Spring Semester 2008-2009

American Studies 391.01 "Advanced Topics in American Studies: Diasporic Imaginations in American Film." This course considers representations of diasporic identities and immigrant experiences in the U.S. in films which will be screened each week outside of the regular class time slot (and also available, when necessary, on reserve). The focus of reflection will be on the ways in which Americanness is scripted within and between the lines; the idea of nostalgia and memory as well as social interactions within and across culturally distinct boundaries, socio-political questions of race, class and gender. Among the questions to be discussed are the following: who are the models and what are the multiple meanings of "American and American-ness?" What is the relationship of "being AN American" with being IN America and how is this distinction imagined differently in different circles and at different moments? Prerequisite: AMS-130 and 225 or permission of instructor.

American Studies 495.01 "Senior Seminar: American Selves." From our nation's beginning to the present, poets, politicians, historians, and storytellers of all kinds have attempted to define and describe "Americanness." Taken together, the speeches, documents, and various narratives suggest that to be an "American" is something beyond being a citizen of the Unites States. Individual citizens and groups have often felt compelled to claim their Americanness, to argue for and justify their symbolic identity against factors such as class, race, ethnicity, gender, religion, and region - categories which themselves change in meaning over time. This seminar will explore the complexities of politics and social change from the latter half of twentieth-century America to the present through close examination of representative stories (autobiographies) Americans tell about themselves. We will use an interdisciplinary approach to our primary and secondary texts and attempt to sharpen and answer question s like the following: What accounts for the phenomenal new interest in American autobiographies (written by the famous and infamous alike)? Beyond the simple facts of time and space, what distinguishes the stories from one another and, conversely, what common assumptions and goals seem to be present amid the variety? How does each autobiographer privilege his or her personal history? To what extent are American autobiographies self-justifying? How much of the text is (or should be) a testament of victory or defeat? How much of it confession or apology? To what extent is autobiography a blurred genre, functioning at once as fact, fiction, and history? As cultural products, why are some autobiographies metonymic and others synecdochic? Which narrative voice (the individual or the collective) is most representative of American democratic or national ideals? Are American autobiographers always conscious agents of social change? Prerequisite: AMS-225 or permission of instructor.

Anthropology 395.01 "Advanced Special Topic: Anthropology of Space and Place." We will examine the way research on space use and understandings of place help anthropologists understand social dynamics. Case studies will examine the interactions between humans and their environments, immigration, urbanization, and planning for sustainable development. The class will be project-oriented and students will obtain an introduction to Geographic Information systems (GIS). Prerequisite: ANT-280 or permission of instructor.

Anthropology 395.02 (Also Sociology) "Advanced Special Topic: Managing NGOs and Businesses: Local and Global Perspectives." Sponsored by the Wilson Program in Enterprise and Leadership. An analysis of management issues in both non-profit and for-profit organizations, whether the organizational action is local or international, including problems of meshing organizational cultures with local cultures. Also, a survey of the most important organizational innovations for the 21st century. Alumni will visit class to talk about their experience in NGOs and businesses. Student reports will gather case studies of organizations from internships or other extended participation in NGOs or businesses. This course examines the concept of organizational culture from a critical pluralist perspective in anthropology and sociology, first focusing on the role of voluntary organizations and NGOs (non-governmental organizations) in creating social capital, sustainable economic development, and local/world culture. Integrated into this pluralist perspective is the empirical work of business management theorist Jim Collins, who asks what makes "great" effective organizations, both for-profit businesses and non-profits. Recommended particularly for students preparing for or returning from internships. Prerequisite: ANT-280 recommended; at minimum, one 200-level course from a department in the Social Studies Division.

Arabic 295.01 Special Topic: Intermediate Arabic II." ARB-221 emhasized improving students' reading skills and grammar. This course is a continuatino of 221, providing more rigorous grammar pedagogy and stressing the ability to understand cultural nuances that bear on the language. Students will be introduced to contemporary Arabic literary texts. Prerequisite: ARB-221 or permission of instructor.

Art 400.01 "Senior Seminar: Theories of Witness." In her book, Seeing Witness: Visuality and the Ethics of Testimony, art historian Jane Blocker writes, "Given the political stakes of witnessing..., the moral stakes at work in interpreting acts of witness, and the artistic stakes of representation, how then should we examine and occupy the domain of witness?" In this seminar, we will use Blocker's question as an entry-point into a discussion that centers on theories of witness and their reliance on culturally specific understandings of vision's truth-value. Though art history and its methodologies are uniquely suited to investigations of the politics of the visual, we will read across a broad range of disciplines. These include, but are not limited to, history, philosophy, performance studies, trauma studies, African-American studies, and queer studies. In addition, we will study a similarly broad range of works of art that both bear witness and make the mechanisms of witness visible-projects s uch as Francisco Goya's Disasters of War (a series of prints held in Grinnell College's art collection), Andy Warhol's Death and Disaster paintings, Bill Viola's video series The Passions, Alfredo Jaar's photographic and installation work on the Rwandan genocide, and Kara Walker's exhibition After The Deluge, which considered the humanitarian crisis that followed Hurricane Katrina. Prerequisite: Senior standing in art history concentration or permission of instructor.

Biology 150.01 "Introduction to Biological Inquiry: The Effects of Climate Change on Organisms." We will examine the effects of predicted changes in temperature, moisture and carbon dioxide levels on organismal and ecosystem function through experimental investigation. We will focus on the effects of such changes on the physiology and metabolic functioning of soil and aquatic organisms, as well as on biogeochemical processes of ecosystems, including respiration, decomposition and nutrient-cycling. This course will be taught in a workshop format, meeting twice a week for three hours. Class time will be devoted primarily to discussions and lab work examining theoretical aspects of organismal and ecosystem functioning, design and implementation of lab-based experiments, and the interpretation of our results in the context of extensive ongoing climate change research. Prerequisite: none.

Biology 150.02 "Introduction to Biological Inquiry: Genes, Drugs and Toxins." The ways in which an organism responds to different drugs or toxins can be heavily influenced by its genetics. In this course, we will conduct research exploring the interplay between genetics, drugs, and toxins using the model organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae (baker's yeast). We will investigate how well yeast is able to survive exposure to a variety of chemicals when it is carrying mutations in different genes. In the course of designing our experiments and analyzing our results, we will discuss the molecular biology behind the relationship between genes and drugs. We will also explore the implications of the interplay between genes, drugs and toxins to human biology, and discuss the medical, social and ethical implications of research in this field. Prerequisite: none.

Biology 150. 03 "Introduction to Biological Inquiry: Survivor." In this course we will investigate strategies organisms use for survival in different environments. We will focus on microorganisms and humans as model systems. Topics addressed will include; the biology of bacteria, factors important for biofilm formation, how microorganisms become resistant to antibiotics, and how we protect ourselves from microorganisms. Students will isolate and characterize microorganisms attached to vegetables by using standard microbial and basic molecular biology techniques. Based on critical reading of the literature, students will design and carry out independent research projects, analyze and report the results in scientific papers, posters and oral presentation. The class will have two, three hour meetings per week, which combine lecture, lab, and discussion. Prerequisite: none.

