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2015-2016 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
Course Search
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Religious Studies |
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REL 102 - Studying Religion: America 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
This course introduces Religious Studies by focusing on religious traditions in “America.” Students will gain knowledge about the history and development of some of the major religious traditions in the United States, such as Christianity, Judaism and Buddhism. Exploring “religion” and “America” as sites of contestation over meaning, identiity, and purpose, students also gain the skills to analyze perspectives, interests, and issues of representation.
Prerequisite: First or second-year standing.
Note: Not offered every year.
Instructor: Rietz
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REL 103 - Studying Religion: the Middle East 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
This course introduces religious studies through examination of the Middle East. We will begin by exploring the intertwined development of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam through topics such as myths or origin, the Crusades, and medieval interactions in the Mediterranean region. We will then turn to religion in the modern Middle East, focusing on issues like European colonialism, Christian missionary movements in the Middle East, and the development of the nation-state in the region.
Prerequisite: First or second-year standing.
Note: Not offered every year.
Instructor: Elfenbein
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REL 104 - Studying Religion: India 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
This course introduces Religious Studies through Indian traditions, especially Hinduism and Buddhism. Together we will learn each religion’s basics so that we can ask bigger questions about self, society, and religion as such. That is, we want to know: what do religions teach us about religion itself and its role in society, history and individual lives? We will find answers by examining case studies such as Tibetan monks, Gandhi’s religious politics, Muslim healers, and American yoga. The course argues that studying religion is fundamental to becoming an educated, world citizen for the twenty-first century.
Prerequisite: First or second-year standing.
Note: Not offered every year.
Instructor: Dobe
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REL 105 - Studying Religion: East Asia 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
This course explores the dynamic cultural landscape of East Asia, providing an overview of religion as it has been constructed in the states that are today known as China, Japan and Korea. Moving beyond the paradigms of practice defined as the singular traditions of Confucianism, Daoism, Shintoism and Buddhism, the course delves into unnamed traditions, and practices that are across traditions, in order to provide students with tools to resist simplistic understandings of religious identity.
Prerequisite: None.
Instructor: Holmes-Tagchungdarpa
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REL 211 - The Hebrew Bible 4 credits (Fall)
The history, religion, and thought of the Hebrew-Jewish people as recorded in scripture. Special attention given to the formation of this literature and to the rise and development of major biblical motifs.
Prerequisite: REL 101 , REL 102 , REL 103 , REL 104 , REL 105 or second-year standing.
Note: Not offered every year.
Instructor: Rietz
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REL 214 - The Christian Scriptures 4 credits (Spring)
The history, religion, and thought of early Christianity as recorded in the New Testament. Special attention to the formation of this biblical literature, the theology of the various writers, and the development of major New Testament motifs in relation to the Hebrew Bible.
Prerequisite: REL 101 , REL 102 , REL 103 , REL 104 , REL 105 , or second-year standing.
Note: Not offered every year.
Instructor: Rietz
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REL 216 - Modern Religious Thought 4 credits
A study of the way 19th- and 20th-century philosophers and theologians have criticized and reconceptualized religion in light of the intellectual currents, social changes, and historical events that continue to shape Western culture.
Prerequisite: REL 101 , REL 102 , REL 103 , REL 104 , REL 105 , or second-year standing.
Note: Plus-2 option available. Not offered every year.
Instructor: Roberts
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REL 220 - The Traditions of Islam 4 credits
An examination of the spirit of Islam as presented in the Qur’an, the Sunna of the Prophet, Islamic law, theology, and mysticism. Special attention given to the status of women in Islam. Contemporary movements within the Islamic world discussed.
Prerequisite: REL 101 , REL 102 , REL 103 , REL 104 , REL 105 , or second-year standing.
Note: Not offered every year.
Instructor: Elfenbein
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REL 225 - The Buddhist Tradition 4 credits
An examination of the classical doctrines and practices of Nikaya and Mahayana Buddhism and their historical developments in various social and cultural contexts in Asia and the West.
Prerequisite: REL 101 , REL 102 , REL 103 , REL 104 , REL 105 , or second-year standing.
Note: Not offered every year.
Instructor: Gilday
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REL 226 - Religious Traditions of India 4 credits
Indian religion is marked by ongoing dialogues among the South Asian traditions we call Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, and Islam. The interaction between these traditions shows the ways each has defined itself independently and in response to challenges presented by the others. This course will introduce the historical and philosophical foundations for these traditions, as well as familiarize students with these intersecting traditions as living religions. The course will include special attention to the role of women and the links between religion and politics.
Prerequisite: REL 101 , REL 102 , REL 103 , REL 104 , REL 105 , or second-year standing.
Note: Plus-2 option available.
Instructor: Dobe
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REL 227 - Global Christianities 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
Christianity has grown explosively in Africa, Latin America and Asia in recent time. This course explores these new Christian traditions and histories by focusing on one central question - Is Christianity a western religion? Answers will come harder than many assume. In today’s world, the phrase “white Christian” now is in fact as strange as “Swedish Buddhist” still sounds to many.
Prerequisite: REL 101 , REL 102 , REL 103 , REL 104 , REL 105 , or second year standing.
Note: Not offered every year.
Instructor: T. Dobe
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REL 228 - Gods of Bollywood 4 credits (Fall)
From the mystical Upanishads to the rain-drenched saris of Bollywood heroines, the sacred, the erotic and the spectacular have long been intertwined in South Asia. This course will explore themes of love, performance and identity in India both historically and by using Bollywood films as visual texts. We will examine religion’s intimate connections to culture, gender and meaning in the modern world as we ask, “What is Indian about Indian Cinema?”
Prerequisite: REL 101 , REL 102 , REL 103 , REL 104 , or second-year standing.
