Spring Quarter 2005
Interdisciplinary Studies Program
Focal Point Seminar
Course Listing

More descriptions are coming in every day. As they are received from faculty, they will be posted here. If you have specific questions, or if there is no description listed, please contact the faculty member directly.

Please refer to Campus Connection for official class times and locations. This list is for reference only.

Course section numbers are listed after the Department and Catalog number (Focal Point courses are listed as ISP 101- XXX (the XXX is the section number). Generally:

Course section numbers beginning with 3xx meet on the Lincoln Park Campus.
Course section numbers beginning with 6xx meet on the Loop Campus.
Course section numbers beginning with 9xx are evening courses and can meet on either the Loop or Lincoln Park Campus.

ISP 101- 301 Course #33908 T TH 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM LPC Winslade,Jason L
THE POLITICS OF THE OCCULT
This course explores occultism as a Western phenomenon, consisting of magical and mystical practices that penetrate everyday life. For some practitioners, it is a religion, for others a form of self-exploration and actualization, and for still others, a site of personal politics and activism. We will discuss the structures and philosophies of the secret society, of initiation as a cultural performance, and the practice of ritual magick in its various forms. We will trace the connections between magick, Wicca, secret societies, and popular culture, in texts ranging from the dollar bill to Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

ISP 101-302 Course #33909 M W F 9:40 AM - 10:40 AM LPC Finkelstein,Norman
PALESTINE

ISP 101-303 Course #33914 M W F 9:40 AM - 10:40 AM LPC Steinberg,Naomi A
WHO INVENTED GOD?
The deity commonly thought of simply as "God" has a history, and a very particular one in the two numerically dominant religions of North America, Judaism and Christianity. The course will demonstrate that the character of God is rooted in the west Semitic deity of "El," first mentioned in texts from ancient Syria-Palestine, an area known as Canaan. These texts date from the mid-second millennium B.C.E. The course will investigate these issues in order to answer question such as: What is a god? How does the distribution of divine responsibilities reflect and challenge notions of "natural gender"? In what direction does the figure of El move as the Hebrew Bible begins to develop the nature of Yahweh for its ancient Israelite readers?

ISP 101 304 Course #33915 M W F 10:50 AM - 11:50 AM LPC Melford,Sara J
FOCUS ON CLIMATE
The central theme for this focal point seminar is climate change, the delicate physical balance that exists between "ice age" and "greenhouse" climate conditions, and the social or other consequences that could accompany significant climate changes. Approximately a third to a half of the course will involve the scientific study of climate change and will use primary literature to try to assess our present condition. Colleen McCullough's book: A Creed for the Third Millenium will be used to start the discussion of the human side of climate change in the vein that On the Beach and Alas, Babylon started a past generation thinking about the human consequences of a nuclear conflict.
Throughout the course, the students will be asked to write short papers primarily addressing the book and scientific papers. In a final, longer paper, the student will be asked to reflect upon how his or her thinking has changed because of the book and/or discussion about climate change. Small group oral presentations concerning historical, psychological, social, ethical, religious or other approaches to potential consequences of climate change will be the third major tool for student evaluation in this course.

ISP 101 305 Course #33916 MWF 10:50AM - 11:50AM LPC McIntyre,Michael A
MARX

ISP 101 306 Course #33917 M W 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM LPC Windingstad,Holly L
THEATRE HAPPENINGS
This course explores the emergence of Happenings, Assemblages and Environments and their phenomenon. This inquiry will include the work of Alan Kaprow, Jackson Pollock, Yayoi Kusama, Jim Dine and Robert Whitman. We will examine the background of the artists, historical perspective between artist and society, and context of social and cultural influence. Primary focus is placed on experiencing the art form, though reading Happening scripts, watching recorded performances, visiting Assemblages and providing models for students to engage in analysis and critism of works. In the process students will become familiar with the history of Happenings, Environments and Assemblages, competing theories of why the art forms developed and the major transformations they have made to contemporary art movements. Students will also discuss the influence and relevance this art form may have to their generation. Students will be called on to support supposition and their own questions we discuss in class with reflection papers in a sketch book and three research papers. Completing the quarter, students will engage in the process of planning and implementing a Happening, Assemblage and/ or Environment. Importance will be placed on working as a group to develop their own issue and feature audience involvement.
This course aims to understand the questions of why the art form emerged, consider the themes of gender, race and social issues in the artwork, and the contemporary response to the subject matter as depicted in this art form.

