ANTH-B 399
ADDICTION AND SOCIETY
The course provides an interdisciplinary approach to the study of addiction to alcohol and other drugs. More specifically and following in the tradition of anthropology, course content will review the cultural (i.e., learned beliefs and behavior associated with addiction and the ethnic and gender diversity of addiction), social (i.e., an examination of the institutions and organizations associated with addiction including substance abuse treatment programs, the alcohol and pharmaceutical industries, the illegal drug trade, and criminal justice system), and political (i.e., the consideration of how phenomena such as racism, sexism, and capitalism manifest themselves in addiction causation, prevention, and treatment) aspects of addiction. In addition, the course provides critiques of the exclusively biological (i.e., genetic and psychological) approaches to treatment, the disease model of addiction, and the standard addiction treatment program, Alcoholics (and Narcotics) Anonymous. Cross-cultural and alternative approaches to addiction and substance abuse are also explored. Upon the completion of the course students will possess a broader understanding of drug addiction causation, prevention, and treatment. The students’ broader understanding of addiction will be assessed through written commentaries on the course readings, class discussions, and a group research project involving interviews with addicts, friends and relatives of addicts, and treatment counselors.
CHILDREN AS KIN, CITIZENS, AND HUMANS
Obligation and Belonging: Children as Kin, Citizens and Humans How do social ideas of what children are, what children need, and what children mean affect the experience of being a child? In this interdisciplinary course we will use readings from sociology, history, philosophy and anthropology to explore the on-going social and historical construction of children and childhood. The ideal of childhood as a space and time of innocence, play, and learning constructed in 17th and 18th century Europe is today, as then, a stark contrast to the lived experience of most children in the world today. In this course we will not only be considering the creation of “childhood” and its dominant figure of the child as the innocent tabula rasa, but will also be exploring the ways in which conceptualizations children as belonging to kin groups, nations, and humanity shape children’s lives. Writings on the anthropology of childhood reveal the simultaneous, and at times conflicting, effects of citizenship, kinship, and human rights on the lives of children. Each of these three figures of the human was designed to meet specific ends, permits and bars certain types of actions and associations, differently orders matters of obligation and belonging, and forms part of larger assemblages of practices, technologies, norms, and modes of reasoning. They were brought into being in sequence, but operate simultaneously, each affecting the others. In exploring the lived experience of children throughout the world, we will ask how thinking of children as kin, citizens, and humans affects their care and will trace the relationships and conflicts between these forms of obligation and belonging. Using a mixture of ethnographic and theoretical writings we will move through each of these themes in turn. In addition to writings that focus on children themselves, we will also consider text that speak more generally to kinship, citizenship, humanitarianism, and human rights.
RACE and ETHNIC RELATIONS
The course describes and explains contemporary racial and ethnic relations in the United States and world at large. This is accomplished by discussing the fallacy of the concept of race, contemporary and future projections of global and national racial and ethnic diversity, the diversity within the popular designated racial and ethnic groups, the major factors that shape racial and ethnic relations, the adverse aspects of racial and ethnic relations, and the potential solutions to these adverse aspects of racial and ethnic relations. The course takes an interdisciplinary approach to racial and ethnic relations primarily from the fields of anthropology, history, political science, psychology, and sociology. Upon the completion of the course, the students will have attained the knowledge of the essential concepts, data, and theory necessary to better understand how contemporary racial and ethnic relations shape economics, education, health, religion, politics, and interpersonal relationships. This knowledge in turn can be used to reduce those inequalities attributed to these racial and ethnic relations.
SCIENCE OF CULTURE AND CULTURES OF SCIENCE
This course provides insights into the social institution of science and non-scientific analogues of inquiry, and their sociocultural contexts in the modern world that is dominated by the fruits and pitfalls of science and by technologies produced through scientific behaviors. Anthropology itself is a social science that relies on the scientific method in varying guises, has its own scientific infrastructure, and which uses data media and information technologies to record and analyze information. Anthropology also provides important insights on how the scientific method, and science in general, are socioculturally constructed; how science influences technological development; and how technological processes feed back into sociocultural demands for science. Special attention will be given to anthropological investigations of multicultural, global patterns of problem solving and technology uses through time. Students will learn to read, interpret, and critically analyze a variety of quantitative and qualitative scientific research materials.
