First-Year Seminars
(Note: if you are a transfer student or a Woodruff Scholar with more than 28 semester hours of credit you will be exempt from the First-Year Seminar requirement).
Agnes Scott College offers an exciting and distinctive program of required First-Year Seminars. Although there are no prerequisites, First-Year Seminars are not typical first-year courses. Instead, they are designed to introduce entering students to advanced study at the college level. In a First-Year Seminar, you will learn to write more effectively, begin to think more deeply, and develop an extensive knowledge of the seminar topic.
In each First-Year Seminar, students focus on a compelling question or critical issue selected by their professor. Together, they conduct a semester-long inquiry into the topic, and in the process, students learn how to evaluate information, formulate arguments and interpretations and pose and assess solutions.
First-Year Seminars are:
- Four-credit hour, academic courses
- Required of and limited to first-year students
- Offered fall semester only
- Led by professors who have selected and researched the special topics for these courses
- Representative of the humanities and the social, natural and physical sciences
- Often interdisciplinary, so that students may explore topics from more than one perspective
Fall 2009 Course Descriptions:
A. . The Bible and Human Rights in Atlanta
Tina Pippin
M/W 4:00-6:00
This course investigates the historical, social, political, and economic context of the Atlanta area with special emphasis on religious communities (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) and theological responses in community organizing, the history of the civil rights movement, human rights education, and gender justice. We will read theoretical works in religious and biblical studies and human rights history with a focus on the city of Atlanta. This course is experience-based
(theory-practice learning), and many class sessions will be on-site at various locations in Atlanta.
B. A Brave New World
Tim Finco
T/TH 9:30-10:45
Rabbits are genetically modified to glow a bright fluorescent green, all for the sake of art. In Russia, stem cells are used to treat everything from wrinkles to Parkinson’s disease. A for-profit company now offers complete genome sequencing services to private citizens. Tobacco plants are genetically modified to help detect land mines. A single mother with six young children gives birth to octuplets following in vitro fertilization. Gene therapy successfully reverses blindness but in other applications causes cancer. Parents use genetic testing to predict in which sports their child is most likely to excel.
These are but a few examples of how genetics, molecular biology, and biotechnology are being applied for the betterment (or to the detriment) of our lives and the world in which we live. In this course we will explore these and other applications, and will debate the moral, ethical, political, economic, legal, and environmental issues upon which these technologies impinge.
C. Mad in America: Mental illness in the movies, the media and the laboratory
Barbara Blatchley
T/TH 9:30-10:45
There are a number of popular notions about the causes of mental illness, from blaming Mom to blaming the sufferer’s genes. This course will examine popular depictions of three mental illnesses (depression, anxiety disorders, and schizophrenia) in the movies and the media. We will also examine what modern neuroscience and experimental psychology have to say about the causes of mental illness, along with new and innovative suggestions for treatment. Special focus will be put on the biology of mental illness, basic brain function, and how treatments address the underlying biological foundation of these disorders.
D. Galileo Tonight!—Science as Performance
David Thompson
MWF 1:00-1:50
In conjunction with the International Year of Astronomy, the 400th anniversary of the telescope and Agnes Scott’s Project Galileo, this seminar will focus upon the ways in which science works, and does not work, in a theatrical setting. The course will draw heavily upon the premiere production of the all-female version of Bertolt Brecht’s Life of Galileo by the Blackfriars of Agnes Scott College and the Theatre Program. Topics for discussion will cover both a range of theatrical techniques and the scientific subjects that inspired them.
The class will also study selected performances that present a fanciful image of scientists. Is it possible that Sir Isaac Newton was a murderer? Was Einstein actually a spy? Did Möbius really feign madness in fear of his own discoveries? Did the living room of Nils Bohr resemble a nuclear reactor? Was J. Robert Oppenheimer more concerned with quotations and oratory than physics? These questions and others will illuminate subjects both astronomic and atomic.
E. Galileo, the Telescope, and the Birth of Modern Science
Chris Depree
MWF 1:00-1:50
What is Galileo's relevance to the modern world? In the 400th anniversary year of the first use of the telescope, students in this class will study the scientific and cultural legacy of the astronomer Galileo Galilei (1564-1642). Each student in the class will assemble and use a "Galileoscope," a small optical telescope produced in commemoration of the International Year of Astronomy. The telescopes will be provided to students in the class so that they will be able to reproduce Galileo's observations of the Moon, Jupiter, Saturn and Venus and write about their own observations. Students will read about Galileo's discoveries in his own words as well as from modern writers reflecting on his contributions to our understanding of the universe.