ISP 101 307 Course #33918 M W F 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM LPC Nellis,Mary M
IN COLD BLOOD/AMERICAN VIOLENCE
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote is the study of a mass murder without motive or profit. This seminar will examine the influence the book has had on psychological studies of mass murderers, on the media's role of in covering mass murders, and on society's attitudes toward capital punishment. Students will then follow the course of American violence to the present day rampage killings and school shootings. A class presentation will focus on a current situation. Last year the class held a mock trial for "The Texas Seven." Materials will include the text, film, newspaper and magazine articles.

ISP 101 308 Course #33921 M W F 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM LPC Isackson,R.J. J
FOLK ROCK TO ROCK FOLK 1950-1970
Our American musical history of the second half of the 20th century corresponds to our social and historical progress. From the folk music of the 1950's, sung by the Weavers, Odetta, and Miriam Makeba, to the music of the Woodstock generation, the music connects with pleas for fair employment practices, protests against racial and social inequality, to differences between life in urban and suburban America. The Civil Rights movement can be traced in song. The course will focus on the connection between our country's heritage and how music both reflects and affects our history. There will be readings from at least two texts.

ISP 101 309 Course #33922 M W F 1:10 PM - 2:10 PM LPC Andolina,Molly
GENERATION X
This course will explore the political culture of Generation X. We will discuss how and why Xers differ from older Americans-and the political consequences of these differences. We will begin with an overview of popular conceptions of Xers and then take some time to learn about how political science studies generations. We'll read about the theory of generations, and explore various techniques for empirically studying age groups. Next, we'll focus on the socializing experience of Xers' youth and the attitudes and actions of their adulthood. We'll end with a comparison of Xers to their successors - the DotNet generation. By the end of this class you will be experts on Xs-and you'll have a good sense of political generations more broadly.

ISP 101 310 Course #33923 T TH 3:10 PM - 4:40 PM LPC Johnston,Guillemette C
YOGA SUTRAS
This course is based on the text Yoga Sutras of Patañjali. This text, which provides the authoritative exposition of classical Yoga and underlies all yoga practice as it currently exists in India and throughout the world, has been ascribed to the semi-mythical grammarian and yogi Patañjali, about whom essentially nothing is known. Best estimates place the composition of this work around 200 CE.

ISP 101 311 Course #33924 M W F 2:20 PM - 3:20 PM LPC Suglia,Joseph V
GERMAN CINEMA
The cinema is far too rich of a medium to be limited to entertainment. During the German Festival for Short Films in 1962, twenty-six young German filmmakers composed the Oberhausen Manifesto, which declared that a new cinema had come into being, the purpose of which was to unsettle one’s established notions of how art, society, and culture function. This seminar will focus on origins and development of this "new German cinema." Eight exciting films will be screened. The course will be conducted exclusively in English. No knowledge of German is required.

ISP 101 312 Course #33925 M W 2:20 PM - 3:50 PM LPC Mayo,Larry W
REAL CAVEMEN
This course will focus on a specific question regarding human evolution: who were the so-called "cavemen," and what is their relationship to modern humans? There are several important reasons for focusing on this particular topic in human evolution. One is to separate myth from reality with regard to these early beings who came to be popularly known as "cavemen." A second issue is whether these beings are direct ancestors to modern humans, or a side branch that became extinct. A third concerns the issue of human diversity, which, during the last 200 years or so, many scientists have characterized as racial.