Biology 150.04 "Introduction to Biological Inquiry: Building an Animal." In this course students will begin a study of how a fertilized egg turns into an animal with many highly differentiated cell types. Students will begin learning how to use the scientific literature to study the cellular and molecular events underlying development. Students will learn to work with sea urchins to study fertilization and early invertebrate development and then will work with chicken embryos to study the appearance of different cells, tissues and organs in later vertebrate development. The emphasis of the course will be on asking questions, designing experiments to answer those questions, and communicating results of the experiments in a variety of formats. The class will have two, three-hour meetings per week that combine lab, lecture, and discussion. Prerequisite: none.

Biology 395.01 "Advanced Special Topic: Biology of Infectious Diseases." An examination of the interactions between hosts and pathogens. This course will cover the evolution of virulence, defense mechanisms of hosts (including vertebrate immunology), epidemiology, conservation biology, and public health. We will read from the primary and secondary literature. The laboratory will be a combination of studies of live and prepared organisms, epidemiological modeling, and discussions of concepts. The course will culminate in each student making an infectious disease poster. Prerequisite: BIO-252 or permission of instructor.

Biology 395.02 "Advanced Special Topic: The Use and Misuse of Imaging in Biology." This course will explore current imaging technologies with an emphasis on their application to biological questions. Optical techniques will be emphasized; however, some attention will be given to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Students will gain hands-on experience using differential interference contrast (DIC), wide-field epifluorescence, confocal microscopy, and hyperspectral imaging. Prerequisite: BIO-252 or BCM-262 or permission of instructor.

Chemistry 395.01 "Advanced Special Topic: Looking at the Metallic Side of Life." This introduces the students to the role of metals in biological systems including respiration, photosynthesis, the nitrogen cycle, early life catalysis and life in extreme environments. The course is offered for 1 credit. The students will have to hand in a short paper at the end of the two-week period. Students who have taken CHM 221 are eligible to take this course. Students who are enrolled in CHM 423.01 do not have to enroll in this short course since it is part of the class. Dates: April 13 to April 24. Short course deadlines apply. Prerequisite: CHM-221 or permission of instructor. Students enrolled in CHM-423 may not register for this course.

Computer Science 295.01 "Special Topic: Computer Graphics." Introduction to the three major branches of computer graphics: modeling, rendering, and animation. Foundational concepts include rasterization, transformations, projections, shading models, and polygonal meshes. Advanced topics may include ray tracing, global illumination, curve and surface modeling, and animation techniques. Prerequisite: MAT-131 and CSC-161 or 201 or permission of instructor.

Economics 295.01 (Also Policy Studies) "Special Topic: Foundations of Policy Analysis. This course explores principles of policy making, with applications. It develops a theoretical rationale for policy, based on theory of market failure and motivational/agency dimensions. It proceeds to investigate institutional context and processes relevant to policy making, using case studies. With this foundation, the course will examine specific policy problems and solutions related to important problem areas such as economic growth, health care, monetary policy, education, and environment. Students will be encouraged to explore policy areas of interest for case studies and papers. Prerequisites: second-year standing and either ECN 111 or POL 101.

Added 11/20/08
Economics 295.02 "Special Topic: Inevitable Change: Revolution in a Modern Economy." We will read the story of today's economic revolution from August 2007 to the present. We will examine the old institutions destroyed and the new institutions created by each successive attempt to stop the revolution, paying close attention to the "official" predictions made and the changes produced by or in spite of those predictions. We will trace out the practical connections between the meta-events and fundamental changes taking place in the economic lives of "ordinary people". In all of this, we will look for the answer to "How big is big?" or "What is a few trillion here and a few trillion there among friend?" Prerequisites: ECN-111 or permission of instructor.

English 120.01 "Literary Analysis." This course will focus on the close reading of literary texts from a number of genres: lyric and narrative poetry, drama, the short story, the novel, and graphic fiction. As we examine our own experience of reading literature, we'll also talk about various theoretical approaches to textual analysis in order to see how different kinds of methodologies open up new ways of reading and pose different questions about how literature participates in conversations about history and culture. Throughout the semester, we will consider not only the meanings of particular texts but also the purpose of literary production itself. Possible readings include Tennyson's Idylls of the King, Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Eliot's The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, Shakespeare's The Tempest, short stories by James Joyce, Flannery O'Connor, Raymond Carver, and Charlotte Perkins Gillman, Zora Neale Hurston's The Eyes Were Watching God, and either Frank Miller's The D ark Knight Returns or Alison Bechdel's Fun Home. Prerequisite: none.

English 120.02 "Literary Analysis." This course will introduce you to literary works in a number of genres while reinforcing your skills in critical analysis and close reading. We will examine important elements of fiction and poetry in order to better understand how these elements create meaning in the work, and we will explore a range of contemporary approaches to literary texts and familiarize ourselves with various schools of literary criticism, interpretative strategies, and ways of reading. During the second part of the course, we will read two pairs of novels focused around similar themes: Nella Larson's Passing (1929) and Danzy Senna's Caucasia (1997), both of which explore race and racial "passing," and Virginia Woolf's Orlando (1928) and Leslie Feinberg's Stone Butch Blues (1993), both of which explore gender identity and gender-crossing. Prerequisite: none.

English 120.03 "Literary Analysis." An introduction to the close reading of prose and poetry. We will begin with an overview of the formal elements of literary analysis (imagery, theme, allusion, rhyme, tone etc) then engage in the close reading of a novel as well as several short stories and poems to reveal the ways in which an understanding of narrative structure and convention enhances our reading of literary texts. From there, we will fill our critical "toolbox" with theoretical approaches that will allow us to build a vocabulary for reading texts according to specific methodological approaches. Prerequisite: none.

English 120.04 "Literary Analysis." What is literature? How do we read literature? These and other questions will be at the center of our discussions this semester. This course will introduce you to the close reading of prose and poetry as well as to the formal elements of critical literary analysis. We will look at a variety of genres including the poem, the short story, the novel, and film. In addition, we will discuss some of the major trends in critical theory including poststructuralism, feminism, Marxism, psychoanalytic criticism, deconstruction, new historicism, and postcolonial criticism. The texts we will discuss this semester will feature writers and/or readers and their struggles to tell or read their stories. These texts often contain images and metaphors for writing and reading such as travel, dreams, labyrinths, games, patchwork, quilts, tapestries, and other art forms. Authors may include Paul Auster, Jorge Luis Borges, Henry James, Shirley Jackson, and Tim O'Brien. Prerequisite: none.

English 120.05 "Literary Analysis." In this course we will read travel writing by novelists, journalists, and explorers in different historical periods. Before the great upsurge in tourism in nineteenth-century Europe, travelers who ventured across the seas in search of trading opportunities or on journeys of exploration returned home with tales of different people and their cultures. In our century, tourism has become one of the most important activities of the middle and upper-classes in the industrial world. Moving through different continents, cultures, and geographies, we will study the poetic journeys of William Wordsworth, Alfred Tennyson, W.B. Yeats, T. S. Eliot, and Derek Walcott, short stories by N. Scott Momaday and David Malouf, and essays by Jamaica Kincaid and Amitav Ghosh. Prerequisite: none.

English 273.01 "Feminisms, Gender, & Literary Theory." Study of the critical debates in the construction of gender and sexuality, and how these debates have shaped, and been shaped by, contemporary feminist and literary theories. Prerequisite: ENG-120, 121, or permission of instructor.

English 295 01 "Special Topic: Craft of Creative Non-Fiction." An exciting new genre, Creative Non-Fiction embraces the personal essay, the memoir, and some journalism and history. In this course students with a background in English will explore at least three different types of literary non-fiction, defining each type and its elements, working through shorter assignments towards a final essay of about 15 pages. All writing will combine personal and research materials, with the emphasis on discovering and deepening the narrative in those materials. We will also study examples that go back before the current boom, and students will do papers, presentations, or both on contemporaries working in the field. Prerequisite: ENG-120, 121 or permission of instructor.

