Fall 2010
FRESHMAN SEMINAR PROGRAM
UNCG College of Arts and Sciences
Marker Abbreviations:
WI: Writing Intensive
SI: Speaking Intensive
GL: Global Perspectives
GN: Global Non-Western
Perspectives
These seminars are open only to students who will be freshmen in the Fall 2010 semester. For the most current information including location of
the class, see UNCGenie on the web: www.uncg.edu. (TBA means To Be Announced) We encourage students not to sign up for a seminar without
first reading the course description or not to sign up for more than one seminar. Talk with your advisor about registering for a seminar.
REASONING AND DISCOURSE I
Also carries credit equivalent to ENG 101. You may not receive credit for both FMS 115 and ENG 101.
GEC category: GRD
Course
Days/Time/Place
Course Title/Description
Instructor
FMS
115-01
M, W
3:30-4:45 p.m.
TBA
Alan
Benson
FMS
115-02
T, R
12:30-1:45 p.m.
TBA
FMS
115-03
T, R
11:00-12:15 p.m.
TBA
Ghosts and Machines: Artificial Life in Fiction and Non-Fiction. The creation of artificial life—the act of
breathing a spark into inanimate matter—has long fascinated humanity. From Pygmalion to Victor
Frankenstein, from ancient tinkerers to modern artificial intelligence researchers, humans have dreamed of
creating non-biological life. Yet, as R.U.R., The Matrix, “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream,” and Star
Trek’s Borg show, our desire is tinged with fear; what happens if/when our creations escape our control? Are
we crafting humanity’s replacement? This course explores this tension and examines how our fear of the
artificial Other reflects broader questions about humanity’s engagement in science. Using readings from sci-fi
and “classic” literature, philosophy, and the sciences, we will consider questions of reality, authenticity,
power, and control. At course’s end, students will be able to critically examine a text, to write in a variety of
styles and forms, to draw upon the texts we read and library research for evidence, and to construct and
support scholarly arguments.
Migration, Identity, and Transnational Crisis. What happens when an individual is forced to migrate within
or outside of his/her nation due to crisis (natural or man-made)? How does an individual negotiate two or
more national affiliations? More broadly, what makes individuals cohere around a common set of beliefs and
take political action? What happens when these communities (sometimes nations) come into conflict? And,
what is a nation, anyway? This course attempts to answer these questions. We will read texts that offer
general approaches to discourses of nationalism and transnationalism, and we will read various narratives that
present specific stories of these “isms” in crisis. We will examine three sites of recent (trans)national crisis:
New Orleans, Palestine, and Afghanistan. The methodology of this course is comparative and
interdisciplinary and operates on the assumption that understanding ideas of national and transnational
belonging in conflict requires in-depth study from multiple perspectives.
Migration, Identity, and Transnational Crisis.
See FMS 115-02 for course description.
LITERATURE
Course
Rose
Brister
Rose
Brister
GEC category: GLT
Days/Time/Place
Course Title/Description
Instructor
Imagining the Plague: Literature. Film, Disease & Health Human beings normally describe the ideal life
as one of germ-free health. Disease means foreign invasion. Yet scientists in the last three centuries have
gradually discovered that persons as single units and as living in collective societies can be more accurately
understood as battlefields where organisms compete for resources in combative struggle. This course will
examine key literary and cinematic texts that center on pestilence and contagion for the most part in epidemic
and pandemic proportions. Disease as parasitic and symbiotic interaction will be discussed as the essence of
organic existence. In a larger context disease conflict will be treated as a conceptual metaphor for growth in
personal awareness, intrapersonal relationship, and social and cultural change.
Kaleidoscope Eyes-- Sliding Realities in Literature. Friedrich Nietzsche claimed “There are no facts, only
interpretations.” In recent years, this notion has been utilized in television and film in order to construct
interpretive realities. Popular shows such as Lost, The Wire, and Six Feet Under along with films as varied as
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button all play with the
construction of unstable or shifting realities. In this cultural climate, then, one begins to wonder at one point
does our shared conception of reality begin to break down and individual perceptions begin to prevail? This
class seeks to explore that complex territory through the lens of multiple realities present in some key literary
texts. We will read texts from a variety of genres in order to better understand how shifting realities inform
literature and our larger cultural climate. The answers we generate will likely lead to more questions…yet,
hopefully, also offer up some points of synthesis and comparison from which we can move forward.
Fashionable Fiction: Dress in Literature. In this writing-intensive course we will consider how dress is used
in various works of literature to communicate meaning and identity. We will examine dress in short stories
and memoirs by writers including Alice Walker and F. Scott Fitzgerald, in fairy tales such as “Little Red
Riding Hood,” and in the novel Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood. We will consider the historical and cultural
context of dress as well as rhetorical aspects of clothing. Formal and informal writing assignments will
provide opportunities for developing analytical thinking and coherent and effective communication.
