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Catalogue 2014-2015 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
Course Descriptions
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Film: II. Intermediate |
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FILM 233 - The McCarthy Era and Film
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. Ms. Kozloff.
Prerequisite: FILM 175 or FILM 210 and permission of the instructor.
Not offered in 2014/15.
Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.
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FILM 235 - 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 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 (i.e., the careers of Ronald Reagan, Clint Eastwood, Arnold Schwarzenegger). 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. Ms. Mask.
Prerequisite: FILM 175 or FILM 210 and permission of the instructor.
Not offered in 2014/15.
Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.
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FILM 236 - 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. Ms. Mask.
Prerequisite: FILM 175 or FILM 210 and permission of the instructor.
Not offered in 2014/15.
Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.
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FILM 237 - Indian National Cinema
1 unit(s)
(Same as ASIA 237 ) 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). Ms. Harvey.
Prerequisites: FILM 175 or FILM 210 and permission of the instructor.
Not offered in 2014/15.
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. Mr. Mann.
Prerequisite: one course in music (not performance) or film.
Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.
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FILM 239 - Contemporary Southeast Asian Cinemas Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as ASIA 239 ) 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. Ms. Harvey.
Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.
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FILM 240 - Sophomore Production: Story and Screen Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
1 unit(s)
This is a course about becoming a better finder, reader, and teller of visual stories. Through a series of exercises and video projects we cover every aspect of production, from the smallest and most technical aspects of lighting and shooting to the big-picture issues of production ethics and theory. Over the course of the semester we are all videographers, sound designers, editors, writers, directors, producers, theorists, and critics—and we discover how these roles often overlap. Along with creating new projects of our own we will be reflecting on projects already done by professionals and other students. Every week we sample some of the masterpieces of cinema but we also occasionally look at shorter journalistic videos, experimental films, television programs, and music videos. Mr. Slattery-Quintanilla.
Prerequisite: FILM 210 .
No technical experience is required.
Two 75-minute periods.
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FILM 255 - Italian Cinema in English Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as ITAL 255 ) Close analysis of the narrative and visual styles of Bernardo Bertolucci, Lina Wertmüller, 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 cinematic works aid us in addressing questions of style and of political and social significance. Ms. Blumenfeld.
No prerequisites.
Open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors. May be counted towards the Italian major.
Two 75-minute periods and two film 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). Ms. Harvey.
Prerequisite: FILM 175 or FILM 210 and permission of the instructor.
Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.
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FILM 266 - Genre: Horror
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. Ms. Harvey.
Prerequisites: FILM 175 or FILM 210 , and permission of the instructor.
Not offered in 2014/15.
Two 75-minute periods, plus outside screenings.
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FILM 284 - American Television History Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as MEDS 284 ) This course analyzes the history of American television, the most ubiquitous American mass medium of the last 70 years. It spans from its roots in radio broadcasting to the latest developments in digital television. In assessing the many changes across this span, the course will cover such topics as why the American television industry developed as a commercial medium in contrast to most other national television industries, how television programming has both reflected and influenced cultural ideologies through the decades, and how historical patterns of television consumption have shifted due to new technologies and social changes. Through studying the historical development of television programs and assessing the industrial, technological, political, aesthetic, and cultural systems out of which they emerged, the course will piece together the catalysts responsible for shaping this highly influential medium. Screenings may include Marty, Dragnet, I Spy, Father Knows Best, Amos & Andy, The Beverly Hillbillies, The Twilight Zone, Twin Peaks, Married…With Children, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Steve Harvey Show, Survivor, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, among others. Mr. Scepanski.
Prerequisite: FILM 175 or FILM 210 .
Two 75-minute periods.