English 295.02 "Special Topic: Advanced Fiction Seminar with Chris Offutt." Visiting Professor, Chris Offutt, from the Iowa Writers' Workshop offers a six-week short course in fiction writing. Students who have taken at least one creative writing course at Grinnell (ENG-205, 206, 385 and/or 386) are eligible to register for this advanced creative-writing workshop. S/D/F only. Dates: February 6 to March 13. 1/2 semester deadlines apply. Prerequisite: ENG-205, 206 or permission of instructor.

Added 10/31/08
English 295.03 "Special Topic: Indian English" This short course will explore the impact of English on India and of India on English. Starting with the famous Minute by Macaulay on Education in India (1835), we will read specific texts (which will include some poetry and a play as well as two/three novels and significant prose writings) to examine the manner in which Indians have tried to negotiate with and in English focusing on the ways in which the language has been used for creative purposes, how the language is used to translate both other languages and contexts to construct an India in English, and how these India(s) are obtained in different genres. The course will also introduce the students to the ways in which English has been perceived and received in India from the days of colonization to this era of globalization. We will be looking at novels by R.K Narayan and Amitav Ghosh, excerpts from Salman Rushdie and Raja Rao, a play by Mahesh Dattani, poetry by Nissim Ezekiel, Kamala Das, S ujata Bhatt, and Agha Shahid Ali. Prerequisite: Any 200 level literature course or permission of instructor.

English 325.01 "Studies in Ethnic American Literature." Asian American literature encompasses many different ethnic sub-groups that have been lumped together under an "umbrella category." This seminar, therefore, will serve as an intensive introduction to the particular histories, themes and critical methodologies that structure the study of Asian American ethnic subgroups whose origins traverse such radically distinct geographies as India, East Asia, Southeast Asia and the South Pacific. It will teach you some of the basic techniques of interethnic comparative scholarship that you can apply to analysis of many different ethnic literatures beyond those at hand. You should be prepared to study, say, African American, Chicano, Native American and Jewish American literatures. By the end of this course, you should have learned enough critical skills to be able to intelligently and independently investigate many different ethnic groups. For those with a particular interest in any one Asian America n sub-group, please contact me beforehand and I will try my best to include it into our syllabus. Prerequisite: ENG-227, 228, 229, 232, 273 or permission of instructor.

English 326.01 "Studies in American Poetry I: Affectionate Absorption: The Case of Whitman and Dickinson." Walt Whitman concludes his preface to the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass with the proposition that "the proof of a poet is that his country absorbs him as affectionately as he has absorbed it." These days few would argue that Whitman and Dickinson have not been "affectionately absorbed," at least by American literary culture. Such was not always the case, however; during the period when Whitman and Dickinson were producing the bulk of their work, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was arguably the most dominant literary figure in America. What happened? This course will explore the question of cultural absorption and the extent to which the form and content of Whitman's and Dickinson's poetry helped effect a shift in literary value during the twentieth century (earlier for Whitman, much later for Dickinson). Close-readings of poetry or essays by Whitman, Dickinson, Emerson, Longfellow, and P oe will help situate us within their nineteenth century context, and these will be followed by more recent works that may include poems or critical essays by Hart Crane, Allen Ginsberg, Derek Walcott, John Berryman, Adrienne Rich, and Susan Howe. During the second half of the course we will focus on three specific cases: the inaugural issue of Poetry magazine (1912); the publication of Howl (1956); and the publication of the Facsimile Edition of Dickinson's poems (1981). We will conclude with a series of discussions on the politics of methodology and classroom practice in relation to the poetics of identity. Prerequisite: ENG-227, 228, 229, 231, 232, 273 or permission of instructor.

English 329.01 "Studies in African American Literature." What is African American literature? Is it literature about black people? Is it literature by black people? Or is it literature by and about black people? In response to these questions, this seminar will focus on the analysis of "anomalous" black texts-novels and short stories written by black writers that don't fit into standard categories of African American literature because of their "non-black" or deracialized themes-to lay bare the complexities of literary categorization along racial lines. During the course of the semester, each student will be responsible for leading thirty-minutes of a class discussion, participating in weekly online forums, writing a fifteen-page final research paper, and orally presenting their research to peers. We will study Frances Ellen Watkins Harper's Sowing and Reaping, Paul Lawrence Dunbar's The Uncalled, Nella Larsen's "The Wrong Man" and "Freedom," Frank Yerby's The Foxes of Harrow, Zora Neale Hurston's Seraph on the Suwanee, Richard Wright's Savage Holiday, Toni Morrison's "Recitatif," and Octavia Butler's "Bloodchild." Prerequisite: ENG-225, 227, 228, 229, 231 or permission of instructor.

English 338.01 "The British Novel II - Imperialism and Domesticity." In this course we will read nineteenth and twentieth-century British novels and explore their relationship to Britain's expanding imperial geography. Besides reading novels that focus explicitly on imperialism, we will also examine imperial narratives and metaphors within earlier works of sensation fiction and domestic fiction. We will trace the connections between empire and the domestic, and concern ourselves with questions having to do with race, gender, identity, home, and belonging. We will read the fictional work of Wilkie Collins, Doris Lessing, J.M. Coetzee, Meena Alexander, and others. Prerequisite: ENG-223, 224, 225, 226 or permission of instructor.

English 345.01 "Studies in Modern Poetry." This course will take an interdisciplinary look at some of the poetic movements at the beginning of the twentieth century such as Imagism, Vorticism, Dada, Surrealism, and Futurism. Among the poets we will focus on are Wyndham Lewis, Ezra Pound, H.D. (Hilda Doolittle), F. S. Flint, Richard Aldington, Amy Lowell, and T. S. Eliot among others. In addition to their poetry, you will also read their critical writings and manifestos. We will juxtapose these with their art works and publications, while also considering their revolutionary techniques of composition, such as the collage. Furthermore, we will explore the intersections between poetry and early twentieth-century avant-garde tendencies in film, music, and the visual arts. In our discussions of the poems we will take into account the historical and social changes that were underway in Europe at the time, focusing on responses to World War I, industrialization, and urbanization. Prerequisite: ENG-224, 22 5, 226, 227, 228 or permission of instructor.

English 360.01 "Seminar in Postcolonial Literature." This course explores the phenomenon of nationalism in literature from South Africa, Nigeria, New Zealand, and India. How have writers from these countries articulated a national imaginary? Now often understood to be a somewhat pejorative and outdated concept, associated with military chauvinism or aggression, nationalism marked the first wave of anti-imperial literature. We will study current critiques of this concept in postcolonial literature, and also examine the literary and historical genealogy of concepts such as "civilization," "the primitive," and "modernity" which are all associated with the nation. Which groups of people feel oppressed and excluded from the nation? In what ways does the concept of the nation have continuing theoretical and material significance? These are some of the questions we will study in the essays and novels of Salman Rushdie, Chinua Achebe, Buchi Emecheta, J. M Coetzee, Mahasweta Devi, Witi Ihimeara, Alan Duff, We will also read critical essays by, among others, Ben Anderson, Partha Chatterjee, and Anthony Appiah. The objectives of the course are to explore postcolonial fiction in relation to theoretical concepts inherited from disciplines such as anthropology and history about subjects, nations, and narrative forms. We will also study the relationship between the postcolonial novel and postmodern fiction. Prerequisite: ENG 224, 225, 226, 229 or permission of instructor.

