Maymester 2020 Undergraduate Courses
ANT 495 – Understanding Latino Migration, Dr. Nora Haenn
What causes Latin American citizens to emigrate to the U.S. without a visa? How do people undertake
the journey? And what are the consequences of their travels for immigrant health, well-being and
integration into North Carolina? Students in this collaborative, hands-on class will learn what ultimately
drives migration; how families, communities, and policy-makers respond to migration in ways that can
keep the process going. Focusing on emigration from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador,
the course begins with the 1980s, when the foundation for much of today’s migration was put into
place. The course also examines the 1990s and 2000s. Finally, the course reviews North Carolina’s
diverse Latino population. Requiring no prior knowledge, this class is appropriate for any curiousminded learner. The class gives special consideration to students working with Latino communities or
thinking of doing so. The class culminates in a final project tailored to students’ educational interests. If
taken as ANT 495, this course can satisfy three of the hours of Social Sciences required by the College of
Humanities of Social Science that go beyond the six hours of GEP Social Sciences. This course does NOT
satisfy a GEP Social Science requirement.
ENG 298/IPGE 295 – From Quills to Smart Phones: The Tools of Texts, Dr Paul Fyfe
This course offers an immersive, hands-on overview of the history of textual communication. Taking a
broad historical sweep from ancient scribes to cell phones, the course proceeds through case studies of
diverse text technologies and critical readings in the service of developing a vocabulary for media
analysis. Additionally, this course pairs theory with practice as students are invited to try their hands
with some of the technologies in question. We will write with feather quills, sew book bindings, set
metal type, record audiobooks, create etexts and basic web pages, and design interactive documents.
These exercises include visits to the NC State University Libraries and workshops with librarians.
Students will maintain a daily course journal, submit a series of written reflections on their production
work, and deliver a final presentation about the history and possible futures for text. If taken as IPGE
295, the class will satisfy the GEP-Interdisciplinary Perspectives. If taken as ENG 298: for English-LWR
majors, the course may satisfy the “Digital Technologies” requirement; for English-LCW, Film, or
Linguistics concentrations, the course can count towards the “English Electives” requirement in the
major.
ENG 305 (WGS 305) – Women and Literature: Women in Comics, Dr Margaret Simon
This course looks at the history of women and gender as depicted in comic books and graphic novels, as
well as the increasingly prominent role of women and LGBTQ+ writers and artists in creating works of
graphic literature. How has this increase shaped (or reshaped) how gender is written and visually
represented in such texts? How are comics and graphic novels being defined by a more broadly diverse
creative community, including a variety of minority voices? What perspectives on gender and sexuality
are put forth in comics? What affordances or constraints does the graphic form offer in representing
complex individual positionalities? How do we evaluate comics and graphic literature in a literature
class? In order to help us delve into the big ideas these texts raise, we will read a variety of mainstream
and experimental graphic fiction, gender theory, and media theory, in addition to undertaking hands-on
drawing activities, archival research, and even site visits to local comic stores. This course satisfies a GEP
Humanities or the College of Humanities and Social Sciences Literature II requirement as well as the GEP
US Diversity requirement.
ENG 340 – Literature, Art and Society: Heaven, Hell, and the Afterlife, Dr Timothy Stinson
This course surveys some of the great works of literature focused on heaven, hell, and the afterlife,
including classical works such as Homer’s Odyssey and Virgil’s Aeneid, European works from the
medieval through modern eras, including Dante’s Divine Comedy, Milton’s Paradise Lost, and Blake’s
Marriage of Heaven and Hell, and diverse accounts of the afterlife from world literature, such as “The
Descent of Inanna from the Great Above to the Great Below” (Sumer) and “The Feather of Maat”
(Egypt). These will be paired with films and visual depictions of the afterlife, such as renderings of The
Last Judgment (showing both heaven and hell) by Giotto, Bosch, and Michelangelo and Egyptian and
classical funerary art. We will make excursions to the North Carolina Museum of Art to view artworks
from a variety of world cultures related to the afterlife. This course satisfies a GEP Humanities, a GEP
Interdisciplinary Perspectives, or the College of Humanities and Social Sciences Literature II requirement.
