Freshman Seminars for Fall 2004
Performing Identity
Julia Offen, Lecturer in Anthropology
What can we read from the stories
and images represented or “performed” in
popular culture? How do such media enrich our experiences of ourselves,
our communities, and our identities? This seminar explores cross-cultural
imaginations of identity in cultural performance. We examine collective
identities and social inequalities as they are expressed and negotiated
through public cultural exchange. Particular attention will be paid
to the performance of gender and sexuality in contemporary popular
culture. We will consider critical social theories, ethnographic texts
and representations from public culture film/video, television, music,
web sites, books, museum exhibits, et cetera. (Distribution)
ANTH 069.301 | Tuesday | 1:30 - 4:30
Writing Multiculturalism
Peggy Sanday, Professor of Anthropology
Diversity is a fact of life, characteristic not only of the U.S. national
culture but of the global culture as well. This course introduces anthropological
theories of culture and multiculturalism and the method of ethnography.
Students will read and report on selected classic readings. After learning
the basic concepts, students will be introduced to the method of ethnography.
The core of the course will revolve around “doing ethnography” by
writing ethnographic fieldnotes on participant/observation of multiculturalism.
Students can use their life experience, home communities or Penn as
their field of observation. The goal of the course is to introduce
beginning students to public interest anthropology. No background in
anthropology is required. (Distribution)
ANTH 146.401 or AFAM 146.401 or WSTD 146.401 | Thursday | 1:30 - 4:30
Dilemmas
in International Development
Richard Estes, Professor, School of Social Work
World social development has arrived at a critical turning point. Economically
advanced nations have made significant progress toward meeting the
basic needs of their populations; however, the majority of developing
countries have not. Problems of rapid population growth, failing economies,
famine, environmental devastation, majority/minority group conflicts,
increasing militarization, among others are pushing many developing
nations toward the brink of social chaos. This seminar exposes students
to the complex social, political, and economic forces that influence
national and international patterns of development. Particular attention
will be given to the development dilemmas confronting the developing
nations of Asia, Africa and Latin America. Attention also will be given
to helping students understand the possible choices that more economically
advanced countries can make in helping poorer countries advance their
development objectives. Students will be exposed to the interplay of
international forces that inhibit the progress of developing nations
and can actually add to their mal-development. They will undertake
an original piece of research on an international development topic
of special interest to them. They will also be invited to meet with
prominent professionals in the international development community.
(Distribution)
FRSM 106.301 | Wednesday | 2:00 - 5:00
HIV Prevention in Developing
Countries
Barbara Turner, Professor of General Internal Medicine, School of Medicine
This course will address approaches to promote HIV prevention in developing
countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. We will start with a discussion
of the HIV epidemic in Africa and consideration of the factors that
have made it so explosive. We will critically evaluate selected key
studies of HIV risk behaviors and interventions to address these behaviors
from developed and developing countries. We will consider the interplay
of HIV risk reduction and cultural norms in developing countries such
as polygamy and a male dominated society. Experts from Penn and elsewhere
will present their work on HIV epidemiology, risk behavior and prevention
in Sub-Saharan Africa as well as other developing countries. (Distribution)
HSSC 002.401 or HSOC 002.401 | Wednesday | 2:00 - 5:00
The Construction,
Prevention and Treatment of Mental Illness
David Mandell, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, School
of Medicine
This class is designed to introduce students to research and debates
surrounding the concept of mental disorder, and to help them to think
critically about these disorders’ biological and social construction.
In addition to learning about the presentation and treatment of mental
illness, they will also be introduced to concepts in epidemiology,
psychology, psychiatry and health services research, and learn about
the history of the science surrounding psychiatry and how different
beliefs at different times have influenced policy, systems, services
and treatment. (Distribution)
HSSC 050.401 or HSOC 050.401 | Thursday | 2:00 - 5:00
Declining Birth
Rates: Causes and Consequences
M. Frank Norman, Professor of Psychology
Will an individual try to have children? If so, how many? Such decisions
are among life’s most important, and they are strongly influenced
by cultural and economic factors, as well as mate availability and
preferences. Cultural and economic situations have changed drastically,
and, as a result, recent years have seen a sharp worldwide decline
in birthrate, and exceedingly low birthrates in contemporary Europe
and Japan. This “fertility transition” and its consequences
are the central topics of this seminar. In spite of the momentous personal,
social, political and economic implications of the fertility transition,
psychologists have had remarkably little to say about it, so much of
the reading in this seminar is drawn from history, sociology and demography.
Special topics are the history of contraception in this country, and
contemporary women’s career-family conflicts. (Distribution)
PSYC 006.301 | Thursday | 1:30 - 4:30
Introduction to the Social Sciences
Ivar Berg, Professor of Sociology
In an investigation into “nation building,” in accord with
the logics of the 17th and 18th Century Enlightenment Project, we will
read three short preparatory books and then embark on a very “close
reading” of Alexis deTocqueville’s classic, Democracy in
America 1835. Our current adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan will afford
us weekly opportunities to consider a number of recent historical and
comparative dimensions of “nation building,” in contrast
with deTocqueville’s report, early in the 19th century, as we
observe our 2004 federal election and the campaign that brings us another
chapter in the story of our own development as a democratic (and economic)
republic. Readers of a major newspaper, especially, will enjoy this
prospectively measurable experience! This is a Benjamin Franklin Seminar.
Non-honor students admitted by permission. (General Requirement)
SOCI 001.301 | Wednesday | 2:00 - 5:00
Gender and Development in Asia
Emily Hannum, Assistant Professor of Sociology
This seminar will focus on gendered experiences of socio-economic development
in Asia. We will discuss prominent theories about the relationship
between gender stratification and development, considering frameworks
that emphasize the role of economic growth, state policies, global
development agencies, globalization, and national and regional cultures.
