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NOTE: Courses cross-listed with CF, CFA, and CFB courses may not fulfill any of the Perspectives requirements. Courses marked with an asterisk (*) fulfill the Human Diversity requirement including cross-listed sections.
Go to CF 3300 - CF 3405
Go to CFA 3300 - CFA 3399
Go to CFB 3300 - CFB 3399
*CF 3300 (ANTH 3300). Race, Gender, and Culture in the African Diaspora.
A comparative analysis of the historical, economic, social, and cultural
experiences of peoples of African descent in societies in the Western
hemisphere.
CF 3302 (ENGL 3329, MDVL 3329). The World of King Arthur. This course will investigate Britain’s greatest
native hero and one of the world’s most compelling story stocks: the legend of
King Arthur and the Round Table. This course will explore the early Arthurian
materials in chronicle, history, archaeology, and folklore, as well as the later
romance, epic, and artistic traditions.
CF 3303 (PLSC 3387). Political Geography. This course examines topics in international
political rivalries within the nation-state system. Major emphasis will be given
to the adaptations within that system since 1850 for spatial distributions of
physical terrain, populations, economic resources and activities, and political
and social divisions.
CF 3304.
France-Amérique Between the World Wars: Making a New Culture. This course
will explore the political, economic, ideological, cultural relationships and
exchanges between France and America during the Interwar period and their impact
on the modeling of our contemporary world.
CF 3305 (ENGL 3383). Literary Executions: Imagination and Capital Punishment. This course
studies the literary treatment, in different forms and periods, of capital
punishment. Its aim is to locate a social issue of continuing importance within
literary traditions that permit a different kind of analysis from that given in
moral, social, and legal discourse. The literary forms include drama, lyric,
novel, and biography; the periods of history range from the English Reformation
and the Renaissance to the English Civil War, the French Revolution, and
contemporary America. The course emphasis falls upon literary techniques of
imaginative participation and distancing.
*CF 3306 (HIST 3363). The Holocaust.
This course examines the destruction of the European Jews emerging from
pre-World War I anti-Semitism and Nazi racism. It considers Jewish responses to
genocide, behavior of bystanders, and possibilities of rescue.
CF 3307 (PHIL 3374). Philosophy of Law.
This course is both a study of our contemporary legal
system and an exploration of the three predominant theories of the nature of law
– natural law, positivism, and legal realism/critical legal studies. It examines
what claims, if any, our system has to legitimacy based on a consistent,
underlying philosophy.
CF 3308 (PHIL 3363). Aesthetic Experience and Judgment. This course examines basic questions
in the understanding and appreciation of art: What is beauty? What is art? What
characteristics make something a good work of art? What is the correct way to
interpret the meaning of a work of art? Are there ways to establish or prove
that something is beautiful or that a work of art is good? Some issues
pertaining to particular art forms, such as music and literature, will also be
examined. Classical writers such as Plato, Aristotle, Hume, Kant, and Nietzsche
will be discussed, as well as contemporary authors.
CF 3309 (HIST 3306). Colony to Empire: U.S. Diplomacy, 1789 to 1941. This course begins with
the diplomacy of the American Revolution and ends with the Japanese attack on
Pearl Harbor. It will examine the expansionist tendencies of early American
foreign policy, Indian removal, the Mexican War, and the relationship between
continental expansion (“Manifest Destiny”) and the crisis over slavery. It will
also address the movement toward an overseas empire in the Caribbean and the
Asian Pacific, climaxing with the war against Spain and the Open Door. Policy
constitutes the next unit of study. The issues surrounding American involvement
in the two world wars are the chief concerns of the final portion of the course.
*CF 3310 (HIST 3326). The Venture of Islam. A survey of Islamic civilization from Muhammad to
the modern era through readings in Islamic history and society, arts and
letters, science and philosophy, and the legal order to present a broad picture
of the dynamics and achievements of Muslim civilization.
*CF 3311 (HIST 3316).
History of Sex in America: An Introduction. This course will test the
hypothesis that gender and sexuality are constructed categories. Readings in
anthropology, history, literary criticism, and psychiatry will be utilized.
CF 3312 (HIST 3368).
Warfare in the Modern World. This course explores the nature, origins,
and evolution of the phenomenon of total war from the late democratic and
industrial revolutions of the late 18th and early 19th centuries through World
War II, giving particular emphasis to questions of doctrine and theory; problems
of organization and command; and the scientific, technological, and
psychological dimensions as well as the impact on modern culture.
CF 3313 (HIST 3358).
The Renaissance. A history of culture in the Renaissance from the
perspective of advances in scholarship and science and, above all, in
appreciation of social and political contexts.
CF 3314 (HIST 3376).
Social and Intellectual History of Europe. This course will examine the
intellectual in modern European society. It will explore major intellectual and
social issues raised by and affecting a number of figures instrumental in
shaping the European world of the 19th and 20th centuries. In a fundamental
sense, however, the themes developed will be outside time and place.
Consequently, they should interest those concerned with the relationship of
their values and ideas to the society in which they live today.
*CF 3315 (HIST 3387).
Asia and the West. Goods, ideas, religions, artistic styles,
technologies, soldiers, and diseases have long traveled between East and West.
Scholarship, primary sources, literature, and film illuminate the material and
ideological effects of the exchanges.
CF 3316 (RELI 3318).
The Hero in the Bible and the Ancient Near East. An examination of the
concepts of the hero in the literatures of ancient Mesopotamia, Canaan, and
Israel, with special attention to the nature of traditional narrative and to the
relationship between the hero, society, and the self.
*CF 3317 (HIST 3301, HRTS 3301).
Human Rights: America’s Dilemma. The study of human rights requires
intellectual history and moral courage, for no nation or society in human
history has been totally innocent of human rights abuses. This course will
examine certain violations of human rights within their historical contexts and
will also focus on America’s human rights record, with regard to its own
policies and its relationship to human rights violations in other countries.
Attention will also be given to the evolution of both civil and human rights as
entities within global political thought and practice.
*CF 3318 (HIST 3305). The Hispanos of New
Mexico, 1848-Present. History of the Mexican-American
subculture of New Mexico, with a brief overview of the Indian, Spanish, and
Mexican periods, so that events, after formal U.S. possession in 1848, are seen
in context. The course, however, focuses on the era after the Mexican Cession
and stresses the indigenous background of the “Indo-Hispanos.”
*CF 3319 (ANTH 3327). Culture Change and
Globalization: Social Science Perspectives.
Introduction to anthropological perspectives on global transformations: world
economic integration, Third World development and sociocultural change, ethnic
resurgence and nationalism, population migration, and changes in women’s roles
and statuses.
*CF 3320 (HIST 3308).
History of Hispanics in the U.S. Through Film. In this course, selected
events and developments in the histories of Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans,
Cuban Americans, and other Latinos are examined, as depicted in film, video, and
television. The objective is to understand how these powerful media have shaped
society’s view of Hispanic participation in the history of the United States.
While learning to recognize distortions and stereotypes, students will also
learn to recognize positive depictions of Latino history.
CF 3321 (MDVL 3321).
The Birth of the Individual. This course examines several basic notions
pertaining to selfhood, including consciousness, cognition, motivation, personal
identity, and decision, as found in medieval texts.
*CF 3322 (HIST 3329).
Women in Early Modern Europe. A study of the influence of women in
European society and intellectual movements from the Renaissance through the
French Revolution.
*CF 3323 (THEA 4381, 4382, 4383, or 4384).
Gender in Performance (Studies in Theatre, Drama, and Performance).
This course will explore and discuss performed gender through historical periods
and contemporary theatre. Students will be expected to have a high level of
participation and will be assigned projects that add to class dynamics and
challenge “traditional” thinking about gender stereotypes in dramatic
literature, history, and performance.
