Beloit College

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ANTH 375 01 HIST 310 02 7:10-11pm T	Ethnography and History in China	1.00 R. LaFleur
The Western study of history and anthropology in China forms a distinctive tradition that is dominated by a vast corpus of sources reflecting the well-documented record of the Chinese past. Indeed, the complex interplay between fieldwork methods and the copious records of Chinese history make the practice of ethnography in China different in kind from that found in societies with less dominant written traditions. This seminar will focus on the development of Chinese historiography and ethnography in the West, and their connection to the vast textual tradition that dominates Chinese studies. We will consider, in particular, the development of Western sinological (Chinese studies) practices with regard to Mt. Tai in Shandong province (the "first among the sacred peaks" of early China)-a mountain that has played a role in the cultural imagination of Chinese thinkers for well over three millennia. The mountain, which today is listed as a UNESCO heritage site, is a splendid window onto the history of historical and ethnographic inquiry in the complex "field" that is Chinese anthropology. Students will read a wide array of historical materials written within the field of academic sinology, both in China and the West. Seminar participants will also examine the long traditions of "writing about the other" that can be found in China at least back to the Book of History (Shujing), and the literati writings on Mt. Tai that are part travelogue, poetry collection, and analysis of cultural practice. Prerequisite: Junior standing or consent of instructor.
ART 238 01 WGST 230 02 7:10-9 pm TTH	Women in Antiquity	1.00 K. Schowalter
What can representations of women tell us about the lives and condition of women in a particular society or culture? This course will explore the representations of women from the prehistoric to the Early Christian period, in Sumeria, Egypt, Greece, and Rome, amongst other cultures. Readings will engage current scholarly debates on the topic, as well as drawing on image, primary texts, and historical information. In addition, the course will consider the relationship between ideas of women from antiquity to ideas about women in the contemporary world. Topics will include: politics, power, theories of matriarchy, patronage, the female body, the gaze, anatomy and gynecology, religion, and death and marriage. No prerequisite.
ART 270 01 7:10-10 pm TTH	Introduction to Video Art	1.00 D. Roe
This course will be primarily focused on locating Video Art in a contemporary fine arts context. As such, we will discuss the medium’s history alongside the larger categories of other time-based and lens-based media such as film and photography. The course will cover concepts and theories as they relate to these media and, when possible, students will have the opportunity to attend screenings and view site-specific installations. Lectures and discussions will provide students with the necessary framework to create their own video work. The studio component of the course will cover basic digital video technologies and techniques. Students will learn to use mini-DV cameras, capture footage and edit and manipulate the footage using Final Cut Pro video editing software. Course Fee: $100 Prerequisite: ART 230 or consent of Instructor.
ART 285 01 1-2:50 TTH	Faith and Power in Byzantium	0.50 K. Schowalter
Constantine the Great, the first Christian Roman Emperor, moved the imperial capital to Constantinople in the 4th cen. CE. His city, and the empire it controlled, flourished until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Although the Roman Empire fell in the West in the 5th century, it continued to thrive in the east for another millennium; and the Byzantines saw themselves as Romans, heirs to an unbroken political tradition, and to the Roman Empire’s authority and power. The Byzantine Empire, with the city of Constantinople at its heart, was viewed as one of the centers of civilization, faith, and power by the rest of the known world both west and east. The art and architecture produced by and for the Byzantine Empire had its heart themes of faith and power, represented in works of great beauty, wealth, and sophistication. This course provides an introduction to the history and art of this fascinating culture. Topics will include: the development of a Christian visual culture in the centuries after the death of Christ in Rome and the Middle East; the differences between western (Latin) and Byzantine forms of Christianity through exploration of the liturgy, the objects used in the services and the architecture; the theology and function of religious images in Byzantine society both before and after the Iconoclastic Controversy (a period of massive religious, political, and social conflict over the use of images); imperial representations in art and architecture; and the connection of Byzantium with its neighbors to the east and west. (WL, LW) No prerequisite.
ART 330 01 1-3:50 TTH	Color Photo in the Digital Darkroom	1.00 D. Roe
As the equipment necessary to produce analog color prints slowly goes by the wayside, an understanding of current digital photographic practice has become essential for many practitioners of the medium. This course will cover digital input (through use of either digital cameras or scanned negatives) and basic Photoshop techniques as well as digital output (prints created on Epson inkjet printers). This course will also explore color photography's artistic evolution by examining its use from historical to contemporary practice. We will also consider how the utilization of digital technologies has changed how photography is regarded and ultimately bring these considerations to our own work. Students will produce one cohesive group of images throughout the semester culminating in a final portfolio. Students will also be engaged in outside research as it relates to their studio work. **Students, please note: Course fees will cover printer ink and start-up printing paper. Students are responsible for costs associated with purchase of color film and processing as well as final presentation paper and supplies. Course Fee: $125 Prerequisite: ART 230
BIOL 201  01 ADDED 10-11:50 MWF Course	Biological Issues: Biology of Global Climate Change	1.00 J. Greenler
The scientific consensus is that we are entering a period of global climate change caused by human alteration of atmospheric gases.  The implications of this climate change for the diverse biological systems of our planet are just beginning to be understood.  We will explore these implications and possibilities for mitigation of climate change by biological systems.  Topics may include effects on vulnerable populations (polar bears, etc), coral reef bleaching, shifting patterns of infectious diseases, and ecosystems as carbon sinks and sources.  Our examination of these topics will occur at scales from the molecular to the ecosystem and cover fundamental biological principles. No prerequisite.
BIOL 265 01 9-9:50 MWF & 8-8:50 T Lab 1-3:50 TH	Immunology	1.00 D. Gravis
This course introduces the development and function of the immune system, with an emphasis on the molecular and cellular mechanisms regulating normal immunity and immune system diseases. Course material will cover humoral and cellular immunity, innate and adaptive immunity, and evolutionarily-conserved immune defense mechanisms shared between vertebrate and invertebrate organisms. This course will examine clinically relevant topics including allergy and inflammation, vaccines and molecular medicine, autoimmunity, transplant immunology, immune deficiencies, and cancer immunotherapy as well as immune responses to pathogens such as viruses, bacteria, and parasites. Lecture material will include the basic structure, function, and regulation of the organs, cells, and molecules of the immune system. Class discussions will examine immunological topics in cutting-edge scientific research, clinical case presentations and diagnoses, and the impact of immunology on public health and society. The laboratory exercises will encompass both classical immunological techniques as well as modern molecular and cellular immunology research techniques. Tentative offering pending approval. Prerequisite: Any one of the following: Cell Biology, BIOL 248, 289, 357 or consent of instructor.
BIOL 291 01 10-11:50 MWF	Analysis of Protein Structure	1.00 J. Wagner
In this course we will investigate how the primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary protein structures are directly related to function. This course will also introduce students to the field of protein crystallography including the basic theories of protein crystallography and several computer programs commonly used to solve protein structures. Students will learn how to navigate and retrieve information from the Protein Data Bank. The molecular modeling program Pymol will be used extensively in class and students will become proficient in its use. Through the use of Pymol and other molecular imaging software, students will learn to identify key interactions in protein structure. The class will focus on, but not be limited to, recently published protein structures. By the end of the semester students will be able to analyze crystallographic literature critically and evaluate if conclusions presented by the authors are supported by the results. Prerequisite: Any one of the following courses: Cell Biology, BIOL 289, CHEM 230, BIOL/CHEM 260, BIOL/CHEM 300, or consent of the instructor.