English 390.01 "Literary Theory: Something Written in the State: Hamlet and the Play of Language." Does literature have a role in the regulation of the State? In Plato's Republic, poetry is exiled unless and until it can "prove her title to exist in a well-ordered state," and in Shakespeare's Hamlet, poetry (or its dramatic equivalent) is instrumental in exposing a truth that the State does not wish to express. Using the Republic and Hamlet as our interpretative framework, this course will explore the "ancient quarrel between philosophy and poetry" in selected readings that run the gamut from Classical, Renaissance, and Romantic philosophers and poets, to more recent ground-breaking essays by Modernist and Postmodernist thinkers that focus on Hamlet in order to examine a particular critical problem. Prerequisite: Junior or Senior standing and at least one 300-level English literature seminar or permission of instructor.

Environmental Studies 195.01 (Also Global Development Studies 195.01) "Introductory Special Topic: Natural Hazards and Disasters with Lab." Natural hazards arise from normal Earth processes. But natural disasters generally result from the inability of humans to anticipate, and plan for, inevitable hazardous events. This course focuses on: the Earth processes that lead to natural disasters; the historical and geologic record of hazardous events; hazard prediction; the social, political, economic, historical, artistic, and religious consequences of natural disasters. Prerequisite: none.

Environmental Studies 195.02 "Introductory Special Topic: Environmental Challenges and Responses." This course, offered each semester, provides a substantive forum for sustained discussions of current environmental issues amongst small groups of students and faculty. Content varies each semester. All students will meet biweekly to hear an invited speaker present on a relevant topic. During intervening weeks students will meet in small groups with two faculty members to discuss the previous week's seminar and related readings. S/D/F only. Prerequisite: second-semester standing.

Environmental Studies 295.01 "Special Topic: An Environmental History of Food." The abandonment of hunting-and-gathering and the domestication and exchange of plants and animals is a series of events that has immensely amplified the carrying capacity of Earth for humans, but at the same time has altered the face of the planet more than any event since the KT boundary. The course will begin with an examination of hunter-gatherer economies, examine the question of whether agriculture is facultative and therefore its absence in some societies (such as the Australian Aborigines) is adaptive and not a symptom of their being "primitive," followed by a disquieting consideration of cannibalism (both virtual and ritual) and whether it is, as well, adaptive under special circumstances. The crux of the course, however, will examine how our species' quest for food has transformed entire landscapes into gardens; simplified ecosystems; diminished biological diversity; laid the foundations of urbanization, economics and politics; facilitated the evolution of diseases; despoiled the seas; and provided the trophic foundation of the industrial revolution. Finally, the course will enter the new millennium and explore the ethical dimensions of how Americans, Brazilians, Chinese, Indians and Pakistanis grow and use food; the geography of famine; food as fuel; the shifting agricultural panorama in a time of climate change; and the role of genetically-modified organisms in the breadbasket of the future. Prerequisite: second year standing or permission of instructor.

Environmental Studies 495.01 "Senior Seminar: Africa" All humans are Africans. More than any other continent, our natal continent faces a troubling and uncertain future in the 21st Century. For example, it is the only continent where per capita food production has dropped in recent decades; it is ravaged by parasitic disease (500,000 children die every year from malaria alone in subSaharan Africa); by viral disease (the populations of some districts in southern Africa are declining because of HIV); by the lingering ravages of colonialism and slavery; by debilitating wars over scarce resources; by international debt; and by droughts, famines and floods that are more extreme than in any other place on Earth. On the other hand, Africa is place of resplendent cultural diversity, a proud (and underappreciated) pre-colonial history, and transcendent natural beauty. The seminar will discuss the geography, natural history and historical ecology of Africa and Madagascar. Topics include the biogeography of Guineo-Congolean tropical forest and East African montane forest islands; fish speciation in the Rift Valley Lakes; desertification and famine; the challenges of survival and development in forest, savanna and desert; savanna ecology, including the inverse relationship between fire and tsetse flies: cattle vs. game ranching; demographics, including the effects of slavery and disease on current population sizes; women's rights and reproductive self-determination; patterns and evolution of epidemic and chronic disease (including zo”noses such as nagama, sleeping sickness, and rinderpest), among many others. Prerequisite: senior status, regardless of major, and permission of the instructor.

French 395.01 "Advanced Special Topic: Courtship and Conversation in French Literature." This seminar examines the codes of love, sexual relations, and sociability as they are represented in French literature from the Middle Ages to the absolutist period. Special emphasis will be given to women writers as arbiters of social standards and literary sensibility. Topics to be explored include: the ideal of "courtly love" and women's response to it, the model of the Italian courtier in Renaissance France; seventeenth-century literary salons; the "honnˆte homme" and the model of "French conversation" under Louis XIV; reactions against court culture. The course will include a two-week visit by Professor Jean Garapon of the University of Nantes, noted specialist of seventeenth-century French Literature. Authors studied will likely include: Marie de France, Balthasar Castiglione, Honor‚ D'Urf‚, Madeleine de Scud‚ry, MoliŠre, Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Prerequisite: French 312, or 313; one seminar-level co urse in the French department and permission of department for Mentored Advanced Project (499). At least one seminar is required for the French major.

Gender and Women's Studies 295.01 "Special Topic: Critical Race Feminisms." This course is an introduction to critical theoretical debates about gender, race and class in the United States legal system. Students will examine legal concepts, structures and narratives that produce and/or reinforce patterns of discrimination and inequality, as well as examine alternative models proposed within critical legal scholarship. Prerequisite: GWS-111 or permission of instructor.

Gender and Women's Studies 295.02 "Special Topic: Transgressive Identities: Gay Male Sensuality in World Literature." The course is designed to explore expressions of gay male sexuality in literature and works or art over time, with emphasis on difference and commonality of experience across epochs and cultures. Literary texts from antiquity to contemporary times will be enhanced by films and visual media. Text may include Japanese medieval stories, tales from The Arabian Nights, and works by Plato, Dante, A. Gide, T. Mann, O. Wilde, M. Kuzmin, E. White and others. Prerequisite: GWS-111 or one course in Literature or permission of instructor.

Gender and Women's Studies 295.03 "Special Topic: Feminist Memoirs." In this course, we will read a wide range of memoirs by feminist writers in order to critically analyze the memoir genre and to explore the ways in which feminist writers have used memoir writing to describe personal and political experiences and to theorize from these experiences. In addition to selected critical essays on memoir and autobiography, we will read memoirs by bell hooks, Jane Lazarre, Shirley Geok-Lin Lim, Audre Lorde, Marjane Satrapi, and others in order to analyze how writers have used autobiographical writing to conduct feminist analysis and to develop feminist theory. Prerequisite: GWS-111 or second year standing.

Gender and Women's Studies 495.01 "Senior Seminar." From Oprah Winfrey to Beyonc‚, representations of Black women in popular culture have been a site of contestation and debate within the United States. This course explores images and stereotypes about Black womanhood that have been popularized in American cultural productions. Through an exploration of numerous popular cultural forms, including television, film, music and spoken word, students will critically evaluate representational forms that produce powerful discourses about gender, race, class and sexuality articulated on the bodies of Black women. Prerequisite: GWS 111, one core course, and four additional credits from core or elective courses, or permission of instructor.