ISP 101 314 Course #33926 M W 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM LPC Masud,Maria D
MEMORY AND REPRESSION

ISP 101 315 Course #33927 T TH 11:50 PM - 1:20 PM LPC Kohli,Amor N
HARLEM RENAISSANCE

ISP 101 316 Course #33928 M W 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM LPC Yin,Tzu Ching
FILM/PHOTOGRAPHY/NUCLEAR AGE
Do images represent reality? Or, are they just objects?
During WWII and the Cold War period, scientists used the technologies of photographs and films to measure and document the effect of the bomb. Later on, documentary filmmakers used film and photography to portray the impact of the bomb and to serve as witness and testimony to the physical and psychological damage it did. In the 60’s, artists also used artistic expression in film and photography to recollect the memory and fantasy of war and nuclear culture. How do nuclear images affect our daily life and global culture? How did the nuclear film/photograph affect audiences’ collective memory? How does nuclear technology affect the human race? This class uses film and photography to explore the context of the development of the Atomic Bomb and the infrastructure of the Manhattan Project, and to examine the response by the public during the Cold War period. Class content includes how photography and film served as documentary and artistic expression during and after the dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It also raises questions considering if images were justified and whether they portrayed the complexity of the moral issues involving the scientists who helped build nuclear weapons. Through such readings as those of Susan Sontag and Rachel Fermi, we will also question from multiple perspectives how nuclear images affect the collective memory and recognition of historical events. In all cases, we will focus on how the bomb and its representation were approached from a variety of social, national, political, and aesthetic points of view.

ISP 101 317 Course #33933 M W 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM LPC Edwards, Ron
EVOLUTIONARY BIO AT THE MOVIES
The course addresses movies as representatives of human concerns. Students are required to watch films as homework, and course time is reserved for analysis through discussion, responsive writings, presentations, and peer review. The main activity of the class is to research and present the connections between a specific set of biological information with a specific set of films.
All narrative (story-telling) concerns, values and inherent conflicts among people; these values and inherent conflicts arise from the confluence of nature and culture. This course provides a means to investigate that confluence using a specific form of narrative (cinema) and a specific model for human behavior (sociobiology, evolutionary psychology). Both of these terms, "human nature" and "culture," are often mentioned but rarely used critically. In this course, they are given close, disturbing scrutiny. The goal is to move beyond the traditional and non-productive construction of Nature/Nurture and for the students to begin the life-long process of individually constructing how biology and values are intertwined in the context of culture.

ISP 101 313 Course #33938 M W F 2:20 PM - 3:20 PM LPC O'Brien,Jill L
CLOSE PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS
This course explores close personal relationships, whether voluntary (friendships, intimate relationships) or non-voluntary (familial or work relationships), as variously constituted within heterosexual, lesbian, gay, multicultural, or multiracial unions. Close relationships impact the quality of human life and both influence and derive from our values, attitudes, ideas, and behaviors. What kinds of relationships do we fashion? How do relationships aid or constrain our development and happiness? What do we know about friendship and social support, love and intimacy, relationship maintenance, or conflict? How does the quality of personal relationships produce societal effects? What ills are associated with the inability to create and maintain close personal relationships across the lifespan? Jean Vanier claims human intimacy is “proximity that liberates,” but is that too sanguine a view? The focus of this class is cross-disciplinary and multicultural. Through readings derived from psychology, communication, and family therapy, students examine the centrality and diversity of human bonds.

ISP 101 318 Course #33947 M W 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM LPC Naas,Michael B
TRIAL & DEATH OF SOCRATES
This course will focus on one of the most important trials, and, indeed, one of the most important events, in Western history and culture--the trial and death of Socrates. As a multi-disciplinary course combining philosophical, literary, and historical materials, we will look at the trial of Socrates from a variety of different perspectives--that is, as an historical event, as a drama at the center of some of the most beautiful and significant works of art in Western culture, and as the origin and inspiration for philosophy itself.

ISP 101 319 Course #33948 W 1:10 PM - 4:25 PM LPC Wilson,Midge L
HUMOR AND GROUP IDENTITY
This focal point will explore how humor empowers different groups, whether defined by their gender, religion, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation or in some other way. We will take a look at how issues of power and the historical treatment of various social groups influence what is deemed funny versus mean spirited. In addressing such questions, the inherent tensions between issues of so-called political correctness, the limits of taste and tolerance, and the forbidden-like nature of what makes something hilariously funny will be noted. Also slated for discussion is how individual members from non-majority groups can find their voice and identity through comedy. So bring your funny bone and put on your thinking cap to seriously dissect an amusing subject area. Students will be required to keep weekly journals in response to questions posed by the instructor about issues of humor and group identity. In addition, there will be two short research papers on different topics of the student's choice, with a classroom presentation devoted to one of them. In general, class time will be spent viewing humorous materials representative of different social groups, after which students (with the help of the instructor) will lead the class in a critical analysis of various raised issues. There is also at least one field trip to a comedy club planned for this course.

