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2013-2014 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
Course Search
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Religious Studies |
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REL 222 - Religious Traditions of China 4 credits
An examination of fundamental Confucian, Taoist, and Buddhist ideas and their historical development in China. Emphasis given to views of human nature, morality, ritual, and spiritual discipline as expressed in classical literature.
Prerequisite: REL 111 or second-year standing.
Note: Not offered every year.
Instructor: Gilday
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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 111 , or REL 117 , 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 111 , or REL 117 , or second-year standing.
Note: Plus-2 option available.
Instructor: 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 111 , REL 117 , REL 220 , GWS 111 , or HUM 185 .
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 111 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 111 or second-year standing.
Note: Not offered every year.
Instructor: Rietz
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REL 268 - Islam and Gender 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
Cross-listed as: HIS 268 This course explores Islamic discourses about wo/men and gender in Islam, focusing attention on the processes by which the Muslim community has articulated and policed gender-specific ideals over time, particularly as they relate to: community identity, conceptions of cultural authenticity, the interpretation of the foundational sources of Islam and legal traditions. We will give significant attention to these issues as they pertain to 19th and 20th century debates about “re-forming” Muslim women.
Prerequisite: HIS 100 , one 100-level Religious Studies course, or second-year standing.
Note: Plus-2 option available.
Instructor: Elfenbein
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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.
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
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RUS 248 - The Russian Novel 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
Cross-listed as: GLS 248 . A critical development of the Russian novel from its beginnings in Pushkin to its modernist and postmodernist incarnations. Conducted in English.
Prerequisite: None.
Note: Plus-2 option available. Not offered every year.
Instructor: Armstrong, 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 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 and 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 353 - Major Russian Writers 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
Cross-listed as: GLS 353 . 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, and Nabokov. Conducted in English. May be repeated once for credit when content changes.
Prerequisite: None.
Note: Plus-2 option available.
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 or 20th century. Variable content, with discussion centered around 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.
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)
Cross-listed as: ENV 125 . An introductory geology course that demonstrates that Earth systems (the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and geosphere) are dynamically linked by internal and external physical, chemical, and biological processes. Using process-response models, we examine the structure and evolution of the Earth, how the rock record is used to decipher Earth’s past and predict its future, and societal issues centered on the environment, land use, resources (water, mineral, and energy), and natural hazards. Three lectures and one laboratory each week.
Prerequisite: None.
Instructor: Graham
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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)
Cross-listed as: MAT 115 . Introduces the notions of variability and uncertainty and such common statistical concepts as point and interval estimation and hypothesis testing. Data-oriented, with real-world examples chosen from the social and biological sciences. The computer is used for data analysis and to illustrate probabilistic and statistical concepts.
Prerequisite: Two years of high school algebra and second semester of first-year standing.
Instructor: Staff
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SST 131 - China’s Ancient World 4 credits
See HUM 131
Note: Not offered every year.
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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)
Cross-listed as: HUM 213 . This course will explore representations of the Middle East in the Western and Middle-Eastern media. It will adopt a comparative approach and will use theoretical readings and case studies to examine the diverse ways in which news can be viewed as a cultural product.
Prerequisite: Second-year standing.
Instructor: Youssef
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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: Staff
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SOC 230 - Conflict and Conflict Management 4 credits (Spring)
This course examines sociological theories and perspectives on issues of conflict, violence, and conflict management in contemporary societies, with attention to the role of third parties in conflict resolution and peacemaking. Topics include person-to-person negotiation, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) techniques, restorative justice, peace processes in wars and ethnic conflicts, and principles of conflict management at the micro and macro levels.
Prerequisite: SOC 111 .
Note: Plus-2 option available. Not offered every year.
Instructor: Staff
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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. Our central paradigms will focus on race, class, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and nationality.
Prerequisite: SOC 111 .
Note: Plus-2 option available. Not offered every year.
Instructor: 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: Hunter
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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: Hunter
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SOC 250 - Social Inequality 4 credits (Fall)
Analysis of social inequality in groups and society. Topics include why inequality occurs, its consequences for individuals and societies, how social stratification systems operate, and how social status is attained by individuals. Theories of stratification are evaluated.
Prerequisite: SOC 111 .
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: Plus-2 option available. 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: Plus-2 option available. Not offered every year.
Instructor: Ferguson
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SOC 270 - Gender and Society 4 credits (Fall)
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: Plus-2 option available. 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 some historical precursors. 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: Staff
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SOC 291 - Methods of Empirical Investigation 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
Cross-listed as: ANT 291 . An overview of the research process in social science, focusing on problems of epistemology, research design, techniques of sampling, methods of data collection, principles of measurement, problems of inference and proof, basic methods of data analysis, and ethical considerations.