CF 3324. An Archaeology of Values: The Self
and Ethics From Kant to Baudrillard. Following a line
of writers from Kant to Freud to Baudrillard, the course explores the rocky
development of the self in relation to history, economic and moral values, and
rapidly transforming social relations in the modern period.
*CF 3325 (HIST 3355). Class and Gender in
Ancient Society. An examination of class and gender in
the ancient world with special emphases on changing definitions of masculinity
and femininity in Greek and Roman culture and the position, rights, and
interaction of different groups (e.g., free and slave, citizen and foreigner,
soldier and civilian).
CF 3326.
Utopia: Voyage Into a Possible Future. Through the study of major literary
works on the topic of social ideals and communal
experiments, this course focuses on the value
systems and the social realities these works reflect.
CF 3327 (HIST 3373).
Science, Religion, and Magic in Early Modern England. This course studies
the interaction between three ways of thinking about nature and the place of
human beings within nature – science, magic, and religion. Early modern England
is the focus of this course because all three ways of thinking are prevalent,
contested, and can be set in a rich cultural context. Some of the great figures
of English science, like Robert Boyle and Isaac Newton, were practicing
alchemists. Others, like Francis Bacon, looked to the new science as a way to
prepare for the Second Coming of Christ. The religious divisions of the English
Reformation and the Civil Wars brought about political dissension and produced
many competing views of nature and society.
CF 3328 (HIST 3374). Diplomacy in Europe:
Napoleon to the European Union. This course examines
the evolution of the European state system and the idea of “Europe” from the
post-Napoleonic settlement of 1815 through the end of the Cold War and the
creation of the European Union. Some themes considered are the changing art of
diplomacy, the relationship of domestic structure to foreign policy, the impact
of war, the role of ideology, technological change, economics, and the expansion
of European great power politics to a worldwide framework.
CF 3329 The
Mathematical Experience. The variety of mathematical experience presented
through discussion of its substance, its history, its philosophy, and how
mathematical knowledge is elicited. The course will focus on questions regarding
the roles of proof, rigor, and institution in mathematics and the limits and
applicability of mathematical knowledge.
CF 3330 (HIST 3391).
From Pew to Bleacher: American Culture and Institutions. This course
introduces students to American culture and civilization. The course considers
the formation of five sets of cultural institutions that have shaped American
life: the Church; print culture; museums, galleries, and libraries; theatre,
Hollywood, and television; and amateur and professional sports. Students will
read autobiographies, novels, and synthetic histories; they will view Hollywood
movies, MTV excerpts, and sporting events; and they will visit museums, fairs,
and parks in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Students will emerge from the course
with an understanding of the central features in the formation of culture in
19th- and 20th-century America.
CF 3331 (RELI 3305).
Religion as Story. An interpretation of stories as modes of religious
discernment as well as means of religious communication. Special attention is
given to selected narrative forms such as myth, fairy tale, novel, and
autobiography.
*CF 3332 (RELI 3321).
Religion and the Holocaust. A study of responses to the Holocaust by Jews
and Christians. The course will begin with an overview of the history of the
Holocaust as it affected the Jewish communities of Central and Eastern Europe.
Readings will include personal memoirs of survivors of ghettos, concentration
camps, and Nazi Germany. Postwar responses will include questions of faith after
the Holocaust. Christian responsibility for modern anti-Semitism, the impact of
the Holocaust on the creation of the State of Israel and Middle East politics
today, and postwar relations between Jews and Germans will be considered.
CF 3333. Clash
of Cultures, 1450-1850. This course is an examination of how the global
equilibrium of 1450 gave way to a clash of cultures and eventual European
domination. The Western Church was reformed; business grew; new states were
created; families were uprooted. Colonialism, modern warfare, nationalism, and
Marxism appeared on the world stage.
CF 3334 (ANTH 3334).
Fantastic Archaeology and Pseudoscience: Lost Tribes, Sunken Continents,
Ancient Astronauts, and Other Strange Ideas About the Past. Did ancient
astronauts visit the Earth? Are there secrets of the Maya calendar that
archaeologists aren’t revealing? Is creation a scientific alternative to
evolution of humanity? This course investigates these and other claims about our
past, and how archaeologists respond to them.
CF 3335 (WL 3335, HIST 3335).
One King, One Law: France 1500-1789. This course studies the culture of
France through its history and literature. It emphasizes the historical
developments, ideas, and literary texts that define the period and illuminate
both French classicism and Absolutism. The course focuses on the early modern
period because then France both set cultural tone and made significant
contributions to the transformation of Western civilization.
CF 3336 (HIST 3397).
Modernity and the Crises of Identity: The Reorientation of the West.
Drawing on the works of major intellectuals and artists, this course explores
crises of identity in Western culture during the decades prior to World
War I.
CF 3337 Nuclear
Physics and Society.
How do applications of nuclear physics affect society? Topics include nuclear
weapons and proliferation, nuclear power generation, and nuclear waste
management – issues relevant to current public-policy challenges.
*CF 3338.
Defining the Southwest: From the Alamo to Hollywood. An interdisciplinary
seminar designed to introduce students to the idea of regionalism in American
life, to identify the distinctive features that make the Southwest a region, and
to suggest the variety of ways in which different disciplines understand the
regional distinctiveness of the Southwest.
*CF 3339 (RELI 3365).
Understanding the Self: East and West. This course provides an
examination of several basic notions pertaining to selfhood, including
consciousness, cognition, motivation, personal identity, and decision, as found
in Eastern and Western sources.
CF 3340 (MDVL 3327).
The Unicorn: Understanding Varieties of the Truth in the Middle Ages. As
moderns, we make distinctions between what we see as verifiable reality
(history) and what we see as created, imaginative reality (fiction). This course
investigates the question of how history and fiction were perceived in the
Middle Ages.
CF 3341 (PHIL 3362).
Creativity, Discovery, and Science. This course considers central issues
in the history and philosophy of science with a special emphasis on the nature
of creativity and discover in scientific thought. General questions are: what is
science, and what is the nature of scientific method? What is the nature of
evidence and explanation in science? The course will address in some detail the
question of how new ideas- such as theories and problem solutions – are produced
and assessed in scientific thinking. Is creativity essentially a random or blind
process, or is the rule governed in some way? What is the nature of a scientific
discovery? This course will combine literature in the history and philosophy of
science together with psychological literature on the nature of creativity to
answer these and other questions. No previous coursework in science is
required, but students with some science background will be well equipped to
appreciate the relevant issues.
CF 3342 (PHIL 3371).
Social and Political Philosophy.
This course will examine some of
the basic questions in these fields, and the most important answers that have
been given to them. Topics may vary, but typical questions include the
following: What forms of government are most reasonable and morally defensible?
Are citizens in a modern state normally obligated to obey the law? What is
justice, and how might it be embodied in a system of government? Are there such
things as ‘natural rights’ and how do we know about them? What is the basis for
saying that we have rights to freedom of speech and religion? When, if ever, is
it legitimate for a state to go to war? These questions have been asked since
antiquity, and we will be looking at the important answers that have been given
to them since then.
*CF 3343 (RELI 3375).
Wives, Lovers, Mothers, Queens: Expressions of the Feminine Divine in World
Religions and Culture. This course is a historical and cross-cultural
overview of the relationship between feminine and religious cultural expressions
through comparative examinations and analyses of various goddess figures in
world religions.
*CF 3344 (RELI 3376).
Constructions of Gender: Sexuality and the Family in South Asian Religions.
This course will provide a comprehensive historical overview of gender issues as
represented in the great textual traditions of South Asia. These categories
include Vedic materials, medical literature, treatises on law and sexual
behavior, and texts that outline the great debates over questions of gender
identity and salvation preserved in certain Jaina and Buddhist materials. To
make these classical texts more relevant, readings in recent anthropological
studies of religion will also be included to enable the student to trace
recurring themes, images, and symbols. This will allow the student to gain a
sense of the continuity of traditions and attitudes as well as innovation and
contemporary variants.
