Skip to main content
IUB Honors Courses Indiana University Bloomington

HON-H 233 – Great Authors, Composers and, Artists: Walking

Posted on by brigphil

Sections offered FALL 2019:

#31981

FREDERIC LIEBER

MW 2:30pm-3:45pm

HU 217

CLASS NOTES: IUB GenEd A&H credit; COLL (CASE) A&H Breadth of Inquiry Credit

 

Walking is a mobile platform of the arts, sciences, and humanities. We consider the theme of walking in literature, developmental psychology, philosophy, anthropology, law, and public policy, history, business, and sculpture. Walking syncopates mind and matter to a human gait. From the riddle of the sphinx to the march of progress, walking is cultural iconography on foot. We walk our thoughts, walk off our problems, and walk in someone else’s shoes. Metaphor and Rorschach, walking is interpretation and locomotion, getting somewhere and losing ourselves. It is a pedestrian perspective on the world. Our course is a stepwise analysis of the human and the natural, having a saunter and taking a stand.

Questions we consider include: Why would expert crawlers abandon a stable quadrupedal posture that took months to master, only to adopt a precarious upright position of frequent falling? What makes human gait expressive? Do we think differently walking than sitting? How is walking an explanation of culture? What stories and morals do sidewalks, pilgrimages, wanderlust, and nomads tell? How is walking a rite of passage and a path to understanding? What are the consequences of not walking, of inaccessibility?

Students keep a journal. They write one short paper and a final paper. There are no exams, but we take inquisitive walks. The class is a seminar.

HON-H 238 – Politics and Communication: Witnessing War and Terrorism

Posted on by brigphil

Sections offered FALL 2019:

#11689

STEVE RAYMER

MW 11:15am-12:30pm

HU 217

CLASS NOTES: IUB GenEd S&H credit; COLL (CASE) S&H Breadth of Inquiry credit

H238 examines the journalistic, political, and cultural context of conflict and terrorism from the mid-19th century to the present day. Readings, videos, and classroom discussions analyze how conflicts have been reported, censored, or ignored and seek to understand the most effective ways for journalists, broadcasters, bloggers, and authors to prioritize and organize words and images.  Central to the course are the ways women have transformed war reporting.  Students also examine the struggle between a free press and democratic and authoritarian governments—régimes that seek to control information from the battlefield and areas of civil strife. Moreover, the course looks at how the media frame threats of violence and intimidation for political ends as well as the legacy of state-sponsored terrorism in Russia and China. Taught by a veteran journalist and professor who has reported on conflicts from five continents, the course also examines the professional values and ethical choices that confront journalists who report on two of the central issues of the 21st century—war and terrorism.

HON-H 228 – Interdepartmental Colloquium: Historic Filmmaking Methods

Posted on by brigphil

Sections offered FALL 2019:

#13199

RON OSGOOD

TR 1:00pm-2:15pm

HU 217

CLASS NOTES: COLL (CASE) S&H Breadth of Inquiry credit

This course will cover how to use archival media, such as photos, film, and audio/video tape in film documentaries. The class will research archival and public domain music, photographs, film, and other archival media used to create historic films and photographic exhibits. Local field trips and guest speakers will bring a practical, real-world component to the course and tutorials covering techniques used to adapt media assets and create programs will be incorporated into the curriculum.

Individually, you will have the opportunity to produce two practical projects using archival media. These projects options range from self-publishing a book and creating a website to recording a podcast and creating a short film. No previous experience is necessary.

Students who took HON-H 228 – Archival Storytelling in Fall 2018 should NOT take this class, due to similarity in content.

HON-H234 – Literature of Time and Place: Literature of the Holocaust

Posted on by brigphil

Sections offered FALL 2019:

#6921

ALVIN ROSENFELD

TR 2:30pm-3:45pm

WH 007

CLASS NOTES: COLL (CASE) A&H Breadth of Inquiry credit; IUB GenEd A&H credit; meets with JSTU-J 203

 

Among the most compelling literatures of our day is that which records and seeks to interpret the Nazi war of genocide against the Jews. This course will introduce students to this literature and encourage them to reflect upon many of the profound questions it raises. Some of these questions will focus on literature’s role in the shaping of historical memory. How the past is represented and comes to acquire a future in collective memory will be a preoccupying concern. Other questions will focus on issues of the most serious cultural, intellectual, moral, ethical, and religious kind. For instance, if it is true, as Elie Wiesel claims, that at Auschwitz not only man died but also the idea of man, how do we now conceive of the human? What does a person become when nothing is any longer forbidden him? Why did law, art, intellect, and religion not defend against political barbarism? Is idealism of any kind still possible after Auschwitz? Is forgiveness possible? These and related questions will preoccupy us over the course of the semester.

The list of required readings includes the following: Tadeusz Borowski, This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen; Jan Gross, Neighbors; Rolf Hochhuth, The Deputy; Primo Levi, Survival in Auschwitz; Primo Levi, The Drowned and the Saved; Bernard Schlink, The Reader; Elie Wiesel, Night; Simon Wiesenthal, The Sunflower.

