New or Changed Courses Spring 2009

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Office of the Registrar

Willamette University
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Salem, Oregon 97301

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THE FOLLOWING ARE DESCRIPTIONS FOR SPRING 2010 COURSES THAT ARE NEW OR CHANGED SINCE THE LATEST VERSION OF THE PRINTED CATALOG, OR THAT ARE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING:

New Courses

One Time Only Courses

One Time Only Courses with MOI Designation

One Time Only Courses with Writing-Centered Designation

One Time Only Topics Courses

New Courses

ANTH 347 Islamic Law in Theory and Practice (1)

This course introduces students to the basics of Islamic Law; its history, its derivation, and efforts toward legal reform in the modern period. This course seeks to deconstruct Western depictions of Muslim law as rigid and coercive. It addresses the questions: Are there mechanisms for adaptation and reform in the face of changing times and varying geographical contexts? How does Islamic Law relate to Muslim conceptions of morality and spirituality? Annually. Khan

ARTH 275 (IT) Art Literature and Criticism (1)

This course will provide a set of interpretive tools and hermeneutic principles in order to critically analyze textual sources directly related to the dominion of Art History, from Antiquity to Modern period. The class will focus primarily on the study of significant primary sources,
such as Vitruvius' influential book on architecture of the Natural History by Pliny the Elder, as well as on different medieval treaties on art. The central part of the course, however, will be dedicated to the philological analysis and the historical exegesis of Renaissance art treaties written by either humanists or artists such as Leon Battista Alberti, Cennino Cennini, Leonardo da Vinci and Giorgio Vasari. The class will also explore later sources (from seventeenth century France and Holland to eighteenth century England and Germany), in the attempt to establish the basis for an epistemological distinction between Art Literature and Art Criticism as complementary fields of research, equally indispensable for any historically-based investigation on art and visual culture. Prerequisite: ARTH 100-level course. Interpreting Texts. de Mambro Santos

ARTS 132 (CA) Fundamental of Experimental Photography (1)~Pending Approval

This course introduces experimental photographic practices. Pinhole photography will feature prominently as the technology of choice in the class. In any given semester, one or more of the following photographic practices may also be explored: cyanotype, Van Dyke Brown, Photogram and digital scanner-bed. Assignments will focus on the fundamentals of photography: use of light, composition and the development of necessary technical skills. Additionally, students will learn to develop content driven-photographic series, focusing on the relationship between form and content, subject matter and meaning. To inform students studio practice, this course will introduce historical and contemporary photographic practice through readings and slide lectures. Creating in the Arts. Alternate years. Opie.

CHNSE 258: Gender and Mass Communication in China (1)

This course is an introduction to the study of gender and media cultures, with a focus on the Chinese cultural context. It provides an introduction to historical, theoretical, and methodological approaches involved in such study. It aims at encouraging comparative cultural studies through analysis and comparisons of gender in Chinese culture with gender in non-Chinese cultures. No prior experience required. Fall. Wen

HIST 379 Studies in Comparative History (1)
Topics will be announced. A thematic, general interest course in comparative history offered when circumstances warrant. May be repeated if the topic varies. On demand. Staff

JAPN 242 (4th Sem Lang) From Basho to Banana -- Japanese Popular Literature Past and Present (1)

Edo Period readings: haiku poetry (including the popular versions or /senryû/), kabuki and puppet plays, and illustrated fiction. The class will investigate patterns of creation and participation in these forms, and their connections to public and private performances and to /ukiyo-e/ or woodblock prints. Part 2: Modern era readings: fiction and poetry. Curriculum also includes the development of film, manga, and anime, and investigates their relationships with indigerous and foreign antecedents, as well. Assignments include as least one creative writing assignment i.e. an original illustrated essay or diary etc. as well as several topical essays, and participation in and leading of discussion. . Spring. Loftus, Kominz

PHIL 342 Frege, Russell, Wittgenstein (1)

Introduction to the work of the foundational figures of analytic philosophy, Gottlob Frege, Bertrand Russell, and Ludwig Wittgenstein. Topics include the nature of truth, logic, number, fact, belief, and reality; the relation between language and world; and the limits of the empirical. No previous familiarity with their writings is presupposed. Note that this course treats Ludwig Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, not his middle and later work (for that, see PHIL 361). Prerequisite: One course is philosophy, or consent of instructor. Closed to first-year students. Alternate years. Welty

POLI 318 (AR) Death in America (1)

An ethics and public policy case-based seminar that proceeds from the premise that the patterned mal-distribution of morality rates is a conspicuous consequence and hence robust measure of social injustice. Four distinct cases are addressed from philosophical, ethical and policy perspectives, on topics such as the automobile, capital punishment, food, environmental causes, health-care, being health uninsured, gun ownership, HIV/Aids, occupational fatalities, oil and petroleum, physician-assisted suicide, and tobacco. Pedagogy includes discussion, exams, digital field-work, and service-learning. Prerequisite: One POLI course or consent of instructor. Analyzing Arguments, Reasons, and Values. Alternate years. Basu

REL 150 Introduction to Islam (1)

What is "Islam," and how do we make sense of this faith tradition in the modern day? This course will first focus on the teachings, the beliefs and practices, of this major world religion. We will then cover a historical survey of Islam from the life of Muhammad onwards, looking in particular at the construction of authority within the Islamic tradition. By acquiring a thorough grounding in the major religious teachings of the Islamic tradition and a familiarity with its main institutions, we will then be able to meaningfully engage with contemporary articulations of Islam. Every semester. Khan

