Revised Courses for spring 2019
ANTH053 PO. Language and Globalization. C. Evers. This course covers how language and human movement have been intertwined over time, from early human dispersals through modern migrations. We begin by looking at how the evolution of language was tightly linked to the evolution of bipedalism in our Homo lineage. Students will gain an understanding of how language evolved in conjunction with human locomotion and will read recent research on human dispersals and how language diversified as people moved around the globe. After studying this picture of linguistic diversity, we then ask why it is that so many similarities remain between languages separated by great distances. What do these similarities, called language universals, reveal about human cognition? Turning subsequently to modern migrations, we interrogate what might be learned about the nature of globalization by looking at how people are using language today. If globalization is often described as the dissolution of the nation-state in favor of global forces like “the market” and transnational organizations, how might speech practices attest to the continued relevance of the local in the construction of human identity? Examples from many different contexts will be contrasted in order to better understand the varying outcomes that result when language communities come into contact (e.g., language shift/maintenance/endangerment, diglossia, dialect leveling, code-switching), and also the identity dynamics and power relations at hand in each of these situations. The course has a speaking-intensive overlay and uses films alongside readings to explore each unit’s key topics.
Credit: 1
When Offered: Spring 2019.
BIOL002A PO. Science, Power, and LGBTQ Identities w/ Lab. R. Levin. Explores the scientific method in the fields of genetics, endocrinology, physiology, development and evolution to see how biology informs our understanding of gender and identity. Discussion focuses on the use and abuse of the information generated by biological research and how science changes as cultural values and the political climate shift. Letter grade only.
Credit: 1
When Offered: Spring 2019.
EA 030E PO: Environmental Science – East Asia. M. Los Huertos. This Environmental Analysis Program core course introduces the basic principles of environmental science with applications in chemistry, ecology, and geology. It is part of the core course requirements for the Environmental Analysis major and designed to prepare students to work in East Asia. The course provides a natural science foundation for Environmental Science. Topics covered include a discussion of ecosystems, climate change, energy and food production, land resources, pollution, and sustainable development. A full laboratory accompanies the course and includes field and laboratory work and introduces Geographical Information System (GIS) mapping and statistics. Prerequisites: EA 010 PO or by permission of the instructor. Co-requisite: EA 021 CM. Letter grade only. Previously offered as EA 031 PO.
Credit: 1
When Offered: Spring 2019.
ENGL170 PO. Legal Guardianship and the Novel. S. Raff. This course examines the guardian both as an evolving legal category and as a character populating that “form for orphans,” the novel. Through readings in legal texts as well as novels by Austen, Dickens, and James, we will ask how guardianship intersects with such concepts as ownership, representation, and especially authorship. Some attention to guardianship’s bearing on histories of slavery, voting rights, and aesthetics, as well as on contemporary problems such as mass incarceration and our failing stewardship of the earth. Prerequisites: ENGL067 PO. Letter grade only.
Credit: 1
When Offered: Spring 2019.
ENGL170J PO. The Works of Toni Morrison. V. Thomas. This senior seminar explores the complexities of Toni Morrison’s fiction and criticism in the contexts of Black feminist theory, African Diaspora literacies, and American literary and social history. Prerequisites: ENGL 067 PO. (TH, H5, RC, GS, DG, 170)
Credit: 1
When Offered: Spring 2019.
GEOL189C PO. Oceans on a Habitable Planet: Past and Present. M. Prokopenko. This course covers basic principles of physical, chemical and biological oceanography, with elements of paleoceanography and climate studies. Topics include: origins of oceans, origin of life, ocean circulation and biogeochemical cycling, global change on various timescales and chemical/isotopic traces of past ocean/climate history. Emphasis on specific topics is subject to change from year to year depending on student interests. A quantitative component introduces students to simple geochemical modeling (e.g. box models of element cycling). A blend of lectures, student-led seminar discussions, and hands-on modeling exercises will make up class meetings; course project work will make use of the Geology department geochemical and/or computational research facilities. Prerequisites: either GEOL015 PO or any version of a GEOL020 PO course or an introductory level chemistry course. The course is offered as an intermediate level elective. Letter grade only.
Credit: 1
When Offered: Spring 2019.
