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Frederik Meijer Honors College
Junior Seminar |
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Phone: 616-331-3219 Frederik Meijer Honors College honors@gvsu.edu Glenn A. Niemeyer Learning and Living Center 1 Campus Drive Allendale, MI 49401 |
Junior Seminars Typically you will want to take the junior seminar in your junior year. This will give you an opportunity to learn more in your major, so you can bring your experience and knowledge to the junior seminar. The topics vary from semester to semester, but junior seminars are opportunities to look in-depth at a topic, issue, or problem, often in ways that allow a student to view the subject through the lens of her or his own major and to see how students in other majors provide different perspectives on the same subject. FALL 2009 Course: HNR 300 01: Classical Mythology Schedule: TR 11:30 - 12:45 Requirements Fulfilled: Junior Seminar and World Perspective We will examine ancient Greek and Roman myths in their cultural and historical contexts, to explore their cultural relevance then and now. Myths are an attempt to order and understand human experience, and therefore both grounded in a particular time and place, and mutable to new circumstance. We will study myth as a product of a particular culture, but also as a product of human insight and exploration of our common human situation. What modern meaning do we derive from these ancient myths? What other world myths explore similar issues? These myths continue to influence modern literature and thought; through their study, we can better understand our own past and present. Classes will consist of group discussions, acting, writing, and lectures providing the historical contexts and current methods of interpreting myths. Professor Diane Rayor, Professor of Classics Course: HNR 311 01: Intervention and Response to Genocide Schedule: TR 8:30-9:45 Requirements Fulfilled: Junior Seminar and World Perspective The class will then attempt to formulate what should, in its judgment, be the governing criteria for actions to be taken, and by whom, to future events, should they unfortunately occur, given legal, philosophical, moral, political, economical, and sociological considerations affecting such decisions. The students will also examine situations in their own personal lives where we may have been confronted, or possible future situations, involving persons caught up with fires, accidents, assaults, and other events. We will examine responsibilities we as individuals may or may not have in terms of whether one should respond to such crises, and if so, how, depending upon the circumstances. The class will then compare and contrast what we learn to what our country and the world should or should not do when they are confronted with international catastrophes. Emphasis in this course will involve not only the critical thinking about these issues but also a deep development of the students’ written and oral expression of their ideas, judgments, and analyses, regarding what may be the appropriate or proper responses to the events studied. Students will write essays, an open book written essay examination, and a major comprehensive research paper, will give formal oral presentations and engage in formal debates and/or forums, and will participate in active discussions both in class and with the electronic options available on GVSU’s BlackBoard. Professor Norman Kravitz, Adjunct Professor and Attorney at Law Course: HNR 311 02: Opera Myth-Clash of Culture Schedule: TR 10:00 - 11:15 Requirements Fulfilled: Junior Seminar and World Perspective In this course, we will examine several operas in which European composers either described non-European cultures or depicted encounters between greatly different cultures. We will consider these works on their own terms, in relation to one another, and in the light of readings drawn both from European literature and from scholarly writing on topics such as Orientalism and exoticism. Professor Lisa Feurzeig, Professor of Music Course: HNR 312 01: Literary Explorations of Medical Controversies Schedule: TR 2:30-3:45 Requirements Fulfilled: Junior Seminar and U.S. Diversity This junior seminar focuses on ethical, cultural, and controversial issues in medicine today. Through fiction, poetry, memoirs, film, and essays, we learn not only about people’s experiences with illness, but also how cultural differences shape our interactions with the healthcare system. Our analysis of texts elucidates attitudes toward race, ethnicity, gender, age, disability, and sexual orientation, which have been implicit in “objective” medical science from the Victorian period through our contemporary experience. Topics include research/experimentation, aging, women’s health issues, AIDS, depression, cancer, and end of life concerns. Students are encouraged to use course assignments to explore their own areas of specific interest. Professor Sue Swartzlander, Professor of English Course: HNR 312 02: Literary Explorations of Medical Controversies Schedule: TR 10:00 - 11:15 