Liberal Arts

Curriculum & Courses

Learning Outcomes

    1. Ways of Knowing Students: Students will demonstrate awareness and appreciation of multiple ways of knowing, as reflected in the fields of study and areas of expertise within the humanities, social sciences, and sciences.
    2. Cultural Breadth and Global Awareness: Students will demonstrate familiarity with a range of cultural, social, and intellectual traditions in the context of a changing, globalized world.
    3. Critical and Analytical Thinking: Students will be able to analyze, evaluate, and construct arguments, engaging with ideas, evidence, and artifacts.
    4. Effective Communication Skills: Students will be able to speak and write effectively, communicating with precision, clarity, and rhetorical force.

    1.  Students will study and question how crucial ideas about human and non-human nature, knowledge, experience, and value have been developed, supported, and/or expressed in major areas of the humanities, such as philosophy, religion, literature (including poetry and the dramatic arts), and music in various cultures and time periods.
    2. Students will demonstrate understanding of the methods used in the humanities, such as argumentation and interpretation.
    3. Students will demonstrate understanding of the crucial ideas in the humanities as they have been explored in different cultures and times, and/or in connection to issues that currently affect individuals and societies across the globe.
    4. Students will evaluate claims and the evidence and/or reasons given in support of these claims, as found in primary and secondary sources.
    5. Students will construct their own claims and defend them in written and/or oral forms, and using proper methods of documentation (e.g. citation and bibliography).

    1. Students will increase their knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of the natural world, science, and mathematics.
    2. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the nature of science and/or mathematics as a knowledge making process. 
    3. Students will develop and evaluate claims that involve a scientific or mathematical component.
    4. Students will display curiosity about nature, natural science, and/or mathematics.
    5. Students will confidently attempt reasoning tasks that involve a scientific or mathematical component.
    6. Students will demonstrate appreciation for the role of science and/or mathematics both in everyday life and in contemporary issues.

  • Students will learn to embrace the writing process and establish writerly habits, while developing guided critical reading, thinking, and writing skills necessary for their success in upper-level course work. Students will learn to collaborate and to take their work, and the work of their peers seriously, thereby establishing best practices of critique.

    1. Students will formulate inquiries emerging from readings of texts.
    2. Students will establish research methods.
    3. Students will analyze and synthesize multiple texts and cite evidence. 
    4. Students will construct a complex claim and an argument.
    5. Students will practice the writerly process (i.e. revision, reflection, and peer review).

    1. Students will question and explore how human behavior, societal arrangements, and cultural practices vary across time and space.
    2. Students will demonstrate understanding of the investigative methods used in the social sciences. 
    3. Students will evaluate and develop claims based on primary and secondary sources. 
    4. Students will communicate clearly in written and oral forms.
    5. Students will write citations and bibliographies in accordance with one or more social science disciplines.

Courses

Title Catalog Instructor Schedule

Description

Consider the ordinary and extraordinary, the word and world, this color, this art, this way of seeing and being. Writing topics are various in this writing course, but learning objectives are the same: for students to discover the complexity of their thinking through exploration and inquiry and to broaden their expressive and analytical skills. Readings will include writings by essayists, naturalists, and artists. Students maintain a writer¿s notebook, prepare short compositions, and write and revise several essays.

Class Number

1323

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1428

Description

Reading Art is a seminar that orients students to college studies and emphasizes students' advancement of college-level critical reading and thinking skills. Students learn how to read and analyze artworks using the formal vocabulary of art and design, as well as how to read about art in art history textbooks, scholarly journals, and other sources. Students improve their ability to process, retain, and apply information by using active learning strategies and graphic organizers, including a schematic note-taking system. In addition to weekly readings and exercises, students complete an in-depth synthesis project on an artwork of their choosing. Regular museum visits complement class work.

Class Number

1010

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 206

Description

This writing course emphasizes close reading of texts, critical thinking, and the analysis of problems and concepts arising in works about travel experiences through the writing of essays. We will use the writing process as a means to achieving insight, and students will be asked to employ brainstorming, freewriting, drafting, outlining, re-writing, revising, and editing. Throughout the term, students will be asked to reflect on their development as they establish their own writing process that will enable them to develop new understandings and clearly communicate them in essays for this course and beyond. Writer Pico Iyer says, ¿We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next, to find ourselves.¿ New places are alluring. New places are disruptive. In this course, we¿ll read accounts of those who ventured to distant lands and discovered new territories within themselves. We will read the likes of Langston Hughes, Bernard Cooper, Jamaica Kincaid, Flannery O¿Connor, George Orwell, Susan Sontag, and others, as we see what these writers found when they lost themselves abroad. Students will join the well-traveled, too, as they write about a not-usual place, even if it¿s right here in Chicago. In addition to short writing assignments and in-class journals, students should expect to write and revise 4 essays totaling 15-20 pages of formal prose.

