Class Schedule Listing |
Fall 2016
May 18, 2024 |
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| Drew Seminar: Personal Identity and Immortality - 10420 - DSEM 100 - C | ||||||||||||||
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If I traded bodies with someone else, would I still be the same person? Would I continue to be the same person if my brain were transplanted into another human body or into the body of an android? Would a human being or an android with copies of my thoughts be me? These are vexing philosophical questions that are apt to give rise to widespread disagreement. However, there are at least two facts about which everyone is in agreement: 1) for every person there is some time at which that person is born and 2) there is some later time at which that person dies. This seminar is concerned with the question of what it is for some person who is born at one time to be the same person who dies at some later time. This investigation places us in a position to address the question of what it would be for a person to survive one’s death, or to be immortal. Readings include classical works by John Locke and David Hume, as well as works by contemporary philosophers Bernard Williams, Sydney Shoemaker, and Derek Parfit.
Associated Term: Fall 2016 Registration Dates: Apr 11, 2016 to Sep 09, 2016 Attributes: College Seminar Requirement Main Campus Seminar Schedule Type 4.000 Credits View Catalog Entry Look up books for this course
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| Drew Seminar: Hogwarts, Houses, and Horcruxes: The Psychology of Harry Potter - 10422 - DSEM 100 - C1 | ||||||||||||||
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J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series has become a cultural phenomenon, moving beyond the literary canon into other popular culture media, including film, theatre, music, and sport. However, the Harry Potter series has also engendered serious and important multidisciplinary scholarship, as scholars from a variety of fields have used Harry Potter as a way to talk about important issues: race, gender and class; typical and pathological human behavior; education and learning; nature and nurture; good and evil; reality and knowledge. In this class, we will use the Harry Potter canon as the basis for considering these and other psychological, social, and cultural issues.
Associated Term: Fall 2016 Registration Dates: Apr 11, 2016 to Sep 09, 2016 Attributes: College Seminar Requirement Main Campus Seminar Schedule Type 4.000 Credits View Catalog Entry Look up books for this course
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| Drew Seminar: Understanding the 2016 Presidential Election - 10444 - DSEM 100 - C10 | ||||||||||||||
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The 2016 presidential election has excited and mystified citizens and scholars alike and is shaping up to be one of historical importance. Why have “establishment” party candidates like Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush struggled to attract voter support despite all of the advantages that their name recognition, campaign war chests, and experience are supposed to confer? Why have non-traditional “outsider” candidates like businessman Donald Trump, neurosurgeon Ben Carson, and self-proclaimed socialist Bernie Sanders resonated so much with the American public? This class will use the tools of political science to help understand the forces that are behind this unusual election, and to reflect on what this election says about the contemporary nature of American politics—and of America itself.
Associated Term: Fall 2016 Registration Dates: Apr 11, 2016 to Sep 09, 2016 Attributes: College Seminar Requirement Main Campus Seminar Schedule Type 4.000 Credits View Catalog Entry Look up books for this course
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| Drew Seminar: Reproduction in the 21st Century: Beyond the Birds and the Bees - 10447 - DSEM 100 - C11 | ||||||||||||||
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Reduced to its simplest elements, sexual reproduction involves the fusion of male gametes (sperm) and female gametes (ova or eggs) to form a genetically unique individual. However, an increased understanding of reproductive biology has been accompanied by advances in technology that have created many more options for creating life; with these technologies, come complex questions not only about what we can do, but also about what we should do. As we explore the interface between science and society, this seminar will introduce students to such technologies as in vitro fertilization, preimplantation genetic diagnosis, genetic engineering and embryonic stem cell research, and will ask them to consider the ethical questions that these technologies have raised.
Associated Term: Fall 2016 Registration Dates: Apr 11, 2016 to Sep 09, 2016 Attributes: College Seminar Requirement Main Campus Seminar Schedule Type 4.000 Credits View Catalog Entry Look up books for this course
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| Drew Seminar: America and the World - 10451 - DSEM 100 - C13 | ||||||||||||||
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The United States is simultaneously praised and criticized for being the dominant, or “indispensable,” nation in the world. This course evaluates these perspectives first by examining U.S. foreign policy, the role of the U.S. in globalization, and Americans’ perceptions of international affairs. Second, the course considers how other nations treat the U.S. politically and economically, along with how the public in various countries around the globe view America. A central component of the course will be an analysis of global views of the 2016 presidential election.