Note: Plus-2 option available. Not offered every year.
Instructor: T Dobe
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REL 241 - Religion in U.S. Public Life 4 credits (Spring)
This course explores debates in the United States over the place of religious discourse in public and political life. Topics include the nature of public discourse, the role of the citizen as a religious and moral actor, ideas of fairness and justice, and interpretations of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Prerequisite: REL 101 , REL 102 , REL 103 , REL 104 , or second-year standing.
Note: Not offered every year.
Instructor: Roberts
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REL 266 - Apocalyptic “Sectuality” 4 credits
What is the meaning of this age? Are we standing at the dawn of a golden age in history? Or are we at the brink of global destruction and the end of history? In this class, we will take an interdisciplinary approach to examine selected apocalyptic movements and texts in an attempt to understand how meaning is constructed. We will discuss several early Jewish and Christian apocalyptic texts and communities as well as modern apocalyptic communities.
Prerequisite: REL 101 , REL 102 , REL 103 , REL 104 , or second-year standing.
Note: Not offered every year.
Instructor: Rietz
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REL 267 - Islam in the Modern Era 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
See HIS 267 .
Note: Not offered every year.
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REL 268 - Islam and Gender 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
See HIS 268 .
Note: Plus-2 option available.
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REL 311 - Theory and Method in the Study of Religion 4 credits (Fall)
This seminar focuses on the history and assumptions of the comparative method in the study of religion and culture. This genealogical narrative involves a critical examination of a variety of sources and perspectives on religion leading up to and emerging from the European Enlightenment, including the development of various methodological and critical positions in the modern study of religion during the 19th and 20th centuries. Readings from a wide range of contemporary scholarship will illustrate the state of the field today.
Prerequisite: Third-year or fourth-year standing and declared major.
Note: Plus-2 option available.
Instructor: Gilday, Roberts
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REL 326 - Anthropology of Religion 4 credits
See ANT 326 .
Note: Plus-2 option available. Not offered every year.
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REL 352 - Philosophy of Religion 4 credits (Spring)
Cross-listed as: PHI 352 . How do we understand “religion” in the 21st century? Is the world becoming more secular? More religious? Does this distinction even work anymore? How might ideas like “saint” and “sacrifice” and “spiritual discipline” help us think and act ethically and politically in the contemporary world? This course explores the ways recent philosophers and theologians have answered such questions by turning to the resources of the Continental philosophical tradition (Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Derrida, Irigaray, etc.) in order to reconceptualize religion, philosophy, and ethics after the “death of God.”
Prerequisite: REL 216 and REL 311 , or two 200-level philosophy courses.
Note: Plus-2 option available. Not offered every year.
Instructor: Roberts
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REL 394 - Advanced Topics in Religious Studies 4 credits (Spring)
An advanced intensive seminar devoted to selected topics in religious studies. Topics have included mysticism, South Asian saints, and religion and democracy. This seminar may be repeated for credit if content is different. For current course content please see the variable topic course listing below or search the online live schedule of courses.
Prerequisite: REL 311 ; additional prerequisites may vary depending on topic.
Instructor: Staff
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Russian |
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RUS 101 - Beginning Russian I 5 credits (Fall)
Intensive treatment of elementary Russian grammar, with special emphasis on pronunciation, basic conversational ability, and thorough coverage of contrastive English-Russian grammar. Conducted primarily in Russian. Meets five times a week.
Prerequisite: None.
Instructor: Staff
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RUS 102 - Beginning Russian II 5 credits (Spring)
A follow-up course to RUS 101 , stressing the further study of grammatical usage and the development of reading and speaking ability. Conducted in Russian. Meets five times a week.
Prerequisite: RUS 101 .
Instructor: Staff
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RUS 200 - Conversational Russian 1 credits (Fall and Spring)
Conversation on free and structured themes, with topics drawn from different aspects of Russian and American life. May be repeated once for credit when content changes.
Prerequisite: RUS 102 .
Instructor: Staff
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RUS 221 - Intermediate Russian I 4 credits (Fall)
A reading and discussion course whose materials focus on contemporary culture with emphasis on the continuing study of grammatical concepts introduced in RUS 101 and RUS 102 .
Prerequisite: RUS 102 .
Instructor: Staff
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RUS 222 - Intermediate Russian II 4 credits (Spring)
A continuation of RUS 221 . Materials focus on major aspects of Russian culture, with added emphasis on the study of more complex grammatical concepts.
Prerequisite: RUS 221 .
Instructor: Staff
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RUS 247 - The Russian Short Story 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
Cross-listed as: GLS 247 . The development of the genre from its beginning in 18th-century Sentimentalism to the present. Authors could include Karamzin, Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, Tolstoy, Chekhov, Bulgakov, Babel, Olesha, Makanin, Tolstaya, and Sorokin. Conducted in English.
Prerequisite: None.
Note: Plus-2 option available. Not offered every year.
Instructor: Vishevsky, Herold
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RUS 248 - The Russian Novel 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
Cross-listed as: GLS 248 . Study of the Russian novel in the 19th century. Novels by Pushkin, Lermontov, Dostovesky, Turgenev, and Tolstoy considered. Conducted in English.
Prerequisite: None.
Note: Plus-2 option available. Not offered every year.
Instructor: Greene, Herold
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RUS 251 - The Theme of the African in Russian Literature and Culture 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
A survey of the varying cultural and racial perceptions of Africa and people of African descent as reflected in 19th- and 20th-century Russian literature. Examines tsarist and Soviet history of Russian intellectual contact with the African diaspora and the impact of this contact on the development of the “African” as a literary theme in Russian and Soviet literature. Conducted in English.
Prerequisite: None.
Note: Plus-2 option available. Not offered every year.
