Fall 2013 Honors Colloquia
Including Major Credit
Notes
August 23, 2013
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.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
HNRS-300-001H Oral Histories of the Civil Rights Movement
Julian Bond
M 5:30-8 p.m.
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; HISTORY;
LAW AND SOCIETY (Related Elective); POLS (Race, Gender and Politics Concentration); SIS (Identity, Race, Gender, Culture;
Justice, Ethics, and Human Rights); SOC (Major Credit with the permission of SOC advisor; also satisfies the SOC U.S. History
Requirement); and SOCIOLOGY
HNRS-300-002H Imagining the Afterlife: Visions of the End
Martyn Oliver
F 2:35-5:15 p.m.
Few ideas have stirred the human imagination as has the question of the end of life. Is there some life after this?
What is it like? Who will be there? And most compellingly, what will happen to me? Moving through four
classical stages of that imaginative experience—the Passage into the next realm, the Punishments that await
sinners and execute justice, the Purgation of one’s sins, and the experience and vision of ultimate experience in
Paradise—this course examines visions of the second life from Judaism and Hinduism, Dante and Milarepa, The
Wings of Desire and the Book of Mormon, to offer a wide-ranging vision of the celestial afterworld. Some of
these visions, like the heavenly paradise of Shambala, offer the reassurance of life everlasting, a reward for the
righteous and downtrodden where suffering is eliminated and we bask in the light of the Divine. Others, like
Hieronymus Bosch’s The Last Judgment, imagine that all manner of perversion and evil will be punished with
torture suitable to the sin. Others, still, recount the process of spiritual cleansing, the passionate removal of our
sensuous flaws and egotistical excesses, so that we might one day join the ranks of those saintly few given the
immediate vision of God. But no matter which realm we arrive in, we must all first pass through to the other
side. Shedding our “mortal coil,” everyone leaves behind our physical and psychic life in this world—if only
temporarily—and enters the realm of another life. In this sense, the depictions of the afterlife have steadfastly
fought against finality—of accepting that our dusty, misshapen bodies will return to the ash and clay from which
they arose—and instead have imagined again and again that the End is really a new beginning.
By examining the imaginative geography of hells and heavens, we can learn not only about the existential fear
that lingers and grows as we age, but also about how we as a species have reconciled the facts of this life with
our conceptions of justice, righteousness, divine reward, and deserved punishment. In this way, the afterlife
becomes a reflection of our own mortal world, exhibiting both the hubris and the terror that we carry with us as
the end of our days approaches.
Projects for this course might include interviews with local religious clergy and how they deal with these
questions for their congregations; interviews with hospice workers or others intimately involved in end of life
care; an exploration of the funerary, mortician, and cemetery industries; or an analysis of how particular
religious beliefs influence political discourse.
MAJOR CREDIT: ANTHROPOLOGY; LITERATURE; and PHILOSOPHY
HNRS-300-003H Notions of Civility
Lauren Weis
TH 5:30-8 p.m.
In response to political gridlock, Americans call for a return to “civil discourse.” But how do we understand
civility or “civil discourse?” This seminar will involve presentations from guest speakers, as well as engage
texts and debates from History, Literature, Philosophy, and Political and Social Theory to investigate whether
civility is a virtue, how ideals of civility are gendered and embodied, and what kind of person or “subject” is
produced by practices of civility. We will examine whether movements employing “uncivil” practices (e.g.,
Suffrage, Civil Rights, Feminist, LGBT, Disability Rights, Occupy movements) challenge our conceptions of
civility, or assumptions about “civil discourse.” Projects for this course might include an examination of the
Civility Project at Johns Hopkins University, which partners with U.S. municipalities to motivate citizens to
“choose civility”; literary analysis of a text influential in Western conceptions of civility (e.g. the Epic of
Gilgamesh); historical analysis of the genealogy of the modern concept of civility; a philosophical account of
civility as a moral virtue; interviews with movement or civic leaders and/or observations of political processes
(e.g., public hearings) to evaluate the function of “civil discourse”; or researching contemporary scholarship, for
example, the University of Oslo’s “Civility, Virtue and Emotions in Europe and Asia” project that brings
together interdisciplinary groups of scholars from three continents to study the concept of civility.
MAJOR CREDIT: EDUCATION; HEALTH PROMOTION; PHILOSOPHY; POLS (Major Related Social Science Requirement);
SIS (Peace, Global Security, and Conflict Resolution; Identity, Race, Gender, Culture; Justice, Ethics, and Human Rights);
SOCIOLOGY; WGSS
HNRS-301-001H Game Theory, Infinity, and Fractals
Joshua Lansky
M, TH 10:20-11:35 a.m.