Comedy in Dramatic Literature. In this class, we will survey a kind of history of comedy in dramatic
literature. Beginning with classical Greek drama, we will analyze a number of plays that highlight, evolve,
and condition the comedic genre in drama. We will consider plots, characters, cultural context, and theme as
we gradually work toward a definition for how comedy functions in dramatic literature. One working
definition of comedy is “a series of situations in which the characters desire to break into the world of the
play.” Starting with this definition, we will complicate the ideas of comedy while also watching other forms
of comedy as well (such as improvisational comedy, the sitcom, and feature length comedic films).
Charles
Tisdale
FMS
120-01
WI
T, R
5:00-6:15 p.m.
TBA
FMS
120-02
WI
M,W
5:00-6:15 p.m.
TBA
FMS
120-03
WI
T, R
9:00-10:45 a.m.
TBA
FMS
120-04
WI
M, W, F
11:00-11:50 a.m.
TBA
Cheryl
Marsh
Stephanie
Womick
Robert
Beshere
FMS
121-02
WI
GL
T, R
12:30-1:45 p.m.
TBA
FMS
121-03
WI
GL
T,R
3:30-4:45 p.m..
TBA
Emotions under Pressure: Love and Loss in Spanish Literature. This course examines the topics of love,
sacrifice, loss and death in nineteenth and early twentieth Spanish literature. The goals for this course are for
students to understand the evolution of ideas regarding the role of reason, imagination and desire in the
dynamics of romantic love prevalent in Spain during the romantic and realist movements. We will compare
differing interpretations of love in various art forms such as drama, short stories, novels, and film adaptations.
Wilderness and Society in Literature. This course examines the relationship between wilderness and
civilization in 19th- and 20th-century American literature. We will pay particular attention to the concept of
place to explore such questions as: How is a connection to a particular place imagined within the city, rural
areas, or the wilderness? How does a real or imagined inhabitation of a landscape influence national identity?
Does the nonhuman world define the human? The course will introduce you to intellectual inquiry by
developing skills of critical reading and discussion, analysis, and well-supported, persuasive writing. We will
discuss texts in relation to their historical contexts and explore the methods and assumptions of literary and
culture analysis.
Days/Time/Place
Course Title/Description
Instructor
Acting Change in America: Human Rights Onstage. In this course we will look at the rich legacy of
American plays that have, at their center, the struggle for equality in a chaotic world. These dramas reflect the
nation’s political, social, and moral norms which have been in constant flux in the tumultuous 20th century
and they bring into sharp focus the troubling prejudices and conformities that have influenced and sometimes
dominated our culture.
Doing the Right Thing: Spike Lee and the Culture of American Democracy. Spike Lee is arguably the most
prolific and critically-acclaimed African American filmmaker of all time. Although most critics utilize his
films to address the theme of racial identity and ideology, they rarely scrutinize his films as a critique of
American democratic culture—individualism, identity, and ideals. Specifically, this course will explore
several of his films—features and documentaries—and the following themes and topics: the right to dissent,
participatory citizenry, human/civil rights, conflict and consensus, class and privilege, racism, violence and
war, sexuality, and the American Dream.
Jeff
West
FINE ARTS
Course
WI
M, W, F
10:00-10:50 a.m.
TBA
FMS
130-02
WI
T, R
3:30-4:45 p.m..
TBA
PHILOSOPHICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND ETHICAL PRINCIPLES
GEC category: GPR
Course Title/Description
Instructor
Wabi Sabi Ethics for Sustainability. This course is designed to reveal the perfection that lies in the everyday
aspects of our lives that we often take for granted. By paying attention to the seemingly small things and
simple pleasures, we can explore the connection of our daily decisions and practices to global concerns. In
this course, we consider how the choices we make are ones we can sustain and ones that can sustain us.
Philosophy and Science Fiction. Throughout the ages, philosophers have been concerned with formulating
and reformulating a variety of concepts trying to answer the big questions concerning the nature of reality,
morality, and the soul, as well as developing and defending the idea of the ideal society and the ideal person.
Under the umbrella of science fiction, both the film industry and the literary world have created stories that
challenge these philosophical ideals and offer up varying interpretations that stretch these concepts,
sometimes to the breaking point. This class will explore some of these stories and perhaps arrive at a better
understanding of these philosophical theories and how they might impact humanity.
Spoma
Jovanovic
WI
T, R
2:00-3:15 p.m.
TBA
FMS
140-02
WI
T, R
2:00-3:15 p.m.
TBA
FMS
142-01
WI
GN
M, W, F
9:00-9:50 a.m.
TBA
Barbara
Hands
TBA
from REL
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES: Pre-Modern
GEC/CAR category: GHP/GPM
Days/Time/Place
Course Title/Description
Instructor
Ancient Magic and Witchcraft. This course will explore the diverse practices of magic and witchcraft in
ancient Greece and Rome. After first considering what it is that constitutes magic and witchcraft in general,
we will examine developments in Greek and Romans uses of them over time, consider where—or whether—
lines could be drawn between magic and religion for these people, and analyze what the practices of magic
and witchcraft tells us about the lives and concerns of their practitioners. We will use methods of and
approaches to contemporary magic and witchcraft to provide us a frame of reference for examining the
ancient ones.