BIOL 345 01 12-12:50 MTWF Lab 1-3:50 T	Molecular Biology	1.00 D. Gravis
This course explores prokaryotic and eukaryotic molecular biology. Lecture and lab topics include forensic DNA technology and DNA fingerprinting, recombinant DNA technology, and biotechnology; the intersection between science and society in socially-relevant topics such as cloning and transgenic/genetically modified organisms; DNA repair, replication, and recombination in normal versus cancer cells; regulation of gene expression and signal transduction/cell signaling; epigenetic regulation of gene imprinting and gene silencing in development and evolution; sequence analysis in genomics and proteomics; molecular and subcellular organization of genes, chromatin, chromosomes, and genomes; structure, synthesis, and function of nucleic acids and proteins. The laboratory will emphasize project-oriented independent laboratory investigations in molecular biology involving techniques for: gene cloning; polymerase chain reaction (PCR); DNA sequence analysis and restriction mapping; analysis of gene expression; analysis of nucleic acids and proteins in vitro and in living cells; recombinant protein production, purification, and characterization; covalent modification of proteins and nucleic acids. Tentative offering pending approval. Prerequisite: Any one of the following courses: Cell Biology, BIOL 248, 289, BIOL/CHEM260, BIOL/CHEM 300 or consent of instructor.
CHEM 127 01 10-11:50 MWF	Biochemical Issues: Nutrition	1.00 R. Ordman
Sensible nutrition is important to health. This course is designed for non-science students who wish to supplement their understanding of biochemistry, laboratory science, and the application of science to civic action. Students experience doing what many biochemists do. They seek an interesting interdisciplinary problem, acquire biochemical data, and evaluate possible solutions to find holistic ones. Cooperatively, students acquire relevant biochemical skills beyond introductory biology and chemistry. Individually, each student will complete a project using her/his own unique disciplinary background. The goal is to produce a person able to function at the interface between science and society, to interpret media reports into reliable information, and to communicate scientific ideas to an audience. (LW, WL) Prerequisite: CHEM 117 or consent of instructor.
CHEM 127 02 2-3:50 MW	Biochemical Issues: The Art and Science of Negotiation	1.00 R. Ordman
What good is it to know the scientific evidence if we don't act on it? We will develop skills and knowledge necessary to promote resolutions of conflict based on science. The class will select current controversial issues grounded in science. Examples include the use of embryonic stem cells, genetically engineered crops, and nuclear energy. After collecting evidence on both sides of an issue, students will then evaluate how anthropological, economic, religious, and other factors influence the production, evaluation and presentation of the scientific information. We will analyze how government power structures determine what scientific information is produced and distributed. We will learn how to negotiate effectively in class. As the culminating activity, students will select an issue of personal interest, collect the scientific evidence on this issue, and determine a realistic solution in a relevant geographical location. This broadly based course counts as a Division I course but not as a natural science course. (WL/LW) Prerequisite: CHEM 117 or consent of instructor.
CHEM 370 01 9-10:50 TH	Chemistry of Forensic Science	0.50 K. Braun
Forensic Science utilizes a multidisciplinary approach to collect, analyze, interpret, report, and provide testimonial support of physical evidence found at a crime scene. Analytical Chemistry plays an integral role within Forensics by providing a range of instrumentation and techniques to accurately characterize and quantify chemical substances often found at trace levels. In this course, we will explore the application of Forensic Chemistry in crime scene analysis and within the criminal justice system. Emphasis will be placed on how sample composition and how the chemical information will be utilized in the case plays into selecting and executing the appropriate chemical-analysis technique. A range of analytical techniques including chromatography, mass spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy will be explored for application in the analysis of biological samples, gunshot residues, explosives, and fires. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.
CHEM 375 01 11-11:50 MWTHF	Medicinal Chemistry	1.00 L. Parmentier
In this course we will examine the organic chemistry of drug design, development, and action with an emphasis on the chemical mechanisms of biologically important reactions. We will pay particular attention to the interaction between a drug and its receptor, looking in detail at enzyme inhibition and inactivation and interactions between drugs and DNA. We will also discuss drug metabolism, drug delivery and many specific topics of interest presented by the students (may include classes of drugs, treatments available for a particular disease, etc.). Prerequisite: CHEM 235.
CLAS 205 01 CPLT 230 01 WGST 230 01 1-2:50 TTH	Burning Sapphos and Laughing Medusas	1.00 K. Hadavas
Explore the poetry, loves, and lives of the world's first female poet, Sappho of Lesbos (c. 600 BCE). Topics to be examined: love, sex (hetero-, bi- and homosexuality), gender (constructing, escaping, denying, and transcending it), and literary and ideological appropriation, fabrication, denunciation, exultation, and annihilation in Greece, Rome, England, France, and America. Authors include Sappho (in a variety of guises and translations), Catullus, Ovid, Donne, Pope, Mary Robinson, Swinburne, Baudelaire, Daudet, and H.D. In the first half of the course we will examine all of Sappho's surviving poetry in the context of the ancient world. In this light we will read Sumerian, Egyptian, and Hebrew love poetry, with a special focus on Greek and Roman erotic poetry. Themes to be explored include sexual identity, same-sex love, and gender perspectives on love. The second half of the class will be a selective examination of the appropriation made by writers, artists, and composers of Sappho's poetry and persona. This part of the course will examine how different 'Sapphos' were created and used by English, French, and American authors from the Renaissance to the present. (WL) No prerequisite.
EDYS 246 01 10-10:50 MWF & 11-11:50 T	Teaching English Abroad: Methods and Applications	1.00 C. Shaughnessy
This course is designed for students planning to teach English as a Foreign Language (EFL) abroad after graduation and can serve as a foundation for EFL teaching. The course introduces approaches and methods of teaching EFL and provides an overview of current socio-political issues related to teaching English abroad. Students will examine, discuss, and apply aspects of the following topics: intercultural communication, lesson planning, skill-based methodology, assessment, textbook critiques, technology-enhanced teaching, resource development, and socio-cultural theory. Includes field experience. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.
EDYS 276 01 2-3:50 MW	Comparative and International Educational Perspectives	1.00 S. Darlington
What are the comparative and international education topical issues? What are the theoretical and ideological debates? What are the research methods for the field? If you want a background in developing world education systems, issues of educational reform, the role of research in influencing change in schools and education systems, and global youth issues and policies, then this introductory class is an opportunity to study these themes. An interdisciplinary approach will be used to study the cultural, social, political, and economic contexts. Countries of interest may be China, Russia, Ecuador, Botswana,/South Africa, and Germany. The assignments for this course include a theory essay, a critical review of a book in the field, a project proposal and a presentation. The overall goal of the class is to allow flexibility to support individual interests in particular problems and countries. No prerequisite.
EDYS 276 02 PHIL 276 01 12-12:50 MTWF	Ethics and Education	1.00 M. Merry
This course will examine a number of important philosophical theories, both ancient and modern, which concern education. Education encompasses more than what institutions of learning formally do. Therefore, this course will also examine the role of families and communities and discussions will include whether and/or how one should teach virtue and character, who has the right to direct the education of children and whether there are limitations on those rights, and the competing interests that inevitably arise between the social and/or political, familial and individual purposes of education. Consent of instructor.