HON-H 212 – Ideas and Experience II: Education Policy and Reform

Posted on by brigphil

Sections offered FALL 2019:

#33941

CHRISTOPHER LUBIENSKI

MW 1:00pm-02:15pm

HU 217

CLASS NOTES: Satisfaction of the English composition requirement; COLL Intensive Writing section; COLL (CASE) S&H Breadth of Inquiry credit

 

This course weighs the possibilities and pitfalls with using education as a mechanism for social change. School reforms such as charter schools, equitable funding, and alternative route to teaching such as TFA have often been targeted to address issues of social inequalities. Yet schools themselves have often perpetuated those very problems. Drawing on sociological and policy lenses, the class will consider (1) the role of public schooling in a democratic society, (2) efforts to use education to promote social justice, and (3) some of the structural impediments that often undercut those efforts. The course is designed for students interested in education and public policy, social justice, and teaching, including through programs such as TFA.

HON-H 238 – Politics and Communication: Global Intelligence

Posted on by brigphil

Sections offered FALL 2019:

#13465

BRENDA BAILEY-HUGHES

MW 4:00pm-5:15pm

HU 217

CLASS NOTES: Service Learning Course; COLL (CASE) S&H Breadth of Inquiry credit; IUB GenEd S&H credit

Global Intelligence is a service-learning course that partners you with the Burmese American Community Association (BACI) where you will mentor resettled refugees going to high school in central Indiana. You will coach them in writing college and scholarship applications, and you’ll work on a special project for the BACI organization. Service-learning courses combine learning goals and community service to enhance both your growth and the common good. In the words of the National Service Learning Clearinghouse, service-learning is “a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities.”

In the course, you will develop a more global mindset and deeper understanding of the refugee resettlement experience. You will hone your ability to recognize and adapt to cultural signals necessary to effectively interact with people from around the world. Your team will drive actionable recommendations for the projects identified by our community partner, the BACI. Through teaming efforts, self-reflection, and mentoring in a multi-cultural situation, the course takes you into a deep awareness of your own cultural proclivities, teaches you to adapt your communication style and bridge cultural gaps, and provides a hands-on experience of practicing empathy.

You will meet and learn from refugees and their families who have fled their country because they feared their military government that employed torture and acts of violence on civilians. The political climate in Myanmar is changing for the positive, but the experience of our refugee neighbors gives voice to an often unheard minority. Global Intelligence will bring up questions about living in environments tainted by anti-immigrant sentiments.

HON-H 226 – Interdepartmental Colloquium: The Films of Joel and Ethan Coen

Posted on by brigphil

Sections offered FALL 2019:

#8638

CHRISTOPHER ANDERSON

TuTh 2:30-3:45pm
Tu 7:15-9:15pm

HU 108
TBA

CLASS NOTES: COLL (CASE) A&H Breadth of Inquiry credit, includes film showings on Tuesdays

 

This course will explore the films of Joel and Ethan Coen, the Academy-Award winning filmmakers responsible for such classic American films as No Country for Old Men, Fargo, and The Big Lebowski, along with a dozen more critically acclaimed films made since they broke onto the scene with Blood Simple, their stylish, shocking 1984 debut. Working as collaborators for more than three decades, the Coen brothers have written, produced, and directed a series of strikingly original films that have earned them a reputation as among the most compelling filmmakers in the history of modern American cinema. Combining a deeply ironic wit with a dark sensibility, the Coen brothers’ films pay tribute to classic movie genres, while casting a wary eye on American ideals and the history of American popular culture. They are still among the most highly regarded filmmakers in America: their latest film, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, debuted on Netflix in December 2018 and received three nominations for the 2019 Academy Awards, including Best Adapted Screenplay.

The goal of this course is to introduce students to the study of film and culture by focusing on the films of the Coen brothers, and through these films, to trace an idiosyncratic path through the history of American cinema from the late 20th century to the present. The readings, screenings, assignments, and classroom activities for this course are intended to help students develop competence in critical thinking and analysis, as demonstrated through exams and short essays, and advanced skill in the writing of reasoned arguments, as demonstrated in formal papers.  Students are not required to have any prior experience in film criticism or history – just an interest in learning to think critically about movies and American culture.