Instructor: Greene
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RUS 261 - History of Russian Film 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
Cross-listed as: GLS 261 . From Eisenstein to Tarkovsky and beyond. Through lecture, discussion, and film analysis, this course will examine the fascinating and controversial history of Russian film from Andrei Tarkovsky’s sophisticated Solaris to the daring films of the glasnost era; from chernukha (noir) films of the 1990s to contemporary cinema about the Russian mafia, New Russians and the dramatic search for a new Russian identity. Conducted in English.
Prerequisite: HUM 185 , HIS 241 or HIS 242 .
Note: Plus-2 option available. Not offered every year.
Instructor: Vishevsky
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RUS 281 - Major Russian Writers 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
Cross-listed as: GLS 281 . This course examines the artistic oeuvre of a single major Russian writer within the context of his cultural and literary milieu. The following writers could be offered in alternating years: Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Gogol, Chekhov, Nabokov. Conducted in English. For current course content please see the variable topic course listing below or search the online live schedule of courses.
Prerequisite: None.
Note: Plus-2 option available in Russian.
Instructor: Staff
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RUS 313 - Present through the Past: Russian Cultural Traditions 4 credits (Fall)
A focused examination of the major cultural icons and clichés that have developed in Russian culture through the centuries, with an emphasis on what an educated speaker of the language should know, including the “enignatic Russian soul,” the Bronze Horseman, the Russian “troika,” the battleship Aurora, the communal apartment, Soviet bards, and Pussy Riot among other cultural phenomena. Advanced grammar study is combined with critical reading of a range of literary and cultural texts. Conducted in Russian
Prerequisite: RUS 222 .
Instructor: Staff
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RUS 389 - Advanced Russian Seminar 4 credits (Fall and Spring)
A cultural and linguistic study of a selected Russian cultural phenomenon from the 19th, 20th, or 21st century. Variable content, with discussion centered on a single author, genre, or literary period; intellectual history; popular culture; a cultural period; or analysis of an aspect of culture (film, theatre, music, etc.). Conducted in Russian. For current course content please see the variable topic course listing below or search the online live schedule of courses.
Prerequisite: RUS 313 .
Note: May be repeated 3 times with varied content.
Instructor: Staff
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Russian, Central, and Eastern European Studies |
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RES 291 - Perspectives in 20th-Century Central and Eastern European Literature 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
Cross-listed as: GLS 291 . This course examines and analyzes a number of 20th-century works in translation from several countries of Central and Eastern Europe (primarily, but not limited to, the former-Yugoslavia, Poland, and the former-Czechoslovakia). Attention is devoted to how writers, artists, poets, and others attempt to understand and respond to major events and issues in specific countries, and in the region in general: war, genocide, revolution, totalitarianism, political repression, clashes of religion and culture, and quests for (self-)identity.
Prerequisite: None.
Note: Plus-2 option available. Not offered every year.
Instructor: Armstrong
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RES 495 - Senior Research or Seminar 2 or 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
An interdisciplinary senior seminar or senior research project for students completing the concentration in Russian, Central and Eastern European Studies. May be repeated in consecutive semesters by a student pursuing a single research project. Credits earned each semester must fulfill program requirements as specified in program description.
Instructor: Staff
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Science |
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SCI 125 - Introduction to Earth System Science w/lab 4 credits (Fall)
See ENV 125 .
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SCI 350 - Freedom and Authority: The Control of Reproduction 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
Cross-listed as: HUM 350 and SST 350 How do social, biological, and cultural constraints affect decisions about reproduction? How do social institutions set and enforce the boundaries of what is possible and permissible? How do practices of reproduction generate meaning for human existence? This seminar examines conflicts between the freedom of the individual to make decisions about reproduction and the internal and external authorities of biology, evolution, the family, the state, health care systems, criminal justice systems, and religious hierarchies.
Prerequisite: Third-year or senior standing and completion of a four-credit course at the 200-level or above creditable to a major in the division of registration.
Note: Not offered every year
Instructor: Staff
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Science Laboratory |
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SCI 100 - Science Laboratory 1 credits (Fall and Spring)
Individual or small-group instruction emphasizing problem-solving skills. This class must be taken in conjunction with first-year sequences in physics, chemistry, or biology. May be repeated once for credit with permission of the director.
Prerequisite: Consultation with the related course instructor and permission of the director of the science lab are required.
Note: Instruction is available without credit to students who cannot take the course or who need only occasional assistance. S/D/F only
Instructor: Mahlab
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SCI 240 - Science Education Methods 1 credits
This discussion seminar is open to all students who have taken at least one year of science, and is encouraged for those students who are biology and chemistry student mentors, science laboratory teaching assistants, or students interested in pursuing a career in science teaching. This class will review some of the current literature in science education and focuses on examining the stages of the teaching and learning process and tools for improving teaching and learning.
Prerequisite: One year (two semesters) of biology, chemistry, mathematics/computer science, physics, or psychology; and permission of the instructor.
Note: Not offered every year.
Instructor: Mahlab
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Social Studies |
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SST 115 - Introduction to Statistics 4 credits (Fall and Spring)
See MAT 115 .
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SST 140 - Medieval and Renaissance Culture: 1100–1650 4 credits (Spring)
See HUM 140 .
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SST 213 - Media and the Middle East 4 credits (Fall)
See HUM 213 .
Prerequisite: Second-year standing.
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SST 221 - Geographical Analysis and Cartography 4 credits (Fall)
This course offers an introduction to geographic information systems (GIS) for spatial analysis and mapmaking. Covers topics such as the nature of geographic information, georeferencing, GIS data models, cartographic design, geovisualization, the Global Positioning System, and basic and intermediate spatial analysis skills. Focus on understanding the major underlying theories and concepts of GIS, which students put into practice using GIS software applications in lab exercises and an independent research project.