Requirements Fulfilled: Junior Seminar and U.S. Diversity This junior seminar focuses on ethical, cultural, and controversial issues in medicine today. Through fiction, poetry, memoirs, film, and essays, we learn not only about people’s experiences with illness, but also how cultural differences shape our interactions with the healthcare system. Our analysis of texts elucidates attitudes toward race, ethnicity, gender, age, disability, and sexual orientation, which have been implicit in “objective” medical science from the Victorian period through our contemporary experience. Topics include research/experimentation, aging, women’s health issues, AIDS, depression, cancer, and end of life concerns. Students are encouraged to use course assignments to explore their own areas of specific interest. Professor Jane Toot, Professor of the Meijer Honors College Course: HNR 312 03: Interdisciplinary Perspectives of the Self Schedule: W 6:00-8:50 Requirements Fulfilled: Junior Seminar and U. S. Diversity In this junior seminar we will critically examine the meanings of the self from the perspectives of sociology, psychology, and anthropology. This course focuses on the social construction of the self in relation to 1) Social Suffering, 2) Body Modifications, 3) Education, and 4) Madness and Mental Illness. Professor Richard Joanisse, Professor of Sociology Winter 2010 Course: HNR 311 01: Middle East Fiction and Film Schedule: MW 3:00 - 4:15 Requirements Fulfilled: Junior Seminar and World Perspective The course examines the complexity of how authors and directors approach some of the most important issues that face the region, including the role of colonialism, transformations after independence, the impact of political, social, and economic changes on people and countries, the role of women, and the conflict between tradition and modernity. Professor Majd Al-Mallah, Professor of Modern Languages Course: HNR 311 02: Conspiracy and Intrigue Schedule: TR 8:30 - 9:45 Requirements Fulfilled: Junior Seminar and World Perspective This seminar opens up the world of early 18th-century Europe through the true story of conspirators who attempted to overthrow the throne of England. The story is replete with danger, drama, love, despair, and victory, but it takes place in a context very different from our own and in places that range from Ireland to Russia to Italy. The period was one of transition to the modern era (in government, economics, religion, science, literature, etc.), and the story reveals all of these issues as the characters in the events experienced them. Students will read a historical novel researched and written by the instructor (Changes and Chances), and then will do their own research using primary sources in order to write their own novelettes. Professor Jeff Chamberlain, Professor of History, Director of the Frederik Meijer Honors College Course: HNR 311 03: Tradition & Reception: Comedy from Aristophanes to the Sitcom Schedule: TR 11:30 - 12:45 Requirements Fulfilled: Junior Seminar and World Perspective The tradition of dramatic comedy from the stage of fifth-century Athens to contemporary American television and film, considering its characteristic forms, themes, problems, and theoretical formulations. Course includes a weekly evening screening. Professor William Levitan, Professor of Classics Course: HNR 311 04: Problem Solving for Sustainable Solutions through System Analysis Schedule: TR 1:00 - 2:15 Requirements Fulfilled: Junior Seminar and World Perspective This course will examine a variety of problem solving techniques which can be used across disciplines and which support a sustainable approach to seeking solutions. The range of professions will included business, education, health care, and politics. Participants will learn how to identify, use and develop isomorphic strategies and tools to address presented problems. Professor Jane Toot, Professor of the Meijer Honors College Course: HNR 312-01: American Pop Culture 1880-1945 Schedule: TR 1:00-2:15 Requirements Fulfilled: Junior Seminar, U.S. Diversity This course emphasizes American cultural traditions, paying particular attention to issues involving class, race, sexuality, and gender. As befitting a course on American culture, readings and class discussions will emphasize shared values and ideals as well as places of conflict and tensions. The wide array of topics have the added benefit to enable a wide spectrum of honors students to find an entry point in which to examine American popular culture, including students from the social sciences, the liberal arts, the health sciences, and business. The diverse array of topics also means the course is interdisciplinary, drawing upon social and cultural history, literature, sociology, psychology, the health sciences, communications, art history, and musicology. Professor Steve Tripp, Professor of History Course: HNR 312 02: Literary Explorations of Medical Controversies Schedule: TR 10:00 - 11:15 Requirements Fulfilled: Junior Seminar and U.S. Diversity This junior seminar focuses on ethical, cultural, and controversial issues in