General Literary Studies 227.01 (Also German) "Topics in German Literature in Translation: Holocaust." See German 227.01.

General Literary Studies 353.01 (Also Russian) "Major Russian Writers: Dostoevsky." See Russian 353.01.

German 227.01 (Also General Literary Studies) "Topics in German Literature in Translation: Holocaust." This course will examine responses to the Holocaust in a variety of German literary texts (drama, poetry, prose). Several survivor testimonies and films will also be included. Prerequisite: none.

Global Development Studies 195.01 (Also Environmental Studies) "Introductory Special Topic: Natural Hazards and Disasters with Lab." See Environmental Studies 195.01.

History 195.01 "Introductory Special Topic: U. S. in the Age of Transatlantic Revolution." This course provides an introduction to issues of historical causation, argumentation, and evidence, throught the lens of U.S. History in the age of the American, French, and Hatian Revolutions (1763-1815). After introductory units on historical methods and the concept of transatlantic history, we will spend the bulk of the semester considering U.S. history in a global context to understand how Revolutions shaped politics, cutlure, social relations, race, and gender. Students will work intensively with primary sources. Prerequisite: none.

History 195.02 "Introductory Special Topic: Europe after the Great War." This course provides an introduction to issues of historical causation, argumentation, and evidence, through the lens of the Great War (1914-18) and its impact on European political, social, economic, and cultural life. After introductory units on historical methods and the narrative of the war, we will spend the bulk of the semester investigating how Europeans attempted to reconstruct, reinvent, and make sense of "a world undone" between 1919 and 1933. Prerequisite: none.

History 295.01 "Special Topic: Medieval Intellectual History." This course will provide an introduction to the western intellectual tradition, from roughly the end of the fourth century to the late fourteenth century. It will cover developments in educational institutions, philosophy, theology, mysticism, spirituality, science, magic, law, and political theory. We will focus on Christian Europe. Nevertheless, since Christians in the Middle Ages did not exist in a vacuum, but also interacted with Jews and Muslims and drew inspiration from their writings, we will also spend time examining the Jewish and Muslim intellectual traditions. Prerequisite: HIS-101 or 233 or permission of instructor.

History 295.02 "Special Topic: European Urban History." This course analyzes the transformation of the European urban landscape from the nineteenth-century explosion of urbanization and industrialization to the present day. Particular attention will be devoted to several key themes: the emergence of urban planning, the aesthetics of urban life, the advent of urban "modernity" (and "modernism") as expressed in politics, art, and a nascent mass consumer and leisure culture; the personal experience of war, poverty, and immigration in the city; and the connection between the urban landscape, political legitimacy, and memory. Prerequisite: second-year standing.

History 295.03 "Special Topic: U. S. Environmental History." This course will introduce students to some of the central issues and debates in American Environmental History ranging from the period of early colonial settlement to the present day. Key topics will include: the shifting patterns of land use and resource management among Native American and settler communities; the ecological transformations wrought by commercial agriculture and industrial capitalism; the evolution of environmental policy; and the changing ways in which people have conceptualized and interacted with the natural world around them. Prerequisite: second-year standing.

History 321.01 "Colonial Encounters in North America: A Comparative Approach." This seminar will examine Spanish, French, and British encounters with the native peoples of North America from 1492-1821. Students will grapple with three comparative questions: 1) What common attitudes and behaviors marked the European colonizers? 2) How did European colonists differ in their reactions to, and actions toward, the native peoples? 3) What was the range of native responses to the three different European empires and their colonists? Students will use the course common readings to propel them towards their own research project. Prerequisite: HIS-105 or 111 and any 200-level U.S. History course (HIS-211, 212, 214, 221, 222, 227, or 228) or permission of the instructor.

History 323.01 "The Art of Biography." This seminar explores the complex blend of objective and subjective elements that necessarily comprise the writing of biography. The purpose of the seminar is to weigh the reliability of different types of evidence and explore the choices that biographers must make about weaving evidence into a coherent narrative. Students will be asked to consider issues of ethics and literary style, as well as questions of veracity and logic when exploring various approaches to writing biography. In the spring of 2009, we will take advantage of the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth to focus our discussions on Lincoln biographies. The Lincoln literature allows us to explore a wide array of issues related to writing biography while also allowing us to appreciate the challenge of mastering the story of just one American life. For their own research, students will have the opportunity to conduct biographical research on any American figure on whom there are acces sible primary and secondary sources. Prerequisite: HIS-112 and one 200-level American history course.

History 329.01 "Latin America and the United States." As the saying goes, Latin America lies too far from God and too close to the United States. This proximity has affected Latin, American economics, demographics, culture, and politics. The seminar will begin with common readings. This year those common readings will focus on US attempts-both official and unofficial-to democratize and modernize the region. Students will then write a research paper using primary documents. These papers could focus on anyone of a number of issues that were central to US-Latin American relations such as hemispheric security, economic affairs, democracy, and socialism. A reading knowledge of Spanish or Portuguese is helpful but not required. Prerequisite: HIS-201, 202, 204 or permission of instructor.

History 335.01 "Crusades and Crusaders." This research seminar will introduce students to modern debates and research into the crusades. In the first seven weeks, students will read extensively in the primary sources of the first four crusades and choose a research topic. Class discussion will focus on understanding these written texts as both literary works and historical sources. Weeks 8-13 will be devoted to special topics and students' research projects. A different student/group of students will be responsible for structuring class discussion in each of these remaining weeks and assigning (short) readings for the rest of the class. This exercise will help students become familiar with their classmates' research area and teach them how to understand and frame their own research within a broader context. Prerequisite: HIS-233 or the permission of Instructor.

History 376.01 "Mao Zedong (1893-1976): Portraits of the Chairman." This seminar will examine the various stages of the life of Mao: his childhood, his rise to prominence in the revolution, and his roles first as Chairman of the Communist Party and later as the undisputed ruler of the People's Republic. Themes for this course will include Mao's family life and his struggles against rivals both inside and outside of the Party; this course will also consider his thoughts on peasant organizations, guerrilla warfare, intellectuals and elites, literature and art, mass will and energy, and the continuing revolution. As well, the course will analyze changing depictions of Mao both by himself and by other individuals of differing political persuasions. Readings will include Mao's early autobiographical account, selected biographies published in the West over the past decades, and portions of Mao's speeches and writings relevant to our themes. Prerequisite: HIS-275, 276 or permission of instruct or.

Humanities 195.01 "Introductory Special Topic: Introduction to Film Analysis." An introduction to the "reading" and the comprehension of film as a language and to cinema as an institution through the examination of moving image culture--its history, theory, and criticism. Study of the basic concepts and critical approaches to film analysis. Prerequisite: none.

Humanities 295.01 "Special Topic: Cinema: Space, Gender, and Sexuality in Film." Intensive study of film to examine the ways the body is gendered, sexed, and raced in the media. Particular attention given to the cinematic representation of space and place, and the bodies that occupy them. Prerequisite: HUM-195 (Introduction to Film, 2008/fa), GWS 111, or permission of instructor.