ISP 101 320 Course #33949 T Th 10:10 AM - 11:40 AM LPC Singh,Joshua Anand
BIRACIALISM IN THE US & ELSEWHERE
People who are biracial have more than one racial heritage. Biracial people are often stared at by strangers, forced to prove they are ethnic “enough,” required to pledge allegiance to a single racial group, told that they are not a true member of one of their racial or ethnic groups, exposed to racist jokes or comments that put down one side of their family, physically beaten, and more. This course will examine why biracial people are put in such situations. We will also explore the concept of biraciality from a variety of other standpoints. We will examine theories of biracial identity development in contrast with other types of racial identity development (African American, white, etc.). Common social issues such as family and peer relations will be examined. Diversity within the biracial experience will also be explored through the inclusion of guest speakers, and the analysis of biracial relationships in literature and film. The course will conclude by examining the impact that biraciality has on how race is conceptualized. Themes that will flow throughout the course will include social isolation and marginality of biracial individuals, diversity within the biracial experience, and the political, personal, and social impact biraciality has in America today.

ISP 101 321 Course #33950 T Th 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM LPC Papadopoulos,Alex G
GLOBALIZATION
The concept of "globalization" builds on the intellectual tradition of the study of the world economy as a system. This structural interpretation of worldwide economic activity recognizes that some parts of the world constitute a "core" (about 15% of the world’s population), in which reside critical financial, technological, and managerial resources. Other regions make up a "periphery," which is significantly dependent on inputs from the "core" and thus in many ways contingent, subservient, and vulnerable. This theoretical kernel has many visible manifestations in how people run their lives today, from New York’s financial district to the flood-prone lowlands of Bangladesh, and from the garment sweatshops in the Honduras to the post-industrial "green" cities of the European Union.
Ultimately, the dominance of capitalist modes of production and consumption internationally, the hypermobility of finance capital across national borders, the emergence of New York, London, and Tokyo as primary "global cities" and command, control, and communication centers of the world economy, the erosion of national sovereignty and its measured replacement by intergovernmental and supranational regional cooperation, as well as the advent of extraordinary and accessible information technologies, have increasingly enabled the unification of national economies, cultures, societies, and polities in an unprecedented manner. The "MacDonaldization" of the world, as globalization critics call this restructuring trend, is highly controversial. Since the core regions tend to dominate trade, technology, capital, and increasingly culture, resistance has been growing: consumer advocate groups, environmentalists, worker-rights groups, and states that belong to the "periphery" are challenging globalization entities like the World trade Organization and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development to amend their procedures and cushion the vulnerable periphery from what they see at the predatory tactics of the core upon the planet’s poor and the environment. In this course we will explore the mechanics of globalization and investigate the claims of its discontents.

ISP 101 322 Course #33951 T Th 11:50 AM - 1:20 PM LPC Pereira,Peter D
SYMMETRY
Symmetry, or near symmetry, abounds in the world around us. You can see it in natural objects such as butterflies, beehives, animals, the human body, fruits and nuts, flowers, snowflakes, waves, or geological formations. You can see it in artistic productions such as paintings, sculpture, poems, novels, or musical compositions. You can see it in cultural artifacts such as textiles and carpets, decorative patterns, corporate logos, technological inventions, architecture, or agriculture. And you can see it in scientific theories about molecules, crystals, genes, primitive organisms, astronomy, gravitation, electricity, or the human psyche. While these topics are often studied separately, we will try to look at them from a common perspective. During the first week, we will look at the world around us, describing and analyzing what we see. Then, for about 3 weeks, we will take an abstract look at symmetry considering questions about types of symmetry, relations between various symmetries, combinations of symmetries, harmony and proportion, fuzzy symmetries, and anti-symmetries. Though this will introduce a mathematical perspective, no special knowledge of mathematics beyond that required of any entering freshman will be assumed. After this, we will apply this abstract knowledge to a variety of phenomena that reflect students' interests, considering approaches to symmetries in various cultures. (Islamic art, Yemeni textiles, Turkish carpets, Navaho blankets, Mayan architecture, Hindu sculpture, Japanese origami, African masks, impressionist paintings, Renaissance music, or Pythagorean philosophy are all possibilities.) Finally, in the last portion of the course students will be asked to construct something -- perhaps a poem, a model, a musical composition, an art object, a computer program, or an essay -- and then to analyze its symmetrical or asymmetrical properties. These constructions will be critiqued by the rest of the class and could become part of the student's portfolio.

