Fall 2023 Courses

One Health is a concept that understands that human, animal, and environmental health are interconnected, and one cannot be optimized without consideration of the other two. There are several benefits of One Health approaches to growing human, animal, and animal health problems. By considering complex problems in terms of the relationships among parts rather than addressing each piece discretely (systems thinking), new emergent and global challenges can be met head-on. Disciplinary silos should be avoided so that redress of one problem doesn’t unintentionally exacerbate others. Educating future leaders in One Health is critical to tackle complex, multi-sectoral challenges for the improvement of the global condition.

Extreme weather events prompt profound change upon the coastal regions. Hurricanes, nor’easters, tornadoes, lightning, and floods can all preferentially occur in coastal environments, but why do these events happen? Why are they so common in coastal regions? This course will explore the science behind extreme coastal weather.

For science or non-science majors. In the course we will explore the science of the materials used in visual art through the ages, with special emphasis on how polymers and polymer chemistry have been used and how the advent of new materials allowed new art forms. We will do in-class activities including making frescoes, ink, oil paints, Bakelite, galalith and using acrylic paints.

In HNRS 2000 this year, faculty and students will discuss issues of special concern to residents of Louisiana, particularly questions of environmental justice. After reading The Octopus in the Parking Garage by Rob Verchick, the Shared Read for 2023, we will think about how climate change and sea level rise are affecting the state. The issue of industrial pollution will lead us to discuss the tension between the interests of business and the concerns of environmentalists, especially the vulnerability of Louisiana's "fenceline" communities.

In exploring these topics we will think about how we as citizens receive information. What sources are reliable? Whom can we trust? Once we have information and data, what principles guide us in making decisions? What ethical implications should we consider when making choices that affect various communities? To cite the subtitle of one of our texts, Michael Sandel’s Justice, “What’s the Right Thing to Do?”

A study of the life, career, and legacy of Richard Milhous Nixon is as Ronald Reagan described the man himself—complex and fascinating, a worthy pursuit for a university Honors student. You will learn not so much what to think, but how to think. A rigorous university History course will impress upon you that historical figures such as Nixon are much more than “hero” or “villain.” They are incredibly complex human beings and politicians.

C.S. Lewis is one of the most widely read authors of the 20th century. Millions have read his children’s novels The Chronicles of Narnia, and his popular theological books, yet much of Lewis’ thought remains unappreciated. Why did C.S. Lewis say a theocracy was the worst form of government? Why did he support democracy when so many of his time argued for government unaccountable to the people? And why did he think the imagination of Medieval romanticism was more potent than any tract against totalitarianism?  These are the themes we will examine as we work our way through some of Lewis’ less familiar works including – Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, That Hideous Strength, The Abolition of Man, and The Discarded Image among others. 

This course will examine many themes. Sometimes this course will bring up very dark topics. That Hideous Strength is a dark and disturbing book by intention. The power of that book, however, is in how Lewis uses his imagination to show us his arguments. Along with exploring his arguments we are going to explore how he makes them. We are going to examine his use of imagination with the goal of improving our own in the aid of our reason.

Content and theory related to basic health information; critical health issues, economic, political and cultural influences on health and wellness; improving and maintaining optimal health and wellness.

The main purpose of this course is to provide students with a broad-based overview of issues related to intercollegiate athletics. Utilizing a critical lens, the course will examine intercollegiate athletics vis à vis historical, legal, sociological, economic, and organizational contexts, among others.

Religious leaders and movements have been at the heart of social and cultural change for millennia and around the globe. How did they do it, and what would it mean for you to take the ideas and principles of their transformative efforts to make your own impact on the world? This course will introduce students to religious and spiritual leaders who have changed their communities, and in some cases the world, is remarkably positive ways. In addition, the course will study the principles and practices such leaders have used to guide their own personal transformative efforts. Finally, students will work to make meaningful change in their own community, guided by the historical and contemporary examples we study. Ultimately, this course is a living laboratory for social change. I expect you to change the world – if even in a small way – and to document how you did this and present your results to your colleagues and to the larger Ogden College community.