We will learn about sources of empirical data for research on gender
and women in Asia. Finally, we will discuss empirical research about
gender and development in Asian countries. We will consider evidence
about women across the life course, including gender gaps in children’s
health, nutrition, schooling and work, women’s reproductive health
and rights, gender and the family, and gender, employment and income.
The class will be conducted as a mix of overview lectures, demonstrations
of how to access data sources, discussions of academic readings and
student research, and viewing and discussion of films. (Distribution)
SOCI 041.401 or AMES 084.401 | Tuesday & Thursday | 12:00 - 1:30
Sector II: History and Tradition
The Dalck and Rose Feith Family Freshman Seminar in Jewish Law and
Ethics
Barry Eichler, Associate Professor of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
How has Jewish law developed over the millennia from biblical times
to the present? What insights can this legal tradition offer us today
as we seek answers to such issues as abortion, euthanasia, genetic
research and business ethics? This course will examine the literary
and legal sources of Jewish law within a historical framework, with
special emphasis upon the development and dynamics of Jewish jurisprudence.
It will also explore the relationship between Jewish law and social
ethics. (Distribution)
AMES 152.401 or JWST 152.401 or RELS 127.401 | Monday | 2:00 - 5:00
The Cultural History of Sleep in Japan
Brigitte Steger, Mellon Fellow in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
Growing up, our parents often sent us to bed at a certain “bedtime,” which
was always much too early. We were never tired and would have preferred
to hang out with friends, read, watch TV or do anything else other
than sleep. Teachers got angry when we fell asleep during class. Both
parents and teachers passed on the proverbial: “Early to bed
and early to rise, makes a man healthy and wealthy and wise.” “In
the old days,” they would say, “people went to bed when
it got dark, and naturally got up with the sunrise,” implying
that civilization could have only advanced as far as it had because
people had stuck with these virtues. However, this assumption is both
ethnocentric and ahistoric. Wasn’t there ever a nightlife? As
students of Japanese classical literature soon learn, the shining prince
Genji and his friends and lovers (in Murasaki Shikibu’s Genji
Monogatari) were usually awake at night. Based on the assumption that
sleep, our practice and ideas of it, are deeply embedded in culturally
specific belief systems and in cultures, in this seminar we will explore
Japanese cultural history by looking at sleeping behavior (co-sleeping,
early rising, napping) and concepts of sleep and sleep time that can
be traced back through various sources, such as educational literature
including house codes and other regulations, belles-lettres (high literature),
popular writings and diaries, as well as picture scrolls, woodblock
prints and other visual sources. We will also consider material culture
of sleep such as tatami (floor mats) and futon and their implications
for sleeping behavior. Emphasis will be on the two major waves of cultural
influence; from China in ancient Japan, and from Western countries,
especially in the second half of the 19th century. We will have a look
at how people did or didn’t
absorb these influences, and compare developments relating to sleep
that are occurring in other parts of the world. (Distribution)
AMES 194.301 | Monday & Wednesday | 3:00 - 4:30
India: Ancient and
Modern
Gregory Possehl, Professor of Archaeology
This course is intended to be an introduction to the anthropological
study of South Asia. It will cover archaeology, physical anthropology,
cultural anthropology and linguistics, along with excursions into geography,
the Indian Census and gazetteers. A second focus of the class will
be an investigation of the origins of the caste system. Each student
will be expected to complete a significant research paper related to
the class, along with one class presentation. The grade for the course
will be based upon the instructor’s evaluation of each of these
exercises. (General Requirement)
ANTH 024.401 or SARS 024.401 | Tuesday & Thursday | 10:20 - 12:00
Censored!
Bethany Wiggin, Assistant Professor of German
Although its pages may appear innocuous enough, bound innocently between
non-descript covers, the book has frequently become the locus of intense
suspicion, legal legislation and various cultural struggles. But what
causes a book to blow its cover? In this course we will consider a
range of specific censorship cases in the West since the invention
of the printed book to the present day. We will consider the role of
various censorship authorities (both religious and secular) and grapple
with the timely question about whether censorship is ever justified
in building a better society. Case studies will focus on many well-known
figures (such as Martin Luther, John Milton, Voltaire, Benjamin Franklin,
Goethe, Karl Marx and Salman Rushdie) as well as lesser-known authors,
particularly Anonymous (who may have chosen to conceal her identity
to avoid pursuit by the censor). All readings and lectures in English.
(Distribution)
GRMN 003.301 | Tuesday & Thursday | 1:30 - 3:00
Superstition and
Erudition: Daily Life in the Middle Ages
Francis Brevart, Associate Professor of German
Individuals in medieval times lived basically the same way we do today:
they ate, drank, needed shelter, worked in a variety of ways to earn
a living, and planned their lives around religious holidays. They talked
about the weather and had sex, they had to deal with cold, hunger,
illness, epidemics and natural catastrophes. Those fortunate few who
could afford the luxury went to local monastic schools and learned
how to read and write. And fewer still managed to obtain some form
of higher education in cathedral schools and nascent universities and
became teachers themselves. Those eager to learn about other people
and foreign customs traveled to distant places and brought back with
them much knowledge and new ideas. The similarities, we will all agree,
are striking. But what is of interest to us are the differences, the “alterity” (keyword)
of the ways in which they carried out these actions and fulfilled their
goals.
This course concentrates on two very broad aspects of daily life
in the Middle Ages (12th – 16th centuries). The first part, Erudition,
focuses on the world in and around the University. Taking Paris and
Bologna as our paradigms, we will discuss the evolution of the medieval
university from early cathedral schools, the organization, administration,
financing, and maintenance of such an institution, the curriculum and
degrees offered at the various faculties, and the specific qualifications
needed to study or to teach at the university. We will familiarize
ourselves with the modes of learning and lecturing, with the production
of the instruments of knowledge, i.e. the making of a manuscript; we
will explore the regimented daily life of the medieval student, his
economic and social condition, his limited, but at times outrageous
distractions, and the causes of frequent conflicts between town and
gown. Finally, we will investigate the role of the medieval University
in European history.