medicine today. Through fiction, poetry, memoirs, film, and essays, we learn not only about people’s experiences with illness, but also how cultural differences shape our interactions with the healthcare system. Our analysis of texts elucidates attitudes toward race, ethnicity, gender, age, disability, and sexual orientation, which have been implicit in “objective” medical science from the Victorian period through our contemporary experience. Topics include research/experimentation, aging, women’s health issues, AIDS, depression, cancer, and end of life concerns. Students are encouraged to use course assignments to explore their own areas of specific interest. Professor Jane Toot, Professor of the Meijer Honors College Course: HNR 313 01: Political Identity: Nation States in the Global World Schedule: TR 3:00-4:15 Requirements Fulfilled: Junior Seminar Why do nations have a sense of identity, separating one from another? How does this individuation among nation states affect global political action? Is this the best model for the 21st C global world characterized by political, environmental, and ethical concerns that transcend any particular nation-state? What then does it mean to be a global citizen? Western thought from Plato to contemporary theories has consistently, and mostly implicitly, drawn upon the concept of the individual self to construct the very idea and role of the nation. The study of theories of identity offers greater understanding of the political relation among nation states, the significance of a global context, and the effect of power entities (corporations, interests groups, etc) on governmental actions. Through close readings of texts and the seminar format characterized by substantial student contributions, the aim of the course is for students to inquire into the complexity of motivations of global politics from a philosophical standpoint. The course is open to all majors, and may be of special interest to students majoring in philosophy, political science, international relations, economics, geography, and women and gender studies. Topics and associated theorists (Tentative readings) ° The birth of the Nation – Benedict Anderson ° The significance of narrative – Heidegger, Foucault, Derrida ° Enlightenment political thought – Locke, Rousseau ° Hegelian identity politics – Hegel ° Agonistic political theory – Mouffe, Laclau, Schmitt ° Political Psychoanalysis – Freud, Lacan, Kristeva, Irigaray Professor Maria Cimitile, Associate Professor of Philosophy Course: HNR 313 02: The Lost Generation Schedule: TR 2:30 - 3:45 Requirements Fulfilled: Junior Seminar "It was a place where the very air was impregnated with the energies of art." - Thomas Wolfe "Was it fun in Paris? Who did you see there and was the Madeleine pink at five o'clock and did the fountains fall with hollow delicacy into the framing of space in the Place de la Concorde and did the blue creep out from behind the Colonades of the Rue de Rivoli through the grill of the Tuileries and was the Louvre grayand metallic in the sun and did the trees hang brooding over the cafes and were there lights at night and the click of saucers and the auto horns that play DeBussey-I love Paris. How was it? -Zelda Fitzgerald "If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris . . . then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast." -Ernest Hemingway If you were a writer, artist, or musician in the roaring 20's, Paris was *THE* place to be. Sign on for a journey back in time to a magical city that inspired such creative geniuses as James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Andre Breton, Jean Cocteau, ee cummings, Gertrude Stein, Man Ray, Igor Stravinsky, Pablo Picasso, Sergei Eisenstein, Josephine Baker, and Isadora Duncan. We will read a variety of literary texts and "little magazines", view contemporary photographs, paintings, and films, and listen to music of the jazz age. If you have an interest in modern literature, music, art, dance, film, photography, literary cafes, or the roaring twenties, this is the junior seminar for you. So, don't be a flat tire, be a darb and learn more about this ritzy time in this swanky city. Twenty-three skiddoo now to sign up for this whoppee that will be not only the bee's knees but the cat's meow as well! Professor Sue Swartzlander, Professor of English Course: HNR 331 01: Culture and the Holocaust Schedule: MWF 11:00-11:50 Requirements Fulfilled: Junior Seminar and World Perspectives In “Culture and the Holocaust” we will consider the event from within and without--survivors’ responses as well as those of non-witnesses. We will first study selected European literature, art, film, and philosophy. Then, we will consider specifically American responses, from popular culture to the Holocaust museum in Washington, in order to engage the implications this event holds for our culture, what Richard Rubenstein terms the Holocaust and the “American Future.” Professor Robert Franciosi, Professor of English |
| Last Modified Date: September 1, 2009 | |
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