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Colloquia and Other
Small Classes for First- and Second-Year Students
Colloquia
are designed to give students at the beginning of their college
careers the opportunity to enroll in small courses which explore
specific themes or texts in an interdisciplinary manner. These
seminar-style courses offer a uniquely personal setting for
student-faculty and student-student interactions. Colloquia
provide an opportunity to sharpen analytical skills, to deal
clearly with abstract concepts, and to improve writing and
oral skills. Enrollment in each colloquium is generally limited
to about 15 students, with 10 places reserved for first-year
students and 5 places for second-year students. Students may
elect only ONE colloquium per year. Enrollment in some colloquia
is limited to first-year students only. The following is a
partial listing of the colloquia that will be available in
2001-2002.
African American Studies
116. Literary
Reflection of the British Empire and Commonwealth 3 hours
3SS,
CD
This
colloquium will focus on selected literary works of the British
Empire and the Commonwealth from the late 19th century to
the present, including narrative fiction by British, African,
and Indian authors. Members of the course will be encouraged
to discuss and write about the works from a non-western perspective,
with a special emphasis on challenges to social and political
hierarchies such as imperialsim, patriarchy, and neo-colonialsim.
CR/NE grading. Identical to ENGL 116 and RHET 116. Enrollment
Limit: 16 first year students only.
Sem
1 AAST-116-01 TuTh 11:00-12:15 Mr. Podis,
Mr. Saaka
118. Ritual and Performance I: The world according to
the Yoruba and
their descendants in the New World 3 hours
3SS,
CD, WR
This
course will explore religious phenomena, performance, and
artistic "agency" of the Yoruba and their descendants. We
will look at Yoruba syncretic beliefs in the New World as
well as in the Old World in respect of ritual secrets and
choices for artistic representation, in the performance "arena."
After reading and discussion of written and verbal expression
on this subject by practitioners, artists, and intellectuals,
students will use dance movement, artistic representation,
and "nommo," the word, to represent their own construct of
a ritual; by that means they will render their example of
a specific "construct" of ritual. Enrollment Limit:
15 first year students only.
Sem
1 AAST 118-01 TuTh 11:00-12:15 Ms. Sharpley
120. The Caribbean and the Wider World 3 hours
3SS,
CD, WR
In
1493 the Caribbean did not exist in the imagination of Europe
and the wider world. In 1494, it was "discovered" by Columbus,
and from that time onwards became an integral part of the
European imagination and of the Atlantic world. This course
will examine the historical
background
to this transformation and some of the political, moral,
and economic issues that confer significance on the changes
that took place. Enrollment Limit: 15
Sem
1 AAST-120-01 MW 12:00-1:20 Mr. Millette
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110. The Idea of the Folk in American Culture History
3 hours
3SS,CD,WR
Throughout
much of the twentieth century, the idea of an "American folk"
has been articulated, appropriated, and manipulated for a
variety of ideological agendas. This course will examine the
purposes to which the idea of an American folk has been put
in the articulation of an American identity and American identities.
We will examine a range of anthropological and historical
models for understanding the desire to define a "folk," from
Sumner's folkways, Redfield's folk-urban continuum, to more
contemporary notions of imagined communities and invented
traditions. Special focus will be on the political appropriation
of folk forms in the Popular Front era of the 1930s and the
Civil Rights era of the 1960s, and on the disintegration of
monolithic notions of a "folk" in the era of multiculturalism.
Texts will include Andrew Ross's No Respect: Intellectuals
and Popular Culture, Denning's Cultural Front: The Laboring
of American Culture in the Twentieth Century, and Klein's
Woody Guthrie: A Life. Enrollment Limit: 15 Does not
serve as a prerequisite for upper-level courses.
Sem
2 ANTH-110-01 TuTh 3:00-4:15 Mr. Goldsmith
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110.
Monument and Memory in Western Art 3 hours
3
HU
We
will study how monuments create and preserve memory, approaching
this broad topic in three ways: case studies of important
monuments; examining Washington, D.C., the most important
monumental complex in the United States; and looking at Oberlin's
monuments. We will consider how a monument's meaning is produced
by its iconography, historical context, materials, and location.
For their final project, students will design a new monument
for Oberlin. Enrollment Limit: 15 first-year students.
