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Catalogue 2017-2018 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
Course Descriptions
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Film: II. Intermediate |
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FILM 212 - Genre: The Musical
1 unit(s)
Examines the development of American film musicals from The Jazz Singer to Sweeney Todd and Les Misérables. The course looks at major stars such as Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Gene Kelly, and Judy Garland, and the contributions of directors such as Vincente Minnelli and Bob Fosse. Students examine the interrelationships between Broadway and Hollywood, the influence of the rise and fall of the Production Code, the shaping hand of different studios, the tensions between narrative and spectacle, sincerity and camp. Reading assignments expose students to a wide range of literature about film, from production histories to feminist theory. Sarah Kozloff.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 175 or FILM 210 and permission of the instructor.
Not offered in 2017/18.
Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.
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FILM 214 - Genre: The War Film
1 unit(s)
An examination of how American films have represented World War I, World War II, the Vietnam War and the Gulf Wars. Films chosen include both those made while the conflicts rages (Bataan, 1942), and those made many years later (Saving Private Ryan, 1998, and Three Kings, 1999). This class focuses on such issues as: propaganda and patriotism, pacifism and sensationalism, the reliance on genre conventions and the role of changing film technologies. For comparison, we look also at documentaries, television, “home front” stories at war-time poetry, posters, and music. Reading assignments cover topics such as the government’s Office of War Information, the influence of John Wayne, the racism of the Vietnam films, the ways in which the Iraq war movies have been influenced by the genre. Sarah Kozloff.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 175 or FILM 210 and permission of the instructor.
Not offered in 2017/18.
Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.
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FILM 216 - Genre: Romantic Comedy
1 unit(s)
This class studies the genre of romantic comedy in American film from the “screwball comedies” of the 1930s (It Happened One Night, Bringing Up Baby) to the resurgence of the genre in the 1990s and the 21st century. The course focuses on the work of major stars such as Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, and Meg Ryan, as well as the contribution of such directors as Ernst Lubitsch, George Cukor, Preston Sturges, Howard Hawks, Billy Wilder, or Nora Ephron. We place these films in the context of other representations of romance—such as Shakespeare’s comedies—and in the context of the changes in American culture, particularly in the role of women. Readings lead students to a deeper understanding of the history of American film, genre, and the star system. Sarah Kozloff.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 175 or FILM 210 and permission of the instructor.
Not offered in 2017/18.
Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.
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FILM 217 - Video Art Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as ART 217 ) Video continues to document, illuminate, and instruct our lives daily. New channels of accessibility have opened it to a broad range of alternative practices, always in relation to its online or televised utility. In this studio, students make videos to better understand the affects and formal potential of video as an opportunity for critique. Technical experimentation covers the major tools of video production and post-production. Workshops examine set, keying, montage, sound, pacing, composition, and the cut. Regular assignments address a range of structural problems, at once conceptual and plastic (topics include the question of the subject, politics of visibility, satire, abjection, abstraction, psychedelia, performance and humiliation). Work by artists who have harnessed or perverted video’s components is screened bi-weekly. Abigail Gunnels.
Prerequisite(s): permission of the instructor.
Two 2-hour periods.
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FILM 218 - Genre: The Western
1 unit(s)
This course offers an historical and cultural exploration of the Western film genre. There is emphasis on the relationship between the Western and the central myths of the American experience. The changing nature of masculinity, the representation of violence, and the roles designated to women are addressed. The course examines Westerns directed by filmmakers D. W. Griffith, John Ford, Howard Hawks, George Stevens, John Huston, Fred Zinnemann, Sidney Poitier, Sam Peckinpah, and Clint Eastwood. Mia Mask.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 175 or FILM 210 and permission of the instructor.
Not offered in 2017/18.
Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.
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FILM 220 - Chinese Film and Contemporary Fiction
1 unit(s)
(Same as CHIN 220 ) An introduction to Chinese film through its adaptations of contemporary stories. Focus is on internationally well-known films by the fifth and sixth generation of directors since the late 1980s. Early Chinese films from the 1930s to the 1970s are also included in the screenings. The format of the course is to read a series of stories in English translations and to view their respective cinematic versions. The discussions concentrate on cultural and social aspects as well as on comparison of themes and viewpoints in the two genres. The interrelations between texts and visual images are also explored. Wenwei Du.
Prerequisite(s): one course in language, literature, culture, film, drama, or Asian Studies, or permission of the instructor.
Not offered in 2017/18
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FILM 230 - European Women’s Cinema Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as WMST 230) This course examines contemporary European culture and history through film; various critical theories (feminist, queer, post-colonial), are studied and applied to films, through selected readings and other relevant resources. Using a multidisciplinary approach, the purpose of this course is to provide critical models for interpreting social and cultural constructions of meaning. We consider the ways in which images of women and the concept of “woman” are invested with culturally and historically specific meanings that intersect with other categories of difference/identity such as: class, sexual orientation, excess, war, and the state. Essential to the discussion of difference will be the analysis of the cultural and linguistic differences introduced by the otherness of film itself, and of the specific films we study. Cinematic interpretive skills are developed through visual and linguistic exercises, group projects, and film-making. Film directors may include: Lina Wertmüller, Liliana Cavani, Margarethe von Trotta, Monika Treut, Ulrike Öttinger, Claire Denis, Coline Serreau, Céline Sciamma, Gurinder Chadha, Ngozi Onwurah. Rodica Blumenfeld.
Prerequisite(s): WMST 130 preferable but not obligatory.
Open to Sophomores and above.
Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.
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FILM 231 - Minorities in the Media
1 unit(s)
This course examines the dynamics of race, class, gender and sexuality as they are represented in American society. Throughout the semester, we will analyze films, television programs, videos and advertisements, as well as other mediated discourse, to assess the way categories of “minority” identity have been constructed in mainstream society. In addition to examining images of those persons collective known as “minorities,” we will consider the representation of those defined as “majority” Americans. In addition to scholarship by black British cultural theorists, African American scholars, critical race theorists and sociologists, this course enlists scholarship from the growing field of whiteness studies. Issues and topics may include “model minorities” (Henry Louis Gates, Jennifer Lopez, Rahm Emmanuel, Tiger Woods, Ellen DeGeneres, The Williams Sisters, Barack Obama), global advertising, racial profiling, police brutality (Rodney King, Abner Louima, Amadou Diallo, Sean Bell), Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice), the Proposition 209 conflict, the WNBA, gay marriage, Islamaphobia, and the representation of the Middle East. Readings, screenings and papers required. Mia Mask.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 175 or FILM 210 and permission of the instructor.
Not offered in 2017/18.
Two 75-minute periods, plus outside screenings.
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FILM 232 - African American Cinema Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as AFRS 232 ) This course provides a survey of the history and theory of African American representation in cinema. It begins with the silent films of Oscar Micheaux and examines early Black cast westerns (Harlem Rides the Range, The Bronze Buckaroo, Harlem on the Prairie) and musicals (St. Louis Blues, Black and Tan, Hi De Ho, Sweethearts of Rhythm). Political debate circulating around cross over stars (Paul Robeson, Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge, Eartha Kitt, and Harry Belafonte) are central to the course. Special consideration is given to Blaxploitation cinema of the seventies (Shaft, Coffy, Foxy Brown, Cleopatra Jones) in an attempt to understand its impact on filmmakers and the historical contexts for contemporary filmmaking. The course covers “Los Angeles Rebellion” filmmakers such as Julie Dash, Charles Burnett, and Haile Gerima. Realist cinema of the 80’s and 90’s (Do the Right Thing, Boyz N the Hood, Menace II Society, and Set it off),is examined before the transition to Black romantic comedies, family films, and genre pictures (Coming to America, Love and Basketball, The Best Man, Akeelah and the Bee, 12 Years a Slave, The Great Debaters). Mia Mask.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 210 and permission of the instructor.
Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.
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FILM 233 - The McCarthy Era and Film Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
This class focuses both on the history of anti-communist involvement with the American film industry and on the reflection of this troubled era in post-war films. We trace the factors that led to The House on Un-American Activities Committee’s investigation of communist influence in Hollywood, the case of the Hollywood Ten, the operation of the blacklist and its final demise at the end of the 1950s. We look at films overtly taking sides in this ideological conflict, such as the anti-Communist I Was a Communist for the FBI and the pro-labor Salt of the Earth, as well as the indirect allegories in film noirs and science fiction. Reading assignments are drawn from a wide range of sources, including HUAC transcripts, government documents, production histories, and genre studies. The course concludes with a look at how more contemporary films such as Good Night and Good Luck have sought to frame our understanding of this era. Sarah Kozloff.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 175 or FILM 210 and permission of the instructor.
Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.
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FILM 238 - Music in Film Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as MUSI 238 ) A study of music in sound cinema from the 1920s to the present. The course focuses on the expressive, formal, and semiotic functions that film music serves, either as sound experienced by the protagonists, or as another layer of commentary to be heard only by the viewer, or some mixture of the two. Composers studied include Max Steiner, Bernard Herrmann, Jerry Goldsmith, Danny Elfman and others as well as film scores that rely upon a range of musical resources including classical, popular, and non-Western music. Specific topics to be considered this semester include music in film noir and the movie musical. Brian Mann.
Prerequisite(s): one course in Music (not performance) or Film.
Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.
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FILM 240 - Foundations Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
1 unit(s)
This is a course about becoming a better finder, reader, and teller of audiovisual stories. Through a series of exercises and projects we explore the foundational elements of film production. Shane Slattery-Quintanilla, Travis Wilkerson.
Prerequisite(s): Corequisite or FILM 210 .
No technical experience is required.
One 3-hour period.
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FILM 254 - Emotional Engagement with Film Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as MEDS 254 and PSYC 254 ) While movies engage our emotions in psychologically significant ways, scholarship on the psychological allure and impact of film has existed primarily at the interdisciplinary margins. This course aims to bring such scholarship into the foreground. We begin with a careful examination of the appeal and power of narrative, as well as processes of identification and imagined intimacy with characters, before taking a closer analytical look at specific film genres (e.g., melodrama, horror, comedy, action, social commentary) both in their own right and in terms of their psychological significance (e.g., why do we enjoy sad movies? How do violent movies influence viewer aggression? How might socially conscious films inspire activism or altruism?) In addition to delving into theoretical and empirical papers, a secondary goal of the course is to engage students as collaborators; brainstorm and propose innovative experimental methods for testing research questions and hypotheses that emerge in step with course materials. Dara Greenwood and Sarah Kozloff.
Prerequisite(s): for Psychology majors - PSYC 105 or PSYC 106 ; for Film majors - FILM 175 or FILM 210 ; for Media Studies majors - MEDS 160 .
Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.
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FILM 255 - Four Italian Filmmakers (in English)
1 unit(s)
(Same as ITAL 255 ) Close analysis of the narrative and visual styles of Bernardo Bertolucci, Federico Fellini, Gianni Amelio and Nanni Moretti, in the context of post-war Italian cinema and culture. Theoretical literature on these directors and on approaches to the interpretation of film-such as psychoanalytic film theory, feminist theory, deconstruction, and post-colonial analyses of dominant discourses-aid us in addressing questions of style and of political and social significance. Cinematic interpretive skills are developed through visual and linguistic exercises, group projects, and film-making. Conducted in English. Rodica Blumenfeld.
Open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors. May be counted towards the Italian major.
Not offered in 2017/18.
Two 75-minute periods and two film screenings.
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FILM 256 - American Television History Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as MEDS 256 ) This course surveys the history of television in the United States from the 1940s to the present. It examines the social and industrial significance of television and its impact on issues such as class, race, gender, consumerism, and national identity. We investigate changes in televisual aesthetics and narrative paradigms and the ways that television responded to significant cultural, political and technological changes in American society. Throughout the semester we draw upon a range of critical frameworks including media industry studies, genre theory, and celebrity studies as we address topics such as the attempts to develop alternate models of broadcasting, networks’ efforts to bolster television’s cultural status, media convergence, and the formal characteristics of different television genres. Screenings include I Love Lucy, The Twilight Zone, Star Trek, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, The Simpsons, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Orange is the New Black. Alex Kupfer.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 175 or FILM 210 for students registering for FILM 256. MEDS 160 for students registering for MEDS 256.
Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.
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FILM 260 - Documentary: History and Aesthetics Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
Beginning with an exploration of film pioneers such as Robert Flaherty and Margaret Mead, the course also examines the impact of John Grierson on documentary production in both Great Britain and Canada. In addition, the development of cinema verité is traced through the work of such filmmakers as Jean Rouch, Richard Leacock, Robert Drew, D. A. Pennebaker, Frederick Wiseman, and the Maysles Brothers. Other topics might include city-symphonies, domestic ethnographies, and mockumentaries. Screeings may include: Nanook of the North (Robert Flaherty, 1922), Chronique d’un ete (Paris 1960) (Jean Rouch and Edgar Morin, 1961), Primary (Robert Drew, 1960) Jane (D.A. Pennebaker, 1962), Boxing Gym (Frederick Wiseman, 2010), and This is Spinal Tap (Rob Reiner, 1984). Alexander Kupfer.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 175 or FILM 210 and permission of the instructor.
Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.
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FILM 266 - Genre: Asian Horror Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as ASIA 266 ) This course examines contemporary Asian horror. Using a variety of critical perspectives, we will deconstruct the pantheon of vampires, monsters, ghosts, and vampire ghosts inhabiting such diverse regions as Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, and the Philippines to explore constructions of national/cultural identity, gender, race, class, and sexuality. We will ground these observations within a discussion of the nature of horror and the implications of horror as a trans/national genre. Sophia Harvey.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 175 or FILM 210 , and permission of the instructor.
Two 75-minute periods, plus outside screenings.
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FILM 282 - Media Industries: Fox Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as MEDS 282 ) This course explores the history of Twentieth Century-Fox and Fox Broadcasting Company from its emergence in the 1910s to its present day position as one of the world’s largest media conglomerates. It uses Fox to explore changes in aesthetic paradigms, storytelling techniques, and the ways that media industries engage with important cultural, political and technological changes in American society.
Throughout the semester, we compare different critical frameworks used to discuss the history of the Hollywood Studio System such as media industry studies, genre and auteur theory, and celebrity studies. We apply these wide-ranging methods to a series of overlapping historical case studies on topics including F.W. Murnau, John Ford at Fox, and the FOX network’s efforts to reach underrepresented audiences. Screenings include Sunrise, How Green Was My Valley, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, M*A*S*H, The Simpsons Movie, In Living Color, and Star Wars. Alex Kupfer.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 175 or FILM 210 for students registering for FILM 282. MEDS 160 for students registering for MEDS 282.
Two 75-minute periods accompanied by film screenings.