Associated Term: Fall 2016 Registration Dates: Apr 11, 2016 to Sep 09, 2016 Attributes: College Seminar Requirement Main Campus Seminar Schedule Type 4.000 Credits View Catalog Entry Look up books for this course
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| Drew Seminar: Eataly: Food in Italian Culture - 10453 - DSEM 100 - C14 | ||||||||||||||
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The course will examine the role that food has played in defining and shaping Italian identity and society. By reading literary texts of different genres and time periods, and by watching movies, students will learn how gastronomy and Italian arts are deeply interwoven, and how the rich Italian culinary tradition has had an impact on many different areas of study such as literature, folklore, history, anthropology and cinema. The course will also explore some areas of Food Studies like food choices, sustainability and environment, and the importance and world impact of the Mediterranean Diet and the Italian Slow Food movement.
Associated Term: Fall 2016 Registration Dates: Apr 11, 2016 to Sep 09, 2016 Attributes: College Seminar Requirement Main Campus Seminar Schedule Type 4.000 Credits View Catalog Entry Look up books for this course
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| Drew Seminar: Shaping America: History and Culture of Asia in the U.S. - 10457 - DSEM 100 - C15 | ||||||||||||||
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America is home to people of diverse identities – multiple identities even within one person! In this course, we take Asian Americans as a case study to explore issues concerning identity that are widely shared among us. How is American identity and culture shaped by people and traditions that originate in a different part of the world? We engage influential theories on the making of our globalized world with analysis of the evolution of knowledge and experience of Asian culture in America, focusing on South Asia in the U.S., with comparative examples from East Asia. Topics include: Asian immigration to the U.S. and policies of expansion and exclusion; Asian immigrant experiences; 1950s & 60s countercultural movements and the New Age; the mainstreaming of South Asian/Indian cuisine, yoga and Hindi cinema; and recent controversies over belonging and outsourcing. The course provides a window onto ways in which the contemporary U.S. is shaped through both globalization and pluralism.
Associated Term: Fall 2016 Registration Dates: Apr 11, 2016 to Sep 09, 2016 Attributes: College Seminar Requirement Main Campus Seminar Schedule Type 4.000 Credits View Catalog Entry Look up books for this course
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| Drew Seminar: Artful Shakespeare - 10462 - DSEM 100 - C17 | ||||||||||||||
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William Shakespeare and his plays have been frequently represented and interpreted in the visual arts from the early modern period to the present day. Beginning with debates over the authenticity of portraits of Shakespeare made during his lifetime and culminating with contemporary images of iconic characters like Ophelia, this class will explore the enduring effects of Shakespeare’s plays on the visual arts from paintings to illustrated books to photography to film. In addition, we will investigate how representations from Shakespeare have come to be identified with particular art historical periods and movements such as Pre-Raphaelitism and have shaped theatrical and literary readings of the plays. This course will take full advantage of the exhibition of the First Folio of Shakespeare’s plays that will be on view at Drew in October 2016 and the programming accompanying that exhibition.
Associated Term: Fall 2016 Registration Dates: Apr 11, 2016 to Sep 09, 2016 Attributes: College Seminar Requirement Main Campus Seminar Schedule Type 4.000 Credits View Catalog Entry Look up books for this course
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| Drew Seminar: Latino/a Hollywood - 10463 - DSEM 100 - C18 | ||||||||||||||
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From West Side Story to Jennifer Lopez, from I Love Lucy to Jane the Virgin, from the Latin Lover to Sofia Vergara… This Drew seminar examines U.S. Latino/a images and representations in film and television from the silent era to the present day, along with their historical and sociopolitical frameworks. We explore the construction and perpetuation of Latino/a stereotypes in mainstream media productions, and also consider how film and television have been used as political tools to subvert some depictions and promote others. In examining the history of U.S. Latinos/as both behind and in front of the camera, the seminar analyzes the interconnections between Latino/a representations on the big and small screen and the shifting discourses on class, gender, ethnicity and multiculturalism in the United States.
