Topic Descriptions

Autobiography and Memoir

In this course, students explore the complicated ways in which autobiography and memoir engage questions about the nature of the self and the relationship of the self and society. While the course focuses in part on traditions in autobiography, it also considers the literary texts in relation to discussions of the self in such diverse disciplines as sociology, psychology, history, and anthropology. In the second half of the course, students develop a research project that discusses an autobiography in the context of a particular issue or academic discipline. Recent research projects have included a consideration of crime and punishment in two cultures in relation to a prison journal, a historically informed reading of a Civil War soldier’s diary, a discussion of an anti-business autobiography in connection to popular autobiographical writing about business, and explorations of theories of ethnicity as they complicate or are complicated by various ethnic autobiographies.

The Culture of Work

In this course, we examine a variety of important issues related to work such as the transformation of work and ideas about work in the 20th and 21st centuries, the consequences of the rise of a global economy, and the changing meanings and conditions of white-collar and working class labor. In the second half of the course, students define an independent research project related to the issue of work. In these papers, students analyze relationships among the cultural, social, political and economic factors involved in a particular topic of their choosing. Research topics have included the shifts in the job market; the rise of the knowledge worker; the labor movement; corporate training and the “team” metaphor; technology in the workplace; gender, race and technology; and disparities of wealth and advantage.

The Environment

This course focuses on environmental and ecological issues with reference to their social and political context. Students will analyze relationships among the environmental, social, political, and economic factors involved in a topic of their choosing, such as species conservation, air pollution, water treatment, global warming, disappearance of the rainforests, nuclear waste, agribusiness, urban development, ocean-cleanup efforts, the responsibility of wealthy nations toward poorer ones, difficulties in establishing and enforcing transnational environmental policies, and others. We will emphasize not only the work to be done, but also on how to build on the progress that we have already made.

Gender in American Society

We all have it, but what is it? In this course, we will explore key theories of gender from a variety of disciplines including history, psychology, anthropology, and women’s studies. Students will produce a ten-page research paper that analyzes the role of gender in a topic of their own choosing. The course introduces basic library research methods and teaches students to write a humanities / social science research paper, and fulfills the requirement for an upper-level writing intensive course for most colleges

Internet Cultures

This course provides students with the opportunity to investigate the relationship between the Internet and culture – looking at both the cultural impact of the Internet and the impact of culture on the Internet. The course often begins with a discussion of how the Internet is affecting our notions of identity, privacy, community, and political discourse. Students develop research projects on a specific problem or practice related to the Internet in a cultural, historical, or sociological context. Some recent research projects have considered online education, hate speech, the gaming cyberculture, and the development of new “folk medicine” traditions on the Net.

Media and Society

Concerns about the media, and the news media in particular are prevalent today. This course will focus on issues of the content and control of news media and on the interactions between media and culture—crucial in an election year. We begin with questions of media control. What is the government’s role in ensuring that the media serve the public interest? Who wins and who loses when media ownership is consolidated in fewer hands? Are the media responsible for engaging the public in the democratic process?

Women, Autobiography and Memoir

In this course, students explore the complicated ways in which autobiography and memoir engage questions about gender and the relationship of women, culture and society. While the course focuses in part on women’s traditions in autobiography, it also considers the literary texts in relation to discussions of gender in diverse disciplines, such as sociology, psychology, history and anthropology. In the second half of the course, students develop a research project that discusses an autobiography and identity in relation to a particular issue or disciplinary context. Recent research projects have included explorations of theories of gender, ethnicity, and child development as they relate to the presentation of identity in autobiographies.