Special Offerings

Do African American women, compared to Anglo American women with comparable socio-economic status have lower birth-weight children? If so, why? Do Mexican immigrants, even with relatively lower incomes, tend to be healthier than the average American? Is it also true that the longer they stay in America, and even as their economic status improves, that they start to experience poorer health in various ways? If so, why? Do the statistics for Japanese American second-generation males show a increasing evel of cardiovascular problems, now approaching the American level, while their genetic counterparts in Japan do not evidence this change? If so, why? We will examine these and other central findings revolving around race, ethnicity, culture, and social-economic factors that affect or cause physical or medical problems in the American ethnic groups. This will be a seminar-type course with student participation vital to the learning process. Students will explore a topic of their choice or with other students through guided research with the instructor.

“Visual display is the other side of spectacle, the site of production rather than consumption or reception, the designer rather than the viewer, the agent rather than the patient . . . . It is through modes of display that regimes of all sorts reveal the truths they mean to conceal. Above all, it is necessary to place the myriad contemporary forms of display in historical context . . . . Each historic period has its own rhetorical mode of display, because each has different truths to conceal.” (9-10) Peter Wollen, “Introduction” Visual Display: Culture Beyond Appearances

This class will focus on representations of display, spectacle and performance in order to trace the racial, sexual and class politics that structure American culture in the twentieth century. We’ll explore texts that deploy various modes of spectacle, display and performance—such as the collection, the archive, the exhibition, and the minstrel and variety show—as central narrative devices. Heeding Wollen’s directive, we will reflect on the ideological functions of display, performance and spectacle within particular historical and political contexts.

Throughout the quarter, we will pursue a number of questions: is spectacle primarily an effect and display and performance a practice? Which historical narratives are told and which are displaced within collections, exhibitions, archives and theatrical productions? How do books sometimes function as a form of collection or archive? Conversely, how does collecting function as a narrative strategy? Given the fact that many of the books we will read this quarter are satires, we will consider the relationship between satire, spectacle and performance. How do the modes of spectacle and performance and the genre of satire capitalize on excess and concealment? Taking race, gender, sexuality and class into account in our readings, who carries the burden of embodiment in the public sphere? If some people are designated as hyper-visible, who remains neutral, unseen? How do modes of display, performance and spectacle function in relation to the nation and notions of proper citizenship? Course texts might include Nella Larsen’s Quicksand, Langston Hughes’s The Ways of White Folks, selections from Jean Toomer’s Cane, Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use,” Toni Cade Bambara’s Those Bones Are Not My Child, “Dave Chappelle’s Block Party,” Suzan-Lori Parks’ “Venus,” Spike Lee’s “Bamboozled,” Kara Walker’s silhouettes, and Stew’s musical (now Spike Lee film) “Passing Strange.”

This lecture course introduces students the wonders of the Etruscan civilization through examination of their art, temples, cities, cemeteries, and culture. Emphasis will be placed on the Etruscans’ contact with other well-known civilizations—especially the Greeks—and on Etruscan contributions to Roman art and civilization.

No prerequisites.

Cross-listed as CLAS 496A.

This upper-level seminar explores the major questions and themes driving current scholarship on the art and architecture of Pompeii. What were the origins of Pompeii, and how did the city develop? How do we approach and explore Pompeii’s urban monuments and houses? What can Pompeii reveal about the lives of non-elites? What happened to the social and physical structure of Pompeii after the devastating earthquake of 62?

Prerequisites: At least two courses on Greek or Roman art.

Cross-listed as CLAS 496B and ART H 522A.

The course will survey Buddhist literature of India, China, and Japan through selected excerpts chosen from the genres of biography, poetry, narrative, ritual manuals, doctrinal treatises, and historical accounts. The course will begin with the origins of Buddhist literature in India and will trace its further development in India, China, and Japan. Attention will also be given to the themes of textual composition, authorship, audience, transmission, context and function. All works are read in English translation.

Students will
• gain a general familiarity with the variety of Buddhist literature from South and East Asia
• explore the Buddhist practices and teachings that this literature presents
• recognize the differences among genres of literary texts in terms of their authorship, audience, structure, function, and context of use
• investigate the various perspectives from which literary works can be interpreted

This class assumes no background in the study of Buddhism and has no prerequisites. The most effective technique for success in this course is to read the assigned text selections carefully. Secondary readings will provide a context for broader issues of textual interpretation. (Study guides and discussion questions will assist students in assigned readings.) Students should be prepared to discuss the text selections and to think critically about the issues they raise.