Prerequisite: MAT 115 /SST 115 or equivalent.
Instructor: Carter
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SST 230 - Health Geography 4 credits (Spring)
This course examines the geographical dimensions of health and disease, emphasizing global and domestic public health issues. Key approaches and themes include the human ecology approach to health; epidemiological mapping and spatial analysis; environmental health; the relationship among demographic change, economic development, and population health; the spatial diffusion of infectious diseases; the disease ecology approach to infectious and vector-borne diseases; and challenges of “global health” in the 21st century, with special emphasis on “emerging infectious diseases.”
Prerequisite: One 100-level course in social studies.
Note: Plus-2 option available.
Instructor: Carter
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SST 350 - Freedom and Authority: The Control of Reproduction 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
See HUM 350 .
Note: Not offered every year
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Sociology |
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SOC 111 - Introduction to Sociology 4 credits (Fall and Spring)
Introduction to basic concepts, theory, and methods concerning human behavior and social structure. Special attention is paid to the scope and limitations of sociological analysis and the major empirical areas of investigation in sociology.
Prerequisite: None.
Instructor: Staff
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SOC 220 - Sociology of Global Development 4 credits (Fall)
Provides an overview of global development with a focus on the social consequences of development practices for people living in developing countries. Also examines the ways in which consumption patterns in industrialized countries affect global development. Case study approach used to consider the effects of general practices on specific locales, such as the role of powerful forces (economic, political, ideological, religious) in shaping living conditions at the local level.
Prerequisite: SOC 111 .
Note: Plus-2 option available. Not offered every year.
Instructor: Inglis
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SOC 240 - Social Movements 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
This survey of contemporary social movements focuses on the processes of social and cultural change, collective group behavior, and the process and critiques of reform revolution and social movement change. We will examine definitions and theories of reform, revolution, and social movements and make comparative analyses of goals and ideologies and their development, inside and beyond the boundaries of the United States.
Prerequisite: SOC 111 .
Note: Not offered every year.
Instructor: Oberlin, Scott
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SOC 242 - Deviance and Social Control 4 credits (Fall)
Analysis of the causes and control of deviant behavior, e.g., alcohol and drug abuse, suicide, assault, and sexual deviance. Topics include how definitions of deviance change, how people become deviant, how deviant groups are organized, and how transactions among deviants occur.
Prerequisite: SOC 111 .
Note: Plus-2 option available. Not offered every year.
Instructor: Haenfler
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SOC 248 - Self and Society 4 credits (Spring)
The study of human social interaction. Focuses on how people interact in small groups, change their beliefs, interpret behavior, develop a sense of identity, and construct their social worlds. Attention to the social psychology of collective behavior and of everyday life.
Prerequisite: SOC 111 or PSY 113 .
Note: Plus-2 option available. Not offered every year.
Instructor: Staff
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SOC 260 - Human Sexuality in the United States 4 credits (Spring)
How do individuals develop attractions, make sexual choices, and define and enact their own sexuality? How do institutions and organizations influence, shape, and constrain sexual attitudes and behaviors? This course will examine the social construction of human sexuality in the United States with particular attention to gender, sexual orientation, commercial sex, and sexual education.
Prerequisite: SOC 111 .
Note: Not offered every year.
Instructor: Erickson
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SOC 265 - Sociology of Health and Illness 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
An examination of the social contexts of health, illness, and medical care, focusing on the debates and contrasting perspectives of medical sociology. Topics include the social, environmental, and occupational factors in health and disease; the politics surrounding breast cancer and the AIDS epidemic; the patient’s perspective on illness; the development of the health professions and the health work force; ethical issues in medicine as they relate to medical technology; and alternatives to current health care organizations. Emphasis is given to how the social categories of gender, race, social class, and sexual orientation affect both illness and health care.
Prerequisite: SOC 111 .
Note: Not offered every year.
Instructor: Ferguson
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SOC 270 - Gender and Society 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
A sociological analysis of how gender is constructed and transformed in American society. This course will explore how both men and women come to know themselves as gendered beings, how gender is produced through interactions, in the media, in the workplace, and in families.
Prerequisite: SOC 111 .
Note: Not offered every year.
Instructor: Erickson
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SOC 275 - Race and Ethnicity in America 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
Introduces students to sociological perspectives on race, ethnicity, and racial inequality in American society. Examines the historical development of race-based barriers to achievement, the emergence and persistence of racial inequality, the character of racial beliefs, resistance to racial oppression, and current problems in American race relations. Emphasis on understanding individual attitudes and behaviors in relation to the structure of social institutions.
Prerequisite: SOC 111 .
Note: Plus-2 option available. Not offered every year.
Instructor: Scott
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SOC 280 - Bound By Borders: A Sociology of Law and Migration 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
Laws bind people to each other and to their territory, and this has far-reaching consequences for people’s life chances and identities. Migrants test these ties and have been the motivation for the emergence and reconfiguration of important laws governing who can come and go. How and why this happens interests not only policymakers, government officials, and judges, but also individuals included or excluded by borders and scholars trying to understand laws. This course takes a sociological view of global migration to explain the origins of law and its effects.
Prerequisite: SOC 111 .
Note: Not offered every year.
Instructor: Cook-Martín
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SOC 285 - Contemporary Sociological Theory 4 credits (Fall)
Contemporary sociological theory considered in light of classic theories. Emphasis on the conceptual adequacy and the logical consistency of major contemporary theoretical perspectives.
Prerequisite: SOC 111 and at least one 200-level sociology course.
Note: Plus-2 option available.
