SPRING 2006

Most recently updated January 24, 2006

This page includes the following (as submitted to the Registrar’s Office):

- topics descriptions

- seminar descriptions

- descriptions for new or revised courses

All courses are 4 semester credits unless otherwise noted.

AMST 194-01

Black Public Intellectuals

Harris

Spring 2006

**********

This course will address the tradition of black public intellectuals in the numerous Black communities. We will look at the historical time periods from Reconstruction, the Anti-Lynching Movement, ‘20s Black Nationalism, the Harlem Renaissance, the Great Migration, Communism and the Red Scare, and the Black Power Revolution. We will examine men and women who are “cultural workers” through numerous media. We will expand the definition of “politics” to include theater, literature, and film. We will interrogate the concept of who chooses the scholarly leaders for Black communities. Our focus will incorporate numerous ideologies such as separatism, conservatism, and critical race feminism.

AMST 194-03/ENGL 194-03

Asian American Literature/Cultural Theory

Wu

Spring 2006

**********

This course is an interdisciplinary foray into the field of Asian American studies, a field that is not only about the histories and literary/cultural practices of Asian-American people, but also about the very ways in which race gets conceptualized in the US. Because placing Asian America at the center of any critical analysis disrupts the black-white binary that informs US racial politics, Asian American studies is as much about the study of racial formation as it is about the study of a racial group. We will examine Asian American racial identities within the context of US histories of imperialism, immigration, global capitalism, and labor. Course materials will range from the Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein musical Flower Drum Song to fiction by Lois-Ann Yamanaka, Jessica Hagedorn, Theresa Cha and filmmakers Curtis Choy, Christina Choy, and Marlon Fuentes. Live performances at Theater Mu will also be part of this course. Selections from social theorists Tomas Almaguer, Yen Le Espiritu, Stuart Hall, Lisa Lowe, David Palumbo-Liu, E. San Juan, Jr. and others will accompany texts.

AMST 194-05

US Cultures of Human Exhibition

Wu

Spring 2006

**********

Sideshows, circuses, world’s fairs, and museums are social institutions that loom large in the American imagination. These varied arenas of exhibition and performance generate knowledge about difference among human beings. How do these forms of leisure and entertainment foreground human difference? How do the humans thus displayed and spectators interact with one another? What is the fascination behind looking, and more importantly who, the spectator or the performer, is looking at whom? This course will address how race, gender, disability, and imperialism converge in these cultures of human exhibition. We will think about how difference gets constructed in these dynamics of looking and the ways in which the humans on display, though objectified, are often active and agential subjects. Selections will cover both historical and literary texts that engage in large part with these arenas of human exhibition. Readings may include excerpts from P.T. Barnum’s autobiography and the fiction of contemporary writers such as Katherine Dunn and Darin Strauss. A variety of film screenings will be scheduled, ranging from early cinematic representations of the freak show to the more recent works produced by performance artist Coco Fusco and filmmaker Marlon Fuentes.

AMST 294-01

Mass Media in Ethnic Communities

Rhodes

Spring 2006

**********

This course will trace the history, development, and political economy of mass media that are produced by and for members of racial and/or ethnic minority communities. We will consider the origins of these media among immigrant and aggrieved populations in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and the vital roles they play as community institutions. While the course cannot survey all media forms in all relevant communities, it will provide select case studies of newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and film. Students will engage in their own field research as they investigate a media organization based in the Twin Cities.

AMST 300-01

Junior/Senior Seminar: Where Theory Meets Practice: Prisons/Schools

Aguilar San-Juan

Spring 2006

**********

This civic engagement seminar on schools and prisons will provide a community-based experience focused on racial inequality in the public school and criminal justice systems in the Twin Cities. To prepare ourselves for engagement with the community, we will study and discuss books, articles, and films on schools, prisons, and racial inequality in the United States by authors such as Jonathan Kozol, Angela Davis, Joy James, and Leonard Peltier. Monday evening classe will give us time to discuss, reflect, and theorize about our interactions with the community. We will give special attention to the complex questions raised by the politics of “service-learning” and by our presence as scholar/researchers in the community.

During the week, we will participate in real-world problem-solving through an internship in one of four off-campus settings: a mainstream school, an alternative school, a correctional facility, and a transitional program for offenders. Students will work in teams with community organizations on projects designed in collaboration with this seminar. The degree of “hands-on” experience obtained by each student will differ across these settings according to the issues involved and the goals and mission of the supervising organization. Tuesday afternoon lab time will be devoted to guest lectures, field trips, or meetings with internship supervisors.

The semester will open with a keynote address on campus by Liz Canner, a nationally recognized media artist and independent filmmaker who uses cutting-edge technologies student-led college-wide forum/Celebration featuring films and speakers on schools and prisons.