Sem
2 ARTS-110-01 MWF 11:00-11:50 Mr. Inglis
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Biology
013. Colloquium:
Sexually Transmitted Diseases: 1.5 hours
Biology, History and Misery
1.5NS,
WR
An
exploration of various aspects of the major sexually transmitted
diseases. The diseases will be described in detail, outlining
such features as cause, pathology, epidemiology, treatment,
and immunity. Included in the list of diseases to be discussed
are gonorrhea, syphilis, chancroid, chlamydial infections,
sexually spread hepatitis, genital herpes, genital warts (condyloma),
and AIDS. The discussions will be set in a societal context
in which the problems (i.e., economic, ethical, policy problems)
raised by these diseases will be explored. Enrollment Limit:
20. (5 Freshmen, 5 Sophomores, 5 Juniors, and 5 Seniors.)
Permission of the instructor required for admission. Not open
to students who have completed BIOL 101.
Sem
1 BIOL-013-01 W 7:30-10:00 p.m. Mr. Levin MODULE
1
BIOL-013-02 W
7:30-10:00 p.m. Mr. Levin MODULE 2
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English
English
colloquia will focus on critical writing and analysis through
the study of texts. These colloquia are for first-year students
only, and do not count for the English major, which begins with
foundation courses at the 200 level. All colloquia are Writing
Intensive courses. Students in their second year or beyond should
begin work in the English Department at the 200 level.
119.
Media and Memory 3 hours
3HU,
WRi
Beyond
offering different sorts of content and engagement for their
audiences, various artistic forms and techniques can be
understood to provide alternative models for individuals
and groups to filter and process experience in general.
This course will look at multiple artistic forms (e.g.,
painting, photography, film, literature), in light of their
own technical developments and contrasts with each other
across time, in order to develop a greater sense of the
many ways medium matters. Enrollment Limit: 16 first-year
students only.
Sem
2 ENGL-119-01 TuTh 11:00-12:15 Mr. Pence
121. To Be Announced 3 hours
3HU,
Wri
Enrollment
Limit: 16 first-year students only.
Sem
2 ENGL-121-01 TuTh 1:30-2:45 Staff
124. The Sense of Time and Place 3 hours
3HU,
WRi
This
course is about novels, films, stories, and poems which
rethink individualism in light of an awareness of environment
and history as determining factors in human existence. We'll
look at these works not only to understand what they have
to say about such fundamental human issues, but to understand
our own ideas about them. We'll also pay close attention
to the ways in which reading and writing can function as
active processes of inquiry and imagination. Enrollment
Limit: 16 first-year students only.
Sem
1 ENGL-124-01 MWF 10:00-10:50 Mr. Day
125. Shakespeare and History 3 hours
3HU,
WRi
A
good number of Shakespeare's plays present material from
English and classical history, thus acting out the encounter
between truth and poetry, reality and the fictive world
of the stage. In this course we will explore several of
these plays in relation to the history they represent as
reflected in other historiographic forms, and we will consider
the plays themselves as embedded in history, participating
in the public life of their own times. We will also explore
these problems of representation, interpretation, and imaginative
reconstruction in our own writing.
Sem
1 ENGL-125-01 MWF 1:30-2:20 Mr. Pierce
ENGL-125-02 MWF
3:30-4:20 Mr. Pierce
128. Theater, Politics, and Community 3 hours
3HU,
WRi
What
happens when theater comes down off the stage and into the
world around us? This colloquium focuses on the ways that
drama can engage audiences in immediate political contexts.
We will be reading political plays by Bertolt Brecht and
others, including more contemporary playwrights, as well
as theoretical essays by Augusto Boal, Paulo Freire, Michel
Foucault, bell hooks, and others. Writing will involve response
papers, essays, and playwriting exercises (no prior experience
expected). The course's "activist" component will consist
of learning exercises from the Theater of the Oppressed
and developing Forum Theater performances in conjunction
with several local community groups, as well as on campus.
Enrollment Limit: 16 first-year students only.
Sem
2 ENGL-128-01 TuTh 9:35-10:50 Ms. Geis
ENGL-128-02 TuTh
11:00-12:15 Ms. Geis
131. Forms of Dialogue 3 hours
3HU,
WRi
An
interdisciplinary analysis of dialogue in drama, poetry,
fiction, films, philosophy, religion, interviews, debates,
therapy, and conversation. Also, readings in theories of
dialogue from Plato to Heidegger. Enrollment Limit:
16 first-year students only.
Sem
1 ENGL-131-01 MWF 9:00-9:50 Mr. Hobbs
134. Novels
of Development 3 hours
3HU,
WRi
This
course uses thematic concerns common to coming-of-age
fiction as a framework for comparative examination of
interactions of narrative technique, sociohistoric context,
and artistic purpose in a diverse group of novels. Readings
will probably include Toni Morrison's Sula, Virginia
Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway, Dickens' Great Expectations,
Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony, and Gish Jen's
Mona in the Promised Land. The class will proceed
mainly by discussion. Written assignments will consist
of a series of fairly short (3-5 page) papers and occasional
one-page warm-ups for discussion. No final exam. Enrollment
Limit: 16 first-year students only.
