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 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:
Dosmann, A. (PI)
;
Imam, J. (PI)
;
Lipsick, J. (PI)
...
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Instructors:
Dosmann, A. (PI)
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Imam, J. (PI)
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Lipsick, J. (PI)
;
Tennen, R. (PI)
;
Van de Mark, D. (PI)
THINK 31: Reimagining America
How have Americans remembered the Civil War - what it meant, what it accomplished, and what it failed to accomplish? How did Americans reimagine the United States as a nation after the war? Who belonged in the national community and who would be excluded? In 1865, the peace treaty was signed at Appomattox and the Thirteenth Amendment outlawed slavery, but the battle over memory and national identity had just begun. The questions that the Civil War addressed - and failed to address - continue to affect our lives today. We will focus on how Americans negotiated issues of cultural memory and national identity through a close analysis of historical texts, novels, poems, films, paintings, cartoons, photographs, and music. Our interpretations will foreground the particular themes of race and nationhood, freedom and citizenship, and changing notions of individual and collective identity. Our assumption in this course is that history is not available to us as a set of events - fixed, past, and unchanging. Rather, history is known through each generation's interpretations of those events, and these interpretations are shaped by each generation's lived experience. What stories get told? Whose stories? And in what ways? The stories we choose to tell about the past can shape not only our understanding of the present, but also the kind of future we imagine and strive to realize.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: THINK, WAY-A-II, College, WAY-EDP
THINK 42: Thinking Through Africa: nPerspectives on Health, Wealth, and Well-Being
What is human well-being? How do we define it? How do we measure it? What do we mean when we talk about certain parts of the world as "developed" and others as "underdeveloped" or "developing"? How do improvements in human well-being come about? What happens when some people become much better off and others do not? In this course, we will use African experiences, past and present, to think critically and reflectively about concepts whose meaning we all too often take for granted: not only well-being and development, but also wealth and health, equality and inequality. Using the tools and techniques of four different disciplines -- history, anthropology, public health, and engineering -- we will tackle essential questions about the meaning of well-being and the indices by which we measure it, the role of politics in the development process, the importance of historical and cultural contexts, and the sometimes unanticipated challenges that individuals, institutions, and societies face when they seek to promote development and improve human well-being.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-SI, THINK, College, WAY-EDP
Instructors:
Campbell, J. (PI)
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Davis, J. (PI)
;
Ferguson, J. (PI)
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Instructors:
Campbell, J. (PI)
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Davis, J. (PI)
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Ferguson, J. (PI)
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Harris, A. (PI)
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Ives, S. (PI)
;
Lyons, A. (PI)
THINK 47: Inventing Government: Ancient and Modern
How might the study of the successes and failures of democratic and republican government in ancient Greece and Rome help us to fix what is broken in our own political systems? Democracy and republic are ancient names for revolutionary approaches to government of, by, and for citizens. Today, almost every state proclaims itself to be a democracy, a republic -- or both. Democratic and republican revolutions transformed ancient Greece and Rome - and later transformed the modern world. We explore how political thinkers, from Machiavelli to Madison and Mill, used the lessons of ancient politics to design bold new systems of government. Ancient politics may still hold lessons for us. We analyze what is broken in modern government (corruption, polarization, gridlock), how it broke, and how the tool kit of ancient political history might help us to analyze and repair the damage.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: THINK, WAY-SI, WAY-ER, College
THINK 48: Reading the Body: How Medicine and Culture Define the Self
How have our perceptions of what is considered normal/abnormal; beautiful/ugly; infected/uninfected changed over time? How do these changing medical and cultural representations of the body reflect larger societal shifts? How does illness change our perceptions of our bodies and our identities? Viewed through the lens of medicine, the body is a text that offers clues to health and illness, yet clinical readings are never entirely objective. Culture informs and distorts how we discern, accept, reject, and analyze our bodies. Looking at literary, medical, ethical, and anthropological texts, we ask how representations of the body affects the way we experience illness, embody gender and racial identities, and understand our rights (or lack of rights) to control our own bodies. We will critically examine our perceptions about the body and debate some of the most complex and sensitive issues surrounding the body, from the ethics of medical research trials to end of life decisions.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: THINK, College, WAY-EDP
Instructors:
Alemdaroglu, A. (PI)
;
Corwin, A. (PI)
;
Costanzo, C. (PI)
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Instructors:
Alemdaroglu, A. (PI)
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Corwin, A. (PI)
;
Costanzo, C. (PI)
;
Gruys, K. (PI)
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Martinez, N. (PI)
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McCormack, K. (PI)
;
Verghese, A. (PI)
THINK 49: Stories Everywhere
Do we perceive the world through stories? Are we made of stories? Can we make sense of the world without narrative? The telling of stories is not just a form of entertainment but an essential human activity that moves and persuades us, compelling us to action and reflection. In this course, we will probe how moral, cognitive and historical forces give stories their power. You will be introduced to the basic theory and art of storytelling, enabling you to understand and master the fundamentals of narrative structure, plot, and character. This will allow you to practice producing your own stories through both interpretative and creative writing assignments. The class will also give students the chance to participate in various story-making activities and work with the Stanford Storytelling Project, San Francisco StoryCorps, School of the Arts and the Stanford Innocence Project to create assignments that would be useful to both private and nonprofit organizations.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, THINK, WAY-CE, College
Instructors:
Johnson, A. (PI)
;
Norako, L. (PI)
;
Perkins, S. (PI)
...
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Instructors:
Johnson, A. (PI)
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Norako, L. (PI)
;
Perkins, S. (PI)
;
Spiess, S. (PI)
;
Tate, B. (PI)
;
Vermeule, B. (PI)
;
Walker, M. (PI)
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