This seminar is required of all American Studies majors declared after May 2005, and it is open to declared majors in any department who have taken at least one American Studies course. Signature of instructor is required.

ANTH 294-01

Tibet and the Tibetan Diaspora

Hess

Spring 2006

**********

“Tibet” the place, and “Tibetans” as people, hold a large place in the Western imagination. Tibet is imagined as an isolated, religious, premodern utopia, and also a contemporary site of cultural destruction and human rights abuses. In this course, we will examine these images, and attempt to counter them with knowledge about Tibet from a variety of perspectives. This course will examine Tibetan society primarily through the lens of contemporary ethnographic literature which complicates Western exoticism as well as Chinese and Tibetan exile rhetoric about Tibet. The course will be divided into three parts. Part one will examine political, economic and religious aspects of Tibetan society prior to the Communist Revolution, in particular we will explore Tibet’s relations with outsiders (e.g. China, Britain, and the US), as well as Tibet’s place in the Western imagination. Part two of the course will explore the Tibetan diaspora in South Asia (India and Nepal) and the attendant cultural and social dynamics of Tibetan identity and politics in exile. Part three will examine the expansion of the Tibetan diaspora into North America, focusing primarily on recent immigration of Tibetans to the US through the Tibetan-US Resettlement Project.

ART 194-01/ASIA 194-01

Asian Art Survey II: Japan

Kyan

Spring 2006

**********

This course provides a survey of the art and architecture of Japan from the archaic pottery of the Jomon period to the impact of Japanese animation on the global marketplace. While the chronological scope of this course is defined broadly, works of art are studied within their social, religious, and political settings to indicate their relationship to broader cultural issues. Topics include Zen Temple gardens, the decoration of feudal castles, woodblock prints of the pleasure quarters and contemporary Japanese manga (comics) culture.

ART 294-01/ASIA 294-01

The Image in 20^th Century China

Kyan

Spring 2006

**********

This course investigates the function of images in the social and political life of 20^th century China. From the last decades of dynastic rule through the rise of Communism and ending with China’s current presence on the global stage, we explore the role of the image in representations of cultural identity, the relationship between tradition and modernity, and changes in technology and media. This course counts toward the fine arts distribution requirement.

BIOL 194-01

Cell Biology & Genetics I: Topics Course (specific title to be announced)

Jansen

Spring 2006

**********

An introduction to the fundamental concepts in cell biology and genetics through an exploration of reproduction and neuropharmacology. The course will focus on reproductive biology (including assisted reproductive technologies and contraceptives/abortifacients), neurobiology (including mechanisms of cellular communication and neuroactive drugs), and we’ll touch on the effects of music on synaptic plasticity and cellular structure in the brain. No prerequisites.

BIOL 194-03

Evolution and the Politics of Science

Beck

Spring 2006

**********

Every day we hear about it in the news: someone is trying to change the curriculum at some school to exclude the concepts of evolution. But do people on both sides of the issue really understand what “evolution” is? Do they understand how it fits into biology? This course will introduce and cover the concepts of modern evolutionary biology, how the processes work, and why science has so strongly accepted its existence. We will also cover the relevance of evolutionary biology to our daily lives. Why is evolution such a politically charged subject in this country? How does the political climate affect the way we do biology? More importantly, how can we improve the scientific knowledge and understanding of the politicians and the public? No prerequisites.

BIOL 394-01

Seminar in Infectious Diseases

May

Spring 2006

**********

We hear daily reports in the popular press about threats from infectious diseases -- those that have been around for decades (tuberculosis), those more recent (HIV/AIDS) and those that are emerging (avian flu, west nile virus). How worried should we be about all of these deadly infections? Is the next deadly disease just around the corner? From a scientific standpoint are these threats credible? What are the steps being taken by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to protect us? Is it enough? This course will examine these issues from a broad scientific viewpoint (immunological, microbial, and epidemiological) with the primary goal of separating fact from conjecture. We will also attempt to place our findings within the cultural and political context in which these infections unfold. The course will be taught in a discussion format, drawing from the primary scientific literature as well as the popular press (newspaper, non-fictional literature, radio broadcasts, and video are all potential sources.) Numerous presentations, writings, and participation in discussion will be required. Prerequisites: Biology 205 (Cell Biology/Genetics II), plus 357 (Immunology) or 355 (Virology) or 358 (Microbiology) or permission of instructor.

BIOL 394-03

Organismal Diversity

Beck

Spring 2006

**********

There are about 1.4 million named species, including extinct ones. Estimates vary, but all agree that this is but a fraction of the species in existence, with possibly 100 million overall. Most of these organisms are unfamiliar to us, as humans, but play an integral role in ecosystems around the world. Organisms across all of life meet similar environmental challenges, but they do so in many different ways. Given that all of life on earth can be traced back to a single common ancestor, understanding the diversity of existent and extinct organisms will help us put ourselves and our role on this planet in context. This course is a general survey of life on earth, beginning with the simplest bacteria, and continuing to the most complex vertebrates. Lab periods are devoted to observations and investigations of living organisms from the exotic, to those found in the lakes at Ordway reserve. Prerequisites: Biology 205 (Cell Biology/Genetics II) or concurrent enrollment. Biology 180 (Ecology) or 210/220 (Physiology) recommended.