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FILM 287 - Crisis and Catastrophe in the Media Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as MEDS 287 ) Though unpleasant by definition, few would deny the impact and importance of events like 9/11 and the assassination of John F. Kennedy. How and why do these events grab our attention and what impacts do they have on culture and society? In cases like these, few people are present as eyewitness, meaning that most of our experience comes through media representations in news, documentary, historical reimagining, and outright fiction. This course examines how mass media has covered and subsequently engaged with moments of crisis and catastrophe in 20th and 21st century America. Students will learn to think critically about how and why certain events become “collective traumas” while others may not, paying attention to the economic, ideological, and historical factors that go into coverage. The course will also examine how these events reverberate through culture in journalism, fictionalized accounts, historical fiction, and even more fantastic genres like horror film. In addition to 9/11 and the Kennedy assassination, this course will investigate the War of the Worlds radio broadcast, Pearl Harbor, other assassinations of the 1960s, the 1992 Los Angeles riots/uprising, and Hurricane Katrina, among other crises and catastrophes. Screenings may include news coverage, JFK (Stone, 1991), Malcolm X (Lee, 1992), The Most Dangerous Man in America (Ehrlich and Goldsmith, 2009), All the President’s Men (Pakula, 1976), United 93 (Greengrass, 2006), Cloverfield (Reeves, 2006), When the Levees Broke (Lee, 2006) and episodes from television shows like The Boondocks, Doogie Howser, MD, In Living Color, Def Comedy Jam, The West Wing, and others.
Prerequisites: FILM 175 and FILM 210 .
Two 75-minute periods, plus outside screenings.
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FILM 298 - Independent Work Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
1/2 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.
Prerequisites: 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). Mr. Fligelman.
Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.
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FILM 310 - Film Authorship Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
This course examines the complications of authorship in film by analyzing various competing theoretical models. Then it tests these models against the collected work on an auteur. Students will be expected to attend screenings, conduct independent research, and keep up with wide variety of readings. Ms. Kozloff.
Director for 2014/15b: Alfred Hitchcock.
Prerequisite: FILM 210 and FILM 211 .
Note that this class does not replace the major requirement of FILM 392 .
One 2-hour period, plus one weekly screening.
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FILM 319 - 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 students who have produced work of distinction in FILM 317 . To be announced.
Prerequisites: FILM 210 /FILM 211 , DRAM 317 or FILM 317 , and permission of the instructor.
One 2-hour period plus outside screenings.
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FILM 320 - Filmmaking Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
This course concentrates on a theoretical and practical examination of the art of visual communication on 16 mm. film. Assignments emphasize developing, visualizing, and editing narratives from original ideas. Instructors may emphasize narrative projects. Mr. Robinson, Mr. Slattery-Quintanilla.
Fees: see section on fees.
Prerequisites: FILM 210 , FILM 211 and permission of the instructor.
One 2-hour period, plus one 3-hour lab.
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FILM 325 - Writing the Short Film Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
Students learn the process of developing original, twenty minute narrative screenplays. Scripts produced in FILM 327 are selected from those created in Film 325. Must be taken concurrently with FILM 326 . Mr. Slattery-Quintanilla.
Prerequisites: 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 specific to the documentary genre as students explore a variety of documentary styles. Student crews make twenty-minute documentaries in HD digital that explore in depth a person, place, event, or an issue. Students learn advanced video and sound-recording techniques, using professional grade digital cameras, sound recorders and microphones. Post-production is done on Final Cut Pro. Mr. Riccobono.
Fees: see section on fees.
Prerequisites: FILM 320 , FILM 321 and permission of the instructor.
One 3-hour period, plus one 3-hour laboratory.
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FILM 327 - Narrative Workshop Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
Student crews create twenty-minute 16mm sync/sound narrative films from original student scripts written in FILM 325 . Individual members of each crew are responsible for the major areas of production and post- production: direction, camera, editing, and sound. The projects are shot on color negative film and edited digitally using Final Cut Pro. Students wishing to compete for directing positions in Film 327 must have completed FILM 325 . Mr. Robinson, Mr. Slattery-Quintanilla.
Fees: see section on fees.
Prerequisite: FILM 326 and permission of the instructor.
One 3-hour period, plus one 3-hour laboratory.
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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. Mr. Ellman, Mr. Roseman.
Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.
Offered alternate years.
