HONORS COLLOQUIA
Fall 2012
Major Credit as of September 5, 2012
Please check back for any updates.
Special Note:
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.
Religious Studies Honors students: Please see your Religious Studies advisor for approval to apply a religion-related
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 UNTOLD HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES:
OLIVER STONE’S FILMS
Peter Kuznick
W 8:10-10:40 p.m.
This course uses Oliver Stone's feature films and a forthcoming documentary film series by Stone and
Professor Kuznick to explore how the controversial filmmaker has interpreted the history of U.S.
empire/national security state. The course compares Stone's interpretation with those of scholars and
prominent guest speakers, including Stone, who participated in key events.
MAJOR CREDIT: AMERICAN STUDIES; ANTHROPOLOGY; EDUCATION; POLS (Major Related Social Science
Requirement); HISTORY; SIS (U.S. Foreign Policy); SOC (Major Credit with the permission of SOC advisor; also satisfies
the SOC U.S. History requirement)
HNRS-300-002H MUSIC AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Shalini Ayyagari
MTH 1:10-2:25 p.m.
Katzen 128
This course provides an introduction to theoretical concepts and local approaches to the various dimensions of
cultural ownership and authorship/artistry in relation to musical practice. We will examine the origins, development,
and paradigmatic shifts within cultural intellectual policy as it relates to music. How do policy perspectives
contribute to the analysis of culture--whether it be in the musical notes, the lives of musicians and consumers, media,
cultural heritage, and larger visions of community and citizenship? In what ways does the law shape popular culture,
publicity rights, and musical production, especially in today's globally digital world? Where do we draw the lines
between homage, sampling, and stealing in music? In relation to neoliberalism and globalization, students will be
encouraged to consider theoretical perspectives on cultural policy that address issues such as development, cultural
recognition, social critique, and aesthetics.
MAJOR CREDIT: MUSIC; SIS (International Communication); and SOC (Major Credit with the permission of SOC
advisor)
HNRS-300-003H 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 (Comparative
and International Race Relations); SOC (Major Credit with the permission of SOC advisor; also satisfies the SOC U.S.
History Requirement); and SOCIOLOGY
HNRS-301-001H GAME THEORY, INFINITY, AND FRACTALS
Michael Keynes
MTH 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; EDUCATION; PHYSICS (Traditional Track); and SIS (International Economic
Relations); and SOC (Major Credit with the permission of SOC advisor)
HNRS-302-001H LEGAL ISSUES IN GLOBALIZATION
Michael Mass
TH 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; LFS (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
(International Politics, International Development, International Economic Relations, International Business); and
SOCIOLOGY
HNRS-302-002H WHO ARE WE?
AN ANALYSIS OF NATIONAL IDENTITY IN A GLOBALIZED WORLD
Anthony Quainton
W 2:35-5:15 p.m.
The course will examine emerging attitudes toward national identity in the United States. It will look at a
select group of foreign countries that face the challenge of absorbing large numbers of immigrants in part to
meet workforce needs and to compensate for the aging demographics of their indigenous populations.
Students will examine the tensions arising from ethnic, linguistic and religious differences and the
prospects for civil violence. The course will read Samuel Huntington's Who Are We? It will examine
concepts such as bilingualism and multiculturalism, as well as the rules, procedures and examinations for
naturalization. Students will be assigned a country to research, will make an oral presentation on that
country to the full class, and will produce a substantial written report summarizing their findings. For the
final examination, students will prepare a policy brief outlining steps that a government might take to build
national unity and a sense of common identity.
MAJOR CREDIT: AMERICAN STUDIES; CLEG (Government Component); EDUCATION; POLS (Comparative Politics
Concentration); SIS (International Communication, International Development, United States Foreign Policy); and
SOCIOLOGY
HNRS-302-003H PRISON SURVIVAL
Robert Johnson
W 11:45 a.m.-2:25 p.m.
Various forms of testimony—diaries, interviews, fiction—will be examined to shed light on the
psychological and existential dynamics of survival under conditions of extreme confinement. Topics will
include life and death sentences, long-term solitary confinement, torture, and the sheer struggle to stay alive
and sane in such brutal settings as labor camps, concentration camps, and death camps.
MAJOR CREDIT: ANTHROPOLOGY; CLEG (Justice Component); JUSTICE; LAW AND SOCIETY;
POLS (Major Related Social Science Requirement); and SOCIOLOGY
HNRS-302-004H JAZZ AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Clarence Lusane
W 2:35-5:15 p.m.
Jazz has often been referred to as America’s only cultural invention, and gift to the world. There is virtually nowhere
in the world where one will not find a jazz culture of some sort. From Azerbaijan to Zimbabwe, jazz is being played
by local musicians as well as international, mostly American, players on a daily basis. While there are literally
thousands of books, movies, journals and research on jazz, very little has been done in the field of International
Relations that has looked at the political significance of jazz on a global scale and within specific societies.
Interrogation should entail not only a cultural analysis, but political, economic, and social one as well. This course
looks at the globalization of jazz from several vantage points. It traces the migration of jazz from African-American
cultural enclaves in the United States to its expansion around the world. It looks at the appropriation of jazz by other
societies relative to issues of culture, politics, economics and social meaning.
MAJOR CREDIT: AMERICAN STUDIES; POLS (Major Related Social Science Requirement);
SIS (International Communication; International Politics; Comparative and International Race Relations; Americas;
Africa; Europe); and SOCIOLOGY.