ECON 294-01

Game Theory

Juan Gomez

Spring 2006

**********

The course focuses on the study of strategic interaction, usually in the presence of uncertainty. Game theoretical principles are taught through study of applications to economics and other fields. Example of such applications include oligopolies, auctions, bargaining procedures, voting procedures, and evolutionary biology. Throughout the semester students have the opportunity to participate in classroom experiments that test concepts studied in class. Both cooperative and non-cooperative aspects of games are analyzed. http://www.macalester.edu/~gomez/index_files/page0006.htm

ECON 394-01

Deals

Egge

Spring 2006

**********

This class is designed to be at the intersection of courses on entrepreneurship, finance, and capital markets. It will be very unique, because the intent is that every class period features a former Macalester student as a guest professor. Examples of “deals” could range from the purchase of a motel and converting it into business condo offices, to proposing and executing a merger between two firms, to discussing the collapse or bankruptcy of a firm, to a sweet financing package for small loans, to the finding of a professional career that fits one’s priors.

Each guest professor will provide ahead of time background reading for which the students will be responsible. Some might require homework or case study preparation. During the class period the guest professors will discuss a deal or two they were involved with that is connected to the reading material they provided ahead of time. There will also be generic reading material required and made available on the web. Students will be asked and expected to help host some lunches and/or dinners during the semester.

This class will require a project-paper from any econ major who is using the course as a capstone. Prerequisites: junior standing, Econ 113 (Financial Accounting), and students must have completed 2 of the following 3 courses: Econ 361, 371 and 381. Evaluation will be based on one final exam, a paper (if doing for capstone), attendance, and participation in class.

ENGL 294-03/ENVI 294-09

American Literature and the Environment

Shmurak

Spring 2006

**********

How have Americans in the last three centuries understood their relationships to the land? How has their thinking about the environment shaped not only their uses of it, but their ideas about themselves, their communities, and the nation as a whole? This class examines American literary and cultural responses to the Nation’s changing landscapes from the colonial period to the present. We will consider a variety of subjects, including ideas about the American “wilderness,” urban development, suburbia, food production, and ecological conservation. Drawing on literary, visual, and historical sources, we will investigate the ways Americans have viewed different environments, paying particular attention to how gender, ethnicity, and nation inflect their responses. Texts will likely include works by Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Caroline Kirkland, Frederick Douglass, Henry David Thoreau, Frederick Law Olmstead, Mary Austin, John Muir, Edith Wharton, Willa Cather, Upton Sinclair, Robert Frost, Zora Neale Hurston, Thomas Pynchon, and Rachel Carson, as well as a variety of secondary sources.

ENGL 390-01

Women and Voice: Black Women and Performance

Civil

Spring 2006

**********

A black female slave poet denounces her prior pagan land and praises her deracination. A black male playwright conjures a black female blues singer. The Venus Hottentot becomes a star? Who is speaking and why does it matter?

In this section of Women and Voice, we will explore this question in the context of black women and performance. How can we recognize black women’s performance as theme and act in ebonics, persona or occasional poetry, plays, novels and performance art pieces? How do the present, silent or ventriloquized voices of black women in (and through) performance highlight and challenge notions of gender, race, body, authenticity, identity, representation, form and style?

At the crossroads of literary and performance studies, this class will look at feminist, literary and performance; poetry, novels, plays, performance art, music and films by diverse men and women. Course assignments will include essays, reviews, a brief presentation and critical/creative fusions. Course creators will include: Phyllis Wheatley, Sojourner Truth, August Wilson, ntozake shange, Coco Fusco, Eleanor Antin, Adrian Piper, Alice Walker, Karen Finley, Kara Walker, Billie Holiday, Suzan-Lori Parks, Adrienne Kennedy, Oprah Winfrey, me and you.

ENGL 394-01

American Women Writers Before 1914

Shmurak

Spring 2006

**********

This class examines American women’s writing from the late eighteenth century to World War I. We will consider the diverse literary output by women commenting on the settling of the west, slavery, demographic change, the environment, politics, architecture, and sex, among many other issues. At the center of our inquiry will be the ways texts by these writers construct gender as it interacts with other critical issues in American culture, particularly race, ethnicity, class, and nationhood. Authors will include Phyllis Wheatley, Susanna Rowson, Margaret Fuller, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Harriet Jacobs, Fanny Fern, Mary Wilkins Freeman, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Edith Wharton, and Willa Cather. In addition to reading fiction and poetry, at several points in the term we will examine contemporaneous historical documents, painting, and photography. NOTE: This course fulfills the pre-1900 American literature requirement for the major.