GERM152H PO. Drama as Experiment. F. von Schwerin-High. German dramatists from the Enlightenment to the 20th-century struggled to create possibilities for human dignity in a hostile universe. Beginning with Naturalism, they also delved into new topics: class struggle, sexuality, and the problematic nature of human communication. In the process, traditional forms were undermined and the very notions of character, plot, and dramatic performance were questioned. Prerequisites: GERM 044 PO or equivalent. Previously offered as GERM152 PO.
Credit: 0.5
When Offered: Spring 2019.
GRMT170 PO. Culture of Nature: Green Movements. H. Rindisbacher. This concept-and theory-focused course analyzes forms of discourses on nature and the environment in their historical emergence, development, and contemporary usages. It investigates representations of nature, from anonymous observations to the rise of scientific and scholarly debate, followed by political and commercial utilization. It unfolds broader frameworks of how culture has always shaped scientific and environmental debates, supported political views, and provided social values. The course is comparative and links European and American cultural-historical contexts. Specific recent topics include emergence of Green thinking, anti-nuclear and peace movements, advertisement and environmental esthetics, degrowth, climate change, and others.
Credit: 1
When Offered: Spring 2019.
HIST043 PO. The Middle East in Modern Times. A. Khazeni. Survey of the social, political and cultural history of the Middle East and North Africa since 1500, examining the transition from the age of empires to the emergence of nation-building projects in the region. Subjects include state and society under early modern Islamic empires; Western colonialism and imperialism; the integration of the region into the world economy; and the emergence of the nation-state system in the Middle East and North Africa. (Africa/African Diaspora, South Asia, and the Middle East)
Credit: 1
When Offered: Each spring.
HIST101CVPO. Earliest Christian Views of Islam. K. Wolf. The “rise of Islam” is associated with a century-long expansion of political control over the eastern, southern, and western shores of the Mediterranean, areas that had been under Christian control of one sort or another. How Christian commentators came to terms with this remarkable religio-political transformation of their world is the subject of this research seminar. The first half of the course will be dedicated to a common set of readings and common assignments. The second half will feature individual research projects related to the subject of the course. Letter grade only. Previously offered as HIST119 PO.
Credit: 1
When Offered: Spring 2019.
HIST136 PO. Afro-Latin America (CP). A. Mayes. This class examines the history of socio-cultural anthropology and contemporary anthropology regarding African-descended peoples, social movements, and communities in Latin America and the Caribbean in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. One goal is to probe the continued relevance of analytical frameworks such as creolization, transculturation, acculturation, and Black diaspora studies. This class is a Community Partnership course for which students are required to either a) work with a community partner through the semester or b) conduct research and participate in a service opportunity during the spring break. Previously offered as HIST145 PO.
Credit: 1
When Offered: Spring 2019.
MUS 051 PO. Engaging Music. C. Rockwell. This course seeks to expand and refine one’s active engagement with composed music throughout history, from plainchant and Palestrina to Bach and Mozart, from Beethoven and Wagner to Stravinsky and Adams, from Duke Ellington and The Carter Family to Umm Kulthum and the Beatles, and from Bob Dylan and Billie Holiday to more contemporary artists such as Radiohead and Beyonce. (Actual course content will vary from semester to semester.) Emphasis on developing skills of close and critical listening to gain an awareness of and fluency with different musical styles, approaches, and functions. Focuses on the various forms and genres of music (e.g., symphony, opera, motet, ballad, gospel, film).
Credit: 1
When Offered: Each semester.
PHIL185L PO. Topics in Epistemology, Metaphysics and the Philosophy of the Mind. A. Burgess. An examination of various issues in contemporary epistemology, metaphysics, and philosophy of mind. Topics may include the nature of consciousness, mental causation, the relationship between the mental and the physical, the nature of epistemic justification and the status of testimony as a source of knowledge. Prerequisites: a PHIL course. May be repeated for credit.
Credit: 1
When Offered: Spring 2019.
PHYS185 PO. Introduction to Materials Science. D. Tanenbaum. This seminar will showcase current interdisciplinary research methods of modeling and characterizing materials and devices. Materials studied may include polymers, amorphous, polycrystalline and crystalline solids. Thermal, electronic and optical properties will be studied not only in theory, but also in laboratory demonstrations. Topics will include charge transport, band structure, semiconductors, superconductivity, quantum confinement, and spins. Applications of these topics to modern electronics, energy generation, and sensors will be discussed. Experimental methods that will be discussed and demonstrated may include diffraction, electron and scanned probe microscopies, x-ray scattering, optical and mass spectroscopies.