BUS-B 399
BUSINESS & SOCIETY
This course examines business in terms of its stakeholders throughout society. By the end of this course, you should know the major stakeholders of a business and key concepts of business ethics. You should be able to think critically about issues of business and society, appreciate and be able to synthesize opposing points of view, and work successfully in a team.
CLS-B 399
CLINICAL LABORATORY MANAGEMENT
The clinical laboratory is just one of the many important departments that make up the larger ecosystem that is a hospital, whose ultimate purpose is the health and wellbeing of society. This course has been placed completely online and designed for students to establish a clinical laboratory in a new hospital in South Bend. This course provides students with an entry level understanding of the various responsibilities of the clinical laboratory management team. Topics include general management theories, federal regulations and government organizations, financial management, operations management, human resources, and career success and development. However, simply understanding basic management responsibilities does not make a good laboratory leader. Effective leaders must be able to motivate their employees, work with their bosses, and communicate with colleagues of various disciplines outside of the laboratory. These human behaviors and social interactions are further explored and applied by students as they participate in individual and team-based activities. This course is also taught concurrently with CLS-E401 Clinical Externship I. This format allows students the ability to explore topics in clinical laboratory management and career success, relate them to experiences during externships and while working, discuss experiences and challenges in a forum setting, and gain a knowledge of resources for leadership and career development.
POLS-B 399
THE AMERICAN PRESIDENCY
One American political institution receives perhaps the most attention from historians, journalists, and the public at large: the presidency. Despite this attention, the presidency is still perhaps the least understood of the three branches, especially among political scientists. The biggest obstacle faced by those seeking greater knowledge is the very nature of the office, which is intertwined inextricably with its occupant. We have one presidency, but we have had only 43 presidents. Although individual characteristics do play a role in presidential success or failure, oftentimes the analysis begins and ends there. We will endeavor to think more broadly and systematically about the presidency in this course, examining opportunities for presidential success and failure that move beyond the personality traits of individual occupants.
URBAN POLITICS AND POLICY
This course considers the politics of cities, suburbs, and regions in the United States from numerous perspectives. Cities are at the heart of American democracy; they are the units of government closest to the people, making citizens more likely to interact with their local governments than the national or a state government on a daily basis. However, cities also serve as hubs of commerce, and many argue their governments cater decisions to the interests of the private sector. Finding ways to serve residents while crafting development plans to suit businesses is one of the central challenges of governing cities. Because of cities’ dynamic and ever-changing nature, we will take a historical approach to urban politics while considering a wide range of theories of city development. Discussions of political power will be at the center of units considering the initial development of U.S. cities, political institutions, federalism, race, metropolitan expansion, globalization, and residential displacement. Though this is a course on politics, understanding the structure of power in cities requires inquiries going beyond the basic institutions of local government. Readings and discussions also borrow from sociology, urban planning, economics, geography, and a range of other disciplines.
WAR, TERROR & RECONCILIATION
State-sponsored terrorism and war are enduring aspects of politics in the world today. In the latter part of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century, a number of societies have attempted to emerge from periods of terror and war. This course will analyze how societies reconcile the history and collective memories of state-sponsored violence. Along with analyzing the nature of state violence in specific countries, the course will review efforts to hold states accountable for their policies of brutality. Readings will include accounts by victims of state terror, accounts by those who meted out the terror and violence, and by outside observers. A central concern of the course is debate concerning the ethics of seeking accountability for past violence.
PSY-B 399
MARRIAGE AND FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS
This class will help students to better understand the family systems approach. The focus will be on relationships within families in order to understand how individuals form a network. Students will be required to master four general skills: Memory, Application, Comparison, and Defense of one’s own opinion.