ENGL 190 01 CPLT 190 01 11-11:50 MWTHF	Utopia Limited Introduction to Literary Study	1.00 T. Ketabgian
Since Thomas More coined the term in 1516, “utopia” has meant both a “good” place and “no” place—an impossible place. With this concern as our starting point, our course will explore the limits and challenges of visionary thought in a wide range of poetry, fiction, drama, and nonfiction. We will consider how these works seek to refashion politics, economics, family, gender, aesthetics, and narrative itself. What are the problems of pastoralism? How should utopias ‘end’ when they are by definition unending? While asking questions such as these, students will practice a variety of interpretative approaches and will develop skills essential for crafting literary essays. Readings will include More’s Utopia, Shakespeare’s Tempest, Voltaire’s Candide, Marx’s Communist Manifesto, Wells’s Time Machine, Le Guin’s The Dispossessed, and poetry by Marvell, Hughes, and Bishop. Because this is a ‘learning to write’ course, students will draft and revise approximately twenty pages of prose. (WL, LW) No prerequisite.
ENGL 190 02 CPLT 190 02 10-10:50 MWF & 11-11:50 T	Alice in Wasteland Introduction to Literary Study	1.00 T. McBride
Some critics think literature is distinctive for its reference: for its ability to refer to and imitate all sorts of things, from “life” to power structures to wastelands to big cities. In this view we read literature in order to learn about what is external to literature. But other critics think that literature teaches us little, that literature is instead distinctive for its form. In this view it is the internal logic and design of literature that makes it great, entertaining, imaginative and uplifting. In this course we will examine and oppose these two great views. We will read a variety of “big” texts, including some that seem all internal form, such as Alice in Wonderland, and others that seem to be all external reference, such as The Prince or Things Fall Apart, and others that seem to partake of both reference and form, such as Utopia. No prerequisite.
ENGL 190 03 CPLT 190 03 1-2:50 TTH	Exiles and Infidels Introduction to Literary Study	1.00 M. Muthupandian
The exile is a prominent and critically important figure in Modern literature (1660-present). Whether exiled as a result of socio-political forces such as war or through economic motivations such as famine or unemployment, the figure of the exile as it is portrayed in various modern narratives is of interest to individuals who would like to develop a more critical appreciation of contemporary world literatures. In this course students will examine portrayals of exile in Modern Literature. We will read and discuss works from the literary genres of fiction, poetry, essay, and travel narrative, including Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, Eliza Haywood’s The British Recluse, Pico Iyer's travel essays, and Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses. Students will be asked to critically engage each text within both its literary and socio-historical contexts. Toward these ends, we will focus on how exile is configured both as a state of political or cultural disenfranchisement as well as the freedom taken by an infidel - one who chooses to stand at the margins of a social order. During the semester students will be asked to write a research paper as well as three brief response papers; participants will be responsible for performing a critical analysis of a secondary source to the class as well. (LW,WL) No prerequisite.
ENGL 195 01 9-10:50 TTH	The Evolution of Love British Literary Traditions	1.00 J. Iwen
In this course we will study and compare works that overtly examine experiences of passion and longing at different moments in British history. We will begin with the Anglo-Saxon period and progress chronologically to the Modern period, covering a variety of genres in the process. (WL) Prerequisite: ENGL 190.
ENGL 195 02 10 MWF & 11 T	Falls and Redemptions British LiteraryTraditions	1.00 S. Wright
The story of the "fall" in Genesis--the expulsion from paradise, the sudden sense of distance from God--has permeated Western culture. As a loose framework for our discussion of works in a variety of genres and periods--from Chaucer to Angela Carter--we should be able to detect continuities and to distinguish between permutations of paradise (the green world of pastoral, e.g.), the inclinations of the deities, and the claims of the caste that proposes to lead us back. We'll sample Chaucer and late medieval romance and drama, Shakespeare, Marlowe and Renaissance poetry, Milton and Swift; in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Blake and Mary Shelley, Woolf, and assorted illustrative readings. Prerequisite: ENGL 190.
ENGL 196 01 & 02 Sections 01 - 10-10:50 MWF & 11-11:50 T Section 02 - 12-12:50 MTWF	American Literary Tradition	1.00 P. Barickman
This foundational course introduces the student to the American literary tradition. Each class will focus on the literary analysis of major texts and genres, as well as the historical, cultural and political issues that affect the text. Topics include: the literary periods of romanticism, realism/naturalism and modernism; the mythic origins of literature; the Gothic tale and sublime nature; the cultural status of the American writer; the treatment of slavery and race; the cult of domesticity in women writers; modernism and consciousness. The readings for this section will cover 1820 to 1930s.
ENGL 223 01 1-2:50 TTH	Expansive Writing Topics in Creative Writing	1.00 J. Iwen
In this course we will study, practice, and invent techniques that can be used to create works which transcend conventional generic boundaries and offer exciting new possibilities for literary innovation. Since many people are unfamiliar with such writing, we will spend about a month at the beginning of the semester closely reading and discussing examples ranging from literary collage to found-text manipulation to multi-genre experiments. Students will then embark on their own expansive writing projects which we will workshop in stages throughout the rest of the semester. Prerequisite: ENGL 190, 205.
ENGL 246 01 CPLT 246 01 1-2:50 TTH	Language, Text, Culture, Identity Introduction to Critical Theory	1.00 T. Ketabgian
What is literature and how should we interpret it? This course addresses these questions by exploring a broad range of criticism about the linguistic, rhetorical, cultural, aesthetic, and ideological functions of texts. We will discuss essays and selections from the classical tradition to the present time, and will consider semiotics, authorship, and notions of literary and aesthetic value. In addition, we will study how texts construct and undermine genders, sexualities, nationalities, and identities. While this course will by no means provide a “key to all mythologies,” it promises a focused and even-handed exposure to interpretive approaches that are rewarding, challenging, and often polemical. Throughout, our discussions will be grounded by specific cultural artifacts: a classic from the Victorian novelistic tradition, a Platonic dialogue, a Freudian case study, a postcolonial memoir, and modern photography and visual art. Requirements: 3 papers, various short assignments, oral presentations, and a final take-home essay exam/ synthesis. (WL) Prerequisite: ENGL 190 and either ENGL 195 or 196.
ENGL 252 01 12-12:50 MTWF	Shakespeare the Expert in Human Nature	1.00 T. McBride
There are many Shakespeares in addition to the country lad who made good in London over four hundred years ago. There is Shakespeare the wordsmith, whose linguistic genius is so great that a single word may have five or six different meanings. There is Shakespeare the man of the theater—the genius of making the unbelievable seem believable. There is Shakespeare the shrewd but tacit critic of Renaissance power structures, and of course there have been Freudian and Marxist Shakespeares. In this course we will look at all of these but spend some special time looking at a Shakespeare that, until recently, went out of fashion. This is Shakespeare the expert in human nature: the playwright who shows us what can happen in life, given just the right circumstances. He shows us how it becomes possible to play a role in order to become that role, to do things that you know are stupid but do anyhow, and to do all sorts of good things for all sorts of bad reasons. When therefore we read Hamlet and Henry IV, Coriolanus and The Tempest, we learn about life and even predict what our own lives will be like. Prerequisite: ENGL 190 or consent of instructor.
ENGL 257 01 9-10:50 TTH	Modernity and Melancholia: Self-Making in British Literature, 1860s to 1920s	1.00 T. Ketabgian
In 1873, the critic Walter Pater famously urged his readers to treat their lives as works of art: “To burn always with this hard, gemlike flame, to maintain this ecstasy, is success in life.” Viewed by many as an aesthetic manifesto, Pater’s vision resonated powerfully with modern culture and literature during the turn of the nineteenth century. This course explores how, for British writers both before and after Pater, making the self was an absorbing project, a besetting anxiety, and—at times—a contradiction in terms. We will study texts that treat the “art of the self” as inseparable from the rise of urban mass culture and of a distinctively modern sensibility—defined variously as “decadent,” blasé, belated, nostalgic, and melancholy. To this end, we will focus on novels, essays, and poetry from a few particularly charged literary and historical moments: the early 1860s, the fin de siècle, and the 1920s. Readings may include works by Dickens, Eliot, Wilde, Hardy, Pater, Field, Hopkins, and Woolf. In addition, we may read a number of critical texts by Benjamin, Freud, Lepenies, and Simmel. Requirements: 2 papers, a take-home midterm exam, and various short assignments. (TD, WL) Prerequisite: ENGL 190 and either ENGL 195 or 196 or consent of instructor.