HNRS-302-005H DISTORTIONS OF REALITY
Arthur Shapiro
MTH 11:45 a.m.-1 p.m.
To what extent are your perceptions accurate representations of the world in which you live? The course
examines works that comment on the difference between reality and the perception of reality: scientific
investigations in cognitive science and neuroscience, artificial intelligence, philosophical meditations,
intentionally fictional works and artistic representations of illusions.
MAJOR CREDIT: HEALTH PROMOTION; and PSYCHOLOGY
HNRS-302-006H APPROACHES TO PEACEMAKING
Kwaku Nuamah
W 5:30-8 p.m.
Conflict is an enduring feature of human existence. It is often accompanied by violence and inflicts untold suffering
on those unfortunate enough to get caught up in its web. But conflict does not always have to be destructive. With
timely and effective management, conflict can be tamed, its negative effects eliminated, and its dynamics channeled
toward constructive ends. Unfortunately, it is very common to miss windows of opportunity embedded in most
conflicts for constructive intervention, leading us down the path to destructive escalation. Indeed, all conflict--from
colossal hegemonic conflicts such as the Peloponnesian War to contemporary skirmishes such as the burgeoning
political conflict in Senegal--can and should be managed (successfully) and even resolved (over time). The challenge
is diagnosing the causes (accurately) and acting early to prevent dangerous escalation. In this course, we shall learn
how to do that.
MAJOR CREDIT: ANTHROPOLOGY; EDUCATION; HEALTH PROMOTION; POLS (Major Related Social Science
Requirement); SIS (International Peace and Conflict Resolution; Africa); and SOCIOLOGY
HNRS-302-007H SOCIAL NETWORKS
Jimi Adams
T F 8:55-10:10 a.m.
While we live in a “connected age,” social networks are not new, and have been part of human history
since our earliest beginnings. In fact, the more people study online interactions via destinations like
Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc., the more they seem to discover that they are reproducing patterns we have
observed in face-to-face interactions for decades. In this class we will explore some of the vast scholarship
that has been devoted to understanding social networks–both historically and contemporarily. In this
course, we will survey a range of the ways that networks are known to influence our lives. This will involve
exploring how networks shape a range of phenomena from the popularity of music to terrorist coordination.
We will also touch on, among other things, finding a job, disease transmission, global trade, and the real
estate market collapse of 2008. These examples will allow us to identify why social networks are important
by answering questions like: Do our networks provide us with potential benefits? Are possible harms
lurking in our webs of connections? How do we maintain the links we value? In what ways does our
maintenance of relationships alter our networks’ potential benefits and harms? Each of these examples and
questions will serve as a means to: (1) understand the methods of general social scientific research, (2)
explore how a network perspective offers explanations for a variety of every day issues, and (3) introduce a
few of the methods used to systematically analyze networks.
MAJOR CREDIT: AMERICAN STUDIES; CLEG (Communication Component); EDUCATION; HEALTH PROMOTION;
KOGOD; POLS (Major Related Social Science Requirement); SIS (International Communication); SOC (Major Credit with
the permission of SOC advisor ); and SOCIOLOGY
HNRS-302-008H FREE SPEECH: INALIENABLE RIGHT AND VILE CRIME
Susan Benesch
M 2:35-5:15 p.m.
With the advent of the Web and Short Message System (SMS), the right of freedom of expression is being
put to vigorous use around the world, in the best and worst ways. In China, netizens meet on a bootleg
version of Twitter and on Web forums, racing government censors who delete their posts. In Russia,
extremist bloggers call for another Holocaust. In Kenya, hate speech was broadcast via SMS blasts, leading
to mass killings -- but at the same time, Kenyans were using SMS and the web to report and contain
violence. In Denmark, the publication of cartoons making fun of Islam led to riots abroad. Recently in the
United States, one member of Congress received faxed images of nooses, and another was threatened with
death on YouTube, while female students' daily movements were tracked online by their classmates, along
with scenarios for raping them.
In this interdisciplinary course, we will examine how speech contributes to democracy as well as to hatred
and atrocities. We will study international law and policy related to freedom of expression, together with
cases like the ones mentioned above and the knotty questions they pose --such as how to let free speech
flourish while inhibiting hate, terrorism and genocide.
MAJOR CREDIT: JUSTICE (Major Elective); LAW AND SOCIETY (Major Elective); SIS (International Communication;
International Peace and Conflict Resolution, International Politics); SOC (Major Credit with the permission of SOC advisor);
and SOCIOLOGY
HNRS-302-009H THE POLITICS AND POLICY OF HEALTH CARE
Christopher Jacobs
M 5:30-8 p.m.
Have you wondered what’s actually in the health care bill that politicians spent so much time debating?
Are you curious to know how Medicare affects your grandparents’ health care—and your taxes? Do you
know why most Americans get their health insurance—but not other forms of insurance— through their
job? This course attempts to answer these questions and more about the American health care system. We
will examine how government programs and private initiatives work (or don’t), and how American health
care grew into the hybrid private-public system it has become. We will study the political factors that
influence policy-making, and the policy trends that impact political debates about health care and
entitlements. The course is intended to provide a policy background for all those interested in how our
health care system works now, and the debates about what it may become in the future.
MAJOR CREDIT: CLEG (GOVT component); HEALTH PROMOTION; KOGOD; and POLS (Policy concentration)