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 either a given author or 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 2014/15a: Sensuous Theory. This seminar explores the relationship between film and the senses. How can film, an audio-visual medium, represent and engage with the proximal senses of touch, taste, and smell? How might films employ the senses to reconfigure the relationship between the cinema and the spectator? How can these sensuous films articulate senses of belonging, displacement, or exile? The seminar situates our discussions of these questions within discourses of film phenomenology, postmodernism, gender studies, and postcolonialism. Readings may include: Jennifer M. Barker (The Tactile Eye: Touch and the Cinematic Experience, 2009), Thomas Elsaesser and Malte Hagener (Film Theory: An Introduction Through the Senses, 2010), Laura U. Marks (The Skin of the Film: Intercultural Cinema, Embodiment and the Senses, 2000, and Sensuous Theory and Multisensory Media, 2002), Hamid Naficy (An Accented Cinema: Exilic and Diasporic Filmmaking, 2001), and Vivian Sobchack (Carnal Thoughts: Embodiment and Moving Image Culture, 2004). Film screenings may include: Un Chien Andalou (Luis Buñuel, 1929), Daisies (Vera Chytilová, 1966), The Conversation (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974), Eraserhead (David Lynch, 1977), Tetsuo, the Iron Man (Shinya Tsukamoto, 1989), The Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme, 1991), Daughters of the Dust (Julie Dash, 1992), Calendar (Atom Egoyan, 1993), Toy Story (John Lasseter, 1995), Fight Club (David Fincher, 1999), Martyrs (Pascal Laugier, 2008), and The Skin I Live In (Pedro Almodóvar, 2011).
Topic for 2014/15b: 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, will be studied. Ms. Mask.
Prerequisites: FILM 210 /FILM 211 , two additional units in film history and theory, and permission of the instructor.
One 3-hour period, plus film screenings.
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FILM 399 - Senior Independent Work Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
1/2 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, 2 hours 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, 2 hours of drill and oral practice.
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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: 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; one hour 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.” Review and expansion of more complex linguistic structures and proficiency skills serve as preparation for upper 200-level courses. The department.
Prerequisite: FREN 206 or equivalent.
Enrollment limited by class. Placement test required.
Three 50-minute or two 75-minute periods; one hour 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. The department.
Prerequisite: 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. Mr. Andrews.
Prerequisite: FREN 210 or FREN 212 or the equivalent.
Not offered in 2014/15.
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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.
Prerequisite: FREN 210 or FREN 212 or the equivalent.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2014/15.
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FREN 231 - Revolutionary France and Its Legacies
1 unit(s)
Studies in French literature, history, and culture in relation to the French Revolution during the Enlightenment and the Romantic period.
Prerequisite: FREN 210 or FREN 212 or the equivalent.
Not offered in 2014/15.
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.
Topic for 2014/15a: Music and Text. From Bizet’s opera Carmen, inspired by Prosper Mérimée’s nineteenth-century novella, to modern cultural practices including rap, raï, slam, and environmentally focused sound recordings, the course examines literary language in relation to music. How does language “sing,” and what does music “say?” If music performs a “socially prescribed task,” as musicologist Richard Middleton proposes, then what do various combinations of music and language suggest about specific moments in French history? We address this question by considering music and literature both separately and together in relation to class, gender, ethnicity, and national identity. Readings include song lyrics, poetry by Charles Baudelaire and Paul Verlaine, a play by Marguerite Duras, and fiction by Germaine de Staël and Jean-Paul Sartre. Required films are Edmond T. Gréville’s Princesse Tam-Tam, Jaco van Dormael’s Toto le héros, and Christophe Barratier’s Les choristes. Ms. Hart.
Prerequisite: FREN 210 or FREN 212 or the equivalent.
Two 75-minute periods.
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FREN 235 - Contemporary France Semester Offered: Fall
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. Ms. Celerier.
Prerequisite: FREN 210 or FREN 212 or the equivalent.