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FILM 288 - American Avant-Garde Film Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
This course offers a survey of American avant-garde film in all its modes, ranging from experimental work like Jennifer Proctor’s Jen Proctor: A Movie, to surrealist-influenced documentary like Joshua Yates’s The Bags, to innovative narrative cinema like Agnes Varda’s Lions Love (…and Lies). While the course covers major avant-garde movements like mytho-poeticism and structuralism, it is organized thematically rather than chronologically. The course is divided into three units, each of which interrogates one of the terms in the title. The first unit explores films that expand our perception of what it means to be American and challenge received ideas about individual and collective identity. The second unit examines how the avant-garde constitutes itself both in opposition to commercial film and as its own industrial form. The third unit investigates film itself – how and why medium specificity and technology are important to these moving images. Assignments include an historical presentation, a short analytic essay, a take-home exam, and a final position paper on the future of the American avant-garde film. Erica Stein.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 175 or FILM 210 , and permission of the instructor.
Two 75-minute periods accompanied by film screenings.
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FILM 298 - Independent Work Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
0.5 to 1 unit(s)
To be elected in consultation with the adviser.
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Film: III. Advanced |
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FILM 300 - Film Research Thesis Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
1 unit(s)
An academic thesis in film history or theory, written under the supervision of a member of the department. Since writing a thesis during fall semester is preferable, film majors should talk to their advisers spring of junior year. In Film, a research thesis is recommended, especially for those students not writing a Screenplay Thesis or enrolled in Documentary workshop, but it is not required. Members of the department.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 210 /FILM 211 , two additional courses in film history and theory, and permission of the instructor.
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FILM 301 - Film Screenplay Thesis Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
1 unit(s)
The creation of a feature-length original screenplay. Open only to students electing the concentration in film. Senior status required. Students wishing to write a screenplay instead of a research thesis must have produced work of distinction in FILM 317 (Intro to Screenwriting) and FILM 319 (Screenwriting). Jeffrey Fligelman.
Prerequisite(s): permission of the instructor.
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FILM 317 - Introduction to Screenwriting Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
1 unit(s)
Study of dramatic construction as it applies to film, plus practice in story development and screenwriting. Shane Slattery-Quintanilla (b), Joseph Muszynski (a).
Prerequisite(s): DRAM 102 or FILM 210 and permission of the instructor.
Writing sample required two weeks before preregistration.
Open only to juniors and seniors.
Same as DRAM 317 in the spring semester only.
One 2-hour period plus outside screenings.
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FILM 319 - Advanced Screenwriting Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
An in-depth exploration of the screenplay as a dramatic form and a workshop aimed at the development, writing, and rewriting of a feature-length screenplay. Students study the work of noted screenwriters and are required to complete a feature-length screenplay as their final project in the course. Open only to Film Majors who have produced work of distinction in FILM 317 . Joseph Muszynski.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 210 /FILM 211 , DRAM 317 or FILM 317 , and permission of the instructor. Open to Film Majors only.
One 2-hour period plus outside screenings.
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FILM 320 - Filmmaking I Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
This course explores the theoretical and practical elements of film production. Students learn to analyze scenes in order to better develop their own cinematic ideas. Instructors may emphasize narrative or documentary projects. Shane Slattery-Quintanilla, Travis Wilkerson.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 210 , FILM 211 and permission of the instructor. FILM 240 Foundations highly recommended but not required.
One 3-hour period plus a 2-hour Friday lab.
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FILM 321 - Filmmaking II Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
Using techniques explored in FILM 320 , students will develop concepts for a documentary short and a narrative short. The course will also introduce students to collaborative production approaches and workflows. Shane Slattery-Quintanilla, Travis Wilkerson.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 320 and permission of the instructor.
One 3-hour period plus a 2-hour Friday lab.
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FILM 325 - Writing the Short Film Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
Students learn the process of developing short narrative screenplays and shooting scripts. Scripts produced in FILM 327 are selected from those created in FILM 325. Travis Wilkerson.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 320 plus FILM 321 and permission of the instructor.
One 3-hour period.
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FILM 326 - Documentary Workshop Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
This course addresses the aesthetic, ethical and theoretical issues of nonfiction film production. Student crews research, develop, and produce short documentary films. Shane Slattery-Quintanilla.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 320 , FILM 321 and permission of the instructor.
One 3-hour period plus a 2-hour Friday lab.
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FILM 327 - Narrative Workshop Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
Student crews create short narrative films from original student scripts. Students wishing to submit scripts for production in FILM 327 must have completed FILM 325 . Travis Wilkerson.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 325 and permission of the instructor.
One 3-hour period; additional lab time required.
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FILM 335 - Celebrity and Power: Stardom in Contemporary Culture
1 unit(s)
Celebrity fascinates Americans. It informs popular culture, professional sport and national politics. Yet what defines celebrity? How are stars manufactured by the Culture Industry? Why is the ubiquitous cult of celebrity so important in contemporary Western culture and across global mediascapes? Through classic and contemporary theoretical writings, the course examines stardom and various brands of star charisma. We interrogate conventional forms of celebrity power as well as the conversion of entertainment industry charisma into forms of political charisma and cultural capital (i.e., the careers of Ronald Reagan, Clint Eastwood, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sidney Poitier, Jennifer Lopez, John Leguizamo, the Brangelina trademark, and Beyonce Knowles). The course will address the rise of reality television celebrities. As intertextual signs, stars reveal the instabilities, ambiguities and contradictions within a given culture. The changing configuration of American society is revealed in an examination of celebrity and stardom as social phenomena. This course transverses from Mary Pickford to Oprah Winfrey and beyond. Readings, screenings and writing assignments required. Mia Mask.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 175 or FILM 210 , and permission of the instructor.
Not offered in 2017/18.
Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.
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FILM 336 - African Cinema: A Continental Survey
1 unit(s)
African national cinemas reflect the rich, complex history of the continent. These films from lands as diverse as Chad, Senegal, and South Africa reveal the various ways filmmakers have challenged the representation of Africa and Africans while simultaneously revising conventional cinematic syntax. This survey course examines the internal gaze of African-born auteurs like Ousmane Sembene (La Noir De, Xala, Mandabi), Djbril Diop Mambety (Hyenes), Desire Ecare (Faces of Women), Manthia Diawara (Conakry Kas), and Mahmat-Saleh Haroun (Bye-Bye Africa). It places these films alongside the external gaze of practitioners Euzan Palcy (A Dry White Season), Jean-Jacques Annaud (Noir et Blancs en Couleur) and Raoul Peck (Lumumba). The films of documentary filmmakers Anne Laure Folly, Ngozi Onwurah and Pratibah Parmaar are also examined. This course utilizes the post-colonial film theory and scholarship of Imruh Bakari, Mbye Cham, Nwachukwu Frank Ukadike and Manthia Diawara. Screenings, readings and papers required. Mia Mask.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 175 or FILM 210 , and permission of the instructor.
Not offered in 2017/18.
One 2-hour period plus outside screenings.
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FILM 337 - Indian National Cinema
1 unit(s)
(Same as ASIA 337 ) This course is designed to introduce students to the dynamic and diverse film traditions of India. It examines how these texts imagine and image the Indian nation and problematizes the “national” through an engagement with regional cinemas within India as well as those produced within the Indian diaspora. Readings are drawn from contemporary film theory, post-colonial theory, and Indian cultural studies. Screenings may include Meghe Dhaka Tara / The Cloud-Capped Star (Ritwik Ghatak, 1960), Mother India (Mehboob Khan, 1957), Shatranj Ke Khilari / The Chess Players (Satyajit Ray, 1977), Sholay (Ramesh Sippy, 1975), Bombay (Mani Ratnam, 1995), Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham/ Happiness and Tears (Karan Johar, 2001), Bride and Prejudice (Gurinder Chadha, 2004), and Mission Kashmir (Vidhu Vinod Chopra, 2000). Sophia Harvey.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 175 or FILM 210 and permission of the instructor.