REL 358 Topics in the Western Religious Tradition (1)

This course provides a rubric for the investigation of major topics and issues related to the sources and formation of the Western religious tradition. The course also may be used for the intensive study of selected religious texts from the ancient Mediterranean world. Alternate years. Staff

RHET 123 (CA) Performance of Literature (1)

Study of the art of interpreting to an audience various forms of poetry and prose - fiction, description, memoirs, folk tales - through voice and gesture. Public presentation is a required part of this course. Creating in the Arts. Alternate Falls. Clark

"One Time Only" Courses

CHNSE 258 Gender and Mass Communication in China (1)

HIST 360 Expressive Cultures in African History (1)

This course uses African expressive forms such as music, fashion, sport, theater, and art as a lens to understanding larger historical transformations-colonialism, urbanization, and independence-in twentieth century Africa. Organized thematically, the course will concentrate on three major themes: African expressive cultures as (1) sources of empowerment and resistance; (2) sites of consciousness producing new kinds of self and collectivity; and (3) expressions of older values and beliefs, as well as newer cultural forms. In addition, we will explore the lives of particular African artists, musicians, and actors and focus on how these individuals have reflected larger political, economic, and social changes over the past 100 years. Not only will this course enrich student's understanding of how Africans carve out for themselves time for pleasure and enjoyment, but also demonstrate how such creative practices reflect African understandings of their own history. Spring. Murillo

PHYS 250 Physical Biology of the Cell (1)

This course will explore how the insights of physics and mathematics have illuminated the complex phenomena of the cell. We will study the use of quantitative and predictive models to describe biological systems, and discuss the experimental methods that provide the quantitative data required to create and test these models. The course will be structured around a series of case studies involving some of the key players in molecular and cell biology. Altman

MATH 425 Mathematics Meetings (.25)

In this course students will be exposed to the professional culture of mathematics and a wide variety of mathematical topics. The class will travel to the national Joint Mathematics Meetings conference in the week before the start of the spring semester. During the semester, students will each design a presentation based on one of these talks for the mathematics department colloquium. Travel funds are available. Prerequisite: Mathematics major and consent of instructor. Spring. Laison

"One Time Only" Topics Courses with MOI Designation

ENVR 329 (NW) From Seed to Table (1)~Pending Approval

This course explores three areas of food production: 1) the biology of growing plants and animals as food and the interactions between the plant and animal realms; 2) the step-by-step process of food production from a seed (or egg) to food on the table, including seed and breed sources, planting, growing, and cultivation, harvesting, shipping, processing, distributing, marketing, and eating; and 3) the comparison of food production systems at industrial farm or small farm scales. Careful attention is paid to form an understanding of the basic biology of food production through experimental labs centered around growing food. A broad understanding of the process of plant development and food production is fostered through labs and field trips to local farms, processing plants, distribution centers and markets. Understand the Natural World. Spring. Johns

HIST 255 (TH) Cities and the Making of Modern Europe: 1750 to Present (1)

This course surveys the transformation of Europe from a primarily rural to an overwhelmingly urban society. Why have cities come to dominate the European landscape? How have the functions of cities changed over time? How has the growth of cities impacted people's quality of life and how have cities managed the environmental, social, economics, and cultural challenges that expansion brought? What kinds of struggles played out in cities? To what extent are cities engines of change in shaping modern European society? The course will grapple with such questions by studying the histories of a selection of cities across Europe from the onset of the industrial revolution to the present. Thinking Historically. Spring. Smaldone

IDS 224 (NW) Physical Activity and Disease Prevention (1)

This course will investigate the prevalence, etiology and social impact of several common diseases and disabilities as they relate to aging and physical inactivity. The class will specifically focus on the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases, osteoporosis, sarcopenia, diabetes, cancer, and other related disorders. Students will gain a greater understanding of current medical practices and treatment guidelines through the investigation of both classic and current research publications. Students will additionally gain practical laboratory experience with common clinical tests used in the assessment and diagnosis of these disorders. Understanding the Natural World. Spring. Lockard

"One Time Only" Topics Courses

HIST 131: Historical Inquiry: Democracy and America's Founding

Today Americans look back at the Constitution as the founding document of their democratic political system. In 1787, however, democracy was a highly controversial concept. Most of the men who wrote the Constitution thought they were founding a republic that would avert what they saw as the dangers of too much democracy. Meanwhile, the people on whose behalf they spoke when they wrote the words, "We the people" harbored a wide range of alternative political aspirations, some (but not all) of which we today would identify as more democratic than the ideals espoused by "the founding fathers." In this course we will read a wide range of secondary and primary sources (including the full text of The Federalist Papers) in order to work toward answers to a host of contested questions: What did democracy mean to the diverse constellation of people who lived through the founding era? How should we make sense of the fact that many of those who proudly called themselves "democrats" in the founding era were also salveholders, while a good number of their more elitist contemporaries favored the abolition of slavery? Why were the most avid democrats of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century also the strongest advocates of westward expansion (and hence the dispossession of Native Americans)? To what extent were advocates of democracy in the late eighteenth century also advocates of equality? In the broadest sense, what should contemporary Americans take to be the political legacy of the founding era?

HIST 452W: Imagining the East: A History of Representation

In this course, students read classic texts of postcolonial theory and apply these frameworks to historical representations of China from the 13th century tp the present. Attention is given to the historical context in which authors were writing as well as traditions of representation which continue to the present day. The latter section of the course is dedicated to research projects wherein students develop their own critical readings of a discrete body of primary texts.