ISP 101-323 Course #33952 T Th 10:10 AM -11:40 AM LPC Tikoff,Valentina K
SUGAR
This Focal Point semianr will introduce students to the complex historical and contemporary dimensions of a ubiquitous commodity: sugar. In particular, students will the ways that sugar has fundamentally shaped the development of much of the Western hemisphere (especially the Caribbean), from the transatlantic slave trade to the Cuban Revolution and beyond. The course also will explore the continuing legacies and debates over the impact of sugar on domestic public and environmental policy in the U.S. today.

ISP 101-324 Course #33953 T Th 10:10 AM -11:40 AM LPC Larrabee,Mary J
NATURE IN THE CITY

ISP 101-326 Course #33954 T Th 11:50 AM - 1:20 PM LPC Bowden,Darsie M
TIANANMEN SQUARE
The goal of this course is to gain insight into the complexities of modern China through the lens of the Tiananmen Square demonstrations that took place in June 1989 in Beijing. Using the Internet, novels, documentary and feature films, historical accounts, personal accounts, interviews (both on-line and in-person), we will explore the events leading up to the demonstrations in Tiananmen Square and elsewhere in China, the forces that resulted in the violent suppression of the protest, and the present-day ramifications and contradictions within China.
A ten-week course on China can only be introductory. This course promises to more than a history course or a lesson in politics but rather a glimpse or series of glimpses into the lives of people who have been shut off from the West for nearly half a century and the accompanying rhetoric with and through which they live their lives. Students will be encouraged to investigate as fully as possible their own personal interests and intellectual connections to the events we read about, see and discuss.

ISP 101-327 Course #33955 T Th 11:50 AM - 1:20 PM LPC Scott,Karen
JOAN OF ARC
This Course focusses on St. Joan of Arc, both the fifteenth-century French woman whose life and death, thought, and times can be known from historical documents like her trial records, and the person she has become in the imaginations of politicians, religious leaders, artists, film makers, and other people since the Middle Ages.
The first half of the class will focus on the historical Joan of Arc. Who was she, what did she accomplish, and why was she important? In what diverse ways did her contemporaries view her, and why? To what extent can we find answers to these questions in the available documents, and why should we care? How do our own personal identity questions relate to Joan's identity questions? A complex and controversial figure already in her own day, Joan has been understood and represented in various ways by modern people as well. The second half of the class will focus on Joan in the twentieth century. What aspects of the historical Joan have attracted our contemporaries= attention, and why? What does she mean to first-year DePaul students today? What is the significance of Joan at the turn of the third millennium? Students will be encouraged to debate the many possible answers to these questions, to discern and refine their own positions, and to communicate carefully reasoned arguments for their views in both oral and written form.
Classes will include lectures, discussions, oral presentations, films, art slides, and music.

ISP 101-328 Course #33956 T Th 11:50 AM - 1:20 PM LPC Demissie,Fassil
WORLD FAIRS
The emergence of ethnographic museums and world fairs as distinctive products of modern societies came into being with the rapid explosion in intellectual energy of the "Enlightenment" period. Their distinctive configuration, mode of operating and the discursive knowledge was stamped by the culture of the very societies that gave rise to these important modern institutions. How and why did these institutions emerge? Why did they assume the forms and structures that they did? What were the key processes that shaped their development? What role did they play in colonial empires?