In our course, we’ll look across the history of religious cultures, ancient as well as modern, by way of the following idea: “This world is not all there is! There are many worlds, each populated by different kinds of intelligence, and which we can access and explore under certain conditions!”

We will use the key ideas of postcolonialism to understand popular cultural phenomena, political and public figures, and, more generally, the world around us:   Hamilton: The Musical, Bridgerton, Game of Thrones, Bollywood Cinema, Barack Obama, Kamala Harris, Rishi Sunak, Prince Harry, and our very own Mike The Tiger! Readings will include extracts from postcolonial critics such as Edward Said, Frantz Fanon, Homi Bhabha, and Gayatri Spivak.

This course explores the cultural dimensions of crime and incarceration in the United States by understanding public discourse on these matters through the critical analysis of popular culture. We will pay special attention to historical and contemporary expressions of race, class, gender, sexuality, national identity, etc. in and around the carceral state.

While World War II is thoroughly documented through the lens of oral history, there remains a gap in stories of veterans who served in the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, and the Persian Gulf Wars.  Notably missing in most war narratives are stories from people of color and women, so our class will strive to document these stories, especially. While learning to apply Oral History best practices for our collective project, throughout the semester, we will explore the cultural, institutional, and relational dimensions of veteran history and culture through the study of war literature, history, and individual experiences. The course will consist of common readings and analysis of primary historical sources. The director of the LSU T. Harry Williams Center for Oral History will teach this class and guide students in the creation of primary resources to be deposited jointly in the Center’s repository through LSU Libraries Special Collections and The Library of Congress, Veterans History Project. We also partner with the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs to identify potential narrators and work closely with the Center’s partner in the LSU School of Education Counselor Education to mitigate any potential intersections of trauma in oral history.  Students will complete a final project with oral history interviews of veterans.  Each student will conduct, transcribe, edit, and preserve the interview for future research.

This course is designed as an interdisciplinary exploration of Brazil. Brazil’ s turbulent political history and contemporary struggles with violence, economic disparity, and inclusion have become cultural currency producing some of the most globally recognizable cultural production—particularly cinema and music. Students will survey different types of scholarship on Brazil--journalism, social sciences, music, TV & film, and cultural theory--to understand the relationship between Brazilian society and culture.

This course will look at art produced during the period of the French Revolution, ca. 1775-1825, from an interdisciplinary perspective. It will retrace how neoclassical subject matter developed by Jacques-Louis David and his students became increasingly politicized during the 1780s, and how it provided potent visual allegories during Robespierre’s rule of Terror in the 1790s. By the turn of the nineteenth century, as Neoclassicism faded in importance, Romanticism reacted against it by introducing new content dealing frequently with bodily decay, human suffering, and exoticism. Although paintings and sculptures will be the focus of this class, historical, social, and political shifts will provide the framework in which these works are analyzed. Guest lectures, including a planned class visit by an internationally acclaimed member of the French Academy in Paris, Prof. Marc Fumaroli, will supplement and enrich class discussions. As capstone projects, students will curate a hypothetical exhibition on the subject of “Art and the French Revolution,” as well as write and present a research project

This course explores the artistic traditions associated with the Buddhist faith from its origin in India to a global religion. Spanning from the beginning of Buddhism until the present, the course will examine representations of Buddhism in a variety of media from Asia to the United States. With emphases on interaction, transformation, and mobility of the faith, the course is organized around specific themes such as humor, gender/sexuality, (post)colonialism, political instrumentation, race/ethnicity, museum/display, aniconism/iconoclasm, doctrine/practice, adaptation/appropriation, etc.

This course is an introduction to contemporary global cinema covering films by internationally recognized filmmakers from a diverse range of countries. We will examine the aesthetic, cultural and political aspects of the films, their cinematic techniques and major genres, their distinctive national cinemas and the composition of their film audiences. We will particularly focus on the different images of the body represented in contemporary global cinema. Main topics are gendered bodies, digital bodies, body and trauma, etc. The course’s theoretical framework includes readings by Michel Foucault, and Judith Butler, among others.