The second part, Superstition, revolves around astrology, medicine
and pharmacy. Taking the German Volkskalender, the medieval predecessor
of the modern Farmer’s Almanac, as our point of departure, we
will gain insights into the ubiquitous role of astrology in the daily
life of medieval individuals, for example in activities and decisions
concerning farming, slaughtering of animals, personal hygiene, marrying,
escaping from jail, conception of a male child, appropriate days to
let blood, etc.
Medicine, frequently referred to as astromedicine because of its inextricable
dependence on astrology, encompasses a multitude of characteristics.
The course will explore the precarious state of medieval medicine and
pharmacology, the specific diseases of men and women and their frequently
barbaric treatments, the use of so-called wonderdrugs produced by professional
physicians and medical charlatans alike from exotic plants, precious
stones, animal parts, blood or human excrements. Special topics are
also planned on the astrological causes and magical treatments of the
Black Death, embryology and the causes of homosexuality/lesbianism,
sex as therapy, etc. (Distribution)
GRMN 008.301 | Monday, Wednesday & Friday | 11:00 - 12:00
The First
Crusade and the Crusade Problem
Edward Peters, Professor of History
This research seminar will be devoted to an intensive investigation
of the penitential military expedition from western Europe to Jerusalem
(1095-1101) that later became widely known as the “First” Crusade.
The seminar will also consider the impact (or non-impact) of that expedition
and its consequences on other societies, chiefly those of Byzantium,
Judaism and the Arab/Islamic world. We will study the original source
materials (in English translation) as well as some of the best recent
scholarship, including both the military and the intellectual context
of the events and their period. In light of the contemporary usage
of the term “Crusade” we will also consider the development
of the term in later history. (Distribution)
HIST 101.301 | Monday | 2:00 - 5:00
Religion and Resistance in Colonial
Africa
Cheikh Babou, Assistant Professor of History
This seminar looks at the experience of Africans from the era of the
European “Scramble for Africa” in the 1880s to the years
of African Independence in the 1960s, through the lens of African religious
practices and movements. Topics include the role of Islamic brotherhoods
in Africa, European missions and African churches, millenarian and
reform movements, education and leadership, religion, nationalism,
and pan-Africanism. Students will examine colonial documents, African
oral traditions, spiritual songs and prayers, and contemporary religious
writings to gain an understanding of the meaning of religion in African
life during a period of great change on the continent. (Distribution)
HIST 106.401 or AFST 107.401 | Wednesday | 2:00 - 5:00
Science, Magic
and Religion
Henrika Kuklick, Professor of History and Sociology of Science
Throughout human history, the relationships of science and religion,
as well as of science and magic, have been complex—and often
surprising. This course will cover topics ranging from the links between
magic and science in the 17th century to contemporary anti-science
movements. (General Requirement)
HSSC 025.401 or HSOC 025.401 or FOLK 025.401 | Tuesday & Thursday
| 1:30 - 3:00
Bilingualism in History
Gillian Sankoff, Professor of Linguistics
This course takes a historical approach to tracing (and reconstructing)
the nature
of language contacts and bilingualism over the course of human history.
Contacts between groups of people speaking different languages, motivated
by trade, migration, conquest and intermarriage, are documented from
earliest records. At the same time, differences in socio-historical
context have created different kinds of linguistic outcomes. Some languages
have been completely lost; new languages have been created. In still
other cases, the nature and structure of language has been radically
altered. The course introduces the basics of linguistic structure through
a discussion of which aspects of language have proved to be relatively
stable, and which are readily altered, under conditions of bilingualism.
(Distribution)
LING 054.301 | Tuesday & Thursday | 12:00 - 1:30
Introduction to
Philosophy
Staff
An introductory examination of four important philosophical topics:
free will and determinism, arguments for and against the existence
of God, scepticism and the nature of scientific reasoning, and moral
relativism. (General Requirement)
PHIL 001.301 | Tuesday & Thursday | 3:00 - 4:30
PHIL 001.302 | Tuesday & Thursday | 10:30 - 12:00
PHIL 001.303 | Tuesday & Thursday | 1:30 - 3:00
Religion in Philadelphia
Leslie Callahan, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies
This freshman seminar examines the history of diverse religious expression
in Philadelphia. Students will explore the contemporary religious landscape
of the city with special attention to University City and West Philadelphia.
Through readings, site visits, and special projects, students will
become familiar with the current manifestation of religiously historic
Philadelphia. (Distribution)
RELS 107.301 | Tuesday | 2:00 - 5:00
India in the Traveler’s
Eye: Encounters and Discoveries
Aditya Behl, Associate Professor of South Asia Studies
This course is intended to introduce entering students to the motivations
and experiences through which travellers have arrived at a knowledge
of India, and thereby to interrogate the role of travel, trade, and
exploration in the discovery and colonization of India. It is also
designed to train students to read texts critically and to produce
coherent arguments about them. We will begin with ancient travellers
such as the Greeks and Fa-Hsien, then look at the marvellous accounts
of Arab sailors and merchants in the India and China Seas, and then
examine early European accounts of voyages to the Indies. We will examine
the writings of colonial wanderers in search of the Indian picturesque,
as well as the complex liaisons and encounters between Indians and
Europeans. We will end with accounts of the rediscovery of imagined
places, looking at pilgrimages and some post-colonial encounters. (Distribution)
SARS 010.401 or RELS 010.401 | Tuesday | 2:00 - 5:00
Indians Overseas:
A Global View
Surendra Gambhir, Senior Lecturer in South Asia Studies
This course is about the history of Indian immigration into different
parts of the world. The course will consist of readings, discussions,
observations, data collection and analysis. The topics will include
cultural preservation and cultural change through generations of East
Indian immigrants, especially in North America, the Caribbean area,
the United Kingdom, the African continent and some other countries
in the Pacific Ocean. The course will encourage organized thinking,
observations and analysis of components of the culture that immigrant
communities are able to preserve and cultural components that either
change or get reinterpreted. In this context, we will look at entities
such as religion, food, language and family. The course will discuss
immigrants’ success stories, sad stories, their contributions,
their relationship with other groups in the host society and the nature
and extent of their links with their homeland. The course will include
discussion about victimization of and discrimination against immigrants
in their new homelands. Other issues will include social and cultural
needs of immigrants giving rise to new community organizations such
as temples, ngos and other cultural centers. The course will benefit
from the study of other immigrant communities for a comparative view.