Class Number

1308

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 202

Description

In this writing-intensive course, we will explore the line between originality and plagiarism in a variety of fields including art, media, technology, music, business, entertainment, and medicine. In what contexts is copying an art? A science? A crime? How much should we be allowed to borrow from the work of artists and writers who have come before us? Do we owe them anything when we do? What are the economic, social, and political implications of copying? Readings will cover a range of subtopics such as genetic cloning, music sampling, artistic forgery, cultural appropriation, film adaptations, drug patents, fan fiction, body modification, and fair use. We will also analyze the work of artists and writers whose work speaks to some of these issues, including Kenneth Goldsmith, Fred Wilson, Jeff Koons, Sherrie Levine, DJ Dangermouse, and Jen Bervin. Writing assignments ? totaling 15-20 pages over the course of the semester ? will emphasize analysis, argument, research, revision, and other academic writing skills.

Class Number

1340

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 205

Description

Writers can have the power to create space for communities that are marginalized in society, but this work is never easy. In this class, we will examine the works of writers who have attempted this and analyze the success and cost of such attempts. Our readings will include works by: Esme Weijun Wang, Rupi Kahur, Ryka Aoki, Patsy Mink, and others. We will also utilize SAIC¿s amazing resources like the Service Bureau, the Art Institute, the writing center, the diversity department, and Title IX office. In this class, students will exercise their voices and embrace the writing process. They will think of writing beyond what happens on the page.Towards this end, each class begins with mindfulness and connection activities. Students will be required to write weekly reflections, multiple drafts of an essay, and do a class presentation. Students in FYS I should expect to write 15 to 20 pages of formal, revisable writing. Attendance is extremely important and heavily weighted.

Class Number

1324

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1427

Description

As an art form, humor is often considered menial and unrefined. In reality, the psychology of humor ¿ exactly what it is that makes something funny ¿ is complicated and requires careful mastery. This course will examine how writers and artists have historically used humor to reach audiences deeply, emotionally, and politically. Through works by Mark Twain, Franz Kafka, Calvin Trillin, Jade Chang, Percival Everett and others, we will get to the heart of what makes something funny, and how humor has changed over time. Students will build on foundational academics habits with weekly short writings. To complete the course, students must write 3 papers (one analytical, one argumentative, and one creative.

Prerequisites

Must complete AAP: Academic Foundations Seminar (AAP1001) and Foundations Writing Workshop (AAP 1011)

Class Number

1338

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 919

Description

This writing course emphasizes close reading of texts, critical thinking, and the analysis of problems and concepts arising in works about near-death experiences through the writing of essays. We will use the writing process as a means to achieving insight, and students will be asked to employ brainstorming, freewriting, drafting, outlining, re-writing, revising, and editing. Throughout the term, students will be asked to reflect on their development as they establish their own writing process that will enable them to develop new understandings and clearly communicate them in essays for this course and beyond. Some of us have had a near-death experience in which our survival felt in doubt. Almost all of us have had nearness-to-death experiences in which we glimpse the passing of some other person or creature and must contend with death?s significance. In this course, we?ll study short works that explore what nearness to mortality reveals to us. We?ll read Virginia Woolf, Tim O?Brien, Annie Dillard, Lu Hsun, Tobias Woolf, Wole Soyinka, and Nancy Mairs, among others, as we examine how death?s presence has impacted these writers in unanticipated ways. Students should expect to write and revise 3 major essays in addition to short writing assignments, totaling 15-20 pages of formal prose.

Prerequisites

Must complete AAP: Academic Foundations Seminar (AAP1001) and Foundations Writing Workshop (AAP 1011)

Class Number

1321

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 206

Description

Why are we fascinated with the end of the world? Throughout history, human beings have contemplated the apocalypse¿whether as a fulfillment of religious prophecy, as the result of atomic war, or as a consequence of climate change. This class will examine apocalyptic visions in art, film, literature, and music. In their research and writing, students can expect to explore the aspect of this subject that matters most to them and/or that inspires their curiosity. Students should expect to write 15 to 20 pages of formal, revisable writing in addition to homework exercises and in-class writing. By providing guided experience in college-level writing, this course forms the necessary foundation for FYS II and upper level Liberal Arts classes.

Prerequisites

Must complete AAP: Academic Foundations Seminar (AAP1001) and Foundations Writing Workshop (AAP 1011)

Class Number

1339

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 818

Description

This course will chronologically survey American poetry from its earliest periods to recent times. Students will be introduced to a wide spectrum of the finest poetry ever to be written, including (among others) poems from Phyllis Wheatley, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Jean Toomer, Countee Cullen, e.e. cummings, Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, Amit Majmudar, Terrance Hayes, Sherman Alexie, Garrett Hongo, and Natalie Diaz. Individual interpretations will be emphasized and slow-and-close reading will be emphasized, both in class and in formal writing assignments. In addition, students will be introduced to methods of literary study, appropriate terminology, and (art) historical contexts to help orient scholarship¿including how poets across time and space operate and innovate within literary conventions. Students will also write about poetry in both personal responses and formal analyses and will practice the process of writing, including prewriting, drafting, peer reviewing, and revising. FYSe develops college-level writing skills, prepares one for FYS II and upper level Liberal Arts courses, and allows one to improve expressing their ideas in writing.