In this course, we'll write about films & make films about poems. We'll explore the realm of the

image-makers where the pen becomes a camera and the camera a pen. A creative class for

Louisiana's image-makers by Louisiana's image-makers.

 

Examining the power of image-makers, the course reveals the tools of both poet and filmmaker.

Students will learn by reading and watching, discussing and writing, and by doing. We will read

poems and watch films in order to ground ourselves in the techniques unique to each medium.

Through discussion and further inquiry and research we will identify the most effective means of

integrating words and video to create original work. Throughout the semester, students will

experiment with words and video images in order to understand both mediums more completely.

Ultimately, students will create videopoems, a unique medium that integrates words and visual

images.

In this course, students will learn, practice, and analyze the transferable skills learned from improvising theatre, including gaining a broader understanding of Improvisation in theater history, modern culture, and the business world. By studying and applying the principles of spontaneous problem-solving, listening, and teamwork, students will gain a strong foundation in how this artform can improve one's work and social life. The various improv tools and step-by-step techniques will help students overcome self-consciousness while discovering how to analyze out-comes in a proactive and impersonal way. Lessons will be experiential, and as the course continues, the complexity of the experiments will deepen. The student will read and compare renowned improv practitioners' and teachers' writings in conjunction with the classwork. Improv is a truly an art-form and a way into experiencing Theater and Performance without a dictator of the script. Students will asked to research a specific theatrical genre (for example, Chekhovian Magical Realism, Southern Gothic, or Brechtian )  then analyze it. Assigned class teams will be asked to present their findings to the class in presentation and incorporate this research into practical application thru Performance.

In Songwriting, students will learn methods to craft their own songs (lyrics, melody, and chords). The course presents songs from the past and present for analysis. Students engage in weekly “roundtable” discussions workshopping their songs. There are no required pre-requisites for the course.

 

A typical class will start with group singing and musical exercises such as solfeggio (aural skills) while talking about musical fundamentals. From there, we will present and discuss “hit” songs where we will analyze lyrics, chord progressions, and historical/social context. Class then becomes either group work on your own songs or the performances of your own songs.

This is a broad introductory course in the current research into the biological underpinnings and evolutionary origins of morality. The course is interdisciplinary, combining psychology, biology, neuroscience, and philosophy; it is both an introduction to cutting-edge research and a chance to revisit perennial questions.

This course will examine German historical and cultural roots in the state of Louisiana from the 18th Century to present day. We will concentrate on the early arrival of German settlers, the historically German geographic areas of Louisiana, the influence of German customs on Louisiana culture, and the shared traditions between both Louisiana and Germany. Students will also have the opportunity to interact with special guest lecturers and authors of the texts read and discussed in class. Texts will include films and fiction, as well as historical and theoretical literature by European and American scholars. Course and exchange taught in English. No knowledge of German required.

As Rembrandt captures so wonderfully in his famous depiction of Aristotle and Homer, there has always been a fascinating dialogue between poet and philosopher, especially on the subject of politics. They speak different languages, the poet in mythos; the philosopher in logos. Our goal in this course is to understand how and why the poet and the polis dwell together, or, perhaps, whether they ought to do so. In the course of considering these matters, we will read and discuss a selection of dramas, novels, short stories, and poetry, with parallel philosophical discussions. Join us in this conversation about human being, politics, and the poetic. Explore with us the musings of Aeschylus and Plato, Sophocles and Aristotle; Cormac McCarthy and Hobbes; as well as a host of other poets and philosophers like Zora Neal Hurston, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Wendell Berry, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone Weil, Iris Murdoch, and Albert Camus.

A study of the text of the Arabian Nights, its role in medieval Islamic society, its literary techniques and its influence on Middle Eastern and Western literatures.

Students will study the entirety of Dante’s Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatory, Paradise), a work of great scope that aims to provide a complete picture of the reality of the cosmos and of human virtues and vices. One of the great masterpieces of world literature, Dante’s poem is a compendium of the scientific, philosophical, religious, literary, historical, and political issues that were considered important in the Western tradition from classical antiquity through the beginnings of the Renaissance.

