimes break down or become further divided when discussing gender. Through writing several smaller assignments and through regular class discussion, we will explore how representations of race potentially contribute to stereotypes, popular depictions of race, and cultural expectations. We will develop our ideas through the drafting and revising of four formal essays, and we will use peer review, self assessment, and the entire writing process to develop our ideas and arguments about the world around us. The course will culminate in the creation of an 8-10 page research paper discussing depictions of minorities in the media.

* Course Caveat: Because this course deals with films and the media, students should expect to watch a number of films outside of class.

Recitation—students must register for this with CRN 68606

**Art Against Empire
Lamperez, Joseph
TR 3:25-4:40 Rush Rhees Library G-108A CRN 68635

A protest rally, a film, a short story, and a scrawl of graffiti on a public building: could they possibly have anything in common? The working assumption of this class is that they do, since visual and literary artworks have often been used as a way to repel oppression. Our course will examine the ways in which literary and artistic productions push back against political coercion. To do this we will consider a diverse range of international works from a variety of media. In our critical conversation about these productions, we will question the place of art in society and examine whether art possesses the power to be revolutionary. Our discussions may include analysis of the documentaries War Dance and Favela Rising, filmed in The Democratic Republic of Congo and Brazil, which ask us to examine music and dance as potential areas of social resistance. Along with documentaries, we will engage with works from across disciplines and media to pose many of the following questions: What do modern street artists like Banksy and Blu have in common with Mexican muralist Diego Rivera? Can a surrealistic cinematic fairy-tale like Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, filmed shortly after the Soviet invasion of the Czech Republic, respond to the political realities of the time? Are festivals like Mexico's Day of the Dead powerful ways of questioning and even subverting authority? Our informed conversation about these works will include class discussion, informal writing assignments, and several formal papers which will engage peer review, self-assessment, and revision.

Recitation—students must register for this with CRN 68592

Comedy and Culture
Tinelli, Liz
MW 12:30-1:45 Hylan 206 CRN 81534

"She said what? How is that funny?!" This course is going to explore the concept of humor and analyze the use of comedy in popular culture. What is funny and to whom depends on a variety of factors including gender, race, age, personal values, political views and previous experiences. In this class we will watch a variety of film in addition to reading social commentaries and scholarly articles about humor and culture.

Class activities and writing assignments are designed to provide opportunities for students to critically explore ideas and readings, persuade a range of audiences, and compose compelling and effective arguments using evidence, reasoning, and a variety of sources. Informal writing assignments, readings, and formal papers will work together to inform the final eight to ten page research paper while offering opportunities for students to collaborate and capitalize on all aspects of peer review and self-assessment. The goal of this course is for students to become confident in their role as academic writers and learn to communicate effectively in any discipline.

Recitation—students must register for this with CRN 81543

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WRT 108

Workshop in Writing

M 3:30- 4:20 Morey 505 CRN 68688
F 10:00-10:50 Rush Rhees Library G-108A CRN 68697
W 12:00-12:50 Hylan 306 CRN 68700
F 1:00-1:50 Rush Rhees Library 304 CRN 68711

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ESOL Program Courses

WRT 102 (ESOL 102 Speaking and Listening II)
F 2:00-3:15 Rush Rhees Library G-108A CRN 68142
M 4:50-6:05 Hylan 303 CRN 68150
M 3:25-4:40 Rush Rhees Library 304 CRN 76061
F 12:30-1:45 Hylan 303 CRN 76158
F 12:30-1:45 Rush Rhees Library G-108 CRN 76267

WRT 104 (ESOL Research, Reading and Writing)

TR 3:25-6:05 Hylan 303 CRN 68121
Sloan, Paige
Students registering for this section must also register for CRN 68150

MW 3:25-6:05 Rush Rhees Library G-108A CRN 68139
Tinelli, Lisabeth
Students registering for this section must also register for CRN 68142

TR 9:40-12:20 Rush Rhees Library G-108A CRN 68641
Bayne, Matthew
Students registering for this section must also register for CRN 76061

TR 9:40-12:20 Hylan 303 CRN 76256
Tinelli, Lisabeth
Students registering for this section must also register for CRN 76267

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