CF 3345 (ENGL 3374). Literature of
Religious Reflection. This course will examine issues
of faith and doubt in British and American literature, drawn from texts
reflecting Christian humanism, secular rationalism, individualistic romantic
faith, scientific modernism, and other modern alternatives.
*CF 3346 (RELI 3352). Love and Death in
Ancient Mythology. This course presents an exploration
of love and death in the mythologies of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Canaan, Greece, and
India. The interaction of these twin themes will be pursued as a key to the
religious and philosophical perspectives of these ancient peoples. The
significance of ancient mythology for modern reflection will be a central
concern throughout the course.
*CF 3347 (WL 3363, WS 3347).
Figuring the Feminine. The feminist inquiry of France from the Middle
Ages to the present. The course introduces students to a large body of French
texts (in translation) by and about women that bear witness to women’s struggle
for civil, social, and political adulthood. Contemporary feminist theory and
feminist action in France
constitute an attempt to rethink the very terms and
the goals of human enterprise.
CF 3348.
21st Century Property Issues.
Not a course in “how to do law” but a study of how (and how well) law and
economics, history and philosophy do in resolving current property issues
ranging from fighting over Barry Bonds’ baseball, to selling human organs.
Substantial to decisions and law journal articles.
*CF 3349 (WL 3349, HIST 3392). The African
Diaspora: Literature and History of Black Liberation. Black literature
played an important role in bringing on the collapse of the European colonial
order, and it remains a major force in the struggle against neocolonialism
today. This course explores links between literature and politics, literature
and history, thought and action in 20th-century Africa, the Caribbean, and North
America.
CF 3350. Introduction to Media Literacy:
Semiotics and the Myths of Our Time. Society is a
complex social text. We are bombarded daily with countless intertwining
messages, in many different languages, some of them verbal, most not. Only some
enter our awareness, yet all affect the way we think of ourselves and the world.
The students will learn how to read a variety of verbal and nonverbal languages
and texts, from advertising to network news, and from fashion and cuisine to
sitcoms and gender roles.
CF 3351 (MDVL 3351). The Pilgrimage: Images
of Medieval Culture. This course presents an
exploration of the medieval world through one of its own literal and
metaphorical images. Moving from Jerusalem, the earthly and heavenly city,
students set out through time and space on a pilgrimage to Constantinople, the
exotic empire of New Rome. From there, they travel to Rome itself and flow
across the map of Europe on the pilgrimage roads of the Middle Ages,
investigating the pleasures of the way: the music, art, monuments, and
literature of that thousand years of human experience called the Middle Ages.
*CF 3352 (MDVL 3352).
Ideas and Ideals of Gender in the Middle Ages. This team-taught course
will focus on the status of women in the Middle Ages, the emergence of sacred
and secular law and ideology regarding women, and the impact of ideas regarding
the feminine on the development of (mostly) Western thought.
CF 3353 (MDVL 3353).
Medieval Ideas. The goal of this course is to present some of the classic
achievements of the medieval mind, focusing on developments of continuing
interest; where advisable, comparisons and contrasts will be drawn with methods
of thinking and solving problems in use in later times. While the main focus
will be on Medieval Europe and the adjacent Muslim world, wherever possible,
students’ attention will be drawn to developments in other culture areas.
CF 3354 (THEA 4351).
Historical Cultures Within Theatrical Design. Using the elements of
design, the course will focus on the exploration of political, social, economic,
and artistic influences of various cultures in history, and how the designer
uses this information to create a theatrical production, film, or opera.
CF 3356 (RELI 3337). Christianity and
American Public Life. The objectives of this course
include the following: 1) to acquaint students with some recent criticisms of
the dangers of individualism permeating American understanding and life; 2) to
propose the communitarian dimensions of human existence from the Christian
perspective; and 3) to help students enter more critically into the dialogue
about the role of religion in pluralistic contemporary American society.
CF 3357 (RELI 3317).
Human Meaning and Value in Personal Life. This course explores the two
positive marks of a productive life – love and work – and the two threats to an
abundant life – suffering and death.
*CF 3358. Culture of Oaxaca: A Sense of
Place. Learning adventure in Oaxaca: exploration of
multilayered cultural history through field trips to artists’ workshops,
museums, archaeological sites, and religious fiestas. Focus on art, art history,
folklore, and religion.
*CF 3359 (ENGL 3359). American Narratives
of Discovery. This course focuses on the generic
process of culture and integrates tools and methods from anthropology,
philosophy, geography, history, and literature. It engages value issues that are
both aesthetic (analyzing the narrative strategies employed by authors
formulating an intercultural dialogue) and ethical (Was the Conquest a criminal
act? Should modern day Indian tribes be left to their own devices?).
CF 3360. The
North American Great Plains: Land, Water, Life. In the late 19th century,
the North American Great Plains, which extend from central Canada to West Texas,
was mapped as the Great American Desert, a place to be crossed, not settled.
This course looks across disciplinary boundaries to see what geology, ecology,
climate studies, archaeology, ethnology, and history reveal of past, present,
and (perhaps) the future of life of European Americans and Native Americans on
the Great Plains.
CF 3361 (RELI 3309).
Bioethics From a Christian Perspective. This course studies bioethics
from a Christian ethical perspective with special attention to different
methodological approaches, to the significant themes and realities involved
(e.g., life, health, suffering, death), and to the most important issues faced
today.
CF 3362. The
Europeans: A Case Study of Two Nations. This course examines the national
identity and cultural configuration of France and Germany within the European
context, with frequent references to other European nations. It looks at
“European consciousness” – how Europeans think about themselves as citizens of
their respective countries and of Europe.
*CF 3363 (ENGL 3371, HIST 3357).
Joan of Arc: History, Literature, and Film. This course considers the
life and later reception of the extraordinary peasant girl, Joan of Arc (ca.
1412 to 1431), who in two years changed the course of European history before
she was burned at the stake.
CF 3364 (ENGL 3367).
Ethical Implications of Children’s Literature. This course will examine
children’s literature from an ethical perspective, particularly the construction
of notions of morality and evil in the works with emphasis upon issues of
colonialism, race, ethnicity, gender, and class.
*CF 3365 (WL 3325).
Perspectives on Modern China. A survey course on the social and cultural
history of modern China, from the perspectives of literature and cinema.
CF 3366 (HIST 3336).
Cultural History of the United States. An interdisciplinary study of
American literature, painting, architecture, music, theatre, popular amusements,
and social customs viewed against the major currents of American intellectual
history from 1877 to the present.
*CF 3367. The Greater Dallas Experience.
Introduces students to the city of Dallas and the
various disciplines studied at SMU. Dallas's myriad "landscapes" will be
interrogated and examined in the classroom and in the field.
*CF 3368 (RELI 3368).
Wholeness and Holiness: Religion and Healing Across Cultures. This course
explores various ways in which human beings in different times and cultures have
understood the relationship between religion and healing. Drawing on a wide
range of ethnographic examples and theoretical perspectives, we will investigate
the interface between medical and religious models of health. Through reading,
films, lectures, classroom discussion, and in-class activities, we will examine
the religious and medical implications of such phenomena as out-of-body
experiences, prayer, diet, massage, visualizations, meditation, acupuncture,
herbs, and martial arts; we will delve into the healing functions (physical,
psychological, and social) of trance, possession, exorcism, and shamanic
journeys; we will explore the religious dimensions of contemporary holistic
healing; and we will investigate the
models of selfhood implied by different religious healing modalities.