Sem
2 ENGL-134-01 MWF 1:30-2:20 Ms. Linehan
ENGL-134-02 MWF
3:30-4:20 Ms. Linehan
146. Art and Authenticity: Reading U.S. Minority
Literatures 3 hours
3HU,
WRi
In
this colloquium, we will read selected works of U.S. ethnic
literature comparatively, focusing on their rhetorical
strategies, their purported goals, and their definition
of and critical relation to the American mainstream. Enrollment
Limit: 16 first-year students only.
Sem
1 ENGL-146-01 MWF 9:00-9:50 Ms. Motooka
ENGL-146-02 MWF
11:00-11:50 Ms. Motooka
148. Pedagogies of Empire 3 hours
3HU,
WRi
This
course will analyze the pedagogies through which (British)
Colonialism (re)made colonial subjects and subjectivities.
It will focus especially on the scenes of instruction
in a variety of anglophone texts from the so-called Third
World. Some of these texts include: Ama Ata Aidoo's No
Sweetness Here, Salman Rushdie's Shame, Frantz
Fanon's Black Skin, White Masks, Earl Lovelace's
Wine of Astonishments, Tsi Tsi Dangarembga's Nervous
Conditions and Tayeb Salib's Season of Migration
to the North. Enrollment Limit: 16 first-year students
only.
Sem
1 ENGL-148-01 TuTh 8:35-9:50 Ms. Needham
ENGL-148-02 TuTh
1:30-2:45 Ms. Needham
155. W. B. Yeats and the Irish Renaissance 3
hours
3HU,
WRi
An
intensive study of the works of William Butler Yeats in
their biographical, cultural, and historical context.
We will read a good deal of Yeats' work during the semester,
including his Collected Poems, several of his plays,
autobiographical writings and essays, and several works
by his contemporaries. Enrollment Limit: 16 first-year
students only.
Sem
1 ENGL-155-01 TuTh 9:35-10:50 Mr. Olmsted
ENGL-155-02 TuTh
11:00-12:15 Mr. Olmsted
177. Ways of Seeing, Ways of Knowing 3 hours
3HU,
WRi
The
perspectives and standpoints which narratives and other
works of the imagination seem to project or play with,
and those we bring as readers, shape the way works appeal
and what their apparent "content" or "meaning" is. With
this in mind, we'll look at prose narratives by Borges,
James, Chesnutt, O'Connor, Morrison, Butler and others,
at least one graphic novel (probably Maus), The
Wizard of Oz in its print and film forms, and some
visual art. We may devote some time to ways in which the
Internet expands, but also limits, how we see and know
our world, present and past. Enrollment Limit:
16 first-year students only.
Sem
1 ENGL-177-01 MWF 11:00-11:50 Ms. Zagarell
ENGL-177-02 MWF 2:30-3:20 Ms. Zagarell
181.
Middle Passage and Migration in the African-American
3 hours
Imagination
3HU, WRi
Movement is a central theme in African-American literature,
and this course will introduce students to this trope
as well as the concept of call and response through examination
of creative works such as Equiano's Interesting Narrative,
Baraka's "Slave Ship," Hayden's "Middle Passage," Johnson's
Middle Passage, Jacobs' Incidents in the Life
of a Slave Girl, Toomer's Cane, Wright's 12
Million Black Voices, and Morrison's Jazz as
well as select historical documents. We will pay special
attention to ways in which these works figure historical
change in terms of spatial and psychological difference
and musical form. Enrollment Limit: 16 first-year
students only.
Sem 1 ENGL-181-01 MWF 1:30-2:20 Ms.
Johns
188. To Be Announced
3HU, Wri
Enrollment limit: 16 first-year students only.
Sem 2 ENGL-188-01 MWF 10:00-10:50 Staff
ENGL-188-02 MWF 1:30-2:20 Staff
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French
360.
Freshman/Sophomore Colloquium: Title to be announced 3
hours 3HU,
CD
Topic to be announced. Please consult Registration Supplement
or Department of French and Italian Supplement for description.
Prerequisite: French 301 or equivalent. Enrollment Limit:
15.
Sem 1 FREN-360-01 MWF 11:00-11:50 Staff
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History
112. The
Bourgeoisie and the Making of Modern Europe 3 hours
3SS,WRi
This
course uses Karl Marx's critique of the European bourgeoisie,
the Communist Manifesto, as the starting point for an exploration
of the central economic, political, and cultural characteristics
of this class, as well as the development of modern Europe.