We will read speeches by Huey Long, writings about him, Macbeth, Julius Caesar, and All the King’s Men. Everybody is welcome, and the course should especially suit English, History, and Political Science majors.

In this course, we’ll read exemplary texts from the French Enlightenment that each borrow the voices of non-Europeans to articulate critiques of European society. We’ll look at how Native American, Middle Eastern, and Pacific Islander perspectives are mobilized in order to skirt the prohibition on directly criticizing the institutions and traditions of a highly conservative European society undergoing a revolution in its conception of freedom and equality. We’ll read works by Lahontan, Montesquieu, Graffigny, and Diderot that all articulate strikingly modern ideas around religion, political rights, gender equality, and sexuality – but do so exclusively in the voice of a foreign other. Our goal will be to grasp how these authors simultaneously challenged European hegemony through comparison to other civilizations, while perpetuating a tradition of cultural ventriloquism. This is a seminar class in which student interests drive the discussion – come join us to discover these classic works, and to explore their continuing relevance to our own world!

We’ll spend the semester looking at broadcasts, films, flyers and other persuasive artifacts from WW2, and will have a field trip to the new wing of the WW2 Museum in New Orleans

There is a long tradition of philosophical theories that (a) argue that there are patterns inherent in human experience, history, and society as a whole or totality, and (b) argue that human life and experience are pervasively dysfunctional as a result of these total patterns.  In History of Social Critique, we study some of the highlights of this tradition.  These highlights include works by Rousseau, Marx, Du Bois, Beauvoir, Shulamith Firestone, and Foucault, among others.  We investigate the extent to which the sweeping indictments of society are confirmable by empirically grounded evidence, and consider the remedies proposed in response to these sweeping indictments.   

The philosophical outlook behind this course is that these social critiques are, for the most part, negative and analytical, and they do not provide normative moral guidance for what to do.  Rousseau's Discourse on Inequality, I believe, invents this philosophical genre by explaining how history has driven humans crazy in ways each of us can observe and experience for herself.  Rousseau's other works propose three remedies: radical egalitarian democracy, hierarchical intentional community, and critical education, the last of which I hope this course exemplifies.  Yet the emphasis in this course is on the critiques rather than the positive proposals.  Hegel's "Master-Slave dialectic" is an important paradigm for Marx, Du Bois, and Beauvoir, as is Rousseau's Discourse on Inequality for Charles Mills, and then Marx, in turn, is a paradigm for Gramsci, Firestone, and Mills.  As result, this course provides a cumulative learning experience.  Finally, Foucault and Kimberlé Crenshaw bring the tradition of social critique to two of its prevalent contemporary forms.

Reacting to the Past is an innovative way to study history. The dynamics of history come alive through elaborate simulations in which students play the roles of historical characters. Grades are based on active participation in class discussion and debates, written assignments composed in the voice of one’s character, and a midterm and final exam that test historical understanding of the events we study. NB: Success in this course depends on regular attendance and participation.

This course surveys Arthurian literature from its 6th-century origins; through the late-medieval revisions of Marie de France, Sir Thomas Malory and others; the nineteenth-century romanticized perspective (which produced images like the painting above); and, finally, a few of the many creative twentieth-century adaptations of these legends. We will begin with an examination of the earliest chronicles from which the legends spring, and we will consider how the myth—including its characters, themes, and symbols—has evolved with the changing beliefs and tastes of its audience. How does the fellowship of the Round Table—its loves, combats, and quests—weave its magic into each succeeding generation of readers (and listeners or viewers)? In what ways will this tale capture your own imagination? 

Since 2017, the #MeToo movement has shifted public conversations surrounding sexual violence. Discussing sexual violence and engaging in high level critical analysis of the various ways we communicate about sexual violence in mediated and public life is gravely important. 
This course explores how sexual violence is symbolically negotiated in U.S. public culture. We will examine how sexual violence and consent are framed in legal, political, educational, media, and cultural contexts. We will survey the intersectional relationships between race, gender, sexuality, nation, age, ability, and class as they relate to sexual violence. Finally, we will consider the ways that the public framing of sexual violence impacts cultural views about rape, and in turn, how social institutions (such as schools, the government, religious bodies, or the criminal justice system) attempt to stop sexual violence. 