(Distribution)
SARS 012.401 or ASAM 012.401 | Monday & Wednesday | 3:00 - 4:30
Medicine, Literature and Culture in Japan
William LaFleur, Professor of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
This seminar is in many ways an exercise in comparison—by looking
at how the practice of medicine in Japan differs from that in America.
Japan, where people enjoy good health and live very long lives, not
only combines “Western” with “Eastern” medical
practices but also is a place where questions of medical ethics and
biotechnology are often faced differently than they are in America.
The fact that in modern times many Japanese writers had medical educations
makes Japanese literature, studied here in translation, a rich context
for exploring a wide range of such questions. Film too will be a tool
for our studies. A comparative look at what we might think about the
body, the mind, and healing or dying processes will be the central
focus of this seminar. (Distribution)
AMES 197.301 | Tuesday | 2:00 - 5:00
The Landscape of Dreams: Sleep, Dreams and Fantasy in the Renaissance
Maria Ruvoldt, Mellon Fellow in History of Art
The must-have book for fashionable Italians in 1499 was the Hypnerotomachia
Poliphili, a lavishly illustrated dream-narrative that recorded the
fantastic adventures of Poliphilo as he tracked his beloved Polia through
a landscape of classical ruins populated by nymphs and pagan deities.
Soon translated into French and English, this immensely popular text
testifies to the Renaissance fascination with dreams and dream-imagery.
In this class, we will investigate early modern perceptions of sleep
and dreams, asking what dreaming meant to a culture that had never
heard of Sigmund Freud. We will examine how sleep and dreams were defined
by physicians, poets and artists, viewed as tools for diagnosis, indicators
of character and occasions for divine inspiration. We will read Renaissance
handbooks of dream interpretation, dream-narratives and records of
dreams, and look at paintings, drawings and engravings on the subject
of dreaming as we explore the links between sleep, dreams and fantasy
in Renaissance culture. (Distribution)
ARTH 100.301 | Tuesday | 4:30 - 7:30
The Image of the Absent: The Icon
and Visual Revelation
Warren Woodfin, Mellon Fellow in History of Art
Byzantine worshipers in the middle ages might be expected, on entering
a church, to be able to recognize a large number of saints from their
portraits. Although legend held that images of Christ and the Virgin
had been painted in their own lifetimes, most saints depended on revelation
through dreams and visions in order that a true likeness be made. In
this course, we will examine the interchange between visionary text
and visible image in forging the gallery of Byzantine saints. We will
look at the debates over the nature of the icon and its connection
to the represented subject, its prototype, in the 8th and 9th centuries.
We will also examine images that seem to contradict the strict of iconographic
likeness settled on by the Orthodox Church in its official theology.
(Distribution)
ARTH 100.302 | Wednesday | 4:30 - 7:30
Nero and the Roman Imagination
James Ker, Assistant Professor of Classical Studies
This seminar approaches classical Roman culture through one of its
most bizarre historical figures: Nero, the last of the Julio-Claudian
emperors. How are we to understand the mystique of the actor-emperor,
the aesthete-tyrant who played the lyre while Rome burned? What cultural
forces came into play to create the cruel but charming persona which
impostors around the Mediterranean would seek to imitate even after
his death? Because Nero lives on in such a broad set of representations
both ancient and modern, he gives us the opportunity to work methodically
through the different ways in which our knowledge and fantasies of
the profound past are mediated-fantasies about art, power, spectacle,
violence, bodies, nature, identity. We will read in English translation
the writings of ancient annalists, biographers, poets, storytellers,
and biblical writers. We will also compare the different modes of viewing
that are made available by archaeology, including Roman coins, sculpture,
wall-painting, architecture, and town-planning. But we will devote
equal energy to analyzing how the Roman past, and Nero in particular,
has been projected in modern times, through opera, fiction, film, and
popular culture. Ultimately, we will seek to interpret the ways in
which power is performed and transmitted in this compelling myth-from
Nero to his Roman audiences, and from the ancient past into the present.
CLST 131.301 | Tuesday & Thursday | 10:30-12:00
In the City of Dreams
Eleni Kefala, Mellon Fellow in Comparative Literature
This seminar examines sleep and dreams in important works of Western
literature. In Homer’s Odyssey, for example, three normally separate
orders of being converge in dreams: that of humans, gods and the dead.
Further, for Homer, dreams and reality are parallel planes. But if
we jump a few millennia forward to the postmodern tales of Jorge Luis
Borges, dreams and reality are indistinguishable, inasmuch as reality
is merely the dream of a “god,” the poet, who continually
makes and unmakes it with his words. Dreamed reality is the World.
In this seminar we will study the meaning and function of dreams in
the Odyssey, Borges’s fictions and many fascinating works in
between. (Distribution)
COML 011.301 | Tuesday & Thursday | 3:00 - 4:30
The Art of Crossing:
Jazz-Age Americans. Mixing up Races, Genders, Places and Forms
Lydia Fisher, Lecturer in English
African-Americans “passing” as white. White Americans looking
for themselves in Harlem. Cross-dressing and gender bending. Hybridity.
