Fall 2015 Honors Colloquia
Last Updated: 4/30/15
Notes
American Studies Honors Students:
Beyond any major credit indicated in this document, certain courses may count for credit in American Studies.
Determination is made on a case-by-case basis. Consult your academic advisor for details.
Anthropology Honors Students: Beyond any major credit indicated in this document, certain courses may count
for credit in Anthropology. Determination is made on a case-by-case basis. Consult your academic advisor for
details.
KSB Honors Students: Colloquia designated as “major credit” will count toward “free electives” and/or the
12-credits required for “University Honors in Business.” Colloquia may not be substituted for Kogod core courses.
Religious Studies Honors Students: Please see your Religious Studies advisor for approval to apply a religionrelated colloquium to your major.
SIS Honors Students:
You are encouraged to speak with your SIS academic advisor to determine whether a colloquium might be
considered for another functional area or regional field.
SOC Honors Students:
Many of these course offerings may meet the “hours outside of SOC” or the “Liberal Studies” requirement.
Please check with your SOC academic advisor to determine applicability.
Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Honors Students:
Beyond any major credit indicated in this document, certain courses may count for credit in WGSS. Determination
is made on a case-by-case basis. Consult your faculty academic advisor for details.
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HNRS-300-001H Oral Histories of the Civil Rights Movement
Distinguished Adjunct Professor Julian Bond
M 5:30 pm – 8:00 pm
This class surveys 1960s civil rights movement figures and instructs students in oral history
techniques. Students conduct a tape-recorded interview with a 1960s civil rights figure to
construct an oral biography.
MAJOR CREDIT: AMERICAN STUDIES; ANTHROPOLOGY ; CLEG (Government Component); EDUCATION
(Elementary Education); HISTORY; LAW AND SOCIETY (Related Elective); LITERATURE; POLITICAL SCIENCE (Race,
Gender and Politics Concentration); SIS (Identity, Race, Gender, Culture; Justice, Ethics, and Human Rights); SOC (Satisfies
the SOC U.S. History Requirement); SOCIOLOGY
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HNRS-300-002H Dying, Death, and the Afterlife
Dr. Martyn Oliver
TF 11:45 am – 1:00 pm
How do we die? What happens when we die? Is there something after death? These questions
have inspired the human imagination like few others. This course will examine texts from a
variety of religious traditions-as well as philosophical, personal, and scientific accounts-of the
dying and after-death experience, tracing the contours of how humans have navigated and
imagined our mortality across different cultures. We will explore how depictions of the passage
through the end of life, and then visions of both eternal comfort in Paradise and unceasing
punishment in Hell, reflect the religious and philosophical anxieties about what it means to live.
MAJOR CREDIT: ANTHROPOLOGY; HEALTH PROMOTION; LITERATURE; PHILOSOPHY
HNRS-301-001H Physics of Public Policy
Dr. Gregg Harry
MTh 1:10 pm – 2:25 pm
This course will cover energy as a physical quantity from the point of view of how it influences
public policy decisions on energy sources, energy distribution, and energy use in transportation,
industry, households, etc. The physics of mechanics, thermodynamics, nuclear interactions,
electricity, and magnetism will be touched on. Specific topics will include fossil fuels, nuclear
power and weapons, alternative energy sources like solar, hydroelectric, wind, hydrogen as a
storage medium, and energy conservation. Guests who are knowledgeable both in physics and
policy will speak to the class.
MAJOR CREDIT: ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE (BA and BS major credit); PHYSICS (Physics BA, BS, or Applied Physics
Minor); POLITICAL SCIENCE (Policy Concentration)
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HNRS-302-001H Digital Culture: Humanity in the Digital Age
Anthropologist in Residence Dr. Sibel Kusimba
TF 1:10 pm – 2:25 pm
Humans and our culture are increasingly becoming digital - through our interactions with
internet, mobile phones, and other digital technologies. This course seeks to understand the
impact of new media technologies on contemporary culture and society.
This course will explore defining digital and new media technologies and their histories. It will
approach the subject through comparative cultural contexts, such as mobile phones and internet
use cross culturally in everyday life. Other topics include studying the social relationships
created and revealed by the digital and digital currency in the developing world and Bitcoin. The
politics of the digital, including political engagement, access privacy and control, and the
concept of the “digital cyborg” – the identification of the self with the digital – will also be
covered.
Students will explore the digital through a series of ethnographic projects examining new media
in the lives of their peers, families, fellow students and social networks. We will conduct
ethnographic study of online communities; draw social networks created by social media and
online communication; and examine the linguistic anthropology of texting.
