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Even if many of us don't fully believe in an afterlife, we remain fascinated by visions of it. This course focuses on Near-Death Experiences and the stories around them, investigating them from the many perspectives pertinent to the growing field of narrative medicine: medical, neurological, cognitive, psychological, sociological, literary, and filmic. The goal is not to understand whether the stories are veridical but what they do for us, as individuals, and as a culture, and in particular how they seek to reshape the patient-doctor relationship. Materials will span the 20th century and come into the present. Taught in English.

Preference to freshman. Natural hazards, earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, hurricanes, and fires, and how they affect people and society; great disasters such as asteroid impacts that periodically obliterate many species of life. Scientific issues, political and social consequences, costs of disaster mitigation, and how scientific knowledge affects policy. How spaceborne imaging technology makes it possible to respond quickly and mitigate consequences; how it is applied to natural disasters; and remote sensing data manipulation and analysis. GER:DB-EngrAppSci

Readings from some of the best German-language authors, including Thomas Mann, Hermann Hesse, Heinrich Boll and Herta Muller. How imaginative literature engages with history, and how great authors address the major questions in politics and philosophy in modern Germany. Taught in German. German language equivalent to high school AP.

Active faulting and erosion in the Bay Area, and its effects upon landscapes. Earth science concepts and skills through investigation of the valley, mountain, and coastal areas around Stanford. Faulting associated with the San Andreas Fault, coastal processes along the San Mateo coast, uplift of the mountains by plate tectonic processes, and landsliding in urban and mountainous areas. Field excursions; student projects.

Even the most artistically accomplished and well-managed performing arts organizations--symphony orchestras, operas, dance companies, and many theaters--tend to live on the edge financially. In fact, most performing arts groups are organized as nonprofit organizations, because they cannot make enough money to cover costs and survive as profit-seeking businesses. In this seminar we will explore the reasons for the tension between artistic excellence and economic security,drawing on the experience of performing arts organizations in the United States and in countries(whose governments have adopted quite different policies toward the arts). Using economic concepts and analysis that we develop in the seminar, you will first examine the fundamental reasons for the economic challenges faced by performing arts organizations. In later sessions, we will consider and evaluate alternative solutions to these challenges in the United States and other countries. The seminar may include meetings with managers and/or trustees of arts organizations.nnnBy the end of the seminar, you will be able to assess the economic condition of an arts organization, evaluate alternative strategies for its survival, and understand the consequences of alternative government policies toward the arts.nnnDuring the early part of the course, you will prepare two short papers on topics or questions that I will suggest. Later, you will prepare a longer paper applying concepts learned to one of the performing arts or a particular arts organization that interests you. You will submit that paper in stages, as you learn about concepts and issues that are relevant to your analysis. There will also be a final exam.

(Formerly CLASSHIS 24N.) Preference to freshmen. Explore themes on the Roman Empire and its decline from the 1st through the 5th centuries C.E.. What was the political and military glue that held this diverse, multi-ethnic empire together? What were the bases of wealth and how was it distributed? What were the possibilities and limits of economic growth? How integrated was it in culture and religion? What were the causes and consequences of the conversion to Christianity? Why did the Empire fall in the West? How suitable is the analogy of the U.S. in the 21st century?

This discussion class will explore a series of social movements in modern America through the songs produced to support efforts to achieve labor unions, civil rights and racial justice, peace, and women's rights. For each class we will read short historical texts to provide contexts for the movements and then concentrate on the role of music within them. We will listening to and discuss several core songs for each topic. Biographical and autobiographical readings on a key set of musicians (including Joe Hill, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Malvina Reynolds, and Bernice Johnson Reagon) will provide personal accounts of the relationship of songs to social movement . The music we include in class will range from ballads to anthems, from oral traditions to the work of singer-songwriters.

Preference to freshmen. Focus is on cutting-edge research. Topics: the challenge of grasping the globe as a whole; geography's roots in empire; maps as propaganda and as commodities; the cultural production of scale; and the cartography of imaginery worlds.Sources include resources in the Green Library Special Collections and in the Stanford Spatial History Lab.

Through major Spanish, Portuguese, Basque, and Catalan films from the last quarter of the 20th century to the present, this course will explore the complexities of individual recollection under conditions of collective trauma and political distortion of the past. Films by Saura, Almodovar, Amenobar, Erice, Marco Martins, Maria de Medeiros, Julio Medem, Almodovar, Bigas Luna, Ventura Pons, and Agusto­ Villaronga. A festival for the eye and the mind.