ISP 101-329 Course #33957 T Th 11:50 AM - 1:20 PM LPC Bell, Jeremy
PLATO'S REPUBLIC

ISP 101-330 Course #33958 T 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM LPC Heilizer,Fred H
MOTORCYCLES AS VALUE METAPHOR
The course is about motorcycles, the people who ride them, and their social values/attitudes. In class, we will see some videos and movies, the videos describing the history of motorcycles (bikes) and the nature of people who bike and work with bikes, and the movies, classics in the area, conveying the excitement of biking and the biking culture(s). There may be a visit to class by a biker-person. Also, I’ll do some talking about dos/don’ts of biking and some tips. Out of class, we will plan for one or two visits to cycle shops. For class, we’ll read, report on and discuss parts of Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. And there will be a surf-the-web exploration of bikes/bikers. Short papers and class discussions will be a regular part of the course.

ISP 101-325 Course #33959 T Th 10:10 AM -11:40 AM LPC Lorr,Michael J
PRISON SYSTEM & EDUCATION
This course will be an effort to bring students into the economical, political, sociological, and cultural current of the realities of the contemporary prison system. In order to help students start thinking about this topic academically and existentially, the course will have a focus, academically, on books and films past and present relating to the theme of prison and education. Existentially, it will focus on the Cook County Jail and a program there called PACE or Programmed Activities for Correctional Education. This program tries to help pretrial detainees get their GED. Throughout the quarter students will be expected to tutor pre-trial detainees within this program at Cook County Jail. At all times the class will focus on Chicago, Illinois and then broaden our thinking to the state, the national, and finally the global. By looking at the institution of prison and education, the course will focus on how crime is defined, legislated, perpetrated, punished, and perpetuated.

ISP 101-331 Course #33960 T Th 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM LPC Martinez,Susana S
RIGOBERTA MENCHU
This seminar will focus on the accomplishments and controversy surrounding one of Latin America’s most well known human rights activists. Rigoberta Menchú was born in Guatemala and she is of Mayan descent. She first came to international prominence following the 1983 publication of her testimonio or memoir that has been translated to more than 11 languages. Her book chronicles in compelling detail the violence and misery that she and her people suffered during Guatemala’s brutal civil war. The book focused world attention on Guatemala’s human rights violations and led to her being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992. In 1999, a book by the anthropologist David Stoll challenged the veracity of key details in Menchú’s account, generating a storm of controversy. In this seminar, students will read and discuss Menchú’s moving story, watch documentaries, and become informed about the role of the U.S. in Guatemala.

ISP 101-332 Course #33961 T Th 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM LPC Johnston,Guillemette C
PSYCHOLOGY OF FAIRY TALES
With a strong emphasis on a literary approach, this course proposes to analyze fairy tales of diverse cultures in light of their pyschological significance. Using theoretical perspectives developed from Jungian and Freudian psychology, we will bring out on the one hand the basic role of fairy tales in portraying the development of individual maturity, and on the other hand the typical though universal themes found repeatedly in tales from different cultures.

ISP 101-333 Course #33963 T Th 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM LPC Meyer,Karen L
DISABILITY CULTURE
This course will focus on the mosaic movement of the 1990's, which are people with disabilities. This segment of our populations is the largest and fastest growing minority group in the nation. Disability is one culture that anyone can be a part of at anytime. In order to understand this, the course will explore a variety of disability related topics. Each week a major theme will be addressed, a theme designed to teach individuals about aspects of the disability movement, one which represents every race, ethnic, religion, age and socio-economic group.

ISP 101-334 Course #33964 T Th 3:10 PM - 4:40 PM LPC Hansman,Curtis B
CHINESE ART
Sometimes the questions asked by one individual and the paths and patterns of that individual's life reflect those of an entire generation or an era or even a culture. One such individual is Su Shih - Confucian scholar, imperial official, dissident, philosopher, art theorist, poet, painter, husband, father, friend, lover, intellectual, traveler, - whose life spanned the middle decades of the Song Dynasty (960-1279) one of the richest and most intellectually creative periods in Chinese history. In this course we will explore Su Shih first as an individual - his birth, family, training, political career, poetry and painting - and then as a member of the society in which he lived. We will engage the major issues of Song political, social, intellectual, and artistic history through the political writings, poetry, painting of Su Shih and his contemporaries.
The following are among the issues we will address: what political structures allowed the Song emperors to rule? What was the nature of Song society? What were the major areas of disagreement among writers and thinkers of the period? What place did men, women, peasants, scholars, merchants, Chinese, foreigners, among others play? What would it have been like to live in the capital city or any provincial city during the period? What would one have eaten, worn? What languages might one have spoken? What place did education play? Who was afforded an education? How?