Weekly reading assignments and study guides with discussion questions. Two midterm examinations (20% each); final examination (35%); discussion section participation (15%); in-class quizzes (10%).

Students should register for section A + discussion section. NO PREREQUISITES!

The course surveys the origins, historical development and typology of the scripts of the world, with an emphasis on ancient writing systems.

Topics covered include the relationships between languages and scripts, the patterns of invention, diffusion, and adaptation of writing systems, and the problems and methods of deciphering unknown scripts of the ancient world

NOTE: THIS COURSE HAS NO PRE-REQUISITES.

In this class we will learn about how performers respond to social forces and how they inform political changes with an emphasis on Seattle hip hop. We will study historical examples, local populations and theoretical foundations. We will read, view, listen and attend performances including hip hop, spoken word, theater, music, dance, art and others. This course will have a strong emphasis on resistances to oppressions, civic engagements and community building. Weekly assignments will include responding to course material final project that might include performing or organizing a performance. In addition to class time, students will be expected to attend weekly events. In our continuing efforts to model the process on the content we will teach this course using primarily spoken word, music, song, video, art and poetry.

This course will focus on various texts which involve transformations of one kind or another. We will look both to literature (ancient and modern) and philosophy to explore questions surrounding the existence of many strange and wonderful creatures: shape-shifters, becomings-animal, trans- and post-humanists, and misanthropic monsters.

Texts include: Apuleius, The Golden Ass, Ovid, Metamorphosis, Kafka, Metamorphosis Sterling, Schismatrix Haraway, “Cyborg Manifesto” Deleuze and Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus Maturana and Varela, Autopoiesis and Cognition
No prerequisites needed

German Jewish Writers: Enlightenment to Auschwitz

What does it mean to seek equal status as a citizen when the primary marker of one’s identity, that of being Jewish, is indicative of a dream to return to Zion? How does one demand of the other, the Jew, that (s)he become German when the very notion of “Germanness” is vague, uncertain, and forever changing? These are the primary questions that will structure our discussions during the term. We will also be interested in the tragic trajectory that proposed solutions to these problems assumed. In other words, we will seek to understand why for Jews the eventual solution to their predicament in Germany was to abandon dreams of assimilation and argue for the birth of a Jewish state. Conversely, we will examine how religious anti-Semitism led to racial anti-Semitism and finally to genocidal anti-Semitism. That is, how for Germans the solution to the “Jewish problem” became a final one: the extermination of all Jews from the globe.

This course will follow Jonathan Raban's remarkable travelogue Passage to Juneau on a tour through the human and natural history of the Pacific Northwest coastal waters. We'll discuss chaos theory and the circulation of Puget Sound; coastal ecology and climate change; the art and mythology of the Northwest tribes and the problems of ethnography; the Vancouver expedition and the Romantic Sublime. The unifying theme is the interplay between order and chaos, and how we react (in science, in literary criticism, in political decision-making) when we reach the limits of our knowledge and control. How do we, and how did the indigenous cultures on this coast, deal with natural unpredictability and all the dangers that result--from navigating a turbulent channel to managing a salmon fishery?

Chinese 470 is a higher level language class. It is intended to strengthen students’ four skills by a combination of watching movies, reading its text material and do class discussion. Students are expected to understand most of the movies in Chinese and being able to comment by speaking and writing their reflections. By watching the movies, we will address different cultural aspects of Chinese society as it occurred in the movies. It is designed for students whose native language is not Chinese and who have completed Chin 213, Chin303 or equivalent. (Native Chinese speakers who grow up in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong kong are not permitted in the class). We will cover one movie in two weeks. By the end of each two weeks, students will be asked to write a composition on this movie and will do an oral presentation. A one-hour test will be given by the end of each two weeks. Students are required to memorize all the characters in the reader and master all the grammatical items in the reader as well. Students will be asked to do a final written project by the end of the quarter. They will write their reflection of the movie from the selected list.