It can only satisfy one GEP requirement but students can choose which one. Students should speak to
their academic advisor if the course does not automatically feed into the desired requirement on their
degree audit.
ENG 382 – Film and Literature: Adapting Animation, Dr Andrew Johnston
How have literature, comics, and other media shaped the production and technologies of animation?
How is the influence reciprocal? While animation is often considered children’s entertainment, this
course situates it as the technical coincidence of life and movement while examining its relation to
multiple media. From hand-drawn work to claymation, stop-motion cutouts, or CGI, animation’s illusions
generate wonder and are also put in the service of narrative effects. This class will explore this
relationship between animation and literary genres by asking how they mutually constitute, constrain,
and give shape to one another while analyzing the source material and cinematic versions of industry
films like Coraline and Alice in Wonderland as well as artisanal films like Persepolis and the work of Lewis
Klahr. Studying these alongside the history and language of animation, we will attend to the intersection
between material form and aesthetic experience as animated movement changes with the
incorporation of CGI and digital effects. This course satisfies the GEP Visual and Performing Arts
requirement or the College of Humanities and Social Sciences Literature II requirement and the GEP
Global Knowledge requirement.
HI 253 – Early American History, Dr Craig Friend
This course covers themes in early American history with an emphasis on diversity in the U.S. We will
attend to the colonial clash and mix of cultures, the generation of an American consciousness,
federalism and democracy in national politics, expansion and immigration, and racial and sectional
division. This course will focus on questions related to four key topics: 1) the development of an
American Self and the resultant Othering; 2) the symbiotic relationship of enslavement to freedom; 3)
the incorporation of immigrants into the concept of whiteness; and 4) the evolution of gender and
sexuality in American culture. In lieu of a textbook, students will become immersed in reading,
analyzing, and critiquing journal articles; and they will work in primary sources as both foundations for
and critiques of secondary analyses. Students will learn how to employ evidence, both the type provided
in original documents and that which evolves from scholars’ analyses. This course satisfies a GEP
Humanities requirement and the GEP US Diversity requirement.
HUMU/IPUS 295 – Black Culture Through Sports, Dr Stephen C. Ferguson, II
This course uses the history of American sport, as viewed through multiple perspectives, to examine
political, economic, social, and cultural questions relating to the history of ideas and contexts concerning
equality, citizenship, ethics, culture, identity, and commercialization. Themes include the tensions
between amateurism and professionalism, the relationship between American sport and notions of
nationalism and foreign policy, the intersection of sport and race, class, gender, and sexuality, and
debates concerning the parameters of fair play and competition. Students will hone critical thinking and
communication skills by examining an aspect of American life too often omitted from academic
discourse. If taken as HUMU 295, the course will satisfy a GEP Humanities requirement as well as the
GEP US Diversity requirement. If taken as IPUS 295, the course will satisfy a GEP Interdisciplinary
Perspectives requirements as well as the GEP US Diversity requirement.
PHI 205 Introduction to Philosophy – Dr Catherine Driscoll
One of the main aims of Philosophy is to use a rigorous, logical approach to understand some of the big
questions of “Life, the Universe and Everything”. In this course we will see how philosophers have
applied their logical tools to inquire about the existence of God, the nature and content of morality,
justice, science, human minds and the very existence of a real external world. We will learn how
arguments work, how they should be evaluated, and how they have been used by real philosophers to
answer each of these “big questions”. This course fulfils a GEP Humanities and/or the College of
Humanities and Social Sciences Philosophy requirement.
PHI 221 Contemporary Moral Issues – Dr Sanem Soyarslan
This course is intended to enable students to apply ethical analysis and theory to a broad range of
contemporary moral issues, including euthanasia, suicide, capital punishment, abortion, famine relief,
animal rights, and environmental concerns. Students can expect to gain not only training in the concepts
and main theoretical approaches of moral philosophy, but also critical thinking skills needed for
assessing morally difficult questions that we routinely face in our world today. The course will include a
mixture of lectures, documentary viewings, and lively class debates and discussions. This course fulfils a
GEP Humanities and/or the College of Humanities and Social Sciences Philosophy requirement.