ENGL 258 01 1-1:50 MWF & 12-12:50 TH	Sunset on the British Empire and Imaginative Studies in Literature, Later 20th Century	1.00 S. Wright
Through texts associated with the rise of Modernism in twentieth-century British and Irish literature, we'll watch the literary response to the destabilization of imperialism; of racism and nationalism (as explored by Conrad, Forster, Durrell); of class privilege (Ford, Lawrence, Greene, Ishiguro); and of gender roles (Woolf, Spark, Carter). The reading list will include ten novels, a play, and assorted supplemental readings. The written work for the term will include informal responses, two essays, and a self-constructed exam. Prerequisite: ENGL 190 and 195 or consent of instructor.
ENGL 258 02 11-11:50 MWTHF	The Harlem Renaissance	1.00 C. McCown
In the 1920s New York’s Harlem was the center of African American intellectual and artistic life. As Ishmael Reed says, it was “where the action was.” In their vigorous production of literature, painting and sculpture, music, dance, drama and film, young black men and women illuminated the cultural horizon with new perspectives on their identities as Americans. For the most part affluent and college educated, they were convinced that black achievement in the arts would precipitate a new age of racial harmony based on white awareness of black culture. This rich social and political milieu produced an explosion of creative excellence and fostered the work of writers like Nella Larsen, Countee Cullen, Jean Toomer and Langston Hughes. This course will examine the cultural history of the Harlem Renaissance primarily through its writers, but brief explorations into other media will provide further context for the literary scene. (WL) Prerequisite: ENGL 190 and 196
ENGL 271 01 CPLT 230 02 2–3:50 MW	Modern Myth-Making: Out of Old Tales	1.00 L. Wright
“Out of old tales, we must make new lives.” With those words, Carolyn Heilbrun reminds us that stories are at once conservative and creative —a legacy that each new generation, each new teller, adapts to time, place, and purpose. Most generally, this course engages storytelling: the interplay of tradition and the individual talent. Its specific focus is myth—stories meant to explain something—because mythic stories address big questions, and they tend to linger. Genesis, Armageddon, heroism, the ‘fall’: Western culture has been re-cycling such stories for centuries. Our particular question is posed by contemporary technology—specifically, that “consensual hallucination” we call cyberspace—which challenges such ancient polarities as life/death, self/other, and reality/fantasy. How, and how well, are our stories adapting to the world, actual and augmented, in which we now live? This course juxtaposes old and new, ancient and contemporary myth-makers. It includes, for example: Gilgamesh, Genesis, and Beowulf, Thomas Malory and Mark Twain, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Arthur Clarke, and Stanley Kubrick, William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, and Neil Gaimon. (TD,WL) Course requirements: preparation, attendance, participation; five informal responses; one formal essay, two exams, and one engagement of others’ exams. Prerequisites: ENGL 190 and either ENGL 195, 196, or 246.
ENGL 271 02 CPLT 230 03 1-2:50 TTH	“Dark Shadows”: Gothic Fictions, 1790s to the Present	1.00 L. Wright
The "Gothic" is a tempest of horrors and a fog of fatal omissions. It trips the dark fantastic: subterranean spaces and live burials; nocturnal landscapes, dreams, and nightmares; convents and monasteries, morgues and madhouses; fires, storms, and civil insurrections; rapes, murders, and incest; poisonous guilt and shame; apparitions, doubles, and nameless wanderers; echoes and silences, unreadable writings, unspeakable utterances. This course investigates the coherence of Gothic fictions. They concentrate their energies at the boundaries dualism regards as inviolable: between self and other, man and woman, kin and non-kin, spirit and body, conscious and unconscious, life and death. Such boundaries are both arbitrary and formidable: an arbitrary boundary is defended with terrific force. At the breach of conventionalized boundaries, we see the Gothic's worst violence, most potent magic, and most paralyzing uncanniness. Is the boundary or its violation affirmed? Among different artists and historical contexts, that question is variously answered. We’ll ask it from the 1790s through the 1900s. (TD, WL) Prerequisite: ENGL 190 and either ENGL 195, 196, or 246. Course requirements: preparation, attendance, participation; five informal responses; one formal essay, two exams, and one engagement of others’ exams.
ENGL 301 01 CPLT 230 04 7:10–9:00 pm TTH	Making Up and Making Real: Embodying the Word	1.00 L. Wright
“Let there be light,” says the God of Genesis. “And there was light.” Absolute creative power embodies itself: the divine “say so” coincides instantaneously with “so be.” But we who speak mortal language must confront the distance between making up and making real. This course's general task is to ask how human words work to create shared social reality. Its special focus is the construction of reality in situations wherein language is empowered by the use of force, overt and/or covert. Its specific purpose? To seek, among the various means whereby dominating force is resisted, viable alternatives to its mode of making real. We'll examine texts in which human speakers reify their words by actually inscribing them in human flesh, deploying whip, needle, blade, or branding iron. We'll also study more subtle methods of symbolic domination, examining texts wherein one human speaker (or category of speakers) achieves the privilege of naming other human beings (“animal,” “slave,” “sinner,” “criminal,” “soldier,” “whore”), thereby positioning them in the social world. In each case, we’ll ask whether and how dominating power is challenged, subverted, and/or undermined, attending with particular care to those strategies that are not themselves either violent or coercive. Engaging various theorists of power and language —Elaine Scarry and Michel Foucault, for example, Judith Butler and Homi Bhabha—we’ll test their strategies and insights in relation to a variety of texts, fictive and non fictive. (WL) Prerequisite: ENGL 190, either ENGL 195, 196, or 246, and at least junior standing. Requirements: attendance, preparation, and participation; five informal responses; one formal essay, one exam, and one engagement of others’ exams.
ENGL 301 02 3-3:50 TTH & 2-3:50 F	American Humor	1.00 P. Barickman
"American Humor" will identify traits of American humor in the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as trace their historical origins in our national character, regionalism, folk humor, and popular culture. Our most basic question is­and it is more complicated than it sounds­“Just why is that funny?” Major humorist texts will be Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanac, Mark Twain’s humorous sketches, Nathaniel West’s Miss Lonelyhearts, Vonnegut’s SlaughterHouse Five and the urbane humor of Dorothy Parker. From the African American tradition we will read, among other texts, Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man. Prerequisite: Junior standing and ENGL 190 & 195; or consent of instructor.
ENGL 310 01 1-1:50 MWF & 12-12:50 TH	Facts, Fibs, and Fabrications in Historical Fiction	1.00 C. Lewis
This course is a hybrid of literary study and creative writing that focuses on historical fiction, with an emphasis on the depiction of historical characters and events in the novel. We map out a variety of ways in which history presents itself in this genre, theorize that presence from a critical perspective, and consider artistic issues of technique and craft. Topics include the history and sub-categories of the genre; collective memory and social desire in the historical imagination; the psychology, animation, and monstrosity of historical characters; related genres such as fictionalized biography or alternative historical (or counterfactual) fiction; the problem of “bad” history and fiction; and the practical working relationship between conducting historical research and the process of imaginative writing. Along with our reading and analysis of a variety of contemporary novelists (and some sampling of earlier historical fiction), all students will engage in their own research and historically based fiction writing. Sample authors: Margaret Atwood, Jim Crace, Don DeLillo, Penelope Fitzgerald, Orhan Pamuk, Philip Roth, Gore Vidal. (LW,WL) Prerequisite: Junior standing and ENG 190 and 195 or 196; or instructor consent.
