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brigdhSo, I'm working on scheduling what course I'll be taking next quarter, and there's a few that I can't decide between. I've got enough time to take a fun class (yes, there are fun classes. Shut up, I'm a dork), but I don't know which one I like the best. Here are my favorite ones:
1. Shakespeare - Through a close study of four major plays, and glances at two others, we’ll try to determine what makes Shakespeare’s work as relevant to today’s issues as it was to those of the turn of the seventeenth century. Although we’ll certainly pay attention to the ideas and conventions of the Renaissance, we won’t forget that human nature doesn’t change very much from age to age; and during the current debates about the nature of justice, public vs. private morality, and the dissolution of community structures, it may comfort us to find that we aren’t the first to be faced with such dilemmas. The plays will include comedy, tragedy, and history: Measure for Measure; Hamlet; King Lear; Henry VI, Part 3; Richard III; and, as a special bonus, Titus Andronicus, a bloody pot boiler of Shakespeare’s early years. There will probably be two midterms, a medium-length paper (5-10 pages), and a final.
2. Shakespearean Identities - Through close study of the language, structure, and artistry of Shakespeare's poetry and drama, this course introduces students to the many ways in which the author's work probes essential questions of human identity. In their elaborate experimentation with linguistic and dramatic masks, Shakespeare's sonnets and plays explore the shifting boundaries of the self: how it is defined in relation to others, to physical surroundings, and to social structures like marriage, political hierarchy, and class. Our study of Shakespeare will focus on several questions of identity: How is individual identity constructed? How do we know ourselves and our world? And what are the limits of that knowledge? Texts: selected sonnets, Richard II, Henry V, Twelfth Night, Othello, Merchant of Venice, and Hamlet. Course requirements: three 1-2 page response papers, one 6-8 page formal essay, a performance assignment, and a final exam.
3. Religion and Media - This course will introduce you to the longstanding and complex connection between religious practices and various media. We will first analyze how human hearing, vision and the performing body have been used historically to express and maintain religious life through music, voice, images, words and rituals. Then we will spend time on more recent electronic media such as cassette, film, television, video, and the internet. Students should note that an anthropological/ historical perspective on studying religion will be pursued in the course. We will read, listen, view, log on, discuss and write. Texts: Berger, Peter. The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion
Brasher, Brenda. Give Me That Online Religion (limited # available, first 100 pages in packet)
Eck, Diana. Darsan, Seeing the Divine Image in India.
Graham, William A. Beyond the Written Word: Oral Aspects of Scripture in the History of Religion
McAlister, Elizabeth, Rara! Vodou Power and Performance in Haiti and its Diaspora
Heather Hendershot, Shaking the World for Jesus: Evangelicals and Popular Culture
4. Arthurian Legends - This course will explore the rich tradition of Arthuriana that flourished in the Middle Ages
and continues to thrive in modern popular culture. After sampling some of the earliest legends
about King Arthur in British histories and saints' lives, we will focus on three major works/authors:
the fabulous tales of knights errant by Chretien de Troyes, known as the "father of Arthurian romance";
Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, a haunting, often bewildering, story of sin and self-discovery
centered on the quest for the holy grail; and Malory's epic Morte Darthur, which, more than any single
text, has shaped modern conceptions of Arthur.
Which do you think sounds like it'd be the coolest?
1. Shakespeare - Through a close study of four major plays, and glances at two others, we’ll try to determine what makes Shakespeare’s work as relevant to today’s issues as it was to those of the turn of the seventeenth century. Although we’ll certainly pay attention to the ideas and conventions of the Renaissance, we won’t forget that human nature doesn’t change very much from age to age; and during the current debates about the nature of justice, public vs. private morality, and the dissolution of community structures, it may comfort us to find that we aren’t the first to be faced with such dilemmas. The plays will include comedy, tragedy, and history: Measure for Measure; Hamlet; King Lear; Henry VI, Part 3; Richard III; and, as a special bonus, Titus Andronicus, a bloody pot boiler of Shakespeare’s early years. There will probably be two midterms, a medium-length paper (5-10 pages), and a final.
2. Shakespearean Identities - Through close study of the language, structure, and artistry of Shakespeare's poetry and drama, this course introduces students to the many ways in which the author's work probes essential questions of human identity. In their elaborate experimentation with linguistic and dramatic masks, Shakespeare's sonnets and plays explore the shifting boundaries of the self: how it is defined in relation to others, to physical surroundings, and to social structures like marriage, political hierarchy, and class. Our study of Shakespeare will focus on several questions of identity: How is individual identity constructed? How do we know ourselves and our world? And what are the limits of that knowledge? Texts: selected sonnets, Richard II, Henry V, Twelfth Night, Othello, Merchant of Venice, and Hamlet. Course requirements: three 1-2 page response papers, one 6-8 page formal essay, a performance assignment, and a final exam.
3. Religion and Media - This course will introduce you to the longstanding and complex connection between religious practices and various media. We will first analyze how human hearing, vision and the performing body have been used historically to express and maintain religious life through music, voice, images, words and rituals. Then we will spend time on more recent electronic media such as cassette, film, television, video, and the internet. Students should note that an anthropological/ historical perspective on studying religion will be pursued in the course. We will read, listen, view, log on, discuss and write. Texts: Berger, Peter. The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion
Brasher, Brenda. Give Me That Online Religion (limited # available, first 100 pages in packet)
Eck, Diana. Darsan, Seeing the Divine Image in India.
Graham, William A. Beyond the Written Word: Oral Aspects of Scripture in the History of Religion
McAlister, Elizabeth, Rara! Vodou Power and Performance in Haiti and its Diaspora
Heather Hendershot, Shaking the World for Jesus: Evangelicals and Popular Culture
4. Arthurian Legends - This course will explore the rich tradition of Arthuriana that flourished in the Middle Ages
and continues to thrive in modern popular culture. After sampling some of the earliest legends
about King Arthur in British histories and saints' lives, we will focus on three major works/authors:
the fabulous tales of knights errant by Chretien de Troyes, known as the "father of Arthurian romance";
Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, a haunting, often bewildering, story of sin and self-discovery
centered on the quest for the holy grail; and Malory's epic Morte Darthur, which, more than any single
text, has shaped modern conceptions of Arthur.
Which do you think sounds like it'd be the coolest?
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no subject
Date: 2004-10-26 07:50 pm (UTC)