Associated Term: Fall 2016 Registration Dates: Apr 11, 2016 to Sep 09, 2016 Attributes: College Seminar Requirement Main Campus Seminar Schedule Type 4.000 Credits View Catalog Entry Look up books for this course
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| Drew Seminar: Global Peacebuilding and Interfaith Leadership - 10425 - DSEM 100 - C2 | ||||||||||||||
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Encounters and interactions between people of different heritage, ethnicity, and faith are happening more frequently than ever. This brings many opportunities, as well as challenges. Accordingly, we need to prepare a next generation of leaders in the ways of peacebuilding, cooperation and co-existence. How can college students step up as interfaith-intercultural leaders committed to shifting the discourse from conflict to cooperation? What skills and knowledge do we need to make interfaith-intercultural cooperation a reality on campus and beyond? How do we go about increasing social cohesion – or at the very least, understanding - while limiting violent conflict? One place to start is by building our appreciative knowledge about each other’s different experiences, practices and traditions: we can call this interfaith and intercultural literacy. In this seminar, we will explore the concept of interfaith-intercultural literacy as an essential characteristic of leadership in an increasingly diverse world. Aspiring to train a cohort of campus leaders, we will engage in a series of exercises that teach team-building, group facilitation and the skill set needed for leadership. Our seminar will employ a case study approach, where we examine religiously and ethnically driven conflicts both here in the US and around the world. We will study the roots of conflict, the impact and effects of conflict, and various strategies that can be used to manage and resolve conflict, while promoting pluralism and respect.
Associated Term: Fall 2016 Registration Dates: Apr 11, 2016 to Sep 09, 2016 Attributes: College Seminar Requirement Main Campus Seminar Schedule Type 4.000 Credits View Catalog Entry Look up books for this course
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| Drew Seminar: Exposure Values: Questions in Contemporary Photography - 10475 - DSEM 100 - C20 | ||||||||||||||
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We make photographs every day, to document a fact, capture something compelling, and communicate visually. As artists, photojournalists, citizen journalists, and commercial photographers, our pictures impact society. These photographs reflect—and sometimes make us question—our values. Does a photographer have the right to take a picture of someone without consent? Can you take someone else’s photograph and call it your own? Is that art? What makes a photograph the truth, or a lie? Should health warnings be placed on retouched beauty advertisements? When is a selfie a threat to democracy? Can photography disrupt racism? How does culture impact perceptions of visual images? Through readings, films, podcasts and class discussion this course will explore issues that arise from conflicting priorities in photography, such as free speech vs. personal privacy, appropriation vs. copyright, and exploitation vs. the fight for human rights. Students will also become more visually descriptive writers through observational practice, and interact with the world as photographers to reflect on their experiences.
Associated Term: Fall 2016 Registration Dates: Apr 11, 2016 to Sep 09, 2016 Attributes: College Seminar Requirement Main Campus Seminar Schedule Type 4.000 Credits View Catalog Entry Look up books for this course
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| Drew Seminar: One Hundred Years of Sound Technology and Recorded Music - 10481 - DSEM 100 - C21 | ||||||||||||||
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Advertisements for sound technology have often claimed that recorded music is indistinguishable from live performance. “Is it live, or is it Memorex?” asked a famous commercial for cassette tapes in the 1970s, implying that the average listener could not tell the difference. The fact that most listeners long ago traded in their cassettes for CDs (even as some purists still champion analog recording over digital) calls this claim into question. What is certain is that, as sound technology has evolved rapidly in the past century from early phonograph records to today’s MP3s, these changing formats have profoundly impacted not only how we listen to music, but also what kinds of music we choose to perform, record, sell, and consume. In this course we will study examples from a wide range of recorded music genres – jazz, pop, classical, hip-hop, world beat and the blues – in order to learn about how sound technology has shaped the musical landscape of the recent past and present.
Associated Term: Fall 2016 Registration Dates: Apr 11, 2016 to Sep 09, 2016 Attributes: College Seminar Requirement Main Campus Seminar Schedule Type 4.000 Credits View Catalog Entry Look up books for this course
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| Drew Seminar: Rotten English: How Race Matters in Language - 10484 - DSEM 100 - C22 | ||||||||||||||
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Race is something that we talk ABOUT, but it's also something that our own personal language varieties reveal. What does it mean when we're told to "talk proper" or that we "talk white" or "talk black"? How do we create our identities and our communities through the way we speak? This seminar blends sociolinguistics, literature, and critical race theory as tools for understanding how our language creates our identities. We’ll learn how race is inscribed in language and notions of “standard” English, a form of discrimination that is still widely accepted. Then we turn to short stories, poems, and personal essays from around the world that play with global or "nonstandard" varieties of English, what Nigerian writer Ken Saro-Wiwa called "Rotten English." These texts help us look at language in new ways that are often funny, surprising, and revealing.
Associated Term: Fall 2016 Registration Dates: Apr 11, 2016 to Sep 09, 2016 Attributes: College Seminar Requirement Main Campus Seminar Schedule Type 4.000 Credits View Catalog Entry Look up books for this course
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| Drew Seminar: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly: The Social Construction of Attractiveness - 10487 - DSEM 100 - C23 | ||||||||||||||
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What is beauty and how does it shape our lives? Is it true that “blondes have more fun” or that only tall men can be President of the United States? This course will explore the significance of culture, politics, and social inequality in determining what (or who) is considered beautiful. We will specifically look at the importance of race, class, gender, sexuality, ability, and nationality in structuring notions of beauty. We will also discuss the implications of being considered beautiful (or not) for a person’s social, professional, and economic life. This course will use popular culture as well as academic text to investigate our notions of beauty and its significance for our lives.