ENGL 394-03

Short Story

Tobeck

Spring 2006

**********

The first part of this course will address why the short story, in its historical development, cultural proliferation, and topical concerns, has been described (as by Frank O’Connor) as a “national art form.” We will examine early desires and efforts to master a form that captures a particularly “American” spirit, as well as texts that interrogate the concept of and faith in such a thing, focusing especially on the democratic--and in many ways troubled--equation of particular and universal (as in e pluribus unum). The second part of the course will bring in stories from elsewhere in the world, to broaden our analysis of the genre in relation to concepts on nation and identity.

ENVI 294-01/POLI 294-05

Citizen Science

Phadke

Spring 2006

**********

This course explores the dynamic relationship between science, technology and society. The course will examine how, and which members of, the public make controversial environmental decisions over topics such as endangered species, genetically modified foods, bioprospecting, climate change, and toxic waste disposal. Through these case studies, the course will critically examine concepts of risk and uncertainty, trust, credibility, expertise and citizenship.

ENVI 294-03/HIST 294-11

Consumer Nation: 20^th Century American Consumer Culture

Wells

Spring 2006

**********

“Of all the strange beasts that have come slouching into the 20^th century,” writes James Twitchell, “none has been more misunderstood, more criticized, and

more important than materialism.” In this course, we will trace the various twists and turns of America’s vigorous consumer culture across the twentieth century, examining its growing influence on American life, its implications for the environmental health of the world, and the many debates it has inspired.

ENVI 294-05/POLI 294-07

Green Politics: Future of the US Environmental Movement

B. Smith

Spring 2006

**********

The US environmental movement faces an uncertain future. Domestically, the movement is on the defensive, battling against the rollback of key environmental legislation. At the international level, the movement struggles to reverse widespread ecological decline while maintaining links with members concerned primarily with backyard issues. A widely noted and controversial 2004 article posits “The Death of Environmentalism.” Yet some argue that the extremism of the current administration and the ecological and social crises exacerbated by hurricanes Katrina and Rita present the possibility of a turning point to a more positive future. This course will examine the strategies that have led to this particular moment and the possibilities for the future. Special attention will be devoted to environmental justice, green party politics, radical environmentalism, and mainstream environmental groups. The course will include presentations by local environmental leaders and will be coordinated with the American Studies Conference on Environmental Justice scheduled in February. A research paper will be assigned to encourage students to pursue their personal ideas regarding movement direction.

ENVI 294-07/HMCS 294-03

Environmental Issues and the Media

Griffin

Spring 2006

**********

How are public perceptions concerning environmental conditions, policy, actors and interests shaped by the language and images used to represent environmental issues? Who sets the agenda for environmental issues and debates and how is that agenda presented for public consumption? What role does news, entertainment and advertising play in establishing or maintaining particular images, perspectives and discourses regarding the environment? This course focuses attention on patterns of environmental news reporting, media portrayals of environmental activism, images of industrial polluters, the visions and metaphors of “green advertising,” and the shifting parameters of environmental rhetoric nationally and globally to gain a sense of the influence of media representation on our views of nature and our understanding of environmental debate. Class members will plan individual term projects that address such issues as: visualizing biodiversity, the limitations of science journalism, the role of elites in shaping media agendas, green visions of environmental sustainability, the images and metaphors of nature documentaries, and preoccupations with risk, drama, geography or culture in television and movie treatments of environmental problems.

ENVI 368-01/INTL 368-01/POLI 394-01

Sustainable Development and the Global Future

Phadke

Spring 2006

**********

This advanced course thoroughly examines the concept of sustainable development. We will define the term, examine its history, and evaluate its political, philosophical, scientific, and economic significance. Implementation of sustainable development in both the word’s North and South are considered. Close attention is given to non-governmental organizations and nation states, the loss of global biodiversity, and existing and proposed remedial actions. Prior coursework in international, development, political, scientific, and/or environmental issues is strongly recommended.

FREN 407-01

Francophone Studies: Voix du Nord

Denis

Spring 2006

**********

This course studies the contemporary political and cultural situation of Belgium and of the province of Quebec through literature. Although separated by an ocean, and having a different historical background, today these two countries share similar political and cultural conflicts and problems. The course will tie literary texts to their cultural and historical context, especially to the problematics of language and identity as they are expressed through various media such as popular music, cinematic and artistic production. Many artists, writers, singers and film directors, while deeply engaged in the preservation of their cultural heritage, fully involve themselves in the current problems of their time. The Dardenne brothers, Jacques Brel, Magritte, Delvaux, Amélie Nothomb, Jacqueline Harpman in Belgium, Gilles Vigneault, François Barcelo, Anne Hébert, Rock Carrier in Quebec, to name only a few, fully participate through their artistic talent in the ongoing discussion of their contemporary world. Course taught in French. Prerequisite: French 306, or permission of instructor.