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FREN 240 - Grammar and Composition Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
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. Mr. Swamy (a), Mr. Reyes (b).
Prerequisite: FREN 210 or FREN 212 or the equivalent.
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FREN 241 - Composition and Conversation
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. Mr. Andrews.
Prerequisite: FREN 210 or FREN 212 or the equivalent.
Not offered in 2014/15.
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FREN 242 - Studies in Genre I
1 unit(s)
Study of narrative and prose forms including the novel, autobiography, and the essay.
Prerequisite: another 200-level course above FREN 206 or equivalent.
Not offered in 2014/15.
Two 75-minute periods.
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FREN 243 - Studies in Genre II
1 unit(s)
Study of dramatic and lyric forms including theater, poetry, and song.
Prerequisite: FREN 210 or FREN 212 or the equivalent.
Not offered in 2014/15.
Two 75-minute periods.
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FREN 244 - French Cinema Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
Topic for 2014/2015b: At the Turn of the Millennium: France and Film. The last few decades of the twentieth century ushered in many changes in the very fabric of French society. Focusing on films made in the last two decades, this course examines the various concerns of French society and its relationship with emerging “postcolonial” culture(s). By examining the representation of gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity and race in these films, this course highlights the different processes by which the so-called “French” identity is constructed and can be (and is being) deconstructed. Mr. Swamy.
Prerequisite: FREN 210 or FREN 212 or the equivalent.
Two 75-minute periods, plus evening film screenings.
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FREN 246 - French-Speaking Cultures and Literatures of Africa and the Caribbean Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as AFRS 246 ) Topic for 2014/15b: What Does Comic Art Say? African comic art comes in a variety of styles, languages, and formats. From the comic strip, found in newspapers and magazines, to developmental and political cartoons, it interfaces with journalism, painting, advertising, television, film and music. Having placed comic art in its theoretical context, we analyze the production of francophone ‘bédéistes’ (cartoonists) from and on Africa, such as Marguerite Abouet and Clément Oubrerie’s Aya de Yopougon, Edimo-Simon-Pierre Mbumbo’s Malamine, un Africain à Paris, Pahé’s La vie de Pahé, Serge Diantantu’s Simon Kimbangu, Arnaud Floc’h’s La compagnie des cochons and Stassen Les Enfants. We also examine how cartoon characters such as Camphy Combo and Gorgooloo, respectively in Gbich! and Le Cafard Libéré, represent the complexities of francophone African urban society at the turn of the century. Ms. Célérier.
Prerequisite: FREN 210 or FREN 212 or the equivalent.
Two 75-minute periods.
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FREN 290 - Field Work
1/2 to 1 unit(s)
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FREN 298 - Independent Work Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
1/2 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 and Spring
1 unit(s)
Open only to majors. The department.
Permission required.
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FREN 301 - Senior Translation Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
1/2 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
1/2 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
1/2 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 2014/15b: Sugar, Slaves, and the French Atlantic. This seminar explores the tension between purity and “mixture” in the French imagination, and inquires into how the evolution of this relationship led to successive framings of French colonies, slaves and the goods they produced. From pre-Revolutionary France, where this dialectic was at the center of a nexus of sugar, slavery, and empire, to the Enlightenment and an ever-greater ambivalence towards slavery, we explore the ethical problematics set in motion by French colonization and trade practices. By investigating paradigms as diverse as luxury, libertinage and monstrosity, we discover a literary culture grappling with material desires and fears of mixing. We crisscross the Atlantic with readings of texts from both metropolitan France and the new world, in particular, Haiti and Louisiana, where we find new literary and cultural iterations of this dialectic in the Creole language, métissage and material as mixed as Haitian vaudou and New Orleans gumbo. Authors include Descartes, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Claire de Duras, Doin, de Staël, paired with activists and ethnographers such as Toussaint Louverture and Charles-César Robin. Mr. Parker.
One 2-hour period.