ENGL 360 01 2-3:50 MW	What We Do When We Believe	1.00 T. McBride
People believe that they have had out of body experiences, that they have been imprisoned by aliens, that ordinary (and ultimately innocent) people were worshippers of the devil and abusers of children. They believe that a vast conspiracy murdered President Kennedy. They are sure that Brad is leaving Angelina for Jenn. Others believe that the human eye evolved over hundreds of thousands of years. Still others believe that nature never lies, or that God loves and knows everyone. Beliefs make the world go round. In this rhetoric seminar we will examine belief from the point of view of persuasion: what goes into making different persons believe almost anything? We will examine the rhetoric of science writing, the rhetoric of religious belief, the rhetoric of conspiracy theories, the rhetoric of true crime, and the various rhetorics of temptation in everything from Vanity Fair advertisements to Othello. Prerequisite: ENGL 160 or consent of instructor.
GEOL 251 01 9-10:50 TTh Lab 1-3:50 M	Climate Change: Past and Future	1.00 K. LaBlanc
Climate change has moved to the forefront of both science and politics. In this course, we will explore how the climate system works, the proxy records used by scientists to understand past (paleo) climates, and the causes of natural climate cycles through geologic time. This understanding of past climates will help us to examine the current and predicted climate changes due to human-induced global warming. How fast does climate change? What are the effects of climate change? How do human societies react to climate change? Lecture, laboratory, and field study. Prerequisite: One unit of 100-level coursework in the natural sciences.
GERM 250 01 IDST 210 01 7:10-11 pm TH	Victims and Perpetrators: The Many Voices of the Holocaust	1.00 T. Freeman
This course focuses on three areas: l) It presents a brief Introduction to Jewish life in Europe before the Holocaust, in order to make students aware that not only people, but also an entire culture was destroyed. In this connection, we will examine the differences between the assimilated Jews of Western Europe and the Eastern European Jewish communities. In addition, we will discuss the history and psychology of anti-Semitism, differentiating religious anti-Semitism based on Christian theology from the biological, racist doctrines of the 19th and 20th centuries, and describing the phenomenon of "Jewish self-hatred" (Sander Gilman). 2) The main focus of the course will be on selected classics of Holocaust literature (Weiß, Hochhut, Frankl, Sachs, Celan, Wiesel, Kertesz, Schwarz-Bart, Delbo, Levi). We will also discuss theoretical questions of Holocaust literature (Adorno, Langer) and history (Hilberg, Hannah Arendt, Goldhagen, Browning) and look at some of the literature of the Nazi perpetrators and collaborators (Höss, Benn, and Jünger). 3) The third segment of the course will examine current questions surrounding the way Germans and Austrian Jews and non-Jews deal with the past, and contemporary relations between Germans and Jews in the post-unification era. We will talk about xenophobia in Germany and Austria, Holocaust denial, and the problems faced by the second and third generations descended from the victims and perpetrators of the Holocaust. Most students will read, discuss, and write in English about texts in English translation but students who know German will have opportunities to read, discuss, and write in German as well. The reading list and discussion topics will be drawn from a variety of disciplines including literary studies, history, psychology, sociology, philosophy, music, art, and religious studies.(LW, WL) No prerequisite.
HIST 150 01 1-2:50 TTH	Citizenship in U S History	1.00 B. McKenzie
The issue of citizenship – who is a citizen and what that means - is an urgent one in American society today, given globalization of the world political economy and increased immigration. Is the promise of universal citizenship a reality in the U.S., or is citizenship biased against latecomers? This introductory history seminar examines the construction of the citizen in republican society, drawing on classical texts and modern readings from the U.S. and Europe. The middle section of the course looks at the construction of legal categories of citizens through U.S. history. In the latter part of the course, we consider critiques and alternative visions of citizenship offered by feminists, multiculturalists, and post nationalists. Finally we examine the meaning of citizenship in light of our scholarship and activities at Beloit College and beyond to determine which elements of the older visions remain significant. (WL,LW) No prerequisite.
HIST 150 02 ANTH 375 02 3-3:50 TTH & 2-3:50 F	Calendars and Almanacs in East Asia	1.00 R. LaFleur
This first-year history seminar begins with an examination of the Chinese almanac-a folk classic that has been published annually for the past millennium and reflects the popular Daoist, Buddhist, and Confucian religious traditions that are central to an understanding of Chinese social life into the twenty-first century. Students will gain a deeper understanding of the lunar calendar, key festivals, and important life cycle rituals as they work through the text of the almanac (in translation), and will learn to “read” the Chinese calendar with the aid of supplementary materials. We will spend a significant amount of time comparing Chinese and Japanese calendars, as well as cultural practices that are linked to them in each society. Students will read a wide range of literary, historical, and ethnographic works to supplement their study of calendars and almanacs, and the instructor will make liberal use of his own field experience to give context to the readings. No prerequisite.
HIST 150 03 WGST 210 03 10-10:50 MWF & 11-11:50 T	Women in African History	1.00 M. Jackson
This course explores the historical experiences of women from the southern African region during the 19th and 20th centuries. It examines women as actors in politics and in their communities, churches, and workplaces. This course will use scholarly texts, journal articles, autobiographies, novels, and primary source material to investigate how gender has been shaped within specific historical contexts, how women have influenced and shaped politics either as individuals or through women’s organizations and groups, and the life strategies employed by women living under colonial rule and apartheid. Class discussions of common readings form a large part of the course. Students will also complete a research paper. No prerequisite.
HIST 150 04 11-11:50 MWTHF	Slavery and Abolition	1.00 L. Sturtz
Bound labor ­including indentured servitude and slavery­ provided the basis for economic development in the Americas. The emergence of ‘societies with slaves’ and ‘slave societies’ shaped the cultures of many peoples inthe Americas, providing the basis for distinctive creolized outlooks. The course compares some of the settlement types that drew on bound labor between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries and the various efforts to eradicate slavery from both sides of the Atlantic. It examines the nature of African-American cultures and resistance during the period when slavery flourished. Students will learn how to analyze primary sources and secondary texts related to this topic and undertake the steps toward completing a short essay based on original research. (WL/LW) No prerequisite.
HIST 210 01 9-9:50 MWF & 8-8:50 T	The Russian Revolution	1.00 E. Mathieu
This exploration of the Russian Revolution will cover the period from the emancipation of the serfs in the 1860s to the consolidation of Soviet rule in the 1930s. In this course we will explore the crises of the late Empire, developing revolutionary movements, the Bolshevik Revolution, and the resolution of the meaning of the Revolution. We will close off the latter with an examination of Stalinism. (WL,LW) No prerequisite.
HIST 210 02 12-12:50 MTWF	Politics in Imperial Germany	1.00 E. Mathieu
In this exploration in the field of political history, the focus is on the development and transformation of the ideology and practice of conservative and liberal politics in Imperial Germany (1871-1918). The period is bounded by a "good" war and national unification and by a cataclysmic war and the establishment of democracy. It is characterized by struggles over the nature of Germany and the German polity and by constant and intense existential debate. (WL,LW) Prerequisite: Sophomore standing or consent of instructor.