FREN 415-01

20^th Century Writers as Intellectuals

Dobelbower

Spring 2006

**********

France is considered the homeland of the “ntellectual,” a socio-professional category of individuals who participate actively in public discourse on a wide variety of topics. Although the birth of the Intellectual is usually traced back to the Dreyfus Affair, Sartre can be credited with articulating the public role of politically committed writers (écrivains engagés). This course happens to coincide with the centenary celebration of Jean-Paul Sartre’s birth and the 25^th anniversary of his death. We will examine the French intellectual tradition in the 20^th century by reading works of fiction and non-fiction by the number of the most recognized public intellectuals, including Malraux, Sartre, de Beauvoir, Camus, Duras, Sollers, Debord, Chamoiseau, Bourdieu, Deleuze, Foucault, Kristeva, and with supporting works by Bernard-Henri Lévy and Alain Finkielkraut. The course will assess competing definitions of the intellectual, the role of intellectuals, and their responses to major issues like revolution, terrorism, existentialism, Marxism, decolonization, and the New Left. Students will submit short reaction papers to the readings and prepare a longer paper on one of the author/intellectuals discussed in the class.

FREN 494-01

Seduction and Betrayal: Theorizing Don Juan and Libertinage in the ancient régime

Brown

Spring 2006

**********

This course focuses on plots of seduction in the theater and novels of seventeenth and eighteenth-century France. We will trace the evolution and meanderings of literary Don Juans, looking in particular at how these texts respond to or ask some of the following questions: which shifting societal assumptions about sexual difference and gender roles fueled seduction myths? Did scandalous literary works serve as instruction manuals for would-be seducers? Or were they cautionary tales enacting the ultimate punishment and demise of libertines? Is seduction inevitably accompanied by betrayal? Do seduction narratives depend on the ideal of female chastity? How do knowledge and instruction serve as seduction strategies? Primary texts will include works by Molière, Racine, Prévost, Crébillon fils, Diderot, and Sade. Readings of ancient régime literature will be considered alongside twentieth-century theories of seduction including Freud’s seduction theory, Michel Fouault’s History of Sexuality, and Jean Baudrillard’s notion of “cold seduction.” Taught in French.

Prerequisite: French 306.

GEOG 294-01

Regional Geography of the Middle East

Somdahl

Spring 2006

**********

Have you wondered where the “Sunni triangle” is? Or perhaps why two countries as different as Saudi Arabia and Israel are important to American foreign policy? This is the class for you. The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the variety of geographic factors that make up the Middle East. Its aim is to enable the student to understand and appreciate the complex relationships of this fascinating region, both internally and to the rest of the world. In this course we will examine how the Middle East has developed and changed over time from a geographic perspective. We will pay particular attention to how geography investigates some of the region’s most contentious contemporary issues. Through a combination of lecture, discussion and case study activities the class will explore the region’s resource base, history, politics, economy, religions and cultures. We will cover a wide variety of topics searching for the linkages between the cultural, physical and social geographies of the Middle East.

GEOG 294-03

Medical Geography

Hazen

Spring 2006

**********

This course surveys medical geography, a subdiscipline which encompasses a broad range of geographical work on health and health care. Medical geography is based on the premise that “place matters” when we consider the health of individuals and communities, and uses the tools of the geographer to understand variations in health status and healthcare. The course explores three groups of theoretical approaches within geography: ecological approaches, which systematically analyze relationships between people and their environments; social approaches, including political economy and recent humanist approaches; and spatial approaches, which employ maps and spatial statistics to identify patterns among variables. Students in the course are encouraged throughout to consider how these theoretical approaches can complement one another, as well as their inherent tensions. Two sub-themes (environment and international perspectives) are emphasized throughout the course.

GEOL 194-01/ENVI 194-01

Natural Catastrophes in Human History

Strong

Spring 2006

**********

When the volcano Tambora erupted in Indonesia in 1815, as many as 100,000 people perished as a result of the blast and an ensuing famine caused by the destruction of rice fields on Sumbawa and neighboring islands. Gases and dust particles ejected into the atmosphere changed weather patterns around the world, resulting in the infamous “year without a summer” in North America, food riots in Europe, and a widespread cholera epidemic. And the gloomy weather inspired Mary Shelley to write the Gothic novel “Frankenstein.”

This course is about such epic events. We will explore the geology (the science) behind why these events occur and discuss the myriad ways in which geological events like these have affected human history. We will also ask ourselves, what can we do in order to decrease human vulnerability to natural hazards? If we could take back time, is there anything that we could have done to reduce the devastation and human loss that followed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004?