Not offered in 2017/18.
Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.
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FILM 339 - Contemporary Southeast Asian Cinemas Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as ASIA 339 ) This survey course is designed to introduce students to the dynamic and diverse film texts emerging from and about Southeast Asia. It examines how these texts imagine and image Southeast Asia and/or particular nations within the region. More specifically, the course focuses on the themes of urban spaces and memory/trauma as they operate within texts about Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Timor-Leste. The course reading material is designed to provide (1) theoretical insights, (2) general socio-cultural and/or political overviews, and (3) more specific analyses of film texts and/or filmmakers. Sophia Harvey.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 175 or FILM 210 and permission of the instructor.
One 2-hour period plus outside screenings.
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FILM 379 - Computer Animation: Art, Science and Criticism Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as ART 379 , CMPU 379 , and MEDS 379 ) An interdisciplinary course in Computer Animation aimed at students with previous experience in Computer Science, Studio Art, or Media Studies. The course introduces students to mathematical and computational principles and techniques for describing the shape, motion and shading of three-dimensional figures in Computer Animation. It introduces students to artistic principles and techniques used in drawing, painting and sculpture, as they are translated into the context of Computer Animation. It also encourages students to critically examine Computer Animation as a medium of communication. Finally, the course exposes students to issues that arise when people from different scholarly cultures attempt to collaborate on a project of mutual interest. The course is structured as a series of animation projects interleaved with screenings and classroom discussions. Thomas Ellman, Harry Roseman.
Prerequisite(s): permission of the instructor.
Two 2-hour periods.
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FILM 392 - Research Seminar in Film History and Theory Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
1 unit(s)
This course is designed as an in-depth exploration of a theoretical topic. Students contribute to the class through research projects and oral presentations. Their work culminates in lengthy research papers. Because topics change, students are permitted (encouraged) to take this course more than once. Preference is given to film majors who must take this class during their senior year; junior majors and others admitted if space permits.
Topic for 2017/18a: American Horror Cinema. An advanced seminar in American horror cinema. It facilitates in-depth analysis and close readings of classic horror films. This course explores the production, reception, aesthetics and politics of an evolving genre. We begin with the classic 1930’s studio monster movies like Dracula, Frankenstein and Cat People. Next, we examine Cold War politics and its influence on films like, I Married a Monster from Outer Space. Landmark movies responsible for shifts in the genre’s paradigm (like Psycho) are contextualized. We trace the genealogy of zombie movies from the Vietnam era to the present - considering their relationship to the military industrial complex and the prison industrial complex. Teen slasher pictures reached their apex in the Seventies, only to be re-invented in the Nineties for the Scream franchise. Television also exploits the appeal and popularity of teen horror genres with programs like True Blood. The course concludes with post-apocalyptic horror and its expression of millenarian anxiety in films such as Avatar, Legion and World War Z. The work of Alfred Hitchcock, Roman Polanski, Brian DePalma, David Cronenberg and Mary Harron, among others, is studied. Mia Mask.
Topic for 2017/18b: The City Symphony and its Afterlives. City symphonies are a recurrent intersection of experimental, documentary, and fiction techniques that use montage to represent a typical day in the life of an urban environment. Or three distinct historical cycles of essay films. Or a sub-thread of the 1920s continental avant-garde. Or fascist iconography adopted by nationalist movements. Or the blueprint for how moving images represent cities. This course studies these elusive and allusive films from their roots in primitive cinema to their recent re-emergence in environmental video and attempts to build a collaborative definition of city symphonies. The course emphasizes the three recognized cycles and canonic symphonies like À propos de Nice (1930), In the Street (1948), and Singapore GaGa (2005), but it also examines the influence of city symphonies on such different movements as Italian Neo-Realism, New American Cinema, and Third Cinema. Assignments include discussion leadership, an analysis paper proposing your own definition of city symphonies, an annotated bibliography, and a research paper. Erica Stein.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 210 /FILM 211 ; two additional units in film history and theory, and permission of the instructor.
One 2-hour period plus outside screenings.
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FILM 399 - Senior Independent Work Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
0.5 to 1 unit(s)
To be elected in consultation with the adviser.
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French and Francophone Studies: I. Introductory |
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FREN 105 - Elementary French Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
Fundamentals of the language. Students learn to understand spoken French, to express simple ideas both orally and in writing, and to read French of average difficulty. While enhancing their communicative skills, students acquire knowledge of France and the Francophone world. The department.
Enrollment limited by class.
Open to seniors by permission of the instructor.
Not open to students who have previously studied French.
Yearlong course 105-FREN 106 .
Three 50-minute periods; two 50-minute periods of drill and oral practice.
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FREN 106 - Elementary French Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
Fundamentals of the language. Students learn to understand spoken French, to express simple ideas both orally and in writing, and to read French of average difficulty. While enhancing their communicative skills, students acquire knowledge of France and the Francophone world. The department.
Enrollment limited by class.
Open to seniors by permission of the instructor. Not open to students who have previously studied French.
Students should go on to FREN 205 after successful completion of 106.
Yearlong course FREN 105 -106.
Three 50-minute periods; two 50-minute periods of drill and oral practice.
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FREN 170 - Meeting Places Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as WMST 170 ) Beginning with the nineteenth century, this first-year writing seminar examines the role of gender in stories about people who meet in public urban places, such as bars, streets or cafés. Public urban places are associated with a specifically modern consciousness, characterized by the embracing of more fluid identities, fewer constraints, and a greater sense of the ephemeral. We use each text to practice writing about literature while exploring the critical concepts of gender, place and modernity in a French studies context. The course is taught in English: all works are read in translation. Kathleen Hart.
Open only to first-year students; satisfies the college requirement for a First-Year Writing Seminar.
Two 75-minute periods.
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French and Francophone Studies: II. Intermediate The intermediate level comprises a third-semester level (FREN 205 ), a fourth-semester level (FREN 206 ), a fifth-semester level (FREN 210 ), and a sixth-semester level (200-level courses numbered above 210). Prerequisite for all sixth-semester courses: completion of FREN 210 or the equivalent. Students desiring an introduction to the study of literature and culture may begin by electing FREN 212 . Rotating topics courses may be taken more than once.
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FREN 206 - Intermediate French II Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
1 unit(s)
Emphasis on more complex linguistic structures. Reading, writing, and speaking skills are developed through discussion of cultural and literary texts and use of audiovisual material. The course prepares students linguistically for cultural and literary study at the intermediate level. The department.
Prerequisite(s): FREN 205 or permission of the instructor. Not open to students who have taken a course at or above the FREN 210 level.
Enrollment limited by class. Placement test required.
Three 50-minute or two 75-minute periods; 50 minutes of scheduled oral practice.
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FREN 210 - The Francophone World Through Text, Sound, and Image Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
1 unit(s)
Introduction to the Francophone world and to basic modes of interpretation and analysis through the study and discussion of short texts (print or online magazine or newspaper articles, short stories, essays), films, and other visual or recorded media. The course includes a grammar workshop, vocabulary building, essay writing, image analysis, and “explication de texte.” The course solidifies proficiency skills and includes review and expansion of more complex linguistic structures, and serves as preparation for upper 200-level courses. The department.
Prerequisite(s): FREN 206 or the equivalent.
Enrollment limited by class. Placement test required.
Two 75-minute periods; 50 minutes of scheduled oral practice.