The twentieth century heralded amazing and interesting innovations in mathematics, like game theory and
fractal geometry. While these new areas have great ideas that would appeal to the general population, they have
often been coupled with technicalities that have restricted their study to only a few… until now! This course will
survey some of the fascinating modern developments in mathematics, including the study of game theory,
voting theory, infinity, dimension, and fractals. These are linked to current theory and practices in many fields,
such as economics, philosophy, political science and international relations. This course will emphasize
concepts rather than computations. It will encourage communicating mathematical ideas with sentences, rather
than equations and graphs.
Students taking this course need to be comfortable with high school mathematics, but no knowledge of Calculus is required.
MAJOR CREDIT: ECONOMICS (BA students only); EDUCATION; MATH (minor credit only, by completing an extra project);
PHYSICS (Traditional Track); and SIS (The Global Economy); PSYCHOLOGY; and SOC (Major Credit with the permission of SOC
advisor)
HNRS-302-001H Legal Issues in Globalization
Michael Mass
T 2:35-5:15 p.m.
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; WORLD LANGUAGES AND CULTURES (Language and Area
Studies: French/Europe, German/Europe, Russian/Area Studies, Spanish/Latin America - fulfills a Social Sciences requirement);
JUSTICE; 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); and SOCIOLOGY
HNRS 302-002H Psychology of Happiness
Anthony Ahrens
M, TH 2:35-3:50 p.m.
In this course, we will explore the nature of happiness, why people so often misunderstand what makes them
happy, and whether steps can be taken to increase happiness. One view of happiness emphasizes cultivating our
strengths. Given that, we will also discuss some human strengths. These will include consciousness, forgiveness,
compassion, relationship, love, and positive emotions such as gratitude, hope, and elevation. We will also
examine some ways in which culture might shape our experience of and beliefs about the good life.
MAJOR CREDIT: EDUCATION; HEALTH PROMOTION; PUBLIC HEALTH; and PSYCHOLOGY
HNRS 302-003H Social Construction of Science
jimi adams
M 11:45 a.m.-2:25 p.m.
CANCELLED
Science plays important roles in innumerable aspects of our daily lives, leading our knowledge of science to be a
crucial element in our understanding of society. The scientific process involves people making decisions at
virtually every step along the way that can alter the practice, meaning and results of scientific endeavors; and
can even alter the way we understand what science is. As such, sociology of science (along with other
perspectives from philosophy, anthropology, religion and others) has arisen to seriously consider the impacts
those contributions have for what science looks like, what we put into it, and what we get out of it.
To examine these implications, this course will ask, “What happens when we turn the lens of scientific
discovery onto scientists themselves?” Sometimes when people discuss the “social construction of science” this
leads to a view that scientific knowledge is really no different from other sorts of knowledge we create and
experience. Our aim in this course will be to not “throw the baby out with the bathwater” in that way, but
instead to examine how the social construction of science contributes to our understanding of the knowledge that
science produces. We will draw on some of the classical works in the theory and philosophies of science (e.g.,
Kuhn, Popper, Mill), some of the related practical examples, (e.g., “Koch’s postulates” from virology), and a
variety of studies on the practice (e.g., Latour) and organization of science (e.g., Merton).
Ultimately our aim will be to better describe how scientists go about their craft, and to gain an understanding of
what implications that has for the things we learn from science.
MAJOR CREDIT: EDUCATION; PSYCHOLOGY; and SOCIOLOGY
HNRS-302-004H Future and Foresight
Erran Carmel and John Mahaffie
W 2:35-5:15 p.m.
Have you wondered why, in spite of the Jetsons’ version of the future, we don’t have flying cars? Would you
like to learn how to use the tools of foresight to explore questions about the future: 10, 20, or 30 years from
now? Smart organizations use those foresight tools to chart a course for a successful future. Future success for
business and government, and for global society—some would even say survival—depends on our ability to
understand change. And then drive to the futures we want. In nearly any professional area, you will need the
ability to recognize and understand the trends that affect the future and then predict the resulting future
challenges and opportunities.
The dual goals of this class are to futurize each student and then equip each student with a toolbox of future
methods. By futurizing we mean to develop an anticipatory consciousness. The future methods are qualitative
methods for exploring the future (this is not a mathematical modeling course!). The course, co-taught by an AU
professor and a professional futurist John Mahaffie, includes techniques to create future scenarios and how to
choose an “aspirational” future. This is a learning-by-doing course. It will have clients around whose interests
we will explore change, build scenarios, and look for preferred future outcomes.
MAJOR CREDIT: EDUCATION; HEALTH PROMOTION; and SOC (with advisor approval)
HNRS-302-005 The Politics of Immigration
Matthew Wright
T 11:45 a.m.-2:25 p.m.