GEOL 194-03/ENVI 194-03

Urban Development, Geology, and the Environment

Strong

Spring 2006

**********

Over 50% of the world’s population, 3.5 billion people, live in urban areas covering just 1% of the Earth’s surface. It is here that the human interaction with the geological environment is at its most intense and that the practical challenges in environmental geology lie.

The goals of this course are two-fold. First, we will try to understand what is it about a particular geological setting that makes it a desirable location for urban development? What are the geological conditions that led to the urbanization of the Twin Cities? Rome? Athens? London? New York? New Delhi? Mexico City? Or any city in the world for that matter? Second, we will explore the question of, once an area is urbanized, how do we interact with our geological environment? What are the environmental consequences of urban growth? How can we manage this interaction allowing urban development that is both sustainable and environmentally sound?

This is a “hands on” science course, via field trips in the city, map, web, and GIS-based explorations of urban environments, and reading-based discussions, as well as discussions with invited guests such as local government officials, academics, and others involved in urban issues.

HISP 331-01

Luso-Brazilian Voices

Guyer

Spring 2006

**********

This is a reading/writing/discussion course, taught in Portuguese, that explores contemporary Brazil, and to a lesser extent, Portugal, through the media. Our primary textbook is a series of short journalistic writings (the voices) that treat many of the challenges that today face “the sleeping giant,” Brazil. We make use of visual media such as film and current television broadcasts, and we also study contemporary popular music as alternative insights into the issues that confront and delight the Luso-Brazilian world. The course meets three hours per week plus one hour of lab. Prerequisite: Portuguese 111 or consent of instructor.

HISP 494-01

Latin American Dialectology

Kauffeld

Spring 2006

**********

A survey of modern dialectal variations of American Spanish. Sociolinguistic issues and historical aspects of dialect variation and study will be addressed, along with other extralinguistic factors. Students will have the opportunity to research more fully a particular dialectal region of their choosing in an individual research project which will be carried out throughout the semester and whose continual progress will form part of the class discussion. Through this course, students will be provided an introduction to theories of language change, as well as the history of language, and will gain a broad understanding of the different varieties of American Spanish. Prerequisite: Hispanic Studies 307 or consent of instructor.

HISP 494-03/ART 494-01

Latin American Visual Culture: Identity, Modernity and Revolution

Dapena

Spring 2006

**********

This survey course will examine the fine arts and popular cultures of Latin America from the colonial period to the late 20^th century. Through lectures, group discussions, and student presentations, we shall look at and analyze paintings, sculptures, installations, performances, buildings, photographs, prints, drawings, posters, films, textiles, and crafts. Among the topics to be discussed: the creation of a hybrid Mestizo culture in the wake of the Spanish conquest; the search for visual representations of national identity in the post-Independence era; the formulation of an artistic language suitable to (and expressive of) the modern age; the assimilation and transformation of European and North American artistic models; the interface between high (elite) and low (popular) cultural forms; the visual construction of racial, ethnic, and gendered identities; and the use of visual artifacts as instruments for social and political change.

HIST 170-01

Modern Spanish America

Geistfeld

Spring 2006

**********

An introduction to the economic, political, social, and intellectual history of Latin America. Material is organized both chronologically and thematically with particular focus on Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Guatemala, Haiti, Mexico and Venezuela. We will explore interpretations in historical literature, theories such as modernization and dependency, and a number of specific topics -- independence movements, dictatorships, democratization, socialist revolutions, and colonial legacies -- that are critical to understanding the emergence and diversity of contemporary nation-states and their citizens in Latin America.

HIST 194-01

From Magic to Witchcraft

Cuffel

Spring 2006

**********

The course will begin by examining what we can know of magical beliefs and practices in ancient Babylonia, Egypt, Greece and Rome. For the late antique period particular attention will be paid to the cross influences of Jewish, Pagan, and Christian magical practices and then the continuation of these practices in the Middle Ages in Byzantium, Western Europe, and the Islamic world. The course will end by an examination of the labeling and persecution of “witches” in early modern Europe on the one hand, and the practice of “learned” magic in the universities on the other. We will pay special attention to the ways in which magic and witchcraft become gendered, i.e. how and why in many cultures do women become especially associated with magic, often in a negative sense, and how in certain medieval cultures and in the early modern period men often practiced “tolerated” or admired magic. Besides the actual topic content this course will also seek to improve students’ oral and written analytical skills, research, and basic time management abilities, and introduce them to the library resources.