Humanities 395.01 "Advanced Special Topic: Border Crossings: Globalization and Visual Culture." This seminar examines issues of globalization and visual culture, with an emphasis upon transnational flows of contemporary art, film, television, and new media. We will begin by interrogating the phenomenon known as globalization, and then considering in particular its visual cultural aspects. One of the primary questions we will address is the following: What is the role of visual culture in the formation of local and global identities? Cinema has, for example, always functioned as a form of intercultural engagement. How should we view the worldwide success of contemporary Hollywood films in light of this history, and in relation to national cinema? How has satellite television facilitated the production and reproduction of ethnic identities in diasporic communities? The course will take an interdisciplinary approach that includes theories of national aesthetics, colonial and postcolonial crit ique, the political economy of culture, and close analysis of contemporary visual texts. Prerequisite: Junior or Senior standing; priority will be given to students completing majors in the Humanities Division.

Japanese 195.01 "Introductory Special Topic: Introduction to Contemporary Japanese Culture." Conducted in English, this course provides an introduction to contemporary Japanese cutlure. Through active in-depth dicussion on topics such as cultural expectations and norms/values/attitudes in comparison with other cultures, this course will enhance students' understanding of the modern Japanese life and culture. The structure of modern Japanese society and its traditions will be closely examined and analyzed through selected readings and film-viewing. Prerequisite: none.

Japanese 295.01 "Special Topic: Japanese Reading/Kanji." Conducted in Japanese, this course focuses on Japanese reading with kanji. It incorporates a systematic approach to the study of kanji, including the study of radicals and phonetic elements, to assist language students in the process of memorizing approximately 700 kanji, equivalent to the level of Advanced Japanese 332. This course is designed as a supplement to our regular Japanese-language offerings, enhancing students' acquisition of kanji and thus allowing them to gain a greater comprehension of Japanese reading. Prerequisite: JPN-101 or permission of instructor.

Library 195.01 "Introductory Special Topic: How Disciplines Construct Knowledge." This course is being team-taught by Catherine Rod, Associate Professor and Special Collections Librarian and Judy Hunter, Director of the Writing Laboratory. Students will analyze how academic communities use genres to construct, validate, communicate, and preserve knowledge. Specifically, students will closely analyze how academics perform specific types of scholarly work through the writing they produce, the sources of information they value, the modes of communication they honor, and the ways they control and organize information. Through this analysis, students will gain an understanding of how academics' work differs within and among disciplines. Prerequisite: none.

Math 314.01 "Topics in Applied Mathematics: Digital Signal Processing." Have you ever wondered how your MP3 player works? How about your digital camera? Mathematics 314 explores the mathematics of digital signal processing. Signal processing is a wide-ranging field with applications in art (digital art and image manipulation), music (electro-acoustic music), biology (protein recognition), physics (medical images), and many other fields. Mathematical topics include sampling, quantization, filters, discrete and fast Fourier transforms, wavelet transforms, and compression. Prerequisite: MAT-220 or permission of the instructor.

Math 444.01 "Senior Seminar: Experimental Mathematics." Description: The pure mathematician has traditionally solved problems by "paper and pencil." While the use of computers has changed our world in many respects, this has (with few exceptions) come back to help mathematicians in their research. This course will show how computers can be used to solve a variety of problems in calculus, linear algebra, combinatorics, analysis, and other areas. Students will master a computer algebra system, learn some recently developed algorithmic tools, and work on a research project. The course is intended for anyone interested in seeing how computers can be used to solve problems in pure mathematics. Recommended for those considering graduate school in mathematics. Prerequisite: MAT-316 and 321 or permission of instructor.

Music 202.01 "Topics in American Music: Rock Music: Rock Music." This course will focus on American and Anglo-American popular music, primarily in the rock and hip-hop traditions. In addition to functioning as a historical survey, this course seeks to understand the narrative and symbolic qualities present within musical sound with the purpose of being able to interpret this music as a social text that reflects the larger cultural and political movements surrounding its creation. Probable topics include, among others, Nirvana and the end of history, the roots of the blues in the African diaspora, class and classicism in heavy metal music, disco as a progressive social movement, and the role of break-dance in the development of hip-hop. Prerequisite: none

Philosophy 391.01 "Advanced Studies in Continental Philosophy: Nietzsche." An intensive examination of the entirety of Nietzsche's writings. Texts will include The Birth of Tragedy, On the Use and Abuse of History, Daybreak, The Gay Science, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Beyond Good and Evil, On the Genealogy of Morals, Twilight of the Idols, The Antichrist, and Ecce Homo. In addition, students will be given the opportunity to confront the works of Nietzsche's important interpreters, including, among others, Heidegger, L”with, M�ller-Lauter, Deleuze, Derrida, Foucault, Irigaray, Blondel, and Nehamas. Prerequisite: PHI-234, 235, 268, 295 (German Idealism), 336, or permission of instructor.

Policy Studies 295.01 (Also Economics) "Special Topic: Foundations of Policy Analysis." See Economics 295.01.

Political Science 295.01 "Special Topic: The Role of Religion in World Politics." This course will examine how religion affects politics in dramatically different ways in the various countries of the world. We will look at how secular Europe deals with the growing presence of Muslim believers. We will examine the politics of such religiously divided countries as Nigeria and India. We will focus on the wide variation within the Muslim world as to how to understand Islam, and the implication for politics of these differing interpretations. We will have a significant focus on religion and politics in the U.S. Prerequisite: POL-101 or permission of instructor.

Political Science 295.02 "Special Topic: Public Opinion and the American Democracy." To what extent does public opinion in the United States really drive the policy choices made in our representative democracy? How is public opinion measured and how does it enable, influence and limit the actions of officeholders, institutions and citizens? These are key questions addressed in this course, which will look in detail at polling, elections, presidential approval, policy moods, the dynamics of American public opinion and the resulting levels of trust and legitimacy that Americans feel for their government. Prerequisite: Political Science 101 or permission of instructor.

Political Science 295.03 "Special Topic: Terrorism and Counterterrorism." Since the September 11 terrorist attacks, fighting terrorism has been one of the primary objectives of U.S. Foreign policy and national security. The goal of this course is to give students a better understanding of the history, nature and possible causes of terrorism and to discuss ways that the U.S. can fight and prevent terrorism. Ultimately, this course aims to give students a more nuanced view of terrorism and to encourage them to think critically about its causes. Prerequisite: POL-101 or permission of instructor.

Political Science 295.04 "Special Topic: Nationalism." This course analyzes the origins and transformation, contradictions and problems of nations and national movements. Its main aim is to provide an understanding as to why world politics are organized around state structures and national identities. In addressing this question it analyzes the definition of state and nation, the relationship between both concepts, the forces that motivated the appearance and spread of nation-states, the process through which national identities are formed, maintained and transformed. It studies the emergence of secessionist movements and ethnic violence, as well as the ability of institutional structures to contain and channel national conflict. It illustrates these processes through the comparative study of several case studies such as France, USA, Germany, Italy, Catalonia, Basque Country, Quebec, Northern Ireland, USSR, Yugoslavia, Algiers, Rwanda and India. Prerequisite: POL-101 or permission of instructor.

Political Science 295.05 "Special Topic: Peace and How To Achieve It." From Hobbs to Gandhi to the UN, peace has been seen as one of the most important political goals. Yet different thinkers pursue different ideas of what peace means and prescribe different ways of achieving it. This course surveys, critiques, and evaluates different approaches to peace and peacemaking, looking at realism, liberal internationalism, conflict resolution literature, mediation literature, Gandhi, feminism, peace research and peace psychology. The main theoretical theme of the course is how different approaches to peace emphasize power, justice, utility or empathy, while practical focuses of the course will include a critique of the UN's post-Cold War approach to peace, and analysis of more localized cases of intractable conflict such as Northern Ireland and Israel/Palestine. Prerequisite: Second Year Standing or permission of instructor. Previous classes in International Relations recommended.