Credit: 1
When Offered: Spring 2019.
POLI190B PO. Senior Seminar in Comparative and International Politics. H. Williams. Poses the question of what rapid migration from countryside to city and over national borders in the 21st century means for class structure, culture, institutions, gender, forms of organization, and allocation of scarce resources. Letter grade only. Prerequisites: POLI 005 PO or POLI 008 PO or equivalent.
Credit: 1
When Offered: Each semester.
PPA 079 PO. Health Policy and Management. A. Quinley. A seminar on comparative health care policy among selected countries including the US. We will explore cost and access to health care and consider how some countries are successful in creating effective health care systems at a reasonable cost and others are not. We will also look at how different health care systems respond to the needs of key population groups including the affluent, the poor, the elderly, the LBGT community and immigrants. Letter grade only.
Credit: 1
When Offered: Each semester.
RLST002 PO. Ideas of Love. O. Eisenstadt. We read texts from the Western canon and compare their presentations of love. Questions that might be raised include: How is love presented differently in different eras and why? Does love mean something different in philosophical texts and theological texts? And how have ideas of love supported conceptions of virtue, ethics, power, and meaning? Course texts include works by Plato, Augustine, Shakespeare, and Orwell.
Credit: 1
When Offered: Spring 2019.
RUSS183 PO. What’s So Funny?–Comedy in Russian Literature and Film. L. Rudova. Introduction to comic works of film and fiction from the 19th and 20th centuries. Textual analysis, class discussion, oral reports, composition, advanced work on grammar and stylistics. Prerequisites: RUSS 044 PO or equivalent.
Credit: 1
When Offered: Spring 2019.
SOC 090 PO. Globalizations. C. Beck. Are we at the end of an era of globalization? Strained alliances, trade wars, rising nationalism, and reactions to migration suggest a coming shift in the international system. The course explores what globalization has wrought in the present and the past, and considers phenomena like transnational civil society, economic cycles, inter- and intra-state conflict, and social change. The course is partially taught in tutorial style. Letter grade only.
Credit: 1
When Offered: Spring 2019.
THEA022 PO. Lighting and Projection Technology. J. Favreau. A dynamic, hands-on introduction to the materials and equipment of lighting and projections for the theatre and related forms. The course focuses on light and electricity, lenses and reflectors, instruments, lighting systems and intensity control and projections. The course also features an exploration of cutting-edge lighting and projection technology, including the newer generation of computer control consoles, LED instruments and intelligent fixtures and projection systems. Production lab work is required.
Credit: 1
When Offered: Spring 2019.
THEA054C PO. The Speaking Voice. M. Prahl. In all professions but especially for performers, special skills are required for speaking expressively. In today’s world simply knowing your subject isn’t enough. In this experience based class you will learn techniques to access the mind-body connection that will allow you to release your unique and expressive voice. You will leave the class with skills that will enhance your life and career. Offered concurrently with Intermediate Acting. The Speaking Voice serves as a lab for the actor to develop a process for tackling every type of text. Topics include: phonation, articulation, resonation, and projection as well as breath support. Co-requisites: THEA012 PO. Students must have already taken or are currently enrolled in THEA012 PO. Pass/No credit grading only. May be repeated four times for credit.
Credit: 0.5
When Offered: Each semester.
Revised Courses for fall 2019
ANTH144 PO. Anthropology of Environmental Justice. J. Nucho. This course is a critical examination of the entangled political, economic, social and environmental impacts of mundane and large-scale infrastructures like sanitation systems that deal with sewage, recycling or trash, telecommunications, roads, bridges, electricity grids, dams, canals and others. By taking infrastructures seriously as processes that can be made to enable (or impede) certain kinds of relations or movements, as well as devices that can function as important symbolic projects, this class will raise a number of interrelated questions. What sorts of histories become apparent when looking at the emergence of particular kinds of infrastructures? How can we approach questions of environmental justice by studying the mundane infrastructures of daily life? Which communities are made more vulnerable to risk by particular kinds of infrastructure planning, and how can we address these questions using qualitative, ethnographic methods? Previously offered as ANTH189Q PO.