CF 3369 (WL 3369). Perspectives on Modern
Germany. This interdisciplinary inquiry focuses on
Germany’s quest for identity as a European nation-state, on the circumstances
leading to two world wars and the Holocaust, and on the country’s recent
experience of reunification within the framework of the European Union.
*CF 3370 (ENGL 3364, WS 3370).
Women in the Southwest. A study and exploration of women writers,
artists, and thinkers in the American Southwest, and their vision of this region
as singularly hospitable to women’s culture.
CF 3371. Ideas of Enlightenment in Western
Culture. Explores Plato, Augustine, and Kant on “What
is enlightenment?” Their three different, competing ideas shape our contemporary
understandings of the educated, virtuous, and free person.
*CF 3372 (RELI 3364). Native-American
Religions. An investigation of the mythologies of
North America, centering on Southwestern cultures (especially Pueblo and Navajo)
and Northern Plains cultures (especially Lakota). Native texts will be
approached by way of modern theories of the interpretation of myth, ritual, and
religion. Topics will include the cultural history of the regions, theories of
myth, creation myths, culture heroes, trickster tales, sacred music and dance,
and rites of healing and passage. An important dimension of the course will be
interaction with the local Pueblo culture through field trips and guest
speakers.
CF 3374 (ANTH 3374). Cultures and
Environments of the Southwest. This course examines
patterns of land-use and resource-use in prehistoric and early historic times in
the Southwest. Focus is on the mutual influence of cultures and resources in the
northern Rio Grande. The course draws on archaeological, archival, ethnographic,
and ecological evidence. Comparisons involve Pueblo and Plains Indians, Colonial
Spanish, Territorial U.S., and U.S. Forest Service.
*CF 3375 (ARHS 3377). Art and Architecture
of Hispanic New Mexico. This course examines the
artistic and cultural legacies of colonial New Mexico: Spanish city planning and
church design; retablos, santos, and their place in religious experience; art in
the secular life of towns; and haciendas of colonial and postcolonial New
Mexico. Field trips.
*CF 3376. Southwest Ethnic Diversity.
This interdisciplinary course examines the way in
which the three cultures of the American Southwest have coexisted. Students are
introduced to the history of the Spanish colonial period and American frontier,
and the range of Native American cultures and lifestyles as a context for
contemporary ethnic relations. Native and Hispanic arts and crafts are studied
as an expression of ethnicity. The course explores the factors that support or
discourage the formation and persistence of ethnic identity and the fluidity of
cultural boundaries.
CF 3377 (THEA 4381, 4382, 4383, or 4384).
Ritual, Festival, and Theatre (Studies in Theatre, Drama, and Performance).
This course will examine how theatre has been connected to the performance of
both ritual and festival, examining the common connections as well as the
differences between these three public forms of expression: sites of
performance, community values, power and control, subversion, and cultural
comparison.
CF 3378 (THEA 4381, 4382, 4383, or 4384).
Solo Performance (Studies in Theatre, Drama, and Performance).
This course surveys major figures and issues in contemporary solo
performance and performance studies, acquainting students with artists, forms,
and venues ranging from the mainstream to the alternative. We will view videos
and video documentation of the work and read performance texts, performance
theory, and interviews/writings by and about the artists and their work. The two
major assignments are a research and analysis paper examining an issue related
to the course and a brief original piece applying in performance what we have
studied.
CF 3379. German Culture in Weimar.
The course traces German culture using Weimar as the location to study
literature, music, and film in their historical context from Goethe’s Weimar,
the Weimar Republic, through National Socialism and the recent Unification.
CF 3380 (ENGL 3380). The Literature of
Vision. An examination of how shamans, prophets, and
imaginative writers seek to communicate “things invisible to mortal sight,”
whether as a confirmation of or a challenge to the leading ideas of their time.
*CF 3381 (ARHS 4371, WS 3381).
Modern Myth Making: Studies in the Manipulation of Imagery. This course
examines the quest for enduring cultural heroes and projection of changing
social messages as reflected in images from past epochs to modern times.
Examples traced range from politician to musician, from the fine arts to
television.
CF 3382 (THEA 4381, 4382, 4383, or 4384).
American Dramatic Literature (Studies in Theatre, Drama, and Performance).
This course will provide an opportunity for in-depth study of texts in a variety
of genres and styles by looking at popular literature. Students will work with
scripts as organic markers of political and aesthetic taste, events, and world
view, learning to use practices of performance studies and anthropology to look
closely at the authenticity of live performance in its relationship to audience
values.
CF 3383. Contemporary Urban Problems.
This seminar is designed to introduce students to conceptualizing social
problems and to the distinctive conditions defined and treated as social
problems in the American Southwest. The course aims to improve students’ skills
in critical reasoning and evaluative writing on the alleviation of social
problems.
CF 3384. Gaming the Rise of
Civilization. This course provides an
interdisciplinary understanding of three primary issues concerning the rise of
civilization: food production, germs, and technology. Games will be used to
develop a deeper understanding of the variables that gave rise to civilization
through playing related board games. in addition, students will think about the
variables as a complex set of systems that can be loosely modeled using game
design techniques.
*CF 3385 (SOCI 3383). Race, Culture, and
Social Policy in the Southwest. This interdisciplinary
seminar introduces students to applying the concepts of race and culture to
social problems and policy in the American Southwest. The course combines
lectures, readings, field trips, survey research, and documentary films to focus
on special topics on the Southwest.
CF 3387. Order Out of Chaos.
Deterministic chaos, fractal structures, self-organization, and nonlinear
dynamics comprise an approach to the study of complicated realistic systems
common to a great diversity of natural and social sciences. Students will study
the significance of the relatively new science as well as relationships and
applications to medicine, the natural sciences, economics, history, philosophy,
and the social sciences.
CF 3388 (PLSC 3342).
Making Democracy Work. This course aims to answer the fundamental
question that mankind has asked since ancient Greece of why does democracy
thrive in some nations, while it struggles in others and in many more has yet to
take root?
CF 3389 (PLSC 3389).
International Political Economy. The course introduces students to
inter-national political economy, focusing on the development of regimes for
international trade and finance. The objective is to understand how
nation-states manage international economic relations.
*CF 3390 (WL 3310).
Transnational Chinese Cinema. This course will introduce students to the
subject of Asian cinema through films produced in the People’s Republic, Taiwan,
and Hong Kong. In considering cinema as a system for the construction of
meaning, this course examines national identities in film aesthetics.
CF 3392 (ARHS 3318, HIST 2353). Currents in
Classical Civilization. The interdisciplinary study of
the art, literature, and history of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds,
including ideals of democracy, individualism, immortality, heroism, justice,
sexuality nature, etc.
CF 3393. Evolution and Creationism as
Public School Issues. An in-depth examination of
controversies concerning organic evolution from social, educational, and legal
perspectives. Discussion includes alternative philosophies of science and
evidence from fossil and living organisms.
CF 3394 (HIST 3344). The Oxford Landscape,
From the Stone Age to the Tudors. This course studies
the historical landscape of the upper Thames Basin and Oxford, the region’s
urban focus for over a millennium. Students can read this history on site, using
resources from anthropology, history, architecture, city planning, political and
social organization, and imaginative literature. Readings and trips concern
local Neolithic, Bronze Age, and Iron Age (Celtic) cultures as well as the
historical phases of regional experience from the first Roman probe of 55 B.C.
to the start of the Tudor Dynasty in A.D. 1485.
*CF 3395. A Cultural Journey to China.
Suzhou, in China’s cultural heartland, hosts this course on the development of
Chinese culture: religion, literature, cinema, art, architecture, and history.
Trips complement readings centered on self, family, and state.
CF 3396. Rome and the Italians: History,
Culture, and Politics. This course, taught in Italy,
explores the cultural and political identity of Italy as it evolved from
antiquity to present day.