Political Science 395.01 "Advanced Special Topic: American Public Policy." The purpose of this course is to address how government policies construct gender, race, and work in the United States. Students will analyze policies and the policymaking process from different policy eras for example, the Progressive Era, the New Deal and Great Society. In addition to the historical policy eras, we will also focus on specific policies relating to gender, work and race such as comparable worth, welfare to work, and full employment policies. Prerequisite: POL-222 (offered as POL-295 Spring 2006 & Spring 2007, Race, Gender and Class in Welfare State Development) or POL-225 (offered as POL-295 Fall 2006 & Fall 2007, American Public Policy and Democracy) or permission of instructor.

Political Science 395.02 "Advanced Special Topic: Seminar on American Political Decision Making." How are political decisions made in America? This seminar explores and compares models of decision-making in all three branches of the United States government and in the electorate, seeking to understand differences produced by institutions, demographics and attitudes. Students will research and write original research papers within one of the course subtopics. Prerequisite: POL-295-01, Politics and Media (Fall 2008), POL-237 or 239 or permission of instructor.

Political Science 395.03 This course explores principles of policy making, with applications. It develops a theoretical rationale for policy, based on theory of market failure and motivational/agency dimensions. It proceeds to investigate institutional context and processes relevant to policy making, using case studies. With this foundation, the course will examine specific policy problems and solutions related to important problem areas such as economic growth, health care, monetary policy, education, and environment. Students will be encouraged to explore policy areas of interest for case studies and papers. Prerequisites: second-year standing and either ECN 111 or POL 101.

Religious Studies 195.01 "Introductory Special Topic: Religion in South Asia." The Asian religions examined in this course (i.e., the Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Sikh and Islamic traditions) have shaped and been shaped by cultures that are hundreds-even thousands-of years old. Set within the broad cultural region of South Asia, these traditions-both then and now-span the distances between modern-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tibet, Bangladesh and India. This course offers a basic introduction to the beliefs and practices of each tradition and emphasizes the interactions, blendings, co-existence and competition of Asian religions as they occur in their dynamic South Asian, regional contexts. Students will encounter the religious claims, experiences and rituals of individual practitioners of Asian religions within complex historical situations of power and change. Prerequisite: none.

Religious Studies 295.01 "Special Topic: Muslims in the United States." From Sunni and Shia immigrants to members of the Nation of Islam, Muslims are a diverse and rapidly growing segment of the American population. Who belongs to these religious communities? How long have they been here? What do they share in common? And, after 9/11, will other Americans continue to doubt their loyalties? This course will examine the rich and complex history of Islam in the United States, with special attention to the ways in which contemporary Muslims attempt to construct their identities as religious adherents and as democratic citizens. Prerequisite: REL-111, 115 or permission of instructor.

Religious Studies 295.02 "Special Topic: God(s), Sex and the Movies in South Asia." From the rain-drenched saris of Bollywood heroines to the mystical metaphors of the Upanishads, the divine, the erotic and the spectacular have historically been closely connected in Indian culture and religion. This course will examine theories of love, eroticism and the dramatic in a number of Hindu religious traditions through a wide variety of media, especially twentieth-century Indian cinema and performed traditions of poetic desire for God (bhakti). Topics covered will include the gendering of God and the human soul, the role of sex in celibacy, and colonial and recent constructions of masculinity and femininity, as well as contemporary debates about the Freud-tinged spectacles of many western scholars of Hinduism. Prerequisite: REL-117 or 226 or permission of instructor.

Religious Studies 295.03 "Special Topic: Mystics and Politics in Islam." Can Muslims be mystics? Can mystics be political? The course suggests affirmative answers to both questions by linking three categories which are often kept apart: Islam, mysticism and this-worldly activity. As such, the course will examine the variety of popular and scholarly assumptions that often keep these subjects separate and instead argue that Islamic history demonstrates their virtual inseparability. Case studies of South Asian, Turkish and North African Sufism (i.e., mystical Islam) will provide a rich array of primary and historical material for consideration; theoretical questions in the study of religion will frame the broader class discussion. Prerequisite: REL-220 or permission of instructor.

Russian 295.01 "Special Topic: Russian Grammar in Context." This course will provide an in-depth analysis of Russian grammar, including explorations of phonetics and phonology, morphology, syntax, and pragmatics. Special attention will be devoted to pronunciation and intonation; verbal governance and aspect; and the Russian case system. While focusing on formal linguistic aspects of the language, the course will also consider language in praxis, i.e., students will be expected to apply knowledge acquired in class in oral and written assignments as the course progresses. The course will use as reference materials several standard reference grammar textbooks, while drawing as well on contemporary literature, film and media for examples in context. Prerequisite: Russian 222 or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.

Russian 353.01 (Also General Literary Studies) "Major Russian Writers: Dostoevsky." This course examines Dostoevsky's artistic growth and philosophical development within the context and structure of his literary output, from early short works to major novels, including The Double, Notes from Underground, Crime and Punishment, and The Brothers Karamazov. Conducted in English. Prerequisite: none.

Science 395.01(Also Social Studies) "Advanced Special Topic: Biomedical Technology, Public Policy, and Reproduction." See Social Studies 395.01.

Social Studies 295.01 "Special Topic: Creative Careers: Learning from Alumni." This course, sponsored by the Wilson Program in Enterprise and Leadership, focuses on the idea of career as the construction of one's identity within the context of communities. We will examine case studies of 8-10 Grinnell alumni who have developed significant careers and made a difference in the government, non-profit, and business sectors. These alumni, with diverse majors in all three divisions, will visit class to tell their own stories so that we can learn about their opportunities, decisions, and learning as they constructed their careers. Dates: January 23 to March 13. 1/2 semester deadlines apply. Prerequisite: One social studies division course (Anthropology, Education, History, Economics, Sociology or Political Science).

Social Studies 295.02 "Special Topic: Health Geography." This course examines the geographical dimensions of health and disease. This course explores a variety of important approaches and themes in health geography, including spatial epidemiology, disease ecology, and global health and security. Prerequisite: One 100-level Social Studies Course (Anthropology, Economics, Education, History, Political Science, or Sociology).

Social Studies 295.03 "Special Topic: Refugee Relief." This short course, sponsored by the Wilson Program in Enterprise and Leadership and will be taught by Neil Otto, '72, Managing Director of the Otto Family Foundation, is an overview of the art and science of preserving human life. Today fourteen million refugees and 25 million internally displaced people struggle daily to survive, sometimes with the assistance of the United Nations, national entities, and non-government organizations. The level of assistance is codified in the Sphere Standards which cover not only the delivery of essential humanitarian needs but also establishes a basic process for providing those needs while emphasizing the Humanitarian Charter, transparency, and the essential dignity of all human beings. Using a multi-disciplinary approach this course will 1) outline the political and economic organization of relief activities, 2) examine the management, science, engineering, psychology, logistics, and cultural implicatio ns inherent in the delivery of the Sphere basic needs of water, sanitation, nutrition, health, shelter, and protection, and 3) briefly explore both successful and failed humanitarian missions using case studies to identify process failures. Dates: February 16 to March 4. Short course deadlines apply. Prerequisite: One Social Studies Division Course (Anthropology, Economics, Education, History, Political Science, or Sociology); one course in lab science recommended.