Prerequisites

Must complete AAP: Academic Foundations Seminar (AAP1001) and Foundations Writing Workshop (AAP 1011)

Class Number

1353

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 919

Description

FYS (EIS) are theme-based writing courses designed for first-year international students who have successfully completed their English for International Students Fluency course, with an emphasis on teaching Academic English skills to English Language Learners. Students will improve their Academic English skills by learning to embrace the writing process and establish writerly habits, while developing guided critical reading, thinking, and writing skills necessary for their success in future course work at SAIC. FYS (EIS) sections offer different topics. For example, students may investigate modern and contemporary art movements or analyze popular visual culture or media. While faculty have autonomy in determining course theme, the theme is an accessory to the writing; the balance in these classes is weighed toward explicit writing instruction and workshopping of student writing, not content. This course provides guided experience in writing college-level essays of various kinds. Students investigate the class topic through close readings and class discussions. They explore and develop their ideas by writing short responses and longer multi-draft papers which may include analytical, argumentative, expository, and/or evaluative essays. A significant amount of time is devoted to the craft of writing. Grammatical and organizational strategies, argumentation, and skills in thesis/claim and idea development are explored. Students should expect to write 15-20 pages of formal, revisable writing across the course of the semester. A significant amount of time may be devoted to re-writing essays, so as to develop first drafts into final versions. In-class writing and short homework exercises may be included. Through peer review and workshops, students learn to collaborate and to take their work, and the work of their peers seriously, thereby establishing best practices of critique. Classes are capped at 12 students and individual meetings to discuss each student's papers should be expected.

Prerequisites

Must complete English Fluency I (EIS 1021)

Class Number

1344

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 919

Description

FYS (EIS) are theme-based writing courses designed for first-year international students who have successfully completed their English for International Students Fluency course, with an emphasis on teaching Academic English skills to English Language Learners. Students will improve their Academic English skills by learning to embrace the writing process and establish writerly habits, while developing guided critical reading, thinking, and writing skills necessary for their success in future course work at SAIC. FYS (EIS) sections offer different topics. For example, students may investigate modern and contemporary art movements or analyze popular visual culture or media. While faculty have autonomy in determining course theme, the theme is an accessory to the writing; the balance in these classes is weighed toward explicit writing instruction and workshopping of student writing, not content. This course provides guided experience in writing college-level essays of various kinds. Students investigate the class topic through close readings and class discussions. They explore and develop their ideas by writing short responses and longer multi-draft papers which may include analytical, argumentative, expository, and/or evaluative essays. A significant amount of time is devoted to the craft of writing. Grammatical and organizational strategies, argumentation, and skills in thesis/claim and idea development are explored. Students should expect to write 15-20 pages of formal, revisable writing across the course of the semester. A significant amount of time may be devoted to re-writing essays, so as to develop first drafts into final versions. In-class writing and short homework exercises may be included. Through peer review and workshops, students learn to collaborate and to take their work, and the work of their peers seriously, thereby establishing best practices of critique. Classes are capped at 12 students and individual meetings to discuss each student's papers should be expected.

Prerequisites

Must complete English Fluency I (EIS 1021)

Class Number

1345

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 206

Description

FYS (EIS) are theme-based writing courses designed for first-year international students who have successfully completed their English for International Students Fluency course, with an emphasis on teaching Academic English skills to English Language Learners. Students will improve their Academic English skills by learning to embrace the writing process and establish writerly habits, while developing guided critical reading, thinking, and writing skills necessary for their success in future course work at SAIC. FYS (EIS) sections offer different topics. For example, students may investigate modern and contemporary art movements or analyze popular visual culture or media. While faculty have autonomy in determining course theme, the theme is an accessory to the writing; the balance in these classes is weighed toward explicit writing instruction and workshopping of student writing, not content. This course provides guided experience in writing college-level essays of various kinds. Students investigate the class topic through close readings and class discussions. They explore and develop their ideas by writing short responses and longer multi-draft papers which may include analytical, argumentative, expository, and/or evaluative essays. A significant amount of time is devoted to the craft of writing. Grammatical and organizational strategies, argumentation, and skills in thesis/claim and idea development are explored. Students should expect to write 15-20 pages of formal, revisable writing across the course of the semester. A significant amount of time may be devoted to re-writing essays, so as to develop first drafts into final versions. In-class writing and short homework exercises may be included. Through peer review and workshops, students learn to collaborate and to take their work, and the work of their peers seriously, thereby establishing best practices of critique. Classes are capped at 12 students and individual meetings to discuss each student's papers should be expected.

Prerequisites

Must complete English Fluency I (EIS 1021)

Class Number

1346

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Sharp 409

Description

¿Genre¿ and tradition in music are nebulous terms, yet we can¿t escape them. Examining these genre distinctions consistently reveals two things - the history and tradition that helped birth the genre ¿category,¿ and the web of influences between genres that make such distinctions unstable. Nowhere is this ¿instability¿ more apparent than in American music, a country whose relatively young socio-political history makes the notion of ¿tradition¿ especially complicated. ¿Americana¿ is an overarching term to describe a variety of American musics, in an attempt to smooth over some of the complicated relationship between genre and tradition. One thing we will explore in this course is the effectiveness of that endeavor. Complicated spaces, of course, are fertile ground for argument, and that is the primary skill we will practice in this course. We begin with short writing assignments that force students to make arguments about our texts. Our class discussion allows us to workshop these claims, and we write larger papers that demonstrate the ability to take greater risks with our theses. In this course we will focus on the core skills of reading and writing, preparing us for all our future coursework at SAIC. Students learn to make nuanced observations about the texts we study, observations which form the basis for the argumentative papers we write. This course will focus on artists representative of the various genres said to populate Americana music. Special attention, however, will be paid to those artists who trouble the genre definitions, such as the Staple Singers, Gillian Welch, and Sturgill Simpson. Assignments consist of informal, observational journals, short papers and a larger Final Paper at the end of the course.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: ENGLISH 1001.