CF 3397. Science and Politics in a Nuclear
Age: Change and Resolution of Conflict. Investigation
of societal changes associated with the development of scientific discoveries
such as nuclear energy. Consideration is given to resulting conflicts and their
resolution at local, national, and international levels.
*CF 3398 (ENGL 3365).
Jewish American Literature and Culture. An interdisciplinary introduction
to Jewish culture through literature, especially in the American environment, as
well as to the issues in studying any distinctive ethnic and cultural
literature.
*CF 3399 (RELI 3377).
Cultural History of Tibet. A critical study of Tibetan history, culture,
and religion and how they relate to the representation of Tibet in travel,
scholarly, and popular literature.
*CF 3401 (HIST 3401). The Good Society.
This course will focus on the historical construction of the concept of the
“good society” in Western culture. Although the term did not enter our
literature until Graham Wallas published The Good Society in 1915, we can
clearly distinguish its origins in the religious, political, and intellectual
traditions of Europe and the United States. Affiliated with the Center for
Inter-Community Experience.
CF 3402. Divided Loyalties: The Problem of
Identity in a Global World. Focusing on questions of
individualism, citizenship, and public identity, this course investigates
tensions among localism, nationalism, and globalism within contemporary
literature and culture. In order to enhance understanding of course readings,
students will participate in Center for Inter-Community Experience (ICE)
programs in the multiethnic, multinational East Dallas community of Garrett Park
East.
*CF 3403. Imagined Communities: Place,
Nation, and Construction of Cultural Identity. The
flagship course of the Center for Inter-Community Experience, “Imagined
Communities” investigates from historical and contemporary perspectives the
forms of local, national, and transnational identities that characterize
American life. In order to enhance understanding of course readings, students
will participate in Center for Academic-Community Engagement (ACE) programs in the
multiethnic, multinational East Dallas community of Garrett Park East.
CF 3404. Social Class and the Democratic Public Sphere. This course explores the concept of class in American life and investigates the effects of class differences and tensions on American democratic institutions. In order to enhance understanding of course readings, students will participate in Center for Academic-Community Engagement (ACE) programs in the multiethnic, multinational East Dallas community of Garrett Park East. NOTE: Students who have taken CFA 3494 are not permitted to enroll in CF 3404.
*CF 3405. Troubled Youth. This course explores American adolescence from contemporary and historical perspectives, covering the period from the eighteenth century onward, and focusing on the period between the Civil War and the present.
*CFA 3300 (ARHS 4300). Calligraphy and
Culture. A multidisciplinary inquiry into the cultural
history of calligraphy and line in several major cultural traditions of the
world: readings and discussions will encompass philosophical, anthropological,
archaeological, materialist, cultural-historical, and art-historical
perspectives on line and cultural signification in the visual arts.
*CFA 3301 (ANTH 2321, CLAS 2321, ENGL
2371). The Dawn of Wisdom: Ancient Creation Stories From Four Civilizations.
Explores the visions of the cosmos expressed in the art, archaeology, and
literature of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greco-Roman civilization and the New World,
emphasizing the role of human beings as central and responsible actors therein.
*CFA 3302 (WS 2322). Women: Images and
Perspectives. An examination of the constant and
changing understanding of women reflected in myths, research, and theories of
biology, history, religion, the social sciences, literature, and language.
*CFA 3303 (WS 2380). Human Sexuality.
This course explores the biosocial aspects of human sexuality and sex behaviors.
A multidisciplinary and cross-cultural perspective will address a wide range of
theoretical and pragmatic sexual issues.
*CFA 3304 (PLSC 4341). Comparative Rights
and Representation. This course will explore the
tension that exists between rights and democratic representation. Issues
explored include judicial social policy making, individual vs. collective
rights, aboriginal rights and affirmative action.
CFA 3305. Literature and Film: Adaptations
by Italian Directors of Literary Texts. Through the
study of major literary works and their cinematic adaptations, the course
focuses on the value systems and the social realities the works reflect. The
analogies and the differences that exist between literary and cinematic
approaches will be explored by reading the texts and confronting them with their
filmic renderings.
CFA 3306 (RELI 3316). Religion and Science.
An exploration of how religion and science understand such topics as the origins
and destiny of the universe and the evolution of life.
CFA 3307 (RELI 3371). Religion and Culture
in the Greco-Roman World. This course investigates the
intersections of political history, social history, philosophical thought, and
religious belief and practice in the ancient Greco-Roman world, with particular
attention to Judaism and Christianity in their Greco-Roman context.
*CFA 3308 (WS 2308). Revisions: Woman as
Thinker, Artist, and Citizen. This course is designed
to discover how an emphasis on the particular experiences of women can enhance
and complicate traditionally conceived areas of scholarship and critical
endeavor. It will also explore areas of women’s experience traditionally
undervalued, such as friendship, sexuality, motherhood, and old age.
*CFA 3309 (WS 2309). Lesbian and Gay
Literature and Film: Minority Discourse and Social Power.
The exploration through literature and film of the struggles by gay men and
lesbians to create social identities and achieve human rights. Study of key
cultures and pivotal historical periods in the West from ancient Greece to
contemporary America. Authors include Sappho, Plato, Michelangelo, Emily
Dickinson, Walt Whitman, E.M. Forster, Virginia Woolf, James Baldwin, Audre
Lord, Adrienne Rich, and Tony Kushner. Cinematography includes Pedro Almodovar,
Derek Jarman, Maria Luisa Bemberg, Sally Potter, and James Ivory.
*CFA 3310 (ETST 2301, SOCI 3305). Race and
Ethnicity in the United States. An interdisciplinary
seminar designed to introduce students to the analysis of race and ethnicity in
the United States within a global context.
CFA 3311 (CLAS 2311). Myth and Thought in
the Ancient World. The goal of this course is to
explore the conceptual and philosophical underpinnings of ancient understandings
of reality in Western and non-Western cultures. The materials for investigation
will be primarily textual, including myths, epics, tragedies, and philosophical
discourse in ancient Greece. Key points of concern will include concepts of the
human condition; the nature of the good life; the problems of death, evil, and
misfortune; the relationships between humans and gods and between the individual
and society; and the difference between illusion and reality. The relationship
between modern thought and ancient thought, both Western and non-Western, will
also be a recurring theme.
CFA 3312. Making History: Representations
of Ethical Choices. Interdisciplinary course examining
ethical issues associated with the writing of “historical fictions” and the
production of historical exhibits. Students will complicate conventional
distinctions between disciplines and genres by looking at how playwrights,
novelists, filmmakers, and museum curators/directors shape their productions
from the raw materials of historical data. They will explore the ways in which
historical memory is created and represented, further developing and refining
their own engagements with texts, films, and museums.
*CFA 3313 (ARHS 3392). Islamic Art and
Architecture: The Creation of a New Art. This course
will treat issues significant to the creation and expansion of Islamic art from
the 7th to the 15th century. Topics to be discussed include cultural and
political exchange and conflict between Muslims and Christians; religious
concerns and the artistic forms created to meet them; the importance of the book
in Muslim culture; the distinctions between religious and secular art; and the
appropriation of sacred space in Muslim architecture.
CFA 3314 (DANC 2370).
Movement as Social Text. The course will look at ways in which movement
and dance have meaning in different cultural, social, and historical contexts.
Examinations of examples of dance in a cross-cultural context, encompassing both
Western and non-Western dance forms, will be included. Emphasis will be placed
on the nature of movement, its unique properties, the ways in which it conveys
meaning, and its relationship to culture.
*CFA 3315 (WS 2315). Gender, Culture, and
Society. An interdisciplinary study of gender ideology stressing
anthropological and literary perspectives, this course will analyze gender
difference as a structuring principle in all societies and explore some of its
representations in literature, film, and contemporary discourse.