Upon successful completion of this course, you should be able to:
1. Have a brief idea of Chinese movies in the past 20 years.
2. Understand Chinese culture better
3. To describe, summarize, compare/contrast the content of the movie in the target language in article length.
4. Write compositions about the movies in the target language of no less than 800 Chinese characters;
5. Remember all the characters in the textbook and being able to comprehend articles of this level of difficulty

The grading of the class:

1. Class participation: 10%
2. Homework: 10%
3. Dictation: 15%
4. Test: 50%
5. Final project: 15%

For more information of the class, please email Yu laoshi at lyu@u.washington.edu

This class is intended to introduce students to the study of ancient China, from the beginning of the historical age, around 1200 B.C., down to the unification of the empire by the Qin state and the advent of Buddhism in the Han, altogether a span of nearly a millennium and a half. Among other things, we shall try to understand the early Chinese world-view, why it took the form it did, how and why it changed, and especially what such studies have to offer us for an understanding of the modern world. We shall take particular care to scrutinize and evaluate the sources, both written and archaeological, that reveal to us what the ancient Chinese world was like. Finally, where appropriate we shall include a secondary focus, for comparative and contrastive purposes, on ancient Greece.

Class format: 50 % lecture / 50 % discussion.

Requirements:
(a) Attentiveness, thoughtfulness, active participation.
(b) Midterm examination.
(c) Final examination.

Required textbooks:
G.E.R. LLOYD, Ancient Worlds, Modern Reflections. (Oxford, 2004)
(available on line from the UW library)
Oliver MOORE, Reading the Past: Chinese. (Univ of California Pr/Br. Mus., 2000)
(to be purchased)
A. C. GRAHAM, Disputers of the TAO. (Open Court, 1989)
(purchase or library use)

Grading: Each of the three requirements will count in equal measure toward your final grade, i.e., each is “worth” one-third of the course grade.

This graduate-style seminar will focus on the rise of slow food and food justice social movements in Mexico and the United States. The seminar will examine issues related to agroecology, sustainable and resilient agriculture, food security versus food sovereignty and related topics.

Student learning goals:
--Understanding the nature of agroecosystems and their relationship to hunger and food sovereignty.
--Appreciating the role of Mexican labor in our global and local food systems.
--Understanding food justice from the perspectives of environmental justice.
--Attaining the ability to critique social science literature on food security and sustainable agriculture.

General method of instruction:
--Lecture and discussion; student presentations on readings.

Recommended preparation:
--None.

Class assignments and grading:

1. Presentation (lecture) on a critical reading of text(s). 2. Term paper (20-25 pages). 3. Regular attendance and participation. 4. Participation in on-line discussion group. 5. Participation in a group blog project.

1. Presentation (20 percent of final grade). 2. Term paper (50 percent). 3. Attendance and participation (bonus points). 4. On-line discussion (15 percent). 5. Blog (15 percent).

Son Jarocho is a percussive dance style from Veracruz, Mexico.
The Fandango traditions of Veracruz, Mexico, use music, singing and dancing to generate a spirit of convivencia—of living and being in community. For a decade, musicians in Veracruz and in California have built a movement of convivencia through Fandango Sin Fronteras
(Fandango Without Borders). The Seattle Fandango Project brings this movement to Seattle with local workshops, concerts, and public discussions with guest artists Son de Madera.

No previous dance experience is required.

Learn to create artworks using 3-D graphics. This course will immerse you in the techniques of computer graphics used in a variety of contexts including virtual environments, stereoscopic vision, and animation. Working with state-of-the-art tools, we will explore modeling, texturing, lighting, and rendering. New course content to include working in Second Life.

Part of a two-course offering, with DXARTS 442 to follow in Spring 2010 --- 3D Space II: Computer Motion and Advanced Techniques

Open to all majors. To request an entry code, email the instructor at stephnet@u.washington.edu

Multilingual (ESL) Writing Course for Winter 2010

Are you a non-native speaker of English who is looking for additional support in your writing course? If so, this course option offered by the Academic English Program and the Expository Writing Program might be just what you are looking for!

If you will be taking English 103, please consider signing up for the “Linked English 103/131 Course” (10 credit hours). These linked courses are available to students who have both an English 103 and English 131 requirement, and are designed to support the reading and writing coursework requirements of English 131. English 103 will help improve students’ academic writing skills with a focus on critical thinking, integration of reading and writing, and common rhetorical patterns that are covered in 131. Add codes for the linked courses are available from Dina Johnson at dinajohn@u.washington.edu.