Credit: 1
When offered: Offered alternate years; next offered fall 2019.
ASAM190F PO. Senior Seminar. S. Goto. This is the capstone seminar for senior Asian American studies majors (minors optional). The seminar is designed to bring seniors together to discuss and assess their understanding of Asian American studies practice and theory at The Claremont Colleges and beyond. We will engage in minor research activities, read and analyze provocative books and articles and revisit key issues and controversies. Course is equivalent to ASAM190H PO. Previously offered as ASAM190 PO.
Credit: 1
When offered: Each fall.
CHST028 CH. Introduction to Central American Studies. A. Zimmerman. This course is an interdisciplinary introduction to the transnational histories, politics, and cultures of contemporary Central America and Central American diasporas in the United States. Topics include the role of Central America in the development of U.S. empire and its influence in the western hemisphere, racial and ethnic relations, the Central American civil wars, migration, transnational social movements, and the experiences of Central Americans in the United States. We will draw from case study and ethnographic research, testimonies, and audio-visual material to understand the perspectives and first hand experiences of Central Americans.
Credit: 1
When offered: Each spring.
CHST128 CH. Latino/a citizenship: race, rights, and resistance. A. Zimmerman. This course examines the normative and political dilemmas of citizenship and belonging through the lived experiences of Latino/a communities in the United States. Citizenship is typically thought of as state-granted universal membership in the national community with a guarantee of equality through civil, political, and social rights. However, citizenship is also a terrain of social struggle in which marginalized groups contest their exclusion. Historically, Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, and other non-Whites have been restricted from full and equal standing in the nation. The high growth-rate of Latino/as since the 1970s has further challenged the notion of liberal inclusion. The key issue of undocumented migration and controversies over ‘illegality’ further complicate the significance of Latino citizenship within the borders of the United States. This class will incorporate interdisciplinary scholarship, focusing on how Latino/as have claimed rights in the shadow of citizenship. We will draw from legal and political theory, feminist theory, and critical race theory, as well as ethnographies and case studies that surface how citizenship is enacted and embodied. By the end of the course, students will understand the origins of nation-state citizenship, the role that race, gender, class, and labor played in shaping the legal parameters of American citizenship. Students will also be able to analyze how globalization, migration, and U.S. foreign and economic policies have challenged and transformed citizenship. Finally, students will analyze the different ways that subaltern communities have redefined citizenship through in their daily lives.
Credit: 1
When offered: Each fall.
CHST136 CH. Chicano/a Latino/a Social Movements: Identity, Power, and Resistance. A. Zimmerman. Through the lenses of identity, power, and resistance, this course provides an introduction to Chicano/a and Latino/a social movements from the 1960’s to the present. We will consider a wide range of movements, including Chicano student activism, Puerto Rican decolonial movements, labor, civil rights, Chicana feminism, Third World liberation, immigrants’ rights, and LGBTQIA liberation. We will explore, among other things, how movements were formed and sustained; the social and historical contexts for their emergence and demise; the impact they might have had on power, on participants in the movement, on the community at large, and on a people’s vision of a liberated future. After a summarizing look at how coloniality has shaped Latino/a community formation in the United States, we will review the circumstances under which Mexican Americans, Chicano/as Puerto Ricans, and Central Americans were racialized as ‘ethnic minorities’ and how this process informed the formation of their collective identities. Through confrontation, negotiation, accommodation, and resistance, Latinos have challenged institutional exclusion, American colonialism, and U.S. race relations. We will examine legislation, litigation, and other forms of social mobilization activities such as strikes, boycotts, walkouts, sit-ins, marches, as well as the forms of media and cultural production.Along the way, students will develop a deeper understanding of the ways in which social movements differ between generation, subgroup, and region. Indeed, students will foster a growing awareness about movement distinctions around themes such as race, place, class, nationality, gender, sexuality and ideology.
Credit: 1
When offered: Each fall.
FREN152 PO. Literature as Resistance. M. Waller. How do literary works challenge so-called natural hierarchies such as class, race, and gender? Do they also reinforce them? Our corpus focuses on masters, servants and slaves in order to ask who is, and should be, on top. Famous plays by Moliére and Beaumarchais expose the absurdity of traditional class and gender relations. Best-selling novels by Montesquieu and Mme de Graffigny about a Persian harem and a kidnapped Peruvian princess highlight despotism, xenophobia, and racism. Course concludes with your analysis of current representations of these issues. Reading, writing, and discussion in French. Prerequisites: FREN044 PO.