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FREN 212 - Reading Literature and Film Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
1 unit(s)
Introductory study of French and Francophone literature and cinema through the analysis and discussion of poetry, short fiction, theater, the essay, and film. Biographical information, cultural context, historical background, critical theory, and the evolution of genre are explored. Susan Hiner.
Prerequisite(s): FREN 210 or equivalent.
Enrollment limited by class. Placement test required.
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FREN 228 - Tellers and Tales
1 unit(s)
Study of narrative fiction using short stories taken from several periods of French literature. Mark Andrews.
Prerequisite(s): FREN 212 or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.
Not offered in 2017/18.
Two 75-minute periods.
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FREN 230 - Medieval and Early Modern Times
1 unit(s)
Studies in French literature, history, and culture from the Medieval to the Classical period. Anne Brancky.
Prerequisite(s): FREN 212 or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.
Not offered in 2017/18.
Two 75-minute periods.
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FREN 231 - Revolutionary France and Its Legacies Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
1 unit(s)
Studies in French literature, history, and culture in relation to the French Revolution during the Enlightenment and the Romantic period. Cynthia Kerr.
Prerequisite(s): FREN 212 or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.
Not offered in 2017/18.
Two 75-minute periods.
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FREN 232 - The Modern Age Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
The course explores literary, artistic, social, or political manifestations of modern French society and its relation to the French-speaking world from the Napoleonic Empire to the present.
Prerequisite(s): FREN 212 or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.
Not offered in 2017/18.
Two 75-minute periods.
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FREN 235 - Contemporary France Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
This course offers a study of French society as it has been shaped by the major historical and cultural events since WWII. The main themes include Vichy France, de Gaulle’s regime, the wars of French decolonization, the Mitterrand years, immigration, and the religious issues facing France today. The course draws on a variety of texts and documents including articles from the press and movies. Patricia-Pia Célérier.
Prerequisite(s): FREN 212 or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor .
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FREN 240 - Grammar and Composition Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
A course designed to improve written expression through the study and practice of various forms of writing, readings, and oral practice as well as an in-depth study of major aspects of French grammar. Vinay Swamy.
Prerequisite(s): FREN 212 or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.
Two 75-minute periods.
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FREN 241 - Composition and Conversation Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
1 unit(s)
A course designed to improve written and oral expression, through the study and practice of various forms of writing, and the discussion of readings on contemporary issues. Enrollment limited by class. Mark Andrews.
Prerequisite(s): FREN 212 or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.
Not offered in 2017/18.
Two 75-minute periods.
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FREN 242 - Studies in Genre I Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
Study of narrative and prose forms including the novel, autobiography, and the essay.
Topic for 2017/18a: Memory, Invention, and Desire. The course examines modern writing about the self through the practice of autofiction. One of the leading categories of storytelling in French and Francophone societies in the twenty-first century, writing about the self allows modern writers to explore facets of their own existence by reimagining their connection to the world around them. The desire for freedom to reinvent the self is set against the often overpowering forces of history, memory and place, against the traumatic experience of conflict and colonial rule, and the geographies of exclusion that remain their legacy. In our study of several characteristic autofictions, we explore the emergence of new fictional strategies and fresh testimonial approaches recruited to uncover and recover private lives trapped in the past. Authors may include: Azouz Begag, Maryse Condé, Marie Darrieussecq, Assia Djebar, Patrick Modiano, Amélie Nothomb, Gisèle Pineau. Mark Andrews.
Prerequisite(s): FREN 212 or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.
Two 75-minute periods.
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FREN 243 - Studies in Genre II Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
Topic for 2017/18b: Standing Room Only. Contemporary French and Francophone theater is alive and well, nourished by the talents of a new generation of authors, actors, and directors. This multimedia workshop showcases artistically ambitious works of the 21st century that have played to full houses around the world. Students read dramatic texts and theory, watch screen adaptations, compare filmed performances, and work on their own interpretations. They learn about digital theater and put into practice methods taught at the French National Academy of Dramatic Arts. Playwrights studied include Yasmina Reza, Jean-Michel Ribes, Marie NDiaye, Joel Pommerat, and Wajdi Mouawad. Emphasis placed on oral participation, with the goal of improved French pronunciation and fluency. Cynthia Kerr.
Prerequisite(s): FREN 212 or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.
Not offered in 2017/18.
Two 75-minute periods.
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FREN 244 - French Cinema
1 unit(s)
Prerequisite(s): FREN 212 or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.
Not offered in 2017/18.
Two 75-minute periods.
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FREN 246 - French-Speaking Cultures and Literatures of Africa and the Caribbean
1 unit(s)
(Same as AFRS 246 )
Prerequisite(s): FREN 212 or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.
Not offered in 2017/18.
Two 75-minute periods.
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FREN 280 - “On connaît la chanson”: French & Francophone Culture through Songs Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
This class offers a panorama of the history and culture of French and Francophone society through the very particular concept of chanson française. In France, chanson française is part of a common patrimony, which every single person shares. There are many French singers that have made it to the canon over the years, new ones that are battling to make it, and Belgian and Québécois artists who have somehow become assimilated. Is the cliché of sad, French songs about long lost lovers or disappointed love just a stereotype? What do French songs tell us about society, about cities and countryside, about relationships, and even about politics? From popular folk songs to French hip hop, through the study of musical style and lyrics, and of several films about French artists, students learn how the chanson française has evolved to reflect the diversity of the French population today. Pauline Goul.
Prerequisite(s): FREN 212 or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.
Two 75-minute periods.
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FREN 290 - Field Work
0.5 to 1 unit(s)
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FREN 298 - Independent Work Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
0.5 to 1 unit(s)
One unit of credit given only in exceptional cases and by permission of the chair. The department.
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French and Francophone Studies: III. Advanced Prerequisite for all advanced courses: 1 unit of 200-level work above FREN 210 or FREN 212 , or Study Abroad in France or in a French-speaking country, or by permission of the department. Open to freshman and sophomores only by permission of the instructor. Rotating topics courses may be taken more than once.
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FREN 300 - Senior Thesis Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
Open only to majors. The department.
Permission required.
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FREN 301 - Senior Translation Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
0.5 or 1 unit(s)
Open only to majors. One unit of credit given in exceptional cases only and by permission of the chair. The department.
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FREN 302 - Senior Project Semester Offered: Fall
0.5 unit(s)
Senior Thesis Preparation. Course to be taken in conjunction with FREN 303 . Only open to majors.
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FREN 303 - Senior Project Semester Offered: Spring
0.5 unit(s)
Senior Thesis. To be taken upon successful completion of FREN 302 . Open only to majors.
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FREN 332 - Literature and Society in Pre-Revolutionary France Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
Topic for 2017/18b: Early Modern Écologies: A French Environmental Thought. Most people consider ecology to be a recent endeavor, just like the Anthropocene – the current geological period during which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment – is seen mostly as a modern epoch. Some scholars, however, date the start of the Anthropocene to 1600. What happened between the environment and human beings around that date that could justify such a theory? We analyze the extent to which human beings envisioned, cared for, and worried about their environment over the course of three centuries. Surveying French culture and literature from the Renaissance through the Baroque to the Enlightenment (les Lumières), students will read texts by François Rabelais, Michel de Montaigne, Molière, Montesquieu and Voltaire. We will put into question the radical stylistic change between the “abundance and waste” of Renaissance writing, and the subsequent “purification” of classicism, to use Bruno Latour’s theory from We have never been modern and his lectures in conferences from Face à Gaïa. Other secondary texts supplement our study of Latour’s work, and also include canonical texts in ecocriticism and environmental studies by Jeffrey Cohen, Timothy Morton, and Stacy Alaimo. Pauline Goul.