Class Number

1309

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1427

Description

Please confirm/update desc: Unlike traditional folk fairy tales, intended primarily for children, the German Romantic Kunstmärchen (literary fairy tales) were written for an audience of adults. German Romantic philosophers, who believed in Nature as an ideal and the primacy of the individual creative imagination, saw the fairy tale as the perfect medium for the expression of these ideas. The timeless, mythical qualities of the fairy tale were seen by these thinkers as a way to bring the realm of the supernatural to earth, making the irrational and the magical part of our everyday existence. Unlike the traditional fairy tales, in which everyone lives happily ever after, the Märchen emphasizes the struggle between negative and positive forces in which death and disaster often prevail and man is caught in the tragic dichotomy between the real and the ideal. In this course we will explore these and other themes by reading the works by such authors as Novalis, L. Tieck, E.T.A Hoffman and Kafka. Students should expect to write 20-25 pages of formal, revisable writing, in addition to homework exercises and in-class writing. FYS II will build upon the foundational writing skills students began learning in FYS I, with the introduction of more rigorous argumentation and research. Eventually, writing will be more self-directed in this FYS II class.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: ENGLISH 1001.

Class Number

1325

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1428

Description

In our creative practices we take our lives into account. You determine the format to share your story. In this course we will read different forms of autobiography: graphic novels, memoirs, essays, poetry, and journals. We will look at the various creative forms writers use to convey information about their lives, discuss why we make artwork about ourselves, and study how each form connects with readers. Though we will read about individual experiences, we will consider their impact on the collective. Readings often include works by Ocean Vuong, Trevor Noah, Diana Khoi Nguyen, EJ Koh, and Kazim Ali among others. In our FYS II course, we will develop our critical reading, writing, and thinking skills. This is a studio writing class in which we will focus on writing as a process. We will freewrite, formulate conceptual questions for the readings, write responses, and compose and revise 20-25 pages in multidraft essays. FYS II develops college-level writing skills, prepares one for upper-level Liberal Arts courses, and allows one to improve expressing their ideas in writing.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: ENGLISH 1001.

Class Number

1326

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 206

Description

All FYS 2 students will learn to embrace the writing process and establish writerly habits, while developing guided critical reading, thinking, and writing skills necessary for their success in upper-level course work. Students learn to collaborate and to take their work, and the work of their peers seriously, thereby establishing best practices of critique. This FYS 2 course will explore the interconnected meanings of race, horror, and monstrosity. In particular, we will focus on the presentations and representations of racial difference in the Americas. From Birth of a Nation (1915) to Get Out (2017), and from the transatlantic slave trade to contemporary #BlackLivesMatter movements, African-American struggles for dignity and inclusion have produced ¿philosophies born of struggle,¿ i.e. avenues of critical thought and activism with an eye toward social liberation and freedom from daily fear.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: ENGLISH 1001.

Class Number

1327

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1427

Description

How have artists in literature, theater, music, and other sound-based media represented or incorporated the human voice into their work? This FYS II course builds on the writing and thinking skills students began to develop in FYS I by introducing more advanced argumentation and research methods. To guide our inquiry, we might consider questions such as: How do we understand 'authentic' or 'common' speech, what accounts for its claim on our attention, and what are the politics around it? How does its apparent spontaneity relate to formal aspects of a work of art? Why do diverse folk traditions put human speech in the mouths of animals? How do we experience, on the one hand, divine or oracular voices understood to come from beyond humankind, and on the other, AI-generated simulacra? What does it mean to appropriate another's voice, and why is spoken language such a significant marker of individual and collective identity? How have new technologies of amplification, reproduction, and distribution changed how we hear ourselves? Sources we may consider include: Wordsworth, European opera, Brecht / Weill, Lotte Lenya, Cathy Berberian, Derek Walcott, Kamau Braithwaite, Linda Rosenkrantz, Meredith Monk, Bernadette Mayer, Pere Gimferrer, Nathaniel Mackey, American hip hop. Students can expect to produce 20-25 pages of formal, revisable writing, as well as regular in- and out-of-class assignments. The course builds toward a self-directed research paper on a topic of the student's choosing.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: ENGLISH 1001.

