IISP 21000-01 SELECTED TOPICS SEMINAR IN HONORS: CAPABLE WORLD CITIZENS - MARTHA NUSSBAUM AND COSMOPOLITANISM
BLOCK I
1 CREDIT
INSTRUCTOR: Craig Duncan
ENROLLMENT: 18
OBJECTIVES: Martha Nussbaum is a leading contemporary political philosopher, known for her defense of cosmopolitanism (and criticism of nationalism), as well as for her defense of the “capabilities approach” within political philosophy. This course will examine Nussbaum’s cosmopolitanism and the capabilities approach, and the critical challenges these doctrines have faced. The seminar will meet once a week in 75 minutes sessions during Block I. The purposes of the seminar will be to help students understand Nussbaum’s political philosophy and to prepare the seminarians to have a full and informed engagement with Professor Nussbaum, who will be visiting Ithaca College as the 2010 Distinguished Speaker in the Humanities. Professor Nussbaum will lead the final session of the seminar.
STUDENTS: Students enrolled in the Ithaca College Honors Program, or permission of instructor.
FORMAT AND STYLE: Seminar.
IISP 21000-02 SELECTED TOPICS SEMINAR IN HONORS: THE BRAIN AS TEXT - A JOURNEY INTO CONSCIOUSNESS
BLOCK II
1 CREDIT
INSTRUCTOR: Jean Hardwick
ENROLLMENT: 18
OBJECTIVES: Jonah Lehrer, an important new voice in explaining neuroscience to the public, will be the 2010 CP Snow Speaker at Ithaca College. This seminar will examine Lehrer’s two most recent works, Proust Was A Neuroscientist, and How We Decide, within the context of current scientific knowledge about the brain and consciousness. The seminar will meet one evening a week in 75 minutes sessions during Block II. The purposes of the seminar will be to help students fully understand Lehrer’s works and to prepare the seminarians to have a full and informed engagement with the author, who will lead one of the sessions of the seminar when he comes to campus.
STUDENTS: Students enrolled in the Ithaca College Honors Program, or permission of instructor.
FORMAT AND STYLE: Seminar.
PSYC 24700-01 HONORS INTERMEDIATE SEMINAR: CULTURE AND PSYCHOLOGY--DEBATABLE THEMES HU LA 1 g
3 CREDITS
INSTRUCTOR: Judith Pena-Shaff
ENROLLMENT: 20
OBJECTIVE:Through the exploration and discussion of debatable themes in the field of cross-cultural psychology, this seminar’s focal point will be on the relationship between the cultural context where individuals grow and develop and the behaviors that become established in the repertoire of individuals growing up in a particular culture. This seminar will try to bring to light how universal as well as culture-specific phenomena influence human behavior.
STUDENTS: Students in the Ithaca College Honors Program, or by permission of instructor.
FORMAT AND STYLE: Seminar and discussion.
REQUIREMENTS: Participation; lead class discussions; review/analyze articles; write a research paper.
GRADING:A-F.
IISP-30000-01 CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS: FORCE AND RESISTANCE IN CULTURAL CONTACT 1 g
3 CREDITS
INSTRUCTOR: Naeem Inayatullah, Muller 325, Ext 4-3028
ENROLLMENT: 20
OBJECTIVES: Most cultural encounters fail to treat others as valuable and necessary resources. Instead, cultural differences are primarily seen as threats against which we must defend ourselves. Or they are regarded as deficiencies that require us to preach, teach, and assimilate others. No doubt we have reasons for these two responses – as various forms of realism and idealism remind us. Yet cultural encounters can reveal richer possibilities, deeper motivations, and alternative postures. They can be seen as opportunities that heal an internal wound or fulfill an inner emptiness. We will use the junior year seminar as a means to assess our response to the differences and cultural encounter.
STUDENTS: this course is team-taught. Faculty will conduct two-week units that serve as illustrations or case studies of the overall theme. As convener, I will frame the purpose and motivation of the course, link the various case studies, and evaluate written work. This course may be taken in lieu of an Honors Intermediate Seminar.
STUDENTS: Ithaca College Honors Program
FORMAT AND STYLE: Seminar
GRADING: A-F
IISP-40000-01 HONORS SENIOR SEMINAR: NEWEST SEXES/GENDERS/RACES
3 CREDITS
INSTRUCTOR: Zillah Eisenstein, Muller 316, Ext 4-3544
ENROLLMENT: 20
OBJECTIVES: This course will ask students to think or re-think the static/NATURALIZED ways they think about sexes, races and genders. At the core will be attempts to de-naturalize and de-normalize the constructions of these categories to see what is known and unknown; what is historical construction and what is biological necessity; whether there is such a thing as biology or sexual and/or racial difference to `begin with’—so-to-speak. The framework of the course is to open up the newest possibilities for questioning and knowing why and what and how we see/view notions of biology, culture, politics, history, etc. In the course we travel the globe, examine the '08 election, think about the biological body and then revamp it, etc….We will read a book a week and the books cover a wide interdisciplinary spectrum. There are two required analytic papers which are based on these course readings.
STUDENTS: Seniors in the Ithaca College Honors Program, and others with permission of instructor.
FORMAT AND STYLE: Seminar
GRADING: A-F