HIST 210 03 10-10:50 & 11-11:50 T	Readings: Mexico and the United States	1.00 B. McKenzie
This readings seminar on the history of Mexico and Mexico's relationship with the United States since 1810 has four parts: nation-building in Mexico and the U.S., Texas, the Mexican-American War and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Mexico's 20th century revolution, and borderlands relations in light of economic integration and immigration. (WL,LW) No prerequisite.
HIST 210 04 9-10:50 TTH	South Africa & Its Neighbors	1.00 M. Jackson
This course introduces students to the history of South Africa from the 17th century to the present. It examines national and regional effects of broader political and economic changes such as European colonization, South Africa’s mineral revolution, and the implementation of apartheid policies. The central themes of segregation, apartheid, nationalism and resistance are explored from the perspective of different historical actors and through the use of electronic media, film and biographies. Topics covered in this course include: 19th century African state building; slavery and servitude; European expansion and the struggle for land; colonialism and independence; Afrikaner nationalism and apartheid in South Africa; and the liberation struggles and the achievement of non-racial democracy. This course will conclude with a look at the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the strategies that countries in the region are using to stop the spread of HIV-AIDS. No prerequisite.
HIST 245 01 2-3:50 MW	The United States, 1945-present	1.00 B. McKenzie
This lecture and discussion course examines transformations in U.S. society from the end of World War II to present. Internationally the U.S. fought the Cold War while it attempted to restructure the world system through programs and institutions such as the Marshall Plan, the International Monetary Fund, and the United Nations. We will examine political and economic challenges to United States hegemony by the Soviet Union and other states. On the domestic front, Americans experienced unprecedented economic prosperity in the postwar period, though the impact of that prosperity was increasingly uneven. The course concludes with a discussion of the legacies of the 20th century for American society, politics, culture and the economy today. (WL,LW) No prerequisite.
HIST 310 01 WGST 210 01 2-3:50 MW	Sex in Germany	1.00 E. Mathieu
This course will approach sex as a category of analysis in exploring culture, politics, society, and economics in Germany. The time frame will be the height of bourgeois dominance in the late nineteenth century through the "liberated" Weimar Republic to the repressive and violent period of National Socialist rule. Topics covered will include sexual repression and policing, race and sex, sexual liberation, motherhood and fatherhood, manliness and womanliness, the "new woman," crises of masculinity, public sexual culture, commercial culture, commodification and advertising, heterosexuality and homosexuality, sexual violence, prostitution, and abortion. Students will write a significant research-based historical essay. (WL,LW) Prerequisite: junior or senior standing or consent of instructor.
IDST 210 02 CORRECTED TIME 10-10:50 MWF & 11-11:50 T	Strategic Thinkers	1.00 P. Polley
The course studies the work of five seminal thinkers in the area of strategic studies. The goal of the course is to master an overview of strategic theory and military thought over the past two centuries through the discussion and analysis of Clausewitz’s On War, Mahan’s The Influence of Seapower, Douhet’s Command of the Air, Galula’s Counterinsurgency Warfare, and Kahn’s Thinking the Unthinkable. Prerequisite: Consent of instructor.
IDST 210 03 9-10:50 TTH	Doing the Right Thing Well	1.00 C. Wickersham
In this course students will be asked to analyze the efficacy and ethical challenges of their own leadership efforts, as well as those of historical and local community leaders. A variety of approaches will be employed including interviewing local leaders, field trips, case studies, team building for problem solving and practice in written, web and oral communication. A variety of resources will be employed including: classic and popular texts, films and biography. All students in the seminar are expected to be involved, either currently or within the past year, in some leadership capacity on or off campus. This may be through employment, clubs, sports, student government, social action, or another venue. No prerequisite.
IDST 230 01 CPLT 230 05 12-12:50 MTWF	Cinematic Insiders and Outsiders: Living on the Edge	1.00 A. Robson
Marginality affects all of us because we do it and suffer from it. Insider and outsider status is an affliction we can't escape until we understand its character and the rules that implement it, and then shape the remedies. Since film is the (or a) primary way that cultures reinforce their biases, we can reasonably conclude that film is a powerful machine of social construction that implicates us. We either remain film's children or grow to understand how the infernal machine works its wonders, shaping and mis-shaping us. Here are focal issues to address and a tentative list of films, each of which addresses more than one of these liminal issues. This is also a North-South, East-west smögåsbord. Proof that films thrive in a borderless realm of world styles and crossover decades. All of them are "pure cinema," popular crowd-pleasers that, like American neo-noir flics, proudly display a sly and intuitive love of the moves that make movies kinetic. (WL,LW) No prerequisite. Americas. Sherlock, Jr., Buster Keaton. Psycho, Hitchcock. Last Supper (L'última cena), Alea, Cuba. Asia. Triangle, Hark/ Lam/ To, Hong Kong. Paprika, Satoshi Kon, Japan. Africa. Ceddo, Sembene, Senegal. Europe. Children of Paradise (Les enfants du paradis), Carné, Army of Shadows (L'armée des ombres), Melville. Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen), Donnersmarck. Borders. Chinatown Polanski. Close-up (Nema-ye Nazdik), Kiarostami, Iran. East/West cloning. Infernal Affairs Lau/ Mak, Hong Kong. Departed, Scorsese.
JOUR 301 01 Added 2-3:50 MW Description	Writing About Science and the Environment	1.00 D. Schwartz
Science and environmental concerns are connected. Writing about endangered species, wildlife habitat, or conservation involves biology, chemistry, and ecology. In this class, we will look at how journalists reported science while writing about the environment, and also view documentaries and other videos as research. Readings will include investigative reports, magazine articles, and a seminar-like printed discussion about whether articles assuming everyone wants pristine air, land, and water constitutes advocacy journalism. We’ll ponder how to report scientific consensus, too. Students will be required to generate three articles and write them in journalistic style about, for example, prairie restoration, glaciers, sustainable fuels like biodiesel, or, perhaps, the chemistry behind the latest aphrodisiacs. (WL) No skill with science required.
MATH 270 01 1–2:50 TTH	Actuarial Mathematics	1.00 P. Campbell
An introduction to the mathematics of financial risk and its management through insurance. An actuary applies mathematical models to ensure that financial security systems—life insurance, health or disability insurance, home or auto insurance, pension plans—can provide promised benefits and that the insured are treated equitably. Topics include financial risk (philosophical and quantitative aspects), financial mathematics (interest, annuities, amortization, bonds), the basic deterministic model for life contingencies (life table, life annuities, life insurance), and a brief survey of the stochastic approach to insurance and annuities. (Note: This course is designed to familiarize students with what actuaries do and the basic tools that they use. This course alone will not prepare a student to pass any of the examinations of the Society of Actuaries. Students aiming for a career in actuarial science should also plan to take Mathematics 205-Fall 2008 and Mathematics 310-Spring 2009, as well as Economics 211-each semester, 212-each semester, 214-each fall, and 215-each spring.) Prerequisite: MATH 115.
MATH 380 01 12-12:50 MTWF	Group Actions: Topics in Mathematics	1.00 D. Ellis
The notion of a group G acting on a set X is ubiquitous in mathematics. In my area of research, Topological Dynamics, certain kinds of group actions are the object of study. Here the interplay between algebraic and topological considerations leads to a rich and interesting theory. In this course we will look at some of the elementary results and techniques in Topological Dynamics, in addition to looking at examples of group actions which come up in other areas of mathematics. In doing so we will learn, review, and apply results and methods from Chaotic Dynamical Systems, Real Analysis, Topology, and Abstract Algebra. Prerequisites: One of MATH 215, MATH 240, MATH 208, or consent of instructor.