One 2-hour period.
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FREN 348 - Modernism and its Discontents
1 unit(s)
Not offered in 2017/18.
One 2-hour period.
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FREN 355 - Cross-Currents in French Culture
1 unit(s)
Not offered in 2017/18.
One 2-hour period.
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FREN 366 - Francophone Literature and Cultures Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
1 unit(s)
Topic for 2017/18a: The Detours of Experience: History and Memory in Postcolonial Francophone Literatures. In the past 25 years, memory has become a resurgent question as official versions of History have increasingly been brought under scrutiny. This course examines the representation of the past in a cross-section of contemporary francophone novels from the Caribbean, and North and West Africa. We analyze the protagonists’ new role as cultural mediators between a personal and a collective memory to reveal the silences of History and reconstruct forgotten experiences. We evaluate the authors’ treatment of the concept of narrator as witness. Finally, we look at the impact of memory on a new aesthetic of literary commitment.
Authors studied include Marie-Célie Agnant (Haïti), Nathacha Appanah (Mauritius/France), Nina Bouraoui (France), Boubacar Boris Diop (Senegal), Tierno Monenembo (France/Guinea), Gisèle Pineau and Maryse Condé (France/Guadelupe), Leïla Sebbar (France/Algeria), and Abdourahman Waberi (France/USA/Djibouti). Patricia-Pia Célérier
Topic for 2017/18b: Screening Integration. French films have a reputation in the US for being too intellectual or “artsy” for the masses and steeped in so-called avant-garde aesthetics. This seminar aims to debunk that stereotype by exploring how the astonishing diversity and accessibility of French cinematic production actually reflects France’s historical move towards a multiculturalist society. In particular, since the early 1980s, French citizens of North African immigrant descent have engaged in making a cinema that foregrounds their experiences. Likewise, as protagonists, they now play central roles on the French screen. By accessing the means of production, Maghrebi-French filmmakers have moved from the activist, marginal cinema of the 1980s to the mainstream French film industry in the 1990s. Their films not only gained mainstream recognition at the national and international level, but have now also reached a critical mass, which permits us to evaluate them in relation to one another. The breadth of this new cinematic corpus gives us the opportunity to consider how the French Republic has dealt with questions of migration and integration – both clearly anchored within France’s colonial and postcolonial history – while foregrounding human stories, an approach in which the cinematic medium excels. We focus on films of various genres, from comedy (Djamel Bensalah) and heritage films (Rachid Bouchareb) to dramas (Abdellatif Kechiche) and crime fiction (Roschdy Zem) of the 1990s and 2000s. Our study of these topical films offers us a way to understand how cultural products such as cinema also participate in the social and political debate, and thus contribute to the construction of the idea that is the nation. Vinay Swamy.
One 2-hour period.
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FREN 370 - Stylistics and Translation Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
A study of different modes of writing and of the major problems encountered when translating from English to French, and vice versa. Practice with a broad range of both literary and nonliterary texts. Cynthia Kerr.
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FREN 378 - Black Paris
1 unit(s)
(Same as AFRS 378 and ENGL 378 ) This multidisciplinary course examines black cultural productions in Paris from the first Conference of Negro-African writers and artists in 1956 to the present. While considered a haven by African American artists, Paris, the metropolitan center of the French empire, was a more complex location for African and Afro-Caribbean intellectuals and artists. Yet, the city provided a key space for the development and negotiation of a black diasporic consciousness. This course examines the tensions born from expatriation and exile, and the ways they complicate understandings of racial, national and transnational identities. Using literature, film, music, and new media, we explore topics ranging from modernism, jazz, Négritude, Pan-Africanism, and the Présence Africaine group, to assess the meanings of blackness and race in contemporary Paris. Works by James Baldwin, Aime Césaire, Chester Himes, Claude McKay, the Nardal sisters, Richard Wright. Ousmane Sembène, Mongo Beti, among others, are studied.
Not offered in 2017/18.
One 2-hour period.
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FREN 380 - Special Seminar
1 unit(s)
Not offered in 2017/18.
One 2-hour period.
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FREN 399 - Senior Independent Work Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
0.5 to 1 unit(s)
One unit of credit given only in exceptional cases and by permission of the Chair. The department.
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Geography-Anthropology |
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GEAN 290 - Field Work
0.5 to 1 unit(s)
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GEAN 300 - Senior Thesis Semester Offered: Fall
0.5 unit(s)
A 1-unit thesis with 1/2 unit graded provisionally in the fall and 1/2 unit graded in the spring. The final grade, awarded in the spring, shall replace the provisional grade in the fall. Ordinarily, the senior thesis will have two faculty advisors, one from Anthropology and one from Geography. The department.
Yearlong course 300-GEAN 301 .
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GEAN 301 - Senior Thesis Semester Offered: Spring
0.5 unit(s)
A 1-unit thesis with 1/2 unit graded provisionally in the fall and 1/2 unit graded in the spring. The final grade, awarded in the spring, shall replace the provisional grade in the fall. Ordinarily, the senior thesis will have two faculty advisors, one from Anthropology and one from Geography. The department.
Yearlong course GEAN 300 -301.
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GEAN 302 - Senior Thesis Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
1 unit(s)
Students may elect a 1-unit thesis only in exceptional circumstances. Usually, students will adopt GEAN 300 -GEAN 301 . The department.
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GEAN 399 - Senior Independent Work Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
0.5 to 1 unit(s)
By permission of the adviser and the instructor who will supervise the work.
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Geography: I. Introductory |
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GEOG 100 - Earth Resource Challenges
1 unit(s)
(Same as ESCI 100 , ESSC 100 , and ENST 100 ) This course combines the insights of the natural and social sciences to address a topic of societal concern. Geographers bring spatial analysis of human environmental change, while Earth scientists contribute their knowledge of the diverse natural processes shaping the Earth’s surface. Together, these distinctive yet complementary fields contribute to comprehensive understandings of the physical limitations and potentials, uses and misuses of the Earth’s natural resources. Each year the topic of the course changes to focus on selected resource problems facing societies and environments around the world. When this course is team-taught by faculty from Earth Science and Geography, it serves as an introduction to both disciplines.
Open only to freshmen; satisfies college requirement for a Freshman Writing Seminar.
Not offered in 2017/18.
Two 75-minute periods.
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GEOG 102 - Global Geography: People, Places, and Regions Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
1 unit(s)
Places and regions are fundamental parts of the human experience. From our hometowns to the Vassar campus, the United States, and the world beyond, we all inherit but then actively reproduce our geographies through the ways in which we lead our lives—by our social practices and spatial movements, and by the meanings we ascribe to people, places, and regions. In this manner, people shape their cultural landscapes and create the spatial divisions that represent global power relations, ideologies, socioeconomic differences, and the uneven distribution of resources. In this course we study the making of the modern world at different scales, ranging from the local to the global—through case studies drawn from the Hudson Valley and around the world—with an emphasis on the ways people, places, and regions relate to socio-economic inequalities. In addition to learning about specific places and regions, we focus on major themes and debates in geography, including mapping and cartographic communication, culture and landscape modification, population and sustainable development, agriculture and urbanization, and political divisions of the globe. The department.
Two 75-minute periods.