Expatriates finding home abroad. High class meets lowbrow. Popular
culture becomes art. The literature, visual art and music of the early
20th century is full of images and instances of crossing over and trying
on difference (a different place, a different self, a different kind
of expression), reveling in the mixed-ness of the modern moment in
which distinctions and divisions of all sorts came into question. In
this course we will interrogate American texts of the modern era as
productions of their cultural moment, asking: What were the historical
conditions that produced this art of crossing? How were writers and
other artists “mixing” their
own ideas and artistic goals with those of others? And what sorts of
social changes did this age of innovation, exploration, integration,
and revolution enable? This was a period of great transformation that
produced fascinating works for us to engage with and talk about together.
The course is designed to get students involved in exploring modernity
through diverse course materials (poetry, short stories, novels, essays,
music, visual art), experiencing the intellectual challenges and rewards
of literary and cultural study both independently and in collaboration
with others. Course texts may include works by Langston Hughes, Anzia
Yezierska, Nella Larsen, W.E.B. Dubois, Alain Locke, William Faulkner,
Willa Cather, Ernest Hemingway and Gertrude Stein. (Distribution)
ENGL 016.301 or AFAM 016.301 or WSTD 016.301 | Tuesday & Thursday
| 10:30 - 12:00
Narratives of the Consumer Age
Patrick Wehner, Lecturer in English
Why do we have such mixed feelings about participating in what is often
referred to as our consumer culture? When did we begin to identify
ourselves as consumers and what impact has this way of thinking had
on our self-definitions? What is the relationship between consumer
culture and ideas about what makes life in the United States distinctive?
Using literary and cinematic narratives as our guides, this seminar
will explore how our habits as consumers can be both sources of pleasure
and causes for anxiety, freedoms to be celebrated and compulsions to
be scorned, expressions of our individual tastes and the basis for
the most far-reaching of our social relationships. We will look at
the historical roots of a mass consumer market to see whether some
of the concerns and contradictions that we consider unique to our times
are part of a larger story. We will consider some of the ways that
people use the things they buy to make meaning in their lives. We will
consider some of the problems that critics of consumer culture have
brought to our attention—including materialism, conformity, and
concealed exploitation—and weigh these concerns against the promises
and possibilities that others have applauded. Readings will include
fiction, memoir, drama, and journalism by authors such as Bruce Barton,
Kate Chopin, Don DeLillo, Barbara Ehrenreich, Edna Ferber, Betty Friedan,
Lorraine Hansberry, Sinclair Lewis, Anne Moody, Ruth Ozeki, and Sloan
Wilson. Films may include portions of The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit,
A Raisin in the Sun, Salesman, Clueless and The Target Shoots First.
(Distribution)
ENGL 016.304 | Tuesday & Thursday | 3:00 - 4:30
The Mexican Revolution
in the American Imagination
Yolanda Padilla, Assistant Professor of English
Exploring numerous cultural, political, and historical contexts, this
course will examine the Mexican Revolution from the vantage point of
the American imagination. While most commentators date the Revolution
between 1910-1920, the turmoil south of the border would play a part
in how the U.S. viewed Mexico—and itself—well into the
middle of the century. Such a recent history of revolution enabled
the U.S. to conceive of Mexico as a mythic space onto which it could
project and possibly resolve various social and cultural questions.
As we read an array of texts that imagine the Revolution, we will consider
how notions of revolutionary Mexico were deployed in some of the most
pressing debates of the day, including those regarding relationships
between race and democracy, art and revolution, and the primitive and
the modern. Our readings will also include Mexican representations
of the revolution, with the aim that we will analyze the influence
of such expressions on U.S. thinking about Mexico. Ultimately, we will
examine how Mexico and its Revolution inform new debates about an old
question: what does it mean to be an American? Possible writers include
John Reed, Mariano Azuela, D.H. Lawrence, Katherine Anne Porter, Graham
Greene and Sandra Cisneros. Possible films include Viva Villa!, The
Old Gringo, Viva Zapata! and the recent HBO film And Starring Pancho
Villa as Himself. This is a Benjamin Franklin Honors seminar. Non-honor
students admitted by permission. (Distribution)
ENGL 016.401 or LTAM 016.401 | Tuesday & Thursday | 9:00 - 10:30
Survey of Italian
Theater
Frank Pellicone, House Dean, Harrison College House and Lecturer in
Italian
This course will look at the origins of theater in Italy from antiquity
through modernity. Beginning with the early comedies of Plautus and
ending with the works of Dario Fo, we will consider the ways playwrights
have responded to social, political, cultural, and aesthetic changes
throughout the Italian peninsula from antiquity through the Renaissance,
Italian unification and into modernity. Other playwrights to be considered
will also include: Machiavelli, Ariosto, Bruno, Goldoni, Alfieri, D’Annunzio
and Pirandello. (Distribution)
ITAL 217.301 | Monday, Wednesday & Friday | 10:00 - 11:00
The World
of Dante
Victoria Kirkham, Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures
The masterpiece of Italian literature read in the context of Dante’s
cultural milieu (the Aristotelian cosmos, contemporary politics, medieval
intellectual ideals, the aesthetic of order, symbolism, allegory, numerology
and his literary heritage from Virgil to the early Italian vernacular
poets). Illustrated manuscripts and the visual tradition of the poem
will be shown in slide presentations. Lecture/discussion format. (Distribution)
ITAL 232.401 or COML 234.401 | Tuesday & Thursday | 10:30 - 12:00
Song
Gary Tomlinson, Professor of Music
One of the most characteristic and pervasive of human activities is
the singing of songs. Uniting historical, anthropological and critical
perspectives, we will take the general measure of this activity. We
will examine songs across historical epochs, in cultural context, and
as objects of critical analysis. Examples will be drawn from a wide
range of times and places—from Tuvan throat-singing of Southwest
Asia to the Beatles, from Schubert’s 19th-century Lieder to the
Inca’s ritual song of 1535. Attentive listening (as well as reading
and writing) will be required, but no prior musical expertise is necessary.
