A study of Milton's poetry and prose in the context of religious and political upheavals in mid-seventeenth-century England. Particular emphasis is on Lycidas and Paradise Lost.
A study of the poetry and poetic theory of British romanticism. Included is an examination of such writers as Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, and Keats.
A study of several major Victorian authors, including Charles Dickens, Charlotte Brontë, George Eliot, Thomas Hardy, and Oscar Wilde.
Like Abraham Lincoln’s announcement of “a new birth of freedom” in the Gettysburg Address, the American literature covered in English 378 struggles to articulate, then problematize, American freedom in the era surrounding the Civil War and emancipation. What is freedom? To whom does it extend? What are its blessings and its costs? Nobody has ever thought more profoundly about these issues than the American writers who emerged before, during, and after the war America fought with itself: Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Harriet Jacobs, Emily Dickinson, Mark Twain, Henry James, Charles Chesnutt, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and others.
By turns terrifying, melancholy, and bizarre, Gothic literature channels real anxieties in monstrous forms. This course features literature of the mysterious, uncanny, supernatural, and grotesque. The specific focus of the class may vary from year to year (e.g. a special focus on American Gothic fiction, Literature of the Sublime, and so forth).
The most innovative American novelist of the twentieth century is also the writer we need to make sense of the twenty-first. “The past is never dead,” Faulkner said. “It isn’t even past.” But why isn’t it? Why can’t we, as so many Americans ask, “just move on”? Faulkner’s novels keep asking this plaintive question, his characters yearning for the freedom of the fresh start but caught by a tragic past that doesn’t want to let go. This class focuses on the major novels Faulkner wrote, in blindingly quick succession, between 1929 and 1942, what he later called his “matchless time.”
Environmental Arts & Humanities
This course considers the ways in which ethnicity, race, religion, gender, class and culture shape differential access to natural resources and a healthy living environment. Drawing on anthropological studies of local ecological knowledge, political economies and city and regional planning, the class asks how disproportionate experiences of environmental benefits and burdens can be redressed in societies around the globe. Students consider culturally-informed routes to food and water security and socioecological resilience in the wake of climate change.
A place-based introduction to the Anthropology of Religion, the seminar engages students in thoughtful examination of the relationship between religious beliefs and practices and their environmental contexts. While including the major religious traditions, the course particularly considers indigenous, historic and prehistoric sacred sites around the globe. Examining religious syncretism due to historical conquest or latter 20th century globalization, the class focuses on sacred landscapes and waterscapes.
This course considers the role of water in shaping human societies. Beginning with an examination of how the search for fresh water resources influenced the global migration of Paleolithic humans, the seminar explores theories about the relationship between the control of water through irrigation, social complexity, the emergence of state level societies, and the place of water in world cosmologies and religious ritual. The course concludes by considering contemporary water insecurity and how understanding water cultures can foster policies for socioeconomic resilience.
This seminar course involves the production of video, sound, and the moving image. Students pursue a combination of advanced assignments and self-directed projects aimed towards furthering the study of these art forms through a focused set of methods and technologies. This course can be repeated twice for credit.
A study of ecology, evolution and biological diversity, with an emphasis on scientific investigations in the natural areas in and around the university. The course, which is scheduled for one afternoon each week, meets the general education requirement for a natural science course but does not fulfill the requirement for a laboratory science course.
A study of ecology, evolution and biological diversity, with an emphasis on scientific investigations in the natural areas in and around the university. The course, which is scheduled for one afternoon each week, meets the general education requirement for a natural science course but does not fulfill the requirement for a laboratory science course.
A study of ecology, evolution and biological diversity, with an emphasis on scientific investigations in the natural areas in and around the university. The course, which is scheduled for one afternoon each week, meets the general education requirement for a natural science course but does not fulfill the requirement for a laboratory science course.
An examination of the negative impact of human activity on biological diversity and an exploration of how conservation science can be used to ameliorate that impact. Case studies are used to investigate such issues as deforestation, exotic species invasions, habitat fragmentation, endangered species protection, natural area management, and habitat restoration. Students examine critically the role of science in public policy decision-making as it relates to the protection of biodiversity in the United States. The course involves student-led discussions, guest speakers, field trips and independent research. Laboratory exercises explore the use of field techniques, GIS analysis, and population modeling as problem-solving tools in conservation biology. This course cannot be taken for credit if the student has already received credit for BIOL 209. Laboratory course.
A survey of the basic chemical principles and theories, with emphasis on applying these concepts to chemically related fields such as environmental science and biological chemistry. Topics considered include atomistic and molecular structure, kinetics, thermodynamics, and chemical equilibrium. The course's laboratory portion emphasizes the collection and interpretation of data, as well as the formation and testing of hypotheses. Lecture, three hours; laboratory, three hours.
A study of the causes of and solutions for pollution and environmental degradation weighs the value of ecosystems and their role in sustaining economic activity. Applies cost/benefit analysis to environmental issues and provides an introduction to economics of nonrenewable and renewable resources such as mines, forests, and fish.
A study of the poetry and poetic theory of British romanticism. Included is an examination of such writers as Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, and Keats.
An interdisciplinary introduction to Environmental Studies through the examination of the scientific and social aspects of environmental issues. Field components of the course focus on the University Domain and the surrounding area. This course is required for all students who major or minor in environmental studies and should be taken before the junior year.
An interdisciplinary introduction to Environmental Studies through the examination of the scientific and social aspects of environmental issues. Field components of the course focus on the University Domain and the surrounding area. This course is required for all students who major or minor in environmental studies and should be taken before the junior year.