Drew Seminar Course Descriptions

Full course descriptions:

(001) HUMAN GOODNESS: CONFUCIAN ETHICS AND THE FOUNDATION OF EAST ASIAN CULTURES
Confucianism is an ethical way of life propagated by Confucius in the 6th–5th century BCE and followed by the people of East Asia – China, Korea, Japan and Vietnam – for more than two millennia. Although transformed over time, Confucianism is still the substance of learning, the source of values, and the social code in East Asian societies. In this seminar we will explore three key ethical concepts of Confucianism: 1. Rites, the embodiment of human goodness; 2. Learning, the path to human goodness; 3. Filial Piety, the demonstration of human goodness. We will also discuss contemporary challenges to Confucian ethics.

(002) THE AFRICAN DIASPORA IN THE AMERICAS: EXAMINING THE BLACK EXPERIENCE ACROSS CONTEXTS AND SPACES
This seminar examines the concept of the African diaspora by using material from the African continent, the Caribbean, and across the Americas to examine the role race has played in work, migration, and community-formation. Thinking broadly, we will encounter material that crosses boundaries of space, language, and empires. Through interdisciplinary readings, we will look at the ways that people across the African diaspora live, work, and sustain their lives. This class opens up diverse paths of inquiry as students attempt to answer questions, clear up misconceptions, and challenge assumptions about the presence of Africans and their descendants in the Americas

(003) LATINOS IN HOLLYWOOD: REPRESENTATIONS, STEREOTYPES, AND IDENTITIES
From West Side Story to In the Heights, from I Love Lucy to Jane the Virgin, from the Latin Lover to Jennifer López and Sofía Vergara… This Drew seminar examines U.S. Latinx images and representations in film and television from the silent era to the present day, along with their historical and sociopolitical frameworks. We explore the construction and perpetuation of Latinx stereotypes in mainstream media productions, and also consider how film and television have been used as political tools to subvert some depictions and promote others. In examining the history of U.S. Latinx participation both behind and in front of the camera, the seminar analyzes the interconnections between Latinx representations on the big and small screen and the shifting discourses on class, gender, ethnicity, and multicultural identities in the United States.

(005) FROM APHRODITE TO LADY PINK: WOMEN AND ART
This seminar will explore the evolving role of women as patrons of art, makers of art, and as subjects of art. Through a series of case studies and a variety of media, we will explore the visual arts, both past and present, as a means to better understand the role of women in past cultures and in our modern society. Some of the topics covered will include: prominent, powerful women of the past such as Egypt’s Queen Hatshepsut and Marie de’Medici Queen of France; ancient images of Venus/Aphrodite will be discussed in connection with their Renaissance reincarnation and modern images of the nude. In addition, we will question the emergence of the female artist in the sixteenth century and the role of women today as award-winning architects, street artists, and women whose work is in great museums around the world.

(007) PARIS ON FILM: MYTH AND REALITY IN THE CITY OF LIGHTS
Paris is both the setting and the theme of numerous films and recent Netflix series. This seminar explores the representation of the French capital in these productions both as mythic and real through an analysis of plot construction, themes, and cinematography. In exploring a few “classics” as well as more recent examples (both French and non-French), we will discuss such questions as: How do narratives and cinematography perpetuate Paris as a mythic place? What myths does Paris embody on screen? How do individuals and groups relate to and respond to these myths versus real urban experiences? How do gender, race, and class affect Parisians’, Provincials’, immigrants’ and tourists’ experience of this city? Cinematographic techniques, city maps, urban history, and contemporary issues are employed to contextualize these representations.

(008) GENDER QUESTIONS
In this seminar we will think together about the issues of gender that seem most salient in contemporary culture. Working from such cultural representations as films, novels, and short stories, we will investigate how these texts are gathering up and recirculating the pressing questions around gender in our time, from the most basic definitions of male and female to issues around reproductive rights, race and ethnicity, sexual identity, gender fluidity, and all of the ways that gender structures our society and our experiences as individuals. You will be working on your writing throughout the seminar while investigating these complex issues

(010) SUGAR: OUR FAVORITE MOLECULE IN FOOD, CULTURE, AND THE MEDIA
We all love sugar! Let’s study it from the point of view of it being one of the most influential molecules in history. We will take a look at the structures of different types of sugar (glucose vs fructose), and how people have tried to mimic aspects of its structure to make other sweeteners. Why can some sweeteners be used in cooking while others cannot? Why are the health concerns different for some artificial sweeteners as compared to natural sugar? We will even test out these different sugar substitutes in a class bake-off! We will explore different types of media and learn how to “fact check” with original primary research articles. We will explore all of this with the context of those who are curious about science without necessarily having a strong chemistry background.