Class Number

1310

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1428

Description

In this writing-intensive course, we will be using the theme of ¿conspiracy theory¿ to explore what constitutes legitimate (and illegitimate) knowledge in academic, public, and virtual spaces. Our access to information today is unparalleled, but it also demands a kind of vigilance. How do we identify credible sources? What counts as expertise? And how do we think critically about the information we encounter? In addition to analyzing a range of conspiracy theories (e.g. assassinations, alien abductions, false flag operations, artificial diseases, New World Order, and vaccine controversies), we will also consider the broader social, psychological, and political forces that contribute to conspiracy thinking. Course readings will cover a wide array of subtopics including hoaxes, pseudoscience, and fake news. Writing assignments ¿ totaling 20-25 pages over the course of the semester ¿ will emphasize summary, analysis, argument, research, revision, and other academic writing skills, culminating in a research project that allows you to explore unorthodox explanations of a public event, issue, or phenomenon of your choosing.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: ENGLISH 1001.

Class Number

1328

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 206

Description

Discretionary time is time that is not constrained by the necessities of life. It is the domain of recreation and play. This class invites students to critically engage with modes of recreation: hobbies, games, outdoor activities, media consumption, creative pursuits, and vice. Through texts and discussion, students will inquire into how society produces and is produced by its modes of recreation, and how social relations are impacted through its dynamics. They will also bring greater attention to themselves and the values undergirding their personal modes of recreation. The focus of this class is to help students develop the skills required to perform academic research. Students will learn how to propose lines of inquiry, shortlist and interrogate sources, reference sources, and synthesize material. Ultimately, the final project for the class will be a high-quality research paper. Over the course of the semester, in total, students will be expected to produce 20-25 pages of material. Texts for the class include Diane Ackerman, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Tricia Hersey, Priya Parker.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: ENGLISH 1001.

Class Number

2184

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1427

Description

This class examines recent social and political controversies surrounding the contemporary art world, including crises stemming from the power dynamics of gender, class, race, disability, sexual orientation, and other political commitments to international solidarity. Building on foundational writing skills learned in FYS I, students will gain historical and political context about specific moments in contemporary art when marginalized social groups and their allies have mounted protests and critiques of institutions, exhibitions, artists, and artworks. Informed by history, social theory, literature, art journalism, art history, visual studies, and other forms of study, students will become familiar with general and specific issues of institutional racism, sexism, ableism, classism, and xenophobia within the art world and how artists worked together for social change and institutional accountability. Students will engage in rigorous argumentation and the development of a self-directed research paper. Students can expect to write 20 to 25 pages of formal, revisable writing (i.e. one article and one research essay, both with multiple drafts), as well as homework exercises and in-class writing. Students can also expect in-class writing exercises with an emphasis on developing reading skills and critical analysis. Other important aspects of the course include peer review, writing workshops, draft reviews, and individual meetings to discuss writing topics and expectations.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: ENGLISH 1001.

Class Number

1329

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 205

Description

Tanner, Hughes, Baker. Prophet, Bearden, Chase-Rimboud. Wright, Baldwin, Himes. African-American visual, literary, and performing artists have journeyed to Paris for a few months, a year, or a lifetime to find what they could not in the United States, a space to fully explore, develop, and execute their artistic vision. This FYSII course examines the history of African American artists in Paris, exploring the cultural, political, and artistic forces that drew them to the city of light. Through short written responses and longer formal papers, students will continue to develop their writing skills as they consider this rich history.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: ENGLISH 1001.

Class Number

1330

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 206

Description

This writing intensive seminar introduces the anthropological study of time and ethnographic writing about time. From Doctor Who and the Tardis, to keeping or losing track of time like Alice in Wonderland down the rabbit hole, notions of temporality vary across time zones, culture, and space. Using ethnographic writing, this course examines time as a social and historical phenomenon. From agricultural rhythms of rural life in Africa and the Pacific Islands, to astrological and archaeological accounts of time from Celtic and Greek mythology, students will explore the social lives of calendars new and old. This includes other timekeeping tools like clocks and chronological standards in modes of transportation for buses, trains, and planes, including communication and recordkeeping systems like banks, phone records, and emails. Specific emphasis will attend to the objective and subjective understandings of time and the various temporal forms of daily life, drawing from contributions of ethnographic research and social science writing to the study of time from a cross-cultural perspective. Course activities center around developing analytic skills in the genre of ethnographic writing through in-class free writing, generating observational field notes and journaling, two formal and revisable essays, and peer review.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: ENGLISH 1001.

Class Number

1331

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1428

Description

This writing course emphasizes close reading of texts, critical thinking, and the analysis of problems and concepts arising in tragic drama through research and the writing of essays. We will use the research and writing process as a means to achieving insights, and students will be asked to employ brainstorming, freewriting, drafting, outlining, re-writing, revising, and editing. Throughout the term, students will also be asked to reflect on their development as they work to establish their own research acumen and writing process that will enable them not only to achieve insights, but also to clearly communicate them in assignments for this course and beyond. What is the difference between bad news and tragedy? How can watching the story of a character come to great misery make an audience feel uplifted? We will consider notions of character, fate, tragic flaw, and nobility as they relate to the tragedy. What defines a tragedy? And who is allowed to be a tragic hero? In this course, we will explore the tragic form, from ancient Greek classics to Shakespearean dramas to more modern variations. We will study works by Sophocles, Shakespeare, Arthur Miller, Sophie Treadwell, Suzan-Lori Parks, and Anne Carson. In addition to short writing assignments, in-class journals, and quizzes, students should expect to write and revise 3 essays totaling 20-25 pages of formal prose.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: ENGLISH 1001.