*CFA 3316 (ANTH 3333).
The Immigrant Experience. An interdisciplinary focus on the issue of
immigration in the United States. The course explores historical, ethical,
social, cultural, and political dimensions of the immigrant experience, as well
as America’s attitudes toward the immigrant. Controversial issues such as
bilingual education and illegal immigration will be examined.
CFA 3317.
Global Perspectives on Environmental Issues. Many of the major environmental
issues our planet faces – greenhouse climate changes, air and water pollution,
acid rain and related atmospheric problems, ozone shield destruction, toxic and
radioactive waste disposal, land-use management, energy resource development,
geologic hazards, population growth, and food supplies – will be examined from
scientific as well as cultural, political, and ethical viewpoints.
*CFA 3318 (HIST 2384). Latin America: The
Colonial Period. An introductory survey covering the
development of Latin American society from pre-discovery to the early 19th
century.
*CFA 3319 (HIST 2385). Latin America in the
Modern Era. An introductory survey beginning with the
19th-century wars of independence from Spain and Portugal and emphasizing the
20th century as the new nations struggle for political stability and economic
independence.
*CFA 3320 (WL 3323, HIST 2323). Russian
Culture. Significant aspects of Russian thought and
culture at its various stages of development are presented and illustrated by
examples from literature, folklore, prose, drama, journalism, architecture,
the fine arts, and music.
CFA 3321. Ways of Thinking in the Ancient
World. Distinctions between heaven and earth, divine
and human, “spirit” and “matter,” living and living well, mind (language) and
“reality,” are categories of thought explored in this course. This is a course
in how thinking gets done, as well as in some of what human beings have thought.
CFA 3322 (RELI 3358). Psychology of
Religion. Covers the psychological, biological, and
social foundations of religion and its consequences. Topics include mystical
experience, conversion, prayer, cults, and the effects of religion on health,
prosocial behavior, and prejudice.
CFA 3323. The Emergence of the Modern
Mentality of the West. This course examines some of
the major changes in philosophical thought and religious life that took place
between the end of the Middle Ages and the Industrial Revolution. It focuses on
contrasts between magic and science, the rise of the capitalist spirit, and
conflicts between traditional beliefs and modern skepticism.
CFA 3324 (THEA 4385). English Theatre,
Restoration to the Present (Studies in Theatre, Drama, and Performance).
Surveys English theatre, Restoration to today. Focuses on
selected scripts and social contexts: audiences, society, theatrical forms,
modes of production, theatre architecture, and broader historical, economic, and
political forces and influences.
*CFA 3325 (HIST 3379). A Cultural History
of New Mexico. This course, taught only at
SMU-in-Taos, explores the struggles between the state’s dominant ethnic groups –
Native Americans, Hispanos, and Anglos – over rituals, spaces, and objects.
*CFA 3326 (PLSC 4322). Latino Politics.
An analysis of contexts, causes, and consequences of Latino political
participation. The focus is on Latinos in the Southwest with some attention to
other racial and ethnic groups elsewhere in the U.S.
CFA 3327. Environmental Problems and
Policy: A European Perspective. As the threats of
local, regional, and global environmental problems grow, so does the public
political and scholarly debate about the remedies to control them. A study of
current issues, options, and politics from the European perspective.
CFA 3328 (WL 3309). Contemporary France.
This course will provide an interdisciplinary immersion in the main concerns of
France today. It will explore its institutions, social issues, and intellectual
and cultural interests as they relate to the past and strive to meet the
challenge of the 21st century, particularly the making of Europe.
CFA 3329 (WL 3307). The Belle Epoque and
the Birth of Modernity. Through its focus on the Belle
Epoque, this course will give students the opportunity for in-depth study of one
of the richest periods in the history of French culture. Through a variety of
cultural objects, they will study the shift of civilization that occurred at the
turn of the 20th century based on major changes in concepts of the individual,
space, and time, and learn how they gave birth to our modern civilization and
culture.
CFA 3330 (WL 3303, SPAN 3373). Spanish
Civilization. Through lectures, readings, study trips,
and audiovisual presentations, this course presents an interrelated overview of
Spanish culture and thought, especially as related to contemporary Spain. This
course addresses from multiple disciplinary (anthropology, history, sociology,
Spanish literature, etc.) perspectives a vast array of interrelated social and
cultural practices and beliefs.
*CFA 3331 (ANTH 2331). The Formation of
Institutions: Roots of Society. With illustrations
from the prehistoric past, the earliest recorded civilization, and “contemporary
ancestors” (bands and tribes of the present), this course will trace the
development of familiar notions like the family, property, and the state,
resulting in an appreciation of the fundamental questions posed by our common
life on Earth and the variety of answers that human societies have given to
those questions.
*CFA 3332 (CLAS 2332). Society Expanding –
Polis and Empire. This course presents a case-study
approach to the development of cities, civilizations, and empires from the
appearance of urbanism in Mesopotamia to the end of the European Middle Ages,
with special reference to political, economic, and religious institutions.
CFA 3334 (PLSC 4323). The Politics of
Change in America, 1930-2000. Focusing on American
politics and society from 1930 to the present, this course will examine how
America has changed, explain why change occurs, and assess the consequences of
these changes.
*CFA 3336 (ANTH 3336). Gender and
Globalization: Cultural and Ethical Issues. An
analysis of the impact of globalizing forces on women’s lives and identities, as
well as on patterns of gender relations and ideology in various cultures around
the world.
CFA 3337 (DANC 3374). 20th-Century Musical
Theater. This course will examine the significance of
dance in the American musical as a medium for reflecting the cultural evolution
in America from a social and historical perspective.
CFA 3338 (RELI 3338). Christ as Cultural
Hero. An exploration of the impact of Jesus on the
history of Western culture, not only in religion and philosophy, but also in the
fine arts, literature, and politics.
CFA 3339 (RELI 3339). The Puritan Tradition
in England and America. An examination of the
religious, political, scientific, economic, and literary dimensions of the
Puritan movement in Tudor-Stuart England and in colonial New England.
CFA 3340 (ARHS 4350, CTV 4351, THEA
4381-4384). Mapping Modernism: Artistic Collaborations in Paris and Moscow,
1890-1940. This class examines early 20th-century
modernism through the lens of fertile collaborations and exchanges in art,
dance, film, music, and theatre in Paris and Moscow between 1890 and 1940.
*CFA 3341. Native Americans in Western
Legal Thought. A survey of Spanish and Anglo-American
legal treatment of native North Americans from first contact to the present,
comparing and contrasting versions of Western jurisprudence and examining
whenever possible Native American responses.
CFA 3342. British Studies I.
This course is an interdisciplinary, writing-intensive course within the
humanities and social sciences taken at a British or Irish university. It can be
taken only by students in the yearlong SMU-in-Britain program.
CFA 3343. British Studies II.
This course is an interdisciplinary, writing-intensive course within the
humanities and social sciences taken at a British or Irish university. It can be
taken only by students in the yearlong SMU-in-Britain program.
*CFA 3344. Tradition, Community, and
Identity in Black African Cinema. An introduction to
film by black African filmmakers. The course explores African film’s
relationship to history, African identity, the African political context, and
African oral tradition.
CFA 3345 (HIST 4319). The Medieval Formation of English Culture. When, where, and how was 'English Culture' - that globally widespread and distinctive variation of 'Western Culture' - formed? In the 8th-16th centuries, in a realm with Oxford at its centre.
CFA 3346. The Taos Experience: an Independent Research Seminar. This course is designed to introduce students to the history of New Mexico and its disparate peoples and cultures as well as independent research. After reading general histories, and specific case studies, students will then embark on a thesis-length independent research project.