Topics include capitalism and commodity culture, industrialization
and urbanization, nationalism and imperialism, family and
gender roles. Extensive discussion of primary and secondary
sources, frequent writing assignments. Enrollment Limit:
12.
Sem
2 HIST-112-01 W 7:00-9:00 p.m. Ms. Chin
117. National
Schizophrenia in Japan and Sub-Saharan Africa 3 hours
Africa 1945-present: Tradition, Modernity and the
Modern Novelist
3SS, CD, WR
Our
thematic focus will be the exploration of the tension between
indigenous tradition and Western modernity among post-1945
novelists in Japan, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa. Topics
to be covered include the family, gender roles, politics,
and religion. Authors to be read include Chinhua Achebe,
Buchi Emecheta, Mishima Yukio, Peter Abrahams, Ariyoshi
Sawako, Oe Kenzaburo, and Kawabata Yasunari. Extensive discussion
and frequent writing assignments will be the basis for evaluation.
Enrollment Limit: 12. First Year students only.
Sem
1 HIST-117-01 Tu 1:00-2:50 Mr. Di Cenzo
119. The
1960s 3 hours
3SS,
CD, WRi
We will explore the issues and events that shaped American
politics and culture in the 1960s, arguably the most significant
and turbulent decade in recent U.S. history. We will pay
particular attention to the social movements for racial
justice, women's liberation, and America's withdrawal from
Vietnam as well as domestic and foreign policies of the
Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administrations. Extensive discussion
and frequent writing assignments. Enrollment Limit:
12.
Sem
2 HIST-119-01 TuTh 11:00-12:15 Mr. Jung
141. The
Gilded Age 3 hours
3SS,
WRi
Greed,
violence, excesses of wealth and poverty, xenophobia, media
spectacles, unstable gender roles, manhood under attack,
uppity women, rising white supremacy, crimes of hatred and
fear. The 1980's? The 1990's? How about the 1880's-1890's?
We explore the period from after the Civil War to the early
twentieth century, focusing on industrialization, territorial
expansion, the rise of cities, new sexual and racial classifications
and control, political transformations, professionalization,
and emerging mass consumer culture. Enrollment Limit:
12.
Sem
1 HIST-141-01 Tu 1:00-2:50 p.m. Mr. Mitchell
145. Water
in American History 3 hours
3SS,
WRi
Through
an examination of water power, water rights, floods, droughts
and water imagery, this course will examine the history
and meanings of water in the United States. Through our
exploration of the place and importance of water in U.S.
history, we will identify and critique the varied ways in
which environmental historians and other writers grapple
with the story of a critical resource. Enrollment Limit:
15
Sem
1 HIST 145-01 TuTh 3:00-4:15 Ms. Stroud.
148.
The Collision of Cultures in North America, ca. 1500-1700 3
hours
3SS,
CD, WRI
An
exploration of the complex interactions among Native Americans,
Europeans, and Africans in North America during the first
two centuries of European colonization. Emphasis will be
placed on cultural bases of understanding and misunderstanding,
modes of conflict and cooperation, the social impact of
geography and disease, and the relationship between cultural,
economic, and political developments. Readings will include
a wide array of primary sources and recent scholarly studies
from differing viewpoints. Considerable use of educational
technology. Enrollment Limit: 12 first-year students
only.
Sem
1 HIST-148-01 TuTh 1:30-2:45 Mr. Kornblith
149. Approaches
to World History 3 hours
3SS,
WRi, CD
A
critical examination of approaches to world history including
the continental, civilizational, and world systems approaches,
as well as of narratives constructed around themes such
as the rise of the West, European expansion, the discovery
of the New World, and the like. We will focus on largely
unexamined metageographical conceptions and how they are
implicated in Eurocentric assumptions about world historical
developments. We will read recent critical works on world
history and historiography that have suggested new approaches
to the subject, in particular regarding trade and economic
exchange, so that we may bring to bear a critical perspective
on material and cultural exchange and diffusion from a global
perspective. Finally, although "globalization" is a very
current concern, we will discover that it has been a salient
issue for the past five hundred years. Enrollment Limit:
15.
Sem
2 HIST-149-01 TuTh 11:00-12:15 Mr. Kelley
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Philosophy
109.
Morality, Meaningful Life, Problematic Self 3
hours
3HU,
WR
An
inquiry into the meaning of life from consideration of basic
accounts of moral value. The inquiry will explore constitutional
and circumstantial differences in the makeup of the self from
person to person, and consider how these differences bear
on issues of meaningful life. Alternative basic attitudes
(e.g., pessimism, optimism, resignation, nihilism) characterizing
different accounts of the meaning of life will be assessed.