MUSI 200 01 WGST 230 03 1-2:30 TTH	Vox Feminae	0.50 S. Rice
Vox Feminae is a musical, historical and sociological investigation into women’s choruses and singing societies. The class embraces both the academic and musical through dual components of research and practical musical application, with class time carefully divided between academic investigation and rehearsal. Each member of the class will be responsible for participating as both a researcher and an active member of the choral ensemble, with at least one performance scheduled at the end of the semester. Spring 2008 will focus on the 19th century German Frauenchor and the repertoire of Johannes Brahms, Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, Fanny Hensel and Clara Schumann. Prerequisite: open to all female students by consent of the instructor; men interested in the course should contact the instructor.
MUSI 360 01 2-3:50 MW	Advanced Recording Techniques	1.00 I. Nie
The purpose of this course is to give students an opportunity to explore beyond the beginning level of recording and editing. Preparation for recording, the recording and the eventual editing process is extremely time intensive. Therefore, this course will be devoted to the art of editing while continuing to study the recording process In addition, this class will have projects to add music and sound (over-dubs and sound effects) to video. Tentative offering pending approval. Prerequisite: MUSI 260
MUSI 380 01 TBA	Senior Music Major Seminar	0.50 M. Yount
Senior music majors will meet two hours a week to review their curricula and prepare for the final oral examination. Preparation for final projects and recitals, and preparation for life after Beloit will be discussed. Applications, auditions, research and writing in the music field will be addressed. Attention will be given to businesses in the music field. Presentations on chosen topics will be given by the faculty, visitors and the students. The weekly meeting is meant to provide special guidance by the department of its graduating majors, and to provide important input by the students to the department. Homework will be light, but each student will be required to give one presentation, and will be required to do small amounts of sample research, academic writing and advanced analysis. The students’ work in past and present classes will be examined in an effort to move to more advanced work. Tentative offering pending approval. Prerequisite: Graduation within 1 semester.
MUST 295 01 1-3:50 TH	Conservation of Greek and Roman Sculpture at Beloit College	0.50 T. Rajer
Casts of Greek and Roman sculptures in the Wright Museum of Art are highly significant but are deteriorating. In this course, students will learn how to diagnose and treat the damage to these sculptures, applying professional conservation principles to these works of art. Students will help preserve these important vestiges of the World's Columbian Exposition and will make a lasting contribution to the Wright Museum's educational mission. Instructor Anton Rajer owns Fine Arts Conservation Services and has conservation experience ranging from outdoor sculpture in the Midwest to the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and from the Wisconsin State Capitol to the Presidential Palace in Panama. No prerequisite.
PHIL 260 01 11-11:50 MWTHF	Race Theory	1.00 H. Massey
The meaning of race is a hotly debated issue. Is there a biological basis for race? Is race socially constructed? Does the concept of race even make sense? How does racism influence the way we do or do not racially identify ourselves? Race theory is a field in which philosophers pursue the answers to such questions with the help of sociologists, historians, anthropologists, biologists, psychologists, and political scientists. In this course we will examine the concept of race in historical context and evaluate recent theories of what race is and is not, how racism factors into racial identity, and whether one’s race should be celebrated or ignored. Tentative offering pending approval.
PHYS 200 01 2-3:50 W	Cosmology	0.50 B. Scharringhausen
Cosmology (the study of the history, current state, and fate of the Universe as a whole) is one of the fastest-moving fields in astronomy today. We will survey the history of human thought with respect to cosmology. We will examine in detail the modern Big Bang Model, the role of dark matter and dark energy in the expansion of the Universe, and how the quest for a Theory of Everything informs, and is informed by, the study of the Origin of the Universe. Students will investigate how physical models are supported and challenged by evidence by analyzing data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and other online data sources. Prerequisites: Any high school or college physics class (including PHYS 130) or consent of instructor. Knowledge of basic algebra and trigonometry will be assumed.
PHYS 260 01 9-10:50 TTH	Fluid Dynamics	1.00 P. Stanley
An in depth introduction to fluid flow, Pascal's equation, Bernoulli's equation, and the Navier-Stokes equation. Topics will include viscous and turbulent flow in pipes and open channels, surface waves, head loss, and hydraulic grade lines. Students will learn how to design simple water supplies for rural villages as well as compute drag on streamlined bodies in wind tunnels. There will be some experimental work and some computational simulations. This course is suitable for students interested in engineering or for students interested in how fluid motion is important in biology, geology, or physics. Prerequisites include PHYS 101 and MATH 115 or consent of instructor.
PHYS 260 02 2-3:50 M	Particle Accelerator Design and Vacuum Technology	0.50 P. Stanley
Students will learn how the Beloit College proton accelerator works, including the electronics, vacuum system, and control mechanisms. For the first part of the semester we will work on beam generation and tuning; for the latter part of the semester we will completely disassemble the accelerator and prepare it for the move to the new building. Ideally, students who take this class will help reassemble the accelerator in 2009. This is a hands-on course. Prerequisite: Completion of any physics course and a desire to major or minor in physics. First preference will be given to sophomores and juniors.
POLS 295 01 3-3:50 TTh & 2-3:50 F	Topics: Anarchism as Theory and Movement	1.00 J. Rapp
This course will examine anarchism both as a political idea and as a historical movement. We will look at the ideas that gave the movement its driving force and lasting influence as well as the possible flaws and logical inconsistencies that led to its downfall. We will begin by looking at examples of the anarchist idea throughout history, including the Daoists of ancient China and the Diggers of the English Civil War. Next we will look at the leading lights of Western anarchism from the 18th to the 20th centuries, including Godwin, Proudhon, Bakunin, Kropotkin, Tolstoy, and Goldman. We will then look at the anarchist movement in practice in various countries in the early 20th century. In this course we will contrast collectivist with individualist anarchists, and the classic anarchists with late 20th century anarchists and with the anarchists of the punk rock scene and the anti-globalization movement. Prerequisite: POLS 130 or 180 or consent of instructor. Counts for Asian, Russian, and European Studies minors; may count for Latin American and American Studies minors with the approval of the instructor and minor advisor.
POLS 330 01 9-10:50 TTH	Comparative Electoral Systems Studies in Comparative Politics	1.00 J. Rapp
In the first half of this class we will compare the major types of election systems used in democratic countries throughout the world. Besides studying normative debates about which types of systems are most democratic, we will also examine empirical claims about the relationship of election systems to such phenomena as party systems, coalition governments, ideological polarization, voter turnout, representation of minorities and women, and actual legislation and rule making. Finally, we will examine the relationship of election systems to other basic differences in modern democracies, such as parliamentary vs. presidential systems and federal vs. unitary states. In the second half of the class students will present their own major research papers and/or web-based projects on electoral systems in individual countries or on a topic comparing three different electoral systems. This course counts toward the 300 level requirement for the political science major and can also count toward the IR major and/or various area studies minors with the approval of the instructor and the relevant minor advisor. (WL) Prerequisite: Junior or Senior Standing and two courses in comparative politics, or consent of instructor.
RLST 230 01 1-2:50 TTH	Science, Magic and Religion	1.00 L. Desmond
Since the 19th century, science, magic and religion have frequently been defined in opposition to one another. Using theoretical, historical and anthropological sources, this course will consider these various modes of knowing and interacting with the world, and evaluate what criteria have been proposed for distinguishing between them. Along the way, we will consider questions like: Is “intelligent design” a scientific hypothesis? What is the relationship between facts and beliefs? Is yesterday’s science today’s superstition? If hypnotism “works,” why is it a discredited medical practice? Did science exist before modernity? ADD: Could today's magic be tomorrow's science. DELETE: Might magic really exist? (WL,LW) Prerequisite: RLST 101 or 105.