(Distribution)
MUSC 016.001 | Tuesday & Thursday | 10:30 - 12:00
Dreams and Nightmares
in Fiction and Film
Sharon Allen, Mellon Fellow in Comparative Literature
This course is devoted to some of the most exciting modern films and
novels from Latin America, Russia and Europe—dreams and nightmares
that allow us to comprehend the “underground” of human
experience. Our approach will be comparative, considering literary
works in the context of film and the other arts, with special emphasis
on several directors who laid the foundations of modern film: Fritz
Lang, Dziga Vertov and Sergei Eisenstein. Topics of discussion will
include: creativity, deviant behavior, cultural dialogue, dissent, “delirious” modern
cities (St. Petersburg, Prague, Rio de Janiero) and death. Works by:
Dostoevsky, Gogol, Kafka, Proust, Lispector, Machado de Assis, Mario
de Andrade, Saramago, Petrushevskaia, Pelevin and others. All readings
and lectures in English. (Distribution)
RUSS 185.401 or COML 185.401 or FILM 125.401 | Tuesday & Thursday
| 3:00 - 4:30
Do the Rite Thing: Ritual in American Life
Felicity Paxton, Postdoctoral Lecturer in American Studies and Women’s
Studies
Starting with birth and working chronologically through a series of
case studies, this course invites students to examine the centrality
of ritual in modern American life. We will look closely at rituals
that celebrate the human lifecycle as well as overtly competitive
sporting and political rituals. We will explore rituals that unfold
at the local level as well as those that most Americans experience
only via the media. Rituals under examination will include birthday
parties, Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, Halloween, proms, Quinceañeras,
graduations, rodeos, homecomings, weddings, Greek initiations, beauty
pageants, reunions and funerals. Students will be encouraged to critically
examine their own ritual beliefs and practices and to consider these
and other theoretical questions: What is the status of ritual in post-industrial
culture? What distinguishes popular from official ritual and secular
from religious ritual? How do sociological variables such as race,
class, gender, sexuality, and religion shape people’s understanding
of, and participation in, modern American rituals? What role does ritual
play in family life? How do contemporary rituals bond Americans at
the local and/or national level? All students will be expected to conduct
original research on a ritual of their choosing. (Distribution)
WSTD 082.301 | Wednesday | 2:00 - 5:00
Mathematics Freshman Seminars)
Freshman seminars in the Mathematics Department at Penn aim to give the student an early exposure to the creative side of mathematics, with an emphasis on discovery, reasoning, proof and effective communication. Small class sizes permit an informal, discussion-type atmosphere, and often the entire class works together on a given problem. Homework is intended to be thought provoking, rather than skill sharpening. Each seminar meets for one-and-a-half hours per week, and an entire year counts for one credit unit. Students may register for one or both semesters. It is recommended that math majors take both semesters. One or the other of these seminars is required for the math major, but both are open to all students interested in mathematics. The best time to take these seminars is in the freshman or sophomore year. These courses do not satisfy the General Requirement; however, virtually all students who take them will also take calculus, which does satisfy Sector IV, Formal Reasoning and Analysis Requirement.
Introduction to Mathematical
Analysis
Peter Freyd, Professor of Mathematics
MATH 200.301 | Tuesday | 1:30 - 3:00
MATH 200.302 | Thursday | 1:30 - 3:00
Introduction to Modern Algebra
Antonella Grassi, Associate Professor of Mathematics
MATH 204.301 | Tuesday | 12:00 - 1:30
MATH 204.302 | Thursday | 12:00 - 1:30
Introduction to Evolution of the Brain
P. Thomas Schoenemann, Assistant Professor of Anthropology
An introduction to the study of the evolution of the human brain. Students
will review basic concepts in evolutionary biology. The direct fossil
evidence of vertebrate brain evolution will then be reviewed, and comparative
(cross-species) perspectives on neuroanatomy and behavior will be emphasized.
An analysis of the specific changes in the brain during human evolution
will then be covered. We will consider possible sources of evidence
relevant to brain evolution as well, such as the archaeological record
of human behavioral evolution. Current controversies and theories about
the causes and consequences of hominid brain evolution will be reviewed,
including the possible role of language, tool use, sociality, dietary
shifts and other behavioral adaptations. (General Requirement)
ANTH 179.301 | Tuesday & Thursday | 10:30 - 12:00
Endocrinology
of the Skeleton and its Interaction with the Other Systems of the Human
Body
Michael Pazianas, Associate Professor of Geriatrics, School of Medicine
The skeleton has acquired the reputation of being a rather lifeless
system, designed to last well beyond the normal life span of any other
organ or system in the body. Yet a closer look tells us a completely
different story. Indeed, the skeleton is under construction and reconstruction
continuously and it is this process that determines the strength of
the bones and their durability. The skeleton serves as the main storage
place for calcium and phosphorus, vital elements for virtually every
function in the body. In an amazing way, a number of hormones, systemic
and local, “talk” to the gastrointestinal tract, liver,
kidneys and bones which in turn fine-tune the absorption (gut), secretion
(kidneys) and release (skeleton) of calcium and phosphorus. No biology
or science background required.
BIOL 004.301 | Tuesday & Thursday | 10:30-12:00
Killer Viruses:
What Threat Do They Pose in Contemporary Society?
Glen N. Gaulton, Professor of Pathology/Lab Medicine, Vice Dean for
Research and Research Training, School of Medicine
We are all well aware of the recent emergence of multiple viruses as
potential threats to the public health: examples include HIV, SARS
and West Nile and Ebola viruses. However, still greater threats may
arise by expansion of existing viruses, such as smallpox and influenza,
that we more commonly think of as being either eradicated or harmless.