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GEOG 111 - Science and Justice in the Anthropocene Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as ESCI 111 and STS 111 ) Geoscientists have proposed a new designation in the geologic time scale for our current time period, “the Anthropocene.” The designation reflects the fact that human beings are acting as geological agents, transforming the Earth on a global scale. In this freshman seminar course we explore the possibilities of reconfiguring the actions of humans in the Anthropocene so as to lead to a flowering of a new Era once called ‘the Ecozoic’ by cultural historian Thomas Berry. Jill Schneiderman.
Open to freshmen only; satisfies college requirement for a Freshman Writing Seminar.
Two 75-minute periods.
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Geography: II. Intermediate |
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GEOG 220 - Cartography: Making Maps with GIS Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as ESCI 220 ) Cartography, the science and art of map-making, is integral to the geographer’s craft. This course uses GIS to make thematic maps and to acquire and present data, including data fitting students’ individual interests. In addition, we explore the culture, politics, and technology of historic cartography, and we examine techniques in using maps as rhetoric and as political tools. Throughout the course, we focus on issues of clear, efficient, and intentional communication through graphic presentation of data. Thus, the course integrates problems of graphic design and aesthetics with strategies of manipulating quantitative data. ArcGIS is used in labs for map production and data analysis. Mary Ann Cunningham.
Prerequisite(s): one 100-level Geography or Earth Science course, or permission of the instructor.
Satisfies the college requirement for quantitative reasoning.
Two 75-minute periods; one 2-hour laboratory.
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GEOG 221 - Soils Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as ESCI 221 ) Soils form an important interface between the lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere. As such, they are critical to understanding the functioning of ecosystems. This course studies soil formation, and the physical and chemical properties of soils critical to the understanding of natural and constructed ecosystems. Field trips and laboratory work focus on the description and interpretation of local soils. Jeffrey Walker.
Prerequisite(s): one introductory course in Biology, Chemistry, Earth Science; or ENST 124 .
Two 75-minute periods; one 4-hour laboratory/field period.
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GEOG 224 - GIS: Spatial Analysis Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as ESCI 224 ) Geographic information systems (GIS) are increasingly important and widespread packages for manipulating and presenting spatial data. While this course uses ArcGIS, the same software as Cartography, the primary focus here is spatial analysis (calculating patterns and relationships), rather than map design for data visualization. We explore a variety of techniques for answering questions with spatial data, including overlay, map algebra (math using multiple input layers), hydrologic modeling, surface interpolation, and site selection. Issues of data collection through remote sensing and sampling are addressed. GIS involves a more rapid introduction to the software than Cartography does; it is useful to take both Cartography and GIS (preferably in that order) to gain a more complete understanding of spatial data analysis and manipulation. Mary Ann Cunningham.
Satisfies the college requirement for quantitative reasoning.
Two 75-minute periods; one 2-hour laboratory.
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GEOG 228 - Web Mapping: Advanced Approaches to Publishing
0.5 unit(s)
Web maps, map apps, story maps, and other emerging applications offer new opportunities to publicize and share spatial data. Other applications such as the Collector app and Open Street Map promote group sourcing of data. This half-unit course introduces several of these techniques and asks that students make and present several of their own online maps, using data sources of their choice. The main aim of this course is to gain further experience with GIS and to learn effective ways of communicating spatial data to an online audience. As a short course, it is less thorough than the standard GIS and Cartography courses, but it offers an opportunity to explore special topics that build on those classes. We use class time to learn and compare applications and to evaluate strategies and designs for web-based mapping. We also explore some of the broader implications of data publishing. Mary Ann Cunningham.
Prerequisite(s): GEOG 220 or GEOG 224 , or permission of the instructor.
First six-week course.
Not offered in 2017/18.
Two 75-minute periods.
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GEOG 230 - Geographic Research Methods
1 unit(s)
How do we develop clear research questions, and how do we know when we have the answer? Focusing on qualitative approaches, this course examines different methods for asking and answering questions about the world, which are essential skills in geography and other disciplines. Topics include formulation of a research question or hypothesis, research design, and data collection and analysis. We examine major research and methodological papers in the discipline, design an empirical research project, and carry out basic data analysis. Students who are considering writing a thesis or conducting other independent research and writing are encouraged to take this course. The department.
Not offered in 2017/18.
Two 75-minute periods.
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GEOG 231 - Geomorphology: Surface Processes and Evolution of Landforms
1 unit(s)
(Same as ESCI 231 ) Quantitative study of the physical, chemical, and biological processes that create Earth’s many landforms. Topics include weathering and erosion, landsliding and debris flows, sediment transport by rivers and glaciers, the role of climate in landscape modification, and the use of landforms to document earthquake hazards. Lab exercises emphasize fundamental skills in geomorphologic analysis such as mapping, surveying, interpretation of aerial photography, and use of Geographic Information Systems software. Kirsten Menking.
Prerequisite(s): ESCI 151 or permission of the instructor.
Satisfies college requirement for quantitative reasoning.
Not offered in 2017/18.
Two 75-minute periods; one 4-hour laboratory/field period. An overnight weekend field trip may be required.
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GEOG 235 - Water
1 unit(s)
(Same as ESCI 235 ) Sixty to seventy percent of Dutchess County residents depend on groundwater supplies to meet their daily needs. Industrial pollution and road salt have contaminated many of these supplies, spawning legal actions and requiring costly remediation. Ensuring adequate and safe groundwater supplies for humans and ecosystems requires extensive knowledge of the hydrologic cycle and of how contaminants may be introduced into water resources. We explore how rainfall and snowmelt infiltrate into soils and bedrock to become part of the groundwater system, learn what factors govern subsurface flow, and discuss the concept of well-head protection, which seeks to protect groundwater recharge areas from contamination. Using Vassar’s teaching well at the field station we perform a number of experiments to assess aquifer properties, water chemistry, and presence of microbial contaminants. Comfort with basic algebra and trigonometry is expected. Kirsten Menking.
Prerequisite(s): ESCI 151 , ENST 124 , or permission of the instructor.
Satisfies the college requirement for quantitative reasoning.
Not offered in 2017/18.
Two 75-minute periods; one 4-hour laboratory/field period.
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GEOG 236 - The Making of Modern East Asia: Empires and Transnational Interactions
1 unit(s)
(Same as ASIA 236 ) East Asia–the homeland of the oldest continuous civilization of the world–is now the most dynamic center in the world economy and an emerging power in global politics. Central to the global expansion of trade, production, and cultural exchange through the span of several millennia, the East Asian region provides a critical lens for us to understand the origin, transformation and future development of the global system. This course provides a multidisciplinary understanding of the common and contrasting experiences of East Asian countries as each struggled to come to terms with the western dominated expansion of global capitalism and the modernization process. The course incorporates a significant amount of visual imagery such as traditional painting and contemporary film, in addition to literature. Professors from Art History, Film, Chinese and Japanese literature and history will give guest lecture in the course, on special topics such as ancient Chinese and Japanese arts, East Asia intellectual history, Japanese war literature, post war American hegemony, and vampire films in Southeast Asia. Together, they illustrate the diverse and complex struggles of different parts of East Asia to construct their own modernities. Yu Zhou.
Prerequisite(s): at least one 100-level course in Geography or Asian Studies.
Not offered in 2017/18.
Two 75-minute periods.