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FREN 348 - Modernism and its Discontents Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
Topic for 2014/15a: Modern Masterpieces. The course focuses on literary and artistic output in the twentieth century, taking Paris as its point of departure. We study a selection of works commonly viewed as masterpieces, and consider the evolution of a category both revered and repudiated as a window on the turbulent transformations of life and art during the period. Authors may include: Proust, Gide, Colette, Césaire, Camus, Sartre, Becket, Duras. Mr. Andrews.
One 2-hour period.
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FREN 355 - Cross-Currents in French Culture
1 unit(s)
Not offered in 2014/15.
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FREN 366 - Francophone Literature and Cultures Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
Topic for 2014/15a: Education and Ideology in (Post)colonial Francophone Contexts. In this seminar, the theme of education in its various forms – indigenous, colonial, republican, postcolonial, formal, informal – serves as a focal point around which we can develop a discussion of the complex rapport that numerous cultures have built with the French language. In examining presentations of different modes in which children and young adults are nurtured in (post)colonial Francophone contexts, the course elaborates on the intricate relationship between ideology (colonial or other), culture (French/Francophone) and the nation. Mr. 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. Ms. 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. Ms. Célérier and Ms. Dunbar.
Not offered in 2014/15.
One 2-hour period.
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FREN 380 - Special Seminar Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
Topic for 2014/15b: Je me souviens: Imagining Québécois Nationalism in the 21st Century. This course analyzes multiple strands of contemporary Québécois nationalisms as they are represented and imagined in juridical, political, and cultural texts. We will examine the platforms of current-day political parties interested in separation from Canada, and revisit larger policy debates regarding the place of the French-language, immigrants, and religious accommodations in Québec as they played out in recent, province-wide controversies surrounding the use of the word “pasta” on a restaurant menu, a turban on a soccer field, and the place of Muslim women’s headscarves among Québécois civil servants. In our analysis of the contested space of national identity we will draw upon important cultural representations of Québec from filmmakers such as Claude Jutra (Mon oncle Antoine) and Denys Arcand (Les invasions barbares); musicians from Gilles Vigneault (variété québécoise) to Loco Locass (contemporary hip-hop) and Les Cowboys Fringants (rock québécois); and literary works from Gaston Miron, Dany Laferrière and others. After completing this course, students will have acquired a solid foundation for contextualizing other cultural and political expressions of Québécois nationalism and will have acquired a nuanced, theoretical vocabulary for discussing the state of nationalism in the twenty-first century more broadly. No prior knowledge of Québec is assumed. Course conducted in French. Mr. Reyes.
One 2-hour period.
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FREN 399 - Senior Independent Work Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
1/2 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
1/2 to 1 unit(s)
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GEAN 300 - Senior Thesis Semester Offered: Fall
1/2 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
1/2 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
1/2 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 2014/15.
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: Fall
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. Ms. 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. Mr. Thibault.
Prerequisite: 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 and Sustainable Ecosystems
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. Mr. Walker.
Prerequisite: one introductory course in Biology, Chemistry, Earth Science; or ENST 124 .
Not offered in 2014/15.
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. Ms. 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 Semester Offered: Spring
1/2 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. Ms. Cunningham.
Prerequisite: GEOG 220 or GEOG 224 .
First 6-week course.
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. Mr. Lindner.
Not offered in 2014/15.
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. Ms. Menking.
Prerequisite: ESCI 151 or permission of the instructor.
Satisfies college requirement for quantitative reasoning.
Not offered in 2014/15.
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 70% 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. Ms. Menking.
Prerequisite: ESCI 151 , ENST 124 , or permission of the instructor.
Satisfies the college requirement for quantitative reasoning.
Not offered in 2014/15.
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. Ms. Zhou.
Prerequisite: at least one 100-level course in Geography or Asian Studies.
Not offered in 2014/15.
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. Ms. Zhou.
Two 75-minute periods.
