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New Social Sciences Courses for 2005-2006
During the registration period for fall 2005 (March 28 through
April 10) you will find several new SS courses on the books. Please look
over these opportunities. Two are oriented primarily at SS majors and
will be listed on the general education distribution course – insuring
SS majors will be the main audience.
The new offerings support one existing and one emerging degree program.
Three courses are elements in the strengthened Law and Society program – the
new name for the pre-law program. Two other courses fit into the degree
in Anthropology and Archeology we are working to complete. The Department
will submit a degree proposal later this spring to the University Senate
and administration for consideration and approval. We hope to award the
first degrees in archeology in spring 2006. Students will be eligible
to graduate with this degree as soon as it is in place.
This sheet lists the new courses for Fall. There are also new offerings
for spring – and these can be found identified on the SS website:
Fall 2005
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Susanna Peters
This class will apply legal and ethical principles related to the continued
evolution of computer and information technology. Topics will include
privacy and surveillance, free speech, crime, encryption, intellectual
property, and censorship, as well as the legislative and policy-making
activities in this domain. (Elective in Law and Society Major)
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Carol MacLennan
This course is already on the books, but it has not been offered for
several years. Students will study the movement of people into the
Pacific through archeology and migration histories, the cultural contact
of Western explorers and island societies (including the voyages of
Captain James Cook), the impact of World War II and subsequent economic
development of plantations, mining, timber extraction, and tourism.
Some attention is devoted to the study of culture change in the Pacific
over time, including the effects of migrations from Asia and North
America on Micronesian and Polynesian cultures. Readings will draw
from history, geography, archeology and anthropology. Assignments include
a research paper and 2 essay exams. (Anthropology and Archeology Major)
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Above: Bora
Bora, French Polynesia. NASA JPL. |
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Timothy Scarlett
In this course students will examine landscape as a unifying approach
to studying place. Readings and discussions will range over wide geographic
regions but will focus upon the interplay between physical geography,
ecological and historical processes, and cultural and symbolic systems.
Discussions will devote attention to landscape's potential to link
scientific approaches with humanistic and narrative-based modes of
analysis. Each student will complete a semester research paper examining
a particular landscape from several perspectives. This course will
not satisfy distribution course credit, so it should be seen as an
opportunity to social sciences majors to have a class in which they
are the majority of students. Eventually this class have its own number
and be offered on an alternate year schedule. (Anthropology and Archeology
Major)
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Above: Map of 1820, showing free and slave territories. |
Spring 2006
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Anthropology is a diverse and fascinating discipline concerned with the
study of humankind, from our earliest human ancestors to the myriad
living cultures found around the world today. This course focuses on
the behavior and organization of living cultures through the lens of
cultural anthropology and cultural geography. The course is designed to
introduce students to the diversity of human cultures found in the world
today, with special reference to the relationship between humans and the
natural environment. While this course examines the diversity of
cultural experience, at the same time it reinforces those qualities
which make us all human. During this course you will be challenged to
consider what it means to be human, to be a cultural being.
Left: The Central Panel
of Mural at the ALANA Cultural Center, Colgate University. |
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Susanna Peters
This course was offered for the first time last year, and is now on the
books officially. Along with the Orientation to Legal Careers, this
class is designed to be the formal introduction to course work in the
Law and Society major. It examines the civil and criminal legal systems
and focuses on how the law informs yet is shaped in return by political,
economic, and social forces. (Elective in Law and Society Major)
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Above: The
Capitol when first occupied by Congress, 1800. |
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Susanna Peters
This upper-division course is a basic foundational course in any legal studies
program. The course provides a framework for understanding the legislative, judicial,
and political processes of the united States. It focuses on the Constitution
and how it has been interpreted by the Supreme court over time. Key interpretive
themes include federalism, judicial review, and individual rights and liberties.
(Required course, Law and Society Major)
Left: Raising the first flag at Independence Hall,
Philadelphia, ca. 1776-77. Copy of painting by Clyde O. Deland. National
Archives and Records Administration. |
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Bruce Seely
This 2-credit course focuses on the various social, political, and economic
implications of the emergent field of science and engineering. Attention
will be devoted to the ethical issues associated with this emergent
domain of technology, as well as to the policy questions related to
moving forward with nanotechnology. Other topics will include the history
of nanotechnology, comparisons with other large science projects, the
shaping of public perceptions and attitudes, and the role of science
fiction. This course is a required element of the Nanotechnology Minor,
but does not require a scientific or engineering background. Social
Science students interested in policy and in the social interaction
of technology and society are encouraged to enroll. The course will
be conducted in seminar style, and taught every other year.
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The course surveys the range of gender experience from the
anthropological perspective. Defines the concept of gender, examines
recent and historical case studies, and considers how gender might be
interpreted in prehistory. The course will also address gender as it
relates to other major cultural phenomena such as belief systems,
economic systems and personal status. The course is based on in depth
student discussions in a seminar setting. Student performance will be
evaluated by means of written mid-term and final exams, term paper, in
class presentations, and scheduled student-led discussions.
GENDER AND CULTURE TENTATIVE COURSE SCHEDULE
WEEK: TOPIC
1: Course introduction/expectations. What is anthropology? (if necessary)
What is gender? The place of gender in anthropology.
2: What is “achieved” status? What is “ascribed” status?
Contrast gender to other achieved/ascribed statuses.
3: The biology of gender.
4: Define the possibilities of multiple/alternative genders. Begin gender
from the cross-cultural perspective (case studies, e.g. Hijra, Berdache,
etc.).
5: Gender from the cross-cultural perspective, continued: recent and
historical examples.
6: Gender in Prehistory: Art (readings from Erect Men, Undulating Women).
7: Gender in Prehistory: Archaeology.
8: Gender, status, and stratification.
9: Gender and belief systems.
10: Gender and economic systems.
11: Gender and political systems.
12: The North American experience.
13: Gender and careers in science.
14: Student presentations.
Student readings will be taken from a variety of sources of academic
sources (reading packet?). Students’ grades will be based on take
home essay-based midterm and final exams as well as a 12-15 page term
paper. Students will be expected to make a fifteen minute presentation
on their term papers during the final regular week of classes. In addition,
students will be expected to lead one (possibly two) brief in-class discussions
over a current event topic related to gender that is taken from a popular
source. These discussions will be held at the end of class beginning
on week 3 or 4 and can be facilitated by Web CT.
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