*CFA 3354 (WL 3355). Tradition, Modernity,
and Agency in North-African Cinema. An introduction to the cinemas of
Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Chad, and Mali. The course explores the themes
of migration, occupation, and independence in both individual and national
terms.
CFA 3355 (PLSC 4355). Comparative Political
Economy of Industrialized Democracies. This course
examines the nature and workings of the political economies of industrialized
democracies of North America, Europe, and the Pacific in comparative
perspective.
*CFA 3358 (ANTH 3358). Indians of the
Southwest, 16th Century-Present. An introduction to
the non-Pueblo and Pueblo peoples of the Greater Southwest, with a focus on
Indian-Indian and Indian-Euro American relations and the resultant
transformations. Topics will include class of cultures, tourism, gambling, legal
rights, and urbanism.
CFA 3359 (PLSC 3359). From Communism to
Democracy. An interdisciplinary survey of the rise and
fall of communist regimes, followed by an analysis of the successes, obstacles,
and consequences of the democratic transition in the former Eastern Europe and
Soviet Union. Particular attention will be paid to cultural, social, economic,
and political influences that affect divergent paths to democracy.
CFA 3360 (WL 3360). The Ethics of
Colonization in Latin America. Through a study of
literary, philosophical, historical, and religious texts, this course considers
how the humanist ethics of the Renaissance were debated and carried out in the
colonization of Latin America.
*CFA 3362 (CTV 2362). Diversity and
American Film: Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality.
Historical survey of representations of race-ethnicity, class structure, gender,
and sexual orientation in American cinema, as well as the opportunities for
minorities within the industry.
CFA 3363 (PLSC 4363). Religion and Politics
in the Western Tradition. Analysis of the relationship
between religious faith and civil government in the Western tradition. Focuses
on thinkers and controversies from the late Roman empire to the contemporary
United States.
CFA 3364 (PHIL 3364). Philosophy of Biology. A survey of topics in the Philosophy of Biology. Typical topics include evolution versus creationism, fitness, units of selection, adaptationism, biological taxonomy, evolution in humans, cultural evolution and niche construction.
CFA 3369 (MSA 3369). LONDON: EXPLORING REPRESENTATIONS OF "PERFORMATIVE". The practice of the discipline of performance studies, which itself is an inter/multidisciplinary approach to "performance," defined as a broad array of performance activity ? from formal, theatrically based performance to ritual, tourism, and vernacular performance such as street fairs and carnivals and the experience of food. Performance studies encompass disciplinary materials from cultural studies, ethnology and anthropology, gender studies, history, and the critical theory and analysis of performance.
*CFA 3393. Imagined Communities: Place, Nation, and Construction of Cultural Identity. The flagship course of the Center for Inter-Community Experience, “Imagined Communities” investigates from historical and contemporary perspectives the forms of local, national, and transnational identities that characterize American life. In order to enhance understanding of course readings, students will participate in Center for Academic-Community Engagement (ACE) programs in the multiethnic, multinational East Dallas community of Garrett Park East.
CFA 3394. Social Class and the Democratic
Public Sphere. This course explores the concept of
class in American life and investigates the effects of class differences and
tensions on American democratic institutions. In order to enhance understanding
of course readings, students will participate in Center for Inter-Community
Experience (ICE) programs in the multiethnic, multinational East Dallas
community of Garrett Park East.
*CFA 3399 (ANTH 3399). Ice Age Americans.
The first Americans came here from northeast Asia and Siberia over 12,000 years
ago, when North America was in the grip of an Ice Age. Their story, being pieced
together by disciplines as different as archaeology, linguistics, and molecular
biology, is revealing how these pioneers faced the challenge of adapting to a
world without other people, which became increasingly exotic as they moved
south, and was itself changing as the Ice Age came to an end. This is the story
of the first discovery of America, when it truly was a New World.
*CFB 3301 (ANTH 3301, SOCI 3301). Health,
Healing, and Ethics: Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Sickness and Society.
A cross-cultural exploration of cultures and organization of medical systems,
economic development, and the global exportation of biomedicine, and ethical
dilemmas associated with medical technologies and global disparities in health.
CFB 3302. Contemporary East Asian
Cinema, 1997-Present.The course will be divided into
four sections, one of each of the national cinemas we will be studying: Hong
Kong cinema after the Colony’s return to the People’s Republic of China as a
Special Administrative Region; the cinema of Thailand after the Asian Economic
Crisis and the massive devaluation of the bhat; South Korean cinema after
the bailout of the Korean Stock Exchange by the International Monetary Fund and
the extensive corporate restructuring which followed; and the Japanese cinema in
the stagnant late nineties as Japan struggled to overcome the economic and
cultural hangover from the burst bubble of the 1980’s economic boom.
CFB 3303 (PHIL 3333). Native American Philosophy. An examination of major topics in philosophy from a variety of Native American standpoints, with an emphasis on the tribes residing in the Southwest. Throughout the course, students will explore Native American themes of metaphysics, epistemology and value theory. We will read essays that address philosophical questions pertaining to knowledge, time, place, history, science, religion, nationhood and ethics. We will also be identifying connections between the philosophical assumptions and the mythology and folklore of the Pueblo Indians.
CFB 3304 (WL 3330). Migration, Occupation, and Independence in North African Cinema. An introduction to the cinemas of Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Chad, and Mali. The course explores the themes of migration, occupation, and independence in both individual and national terms.
*CFB 3306. Postcolonial France. A multidisciplinary course providing an introduction to, or better understanding of, some of the most passionate debates on assimilation, difference, and multiculturalism that have emerged in France in recent years.
CFB 3309 (HIST 3309). North American
Environmental History. This course surveys North
American environmental history since pre-Columbian times. It expands the
customary framework of historical inquiry by focusing on the interaction of
human beings and the natural world.
*CFB 3310 (ANTH 3310).
Gender and Sex Roles: A Global Perspective. This course compares the life
experiences of men and women in societies throughout the world. Discussion will
include the evidence regarding the universal subordination of women and examine
explanations that propose to situate women’s and men’s personal attributes,
roles, and responsibilities in the biological or cultural domain. In general,
through readings, films, and lectures, the class will provide a cross-cultural
perspective on ideas regarding gender and the ways societies are organized in
relation to gender.
CFB 3312 (CLAS 1312). Classical Rhetoric.
Readings in the Ancient Sophists, Plato, Aristotle, Isocrates, Cicero,
Quintilian, Longinus and St. Augustine; study of the intellectual foundations of
Western world.
*CFB 3313. Genetic Determinism and Free
Will: The Impact of Human Genetics and Biotechnology on Human Choice.
Students will be introduced to human genetics and biotechnology with
philosophical analysis of its impact on genetic determinism and free will.
Related societal issues will be examined.
CFB 3314 (ARHS 4304) The City as Place. This course will investigate the historical, societal, and cultural contexts of urban space and the built environment through close examination of Italian cities from antiquity to the present.
CFB 3318 (HIST 2318) Schools and Society: The Evolution of America's Public School System. An interdisciplinary exploration of America's public school system from the Colonial period to the present with emphasis on changing social and political ideals.
CFB 3320. Majesty, Memory and Mourning in the Middle Ages. How did nobles, religious leaders and peasants perform acts of memory in the Middle Ages? Students study transdisciplinary contexts of tomb statues (visiting the Dallas Museum of Art) embodying the Burgundian climax of a medieval European culture.
*CFB 3322 (HIST 3322). Native American History. This course examines the roles Native Americans played in the history of North America (excluding Mexico) from 1500 to the present.
*CFB 3323 (HIST 3323).
History of Islam in South
Asia. A
cultural history of Islam in South Asia focusing on the sacred practices,
literatures, and institutions of Muslims communities in the Indian subcontinent
from 1000 CE to modern times.