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GEOG 242 - Brazil: Society, Culture, and Environment in Portuguese America
1 unit(s)
(Same as AFRS 242 , INTL 242 , and LALS 242 ) Brazil, long Latin America’s largest and most populous country, has become an industrial and agricultural powerhouse with increasing political-economic clout in global affairs. 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 outside world. 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 conservation and sustainability; continuing controversies surrounding the occupation of Amazonia; and long-run prospects for democracy and equitable development in Brazil. Mr. Godfrey.
Not offered in 2014/15.
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. Mr. Godfrey.
Not offered in 2014/15.
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. Mr. Godfrey.
Prerequisite: a previous Geography or Urban Studies course.
Two 75-minute periods.
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GEOG 256 - Geographies of Food and Farming Semester Offered: Spring
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 riots 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. Ms. Cunningham.
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GEOG 258 - Sustainable Landscapes: Bridging Place and Environment in Poughkeepsie Semester Offered: Spring
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. Ms. Blickstein.
Prerequisite: one 100-level course in Geography.
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). Ms. Cunningham.
Students wishing to register under Earth Science must have had at least one previous earth science course.
Not offered in 2014/15.
Two 75-minute periods.
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GEOG 266 - Population, Environment, and Sustainable Development
1 unit(s)
(Same as INTL 266 ) Concerns about human population are integral to debates about matters of political stability, socio-economic equity, ecological sustainability, and human wellbeing. This course engages these debates via an examination of environmental change, power and inequality, and technology and development. Case studies include: water supplies, fishing and agriculture and the production of foodstuffs. Being a geography course, it highlights human-“nature” relations, spatial distribution and difference, and the dynamic connections between places and regions. Ms. Zhou.
Not offered in 2014/15.
Two 75-minute periods.
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GEOG 270 - Gender and Social Space Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as URBS 270 and WMST 270 ) This course explores the ways in which gender informs the spatial organization of daily life; the interrelation of gender and key spatial forms and practices such as the home, the city, the hotel, migration, shopping, community activism, and walking at night. It draws on feminist theoretical work from diverse fields such as geography, architecture, anthropology and urban studies not only to begin to map the gendered divisions of the social world but also to understand gender itself as a spatial practice. Ms. Brawley.
Two 75-minute periods.
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GEOG 272 - Geographies of Mass Violence Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
Violence has been an integral part of the making of landscapes, places, and the world political map. This course examines theories of violence, explanations of why it happens where it does, and how mass violence has come to shape local, national, and international geographies. In doing so, it analyzes how violence becomes embedded in geographical space and informs social relations. The course draws upon various case studies, including incidents of mass violence in Rwanda, Indonesia, East Timor, Guatemala, and the United States. Mr. Nevins.
Two 75-minute periods.
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GEOG 274 - The Political Geography of Human Rights Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
Human rights have a deep history and varied geographical origins. This course examines the highly contested making and representation of human rights in regards to their content and emphases, and the various practices and institutions deployed in their name–with a focus on the post -1945 era. In doing so, the course interrogates human rights in relation to a variety of settings–from anti-colonial and anti-imperial struggles to social movements championing racial and gender equality to humanitarian interventions. Throughout, the course seeks to analyze how these various human-rights-related endeavors flow from, produce, and challenge spatial inequality, places and geographical scales, and articulate with a diverse set of political geographical agendas. Mr. Nevins.
Prerequisite: one 100-level Geography or Earth Science course, or permission of the instructor.
Two 75-minute periods.
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GEOG 276 - Economic Geography: Spaces of Global Capitalism Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as INTL 276 ) This course analyzes the shifting economic landscape of globalization. It covers classic location theories in economic geography, but also the recent trends of industrial reorganization in agriculture, manufacturing and services. Two areas of focus in this course are the globalization of the world economy and regional development under the first and third world contexts. We analyze the emergence of the global capitalist system, the commodification of nature, the transformation of agriculture, the global spread of manufacturing and the rise of flexible production systems, and restructuring of transnational corporations and its regional impacts. Ms. Zhou.
Two 75-minute periods.