ISP 101-335 Course #33965 T Th 3:10 PM - 4:40 PM LPC Meritt Jr,Dennis A
ENDANGRED SPECIES/HABITAT
This course will work to develop a definition of endangered and see how well the definition works as it applies to a range of life forms, including plants, animals, and natural habitats. The course will explore the probable causes of endangerment, consider the impact of our own species as well as that of natural occurrences, discuss possible solutions, and explore ways people can become involved and affect a long-term solution. Students will take periodic quizzes and examinations, write a major term paper, and give an oral presentation

ISP 101-336 Course #33966 T Th 3:10 PM - 4:40 PM LPC Graf,Ronald A
VOLUNTARY MOTHERHOOD
This seminar course examines the Voluntary Motherhood Movement in relation to the right of women to control their reproductive destinies during the late 19th Century and through the 20th Century. Feminist theory as it speaks to the issues of access to contraceptive information, the right to limit family size, and fair access to reproductive technology are issues for discussion. Issues of abortion and parenthood as a right for men and women, whether single or married, heterosexual or homosexual are presented and debated. The history of the voluntary motherhood movement serves as a lesson about the changing status of women and the nature of family in society. The course involves seminar discussion, site visit, assigned readings, independent library & Internet research, abstracting, critique, and personal narrative. Please come register for this course, if you find these issues to be of importance in your life.

ISP 101-337 Course #33967 T TH 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM LPC McNeill,William A
STOICISM OF MARCUS AURELIUS
This course is designed to provide students with the opportunity to engage in philosophical reflection on themselves, and to consider the relevance of philosophy to human life and society. In this course you will not only learn about philosophy-how it began, what it is, and what it does-but learn how to think philosophically about a wide range of issues including, but not limited to, knowledge, truth, ethical life, time, the nature of the self and of identity, and human mortality. Throughout the course, students will practice reading, writing, and thinking critically and with care, and learn to see why this is important.
We shall spend the first two weeks or so looking at what philosophy is and considering the historical beginnings of philosophy in the Pre-Socratic philosophers, Plato, and Aristotle. Following this, we shall turn to the main course book, the Meditations of the Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius, examining the historical background of Stoicism and reading selectively the 12 books of the Meditations. Our readings will focus on key themes of the text, such as reason or logos; time and transience; one's "character" or ethos; fate and destiny; care for the self; human virtue; memory; and mortality.

ISP 101-338 Course #33968 M W F 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM LPC Sanchez-Walsh,Arlene
LATINO CATHOLIC DEVOTIONS

ISP 101-344 Course #34421 T TH 10:10 AM - 11:40 AM LPC Birmingham, Peg
THE BODY:PLEASURE/POWER/SEXUAL
The body—how we eat, how we dress, our daily routines and rituals is the medium of culture. The body is a powerful symbolic form upon which are written the rules, customs, and power relations of a society. These power relations are inseparable from the way the body’s pleasures and pains are felt and expressed. In this way the body is the practical locus of social and political control. This Focal Point Seminar will examine the discipline and control of the body, specifically in regards to the notions of pleasure and pain.

ISP 101-601 Course #33969 T Th 10:10 AM - 11:40 AM LOOP Shanahan,John
ISLANDS AND IMAGINATION
Small islands have often been spaces for social engineering and thought experiment. This course will explore some of the cultural meanings of islands in literature from William Shakespeare’s The Tempest and Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe to Jamaica Kincaid’s A Small Place and recent films such as Cast Away. The course will read literature about human nature when isolated and/or in small groups, about the human place in social hierarchies and ecological webs, and about the place of “primitivism” in the arts and social sciences.