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: Staff
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SOC 292 - Ethnographic Research in Complex Societies 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 14 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: Staff
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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.
Note: Plus-2 option available.
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.
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.
Note: Plus-2 option available.
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-Martin
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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.
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: Patrick
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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: Valentin
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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: Nasser
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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.
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: Valentin
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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: Nasser
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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 SPN 311 , SPN 312 , SPN 314 , SPN 315 , or SPN 317
Note: Not offered every year.
Instructor: Valentin
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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: Patrick
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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.
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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SPN 395 - Advanced Special Topics in Literature and Culture 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
Intensive study of related authors, a particular group or generation, a movement, a genre, and/or a particular work. Topic is announced each time the course is offered. Conducted 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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AMS 195-01 - Introductory Special Topic: “Race” in the 21st Century: Color, Culture, National Identities
Cross-listed as: ANT 195-01 . This writing intensive course examines ideas about race and how racial meanings are produced, transformed, and circulated within the US and abroad. Students will be introduced to key concepts from critical race theory and cultural anthropology. We will consider both the historical contexts which inform thinking about difference and racial classifications and the cultural dynamics which racialize debates over certain topics including immigration, affirmative action, biomedical research.
Prerequisite: None.
Instructor: Gibel Mevorach
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ANT 195-01 - Introductory Special Topic: “Race” in the 21st Century: Color, Culture, National Identities 4 credits (Fall)
Cross-listed as: AMS 195-01 . This writing intensive course examines ideas about race and how racial meanings are produced, transformed, and circulated within the US and abroad. Students will be introduced to key concepts from critical race theory and cultural anthropology. We will consider both the historical contexts which inform thinking about difference and racial classifications and the cultural dynamics which racialize debates over certain topics including immigration, affirmative action, biomedical research.
Prerequisite: None.
Instructor: Gibel Mevorach
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ANT 295-01 - Special Topic: Language Contact 4 credits (Fall)
Cross-listed as: LIN 295-01 . The course examines the linguistic varieties and practices that emerge when linguisticailly diverse groups come in contact with one another. We begin by discussing the types of situations that give rise to language contact and then turn to look at the linguistic effects that result from such contact at both the micro (e.g. borrowing, code-switching) and the macro (e.g. language shift, language death) level.
Prerequisite: ANT 104 or LIN 114 .
Instructor: Hansen
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ANT 295-02 - Special Topic: Managing Enterprise & Innovation 4 credits (Fall)
Cross-listed as: SST 295-02 . 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. Innovations include changes in products, processes, and organizational structures, in such fields as social enterprise, education, biotechnology, community action organizations, web-based businesses, conservation organizations, and high technology firms. Alumni will participate throughout the course.
Prerequisite: Two courses in the social studies division (Anthropology, Education, History, Economics, Sociology, Social Studies or Political Science).
Instructor: Caulkins
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ARB 295-01 - Special Topic: Egyptian Arabic Speaking I 1 credits (Fall)
Conversational unit designed for both free and structured oral exchange in Egyptian colloquial Arabic.
Prerequisite: Prior exposure to dialectical Arabic.
Instructor: Eltouhamy
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ARB 395-01 - Special Topic: Advanced Arabic: Language and Culture 4 credits (Fall)
Conducted in Arabic. An integrated approach to the development of aural-oral, reading and written skills. Class activities include phonetic exercises, oral exposes, advanced-level grammar, composition, and the analysis of cultural documents and poetry.
Prerequisite: ARB 222 or equivalent as approved by instructor.
Instructor: Al-Seoudi
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ART 295-01 - Special Topic: Photography: The Camera Craft 1 credits (Fall)
This class is an introduction to the tools and techniques of photography and the language of photo criticism. Work will include photographing with a DSLR camera, creating clean and simple digital workflow models, 8” x 10” print production, readings, discussion and critique of student work. As this is a critique-based class, we will spend far more time discussing our colleagues’ work than learning to use digital imaging programs.
Prerequisite: ART 111 .
Note: Dates November 7 to November 26. Short course deadlines apply.
Instructor: Staff
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CHI 295-01 - Special Topic: Some Chinese Food for Thought 4 credits (Fall)
Cross-listed as: EAS 295-01 . Food is a prism that absorbs and reflects a host of cultural phenomena. An examination of Chinese and Chinese American foodways–behaviors and beliefs surrounding the production, distribution, processing, preparation, and consumption of food–reveals power relations and ways of constructing class, gender, and racial identities. This course analyzes foodways in various historical and contemporary contexts. It brings different types of materials and approaches to bear on the study of our most basic, visceral experience.
