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Winter 2009 Seminars |
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AAD 199 The visual arts have remarkable power to generate controversy. Through readings, videos and guest speakers, we will study art and censorship, obscenity and pornography, international intrigue surrounding stolen art and cultural property, and art that serves as protest or propaganda or provokes civil disobedience. We will also examine bigotry and discrimination in art, how public art and museum exhibits have fueled local disputes and national debates, and how values and beliefs underlie all these controversies. GER 199 Death and Decadence Susan Anderson How do metaphors of disease shape the way we visualize invisible threat? How do they affect how we mobilize resources to prevent and cure disease? In this course, you will examine representations of disease in popular, scientific, and literary texts at the turn of the nineteenth century and the turn of the twentieth century. You will draw analogies between the present and the past of a hundred years ago, between your own culture and that of Northern Europe, whose imagery of death and decadence has helped form our present notions of sickness and health. HIST 199 Iraq War 2003– Alex Dracobly The current war in Iraq is the single most important foreign policy issue facing the United States today. The question of what the U.S. policy should be in Iraq is a contentious one, in part because there is no obvious policy solution to the problems, and in part because there is no consensus concerning the origins of the war, its course, and its significance. The aim of this course is to come to some understanding of how we got to this point. We will examine the decision to invade Iraq, the post invasion occupation and insurgency, and speculate on what this war is about and where it is going. HIST 199 Uncovering the Past of the “Real” Wild West Are you tired of learning history from a textbook? How about diving into primary sources such as letters, diaries, photographs, maps, editorial cartoons, and oral interviews? In this course, you will become an active participant in the study of a multicultural American West that was the crossroads for immigrants from several continents. You will learn how Oregon’s history affects events taking place today. Hands-on research, writing assignments, guest speakers, field trips, and films will all contribute to the experience.
LIB 199 Whether you are interested in history, geology, architecture, public planning, biology, journalism, or other fields, this course on researching disasters will provide you with strong academic investigative skills. We will focus on utilizing credible sources, including websites, video, newspapers, research articles, and diaries, to examine the impact of catastrophic events on our lives. We will look at first-hand accounts of people who survived them, how governments prepare for them, and what you can do to minimize their destruction. PHYS 199 History of Space Flight James Schombert This course is a historical and philosophical view of our cosmological worldview from mythical times to modern science. You will explore topics in the geometry of the universe, expanding spacetime and the Big Bang, dark matter, black holes and wormholes, quarks and mesons, galaxies, and quantum physics. You will gain an overview of current understanding in astrophysics as it relates to the structure of the universe and what topics remain to be explored. In a group project, you will help to write the cosmology of your own planet. No complex mathematics is used, but understanding of algebra is required. PPPM 199 Giving away money is tougher than it looks!This course introduces students to the history, psychology, economics, and “how-to” of philanthropy in the United States. We learn how granting organizations, businesses, and individuals choose among competing worthy projects. Generous grants of $5,000 from both Wells Fargo Bank and Weyerhaeuser to our course enables us to practice philanthropy by team-researching deserving nonprofit organizations and donating $10,000 to the organization(s) of our choice. PS 199 How do we describe and understand leadership and acts of leading? Why does it matter? This seminar on the theories of leadership will investigate how theoretical concepts about interaction of personality, training, character, and environment help us explain the principled or unprincipled exercise of power and influence. We will examine various definitions of leadership from political theory, history, psychology, sociology, literature, moral philosophy, and organizational behavior and test insights of classical theorists from Machiavelli to Nietzsche. RL 199 Love and Exile: Film and Literature George Moore In novels, a reader must imagine a fictional world invented by an author, while film can realize the fiction for us. In solitary reading there is “work” in imagining, but freedom of private invention; there may be frustration in the finality of film but pleasure in a shared vision. So too with love and exile: love can affirm another’s soul yet compromise our independence. Exile can mean separation but – if chosen – can reveal solitude as creative freedom. Our class will explore the productive tension between film and the books they are based on, uniting the two in time as they echo with the tensions of love and exile. We will read Cyrano de Bergerac, The Berlin Stories, Hiroshima Mon Amour, and The Sheltering Sky with corresponding films ranging in time and place from 17th century France, to Weimar Germany, to postwar Japan, to the Moroccan desert. TA 199 Reinventing Yourself Sandy Bonds From the court of Charlemagne to Queen Elizabeth, were you sweeping the fireplace or sitting by it embroidering? Did you wear fine silks or wools, traipse through the mud or ride in a carriage? We will begin by studying the time period and lifestyles of people from the Gothic to Elizabethan periods. After defining your historic persona, you will design your character’s clothing and learn the practical aspects of fabric selection, pattern development, and construction techniques. By the end of the term, your new role and wardrobe will be complete. Sewing machines and equipment are provided, but you will need to purchase your own fabric and notions. Some basic sewing experience and instructor permission is required to enroll in this course; please contact Professor Bonds at (541) 346–4194 or abonds@uoregon.edu. |
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