Class Number

1313

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 501

Description

When Sherlock Holmes made his debut in 1887, no one, especially not his creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle could have predicted the success of the first consulting detective. Sherlock Holmes has been adapted on the stage, to film, television, comic books, board games, video games, and by other authors into their own detective novels. Even today, we are surrounded by new versions of this favorite character. In this writing course, students will begin by writing essays based on canonical works, then move to writing critical analyses of contemporary interpretations, ending by imagining the future of Sherlock Holmes.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: ENGLISH 1001.

Class Number

1332

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 919

Description

In this writing intensive course, we will develop the skills of argument-driven composition as we examine the aesthetic shift in American cinema from the classic Hollywood studio system of the 1940s-1950s to the ¿New Hollywood¿ of the 1960s-1970s. What was the studio system, and how did it end? What system of production took its place? In tracing the cultural and economic shifts that led to the creation of the modern Hollywood, we¿ll also track the reinvention of genres like the melodrama, the musical, and the film noir. Readings will include critical works by Raymond Borde and Étienne Cahumeton, Jeanine Basinger, and Mark Harris. These materials will inform multiple argument-driven essays which students will draft and revise over the course of the semester. Students should expect to write 20-25 pages of formal, revisable writing, in addition to homework exercises and in-class writing. FYS II will build upon the foundational writing skills students began learning in FYS I, with the introduction of more rigorous argumentation and research. Eventually, writing will be more self-directed in this FYS II class.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: ENGLISH 1001.

Class Number

1314

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 818

Description

In this writing-intensive course, we'll read coming-of-age novels and memoirs from influential contemporary writers. Students will engage in close readings of texts that interrogate concepts of resilience, racism, and economic and class oppression as childhood struggles. Writers will include Jeannette Walls, Allison Bechdel, and Kiese Laymon. CONTENT WARNING: The content and discussion in this course will necessarily sometimes engage with issues of human suffering, including physical and sexual abuse. Students will write 15 to 20 pages of formal, revisable writing. In-class activities include peer review, workshopping, and free writing to generate paper topics, including a formal, argument-driven paper.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: ENGLISH 1001.

Class Number

1315

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 818

Description

We have all left our homes to venture here. Perhaps it has been a physical, mental, spiritual, or emotional journey away from home. Now what? What do we think of ourselves in our new homes? What can we understand about ourselves and our previous homes now that we have left them? In this course we will read fiction, nonfiction, graphic novels, and poetry by South Asian diasporic writers. These writers have left India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka themselves or are first generation in a new country. Readings often include works by Mira Jacob, Deepak Unnikrishnan, Durga Chew Bose, Faisal Mohyuddin, Mohsin Hamid, and Kazim Ali among others. In our FYS II course, we will develop our critical reading, writing, and thinking skills. This is a studio writing class in which we will focus on writing as a process. We will freewrite, formulate conceptual questions for the readings, write responses, and compose and revise 20-25 pages in multidraft essays. FYS II develops college-level writing skills, prepares one for upper-level Liberal Arts courses, and allows one to improve expressing their ideas in writing

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: ENGLISH 1001.

Class Number

2183

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1428

Description

FYS II builds upon the foundational writing skills developed in FYS I, with the introduction of more rigorous argumentation and research. Students will hone their skills and work toward greater independence in writing tasks while critically examining the act of curation. From personal wardrobes and social media accounts to the sometimes-violent legacy of museum collections, curation is all around us. If curation means to care for items in a collection, what does that care entail? As a form of cultural production, whose needs are being cared for? Whose are being neglected? Which voices are amplified, and which are silenced? In a broader context, can curation be an emancipatory practice in the struggle for social justice? As artists, what is our responsibility in selecting, grouping, and caring for our work? To investigate these questions, in the first part of the course, students will explore a variety of curatorial geographies, looking critically at how commodification, patriarchal racism, and colonial capitalism have informed and disrupted curatorial practices over time. Later, students will apply the reflections and insights from course readings and activities to research a curatorial endeavor of their choosing. Students will write 20 to 25 pages of formal, revisable writing (i.e., one essay and one research project, both with multiple drafts) as well as homework exercises and in-class writing. Writing and class activities will emphasize the development of responding critically to a variety of texts and sources to prepare students for the challenges in their coursework at SAIC. To that end, peer review, class workshopping of student papers, and individual meetings to discuss each student's writing will be required.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: ENGLISH 1001.

Class Number

2182

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 818

Description

When the first artificial self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was created in 1942 in Chicago, human society was destined to tackle with an unsolvable conundrum. How could our society possibly justify the augmentation of this enormous power that could destroy our own existence? This course investigates discourses around two major uses of nuclear power in society ¿ nuclear weapons and nuclear energy ¿ and examines them through social justice lenses. Key points of inquiry include: what risks are associated with nuclear weapons and energy and how they have been evaluated in contrast to their benefits, how the damages that were caused by nuclear weapons and energy have been addressed and mended, and whether the harms that were made by nuclear weapons and energy equally impact all groups of people. Building on the basic reading and writing skills introduced in FYS I, FYS II will further students¿ academic skills in writing an independent research paper. Therefore, in this course, students are expected to read primary and secondary sources to collect evidence to develop their critical arguments on nuclear problems.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: ENGLISH 1001.