Associated Term: Fall 2016 Registration Dates: Apr 11, 2016 to Sep 09, 2016 Attributes: College Seminar Requirement Main Campus Seminar Schedule Type 4.000 Credits View Catalog Entry Look up books for this course
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| Drew Seminar: Who's In Charge? - 10489 - DSEM 100 - C24 | ||||||||||||||
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This Drew seminar will address the time-honored issue in sociological studies of community: Are local communities governed democratically? Or are they controlled by economic elites? We will investigate how governments, businesses and non-profit organizations affect the distribution of valuable social and economic resources in the following communities: Arizona mining towns, Atlanta, Chicago, New Haven and Philadelphia. We will assess the contributions that corporations and other community organizations, government agencies, labor unions, political bosses and other elected officials and political parties make to stability, conflict and change in these communities.
Associated Term: Fall 2016 Registration Dates: Apr 11, 2016 to Sep 09, 2016 Attributes: College Seminar Requirement Main Campus Seminar Schedule Type 4.000 Credits View Catalog Entry Look up books for this course
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| Drew Seminar: Immigrant New York: People, Politics, and Culture - 10840 - DSEM 100 - C25 | ||||||||||||||
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New York City is known as a city that has become a global capital for finance and commerce, arts and culture, and technological innovations. The city is equally well known for waves of immigration that have created layers of history shaped by the newcomers. The economy, culture, politics, and food of the city are deeply shaped by these immigrant populations who also get transformed in the process. The course will look at both historical as well as contemporary examples to understand how a global city is deeply impacted by generations of immigrant populations. The course will analyze the dynamic impact of immigrant population on politics, culture, and social lives of the city through readings and films that underline the vibrant tapestry created by immigrants as well anxieties triggered by religious and cultural differences brought by these communities.
Associated Term: Fall 2016 Registration Dates: Apr 11, 2016 to Sep 09, 2016 Attributes: College Seminar Requirement Main Campus Seminar Schedule Type 4.000 Credits View Catalog Entry Look up books for this course
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| Drew Seminar: Great [fictional] Villains - 10426 - DSEM 100 - C3 | ||||||||||||||
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Walter White of Breaking Bad, Maleficent, Tony Soprano, Shakespeare’s Iago: everyone loves a good villain. But what makes them so fascinating? Is it that they are unencumbered by social and/or moral rules? Do they represent a kind of wish fulfillment to cast off the shackles of the superego? Do they embody our latent fear? Or do they just break the tedium of normality? What is the nature of evil? Does it exist in itself or is it the vacancy left when good is absent? Is it absolute or relative to the mores of the time? In this seminar, we will examine the varieties of villains and the nature of their evil, beginning with Satan from The Book of Job, and moving on through the Grendle clan of Beowulf, and Othello’s Iago, Sheridan le Fanu’s seductive vampire, Carmilla. We'll wrap up with one or two films (Dangerous Liaisons or perhaps Fatal Attraction and Wall Street). We will refine our analyses of these texts through writing and sharing our written work.
Associated Term: Fall 2016 Registration Dates: Apr 11, 2016 to Sep 09, 2016 Attributes: College Seminar Requirement Main Campus Seminar Schedule Type 4.000 Credits View Catalog Entry Look up books for this course
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| Drew Seminar: The Origin of Life - 10427 - DSEM 100 - C4 | ||||||||||||||
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When and how did life form on Earth? Is there life on Mars or elsewhere in the universe? Is there intelligent life beyond Earth? To explore these questions, this course will research what we know (and don’t know) about the molecular origins of life on Earth and apply this knowledge to conditions found on extraterrestrial planets. This course will also include joint sessions with the other Drew seminars for guest lectures and film viewing.
Associated Term: Fall 2016 Registration Dates: Apr 11, 2016 to Sep 09, 2016 Attributes: College Seminar Requirement Main Campus Seminar Schedule Type 4.000 Credits View Catalog Entry Look up books for this course
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| Drew Seminar: Community Service - 10428 - DSEM 100 - C5 | ||||||||||||||
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Most people believe community service to be a good thing, an activity that benefits others and improves our shared world; however, many have not thought deeply about the meaning of community, or, indeed, of service. What constitutes a community? Do individuals belong to a single community or many? Is service always beneficial to those being served? This seminar will explore assumptions and beliefs about these two key terms—both separately and together. “Community Service” is a seminar constructed especially for Drew Civic Scholars as students with a particular interest in civic engagement. Students will participate in 18-20 hours of community service over the course of the semester.