RLST 240 01 2-3:50 MW	The Bible as Literature	1.00 P. Walters
This course seeks to encourage an appreciation of two profoundly influential literary works: the Hebrew Scriptures (Christian Old Testament) and the Christian New Testament. Our tasks will be to (1) read selected texts for details of content, form, and function; and (2) apply analytical techniques used in the study of all great literature. Set against the backdrop of ancient Near Eastern history and culture, the biblical texts will be examined from a literary-historical perspective, that is, as works in which the men and women of the ancient eastern Mediterranean region gave expression to an understanding of themselves and their world. (WL,LW) No prerequisite.
RLST 380 01 WGST 210 04 7:10-11 pm T	Goddesses	1.00 L. Desmond
This course will examine the phenomenon of goddess worship from a cross-cultural perspective, drawing upon materials from ancient and contemporary India, pre-Christian Ireland, classical Greece, present-day Haiti, and Anglo-America. Over the course of the semester, we will examine the ways in which gender is used religiously, and the ways in which religion operates within gendered social relations. In so doing we will consider the relationship between the presence or absence of female divinities and the roles and status of women. (WL,LW) Prerequisite: RLST 101 or 105.
SPAN 370 01 10-10:50 MWF & 11-11:50 T	Medieval and Golden Age Literature and Culture of Spain: Love, Honor, and Revenge	1.00 G. Cerghedean
The course examines the main authors, works, and literary movements from the Early Middle Ages up to the end of the 17th century. A close study of selected literary masterpieces covers themes such as chivalry, hagiography, heresy, Reconquest, relations between Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. It also presents the non-literary tradition (art, architecture and music) as well as the historical, political, economic, and religious aspects of the times. Prerequisite; SPAN 240 & one Spanish literature course or consent of the instructor.
THEA 110 01 1-1:50 MWF & 12-12:50 TH	Introduction to Theatre	1.00 C. McCown
This is an all college course designed to acquaint students with both the dramatic and the performance aspects of theatre. The chief focus will be the play as a "blueprint" for production. Students will read representative examples of tragedy, comedy and tragicomedy from antiquity to the present, and will explore elements of plot, characterization, setting, dialogue, music and movement, and theme. We'll also look at plays in their historical and international contexts and examine the various conventions and techniques associated with the dramatic art. Throughout the course, attention will be paid to the collaborative nature of theatre and to the process of play production from directoral concept to opening night. (LW) Requirements: Students must attend all main stage theatre productions offered on campus this term. No prerequisite.
THEA 250 01 9-10:50 TTH	Costume History II	1.00 D. Thorson
Costume History II covers the history of western dress from the Baroque and Rococo periods to the present with particular emphasis on cultural and economic influences. This course explores recurring themes related to the study of dress. A thematic approach to the study of dress facilitates a comparison of historical periods. Some themes that influence dress are social structure, class structure, patterns of behavior, and technology. We examine the industrial revolution's impact on clothing production. We explore changing aesthetics of costume in relation to art and architecture. No prerequisite.
THEA 250 02 9-10:50 TTH	Voice for the Actor	1.00 A Sarno
This course will increase a person’s awareness and control of his/her own vocal life. Students will also learn specific techniques and exercises that facilitate his/her vocal development. This particular course does not follow one system of vocal training, but rather, it incorporates the best of Linklater, Berry, Houseman, and Skinner’s training programs. This course will cover: IPA, dialects, classical verse, character voices, Elevated Standard speech, and exercises that assist in gaining vocal control. Prerequisite: THEA 105 or 106.
THEA 250 03 TBA	Theatrical Rigging	0.50 G. Sherlock
This course is a survey of the techniques and practices of theatrical rigging. The course has two main components: permanently installed rigging systems typically found in theatres, and background and technical information concerning the components typically used for stage rigging. Discussion topics include selection criteria for line, hardware, and terminations stressing entertainment industry standards, workplace safety and common industry misconceptions. No prerequisite.
WGST 260 01 7:10-9pm M	White Privilege/ White Studies: A Reading Seminar	0.50 C. Orr
This half-unit (2 hours; once per week) course will cover some key historical texts in the construction of whiteness as a racial signifier in the United States, as well as survey a number of recent texts and anthologies that have been significant in the emergence of the subdiscipline of “white studies.” Contemporary authors we will likely read include: Toni Morrison, David Roediger, bell hooks, George Lipsitz, Ruth Frankenberg, Patricia Williams among others. Students will be asked to engage the ideas in these readings not just in terms of how racial constructions affect individuals or personal relationships, but also in terms of how such constructions are embedded in and perpetuated within larger institutions and structures in society (e.g., the academy, popular culture, the state, etc.). Assignments include weekly response papers, class facilitation, and a final paper/project. No prerequisite.
WRIT 100 Sections 01 - 10-10:50 MWF & 11-11:50 T Section 02 - 11-11:50 MWTHF	Writing Cultures	1.00 M. Muthupandiyan
Why do Americans generally have difficulty following a bus schedule when traveling in Ireland, whereas Indians have more ease? Why might a Brazilian teaching in Japan have difficulty getting students to constructively contribute to the class discussion? Why . . . because of culture, the 'silent language' informing a community's perceptions of time and space, and informs its values. Within this course students will investigate culture writing as a means of developing their critical reading, writing, and thinking skills. Together the class will read and critically engage texts that unveil the workings of various contemporary cultures. As they negotiate their roles as writers and thinkers within an academic sphere students will gain experience in constructing arguments through analysis, evaluation and exposition, and in turn will be held responsible for revising and editing their writing, as well as for researching and working with sources. Each student will be responsible for producing a portfolio that will include four major papers in addition to participating in more informal writing exercises and classroom debates. (LW) No prerequisite.
WRIT 100 03 CANCELLED 9-10:50 TTH	Writing Environmental Arguments	1.00 D. Schwartz
Who's right? Who's wrong? Is genetic engineering the answer to hunger? Is sustainable development compatible with human welfare? Will hydrogen fuel cells end fossil-fuel addiction? Examine current thinking about environmental issues while practicing effective argument structure. Analyze positions and trends. Argue opposing viewpoints. Delve into issues and produce writing aimed at making a difference. View documentaries and review other reference material provided in class. Research and write position papers drawing on public policy, scientific research and activist standpoints. (LW) No prerequisite, diving or hiking experience required.
WRIT 100 04 1-2:50 TTH	Reading and Writing Cities	1.00 D. Kelly
Students will have a weekly writing assignment linked to classroom activities and each student¹s exploration of the City of Beloit. The latter will be similar to the writing of a travelogue / travelblog and thus, the class would benefit students who have either studied abroad or plan to do so in the future. Students’ writing skills will be enhanced through an engagement with fiction, film, photography and art about cities. Furthermore, students will be engaged with critical thinking and philosophical enquiry into the effects cities have on human consciousness and sub-consciousness. Students will write one academic paper on a novel of their choice that has been discussed in class. As well as reading and writing about cities, students will learn to ‘read’ cities; as Roland Barthes said, ‘if the city is a discourse, we should learn to speak its language’. To aid this process, students will explore semiotics and how symbolic meaning can be inscribed in specific spaces and sites; the Statue of Liberty and Ground Zero are two examples. Thus, the power of language and a visual image (media) to assign meaning to events, places and people will be discussed. The final assignment is entitled ‘Semiotics & the City’. This paper will encourage students to employ different writing styles, as well as illustrate their critical thinking and basic understanding of theoretical discourse. (LW) No prerequisite.