Class Number

1334

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 919

Description

First-Year Seminars can be thought of as writing studios: their purpose is to help you develop your academic writing skills by practicing writing, revision, and critique. Each FYS course is organized around a topic that orients students¿ writing practice; the topic of this course is the interpretation of dreams. Dreams have fascinated human beings for a long time. Whether understood as a source of inspiration, a cause for amusement, a glimpse into the soul, a pool of diagnostic information, or an everyday process of cognitive housekeeping, dreams have been regarded by some of history¿s most penetrating thinkers as essential to the project of making sense of ourselves and our place in the world. In this course we will investigate the writings of some eminent interpreters of dreams, and through the writing process we will develop our own interpretations in response to their ideas. Our readings will draw upon ancient and medieval philosophy (Aristotle, Zhuangzi, Augustine), early psychoanalysis (Freud, Jung), and contemporary dream science. In addition to short homework assignments, students will complete two major papers¿a Texts-in-Conversation Essay and a Research Paper¿which will go through multiple rounds of review and revision. Throughout the course, we will focus on strategies and techniques for effective writing, including idea-generation, composition, revision, and argument-construction.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: ENGLISH 1001.

Class Number

1316

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 111

Description

This course invites students to explore the relationship between walking and writing-two practices that open space for reflection, discovery, and transformation. Writers and artists have long turned to walking as a way of seeing differently, of mapping inner and outer landscapes, of lingering, wandering, or breaking free. In this first-year writing seminar, we will read and write with walking in mind, considering how movement through city streets, rural paths, and unfamiliar places shapes identity, knowledge, escape, and transcendence. Our texts will treat walking as both subject and structure. Authors and artists may include Virginia Woolf, Frank O¿Hara, Agnès Varda, Rebecca Solnit, Harryette Mullen, Garnette Cadogan, Sheila Heti, T Clutch Fleischmann, and Carmen Maria Machado. Together, we will ask how movement shapes thought, memory, perception, and creativity, and what it means for writing to carry the rhythm of a walk. Students will develop their own writing practices in dialogue with these works, producing essays that experiment with form as well as argument. Over the semester, they will complete 20¿25 pages of formal, revisable writing, culminating in a final research project that considers walking as a method for making meaning.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: ENGLISH 1001.

Class Number

1343

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 617

Description

This intense writing course fosters college-level writing skills at a level suitable for upper level Liberal Arts courses. Various types of essays will be executed (e.g., analysis, comparison and contrast) over a number of drafts. As for content, the course targets two aesthetic and philosophical phenomena: the critical and the fine. These phenomena can appear apart (e.g., critical thinking apart from the fine can lead to cynicism and even misology), but they can, in synthesis, produce both philosophy and art of the highest order. M. Gelven's text, The Quest for the Fine, and J. Lynch's The English Language, provide examples from philosophy, art, and language that illustrate paradigmatic syntheses of the critical and the fine. We'll consider, for example, the following distinction: The active voice lends crispness to your writing...but the passive voice works well when the action is more relevant than the person or thing doing the action. By reviewing such instances of grammatical and syntactical precision, across different topics, we will develop our internal sense of the fine. As for the critical, consider the following line by Emily Dickinson: 'Because I could not stop for death...he kindly stopped for me....' It takes the critical touch of a master poet to insert kindly; why, after all, kindly? Do not humans tend to flee death? Is not death a topic to be avoided? Do not many of us rather wish, sometimes idly and sometimes fervently, that we could live forever, or at least longer than we do? Or, has the poet revealed an ambiguity in how one might really feel, and think, about one's mortality? In this seminar, we will learn to make and appreciate such examples in writing, and indeed in writing that displays a heightened criticality and a heightened sense of the fine. Fine and critical writing is expected each week in weekly seminar reports, and over the entire semester in four essays, resulting in 20-25 pages of formal, revised writing.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: ENGLISH 1001.

Class Number

1318

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1428

Description

What is the meaning of life? How does life translate to the page and canvas? In this course, we will practice the art of writing by representing its relations to life. FYS II develops college-level writing skills, preparing students for upper-level Liberal Arts courses. We¿ll focus on still lifes¿among the most enduring, versatile, and overlooked art forms¿which illuminate new perspectives on the lives of artists and the lives of objects we represent. Authors including Lisa Knopp and Norman Bryson will provide critical context for the course, while artists including Alice Neel, Georges Braque, Fernand Léger, Juan Sánchez Cotán, Jonas Wood, Henri Matisse, and Pablo Picasso will set the table with examples of the genre. However, students will develop writing projects around still life artists of their choice. We will experiment with ekphrasis, the detailed written description of visual art. We¿ll write about art that portrays the interplay of life, death, and (in)animacy, as we consider the history of ideas represented through still lifes including: the limits and possibilities of genre, vanitas, memento mori, and subject/object relations. Students will create 20-25 pages of formal, revisable, and (if they choose) publishable writing across three short essays and two in-depth revisions. Students will also learn to write a research paper, using scholarly constraints to enhance creativity.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: ENGLISH 1001.