English 131, section A7 meets MTWTh from 9:30-10:20. English 103 meets Monday-Friday at *either* 8:30 am or 12:30 pm. Please inform Dina Johnson which time you prefer for English 103, and she will try to accommodate your time preference.

FISH 101: Water and Society (5 cr.) I&S/NW
MWF, 10:30-11:20 plus quiz section.
No prerequisites!
UW Honors students may take for Ad Hoc credit.

FRESHWATER is:
• Essential for life.
• The oil of the 21st century.
• Breeding ground of the most dangerous human diseases.
• Losing species faster than any other ecosystem.
• A reason to launch a war?

Come learn about how, despite the abundance of water on Earth, freshwater is coming under increasing pressure as human populations increase and climate warms. These changes affect not only those ecosystems, but also human health and how we interact with each other both politically and socially. Come learn about how social changes might reduce human impacts on fresh water systems, locally, nationally and internationally. You’ll also learn how to calculate your own personal water footprint as well as those of Seattle businesses!

French fairy tales as a major trend in French literature and a continuing influence on modern fictions and films. Particular attention given to the numerous French women writers of fairy tales at the time of Charles Perrault (seventeenth century) and after. In English.

Multilingual (ESL) Studio Courses for Winter 2010

Are you a non-native speaker of English who is looking for additional support in your writing course? If so, these studio courses offered by the Expository Writing Program might be just what you are looking for!

If you will be taking a writing course (like English 111, 121, 131, or 197/8) and would like additional ESL support, please consider signing up for General Studies 391G or 391H, 2-credit (C/NC) studio courses that meet two days a week for 50 minutes. These studio courses are designed to support English language learners who are concurrently enrolled in a writing course and want to continue developing their ability to understand and produce academic writing. In the studios you will build advanced vocabulary skills, focus on reading skills to help you comprehend and analyze complex texts (specifically those from your writing class), and review and analyze grammar structures, focusing on how they apply to organization and produce different effects in academic writing.

There will be two sections of GEN ST 391 offered this Spring: 391G from 10:30-11:20 TTH and 391H from 12:30-1:20 TTH. For general course information, please contact Ethan Anderson at lalata@u.washington.edu. You can enroll in GEN ST 391 G or H directly; there are no add codes required; enrollment capped at 10 students per section.

An introduction to the culture of Italy through fashion, from the middle ages to today.

We will start with late medieval emblems and livery, and the Renaissance idea on adapting one’s clothes, speech and personal style to the occasion. The early modern emphasis on manners and correct behavior corresponded with a growing identification of “dressing up” with effeminacy. We will examine the problem of disguise, with particular reference to gender and consumption, and contextualize the three-piece suit as modest masculine attire. We will also consider the role of clothing in constructing Italian, French, English, and American national identity. Using resources from the Henry Art Gallery and the Library’s Special Collections, students will study both the post-war Italian idealization of American culture, and American idealization of European fashion. The significance of the Made in Italy label, introduced in the 1980s, will be addressed in relation to questions of national identity, immigrant labor, and xenophobia. In closing, we will consider questions of nationhood and gender consumption raised by beauty pageants.

In analyzing literature, images, films, and material objects, we will focus on a series of questions: How can clothes constitute identity? And can clothes constitute national identity? What is the role of gender in the production and consumption of “beauty”? Which early modern elements of style and behavior remain current today, and why? What is “Italian” about Italian style? How does present-day advertising exploit conceptions of “Italian-ness”? And what is “Italian” about clothes produced by Asian workers in a sweatshop in Tuscany?

All coursework is in English.
Meets with ART H 260 and EURO 260.

Molecular engineering of interfaces and surfaces--the design of modern materials and processes; innovative freshman design course

This course is an introduction to the historical-critical study of the Torah/Pentateuch. Beginning with a survey of the content and structure of the five books that comprise the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy), the course then examines a wide range of problems, theories and methods with which modern scholarship on the Pentateuch and its composition is engaged.

No knowledge of the Bible or Hebrew is required. No prerequisites.

Development of reading and translation skills in Russian needed to understand Russian-language business documents within the context of the business culture in the Russian-speaking areas of the former Soviet Union. Practical issues, concepts and applications of conducting cultural, political, and economic analysis for business decisions will be a central part of the course. Prerequisite: either RUSS 203 or RUSS 250 or equivalent.