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GEOG 238 - Environmental China: Nature, Culture, and Development Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as ASIA 238 and INTL 238 ) China is commonly seen in the West as a sad example, even the culprit, of global environmental ills. Besides surpassing the United States to be the world’s largest source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, China also experiences widespread pollution of its air, soil and water–arguably among the worst in the world. Yet, few will dispute the fact that China holds the key for the future global environment as it emerges as the largest economy on earth. This course examines China’s environments as created by and mediated through historical, cultural, political, economic and social forces both internal and external to the country. Moving away from prevailing caricatures of a “toxic” China, the course studies Chinese humanistic traditions, which offer rich and deep lessons on how the environment has shaped human activities and vice versa. We examine China’s long-lasting intellectual traditions on human/environmental interactions; diversity of environmental practices rooted in its ecological diversity; environmental tensions resulting from rapid regional development and globalization in the contemporary era; and most recently, the social activism and innovation of green technology in China. Yu Zhou.
Two 75-minute periods.
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GEOG 242 - Brazil in Crisis: Continuity and Change in Portuguese America
1 unit(s)
(Same as AFRS 242 , INTL 242 , and LALS 242 ) Brazil, a giant of Latin America and the Global South, has long been known as the “land of the future.” Yet frustrating political-economic crises have repeatedly followed periods of rapid growth and social progress. Taking current crises as a point of departure, this course examines Brazil’s contemporary evolution in light of the country’s historical geography, the distinctive cultural and environmental features of Portuguese America, and the political-economic linkages with the world system. Specific topics for study include: the legacies of colonial Brazil; race relations, Afro-Brazilian culture, and ethnic identities; issues of gender, youth, violence, and poverty; processes of urban-industrial growth; regionalism and national integration; environmental devastation and sustainability; controversies surrounding the occupation of Amazonia; and long-run prospects for democracy and equitable development in Brazil. Brian Godfrey.
Not offered in 2017/18.
Two 75-minute periods.
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GEOG 246 - The U.S.-Mexico Border: Capital, State, and Nation Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as LALS 246 ) Born in large part of violence, conquest and dispossession, the United States-Mexico border region has evolved over almost two centuries into a site of intense economic growth and trade, demographic expansion, ethno-cultural interaction, and political geographic conflict. The course focuses on these processes over space and time as they relate to capitalist production, state-making, and nation-building on both sides of the international divide. In doing so, the course considers the U.S.-Mexico borderlands as a region, one characterized by dynamic transboundary ties and myriad forms of socio-spatial difference. Joseph Nevins.
Two 75-minute periods.
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GEOG 250 - Urban Geography: Space, Place, Environment Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as URBS 250 ) Now that most of the world’s population lives in urban areas, expanding city-regions pose a series of social, spatial and environmental problems. This course focuses on the making of urban spaces, places, and environments at a variety of geographical scales. We examine entrepreneurial urban branding, sense of place and place making, geographies of race and class, urbanization of nature, environmental and spatial justice, and urban risk and resilience in facing climate change. Concentrating on American urbanism, case studies include New York City, Poughkeepsie, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Students also research specific issues in cities of their own choice, such as land-use planning and public space, historic preservation, transit-oriented development, urban ecology and restoration, urban sustainability programs, and citizen movements for livable cities. Brian Godfrey.
Two 75-minute periods.
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GEOG 252 - Cities of the Global South: Urbanization and Social Change in the Developing World Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as URBS 252 and INTL 252 ) The largest and fastest wave of urbanization in human history is now underway in the Global South—the developing countries of Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. Most of the world’s urban population already resides here, where mega-cities now reach massive proportions. Despite widespread economic dynamism, high rates of urbanization and deprivation often coincide, so many of the 21st century’s greatest challenges will arise in the Global South. This course examines postcolonial urbanism, global-city and ordinary-city theories, informal settlements and slums, social and environmental justice, and urban design, planning, and governance. We study scholarly, journalistic, and film depictions of Mexico City and Rio de Janeiro in Latin America; Algiers and Lagos in Africa; Cairo and Istanbul in the Middle East; and Beijing and Mumbai in Asia. Brian Godfrey.
Prerequisite(s): a previous Geography or Urban Studies course.
Two 75-minute periods.
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GEOG 254 - Environmental Science in the Field Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as ENST 254 ) The environment consists of complex and often elegant interactions between various constituents so that an interdisciplinary approach is required to understand how human interactions may affect it. In this course, we study a variety of aspects of a specific environment by considering how biological, chemical, geological, and human factors interact. We observe these interactions first hand during a weeklong field trip. Some of the questions we may consider are: How does a coral polyp create an environment that not only suits its particular species, but also helps regulate the global climate? How has human development and associated water demands in the desert Southwest changed the landscape, fire ecology, and even estuary and fisheries’ health as far away as the Gulf of California? How have a variety of species (humans included) managed to survive on an island with the harsh environment of the exposed mid-ocean ridge of Iceland? The course is offered every other year, and topics vary with expertise of the faculty teaching the course. Jenny Magnes and Mary Ann Cunningham.
Prerequisite(s): permission of the instructor.
Two 75-minute periods.
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GEOG 256 - Geographies of Food and Farming
1 unit(s)
Farming and food production connect us to the landscapes in which we live, and they shape the geographies of our communities. Increasingly, farming and food also connect us to processes of globalization. The world produces more food than ever before, yet factors such as centralization of production and competition from biofuels lead to food shortages in developing regions and continuing losses of rainforests from Brazil to Indonesia. One key strategy for understanding these connections is to examine the biogeographic patterns that shape food production. In this course, we focus first on the physical environmental factors (including water resources, climate patterns, and biodiversity) that characterize agricultural regions of North America. As part of this discussion, we consider ethical, political, and cultural aspects of food production. We then use these frameworks to examine global production and exchanges of food. We use case studies, such as land conversion in Brazil and Indonesia, to understand prominent debates about food and farming today. Mary Ann Cunningham.
Not offered in 2017/18.
Two 75-minute periods.
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GEOG 258 - Sustainable Landscapes: Bridging Place and Environment in Poughkeepsie
1 unit(s)
(Same as URBS 258 ) Geographers have long understood the relationship of aesthetic landscapes and place to include concepts of identity, control, and territory. Increasingly we consider landscape aesthetics in the context of sustainability and environmental quality. How do these contrasting sets of priorities meet in the process of landscape design and land use analysis? In this course we begin by examining regional and local histories of landscape design and land use planning and their relationship to concepts of place, territory, and identity. We consider landscape ecological approaches to marrying aesthetic, land use planning, and environmental priorities in landscapes. We investigate local issues such as watershed quality, native plantings, and storm water management in the context of local land use planning in order to consider creative ways to bridge these once-contrary approaches to understanding the landscapes we occupy and construct. We focus on projects and topics related to the greater Poughkeepsie area. Susan Blickstein.
Prerequisite(s): one 100-level course in Geography.
Not offered in 2017/18.
One 3-hour period.
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GEOG 260 - Conservation of Natural Resources
1 unit(s)
(Same as ESCI 260 ) Natural resources are perennially at the center of debates on sustainability, planning, land development, and environmental policy. The ways we conceptualize resources can be as important to understanding these issues as their actual distributions are. This course provides a geographic perspective on natural resource conservation, using local examples to provide deeper experience with resource debates. We focus particularly on forest resources: biodiversity, forest health, timber resources, forest policy, and the ways people have struggled to make a living in forested ecosystems. We discuss these issues on a global scale (such as tropical timber piracy and forest conversion), and we explore them locally in the Adirondacks of New York. This course requires that students spend October Break on a group study trip in the Adirondacks. Students must be willing to spend long, cold days outside, including some strenuous physical activity (unless special permission is arranged with the instructor). Mary Ann Cunningham.
Students wishing to register under Earth Science must have had at least one previous earth science course.
Not offered in 2017/18.
Two 75-minute periods.
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