HIST 294-01

Race Before Race: The Origins of Color and Ethnic Prejudice

Cuffel

Spring 2006

**********

We will begin by examining ancient Greek and Persian relations with and perceptions of Africans and the historical debates surrounding this issue. Students will read ancient scientific, geographical and literary texts as well as consider the art historical evidence related to this issue. We will study the demonization of Ethiopians in late antique Christian and Jewish religious texts and art. From there we will move on to the ways in which early climatological, astrological, religious and geographic attitudes shaped negative and positive medieval Near Eastern and European attitudes toward Scandinavians and other peoples from the far Northern parts of Europe, towards the peoples of the Sudan, India, and other parts of Asia. Particular attention will be paid to representations of Black Africans and Jews in medieval literature, art, and science. Finally we will study the manner in which Europeans used and transformed this heritage during the period of European expansion, increased contact, and often domination of African, Asian, and American peoples. The course will end with an examination and discussion of the earliest formulations of truly “racial” theories and their relationship to pre-modern rhetoric and imagery.

HIST 294-03

Medieval Women: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim

Cuffel

Spring 2006

**********

This course is designed to familiarize students with the various social, political, and religious roles that women had in the Middle Ages and with the stereotypes that developed about late antique and medieval women. We will explore the reasons behind these stereotypes, their relationship to the realities of medieval women’s lives and the ways in which modern scholars have theorized about them. Students will examine these issues for medieval Latin Europe, the Byzantine Commonwealth, and the Islamic world.

HIST 294-05

History of Cuba and Puerto Rico

Geistfeld

Spring 2026

**********

A comparative survey of the history of Cuba and Puerto Rico. Among the topics we will address are colonialism, slavery, plantation society, independence, socialism and revolution. We begin by focusing on indigenous peoples before 1492, European contact and conquest, Spanish colonial society and economy, and independence movements of the nineteenth century. We then examine US occupation, the Cuban Republic, “Operation Bootstrap” and the 1959 Cuban Revolution before concluding with an evaluation of contemporary Puerto Rico and Cuba in a global context.

HIST 294-07

South Asian Social Movements

LaRocque

Spring 2006

**********

In this course we will examine the history of a range of popular social and political movements in the modern Indian subcontinent. The topics of study will include issues of democratic governance and political representation, the position of ethnic minorities, women’s and low caste movements, religious nationalism, peasant and workers’ struggles, economic globalization, and militarization and the development of nuclear weapons. We will begin the course with an examination of the development of social and political demands within the evolving world system during the period of colonial rule, and analyze the specific historical contexts that gave rise to individual movements. We will then trace out how, once established, these movements developed according to their changing relationships to national liberation movements, secularism, state administrative systems, global economic shifts, and changing social demands. Finally, the course will focus on the evolution of popular social movements, and the emergence of new political formations, in the period after independence.

HIST 294-13

Imagining the American West

Hudson

Spring 2006

**********

Fantasies about the US West have proven resilient and profitable. From Zane Grey’s novels to John Wayne movies to Disneyland’s California theme park, ideas about the West dominate popular culture and have for over a century. This class examines the myths that have circulated about the West alongside what has been called new western history in an attempt to make sense of Western Americans and the societies they created in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Beginning with notions of the frontier we will consider the historiography that challenges our thinking about a region that has defied simple constructions. To help complicate our notion of the West, we will also study a wide array of primary documents including, but not limited to: diaries of Black cowboys, speeches by leaders of the anti-Chinese movement, and letters written by “forty-niners” in the gold fields.

HIST 294-15

Sex, Gender, and African American Communities

Hudson

Spring 2006

**********

This course will trace the development of gendered ideologies, conventions, and identities in a variety of African American communities in the nineteenth and

twentieth centuries. We will compare the race, sex, and gender systems constructed by African Americans with those configured by the dominant culture. The

course is not intended to be a survey, rather it will focus on circumstances and events in African American history to better understand the struggles and

interventions through which black men and women came to define themselves in particular places and times. Throughout the course we will investigate the ways

African Americans have controlled, subverted, and redefined ethnic and gendered notions of identity. The course will also consider the iconography of sex and

race and the pervasiveness of stereotypes like the mammy, the black brute, and jezebel, with an eye to the historical significance of these stereotypes, We will

draw on new scholarship in women’s and gender studies, feminist theory, black women’s history, African American literary criticism, and the history of

sexuality.

HIST 294-17
War Crimes & Memory in Contemporary East Asia
Tam
Spring 2006
**********

This main goal of this course is to introduce new evidence on facets of the war crimes and atrocities of the World War II in East Asia, which started in 1931,

Several years before the first shot was fired in Europe. A related task is to help students understand the contemporary geo-political and soci-economic forces

that affect how East Asians and Westerners collectively remember and reconstruct WWII in East Asia.

This course tries to document and analyze the war crimes and atrocities that imperial Japan actually or allegedly committed during World War II. The Nanjing

Massacre, the bio-chemical warfare experiments (“Unit 371”), the sexual slavery (“Comfort Women”) system, the slave labor system, and the inhumane

treatment of American and European prisoners of war are most closely scrutinized. People recall the real and supposed crimes differently, and most attempts

to interpret their moral significance become contentious. Therefore, this course will also introduce students to various schools of thought, including the revisionist

view of the Pearl Harbor attack (American provocation?), the A-bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (unnecessary and racially discriminative?), the Tokyo

Tribunal (victor’s justice?), Yasukuni Shrine (all for peace?), textbook revisions in Japan (“liberal historicism” in action?), and the international redress

movement in the United States and abroad (“new encroachment” upon Japan?).