Instructor: Inglis, Haenfler
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SOC 291 - Methods of Empirical Investigation 4 credits (Spring)
Cross-listed as: ANT 291 . An overview of the research process in sociology and the social sciences, with emphasis on problems of epistemology, research design, techniques of sampling, methods of data collection, principles of measurement, basic methods of data analysis, and ethical considerations. This course will explore these topics through hands-on experiences including guided work on research methods through lab exercises.
Prerequisite: SOC 111 or ANT 104 ; and at least one 200-level sociology course; and MAT 115 , SST 115 , or MAT 209 (preferred), or MAT 336 .
Note: Plus-2 option available.
Instructor: Oberlin
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SOC 292 - Ethnographic Research Methods 4 credits (Fall)
See ANT 292 .
Note: Plus-2 option available.
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SOC 300 - Practicum in Applied Sociology 4 credits (Spring)
Students work 10 hours each week at internship sites in Grinnell or surrounding areas (personal transportation required). Class discussions and assignments focus on internship experiences from a sociological perspective. Students must request and submit an application for this course from the Sociology Department in November. Students needing assistance in securing an internship are encouraged to visit the Center for Careers, Life, and Service prior to fall break.
Prerequisite: Any two 200-level or above sociology courses and third-year or fourth-year student status with good academic standing.
Instructor: Chair of the Department
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SOC 320 - The Family 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
A survey of the family from a sociological perspective, focusing on recent transformations of the family. Topics include historical origins of the family, traditional marriage and alternative processes of mate selection and family formation, parenting, divorce, family violence, racial-ethnic variations in family experience, and gay and lesbian families.
Prerequisite: Any 200-level or above sociology course.
Instructor: Ferguson
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SOC 350 - NGOs: Organizing To Do Good 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
People often join together in nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations to accomplish good for themselves or others. This seminar focuses on how such organizations are structured and how they operate. We will explore how NPOs and NGOs resemble, and differ from, other organizational forms in mission, leadership, organizational change, environmental constraints, and effects on members. Attention to practical managerial challenges. Cases may include human service organizations, community action agencies, foundations and funding organizations, fraternal organizations, nonprofit colleges, and international humanitarian NGOs.
Prerequisite: At least two 200-level sociology courses and third-year or fourth-year standing.
Note: Plus-2 option available. Not offered every year.
Instructor: Hunter
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SOC 360 - Work in the “New” Economy 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
What is the “new” global economy and how has it transformed the landscape of the American economy in the last three decades? How do individuals experience the consequences of globalization in their lives, both as workers and consumers? This course will examine recent transformations in the U.S. economy — including deskilling, downsizing, and the rise of the service sector — and will consider how each of these “transformations” relate to issues of identity, community, family formation, structural inequality, and national culture.
Prerequisite: Two 200-level sociology courses.
Instructor: Erickson
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SOC 370 - Members Only: A Political Sociology of Citizenship 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
Citizenship is a legal tie between an individual and a particular state, but it is also a category to which rights are attached, a basis for identification, and a set of participatory practices. It is shaped and expressed in the political sphere (through schools, military service, museums, censuses, and surveillance), the economic sphere (in labor markets), and in the civil sphere (through conventional participatory practices such as voting and the emergence of new domains of political engagement such as grassroots movements). This course takes a comparative-historical approach and uses the lens of political sociology to examine cases across the globe.
Prerequisite: Two 200-level sociology courses.
Note: Plus-2 option available.
Instructor: Cook-Martín
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SOC 390 - Advanced Studies in Sociology 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
Seminar in current issues of sociological theory and research. Content of the course announced each year. May be repeated for credit with permission of instructor. For current course content please see the variable topic course listing below or search the online live schedule of courses.
Prerequisite: Varies; at least one 200-level sociology course and third-year standing.
Note: Plus-2 option available.
Instructor: Staff
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Spanish |
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SPN 105 - Introduction to the Spanish Language I 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
Treatment of basic language elements with special emphasis on oral communication. Short readings of a historical, cultural, and literary nature.
Prerequisite: None.
Note: Not regularly offered in the spring.
Instructor: Staff
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SPN 106 - Introduction to the Spanish Language II 4 credits (Fall and Spring)
Completion of the presentation of basic language elements with a special emphasis on oral communication. Short readings of a historical, cultural, and literary nature.
Prerequisite: SPN 105 .
Instructor: Staff
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SPN 204 - Communication in Spanish I 1 credits (Fall and Spring)
Work on improvement of speaking skills. Discussion and conversation based on various cultural materials, including current periodicals and satellite television. Conducted in Spanish.
Co-requisite: Concurrent enrollment in SPN 217 .
S/D/F only.
Instructor: Staff
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SPN 205 - Communication in Spanish II 1 credits (Fall and Spring)
Work on improvement of speaking skills. Discussion and conversation based on various cultural materials, including current periodicals and satellite television. Conducted in Spanish.
Co-requisite: Concurrent enrollment in SPN 285 .
S/D/F only.
Instructor: Staff
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SPN 217 - Intermediate Spanish 4 credits (Fall and Spring)
Development of language skills through reading, oral practice, vocabulary building, grammar review, and short compositions. Materials include short literary, nonliterary, and visual texts. Conducted in Spanish. SPN 204 may be taken concurrently.
Prerequisite: SPN 106 or placement by department.
Note: Plus-2 option available.
Instructor: Staff
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SPN 285 - Introduction to Textual Analysis 4 credits (Fall and Spring)
Development of students’ critical and interpretive commentary on literary and cultural texts from Latin America amd Spain. Continued emphasis on language skills. Materials include fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and film. Conducted in Spanish. SPN 205 may be taken concurrently.
Prerequisite: SPN 217 or placement by department.
Note: Plus-2 option available.