What is the history of Latinos? Where do they come from why are so many here? Why is it the largest minority group in America? What is the evolution of Latin American identity from the 1500s to the present? What is the influence of the Latino population in Louisiana?

Fostering an interdisciplinary and hemispheric approach to Latino/a Studies, this course will provide students with a critical overview of some of the central themes and issues that have shaped the experiences of Latino/a populations in the U.S. 

Introduction to scholarly writing and research in the social sciences. This course is designed to develop and improve students’ scholarly reading, writing, presentational, and research skills. In this seminar students will conduct research in multiple ethnic heritage and racial identities depending on their interests. Students will explore the cultural practices and social experiences that have given shape to the identity of the other person in our country. 

What happens when you put Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice “in conversation” with Sophocles’ Oedipus the King?  Or Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” with Augustine’s Confessions? Or Bertolt Brecht’s Galileo with Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me?  Using the theme of self-discovery, we will explore world texts across time and space that have transformed the disciplines of liberal education, advancing the great conversation of what it means to be human.

 

Sections taught by: 

Dr. Drew Lamonica Arms

Dr. Vince LiCata

Dr. Leonard Ray

Dr. Leslie Tuttle 

This course introduces students to some of the most fascinating and provocative figures, texts, and works of art created between about 1800 and the present. Topics include Romantic literature, fin de siècle psychological realism, fascist architecture, and postwar attempts to grapple with the horrors of the World Wars. Readings include works by Mary Shelley, Karl Marx, Henrik Ibsen, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Friedrich Nietzsche, John Maynard Keynes, Benito Mussolini, and Hannah Arendt. Course assignments include weekly quizzes, two take-home midterm exams, a final exam, and one creative assignment.

This is the first class in a four-semester sequence designed to enable you to write an upper division honors thesis in psychology. You must take this course in order to do an honors thesis in psychology. The course covers the methods used in psychological research, teaches you critical thinking skills for research by reading and critiquing psychology journal articles, allows you to design, run and analyze a small research study that the class does together, and requires an APA style research proposal in an area of your choosing. This class offers lots of hands-on opportunities for skill acquisition.

The rapid pace of new digital technologies development and widespread uptake, has caused profound social and societal change which has given rise to a myriad of ethical issues and challenges. This course proposed to examine these ethical issues by attempting to understand how digital technologies in its many forms, affect social relationships, institutional arrangements, ideological beliefs, human behavior, and in particular social values and norms.

HNRS 3025: International Communication critically examines the role of communication in shaping today’s world. The course will examine the ways that international communication has shaped politics, activism, economics, cultural practices, and other aspects of societies around the globe. We will also examine communication practices themselves, with an aim to better understand the ethical, legal, political, and social issues faced by media producers around the globe. We will explore case studies drawn from around the world, with a focus on non-Western and non-democratic contexts. Through the semester you will engage in discussions about the practices and effects of international communication, the theoretical lenses through which one can examine these things, and ways you might incorporate international communication into your own career.

COVID-19 has reminded us of the questions we wrestle with in the care of our health. Does care belong to us, is it bequeathed to us or something we borrow for a bit, only to be taken away? This isn’t anything new or novel, African Americans and other marginalized communities have lived with this uncertainty. The health of black and brown bodies is often negotiated and devalued, taking shape in all sorts of ways: environmental injustices and exclusion of pain medication, artificial intelligence, and the assertion of human difference. This course lays a theoretical foundation for students to understand why we are seeing health inequities today. We will examine how social factors such as poverty, community context, work environments, etc. effect our health. A critical observation and sustained examination over the semester will lead us to understand that America’s collision with COVID-19, the disparity in health care, and the denial of health equity is the fulfillment of the omen, “the more things change, the more they stay the same.”