Credit: 1
When offered: Offered alternate years; next offered fall 2019.
GRMT131 PO. Germany Today. F. von Schwerin-High. Explores current and emerging topics regarding Germany in the European and transatlantic context. Topics range from media and communication to literature, commemoration and education to ecology and current events. Course provides an up-to-date and comprehensive yet focused inquiry into specific developments relevant for contemporary society. May be repeated once for credit.
Credit: 1
When offered: Offered alternate years; next offered spring 2020.
IR 118 PO. International Economic Relations. S. Marks. The principles and theories of international trade and finance in historical context. Topics include the bases for international trade in comparative advantage and economies of scale, foreign direct investment, immigration, trade policies and related political economy issues, foreign exchange markets, balance of payments accounting and the national income and product accounts, macroeconomic policies in an open economy, monetary union, international monetary systems, and financial crises. Does not count for Economics major or minor credit. IR 118 PO and ECON 123 PO may not both be taken for credit. Letter grade only. Prerequisites: ECON 051 PO. Course is equivalent to ECON123 PO. Previously offered as ECON113 PO.
Credit: 1
When offered: Each spring.
PSYC190 PO. Senior Seminar in Psychology. P. Smiley. An overview and integration of psychology that examines the nature of basic and applied research and theory in the field. Lecture, discussion and in-class presentations. Letter grade only. Concurrent requisites: PSYC190R PO.
Credit: 0.5
When offered: Each fall.
PSYC190R PO. Senior Research in Psychology. P. Smiley. Students will design an original empirical investigation under the guidance of a department faculty member and produce a written research proposal. Letter grade only. Concurrent requisites: PSYC190R PO.
Credit: 0.5
When offered: Each fall.
RLST107 PO. Buddhist Modernity in Twentieth-Century China. Z. Ng. During China’s transition from imperial rule to modern state, traditional religions were challenged with the seemingly inevitable fate of being erased by modernizing and secularizing forces. To meet intellectual, social and political challenges that included state persecution. Buddhist leaders poured their efforts into rearticulating Buddhism under a spectrum of approaches defined by two polarities: (1) conservatives who emphasized restoring Tradition and (2) progressives who favored modernization. We will look at the Buddhist adaptations to modernity, particularly the modern state, from the perspective of religious history, exploring how metaphors of “Tradition” versus “Innovation” can be used toward the preservation and revitalization of religion. Letter grade only. Prerequisites: Any previous course in Religious Studies or Asian Studies.
Credit: 1
When offered: Offered alternate years; next offered fall 2019.
THEA024 PO. Theatrical Sound Technology. J. Favreau. A dynamic, hands-on introduction to the equipment and techniques involved in creating sound for the theatre and related performance forms. The course explores the physics of sound, sound production, amplification and playback and sound control. The course also features an exploration of cutting-edge sound technology, including a range of computerized application in live performance. Production lab and/or production crewing required.
Credit: 1
When offered: Offered alternate years; next offered fall 2019.
THEA082 PO. The Magic of Theatrical Light. James P. Taylor. An introduction to the creation of artistically appropriate lighting for theatre and related forms. Once mastery of lighting equipment is achieved, students explore the artistic use of light through a variety of dynamic hands-on creative projects. This project work is supplemented by reading, discussion and play attendance.
Credit: 1
When offered: Each fall.
THEA084 PO. Projection/Media Design for Theatre. J. Favreau. An introduction to projection design, the newest, most exciting, and most interdisciplinary design area of theatre and related fields. This dynamic, project-based course will examine both the technical and design aspects of artistic 2-D, 3-D, and moving graphic projection. Coursework includes both still and moving media content for playback in a range of theatrical environments. The course also features an introduction to projection hardware, including the use of projectors, LED walls, and media control systems. Once mastery of the hardware has been achieved, the course will focus on the process of creative transformations from dramatic texts into dynamic 2-D, 3-D, and moving artistic expressions for the stage. Letter grade only. Previously offered as THEA025 PO.
Credit: 1
When offered: Each fall.