(014) AN EARTH RESTORED: INTERSECTIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL APPROACHES
Our very identities shape our relationship with the earth and earth systems. This seminar explores how who we are as people, both as individuals and participants in human families, cultures and societies, affects how we view, understand, and transform our planet. Introducing and studying intersectional approaches challenge industrial, modernist, and universalizing ways of living and being in earth systems, offering creative, diverse, and pragmatic adaptations that can promote health, wellness, and meaning. By centering Black and Native scholarship in our work, this class examines how inclusive framing of our origins invites a (re)envisioning of possible futures, where both human and natural systems thrive.

(018) PERSONAL IDENTITY AND IMMORTALITY
If I traded bodies with someone else, would I still be the same person? Would I continue to be the same person if my brain were transplanted into another human body or into the body of an android? Would a human being or an android with copies of my thoughts be me? These are vexing philosophical questions that are apt to give rise to widespread disagreement. However, there are at least two facts about which everyone is in agreement: 1) for every person there is some time at which that person is born and 2) there is some later time at which that person dies. This seminar is concerned with the question of what it is for some person who is born at one time to be the same person who dies at some later time. This investigation places us in a position to address the question of what it would be for a person to survive one’s death, or to be immortal. Readings include classical works by John Locke and David Hume, as well as works by contemporary philosophers Bernard Williams, Sydney Shoemaker, and Derek Parfit.

(019) STRANGERS AT THE SHORE: IMMIGRATION AND THE NATION
Immigration has been one of the most vexing problems in American society. The United States is seen as a nation created by different waves of immigrants. Welcoming immigrants is considered a part of the founding myth of the nation captured in the lines from the poem by Emma Lazarus etched on the pedestal of the iconic Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” At the same time, the presence of immigrants has been a source of deep anxiety and contention reflected in the long history of exclusion and stigmatization of immigrants. Hostility against immigrants has impacted groups including European migrants in the 19th and the early 20th century as well as Asian and Latinx migrants. This history of inclusion and exclusion of migrants continues to deeply influence the current debates on immigration. Drawing upon historical insights, the seminar engages with this complex question to understand the polarizing debates on immigration at the current moment. The seminar will analyze the dynamic impact of immigrant population on politics, culture, and social lives of the nation through readings and films that underline the vibrant tapestry created by immigrants as well as anxieties triggered by religious, racial, and cultural differences represented by these communities.

(021) STUDY SAYS: CHOCOLATE MAKES YOU SMARTER! SEPARATING SCIENCE FROM SENSATIONALISM IN CLAIMS ABOUT FOOD
Carbs are bad for you! Intermittent fasting will help you lose weight! Coffee causes cancer! Protein powder will build muscle fast! Health claims about foods and diets are everywhere and seem to change on a daily basis: eat this, don’t eat that, oh, never mind, that food’s okay after all. How do you know what to believe? In this seminar, you’ll learn how to evaluate claims about food and health, and where to look for information that is reliable and trustworthy. We will spend time exploring the studies that have led to confusing and contradictory claims about such foods as red meat, sugar, alcohol, and coffee. As we are faced with more and more choices about what to eat, we will discuss the basis of a healthy, nutritious diet, while evaluating the relative merits of low-carb, keto, vegetarian, and other diets.

(022) AMERICAN INEQUALITY: CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES
The United States is a nation of both enormous wealth and staggering inequalities. Over the past 50 years, the United States has transformed from a remarkably egalitarian society into one of the most unequal democracies in the Western world. In America today, the top 10% of income earners control 70% of all the wealth, compared to less than 1.5% for the bottom 50%. By examining data from the United States and around the globe, this seminar explores the political and economic causes and consequences of rising inequality. The class is designed to provide an in-depth analysis of one of today’s most important political and economic issues without requiring any prior knowledge of economics or political science.