SOC 295/SSUS 295 – Children and Childhood, Dr Martha Crowley
What are the social and structural forces that shape children’s lives and their opportunities to live a
rewarding life? What can families, policy makers and children themselves do to improve their
circumstances? In this class, we will learn about 1) the family, neighborhood, school, community and
cultural forces that act on children and that promote class, race and gender inequalities and that affect
the well-being of LGBTQ+ young people, 2) the long-term effects of variations in children’s environments
and experiences, 3) how these processes are challenged in families and communities and 4) the roles
that children and adolescents play in perpetuating, and challenging inequalities, with particular
attention to children’s involvement in peer and consumer cultures, social media and social activism.
Students will engage in hands-on activities, including visits to off-campus neighborhoods, educational,
recreational and consumer sites, become familiar with online content available to and consumed by
children, and will offer proposals for ways that children, families, communities, schools, business and
government could improve the experiences and opportunities of children from diverse class, race,
gender and LGBTQ+ backgrounds. If taken as SOC 295, the course can satisfy three of the hours of Social
Sciences required by the College of Humanities of Social Science that go beyond the six hours of GEP
Social Sciences, but it would not count as a GEP Social Science under that listing. If taken as SSUS 295,
the course will satisfy both a GEP Social Sciences requirement as well as the GEP US Diversity
requirement, but only if students enroll in the course as SSUS 295.
SW 260 – Intro to Gerontology: An interdisciplinary field practice, Dr Karen Bullock
This course is an integrative seminar which introduces students to gerontology as an interdisciplinary
field of practice. It helps students understand the demographics and psychosocial trends among older
adults globally and in the United States, in order to provide a context for practice. Students will explore
characteristics of diverse aging populations, social pattern, projections, myths and realities of aging,
based on current data and scholarly reports. The course addresses cultural issues and family dynamics,
pathological and physiological changes in aging, theoretical and conceptual approaches that address
disparities and impact ethical practice. Competencies will be related to curricula and the assessment of
skill development will be incorporated. Case studies, media technology, group exercises and assigned
readings will enrich the classroom discussions. Knowledge gained in the classroom about contemporary
issues including health (mental health) and nutrition, financial and social sustainability, elder law
(policy), caregiving, end-of-life care, bereavement and loss, expounded through community engagement
assignments and experiential/service learning are competency based. The course satisfies a GEP
Interdisciplinary Perspectives requirements as well as the GEP US Diversity requirement.
ANT 595 – Understanding Latino Migration, Dr. Nora Haenn
What causes Latin American citizens to emigrate to the U.S. without a visa? How do people undertake
the journey? And what are the consequences of their travels for immigrant health, well-being and
integration into North Carolina? Students in this collaborative, hands-on class will learn what ultimately
drives migration; how families, communities, and policy-makers respond to migration in ways that can
keep the process going. Focusing on emigration from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador,
the course begins with the 1980s, when the foundation for much of today’s migration was put into
place. The course also examines the 1990s and 2000s. Finally, the course reviews North Carolina’s
diverse Latino population. Requiring no prior knowledge, this class is appropriate for any curiousminded learner. The class gives special consideration to students working with Latino communities or
thinking of doing so. The class culminates in a final project tailored to students’ educational interests.
MLS 501 – Seminar in Liberal Studies: “Collections, Collectors, and Collecting”, Dr Michael Garval
What do we collect, both as individuals and as societies? What motivates us to collect, and informs our
choices about what to keep and preserve? In the largest sense, what do our collections tell us about our
relation to the world around us? This interdisciplinary course looks at collection from a broad range of
perspectives, tracing it from the early modern “cabinet of curiosities” through contemporary digital
archives. Along the way, we will consider such topics as: the looting and “collecting” of art treasures in
war, conflict, and colonization; obsessive collecting and hoarding; the rise of consumer culture, with
mass produced “collectibles”; data collection and surveillance; and, the paradoxical “collection” of what
we deem “trash” – of discarded items that accumulate, endure, and ultimately, haunt our modern
world. The course will include guest lectures, as well as visits to sites such as museums, libraries, special
collections, archives, flea markets. In order to accommodate MALS program students’ schedules, the
course schedule will be concentrated on weekends.