The inquiry will be supported by readings (classical and contemporary)
from philosophy, literature, and drama. Discussion and writing
emphasized. No prerequisite. Enrollment Limit: 15 first-year
students
Sem
1 PHIL-109-01 TuTh 11:00-12:15 Mr. Care
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Psychology
119. Colloquium:
Applied Psychological Science 3 hours
3SS
An examination of the application of psychological science
to current real-world issues. Topics are likely to include
eyewitness testimony, repressed memory, hypnosis, lie-detection,
jury decision making, and stereotyping in the media. In
addition, this course will introduce the tools that scientists
use to understand human behavior. We will design experiments,
collect and analyze data, and interpret and present the
results of our experiments. Enrollment Limit: 18
first-year students. Notes: CR/NE grading.
Sem 1 PSYC-119-01 TuTh 11:00-12:15 Ms.
deWinstanley
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Religion
117.
Colloquium: The Sacred and the Other 3 hours
3HU, CD, WRi
This colloquium examines the impact of global multiculturalism
on contemporary American religious communities and their
beliefs. In particular, attention will be given to how religious
communities and influential religious thinkers are grappling
with the complexities of difference based on religion, gender,
race ethnicity, and sexuality. Writings to be studied will
be drawn from theorists focusing on Buddhist, Christian,
Jewish and Native American religious traditions. Enrollment
Limit: 15 first year students.
Sem
1 RELG-117-01 TuTh 9:35-10:50 Mr. Kamitsuka
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Sociology
104. She
works hard for the money: Women, work and the persistence
of inequality 3 hours
3SS
Current
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports indicate that women
who are employed full-time earn only 76.7% of what men who
are employed full-time earn. In this course, we will explore
the causes and consequences of gender based wage discrepancy.
Topics to be covered include: occupational segregation, comparable
worth, shift work, "the Mommy Track", gender based job queuing,
career trends and unpaid labor. In addition to class reading,
each student will choose an occupation and research it throughout
the semester.
Sem
1 SOCI-104-01 MWF 1:30-2:20 Ms. John
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Other
Small Classes for First-Year Students
Other Small Classes for First-Year Students
In
addition to the Colloquia for First- and Second-Year Students
listed above, Oberlin also offers a substantial number of
other small courses suitable for first-year students. The
following is a partial listing of courses suggested for first-year
students seeking a small-class experience. A variety of course
formats can be found: lecture and discussion, lab components
of science courses, foreign languages, and performance. These
courses provide instruction in academic skills like writing,
speaking, argumentation, quantitative reasoning, analysis,
and research. Not all courses are designed specifically for
first-year students but in general they lack prerequisites
and tend to enroll predominantly first-year students. Enrollment
in these courses is 35 or fewer. This list is not exhaustive.
Full course descriptions may be found under each departmental
listing.
Art
103 Approaches to Western Art History (one section may
be predominantly first- and
second-year students)
104 Approaches to Chinese Art History
106 Ways of Seeing: An Introduction to Art History
141 The Persistence of Memory: Basic Issues in Western
Art
Biology
101 Topics in Human Biology (lab sections)
115 Field Botany
Chemistry
103 Topics in General Chemistry
Chinese (East Asian Studies)
101-102 Elementary Chinese
Classics
100 Myth and Hero in the Greek EPIC
Dance (Theater and Dance)
100 Modern Dance I
French
101-102 Elementary French
Geology
160 Physical Geology (lab sections)
162 Environmental Geology (lab sections)
German
101-102 Elementary German
Greek (Classics)
101-102 Elementary Greek
Italian
101-102 Elementary Italian
Japanese (East Asian Studies)
101-102 Elementary Japanese
Jewish Studies
111-112 Classical Hebrew I, II
Latin (Classics)
101-102 Elementary Latin
Mathematics
131 Calculus Ia: Limits, Continuity, and Differentiation
132 Calculus Ib: Integration and Applications
133 Calculus I: Limits, Continuity, Differentiation,
Integration, and Application
134 Calculus II: Special Functions, Integration Techniques,
and Power Series
Philosophy
101 Problems of Philosophy
102 Introduction to Philosophy
Physics
055 Principles of Solar Energy
Religion
101 Introduction to Religion: Religion as a World Phenomenon
Rhetoric and Composition
100 Basic Writing
Russian
101-102 Elementary Russian
Spanish (Hispanic Studies)
101-102 Elementary Spanish
Theater (Theater and Dance)
105 Exploring Acting
108 Acting Techniques
Women's Studies
100 Introduction to Women's Studies
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