Spring 2010 Honors Seminars (updated 24 November, 2009)
***NEW COURSE
HONR310L111
Versions of the Self: Harry Potter in the Global Context
OR
HONR320L111
Art of Culture: Harry Potter in the Global Context
OR
HONR340L111
Global Engagement: Harry Potter in the Global Context
Curley, E
Slot 11: TF 2:00-3:15
Core Distribution Area: Literature
Description: J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series is a global popular culture phenomenon. While the novels are
clearly rooted in western literary and cultural traditions, they also reveal the influence of the dismantling of the
British Empire on contemporary society, culture and literature. We will explore the cultural spread and
influences of Harry Potter while interrogating how the novels present and represent elements of British culture
and history, including British foundation myths, the British Empire, World War II, and contemporary UK
government and society. We will look at the obvious uses of the Arthurian legend, British boarding school
stories, and dystopian fiction, but we will also look at critical, theoretical and historical materials that can help
us to understand how Rowling is adapting these traditions and grounding her story in a post-colonial world for a
contemporary audience.
While we will be referring to the books extensively throughout the semester, and while we will be re-reading
portions of them, the focus of this course is on the historical, cultural and social traditions which Rowling
incorporates in her novels. Accordingly, students are expected to enter the course with a solid familiarity with
the entire seven-book Harry Potter series to enable us to spend the semester having lively discussions about the
intersections between the assigned course readings and the HP series. In order for this approach to work,
students must keep up with the daily readings, actively look for connections between those readings the HP
series, and come to class ready to discuss and analyze those links. We will go further than simply drawing
connections between Dobby and British India or the Triwizard Cup and the Holy Grail; we will look at the
history and development of particular traditions and then explore how and why Rowling chooses to incorporate
and alter them for her fictional world and the actual world of her readers.
Besides Honors, this course satisfies the CORE Literature requirement and serves as an elective or mini
concentration course for the English major.
HONR300L111
Honors Ethics
Kiernan, B
Slot 8: MR 12:30-1:45
Core Distribution Area: Ethics
Description: In this course, students will reflect upon and critically evaluate a number of fundamental moral
questions as they are broached in some of the major ethical theories (utilitarianism, deontology, virtue ethics,
rights-ethics, care-ethics, etc.).
Besides Honors, this seminar satisfies the College's CORE Ethics requirement.
HONR300L112 (***CANCELLED***)
Honors Ethics
Kiernan, B
Slot 12: W 2:00-3:15, F 3:30-4:45
Core Distribution Area: Ethics
HONR311L111
Versions of the Self: Gender and the Law
Eckert, L
Slot 10: MR 2:00-3:15
Core Distribution Area: Social Science
Description: This course examines the relationship between gender and the law. It explores this relationship by
examining a variety of issues, including sexual harassment, homosexuality, pregnancy, comparable worth, the
family, and pornography. The course focuses on the conceptual assumptions underlying legal doctrines and
precedents while paying close attention to the effects of gender-conscious laws on women of different races,
classes, and sexualities. This course also addresses the constraints of law and considers the extent to which law
should be a vehicle for social change.
Besides Honors, this course satisfies the CORE Social Science requirement and serves as an elective for the
Political Science major.
HONR312L150 (***ABROAD COURSE***) (***CANCELLED***)
Versions of the Self: Empire After the Raj (short title)
Bayer, K and Curley, Eileen
Once-weekly meetings: F 11:00-12:15
Abroad Experience: June 1-15, 2010
Core Distribution Area: History
HONR321L200
Art of Culture: Opera
White, J
Slot 23: W 6:30-9:15
Core Distribution Area: Fine Arts
Description: This course will have two objectives: to provide an introduction to opera, its form and its history,
and to expose students to opera through the study of selected operas and attendance at performances of those
operas at the Metropolitan Opera house in New York City. Honors will cover the costs of travel expenses and
opera tickets. Written assignments will consist of critiques of the performed operas as well as essays on various
aspects of the art form.
Besides Honors, this course satisfies the CORE Fine Arts requirement.