CFB 3333 (PHYS 3333). The Scientific
Method: (Debunking Pseudoscience). This course
provides students with an
understanding of the scientific method sufficient to differentiate
experimentally verifiable scientific fact and theories from pseudoscience in its
many guises: paranormal phenomena, free-energy devices, alternative medicine,
and many others.
CFB 3336 (ANTH 4336) Concepts of Evolution. A history of the conception and development of the idea of evolution and the conflicts It has generated. Students will read and discuss original sources from ancient Greece to present.
CFB 3337 (HIST 3337). Ethical Dilemmas in a
Global Age. This course is a cross-cultural
exploration of major ethical problems emanating out of the radically changing
context of human existence in recent decades.
*CFB 3341 (COMM 3341). Ethnicity, Culture, and
Communication.
This course explores the impact of culture on
our understanding and practice of human communication in interpersonal,
organizational, and mass media contexts. Strong emphasis is placed on the role
of globalization, race, and socio-economic dynamics as impediments and conduits
of cross-cultural collaboration and interaction.
*CFB 3342 (COMM 3342). The Construction of Social Identity and Critical Theory
in Post Colonial Settings. This class
explores the impact that communication practices in organizational,
interpersonal and mass media contexts have on the construction of ethnicity,
gender and sexuality in both U.S. and post-colonial contexts.
*CFB 3343 (ARHS 3363). Beyond Carnival: Brazilian Art and Architecture. Examines the visual and material culture of Brazil from the 1500’s to the present. Emphasis on the interplay and creative synthesis of diverse visual cultures in the colonial and post-colonial perspective.
CFB 3345 (EMIS 3375). CULTURAL AND ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS OF TECHNOLOGY. This course explores the pervasive use of technology in today's society, the impact of technology on daily life, and the tie between technology and ethical responsibility. Students learn how their lives are being shaped by technology and how they in turn help shape technology.
CFB 3348 (ANTH 3348, HRTS 3348). Health as a Human Right. This course examines the concept of Human Rights critically, with an eye for cross-cultural variation, and a particular focus on rights that are health-related.
*CFB 3350 (SOCI 2350/COMM 3302/WL3302). Ethno-Violence: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. An introduction to ethnoviolence - violence or the threat of violence based on one’s race, ethnicity, religion, gender, or sexual orientation – from a comparative, global and critical framework that synthesizes sociology, colonial studies, communications, and ethnic, religious, historical, and gender studies.
CFB 3351 (ANTH 3351). Forensic
Anthropology: Stories Told by Bones. Introduction to
the identification of human remains, including conditions of preservation and
decay. Estimating sex, stature, age, ethnicity. Identifying pathology, trauma,
and other causes of death.
*CFB 3353 (RELI 3353). Borderlands:
Latino/a Religions in the United States. An
introduction to Latino/a religious practices in the United States, with a
special emphasis on social constructions.
CFB 3355 (MUHI 4355). Music and Culture: Studies in Popular Music. This course focuses on music as an element of culture formation. Discussion of current scholarship introduces students to the multidisciplinary study of the role of human agency in creating meaningful spaces in which music unfolds its socio-political and cultural dimensions.
CFB 3360 (WL 3370). Shadows of
Enlightenment: Human Rights in Germany.
Study of documents and debates on human rights, literature, and art from the
Enlightenment to the present. Discussion of the Holocaust, human rights concerns
in divided Germany, migration, and multiculturalism.
CFB 3361 European Studies I. These
courses are interdisciplinary, writing intensive courses within the humanities
and social sciences focused on European topics at an approved SMU Abroad
program.
CFB 3362 European Studies II. These
courses are interdisciplinary, writing intensive courses within the humanities
and social sciences focused on European topics at an approved SMU Abroad
program.
CFB 3363 African And Middle Eastern Studies I. These courses are interdisciplinary, writing
intensive courses within the humanities and social sciences focused on African
and Middle Eastern topics at an approved SMU Abroad program.
CFB 3364 African And Middle Eastern Studies II.
These courses are interdisciplinary, writing
intensive courses within the humanities and social sciences focused on African
and Middle Eastern topics at an approved SMU Abroad program.
CFB 3365 Asian Studies I. These courses
are interdisciplinary, writing intensive courses within the humanities and
social sciences focused on Asian topics at an approved SMU Abroad program.
CFB 3366 Asian Studies II. These courses
are interdisciplinary, writing intensive courses within the humanities and
social sciences focused on Asian topics at an approved SMU Abroad program.
CFB
3367
Australian And Pacific Studies I. These
courses are interdisciplinary, writing intensive courses within the humanities
and social sciences focused on Australian and Pacific topics at an approved SMU
Abroad program.
CFB 3368 Australian And Pacific Studies
II. These courses are interdisciplinary,
writing intensive courses within the humanities and social sciences focused on
Australian and Pacific topics at an approved SMU Abroad program.
CFB 3369 Latin American Studies I.
These courses are interdisciplinary, writing
intensive courses within the humanities and social sciences focused on Latin
American topics at an approved SMU Abroad program.
*CFB 3370 Latin American Studies II.
These courses are interdisciplinary, writing
intensive courses within the humanities and social sciences focused on Latin
American topics at an approved SMU Abroad program.
*CFB 3371 The Politics and Religions of Southeast Asia. We explore the political and religious diversity of Southeast Asia in the past and present. Bali’s rich cultural setting facilitates an interdisciplinary approach weaving together insights into a complex region.
*CFB 3374 Back In The Day: American
Activisms 1960 - 1980. Study of sequence
of overlapping American human rights movements usually known as "The Sixties."
CFB 3375 (MNO 3375). Corporate Ethics and
Social Responsibility.
The cross listing of CFB 3375 and MNO 3375 is subject to the same rules that
restrict credit for all other CF, CFA, and CFB courses that are cross-listed
with departmental courses (see General Education Rules 9 and 10). In addition,
students who take either CFB 3375 or MNO 3375 (formerly OBBP 3375) may not take
ACCT 3391, nor may students taking ACCT 3391 take either of the other two
courses for credit. Students seeking accounting certification should note that
ACCT 3391 is a gateway course for eligibility to take the CPA examination.
CFB 3381 (MNO 4371). Leadership and Culture in the Southwest. This course studies the psychological, behavioral economics, sociological, anthropological, and organizational behavior foundations of leadership. This course is taught at SMU-in-Taos and uses the Southwest United States as a context to assess leadership and culture.
*CFB 3382. The History of Mexico and New Mexico From Their Origins Until 1848. The central aims of the course are : to summarize the pre-colonial and colonial histories of Mexico, and to survey, as a component of the Mexican past, New Mexico's history. The history of art and architecture is integral to the general history.
*CFB 3383. Utopian Perspectives on the American Southwest. The course focuses on the American Southwest when the region became a "homeland of the imagination" for those fleeing the modern, industrial culture of the West.
*CFB 3384 (RELI 3384). Hinduism and Colonial
Encounters. A critical study of the history of
colonialism in India and its impact on social, religious, and political
discourse.
CFB 3386 (ARHS 4386). Patrons and
Collectors. A social history of art from the point of
view of its consumers. Art patronage and collecting are examined from antiquity
to the present, with emphasis on the modern period.
*CFB 3390 (ANTH 3390). The Plundered Past:
Archaeology’s Challenges in the Modern World. This
course will provide an interdisciplinary understanding of the importance
societies place on knowing, preserving, and altering evidence of the past.
Special emphasis is placed on archaeology’s role in understanding and preserving
the past.
CFB 3399 (ARHS 3399). The Medieval
Jewish-Christian Dialogue in Art and Text. Examines
the mutual perceptions, conflicts, and commonalities among medieval European
Christians and Jews, as reflected in works of visual art and in philosophical,
theological, legal, and literary texts.
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