America often defines itself as a nation of immigrants, treating the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island as iconic
symbols of its identity. Yet each major wave of immigration in U.S. history has evoked anxieties about the
threat to national unity posed by religiously, racially, and linguistically dissimilar newcomers. Are immigrants
willing and able to assimilate politically, socially, and economically to their new society? Do they pose
economic, ideological, and social dangers to the native population? Do immigrants improve America or make it
worse? These debates have led to vigorous historical conflicts over who and how many should be allowed to
immigrate, which have in turn shaped a remarkably complex political history. This class will explore this history
with an eye on several major questions: How do decisions about who and how many may come to the U.S.
reflect competing conceptions about what America really is? What does “being American” mean or should
mean? What forces tilt the political balance between “nativist/restrictionist” and “expansionist” political
regimes? What determines the extent to which and the ways in which new immigrants “assimilate” to American
life? What impact has immigration had on social harmony in America?
MAJOR CREDIT: ANTHROPOLOGY; CLEG (Government Component); EDUCATION; HEALTH PROMOTION; HISTORY;
POLS (American Government concentration or Gender Race and Politics Concentration); SIS (Identity, Race, Gender, Culture;
Justice, Ethics and Human Rights; Foreign Policy and National Security); and SOCIOLOGY
HNRS-302-006H Peru: Where Two Worlds Meet
Anthony Quainton
W 11:45 a.m.-2:25 p.m.
This course, taught by the U.S. Ambassador to Peru from 1989 to 1992, is designed to examine the encounter in
Peru of two great cultures: the indigenous Indian civilizations and that of the Spanish conquest that succeeded
them. The course will look at this encounter of two worlds in a historical, economic and political framework.
Students will not only explore the original historical narrative of that encounter through the account of Prescott,
but in more contemporary terms in the writings of the great Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa, the
economist Hernando de Soto and others. The course will concentrate on the period after the independence of
Peru in 1821 and will examine the role of the military, the private sector, democratic political parties, and the
church on the evolution of modern Peru. Students will explore the challenges of economic development, the
impact of demographic migration from the Andes to the coast, and the growth and economic significance of a
substantial informal sector.
Note: There will be a University Honors Program Study/Travel trip to Peru during winter break that will be linked to this
course. Students would register for the course and the optional Study/Travel trip separately.
MAJOR CREDIT: ANTHROPOLOGY; HISTORY; WORLD LANGUAGES AND CULTURES (Courses in English for Language
and Area Studies Track for Spanish); POLS (Major Related Social Science Requirement); SIS (Identity, Race, Gender, Culture;
Global Inequality and Development; Latin America); and SOCIOLOGY
HNRS-302-007H War and Personal Responsibility
M 5:30-8 p.m.
Philip Brenner
The U.S. war on terror, and the invasion and occupation of Iraq, have once again raised issues about the
responsibility of individuals (both those who make policy and those who carry out policy) for crimes against
humanity. This course examines these issues by focusing on three major events—the massive bombing of
Japanese cities in World War II, the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam War—and on former Secretary of
Defense Robert McNamara, who was involved in all three.
MAJOR CREDIT: ANTHROPOLOGY; JUSTICE and LAW; POLS (Related Social Science requirement); SIS (Foreign Policy and
National Security; Peace, Global Security and Conflict Resolution; Justice, Ethics, and Human Rights; Latin America; Asia);
HNRS-302-008H Media and U.S. Foreign Policy
Elizabeth Cohn
M, TH 4-5:15 p.m.
This course examines the role of the news media (both traditional and new media) in U.S. foreign policy.
It emphasizes an analysis of why the news media act the way they do, and the relationship among the media,
government, and public. We explore the following questions: What are the norms adopted by the news media
and how are they changing with the new media? What is the impact of TV reporting (the so-called CNN effect)
on policy makers? How do policy makers use the news media to govern? How effective are policy makers’
attempts to by-pass the media via “going public” and public diplomacy? What information do citizens require so
that they may participate in the political process? Why is the United States, which is information-rich, populated
by citizens who are misinformed or ill-informed about important decisions and events that affect their lives?
This is all part of our effort to analyze the flow of information and the way the media affect U.S. foreign policy
decision making. In addition, to gain a deeper understanding of how public audiences around the world
understand the United States, students will compare U.S. and international media coverage of some key events
in foreign policy.
MAJOR CREDIT: ANTHROPOLOGY; CLEG (Communication); POLS (Policy Concentration); SIS (Foreign Policy and National
Security); SOC (with advisor approval); and SOCIOLOGY
HNRS-302-009H Environment and Development
W 2:35-5:15 p.m.