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GEOG 280 - Sustainability Planning: Putting Theory into Practice Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
Communities at all scales are planning for more sustainable futures. From states and regions to college campuses, plans are being developed to reduce carbon consumption and waste production, presumably with co-benefits for social justice, public health, and economic efficiency. These ideas are spelled out in regional and local sustainability plans. These plans try to provide a road map for putting sustainability principles into practice; they also integrate a variety of complex systems, such as energy, building and transportation infrastructure, landscapes, food systems, and the organization of community structures we inhabit. In this course we examine different approaches to sustainability plans, at a range of scales and contexts. We examine recent efforts in New York City, in regional and local governments of the Hudson Valley, including Poughkeepsie, and on the Vassar Campus and other campuses. We draw on emerging examples in the US, Europe, and Asia where innovation is transforming the universe of what we imagine possible. What constraints and opportunities apply in these different contexts and at different scales? How do different incentive structures promote, reward, or obstruct changing practices? How do technological and structural strategies differ? To explore these questions, we draw on ideas such as geographic approaches to place and to regionalism, ecosystem services, and green accounting. As part of the class, students will develop portions of a sustainability plan that incorporates their knowledge into a realistic guidance document. Ms. Cunningham.
Two 75-minute periods.
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GEOG 290 - Field Work Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
1/2 to 1 unit(s)
The department.
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GEOG 297 - Readings in Geography Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
1/2 unit(s)
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GEOG 298 - Independent Work Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
1/2 to 1 unit(s)
Open to qualified students in other disciplines who wish to pursue related independent work in geography. The department.
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Geography: III. Advanced |
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GEOG 300 - Senior Thesis Semester Offered: Fall
1/2 unit(s)
A 1-unit thesis starting in the fall semester, 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. The department.
Yearlong course 300-GEOG 301 .
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GEOG 301 - Senior Thesis Semester Offered: Spring
1/2 unit(s)
A 1-unit thesis starting in the fall semester, 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. The department.
Yearlong course GEOG 300 -301.
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GEOG 302 - Senior Thesis Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
1 unit(s)
Students may elect a 1-semester, 1-unit thesis only in exceptional circumstances. Usually, students adopt GEOG 300 -GEOG 301 . The department.
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GEOG 304 - Senior Seminar: Issues in Geographic Theory and Method Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
A review of the theory, method, and practice of geographical inquiry. The seminar traces the history of geographic thought from early episodes of global exploration to modern scientific transformations. The works and biographies of major contemporary theorists are critically examined in terms of the changing philosophies of geographic research. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches are discussed, along with scientific, humanist, radical, feminist, and other critiques in human geography. Overall, alternative conceptions of geography are related to the evolution of society and the dominant intellectual currents of the day. The student is left to choose which approaches best suits his or her own research. The seminar culminates in the presentation of student research proposals. Mr. Nevins.
One 3-hour period.
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GEOG 340 - Advanced Urban and Regional Studies Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
Topic for 2014/15a: Social Movements. Ms. Blickstein.
One 3-hour period.
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GEOG 341 - Oil
1 unit(s)
(Same as ESCI 341 and ENST 341 ) For the hydraulic civilizations of Mesopotamia, it was water. For the Native Americans of the Great Plains, it was buffalo. As we enter the twenty-first century, our society is firmly rooted both culturally and economically in oil. This class looks into almost every aspect of oil. Starting at the source with kerogen generation, we follow the hydrocarbons along migration pathways to a reservoir with a suitable trap. We look at the techniques geologists and geophysicists use to find a field, and how engineers and economists get the product from the field to refineries, paying particular attention to environmental concerns. What is involved in the negotiations between multinational corporations and developing countries over production issues? What are the stages in refining oil from the crude that comes from the ground to the myriad uses seen today, including plastics, pharmaceuticals, and fertilizers, not to mention gasoline? We also discuss the future of this rapidly dwindling, non-renewable resource, and options for an oil-less future. Mr. McAdoo, Mr. Rashid.
Prerequisite: one 200-level Earth Science course or permission of the instructor.
Not offered in 2014/15.Will be offered in 2016/17.
One 4-hour classroom/laboratory/field period.
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