Instructor: Staff
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SPN 311 - Constructing Identities in Independent Latin America 4 credits (Spring)
A study of 19th- and early -20th-century literature in Latin America. Focus on the creation of national, racial, and gender identities in the newly independent republics through the analysis of narrative, poetry, drama, essays, and film. Conducted in Spanish.
Prerequisite: SPN 285 .
Note: Plus-2 option available. Not offered every year.
Instructor: Benoist
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SPN 312 - Women and Gender in Spanish Literature 4 credits (Fall)
This course introduces students to the works of prominent Spanish women writers from the 17th to the 21st century. While we will focus primarily on short stories, drama, and poetry, we will also consider films by women directors. Our readings will provide a representative sample of how women have developed as writers and individuals in Spain and how they have crafted gender issues into their writing. Conducted in Spanish.
Prerequisite: SPN 285 .
Note: Plus-2 option available. Not offered every year.
Instructor: Pérez
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SPN 314 - Studies in Modern Spanish Literature 4 credits (Fall)
A study of poetic, dramatic, and/or narrative texts from 18th- to 20th-century Spain. Topics of examination may include Romanticism; Realism; the poetic generations of 1898, 1927, and 1950; the novísimos; or contemporary narrative. Close readings and discussion focus on aesthetic, ideological, and historical aspects of the texts. Conducted in Spanish.
Prerequisite: SPN 285 .
Note: Plus-2 option available. Not offered every year.
Instructor: Staff
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SPN 315 - Creativity and Dissidence in Modern Latin America 4 credits (Spring)
A study of selected, representative works from the 1920s through the 1960s. Emphasis on texts manifesting social conscience and artistic experimentation; treatment of the culture of protest and imaginative cultural expression. Consideration of poetry, narrative, and visual arts. Conducted in Spanish.
Prerequisite: SPN 285 .
Note: Plus-2 option available. Not offered every year.
Instructor: Aparicio
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SPN 316 - Advanced Spanish Language 4 credits (Spring)
A Spanish communication course designed to strengthen Spanish oral proficiency and to improve listening and comprehension skills. Emphasis on natural language use of the target language in social encounters and grammar concepts related to communication strategies. A variety of authentic materials will be used.
Prerequisite: SPN 285 .
Note: Plus-2 option available. Not offered every year.
Instructor: Valentín
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SPN 317 - Readings in U.S. Latin@ Literature and Culture 4 credits (Fall)
This discussion-based course provides a broad approach to U.S. Latin@ literature. We will explore filmic and literary texts that voice the multiple and varied experiences of different generations of U.S. Latin@s from different national origins and cultures. We will pay particular attention to the construction of identity in terms of race, gender, sexuality, and class; bilingualism and code-switching; the experiences of the exile, the immigrant, and the refugee; the marketing of the U.S. Latin@ identity; and the construction of community. Texts and films may be in English (with some Spanish) while discussions and written work will be in Spanish.
Prerequisite: SPN 285 .
Note: Plus-2 option available. Not offered every year.
Instructor: Staff
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SPN 320 - Cultures of the Spanish-Speaking World 4 credits (Fall and/or Spring)
Examines diverse cultures of the Spanish-speaking world, including Latin America, Spain and the United States. May focus on one or multiple regions. Possible topics include: food, cultures, immigration, visual cultures. May use academic articles, film, literary texts, music. Taught in Spanish. Variable content. May be repeated for credit when content changes. For current course content please see the variable topic course listing below or search the online live schedule of courses.
Prerequisite: SPN 285 .
Note: Plus-2 option available.
Instructor: Staff
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SPN 343 - The Art of Language 4 credits (Fall and Spring)
Study of Spanish grammar to improve ability to express oneself with ease. Students will review and strengthen their understanding and use of morphological and syntactic aspects of Spanish while developing their competence to explain how the structure of Spanish functions.
Prerequisite: SPN 285 .
Note: Plus-2 option available.
Instructor: Valentín
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SPN 377 - Modernization and Innovation in Contemporary Latin America 4 credits (Fall)
A study of selected, representative works since 1960, including internationally respected literature of the “Boom,” subsequent fiction, and recent poetic revolutions. Conducted in Spanish.
Prerequisite: SPN 311 , SPN 312 , SPN 314 , SPN 315 , or SPN 317 .
Note: Plus-2 option available. Not offered every year.
Instructor: Aparicio
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SPN 379 - U.S. Latin@ Identities and Sexualities 4 credits (Fall)
This interdisciplinary course focuses on Latin@ sexuality and identities. Students will explore contributions by Latin@ scholars and artists that disrupt the simplistic ways in which Latin@ sexuality has been taken up as exotic and radical. We will engage Chicana feminist theory as well as queer and performance theory as we consider the ways in which sexuality speaks to the production and representation of Latin@ identities. Our study will cut across literary genres to include fiction, poetry, testimonios, and performance among other expressions. Students are expected to engage sexuality in its plurality as they examine these texts and contemporary popular cultural production. Texts will be in Spanish, English or Spanglish. Class discussion and all written work will be in Spanish.
Prerequisite: SPN 311 , SPN 312 , SPN 314 , SPN 315 , or SPN 317
Note: Not offered every year.
Instructor: Staff
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SPN 383 - The Latin American Colonial World 4 credits (Fall)
A study of the texts and debates surrounding initial encounters between Spaniards, indigenous and African peoples in the “New World,” and the establishment of Colonial culture and society. Spanish, indigenous, mestizo, and African perspectives are considered through the study of myth, narratives, poetry, autobiography, and film. Conducted in Spanish.
Prerequisite: SPN 311 , SPN 312 , SPN 314 , SPN 315 , or SPN 317 .
Note: Plus-2 option available. Not offered every year.
