printer friendly pageTHINK 12: Century of Violence
What is modern about modern mass violence? This course explores the evolution, varieties, and logic of mass violence from the early 20th century to the present day. You will engage with and analyze primary accounts of such violence by victims, observers, perpetrators, and courts. We will then consider the effectiveness of various efforts to confront genocides and crimes against humanity in international courts and institutions, past and present. We start with the emergence of genocide as a modern, international issue; proceed with colonial massacres in early 20th century Africa; move to the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire and WWI; Nazi and Nazi-inspired racial murder; communist-induced mass violence in the Soviet Union and Asia; ethnic cleansing in former Yugoslavia; and end with an examination of the recent genocides in Rwanda, Sudan, and the Middle East.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: THINK, WAY-SI, College
THINK 13: Epic Journeys
What makes an epic hero? How does the epic poem externalize our quest for identity and self-definition?nnnnThe human quest for identity and self-knowledge is the oldest story of human culture. It almost always involves a confrontation with death. As the epic hero journeys across the physical world and descends into the underworld to visit the dead and seek counsel from them, he gradually comes to understand himself in a deeper, more meaningful way than before he set out on his journey. In this course, you will learn to engage in depth with some of the great epics of the Western tradition, beginning with The Epic of Gilgamesh and ending with Dante's masterpiece, The Divine Comedy. In each case, we will consider the unique goals of each hero's journey and the obstacles he must confront in order to reach his destination, with particular attention to the themes of violence in self and society, exile and alienation, the encounter with ancestors, the female voice, and divine guidance. We will focus on how the hero's search for a moral identity in relation to his community connects to current definitions of the ethical life in relation to political violence, war, honoring the dead, and confronting our mortality.
Last offered: Winter 2013
| UG Reqs: College, THINK
THINK 15: How Does Your Brain Work?
How do the biology and chemistry of the brain create the mind that lets us talk, walk, laugh, love, learn, remember, and forget? What can neuroscience say about what makes us human? How can we ask questions about the brain that are observable, testable, and answerable? The human brain is the most complex organ we know. To understand the biology of brain function, this course will use highly interactive lectures and discussions to examine the validity of common beliefs about the brain, discuss how the brain and the nervous system are organized, how individual elements of the brain function, and how together these units produce action. The brain, like all other biological structures, has evolved over time in response to natural selection by adapting to diverse behavioral and environmental constraints. We use evolutionary comparisons to illuminate important questions about brain function, including what the origins and consequences of brain damage are, how and where drugs act, and how you collect, interpret, and understand information about the world. You will learn both how the science of the brain has emerged through understanding important experiments and observations and how you can formulate and test your own experimental questions about the brain.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: College, THINK, WAY-SMA
Instructors:
Fernald, R. (PI)
;
Furrow, R. (PI)
;
Hillenbrand, S. (PI)
...
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Instructors:
Fernald, R. (PI)
;
Furrow, R. (PI)
;
Hillenbrand, S. (PI)
;
Kozyrytska, K. (PI)
;
Ronan, J. (PI)
;
Sankaran, S. (PI)
THINK 16: Is the Universe Just? Explorations in the Classics
What can the Classics teach us about understanding justice and injustice? nnnDo you ask yourself whether your life is controlled more by your own free choices or by your genetic code? Do you worry whether a superpower can function without hubristic arrogance? Do you ponder what constitutes the Good Life? If these sorts of issues are central to your intellectual and personal growth, this course will demonstrate to you that the ancient Mediterranean world was equally consumed with questions about the nature of human society and human existence. We will explore certain recurring themes within classical text such as the relationship between power and gender; gods and humans; innocence and evil. We will read a wide and deep selection of important and influential literary texts from the Near East, Greece, and Rome, spanning from c.2000 BCE to the first century BCE. The readings will include creation texts, epic, lyric, tragedy, and philosophy.
Last offered: Winter 2013
| UG Reqs: College, THINK
THINK 17: The Poet Re-Making the World
Can poetry change the world?nnnPoets use form and language to hold up a mirror to the events that change the world and the making of a poem can also be the re-making of a world. We will read and study poetry from different historical, cultural, and poetic traditions, and explore whether something as individual as artistic expression can help us cope with the social and political events that bring suffering and destruction. The course follows the adventures of the individual poet: from a young man caught in the trenches of the First World War, to a Japanese haiku master of the 17th century, to an American Beat, to an English woman trapped in the conventions of her time, to a contemporary U.S. soldier in Iraq. Poets show us the many similarities, as well as rich cultural differences, between us all.