SPIRTUALITY & SOCIAL JUSTICE
This class will explore how spirituality intersects with social justice issues, asking what role psychological theory, research, and practice have played. Primarily the course will examine the social institutions related to religion and politics. In particular, we will examine the infrastructures of six widely known belief traditions (Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Sikhism). Because these traditions exist within a canvas of beliefs less widely known, we will also examine Indigenous traditions (selecting a small subset from each continent), Wicca, and Atheism/Agnosticism. We will ask how each of these traditions’ principles inform a person or group’s involvement in social justice activities. Specifically, definitions of “social justice,” requirements of personal spiritual development, rewards of social justice work, authenticity and identity, interaction between humanity and the divine, and consequences of inaction.
SUICIDE & DEPRESSION
Suicide accounts for over 31,000 deaths in the United States each year. This course details wide-ranging information about suicide, from basic demographic factors, definitions, and theories from multiple disciplines, to cutting-edge topics such as physician-assisted and rational suicide. The course is predominantly a lecture-discussion format in which current knowledge about suicide is presented from across the multidisciplinary field of suicidology (i.e., the scientific study of suicide and suicidal behavior). Because it has a prominent place with respect to suicide, depression also will be presented as a topic. Other topics to be covered in the class include: facts and myths of suicide; historical aspects of suicide; definitions; depression; theories of suicide; the demography and epidemiology of suicide; sex/gender issues/differences in suicide; suicide across the life-span: children, adolescents, adults, and the elderly; suicide clues and communication; postvention; family and other survivors of suicide; and ethical/philosophical/religious/legal issues inherent in suicidology.
WOMEN AND MADNESS: “CRAZY WOMEN” IN PSYCHOLOGY AND POP CULTURE
This class focuses on the iconic mad woman in historical and fictional works, and examines through a psychological and gendered analysis how this portrayal has been constructed. We will look at how centuries of bias against women in Western societies have resulted in the pathologizing of women’s sexual, mental, emotional, and physical experiences and abilities. We will examine old and new gender stereotypes that have led to disparate treatment by the psychological profession. We will read first-person accounts from women who have undergone mental health treatments such as insane asylums, biological therapies, and talk therapies. We will also turn a critical eye toward the portrayal of dangerous, mad, or crazy women in works of fiction and film to explore important themes of sexuality, motherhood, agency, and relationships.
BRAIN INJURY AND MENTAL HEALTH
This course will explore the symptoms, diagnoses, brain imaging techniques, and treatments associated with various types of brain injuries caused by strokes, external traumas to the head, bacterial and viral infections, prenatal and perinatal conditions, aging, and genetics. Special attention given to the role society plays in rehabilitating these individuals and long-term care provided to them. The truth and fiction behind these brain injuries as portrayed in popular media will also be explored.
SOC-B 399
ANIMALS AND HUMAN SOCIETY
This course will explore peoples’ relationships with animals and the various roles that animals play in human societies. We will consider people’s interactions with a wide range of species, but our primary focus will be on the role of domestic animals in human lives and societies. A significant portion of the course addresses people’s relationships with pets, and treatment and interactions with animals used for food. Additional topics will include differences and similarities between human and nonhuman animals, historical and cultural variations in human-animal relations, debates over animal rights and treatment, and the impact of human-animal relations on the welfare of animals, humans, and society. This is an interdisciplinary course that will include perspectives from a range of fields, including sociology, psychology, history, anthropology, and zoology. The course is taught as a seminar, so students will be expected to take an active role, reading, discussing, and writing about course topics.
BELIZE
Students will learn about the rich mix of cultures – indigenous, Caribbean, Latino and European that come together in Belizean society. They will study the national and community-level efforts toward sustainable development and public health. On site, students will explore sites that reflect both the unique cultural and natural heritage of the country. They will apply what they have learned about the dynamics of the Belize health care system by providing preventive health care education screenings, demonstrations and lectures to a population in San Ignacio and surrounding areas.
COSTA RICA – BUILDING SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES IN CENTRAL AMERICA
Course goals:
1. To use the vivid contrasts of another culture and society to deepen students’ understanding of key social science concepts, including the evolution and intermingling of cultural patterns and forms; social divisions along lines of class, gender and ethnicity; the development, interaction and importance of major social institutions such as family, political economy and religion; and the dynamics of social change involved in urbanization, globalization and incorporation into the world economy.
2. To provide students with an overview of the culture and history of Costa Rican society from its indigenous origins, through its colonial period and its democratic transformation to the present, as well as to examine future possibilities.