F. Mindfulness 101
Beth Hackett
T/TH 3:30-4:45
To be mindful is to be fully present - present to oneself, to one’s surroundings, and to what one is doing. Contemporary scientific research is confirming what practitioners of mindfulness have claimed for millennia: cultivating the habits of mindfulness helps people to de-stress, to focus, to know themselves more fully, and to be more empathetic.
This class will be an interdisciplinary introduction to mindfulness theory and practice. We will study such things as: the historical roots of mindfulness in various religious traditions (e.g., meditation in Buddhism and centering prayer in Catholicism); contemporary secular manifestations of mindfulness practice (e.g., mindfulness-based Stress Reduction and yoga classes); the neurological effects of meditation; and the connections among mindfulness, social justice, and non-violence. Along the way, we will engage in a variety of practices designed to cultivate mindfulness, such as focused breathing, walking meditation, and close listening.
G. The Immigrant Experience in America
Madeline Zavodny
TTh 8:00-9:15
We often hear that the United States is a nation of immigrants. What does that mean? This course will examine the wide diversity of immigrant experiences in America, both contemporary and historical. We will discuss whether and how immigrants assimilate into the broader society and how immigrants change America as well. The course will incorporate readings from
literature, sociology, and economics and a wide variety of disciplinary perspectives.
H. Writing Lives, Changing Lives: Refugee and Immigrant Autobiographies
Lesley Coia
MW 1:00-2:15
We are story-telling beings. Personal stories, autobiographical narratives, help us make sense of our world. Centered around refugee and immigrant autobiographies, including such classics as Hoffman’s Lost in Translation and Rodriquez’ Hunger of Memory, we shall explore how autobiographical reflection on cultural identity and education can transform our understanding of self. An important component of this course is working with young women refugees from countries such as Burma, Iraq and Eritrea. Through this work we shall enrich our understanding of the power and limits of autobiography to understand and change our lives.
I. Monsters, Robots, Vampires, and Clones: Images of the Non-Human from the 19th to the 21st Century
Gundolf Graml
MWF 9:00-9:50
Undead, non-human, or artificial bodies confront us on an almost daily basis via contemporary TV and film. Vampires threaten to extinguish entire villages, robots run amok and turn against their human engineers, and clones infiltrate and destroy communities. While the more exaggerated versions of these stories remain confined to the realm of entertainment media, similar topics appear in more subtle ways in mainstream media, where issues like cloning and reproductive medicine are routinely connected to images of monstrosity and a declining humanity.
In this seminar we will read and discuss cultural texts that trace the fears and discourses surrounding non-human figures from 19-century stories and legends to 20th- and 21st-century novels and films. By analyzing and comparing texts from different genres and historical periods, as well as from different national and ethnic communities, we will try to understand how images of the non-human at times expressed fears about the unknown and, at other times, legitimized verbal and physical discrimination and violence against various “outsiders”: women, immigrants, racial others, mentally and physically impaired, AIDS patients, etc.
Literary works will include E.T.A. Hoffmann’s novella The Sandman, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis. We will watch and interpret films such as Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, Paul Wegener’s The Golem, F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu, and Ridley Scott’s Bladerunner.
J. Ethics at Work in Drama and Film
Peggy Thompson
T 11:00-1, Th 11-12:15
Imagine being forced to choose between your ethical integrity and your livelihood. Or imagine being in a position of power at the workplace in which you could threaten the integrity or livelihood of another.
This course will focus on plays and films that dramatize such dilemmas. Our discussions will consider not only the tension between ethics and economics, but the additional factors of history, gender, race, and politics—all as they are embodied within the various artistic forms of film and drama. Possible texts include All My Sons, Day of Absence, The Crucifixion, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Top Girls, and The Insider. Wherever possible, we will relate these works to ethically significant situations, decisions, and actions in the contemporary world.
K. Scandal and the Limits of the Freedom of the Press: Bulldog Coach Wally Butts v. The Saturday Evening Post
Gus Cochran
MWF 9-11
How can the Star and the National Enquirer get away with printing outrageous falsehoods about star’s alien babies, celebrities’ supposed divorces, affairs, addictions, feuds, and fights? Do public figures need more privacy and protection against false charges of scandal? Or, on the contrary, do the media need more protection from frivolous lawsuits to support their role as watchdogs for the public?