Prerequisite: Second-year standing and successful completion of tutorial.
Instructor: Feng
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CSC 295-01 - Special Topic: Learning from CS Alumni 1 credits (Fall)
This course challenges you to think beyond your time at Grinnell to what you may do with the knowledge, skills, personality, friendships, and more that you have developed at Grinnell. Alumni with careers related to computer science will tell their own stories so that we can learn how they constructed their lives and careers. They will also provide advice as you think about your own career and life. Readings and assignments will encourage further reflection.
Prerequisite: Second-year standing.
S/D/F only.
Instructor: Rebelsky
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EAS 295-01 - Special Topic: Some Chinese Food for Thought 4 credits (Fall)
Cross-listed as: CHI 295-01 . Food is a prism that absorbs and reflects a host of cultural phenomena. An examination of Chinese and Chinese American foodways–behaviors and beliefs surrounding the production, distribution, processing, preparation, and consumption of food–reveals power relations and ways of constructing class, gender, and racial identities. This course analyzes foodways in various historical and contemporary contexts. It brings different types of materials and approaches to bear on the study of our most basic, visceral experience.
Prerequisite: Second-year standing and successful completion of tutuorial.
Instructor: Feng
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ECN 295-01 - Special Topic: Economics of Innovation 4 credits (Fall)
An examination of the role of innovation in the economy. Topics include entrepreneurship, the innovation process, drivers of innovation, intellectual property, the impact of innovation on firms, labor, economic growth, and inequality, and innovation policy. Not intended for students who have taken ECN 280.
Prerequisite: ECN 111 .
Instructor: Graham
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ECN 295-02 - Special Topic: Managerial Economics 4 credits (Fall)
This introductory level course in managerial economics will apply and extend microeconomic analysis as studied in introductory economics (e.g., demand, cost, production, and pricing theories) to business decision making. Additional topics covered will include such topics as business capital budgeting, risk analysis, multinationals, and ethical decision making. We will use business case studies to illustrate the analysis and decision-making methodologies we study. This should be a good basic course for students from any major who may work for for-profit firms or non-profit organizations after graduation.
Prerequisite: ECN 111 .
Instructor: Powell
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ECN 395-01 - Special Topic: Behavioral & Experimental Economics 4 credits (Fall)
This course is an introduction to methods in experimental economics as applied to specific topics such as trust and cooperation, public goods, social preferences and auctions. Where possible, we will follow a series of experiments to illustrate how experiments build on one another to give clearer answers. While the focus will be on laboratory and field experiments, our discussions on the findings and implications will also serve to highlight important topics in behavioral economics.
Prerequisite: ECN 280 .
Instructor: Alam
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ENG 295-01 - Special Topic: Radio Days: New Media Writing and the Art of Sound 2 credits (Fall)
In its boom years, radio introduced a new orality to American culture, in which ancient ways of conveying stories mixed with modern broadcast technology to produce a remarkable stream of narratives, from The Shadow to CBS Mystery Theatre. Today, in the post-celluloid age of new media, the creative spirit of radio has been revived by programs like Joe Frank’s In The Dark, Prairie Home Companion, This American Life, and Radiolab. This series of workshops on sound art and writing focuses on radio essays, stories, and plays. We’ll discuss such sound artists (storytellers and dramatists) as David Sedaris, Sarah Vowell, David Rakoff, Orson Welles, Lucile Fletcher, Anthony Minghella, and Arthur Kopit, while working closely with electronic media and audio editing tools. Our aim is to learn how to record voiceovers, capture nonverbal sounds and music, and integrate these media with spoken texts. We’ll explore voice quite literally as an acoustic event by experimenting with three modes of radiophonic writing–narrative, essayistic, and dramatic.
Prerequisite: ENG 205 or ENG 206 .
Note: Dates: September 6 to October 11. Short course deadlines apply. S/D/F
Instructor: Porter
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ENV 295-01 - Special Topic: Agriculture and Empires 4 credits (Fall)
Human agriculture has transformed the face of Earth more than all the armies of history. This course will examine hunt-gathering (including the pelagic whaling industry as a modern-day equivalent of hunter-gathering); the vicissitudes of post-Pleistocene climate change (and particularly the Younger Dryas) as forgers of sedentary agriculture (including silviculture) in both the Middle East and the pre-Columbian Americas; the insidious relationship of sugar, slavery and colonialism; GMO’s; and the use of food crops as fuel. The course will emphasize the co-evolution of disease and agriculture; the great trophic and epidemiological interchanges across the Atlantic and along the Silk Road; the black death in Europe and the establishment of modern labor; how sleeping sickness and river blindness have determined settlement patterns in sub-Saharan Africa; Yellow Fever and the Haitian revolution; the indispensable role of Peruvian chinchona (source of the anti-malarial, quinine) in the establishment of British Empire; the use of antibiotics (and the consistent evolution of antibiotic resistance in microbes) in modern factory farms.