ISP 101-602 Course #33970 T TH 11:50 AM - 1:20 PM LOOP Adibe,Clement E
APARTHEID 20 C S AFRICA
As we reflect upon the past century from the vantage point of the beginning of the 21st century and a new millennium, apartheid stands out as one of the most intriguing and oppressive political ideas and practices of the twentieth century. Developed by the Afrikaners of South Africa, apartheid emphasized the "separateness" of races as the organizing principle of social, religious, economic and political life in a multinational state. For nearly half a century, apartheid was enforced through a combination of laws, religious indoctrination, socialization and, above all, the pervasive use of coercion. In 1994, following several decades of sustained domestic and international opposition, the policy and practice of apartheid officially ended in South Africa.
This course will focus on two important areas of inquiry. The first is how to explain the emergence of apartheid as the predominant form of political organization in twentieth-century South Africa. The second focus of the course will be on the lessons humanity can draw from the apartheid experiment as we continue our prolonged quest for meaningful and harmonious co-existence of peoples and cultures within the framework of one political entity.

ISP 101-603 Course #33971 T Th 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM LOOP Bennett,Susan F
TECHNOLOGY & PRIVACY

ISP 101-604 Course #33972 T TH 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM LOOP Simo,Gloria A
FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT
This course will explore the life, philosophy and work of one of the most creative and distinctive architects of the 19th and 20th centuries. Frank Lloyd Wright had many interesting views of the world that still influence us. The course includes the biographic study of his life and career. From an educational perspective, we will examine his formal and informal education and training and explore how his thoughts on art and architecture influenced the way that our homes look today. We will examine how his views on ideal communities are seen as idealistic and how his designs are focused on a deep respect for the environment. We will explore how his religious and ethical philosophy shaped the way he lived his life and how this perspective was also shaped by the major historical events of his day. The historical perspective will also look at Mr. Wright's personal philosophy in comparison to and in contrast with several of his contemporaries.

ISP 101- 605 Course #33973 T TH 11:50 AM - 1:20 PM LOOP Dube,Caleb
WOMEN/CHICAGO MUSIC SCENE
Using class discussions, lectures, life histories, performances, recordings, videos, guest presentations and fieldtrips, the course focuses on women in the Chicago contemporary music scene. Its main objectives are to help society appreciate the nature of local women's struggles and initiatives to create cultural work space as performers, managers, engineers, promoters, music critics, radio personalities, and as part of the economic support system for musicians. The course is built around the often unacknowledged pivotal role of women's contribution to music making and the music industry in Chicago, and the obstacles that women in society face at the work place. The overall theoretical approach to the course is based on how gender relations/roles structure other spheres of social life such as music making.

ISP 101-901 Course #33974 T 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM LPC Wolfinger,James D
1968: AMERICA TRANSFORMED
This course offers a biography of 1968. Historians are increasingly coming to see that year as a watershed moment in American history. The Tet offensive revealed Vietnam as an unwinnable war; Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy were assassinated, ending most people’s hope for peaceful social change; Lyndon Johnson refused to run for president; and Richard Nixon rode into office on the shoulders of a new political force, the “silent majority.” It is not too much to suggest that 1968 marked a turning point in America, when many people took a more sour view of the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement, and national politics. This course will rely on books and articles, but also use film and primary documents to help students think about the ‘60s from a broad political, social, and cultural context.

ISP 101-902 Course #33975 T 5:45 PM - 9:00 PM LOOP Bosak,Steven R
BIO-TERROR & COMMUNICATION
This course focuses on the bioterror attacks in our nation during October of 2001. The course begins with a review of the events of October 2001, when the anthrax attacks became headline news. We will then explore the events from different perspectives including the perspectives of politicians, public health agencies, and reporters/columnist working for the news media. Among other topics, we will examine how various governmental agencies have approached their communicative tasks concerning bioterror. We will also consider how the media has communicated the bioterror story to viewers/listeners/readers. Finally, we will conduct research to learn how specific groups of people view the bioterror threat and how they formed their opinions about bioterror.

ISP 101- 903 Course #33976 W 5:45 PM - 9:00 PM LPC Hauser,Mark W
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN
In this course we will be exploring three central topics, piracy in the early modern period; the geography of piracy; and piracy in the information age. With the recent distribution of the movie Pirates of the Caribbean, we have a unique opportunity to explore these very issues. Not only will students be able to bring to the seminar their own knowledge about piracy, we can begin to use that knowledge to explore popular constructions. By utilizing seventeenth century pirate narratives and archaeological sites students can begin to explore the question where did piracy actually occur? The last theme, piracy in the information age will explore audio and video piracy framed in copyright law and academic piracy- intellectual integrity.