Robin Broad
An overview of the multidisciplinary field of environment and development. This course focuses on debates
concerning various human-made or development-related root causes of natural-resource degradation in the Third
World. Special attention is paid to the relationship between the rural poor and the environment. The course also
looks critically at recent innovative policy responses attempting to link environment and development. Students
learn "root-cause analysis" to assess both the debates and the policy responses.
This is not for students who have taken Professor Broad’s SIS-338 course.
MAJOR CREDIT: ANTHROPOLOGY; ENVS (BA in Environmental Studies only); POLS (Major Related Social Science
Requirement); and SIS (Environmental Sustainability and Global Health; Global Inequality and Development);
HNRS-302-010H The United States in Asia: From Vietnam to the Present
Pek Koon Heng
TH 11:45 a.m.-2:25 p.m.
The course will explore the political, strategic and economic dimensions of America’s engagement with East
and Southeast Asia. Major themes will include the Vietnam War and its post-1975 aftermath, China’s
emergence as the major regional power, the rise and sputtering of Japan’s economic “miracle,” and the
Association of Southeast Asian Nation’s emergence as the central player in regional integration. An overarching
objective will be to critically evaluate US policies and behaviors leading to the present “pivot” toward Asia.
MAJOR CREDIT: ANTHROPOLOGY; CLEG (Government); POLS (Comparative Politics Concentration); SIS (Asia; Foreign
Policy and National Security; Global Inequality and Development); and SOC (U.S. History requirement)
HNRS-302-011H The Critical Media Consumer/Participant
Ron Elving
W 5:30-8 p.m.
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; POLS (Major Related Social Science
Requirement); SIS (Identity, Race, Gender, Culture); and SOC (with advisor approval)
HNRS-302-012H Bioethics and the Law
Daniel M. Freeman
T, F 10:20-11:35 a.m.
CANCELLED
This course will examine the fundamental concepts of bioethics and then turn to their application in clinical and
judicial settings. The study of bioethics is both intensely timely because almost every week some relevant, highprofile incident occurs, as well as richly interdisciplinary. Resolving disputes in the medical/legal arena requires
the deployment of information and methods from both law and medicine. The substance of these two disciplines
intersects in an attempt to settle sensitive and extraordinarily difficult conundrums. The issues presented in this
context frequently end up in the forum where our society resolves some of its more complex problems; the
courts.
This course is intended to introduce students to some of the many issues that confront healthcare providers and
patients in this time of rapid technological change, and also to new ways of thinking about these issues. With the
progress of science and medicine being measured in leaps and bounds, the ability of the courts to apply legal
principles to them is measured in baby steps. Students will learn how to navigate the divide between the two
disciplines and to utilize formulae for enabling the dispute resolution process.
The first part of the course will be devoted to an overview of the fundamental principles of bioethics. We will
then consider several clinical topics and public policy problems to which the principles may be applied, such as
informed consent, diagnostic genetics, end-of-life care, advanced directives, the “right to die” and physicianassisted suicide. A major portion of the course will be spent examining the evolution of bioethics decisionmaking in the context of judicial proceedings and to understand where our society is in the contemporary debate.
Students will also engage in an examination of recent issues that have engendered public controversy about
which the courts have yet to decide. We will conclude with a look at the role of bioethical issues in public policy
making.
The objectives of this course are to provide students with a basic understanding of the relationships between
bioethics, and the law. It will also provide grounding about principles of bioethics and significant issues or
unsettled matters pending in the various bioethics forums. Active participation will help develop and improve
analytical skills including understanding relevant factors, issue recognition, problem solving and judgment using
the subject of bioethics as a catalyst.
MAJOR CREDIT: CLEG (Legal Institutions Component); HEALTH PROMOTION; JUSTICE and LAW; LAW and SOCIETY; and
POLS (Law and Politics Concentration); and SOC (Liberal Studies requirement)
HNRS-302-013H Politics of Turkey in Peace and Conflict
Doga Eralp
T 8:55-11:35 a.m.
This course explores key debates and themes in Turkish politics such as the role of political Islam, Kurdish
question, democracy and human rights. Having gained a solid understanding of domestic issues we will then
explore the role of Turkey as a regional as well as global actor in peace and conflict. Special highlight of the
course will be the role of Turkey in the Syrian conflict.
MAJOR CREDIT: CLEG (Government Course for CLEG Major, Major Elective for the Law and Society Major); POLS
(Comparative Politics for the Political Science Major); SOC (satisfies Liberal Studies requirement or Hours Outside of
SOC Requirement for SOC Majors); SIS (Foreign Policy and National Security; Peace, Global Security, and Conflict
Resolution; and Identity, Race, Gender and Culture)