MAJOR CREDIT: AMERICAN STUDIES; ANTHROPOLOGY ; ART (Graphic Design major only); POLITICAL SCIENCE
(major related social science requirement); SIS (Identity, Race, Gender, Culture); SOC
HNRS-302-002H Legal Issues in Globalization
Professor Michael Mass
T 2:35 pm – 5:15 pm
This course examines the legal aspects of international trade and investment. It explores the
nature of international investment law, the private customary law of trade, and both domestic and
international schemes for the regulation of international trade. Students become familiar with the
legal mechanics of engaging in direct foreign investment, as well as questions surrounding the
choice of law issues in national regulation. Special emphasis is placed on the trade protection
laws of the United States and the development of the rules of the World Trade Organization
(WTO). Although the course examines these issues from a legal perspective, it also deals with
the political, social, economic, and environmental aspects of trade regulation and economic
regulation in this era of globalization.
MAJOR CREDIT: CLEG (Economics component); ECONOMICS; KOGOD (International Business); LAW AND SOCIETY
(elective); POLS (Major Related Social Science Requirement); SIS (The Global Economy; Global Inequality and Development;
Global and Comparative Governance); SOCIOLOGY; WORLD LANGUAGES AND CULTURES (Language and Area
Studies: French/Europe, German/Europe, Russian/Area Studies, Spanish/Latin America - fulfills a Social Sciences requirement);
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HNRS-302-003H The Responsibility to Protect: How, Where and When?
Distinguished Diplomat-in-Residence Anthony Quainton
Th 2:35 pm – 5:15 pm
The course will explore the relatively new international concept of the responsibility to protect.
Students will explore a series of historical and contemporary examples where the international
community failed in this responsibility: the holocaust, India/Pakistan independence, Rwanda, the
Balkans, Syria as well as places where the doctrine has been asserted with mixed results:
Kosovo, Libya and Iraq. The course will explore the moral, legal and practical issues involved
and will seek to challenge students to understand the ambiguities and competing national
priorities that make implementation and enforcement possible or likely.
MAJOR CREDIT: CLEG (Law component); POLITICAL SCIENCE (major related social science requirement); SIS (Foreign
Policy and National Security; Justice, Ethics, and Human Rights; Global and Comparative Governance)
HNRS-302-004H Environment and Development
Dr. Robin Broad
W 2:35 pm – 5:15 pm
This course is an overview of the multi-disciplinary field of environment and development. It
focuses on debates concerning various human-made or development-related root causes of
natural-resource degradation in the South. Special attention is paid to the relationship between
the rural poor and the environment. The course also looks critically at current innovative policy
initiatives -from local to global levels - attempting to resolve the linked problems of environment
and development. Students learn "root-cause analysis" to assess both the debates and the policy
initiatives.
NOTE: This course is not for students who have taken Professor Broad’s SIS-338-course.
MAJOR CREDIT: ANTHROPOLOGY; ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES (BA in Environmental Studies only; credit is not
granted for the BS in Environmental Science or for the Environmental Studies minor); POLITICAL SCIENCE (Major Related
Social Science Requirement); SIS (Environmental Sustainability and Global Health; and Global Inequality and Development;
WORLD LANGUAGES AND CULTURES (Language and Area Studies: Spanish/Latin America - fulfills a Social Sciences
requirement)
HNRS-302-005H Women in Prison: Is Orange the New Black?
Dr. Robert Johnson
W 11:45 am – 2:25 pm
This course is a study in the popular images and private realities of prisons for women. Students
examine women, crime, and imprisonment as presented in popular media—in particular, the
series, Orange is the New Black—in concert with an examination of the scholarly research on
these topics. Providing a creative voice for those who may wish to write about women’s justice
issues is a secondary theme of the course.
MAJOR CREDIT: AMERICAN STUDIES; CLEG (Law component) JUSTICE AND LAW (elective); POLITICAL SCIENCE
(Major Related Social Science Requirement); SIS (Identity, Race, Gender, Culture); WOMEN’S, GENDER, AND SEXUALITY
STUDIES
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HNRS-302-006H The Critical Media Consumer/Participant
Visiting Distinguished Journalist in Residence Ron Elving
T 5:30 pm – 8:00 pm
Consumers are bombarded daily with news and information from outlets that are considered
conservative or liberal or balanced. And social media has become the tool of the “everyman”
who wants to reach audiences directly. A savvy consumer can separate opinion from fact, hype
from news, and entertainment from information by critically examining the information, its
source, and its purpose. In this class, which is taught by the Senior Washington Editor at
National Public Radio (NPR), students will focus on critical thinking skills to evaluate and
understand both the purpose and the performance of the mass media, as well how they
themselves can become active participants in the media. Assignments will include critiques of
news coverage, movies, plays, music, and other cultural phenomena. Students will be
encouraged to generate their own ideas for assignments and will become more comfortable
critiquing themselves as well as others.
MAJOR CREDIT: ANTHROPOLOGY; CLEG (Communication); HEALTH PROMOTION; KSB (Business Elective Credit);
POLITICAL SCIENCE (Major Related Social Science Requirement); SIS (Identity, Race, Gender, Culture); SOC (Major
Credit with Advisor Approval)
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