Associated Term: Fall 2016 Registration Dates: Apr 11, 2016 to Sep 09, 2016 Attributes: College Seminar Requirement Main Campus Seminar Schedule Type 4.000 Credits View Catalog Entry Look up books for this course
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| Drew Seminar: Growing Up Gendered - 10430 - DSEM 100 - C6 | ||||||||||||||
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What does it means to be a girl or a boy? How do we learn those gender identities or resist them? What stories do we tell about growing up gendered and how do those stories shape our consciousness of ourselves and our identities? How are gendered identities reinforced by family, school, the law, and social and cultural beliefs and practices? In this seminar, we’ll think together about gender socialization and the multiple meanings of gender in contemporary society. Through literature, film, and memoir, as well as through readings from sociology, psychology, and gender studies, we’ll explore the construction and representation of girlhood and boyhood and their pleasures, constraints, and challenges for the human beings growing up inside those categories
Associated Term: Fall 2016 Registration Dates: Apr 11, 2016 to Sep 09, 2016 Attributes: College Seminar Requirement Main Campus Seminar Schedule Type 4.000 Credits View Catalog Entry Look up books for this course
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| Drew Seminar: Community Service - 10434 - DSEM 100 - C7 | ||||||||||||||
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Most people believe community service to be a good thing, an activity that benefits others and improves our shared world; however, many have not thought deeply about the meaning of community, or, indeed, of service. What constitutes a community? Do individuals belong to a single community or many? Is service always beneficial to those being served? This seminar will explore assumptions and beliefs about these two key terms—both separately and together. “Community Service” is a seminar constructed especially for Drew Civic Scholars as students with a particular interest in civic engagement. Students will participate in 18-20 hours of community service over the course of the semester.
Associated Term: Fall 2016 Registration Dates: Apr 11, 2016 to Sep 09, 2016 Attributes: College Seminar Requirement Main Campus Seminar Schedule Type 4.000 Credits View Catalog Entry Look up books for this course
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| Drew Seminar: Searching for Hamlet: on the page, stage and screen - 10439 - DSEM 100 - C8 | ||||||||||||||
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Hamlet … theatre artists feel compelled to wrestle with it, and scholars and critics find it a bottomless source of study in pursuit of its secrets and meanings. In this Drew Seminar, we will focus our entire semester on this incredible play, engaging in our own intensive and extensive exploration of the text—through in-class discussions, a series of writing projects, creative engagement, and other means of interacting with the play—with a special focus on the questions: How do we translate what we learn about the play through textual analysis into the language of performance? What specific interpretational choices do we face on stage, and what are the ramifications of our decisions? In working towards possible answers, we will look at Shakespeare’s dramatic techniques and how what he writes helps define character and intention for the actor. We will study several film performances and the choices that these productions have made in trying to bring the Prince of Denmark to life. And we will even have an actual production of Hamlet rehearsing and performing on our campus to further enhance our interaction with the play. Indeed, the timing of this seminar is especially appropriate, as during the month of October 2016, Drew will be Shakespeare Country, as we host on campus an actual copy of the priceless 1623 First Folio of his works (opened to the page with the “To be or not to be” speech) and a variety of exhibits, lectures, and performances, including the production of Hamlet mounted by Drew’s Theatre and Dance Department.
Associated Term: Fall 2016 Registration Dates: Apr 11, 2016 to Sep 09, 2016 Attributes: College Seminar Requirement Main Campus Seminar Schedule Type 4.000 Credits View Catalog Entry Look up books for this course
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| Drew Seminar: The Power of Light - 10442 - DSEM 100 - C9 | ||||||||||||||
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From the mysterious cosmic background radiation to the astounding power of photosynthesis to the perception of color, light is present in everything from the origins of our universe to the shaping of our atmosphere and climate to the technology that drives our modern lives. We can use light to probe distant galaxies and peer inside a living cell, power a home or experience a rainbow. This course will also include joint sessions with other Drew seminars for guest lectures and film viewing.
Associated Term: Fall 2016 Registration Dates: Apr 11, 2016 to Sep 09, 2016 Attributes: College Seminar Requirement Main Campus Seminar Schedule Type 4.000 Credits View Catalog Entry Look up books for this course
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