Social Studies 295.04 "Special Topic: Intelligence Assessments: Iraq and Iran." This short course, sponsored by the Wilson Program in Enterprise and Leadership, will explore intelligence analysis as an art form by examining in detail the two most significant intelligence assessments of the U.S. Government so far in the 21st century: the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iraqi WMD Programs and the November 2007 National Intelligence Estimate on Iran's Nuclear Program. Students will compare and contrast these documents in terms of the professional tradecraft used in their drafting and coordination, the political impact of their publication, and the lessons the experience suggests for the production and use of future intelligence assessments. The objective of the course will be to expose students to the elements of collection and analytical thinking inherent to the intelligence process and to provide them an opportunity to gain an in-depth understanding of both recent history a nd critical current events. Lectures by the instructor will be supplemented by student group presentations; the assigned readings for the second week will be divided between the groups. Dates: February 3 to February 19. Short course deadlines apply. Prerequisite: One Social Studies Division Course (Anthropology, Economics, Education, History, Political Science, or Sociology).

Social Studies 295.05 "Special Topic: Today's Media and the Changing Face of News." This short course, sponsored by the Wilson Program in Enterprise and Leadership, will explore the role of the media--understanding how news is gathered, the various--and evolving--means by which it is disseminated and how the very definition of news is changing in a tech-driven society. This is a class not only for students interested in journalism as a career but also for the media "consumer" who wants to knows the whys and hows of what he or she reads, sees and listens to. The course will combine readings and viewings of print, online and visual media; readings of selected texts will expound on the growing role of "citizen journalists" and bloggers, and how the mainstream media is trying to adapt. Dates: March 31 to April 16. Short course deadlines apply. Prerequisite: One Social Studies Division Course (Anthropology, Economics, Education, History, Political Science, or Sociology).

Social Studies 395.01(Also Science) "Advanced Special Topic: Biomedical Technology, Public Policy, and Reproduction." This interdisciplinary upper-level seminar examines the scientific, technological, political, social, and cultural contexts in which people make decisions about reproduction. We explore contextual influences on individual decisions either to reproduce or not to reproduce, as well as efforts to control the kind of child one has. Topics to be discussed include birth control, abortion, sterilization, STD's, eugenics, adoption, assisted reproductive technologies, egg and sperm donation, surrogacy, genetic screening, and genetic engineering. Attention given throughout to the influences of race, class, gender, and sexuality. Texts and readings chosen from a variety of interdisciplinary sources. Prerequisite: BIO-150, SOC-111, and at least one 200-level course in Biology or Sociology, or permission of the instructors.

Social Studies 395.02 "Advanced Special Topic: Intellectual Property Law and Policy: The Intersection of Public Policy and Legal Regulation." This short course is sponsored by the Wilson Program in Enterprise and Leadership. The course will examine the nexus between governmental policy making and federal legislation. U.S. economic and trade policies over the last fifty years will be reviewed and contrasted with the development and change of U.S. intellectual property laws during the same period. The effect of intellectual property legislation in achieving governmental economic and trade policies will be studied together with comparable foreign trade policies and legal developments. Dates: April 7 to April 23. Short course deadlines apply. Prerequisite: SST-295, Intellectual Property and its Role in Global Socioeconomic Shifts (SP07, FA07 & FA08), or POL-101, 216, 219, ECN-111, 230 or 233 or permission of instructor.

Sociology 295.02 "Special Topic: The Politics of Hate. What is a Hate Crime?" Is "hate" really a new criminal phenomenon? Why is hate crime legislation so controversial? Are hate crimes simply criminal behaviors, or are they inextricably questions of power? We will explore social, economic, and structural factors that contribute to an environment of hate, theories of hate and bias-motivation, and the political development of hate crime legislation. We also will engage in comparative race and intersectional critiques to reveal the complexity of hate violence as a criminal act, a personal and community injury, a demonstration of power, and an enforcement of marginalization. One of the main premises for this course is that hate crimes cannot be seen merely as deviant acts, but are the effects of a society still grappling with inequality, difference, fear, and hate. Prerequisite: SOC-111 or permission of instructor.

Sociology 295.03 "Special Topic: Race and Popular Culture." This course examines the representation of race in popular and visual culture. Starting from the premise that popular culture is a site rich with expression, social instruction, conflict, and commodification, the course examines cultural constructions of race that produce, accentuate, and heighten our fears, desires, and pleasures. Attention will be given to theoretical texts that assist us in analyzing and reading popular culture, as well as a variety of case studies, "practices," and media such as television, film, popular music, internet social sites, and video games. Using race as the primary lens for our analysis, we will analyze its intersections with gender, class, and queer subjectivities. The course will also critically analyze the political, economic, and global forces that continue to produce and shape the representation of race and popular culture. Prerequisite: SOC-111 or permission of instructor.

Sociology 395.01 "Advanced Special Topic: Citizenship Matters." Citizenship is fundamentally a legal tie between an individual and a particular state, but it is also a category to which rights are attached, and a basis for identification. What has happened to this three-dimensional institution as globalizing forces have reconfigured the state, its main referent? How does it matter that people's "right to have rights" has been diminished? This course grapples with answers to these questions by analyzing changes in citizenship policy in leading liberal-democratic and illiberal countries over the long run. Special attention is paid to the Americas and Europe. Prerequisite: Two 200-level Sociology courses or permission of instructor.

Sociology 395.02 (Also Anthropology) "Advanced Special Topic: Managing NGOs and Businesses: Local and Global Perspectives." See Anthropology 395.02.

Spanish 295.01 "Special Topic: Contemporary Cultures of the Peninsular Periphery." This course will examine contemporary literature, history, and culture (film, sculpture, painting, music, and politics) of Spain's northern regions, specifically Catalonia, the Basque Country, and Galicia, with the objective of analyzing the tensions that have existed between these regions and the central government during the contemporary period. Through literary, visual, audio, and theoretical texts we will gain a critical understanding of the Spanish Civil War, Francoism, the Transition to Democracy, and contemporary political debates, while discussing contentious themes such as-the construction of nationalism, regional identity, and language (Catal n, Basque, and Galician); the recuperation of historical memory; immigration; transculturation; terrorism; and globalization. For majors this course would satisfy the prerequisite requirement for upper 300-level courses. Prerequisite: SPN-285 or permission of inst ructor.

Technology Studies 154.01 "Evolution of Technology." This course will consider social and technical influences on invention and engineering; social structures around technology use; consequences of technology use, both intended and unintended; and how we can make choices about technology for the future. Specific technologies considered through readings and guest lectures will include stone tools, bridges, transportation, medical technology, written language, computing, and genetic engineering. Prerequisite: none.

Theatre 310.01 "Studies in Dance: Performance and Community." What is community performance? How do community members perform their communities? How do staged performances represent community? What is the role of the artist in representing community? How does a community performance operate? Does it function as intervention, act of resistance, utopian desire, celebration, community improvement, or economic development? This course provides an interdisciplinary, practical and critical approach to examining community and performance. It is designed for students who desire to use artistic practices for social engagement. Through theoretical studies and social interaction students will apply their specialized skills as writers, activists, choreographers, directors or performers in a culminating community performance project that addresses social and aesthetic concerns. Students will work either individually or in groups with self-selected communities which may include, but are not limited to, schoo ls, prisons, senior/retirement centers, farming organizations or churches in the Grinnell area. Prerequisite: Theatre 202, or 203, or 211, or 260, or permission of the instructor.