3. To explore the human ecology of development, the interaction between people and their environment, and to explore and assess Costa Rican efforts toward sustainable development in urban and rural economies, agriculture and agribusiness, and tourism and ecotravel.
CULTURE & HERITAGE OF MEXICO
This course focuses on the creation and utilization of cultural heritage. You will examine Oaxaca, Mexico’s history, culture, and society from its indigenous origins through its colonial conquest and revolutionary transformations to the present. Your experiences are designed to be highly interdisciplinary: Mexico itself will serve as a learning laboratory, as every part of the trip will expose you to new ideas and perspectives. The goal is to have each of us engage in anthropological and sociological analysis of their experiences and observations of Mexican society and culture.
EXPLORING THE CITY
The course takes advantage of the long summer sessions to be grounded in the local community. Each day begins in the classroom with a topic in urban history, urban diversity and urban sustainability, and then ventures into the community of great South Bend to see how these factors interrelate in our own space. In recent years, the class has met with both the mayors of South Bend and Mishawaka and their senior city planners at the city building and then with walks that explore new urbanism and the Mishawaka riverfront as well as South Bend’s Smart Streets initiative and downtown revitalization. They have explored the Renaissance district and repurposing of old buildings from Union Station to Studebaker Bldg 54. And they have met with neighborhood groups and CDC’s ranging from La Casa de Amistad (then exploring W. Washington), South Bend Heritage, the Near Northwest, Robinson Community Learning Center and discussions and explorations of Eddy St. Commons and the Near Northeast. Studies of urban history have included onsite classes and tours at the IUSB Natatorium and the N. Indiana Center for History. Students also study and present on a neighborhood of their choosing, looking at its history, transitions and challenges. These have ranged from Rum Village to Belgian Mishawaka to New Carlisle, Plymouth downtown and outlying communities.
INEQUALITY IN AMERICA
Learn about the divides of race, class and gender in American society. Are we becoming ever more unequal? Is that the result of technology, globalization, corporate greed, public policy or other factors? How does inequality impact education, the labor market and the challenges of the working poor? We will explore these topics with sociological insight, the latest news and firsthand accounts, as well as with lively discussion and visits and involvement in the community including the Center for the Homeless, St. Margaret’s House, La Casa de Amistad and the Robinson Community Learning Center.
INTIMATE RELATIONSHIPS AND SEXUALITY: 21ST CENTURY FAMILY FORMATION
Intimacy is a central element in our most meaningful relationships and we judge their success by whether they might be seen as intimate, on one level or another. Romantic partnerships and close relationships between family members and friends perhaps most obviously should be intimate. We might describe our friendships as intimate, but not too intimate. Relationship intimacy, in other words, is both desirable and bounded. This course explores the social contexts and meanings of intimacy as well as the psycho-social factors that lead to potential intimacies. Students are challenged to move beyond thinking of intimacy as a static, achievable relationship goal and toward understanding intimacy as a socially-located, meaningful, changing concept that motivates action.
LANGUAGE, CULTURE, AND SOCIETY IN MEXICO
To provide students with an overview of the culture and history of Mexican society from its indigenous origins, through its colonial conquest and its revolutionary transformation to the present, as well as to examine future possibilities. To use the vivid contrasts of another culture and society to deepen students’ understanding of key social science concepts, including the evolution and intermingling of cultural patterns and forms; social divisions along lines of class, gender and ethnicity; the development, interaction and importance of major social institutions such as family, political economy and religion; and the dynamics of social change involved in urbanization, modernization, and incorporation into the world economy.
NONPROFIT AND VOLUNTARY SECTOR
This course examines perspectives on why people organize, donate to, and volunteer for nonprofit organizations. Current challenges the sector faces are examined. An additional objective of the course is for students to become familiar with the variety of information sources available to study the nonprofit sector. Along the way, the course provides a broad overview of the nonprofit sector in the United States, including information about the sector’s size and scope and its religious, historical, and theoretical underpinnings.
SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
What are the elements of balanced, equitable development? Why are these so hard to achieve? Seeking answers to these questions will form the core of this seminar. We will look at what they mean for the various social problems facing the planet. Finally, we will look at efforts to forge alternative paths to development and quality of life. While we’re not likely to find a quick fix to any of the problems, we will also probe possible interventions to make a positive difference while seeking to build a more equitable, peaceful, and sustainable world. To analyze our changing planet we will draw on the social science disciplines of anthropology, sociology, geography, political science, and economics. We will also consider the insights and background offered by psychology, history, and ecology.
YOUNG PEOPLE CHANGING SOCIAL CHANGE: HOW YOU CAN TRANSFORM THE WORLD!
This course we will examine the ways in which young people have created social change on national and international topics, such as gun violence, climate change, civil rights, and women’s rights. Drawing on historical analyses, social science research, and fictional and non-fictional personal accounts, we will identify the strategies and tactics that young people have employed to make change and examine how the social context shaped the outcomes of their actions. My hope is that you will leave this course realizing how you can make a difference in your community, nation, and world.
SPCH-B 399
DECEPTION AND LYING
Traditionally, communication courses explore the hows and whys of human communication. The field of interpersonal communication tends to focus on theories, skills and abilities that would help students improve their working relationships, from romantic relationships to co-workers. But there’s more to communication than just the “good side.” What about lies? Deception? Manipulation? These are key areas of study that need to be understood, much the same as we discuss effective and productive communication characteristics. With this said, we will be studying the “dark side” of communication. We will depart from the norm and focus on the art of deception, lying, deception, truthtelling and acceptable forms of deception (poker anyone?). Likewise, we will cover hoaxers and con artists: those “professional liars” in our communities. In doing this, my goal is to better prepare students to become critical receivers of messages: both the “good” and the “bad” (however we end up defining these monikers).
SUST- B 399
GERMANY – SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND GREEN URBANISM
What are the elements of balanced, sustainable development? We will look at what they mean for the various social problems facing the planet. We will look at path–breaking efforts to forge alternative paths to development and quality of life in Germany and Switzerland, with special focus on Freiburg, Germany; often ranked as one of the greenest and most innovative cities in the world.
SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS
This course is designed to provide an interdisciplinary framework within which students can explore how the principles of sustainability intersect with the food we eat. Students will learn how to apply this knowledge to the development and implementation of sustainable values, practices, and strategies in their own lives as well as through businesses, in the workplace, in not-for-profits, and in the community at large. By examining interconnections between environment, economy, and society, students will learn how food system operations impact sustainability strategies at the individual, organizational, regional, and national levels. Ultimately, students will learn how to increase energy efficiency and use of resources, as well as to reduce environmental footprints by altering food production, procurement, and preparation activities.
WGS-B 399
RACE & REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
This course examines how race and class have shaped women’s access to birth control, their ability to make reproductive choices and to have control over their own bodies. We will discuss a number of themes – both current and historical. This course will start with a look at childbearing and –raising in slave communities and on Native American reservations. We will then continue with a discussion of a variety of case studies that exemplify how the U.S. government has limited the reproductive rights and choices of certain communities over the last century. Topics include forced sterilization, the eugenics movements, the mistreatment of single mothers in the early 20th century, and medical experiments on communities of color. In the second half of the semester, we will turn our attention to current controversies, incl. teenagers’ access to sex education and birth control, the debate about emergency contraception and abortion, gay and lesbian parents, as well as new reproductive technologies and their ethical implications. We will also discuss how women have acted, individually and collectively, to fight oppression and create community.
WOMEN AND MADNESS: ‘CRAZY WOMEN’ IN PSYCHOLOGY AND POP CULTURE
This class focuses on the iconic mad woman in historical and fictional works, and examines through a psychological and gendered analysis how this portrayal has been constructed. We will look at how centuries of bias against women in Western societies have resulted in the pathologizing of women’s sexual, mental, emotional, and physical experiences and abilities. We will examine old and new gender stereotypes that have led to disparate treatment by the psychological profession. We will read first-person accounts from women who have undergone mental health treatments such as insane asylums, biological therapies, and talk therapies. We will also turn a critical eye toward the portrayal of dangerous, mad, or crazy women in works of fiction and film to explore important themes of sexuality, motherhood, agency, and relationships.