Instructor: Benoist
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SPN 384 - Spanish Dialectology 4 credits (Spring)
This course will examine the history and diversity of the Spanish-speaking world, from both historical and synchronic perspectives. The diachronic perspective will focus on the historical, cultural, social, and linguistic factors that were involved in the origin of different Spanish dialects. The synchronic perspective will provide a linguistic description (phonological, morpho-syntactic, and lexical) of various Spanish dialects as spoken today. Students will work with oral and written texts produced in different varieties of Spanish in order to recognize those varieties and identify the linguistic features that characterize each of them.
Prerequisite: SPN 343 or LIN 114 and permission of instructor.
Note: Not offered every year.
Instructor: Valentín
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SPN 385 - Studies in Contemporary Spanish Literature and Film 4 credits (Spring)
This course examines Spanish narrative and film from the 20th and 21st centuries to explore the development of a modern, global Spain. Topics discussed include Franco’s dictatorship, the democratic transition, human rights, and the place of cultural production in social movements for “historical memory.” Conducted in Spanish.
Prerequisite: SPN 311 , SPN 312 , SPN 314 , SPN 315 , or SPN 317 .
Note: Plus-2 option available. Not offered every year.
Instructor: Staff
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SPN 386 - Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Spanish Literature 4 credits (Spring)
This course examines medieval and early modern literature in its cultural and historical context. The specific topic of the course may vary to focus on a specific genre, author, or theme. Conducted in Spanish. For current course content please see the variable topic course listing below or search the online live schedule of courses.
Prerequisite: SPN 311 , SPN 312 , SPN 314 , SPN 315 , or SPN 317 .
Note: Plus-2 option available. Not offered every year.
Instructor: Pérez
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ANT 295-01 - Special Topic: Solutions: Managing Enterprise & Innovation 4 credits (Fall)
Cross-listed as: SST 295-01 . This course, sponsored by the Donald L. Wilson Program in Enterprise and Leadership, takes a case-study approach to the management of innovations, or generating solutions to social, economic, and environmental problems, using case studies by alumni innovators, many of whom will visit class. We start, of course, with Grinnell’s most famous entrepeneur, Robert Noyce. Innovations include changes in products, processes, and organizational structures. Alumni will participate throughout the course.
Prerequisite: One course in the social studies division (Anthropology, Education, History, Economics, Sociology, Social Studies or Political Science).
Note: Plus-2 option available.
Instructor: Caulkins
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ANT 295-02 - Special Topic: Anthropology of Disaster 4 credits (Fall)
In this course, students will examine the ways in which natural, sociocultural and technological systems interact to produce catastrophe. Students will learn about the main theoretical paradigms used in the anthropological study of disasters and will apply these frameworks to ethnographic case studies of several disaster scenarios. Also, they will analyze the way in which individuals, communities and organizations prepare for, respond to and are affected by disasters.
Prerequisite: ANT 104 .
Note: Plus-2 option available.
Instructor: Kulstad
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ANT 295-03 - Special Topic: Nutritional Anthropology 4 credits (Fall)
This course explores issues related to food in a range of mainstream and traditional human cultures. It explores how food consumption, food availability, and food nutritional content impacts human biology. It also examines how food taboos, and how the use of wild and domesticated foods help to create cultural identities. It provides a basic understanding of how complex food/nutrition factors related to physical, social, and psychosocial environments affect social constructs related to cultural expectations surrounding food and nutrition.
Prerequisite: ANT 104 .
Instructor: Hilton
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ANT 395-01 - Advanced Special Topic: Indigenous Health & Human Biology 4 credits (Fall)
This class explores issues related to health, morbidity, and biology in traditional human communities as well as global health, infectious diseases, maternal and infant health, chronic violence, and political ecology. We will discuss the role of diet and physical activity on overall human health and fitness, examine the impact on human health and biology of the advent of plant and animal domesticates relative to wild resources, and how anthropologists use biological evidence of poor health to assess the success of cultural adaptations.
Prerequisite: ANT 104 .
Note: Previously offered as ANT-295 Indigenous Health and Biology
Instructor: Hilton
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ART 195-01 - Introductory Special Topic: An Introduction to Museum Studies 4 credits (Fall)
Cross-listed as: HUM 195-01 . An introduction to the history of museums and to museum operations, funding, exhibitions, collections, and ethics. The course will also consider the philosophical and intellectual issues raised by the contemporary museum. While art museums will be the primary focus, material pertinent to history, ethnographic, science and other types of museums will also be included.
Prerequisite: Second-year standing.
Instructor: Wright
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ART 295-01 - Special Topic: “On the Art of Building”: History of Architecture in the Renaissance (1400-1600) 4 credits (Fall)
Study of the major buildings, figures, and cultural centers of the Renaissance, the watershed moment in the architectural history of the Western World. The course expands beyond the Italian peninnsula across the European continent. Key themes include: the Renaissance appropriation of classical antiquity, the persistence of Gothic tradition, and encounters with Islamic art. We will examine the material, urban, social, and political dimensions of architecture, as well as temporal and geographic migrations of architectural knowledge.
Prerequisite: ART 103 .
Instructor: Pistis
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ART 295-02 - Special Topic: Rubens and the Rest of the World 4 credits (Fall)
Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) was arguably the most original, successful, and erudite painter of his age. He was also a spy, diplomat, and courtier par excellence who changed the face of Baroque art-even if portraiture was his least favorite genre. This course explores the world of Rubens, from his Italian years to his commissions in Paris, Madrid, Flanders, and London. Van Dyck, Velázquez, and Rubens’s legacy in modern art will also be considered.
Prerequisite: ART 103 .