Through this course we will examine the general properties of viruses,
our capacity to ward off common virus infections using the immune response,
the general concept of vaccination, the emergence of new virus pathogens,
and the capacity of these pathogens to spread within our population
based on regional and global culture and finance. The course will utilize
oral and written presentations as the main format for interaction and
assessment. General biology background preferred but not required.
BIOL 005.301 | Wednesday | 3:00 - 6:00
Sex Differences: Behavior, Biology
and Evolution
Dr. Raquel E. Gur, Professor, Departments of Psychiatry, Neurology,
and Radiology and Dr. Ruben C. Gur, Professor of Psychology, Director
of the Brain Behavior Laboratory, School of Medicine
The availability of new methods for studying the brain in humans and
other species has resulted in a virtual explosion of studies on sex
differences in neurobiology, and not all that has hit the media is
based on solid grounds. However, some consistent findings indicate
that sex differences in brain structure and functional activity exist
in humans and other species and that they relate importantly to behavioral
differences in health and disease. For example, men, who are more prone
to physical aggression and sexual promiscuity, have less brain tissue
in frontal brain regions implicated in the modulation of emotion. This
is reversed in schizophrenia, a neurodevelopmental disorder that starts
earlier and is more severe in men. These sex differences also have
implications for understanding how sexual differentiation plays a role
in evolution and perhaps even permit some speculation on their societal
and cultural implications. The seminar will combine lecture with discussion
of empirical research results with individual and team research projects
focusing on aspects of sex differences. The framework will be oriented
toward neurobehavioral research, so readiness to understand biological
and cognitive concepts and methodology will be needed.
BIOL 007.401 or BIBB 007.401 | Tuesday | 1:30 - 4:30
Language and Cognition
David Embick, Assistant Professor of Linguistics
Humans have the ability to create and understand an infinite number
of sentences that they have never heard before. This ability is unique
among all the species of the world, although the exact ways in which
human language differs from animal communication systems is a matter
of ongoing discussion. Correlated with this ability is the fact that
children seem to automatically acquire the language spoken in the community
they are born into.This ability has led to the hypothesis that parts
of the human brain are specifically designed for language, and to the
investigation of linguistic ability in a number of related disciplines,
such as linguistics, psychology, cognitive neuroscience and computer
science. The course examines several topics in the study of language
and its relation to cognition. Because of its apparently species-specific
nature, language is central to the study of the human mind. We will
pursue an interdisciplinary approach to such questions in this course,
moving from the structures of language as revealed by linguistic theory
to connections with a number of related fields that are broadly referred
to as the “cognitive sciences.” A
number of specific topics will be addressed from these related fields.
The structures of language and its role in human cognition will be
set against the background of animal communication systems. We will
examine the question of how children acquire extremely complex linguistic
systems without explicit instruction, drawing on psychological work
on the language abilities of children. Additional attention will be
focused on the question of how language is represented and computed
in the brain, and, correspondingly, how this is studied with brain-imaging
techniques. (General Requirement)
LING 058.301 | Tuesday & Thursday | 3:00 - 4:30
The Big Bang and Beyond
Vijay Balasubramanian, Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy
An introductory course for freshmen who do not intend to major in a
physical science or engineering, covering theories of the Universe
ranging from the ancient perspective to the contemporary hot Big Bang
model, including some notions of Einstein’s special and general
theories of relativity. Topics will include the solar system, stars,
black holes, galaxies, and the structure, origin and future of the
Universe itself. Elementary algebra is used. Fulfills Quantitative
Data Analysis Requirement. (General Requirement)
ASTR 007.301 | Tuesday & Thursday | 9:00 - 10:30
Structural Biology
and Genomics Seminar
Ponzy Lu, Professor of Chemistry
Structural biology is the scientific method of describing, predicting,
and changing the properties of living organisms, including humans,
based on complete genome structures and three-dimensional structures
of cellular components. It is a direct outgrowth of the intellectual
and technical revolutions that occurred during the last decade. It
has become a most powerful approach to understanding biology and solving
problems in medicine. We will discuss how macroscopic biological properties,
such as reproduction, locomotion and viral infection, are determined
by chemical properties of proteins and nucleic acids. Changes in biological
function, such as those that accompany hereditary diseases like cystic
fibrosis or sickle cell anemia, result from minute changes in individual
proteins. Much larger changes in genome and protein structure are often
tolerated without apparent consequence. This selectivity and tolerance
provides opportunities for the biotechnology industry to alter biological
functions in ways thought to guarantee profits.We will also examine
how research results in structural biology are presented in various
audiences. The broad range of medical, social, and political problems
associated with the advances will be considered. We will attempt to
distinguish real progress from fads and fashion.This is a two-semester
seminar that continues in spring 2005 with 0.5 credit unit each semester.
The spring 2005 counts as a Writing Across the University course (WATU).
(General Requirement)
CHEM 022.301 | Friday | 5:00 - 7:00
Freshman Recitation: Evolution
of the Physical World
Hermann Pfefferkorn, Professor of Earth and Environmental Science and
Gino Segre, Professor of Physics and Astronomy
This course will explore the Big Bang and the origin of elements, stars,
Earth, continents and oceans. Students must register for both the lecture
and a recitation. The recitation listed below is restricted to freshmen
and is led by the professors. It satisfies the Quantitative Data Analysis
requirement. (General Requirement)
GEOL 003.401, PHYS 003.401 or COLL 003.401 (lec) | Tuesday & Thursday
| 1:30 - 3:00
GEOL 003.402, PHYS 003.402 or COLL 003.402 (rec) | Tuesday | 3:00 -
4:00
Freshman Recitation: Introduction to Geology
Gomaa Omar, Instructor of Earth and Environmental Science
Earth is a unique place. No other planet yet discovered has the same
delicate balance between its multiple systems that include the atmosphere,
lithosphere, biosphere, and hydrosphere. Understanding each system
separately and the interaction between systems is crucial to prevent
or lessen the relentless abuses of Earth’s environment and the
preservation of life on the planet. To make wise decisions about social,
political, and economic issues that will affect Earth’s environment,
present and future generations will have a tremendous need for scientific
literacy in general and an understanding of geology in particular.