Last offered: Winter 2013
| UG Reqs: College, THINK
THINK 18: Rebellious Daughters and Filial Sons of the Chinese Family
How has the family been broken, preserved, and reinvented in the fast-changing world of revolution and modernization?nnnnRebellious Daughters and Filial Sons of the Chinese Family follows the theme of the Chinese family in fiction and film to investigate the core values that hold it together in the midst of great historical change. You will learn to interpret both fiction and film as visual and textual narratives that illuminate the multiple aspects of family and community. We will explore how modernization, colonialism, revolution, war, and immigration disrupt traditional home and family. Through film and text, we will discover the various poignant attempts to rebuild family relations in the midst of such dislocation. As you embark on your college education and take leave of your own families, you might start to consider how your familial ties shape your concept of self, your emotional attachment to community, social relationships with society, and political consciousness.
Last offered: Winter 2013
| UG Reqs: College, THINK
THINK 19: Rules of War
When, if ever, is war justified? How are ethical norms translated into rules that govern armed conflict? Are these rules still relevant in light of the changing nature of warfare? We will examine seminal readings on just war theory, investigate the legal rules that govern the resort to and conduct of war, and study whether these rules affect the conduct of states and individuals. We will examine alternative ethical frameworks, competing disciplinary approaches to war, and tensions between the outcomes suggested by ethical norms, on the one hand, and legal rules, on the other. Students will engage actively with these questions by participating in an interactive role-playing simulation, in which they will be assigned roles as government officials, advisors, or other actors. The class will confront various ethical, legal, and strategic problems as they make decisions about military intervention and policies regarding the threat and use of force in an international crisis.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: College, THINK, WAY-ER, WAY-SI
Instructors:
Coyne, B. (PI)
;
Hirshberg, L. (PI)
;
Sagan, S. (PI)
...
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Instructors:
Coyne, B. (PI)
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Hirshberg, L. (PI)
;
Sagan, S. (PI)
;
Weiner, A. (PI)
;
Young, J. (PI)
;
Zuckerman, I. (PI)
THINK 21: Folklore and Literature in Russia and Beyond: Vampires, Talking Cats, and Frog Princesses
What is 'folklore' and what is its purpose? How do we decide if something is authentically 'folk' and does it matter? Why are Eastern Europe and Russia associated with the idea of folklore? For the past two centuries, writers, composers, and artists have found inspiration in folklore: the stories, songs, and beliefs of their grandparents, their servants (or their slaves), and their neighbors. This class asks what folklore means and what purposes - political and philosophical as well as artistic - it can serve. We begin with examples from around the world: the German Brothers Grimm as well as the Americans John and Alan Lomax. Then we turn to Eastern Europe and the role it has played in the Western European and American imagination as the home of the archaic and the authentic, from the vampires of Transylvania to the oral epics of the Bosnian Serbs to the nostalgic idea of the Jewish shtetl to the fantasy of Soviet communism as a survival of a pre-capitalist order. Students will analyze both folk and elite texts, and will experiment with gathering oral texts and transforming them just like the writers we studied.
Last offered: Winter 2015
| UG Reqs: College, THINK, WAY-A-II, WAY-CE
THINK 22: Who Owns the Past? Archaeology, Heritage and Global Conflicts
Who owns the past? Is cultural heritage a universal right?nnThis course interrogates the relationship between the past and the present through archaeology. Increasingly, heritage sites are flash points in cultural, economic, and religious conflicts around the globe. Clearly history matters ¿ but how do certain histories come to matter in particular ways, and to whom? Through close study of important archaeological sites, you will learn to analyze landscapes, architecture, and objects, as well as reflect on the scholarly and public debates about history and heritage around the world. Far from being a neutral scholarly exercise, archaeology is embedded in the heated debates about heritage and present-day conflicts.
Last offered: Winter 2014
| UG Reqs: College, THINK, WAY-EDP, WAY-SI
THINK 23: The Cancer Problem: Causes, Treatments, and Prevention
How has our approach to cancer been affected by clinical observations, scientific discoveries, social norms, politics, and economic interests? Approximately one in three Americans will develop invasive cancer during their lifetime; one in five Americans will die as a result of this disease. This course will expose you to multiple ways of approaching the cancer problem, including laboratory research, clinical trials, population studies, public health interventions, and health care economics. We will start with the 18th century discovery of the relationship between coal tar and cancer, and trace the role of scientific research in revealing the genetic basis of cancer. We will then discuss the development of new treatments for cancer as well as measures to screen for and prevent cancer, including the ongoing debate over tobacco control. Using cancer as a case study, you will learn important aspects of the scientific method including experimental design, data analysis, and the difference between correlation and causation. You will learn how science can be used and misused with regard to the public good. You will also learn about ways in which social, political, and economic forces shape our knowledge about and response to disease.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: THINK, WAY-AQR, WAY-SMA, College
Instructors:
Lipsick, J. (PI)
;
Love, Z. (PI)
;
Ronan, J. (PI)
;
Ruiz-Jones, L. (PI)
;
Sankaran, S. (PI)
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