Prerequisite: Second-year standing.
Instructor: Campbell
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FRN 395-01 - Special Topic: Moliere’s Frst Scandal: L’Ecole de Femmes 1 credits (Fall)
This three-week short course, led by visiting French scholar Jean Garapon, will focus exclusively on Molière’s first five-act play, L’Ecole des Femmes (The School for Wives), which caused an immediate scandal when it was staged in 1663. Professor Garapon, a scholar of French seventeenth-century literature at the Universit‚ de Nantes, will discuss the comic structure of the play and the politics that established Molière’s reputation as a social satirist. Themes to be covered include: the education of women, the politics of marriage, comedy and tragedy, and the role of the public in theatrical controversy.
Prerequisite: FRN 312 or FRN 313 .
Note: Dates: October 1 to October 17 . Short course deadlines apply.
Instructor: Staff
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GLS 195-01 - Introductory Special Topic: An Introduction to Modern Russian Culture 4 credits (Fall)
Cross-listed as: RUS 195-01 and HUM 195-01 . This course is intended to give students an introduction to the major issues in development of Russian Culture from 1800 to the present, with some attention to earlier periods. The particular focus will be on the thorny relationship between the artist and the state. Drawing on a range of literary texts, music, art, film, and popular culture, students will gain insights into the development of major trends of Russian Culture. All course materials are in English translation. No prior knowledge of Russian necessary.
Prerequisite: None.
Instructor: Armstrong
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GWS 295-01 - Special Topic: Gender, Race, & Science 4 credits (Fall)
Gender dynamics are woven in and through all the institutions that shape our lives. Our goal in this interdisciplinary course is to examine the historical, sociological, economic, and political processes that shape the ways that gender, race class, disability, sexuality and nation intersect with science, medicine and technology. We will consider the complex relationships between construction of nature, language, race, and the body to highlight how culture, politics, and economics influence the theory and practice of science, medicine, and technology in Western societies.
Prerequisite: ANT 104 , BIO 150 , GWS 111 or SOC 111 .
Instructor: Gill
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GWS 395-01 - Special Topic: Racialized Masculinities in U.S. 4 credits (Fall)
This course explores the intersections of race, class, and gender to understand the experiences of men of color living in the United States. Students will explore hegemonic, complicit and subordinated masculinities. We will examine the ways in which Latinos, Black and Asian American men are stereotyped in popular culture and their resistance to such images and racialized rhetoric from the nineteenth century to present day. Students will critically engage hegemonic, complicit, and subordinate masculinities found in communities of color.
Prerequisite: GWS 249 or SOC 275 .
Instructor: Kimberly
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HIS 295-01 - Special Topic: Jewish Life in Europe 1 credits (Fall)
Cross-listed as: REL 295-01 . This short course will focus on Jewish life in Europe from the 17th century through the present day to examine the claim that “the modern age became the Jewish age” (Slezkine) and how this transition could only be possible in the context of European history - from the most distinct “other” in European societies to the present day construction of Jewish hybrid identities. We will discuss themes such as the relationship between cultural/ethnic diversity and nationalism, the development of modern anti-Semitism, and the question of minority rights within a majority society. The course will in particular examine the crucial role of German Jewry for these European phenomena, but will also include discussions of British, French, and Polish-Russian Jewish experiences. The process of cultural transfer of ideas and practices within European Jewry and the impact of these developments on the American Diaspora and Israel in the 20th century will be examined as well. The instructor is an Associate Professor of European History on the DIS Program in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Prerequisite: HIS 100 or second-year standing.
Note: Dates November 7 to November 26. Short course deadlines apply.
Instructor: Staff
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HIS 295-02 - Special Topic: The History of Medicine 4 credits (Fall)
This course examines the history of medicine in America from the colonial period through the late twentieth century, exploring the rise of American medicine in a global context and the emergence of the medical profession we know today. We will consider the constructed meanings of disease and health, including how cultural definitions of race and gender as well as economic, political, and professional agendas influenced medicine and medical practice. In doing so, students will begin to understand how “regular” doctors marginalized other healers in their quest to gain full authority over the health of the country. At the same time, this course will analyze the larger implications of this, especially on groups whose health care did not seem to be the utmost priority for a profession whose main objective was to “do no harm.”
Prerequisite: HIS 100 or second-year standing.
Instructor: Lewis
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