 

HON-H 226 – Interdepartmental Colloquium: The Production of Culture

Posted on by brigphil

Sections offered FALL 2019:

#34558

CHRISTOPHER ANDERSON

TuTh 11:15am-12:30pm

HU 217

 

 

We may watch The Daily Show for its award-winning satire of contemporary politics and media, but that isn’t why a network like Comedy Central produces and broadcasts the program. From a business perspective, The Daily Show attracts viewers ages 18-34, who are the target market for advertisers selling movies, liquor, and video games. The Daily Show is clearly more than a marketing scheme, but the bottom line is that Comedy Central uses The Daily Show to attract our attention and then to sell that attention to advertisers, who target messages that address us as consumers. While this has always been the case with mass media like television, the same formula holds true today for new digital media like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

This marriage of culture and economics – using cultural experiences to capture and then sell human attention – took shape in the 20th century, but has become more deeply woven into our lives with the explosion of digital media and the internet in the 21st century. Although Facebook and Instagram are technically free for users to enjoy, these social media have adopted the same economic model as the mass media before them: they encourage us to give them our attention and then turn around and sell us to advertisers. In fact, critics of social media like to remind users that virtually nothing on the internet is actually free. If you don’t pay for a product, then you are the product.

We live in a society in which culture is a product: organized into industries with their own lobbying groups in Washington, produced and distributed by corporations, and sold to consumers in the commercial marketplace. The buying and selling of mass-produced cultural products dates back to the origins of book and newspaper publishing, accelerated with the rise of motion pictures and the expansion of national advertising in the early 20th century, and now in the age of social media pervades every aspect of our lives. It is virtually impossible to imagine how one might live a life beyond the reach of commercial culture. Corporations make cultural products widely available, but this also means that the market determines cultural value in ways that are clearly worth examining more closely.

The object of this course is to understand how media function by discussing many of the defining features of commercial culture, including the role of corporations in producing and distributing cultural products, the social practices of users and the social organization of audiences, the influence of advertising and marketing in the cultural marketplace, and the expansion of global markets. The readings, assignments, and classroom activities are intended to help students develop competence in critical thinking about culture and society, as demonstrated through exams and short essays, and advanced skill in the writing of reasoned arguments, as demonstrated in formal papers. Students are not expected to have any prior experience with the topics to be studied in this course – just an interest in learning to think critically about contemporary media and culture.

HON-H 304 – Interdepartmental Colloquium – Comparative Foreign Policy: Why Nations Go to War?

Posted on by brigphil

Sections offered FALL 2019:

#10508

DINA SPECHLER

TuTh 1:00pm-2:15pm

WH 004

CLASS NOTES: COLL (CASE) S&H Breadth of Inquiry credit; meets with INTL-I 300 and POLS-Y 363

 

Why did the United States get involved in Vietnam, and why did it stay in the war long after U.S. leaders knew we could not win?  Why did the Soviets invade Afghanistan when they well knew that others’ attempts to conquer that country had repeatedly failed?  Why did Hitler attack the Soviet Union despite the fact that no outside power since the 15th century had succeeded in subduing Russia?

History and contemporary international relations are replete with examples of the risks, costs and difficulties of attacking and invading other states and intervening militarily in the politics and conflicts of others. This course will explore the question of why nations go to war when survival is not at stake. There will be many case studies, including some quite recent cases, but the focus will be on theories that help us understand this puzzling behavior on the part of states and those who determine or influence national policy. We will be examining the impact of individual leaders, their personal characteristics, beliefs, perceptions and misperceptions, as well as decision-making groups, government bureaucracies, national values and belief systems, and the nature and functioning of various kinds of political systems. A role-playing exercise at the end of the semester will give students an opportunity to simulate national decision-makers confronting the question of whether or not to use force.

HON-H 304 – Interdepartmental Colloquium: American Foreign Policy in the Nuclear Age

Posted on by brigphil

Sections offered FALL 2019:

#13134

DINA SPECHLER

TuTh 4:00pm-5:15pm

WH 003

CLASS NOTES: COLL (CASE) S&H Breadth of Inquiry credit; meets with POLS-Y 360.

Contrary to once widely held expectations, the end of the Cold War has not eliminated the threat to national and planetary survival posed by nuclear weapons. Both the US and Russia retain huge arsenals, which both sides are working hard to modernize. Russia has begun to deploy some of these in forward positions and has threatened to use them against American allies. A growing number of other states, some of them hostile to the United States, are acquiring significant arsenals of their own. Meanwhile, the process of nuclear proliferation has accelerated and increased the danger of nuclear war from miscalculation, accident or detonation by terrorists. At the same time, the United States, like the other nuclear superpower, is faced with serious environmental damage and substantial risks resulting from the production and storage of nuclear warheads and fuel over many decades.

This course will examine the key decisions over the last 70 years by policy makers in the US that contributed to the creation of this dangerous situation, how the U.S. has employed diplomacy to avoid nuclear war and reduce its likelihood, the contemporary consequences of its past decisions, and the prospects for the future. We will consider the options open to American decision makers at the time, the wisdom of and rationale for the choices they made, and what should be done now.
The course is likely to involve lectures, videos and discussions. Weekly reading will be 50-60 pages in length, including many original source documents (memoirs, letters, and speeches) and news articles from the past and present, as well as analysts’ discussions of the issues. All readings will be available on Canvas. There will be a short paper, a midterm and a final exam.

Skip to toolbar