Instructor: Lyon
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ART 295-03 - Special Topic: Gender, Race and Fashion in Western Portraiture, 1550-1950 4 credits (Fall)
Explores race, gender, and fashionable dress as co-constitutive forces in portraiture from 1500 to 1950. We will investigate self-portraiture, group portraiture, historiated portraiture, and allegorical personification. If idealized white, female beauty is one of the portraiture’s longstanding fetishes, how do notions of sexual difference, physiognomy, and skin-color, among other variables, inflect representation? Subjects range from Tudor England, Rubens, Van Dyck, Rembrandt, and Velaquez to Qing, China, Viceregal Mexico, ninteenth century Paris, and post-war New York.
Prerequisite: ART 103 .
Instructor: Lyon
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BIO 395-01 - Advanced Special Topic: Principles of Pharmacology 4 credits (Fall)
An examination of the fundamental principles by which pharmacological agents are produced, work and used. A major part of the course will explore basic concepts of pharmacokinetics (absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion), as well as receptor, theory, dose responses and other key concepts. Some common drug classes will be examined to illustrate basic physiological and pharmacological principles of drug action. Aspects of drug discovery, development and policy will be introduced. Three lectures and one scheduled laboratory each week.
Prerequisite: BIO 252 or BCM 262 .
Instructor: Sandquist
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CHI 295-01 - Special Topic: Fictions of Desire and Enlightenment in Late Imperial China 4 credits (Fall)
Cross-listed as: EAS 295-01 . In this class students explore the religious, emotional, and social dimensions of three masterworks of Chinese vernacular fiction of the 17th-18th centuries (The Journey to the West, The Tower of Myriad Mirrors, and The Story of the Stone) and examine how major schools of thought and religious traditions grappled with interconnections and tensions between sentiment, desire, and enlightenment.
Prerequisite: None.
Instructor: Ridgway
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EAS 195-01 - Introductory Special Topic: Japanese Society and Popular Culture 4 credits (Fall)
See JPN 195-01 .
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EAS 295-01 - Special Topic: Fictions of Desire and Enlightenment in Late Imperial China 4 credits (Fall)
See CHI 295-01 .
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EDU 195-01 - Introductory Special Topic: How to Learn Physics 4 credits (Fall)
Cross-listed as: PHY 195-01 . An elective science course designed for students who might be interested in physics, but are a little mystified or intimiated by it. Students will use inquiry-based methods to study some basic concepts of physical science. But the course also focuses on learning science as “the refinement of everyday thinking”. (Einstein, 1936) Occasional lectures will introduce a vocabulary to help students become more aware of everyday thinking and its subsequent refinement toward scientific understanding. Intended for non-science majors.
Prerequisite: None.
Instructor: Hutchison
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ENG 195-01 - Introductory Special Topic: Indian Theory of Drama/Theatre and Performance: Bharata’s Natyashahtra 1 credits (Fall)
Cross-listed as: THD 195-01 . The Course aims to introduce Natyashastra, the core text of Indian Aesthetics, the source text for Indian art including poetics, dramaturgy, theatre, dance, music, painting, sculpture etc. The topics covered would include theatre architecture; four types of acting; aesthetic experience and states of human mind; drama/theatre and ritual; systems of theatre and performance; body and theatre; psychology of performance and reception of drama/theatre/performance; philosophy of space and theatre; philosophy of mind and theatre; text, stage, and the audience; speech, body, costume, and consciousness on stage; folk and stylized theatre; and theatre and the philosophy of yoga.
Prerequisite: None.
Note: Dates: September 29 to October 16. Short course deadlines apply.
Instructor: Singh
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ENG 295-01 - Special Topic: Radio Storytelling 2 credits (Fall)
When Jay Allison launched The Moth Radio Hour in 2009, a weekly podcast featuring unscripted “true” stories told live, he was betting on an untapped appetite for narrative radio. He was right: we are in the midst of a renaissance of acoustic storytelling reminiscent of radio in the 1930s and 40s, with Moth and such shows as Sarah Koenig’s Serial (2014), a podcast throwback to be serialized broadcasts of old-time radio. Telling one true-crime story over the course of its first season, Serial (which has been downloaded 68 million times) attracted an audience that became obsessed with the Koenig’s detective skills and meandering style. Like the devoted fans of Ma Perkins seventy-five years ago, Serial’s listeners can’t wait to hear what happens next: did ex-boyfriend Adnan Syed really strangle Hae Min Lee? This short course will focus on radio storytelling. You’ll listen to a variety of radio’s classic writers from Orson Welles and Lucille Fletcher to Toni Dave and David Sedaris, as well as compose your own narratives for podcasting. Each of you will write one story, either fact-based or invented, that will be carefully workshopped in written form and then recorded, edited, and mixed in Pro Tools (audio editing software). The goal of this class is to help you discover and develop your skill as a writer of narrative prose that is as compelling to the ear as to the eye - and to become a cutting edge podcaster.
Prerequisite: ENG 205 or ENG 206 .
Note: Dates: September 11 to October 16. Short course deadlines apply. S/D/F only.
Instructor: Porter
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ENV 295-01 - Special Topic: Environmental History of Infectious Disease 4 credits (Fall)
Infectious diseases have determined the fates of cultures and of nations more than any army or geopolitical thrall ever could. This course will examine the fundamental pathogenesis, etiology and epidemiology of infectious diseases, both human and zoönotic, including smallpox, plague, yellow fever, rabies, malaria, river blindness, syphilis, yaws, kala-azar, influenza, HIV, rinderpest, hoof-and-mouth disease, and the potato blight. It will also examine the geopolitical and social changes these diseases have wrought on human demography, history and destiny, from the spread of rodent-vectored plague westward along the Silk Road, to the decimation of New World populations by smallpox after their conquest by Europeans, to the depredations of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, to the modern-day emergence of antibiotic-resistant pathogens (among others).
Prerequisite: Second-year standing
Instructor: Campbell
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