This conviction is brought alive in this course. Topics covered include,
but are not restricted to, Building a Planet, Minerals, Rocks, Volcanism,
Earthquakes, Oceans, Groundwater, Glaciers, Deserts, Earth’s
Interior, The Plate Tectonic Theory, Geologic Time Scale, Rock Deformation,
and Earth System and Human Impacts. Students must register for both
the lecture and a recitation. The recitation listed below is restricted
to freshmen and is led by the professor.This course counts as a Physical
World course and satisfies the Quantitative Data Analysis Requirement.
(General Requirement)
GEOL 100.001 (lec) | Monday, Wednesday & Friday | 11:00 - 12:00
GEOL 100.201 (rec) | Monday | 1:00 - 2:00
Honors Physics I
Paul Heiney, Professor of Physics and Astronomy
This course parallels and extends the content of the introductory physics
course for students in engineering and in the physical sciences, at
a higher mathematical level. It is the first semester of a small-section
two-semester sequence recommended for well-prepared students, and particularly
for those planning to major in physics. Classical laws of motion: interaction
between particles, conservation laws and symmetry principles, rigid
body motion, noninertial reference frames, oscillations. Prerequisites:
MATH 104 and 114. Students must register for the lecture and the lab.
This is a Benjamin Franklin seminar. Non-honors students admitted by
permission. (General Requirement)
PHYS 170.301 (lec) | Monday, Wednesday & Friday | 10:00 - 11:00
| Monday | 2:00 - 3:00
| Tuesday | 5:00 - 6:00
PHYS 170.302 or 170.303 (lab) | Wednesday | 1:00 - 3:00
Crystals: The Science and Power Behind the Realities and Myths
Krimo Bokreta, House Dean, Kings Court English House and Lecturer in
Earth and Environmental Science
From the daily vitamin supplements to the cosmetics we wear, crystals
are prevalent in our life. They are present in the water we drink,
in the food we eat, in the air we breathe. They are the topics of myths
and legends, the rise and downfall of civilizations. They are at the
core of our current technological revolution and the centerpiece of
frontier science. This seminar will explore the basics of the scientific
principles underlying the architecture and design of crystals, their
properties and applications. We will examine the environments where
they are formed: in rocks, in the bottom of the oceans, in space, in
the human and animal body, in factories. We will also take a look at
the relationship, through time, between man and crystals, the impact
on health and the environment, as well as the development of legends,
folktales and today’s pop culture. (General Requirement)
ENVS 097.301 | Tuesday | 7:00 - 10:00
Freshman Seminars with an Emphasis on Writing
The following seminars fulfill the Writing Requirement for all undergraduates. Please note that the freshman seminars with special emphasis on writing do not fulfill the General Requirement.
Writing Seminar in German
Translating Cultures: Literature on and in Translation
Kathryn Hellerstein, Ruth Meltzer Senior Lecturer in Yiddish and Jewish
Studies
“Languages are not strangers to one another,” writes critic
and translator Walter Benjamin. Without translation, most Americans
would be unable to read the Bible or Homer or learn of the cultures
of Europe, China, Africa, South America and the Middle East or the
diversity of cultures within America. Other cultures would know little
about the U.S. The very fabric of our world depends upon translation
between people, between cultures, between texts. With a diverse group
of readings—autobiography, fiction, poetry, anthropology and
literary theory—this course will address some fundamental questions
about translating language and culture. What does it mean to translate?
How do we read a text in translation? What does it mean to live between
two languages? Who is a translator? What are different kinds of literary
and cultural translation? What are their principles and theories? Their
assumptions and practices? Their effects on and implications for the
individual and the society?
GRMN 009.401 or JWST 009.401| Tuesday & Thursday | 10:30 - 12:00
Writing
Seminar in History and Sociology of Science
Epidemics in History
David S. Barnes, Associate Professor of History and Sociology of Science
Dramatic and terrifying in their deadly immediacy, outbreaks of epidemic
disease have devastated and transformed human societies since the beginnings
of recorded history. From the Black Death to cholera to AIDS, epidemics
have wrought profound demographic, social, political and cultural change
all over the world. They provoke such powerful fear that while thousands
die every day in the United States from mundane illnesses such as heart
disease, panic grips the land at the thought of a handful of deaths
from seemingly exotic afflictions such as West Nile encephalitis, “weaponized” anthrax
and SARS. Through a detailed analysis of specific historical outbreaks,
this seminar will investigate the causes and effects of epidemic disease
and will examine the ways in which different societies in different
eras have responded in times of crisis.
HSSC 009.401 or HSOC 009.401 | Wednesday | 2:00 - 5:00
Writing Seminar
in Urban Studies
Homelessness and the Urban Crisis
Dennis P. Culhane, Professor, School of Social Work
This course examines homelessness from scientific and policy perspectives.
Contemporary homelessness differs from destitute poverty that occurred
during other eras of our nation’s history. Advocates, researchers
and policymakers have all played key roles in defining and measuring
the current problem, raising issues we will examine in terms of how
they affect our understanding of the scale and composition of the problem
and the merits of various explanations that ensue, such as the role
of affordable housing. We will also explore the dynamics of homelessness
through ethnographic studies of how people become homeless and experience
homelessness as well as review quantitative research on the patterns
of entry and exit from this condition. Finally, we will consider approaches
taken by policymakers and advocates to address the problem and the
efficacy and quandaries of such policy strategies. The course concludes
by contemplating the future of homelessness research and public policy.
URBS 009.302 | Monday | 2:00 - 5:00