A series of moot courts will allow us to explore these questions as we follow the twists and turns of evolving libel law over the last half century, set against major social changes in the US and institutional transformations in the mass media. Using as a lens the case in which Bulldog coach Wally Butts sued the venerable Saturday Evening Post for printing a story claiming that he and Bear Bryant “fixed” a Bama-UGA football game, we will examine constitutional freedom of the press and its limits in the common law of libel.
L. Cryptology: Making and Breaking Secret Codes
Alan Koch
MWF 12:00-12:50
How did Julius Caesar communicate with his generals? How did three British codebreakers draw the Americans into World War I? How did America, Britain, and Poland crack Nazi Germany’s “unbreakable” Enigma code? How can today’s financial institutions exchange information without working out a coding system ahead of time? How are online web transactions conducted in a secure manner? How can a code be designed so that anyone can encode a message but only the recipient can decode it? How can a message carry a “digital signature” to authenticate its origin? What is the future of secret codes?
This course will address the mathematics behind both aspects of cryptology: making and breaking secret codes. We will include a historical perspective, starting with the Caesar cipher and progressing through Vigenère squares, the Enigma machine, and Rivest-Adelman-Shamir “public key” codes. We will explore vulnerabilities in these ciphers and show how they can be broken.
M. Music of Latin America and the Caribbean
Cal Johnson
T/TH 11:00-12:15
Diverse influences shaped the development of Latin American and Caribbean music, including traditions of Native Americans, Europeans, Africans, and North Americans, as well as the musical styles resulting from mixed race and mixed-culture groups (mestizo and criollo).
We will study pre-encounter cultures (Aztec and contemporary Venezuelan Warai); Spanish colonial music; African influences (vodou, rumba, plena, merengue, salsa, marimba musics, Brazilian candomblé, Afro-Peruvian musics); Mexican music (son, corrido, villancico, ranchera, mariachi); other mestizo musics (Paraguayan harp music, Brazilian caboclo and zabumba) Caribbean contemporary musics (zouk, calypso, steel band); Argentinian tango, Chilean protest music (tonada and nueva canción), and Peruvian and Bolivian indigenous Andean music.
We will examine their musical instruments, social structures and answer such questions as: Who performs? Who listens? What genres? When is music performed? Where is music performed? Why is music performed? In what ways has the music changed over time and why? What meaning does the music have for participants, whether performing or listening? What insights into the history and culture of the region does the music offer?
N. “Writing History with Lightning”: Southern History Through Film
Tammy Ingram
T 2:00-4:30/TH 2:00-3:15
After a private White House screening of the nation’s first major feature-length film, Birth of a Nation, President (and former history professor) Woodrow Wilson exclaimed, “It’s like writing history with lightning!” In the century since, film has written and rewritten history time and again. Many people, for instance, learned all they know about the Civil War from the film Glory. Others may not have taken a single American History course, but they’ve seen Forrest Gump and can recognize major figures and events in twentieth century American history. Still others feel they know a great deal about Scottish patriot William Wallace because they’ve seen Braveheart. Each of these films contains elements of both truth and fiction and, like it or not, they’ve had a tremendous impact on the way the public thinks about specific historical events.
In this course, we will view a variety of films about the South---from documentaries to feature films to films based on real events---in order to explore the myriad ways different genres inform our understanding of the past. We will view the films in this course not in chronological order according to subject matter, but according to when they were made. This will help us both to understand how current events impact filmmaking and to interrogate the ways the South has been constructed (and reconstructed) time and again over the past century.
O. The Science of Drug Action
Lilia Harvey
MWF 12:00-12:50
In our society there seems to be a pill for every ailment, whether physical or emotional. In particular, the use of drugs to alter brain chemistry has become increasingly common and acceptable in people of all ages. In this course, we will explore the biological mechanisms and chemical nature of drugs that affect the brain. We will learn about the major classes of psychoactive drugs and study representative drugs in detail, with an emphasis on how each drug exerts its biological effects.
The course will include an introduction to the major research tools and methods used to understand how drugs work. Discussions of drug use and abuse will be integrated into the course, including the social implications, public health consequences, and biological basis of drug addiction and treatment.