You Don’t Belong! The “Other” in Medieval Western Culture. Are we “in” or are we “out”? The historian
R.I. Moore has argued that the high middle ages was the period of the “formation of a persecuting society”
during which the majority (those who were “in”) willfully prosecuted various minorities (those who were
“out.”) In this course, we will examine sources by and about those on the fringes of medieval society –
sources including romances, poems, art, laws, and religious texts – to see if we can find evidence to support or
reject Moore’s thesis.
Robert
Simmons
FMS
151-01
WI,
GL
T,R
9:30-10:45 a.m.
TBA
FMS
151-02
WI,
GL
T,R
12:30-1:45 p.m.
TBA
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES: Modern
Course
Robert
Randolph
Days/Time/Place
FMS
140-01
Course
Michelle
Balaev
GEC category: GFA
FMS
130-01
Course
Ana
Hontanilla
Anne
Barton
GEC/CAR category: GHP/GMO
Days/Time/Place
Course Title/Description
Instructor
Been in the Storm So Long: The Long Road of the American Civil Rights Movement. Pick up any high
school history book, and the story of 20th century America is always the same: a War, the Roaring Twenties,
the Great Depression, another war, then another war, this one of a different kind, affluence, and then, all of
the sudden, by the way, POOF! The Civil Rights movement comes out of nowhere. The real story is much
more deeply embedded in American History, with its roots at the very beginning. As with all history, the civil
rights movement did not up and occur one day, so we will look at each event in its larger historical context,
finding the roots of each.
This class is cross-listed with Residential College; 11 spaces are reserved for Residential College
Latino Immigrants in U.S. Society. An analysis of Latino immigration to the United States with a special
emphasis on the diversity of the immigration experience by national origin, region of settlement, and gender.
In order to understand this experience, we will pay particular attention to the histories of Latino immigration
to the United States in order to identify similarities between the receptions of Latino immigrant groups and
other immigrants in history. We will also discuss predominant theories of international immigration,
relationships between the historical and contemporary context, immigration policy, and the adaptation of
Latino immigrants in the U.S
Christine
Flood
FMS
160-01
WI
M,W,F
10:00-10:50 a.m.
Mary Foust –
Ashby Parlor
FMS
162-01
WI,
GN
M,W
3:30-4:45 p.m.
TBA
Antonio
de la Cova
SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL STUDIES
Course
Course Title/Description
Instructor
War and Conflict. It has been estimated that there has been a war somewhere in the world 94% of the time
since the dawn of civilization. Why does mankind periodically organize himself for armed conflict and
warfare? This course will begin by asking these questions and try to answer them through an examination of
the United States’ involvement in war and conflict over the last hundred years.
Fans, Athletes, and Sports in Modern Society. This course investigates the place of sport in society with a
special emphasis on identity. Social identities are clearly an important factor in how a person understandings
his or her sense of self and place in society—and identities formed in and around the issue of sport are
becoming increasingly important in late modern societies. As such we’ll be looking at how these identities are
achieved and disengaged for both athletes and fans. Central to this discussion will be issues of race, gender,
and sexual orientation.
Gender, Culture, and Media. This course will examine the roles that gender plays in authorship and
representation within various forms of commercial and independent media. We will look at the intended
audiences for each form of media and critically analyze the ways that these forms impact people at individual,
social, and institutional levels. We will discuss media as both a form of socialization and a means of
navigating new ideas.
A. Leigh
Sink
FMS
170-01
WI
T, R
9:30-10:45 a.m.
TBA
FMS
170-02
WI
M,W,F
12:00-12:50 p.m.
TBA
FMS
170-03
WI
T, R
9:30-10:45 a.m.
TBA
NATURAL SCIENCES: Life Science
Course
FMS
184-01
WI
GEC category: GSB
Days/Time/Place
Steven
O’Boyle
Carrie
Hart
GEC/CAR category: GNS/GLS
Days/Time/Place
Course Title/Description
Instructor
T, R
8:00-9:15 a.m.
TBA
Ethics and Life Science: Should we, or shouldn’t we? This seminar will focus on current issues in several
areas of life science, including genetics, embryology and development, the environment, and biotechnology.
Students will learn basic biological concepts related to the specific issue being discussed and will then
consider the issue from the viewpoint of different stakeholders. Although global warming is an issue often in
the news, exactly what is it? How does it happen? What are its potential effects? How are we, individually,
contributing to it? How can we stop it? SHOULD we stop it? This is a dilemma, because, depending on your
perspective, any answer could be “correct.” We will consider why that is true.
Ellen
Lamb