HIST 392-01

Advanced Studies: Historians and Critical Race Theory (2 credits)

Rachleff

Spring 2006

**********

This two credit course is designed for advanced students, largely through the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program.  The course will examine the historical development of critical race theory, its impact on historical study, and the development of race and racism in a U.S. context.  We will also explore the place of critical race theory in graduate education today. Admission only with signature of the instructor. Two credits.

HIST 394-01

Comparative Freedom Movements: US and South Africa

Rachleff

Spring 2006

**********

Two of the most important movements to challenge institutionalized racism in the second half of the 20^th century were the civil rights movement in the United States and the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa.  This course will explore these two movements in a comparative fashion: the nature of institutionalized racism, structures, ideologies, and identities in each society; the leadership produced by both movements; the functioning of both movements at a grassroots level; internal tensions, conflicts, and diversity within each movement; the roles of particular cohorts – women, workers, youth, allies – in each movement; the uses of culture – music, theater, poetry, visual art, etc. – in each movement.  We will also be interested in the ways that the power structure – particularly the state – responded to the challenges raised by these movements. This is an advanced level course which assumes that students have some knowledge of the processes of comparative racial formations and anti-racist activism, some experience interpreting primary documents, weighing historical arguments, and writing analytical papers.  There are no expectations that students have any prior knowledge of the histories of South Africa or the United States, let alone these particular movements, or any prior experience in a History course at Macalester. 

HIST 394-03

Picturing the Past: Hollywood and “The American Way of War

Solon

Spring 2006

**********

The United States is, we are often told, "a country made by war," and as such is possessed of a distinct military tradition. This so-called "American Way of War" is a product of experience but is formed by how that experience is remembered and historicized. This seminar proposes an extended examination of the simple ideas that the stories we tell ourselves about past wars mold our sense of what wars are and how they are to be conducted and that movies are, for better or worse, our most powerful medium for the telling of such stories. Don't be misled; although movies and related reading will dominate our study, this is not a course for fanzine junkies secretly hoping for a college version of Entertainment Tonight. Our purpose here is to develop a scholarly understanding of how war movies construct and maintain the American Way of War. To do this we will apply methodologies from cultural and film studies as well as history, reading a wide range of popular and scholarly sources and viewing an extensive series of American and international films. Students will be expected to contribute regularly to seminar discussions and will also conduct and report upon a major research project based on a personally selected film. Instructor's permission required.

HIST 394-09

US Democracy and Citizenship

Jackson

Spring 2006

**********

Democracy, at its most basic, can be explained as having the rule of the people. The question becomes, who are "the people” of the democratic institution? Furthermore, what happens to those citizens who feel they are excluded from "the people”? This course seeks to address both the varied definitions of citizenship and the democratic practices of the U.S. Our readings will include U.S. founding documents, various immigration and naturalization acts, case studies such as the Dred Scott case and Supreme Court determinations of American Indian citizenship, as well as political theory such as Rousseau's Social Contract and Mills' Racial Contract. We will pay particular attention as to both the way in which the American citizen has been constructed as white, and the subsequent consequences this construction has produced in terms of both U.S. citizenship rights and U.S. democratic practices.

HIST 394-11

Medieval Latin Culture

Cuffel

Spring 2006

**********

In this course we will explore relevant problems in literary and textual criticism, linguistic, social and cultural history of medieval texts. We will be reading a selection of medieval Latin texts, starting with the Vulgate (the Latin Bible), Augustine of Hippo, Bede, Hrosvitha of Gandersheim, Hildegard of Bingen, Bernard of Clarveaux and others. Students will also be introduced to basic problems in medieval paleography and codicology and the function and meaning of books in the European Middle Ages. Non classics majors are welcome to take the course, but must have sufficient command of Latin to be able to read and understand Latin texts with a dictionary.

INTL 294-01

Media and Democracy: An Asian Perspective

Sim

Spring 2006

**********

By many theories of democratization, economic prosperity and liberalization of media markets in East Asia should have contributed significantly towards

democratization. In this course, we will examine different (economic, cultural and media) paradigms to explain the prevalence of authoritarianism and focus on

the question of whether the liberal media constitutes a democratizing force in East Asia. We will examine how liberalization impacts media ownership, journalistic

practices and professional standards. We will look at case studies where dictatorships have been terminated (Philippines, Thailand), where politics have been

de-politicized through tabloidization (China, Vietnam) and where authoritarian governments have been popularized (Malaysia, Singapore).

MUSI 294-01<