Summer 2022 Pre-Baccalaureate Course Offerings

Professor Cecilia Lie Spahn 

Tu/Th- 9:00-12:10pm

3 Credit Hours

Reproduction is both a biological and social process—one that is often the target of deep-seated ideas about identity, culture, science, and technology. How have contraceptives, pharmaceuticals, and other technologies shaped reproductive experiences? What does the use and distribution of these scientific innovations reveal about existing power structures and social stratification? What liberatory possibilities do these technologies enable, and what are their limitations? Course material will center work by reproductive justice scholar-activists and feminist science and technology studies scholarship, including work by Dorothy Roberts, Alexandra Stern, Emily Martin, Alondra Nelson, and others.

Professor Sedelia Rodriguez

Tu/Th- 9:00am- 12:15pm

3 Credit Hours

In responding to the environmental issues we face today, it is critical to recognize the science behind them. This course will teach students the basic concepts in earth science/geology essential to understanding the mechanisms of our current climate crisis. These foundational concepts are crucial for any student who is interested in not only the natural sciences, but for those who wish to pursue careers related to environmental justice, sustainability, and other social science fields. Students will explore how and where natural resources form, as well as how we are rapidly depleting these reserves. Students will also learn about natural disasters and how these affect certain communities more than others. Students will gain an understanding of the formation of rocks and minerals and their economic significance. Students will be able to use the cumulative knowledge they gained during the first weeks of class to have a better understanding of the global climate issues we face and to use this information to conduct presentations on an environmental topic of their choice. The format of the course will be as follows:  Primarily lecture, followed by class discussions, group activities and at least one lab component.

Professor Homa S. Zarghamee

Tu/Th- 1:00-4:10pm

3 Credit Hours

Covers basic elements of microeconomic and macroeconomic reasoning at an introductory level. Topics include Individual Constraints and Preferences, Production by Firms, Market Transactions, Competition, The Distribution of Income, Technological Progress and Growth, Unemployment and Inflation, the Role of Government in the Economy.

Professor Paige West

M/W 9:00am-12:10pm

3 Credit Hours

This course examines the relationships between Indigenous peoples, rural communities, and the environment. As it becomes increasingly apparent that environmental disasters are inextricably tied to extractive economies, this course will focus on the historic and contemporary processes, structures, and events that gave rise to contemporary landscapes of dispossession. We will base our discussions on works written by Indigenous scholars, feminist scholars, and scholars from the global south.

Professor Kristina Milnor

M/T/W/TH 10:45am- 12:20pm

3 Credit Hours

Considers cinematic representations of the ancient Mediterranean world, from early silent films to movies from the present day. Explores films that purport to represent historical events (such as Gladiator) and cinematic versions of ancient texts (Pasolinis Medea). Readings include ancient literature and modern criticism.

Professor Meredith Benjamin 

TR 1:00pm-4:10pm

3 Credit Hours

Feminists have famously claimed that "the personal is political." Accordingly, life writing--in various genres--has been an important form for feminists across generations. In this class, we will explore the different ways in which feminists have used these modes to create visions of the self, to challenge the roles and self-images given to them, and to imagine new narratives. In particular, we'll explore questions of genre: so many of these writers have developed hybrid genres or challenged the boundaries of genre in order to write their lives. Looking at examples of life writing including letters, diaries and journals, graphic memoirs, and "traditional" autobiographies, we will examine these forms through the lens of gender, race, sexuality, class, and disability. Readings are subject to change, but may include: Audre Lorde, Zami; Alison Bechdel, Fun Home; Cherrie Moraga,Loving in the War Years; Maggie Nelson, The Argonauts; Maxine Hong Kingston, Woman Warrior; poems by Adrienne Rich; Carmen Maria Machado, In the Dream House; This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color; Janet Mock, Redefining Realness, and selected shorter pieces. Additionally, we will read critical and theoretical works that will urge us to consider our primary texts from various critical approaches: including sexuality studies, critical race studies, disability studies, and transgender studies.

Professor J.C. Salyer 

M/W 5:00pm-8:00pm

3 Credit Hours

Catastrophes and disasters are often seen as inherently natural crises when in reality they are both caused and affected by anthropogenic forces and their impacts are conditioned by existing social, economic, and political factors. To truly understand catastrophes, such as the incipient climate crisis, extreme weather events, and even the current coronavirus pandemic, we will examine the complex interplay between environmental and social factors through both anthropological and human rights lenses. Specifically, the course will address the social and cultural aspects of catastrophe by focusing on the climate crisis, its causes, and its impacts. First, the course will consider the phenomena of anthropogenic climate change. Second, the course will examine the theoretical and empirical literatures that have elucidated the nature of climate change as a social, as well as a biophysical, process. Finally, the course will consider how human rights and other legal regimes do or do not address the social justice and humanitarian issues created by anthropogenic climate change.

Professor Ross Hamilton 

TR 1:00pm-4:10pm

3 Credit Hours

This seminar will read stories of love gone bad, of romances that end catastrophically, that damage lovers or leave victims along the way. We will illuminate the consuming fantasy of the romance genre in its quest for "true love," as well as a range of emotions – rage and revenge, narcissism and self-protection, obsession and oblivion – that surface in its wake. We will also look at shifting interpretations of "bad love," from Plato, to the Galenic theory of the humors, to the sociology of court-culture, to Freudian and finally contemporary neurobiological explanations of feelings. Students are welcome to propose texts of their own interests to open this course to the widest range of interests. In addition to seminar discussion, there will be weekly individual tutorials with Professor Hamilton as well as interviews with a neurobiologist and a psychologist.