HONR322L150 (***ABROAD COURSE***) (***CANCELLED***)
Art of Culture: Empire After the Raj (short title)
Bayer, K and Curley, Eileen
Once-weekly meetings: F 11:00-12:15
Abroad Experience: June 1-15, 2010
Core Distribution Area: History
HONR323L111
Art of Culture: Philosophy, Society, and the Arts
Pratt, H
Slot 10: MR 2:00-3:15
Core Distribution Area: Philosophy/Religious Studies
Description: This course examines the ways in which the popular and fine arts (including painting, film,
sculpture, music, comics, etc.) shape human cultures, as well as the ways in which the arts themselves are
shaped by culture and theoretical attitudes. These issues will be examined from a philosophical perspective
focusing on problems having to do with the meaning, value, and fundamental nature of the arts. Readings will
range from historical sources to cutting-edge contemporary texts, and particular emphasis will be placed on
engaging with the arts that affect us today, both in the Hudson Valley and beyond.
Besides Honors, this course satisfies the CORE requirement in Philosophy and Religious Studies.
HONR330L111
Hudson River Valley Studies: History
Marshall, N
Slot 12: W 2:00-3:15, F 3:30-4:45
Core Distribution Area: History
Description: This course will examine the history of New York by linking historical content and interpretation
with artistic and literary works produced in or about the Hudson Valley. Works such as the Narrative of
Sojourner Truth, paintings from the Hudson Valley School, fiction and description by Washington Irving, and
William Kennedy's Ironweed will be critically situated in the dramatically fluid historical development of New
York.
Besides Honors, this course satisfies the CORE requirement in History and serves as elective credit for the
History major and minor.
HONR341L111
Global Engagement: Real-Time Economics
Davis, A
Slot 7: TR 11:00-12:15
Core Distribution Area: Social Science
Description: A case-based treatment of current issues, for all levels of economics preparation, considering
such issues as the economic impact of the internet, globalization, the environment, and the financial crisis of
2007. Teams of students will select among contemporary economic issues, study in-depth treatments within
economic theory, assess various points of view, and make presentations to the class. Students will also make
use of the internet to conduct research, develop alternative perspectives, and collaborate in writing white papers
for sharing with the class. Student teams will assist in acquiring research materials, and also master economic
frameworks provided by the instructor. Requirements include two short research papers and presentations, and
a final exam.
Besides Honors, this course satisfies the CORE requirement in Social Science.
HONR343L150 (***ABROAD COURSE***) (***CANCELLED***)
Global Engagement: Empire After the Raj (short title)
Bayer, K and Curley, Eileen
Once-weekly meetings: F 11:00-12:15
Abroad Experience: June 1-15, 2010
Core Distribution Area: History
HONR351L111 (CORE Natural Science) OR HONR354L111 (CORE Literature)
Science, Technology, and Society: Environmental Literature
Feldman, R and Grinnell, R
Slot 4: TF 9:30-10:45
Core Distribution Area: Natural Science or Literature
Description: This Honors course will present students with a survey of environmental writing that brings
together a variety of genres by observers of nature, environmental activists, fiction writers, dramatists, essayists,
poets, politicians, and scientists. Selections will range historically from the ancient world to the present, and
will focus on the experience of people with nature. The course is designed to foster in students a greater
appreciation for nature, and the ways it has been described by writers; to gain an understanding of the effect that
this literature has had on our perception of the world and on governmental and social policy; to enable students
to investigate their own relationship and responsibility to the natural world; and to place both reader and writer
into the context of the world in which they live. From the scientific perspective, writings will be examined for
their ecological and environmental context. Students will also learn the practice of nature observation and
writing through the scientific practice of a field journal.
In addition to Honors credit, this course satisfies the CORE Natural Science OR CORE Literature requirement.
For English majors and minors this course is a 300-level literature course and fulfills the 300-level genre
requirement for the literature major, or the 300-level literature course requirement for the writing major or
English minor. It may count toward the 13 additional credits in related fields within the Environmental Science
& Policy major concentration in Policy; may count as an elective in the Environmental Policy minor; may
count as a Social Science and Humanities course in the Environmental Studies minor.
HONR351L112 (***CANCELLED***)
Science, Technology, and Society: Sociobiology
Ingalls, V
Slot 14: TR 3:30-4:45
Core Distribution Area: Natural Science