Class Number

1319

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 919

Description

FYS II are theme-based writing courses designed for first-year students, with an emphasis on further developing the foundational writing skills students learned in FYS I. Students will continue to hone the intellectual skills of reading critically, and writing responsively, which forms the basis of each student's career at the School. While faculty have autonomy in determining course theme, the theme is an accessory to the writing; the balance in these classes is weighed toward explicit writing instruction and workshopping of student writing, not content. This course provides guided experience in writing college-level essays of various kinds, which may include critical, analytical and argumentative essays, and must include the research paper. It is a policy of the department that at least one essay be a research paper which may involve searching for sources in a library or online, learning to make citations, and preparing an annotated bibliography. A significant amount of time is devoted to the craft of writing, and more sophisticated methods of argumentation and use of evidence and developing independent claims and ideas are explored. Students should expect to write 20-25 pages of formal, revisable writing across the course of the semester. A significant amount of time may be devoted to re-writing essays, so as to develop first drafts into final versions. In-class writing, short homework exercises, and workshopping of student work may be included. Individual meetings to discuss each student's papers should be expected.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: ENGLISH 1001.

Class Number

1337

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 501

Description

True stories change people, and no other genre does this quite like Creative Nonfiction. While difficult to define, Creative Nonfiction is both experimental and traditional, blending fact with fiction, purpose with style¿an alchemy of poetry, fiction, and drama mixed with nonfiction¿the memoir, the chronicle, the essay¿to reveal what really happened, to me, to them. Entertaining and informative, yes¿personal, perhaps¿transformative, always. Reading Creative Nonfiction¿and writing it¿will change you, forever¿even if only by a single degree, like cracking a combination lock, slowly spinning the dial, your ear pressed against the vault, silently listening for that unmistakable¿click. This course will build upon what was learnt and practiced in First Year Seminar I with an emphasis in research and persuasion. Students can expect reading some killer works of literature and engaging in various stages in the writing process, including topic proposals and individual conferences, researching and reviewing scholarship, presentations and preliminary drafts, and peer reviewing and revising. The first half of the course will be geared towards reading various examples of Creative Nonfiction, examining elements of style and craftsmanship¿and the second half of the course will be more focused on a larger Creative Nonfiction project of the student¿s own discernment. Students should expect to write 20-25 pages of revisable writing, including shorter works of analysis, reflection, and scholarship review, as well as a longer final project. Overall, students will learn to embrace the writing process and establish writerly habits, while developing guided critical reading, thinking, and writing skills necessary for their success in upper-level course work.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: ENGLISH 1001.

Class Number

1320

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 206

Description

The Foundations Writing Workshop is a process-based writing course that serves as students' initiation to the foundations of academic writing in a school of art and design. Students engage in the writing process, learn strategies for exploring topics, and develop their knowledge of the concepts and terminology of art and design through the practice of various kinds of written compositions. Analysis of essays and active participation in writing-critiques are integral components of the Workshop.

Class Number

1009

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Sharp 706

Description

This is the first of two English language fluency courses for students who do not speak English as their first language. Students improve their academic English skills by reading and responding to art appreciation and art history texts. Texts are analyzed for formal as well as contextual information. Students learn how to integrate their own observations and knowledge with information gained from reading and lecture. Students also build competence and confidence in college-level writing. Topics include formal analyses and/or critical responses to works of art. Presentations and class discussions also give students practice communicating their knowledge through speaking.

Class Number

1286

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 112

Description

This critique course is offered for students who do not speak English as their first language. Students build competence in giving critiques, participating in class discussions, and giving presentations. Students make artwork to present to the class. They learn and practice the vocabulary of visual and design elements and use these to analyze and critique their own and their classmates' works. Students practice a variety of critique formats by using formal, social-cultural, and expressive theories of art criticism. They discuss and critique works both verbally and in writing.

Class Number

1295

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 111

Description

This class offers small group tutoring for students who do not speak English as their first language. Students meet with an EIS instructor in groups of three for 1 1/2 hours each week. Students receive assistance with their class assignments for Art History, Liberal Arts and Studio classes. Activities may include discussing class concepts, checking comprehension, exploring ideas for papers or projects, revising papers, or practicing pronunciation and presentations.

Class Number

1296

Credits

1.5

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1011

Description

This class offers small group tutoring for students who do not speak English as their first language. Students meet with an EIS instructor in groups of three for 1 1/2 hours each week. Students receive assistance with their class assignments for Art History, Liberal Arts and Studio classes. Activities may include discussing class concepts, checking comprehension, exploring ideas for papers or projects, revising papers, or practicing pronunciation and presentations.

Class Number

1287

Credits

1.5

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1011

Description

This class offers small group tutoring for students who do not speak English as their first language. Students meet with an EIS instructor in groups of three for 1 1/2 hours each week. Students receive assistance with their class assignments for Art History, Liberal Arts and Studio classes. Activities may include discussing class concepts, checking comprehension, exploring ideas for papers or projects, revising papers, or practicing pronunciation and presentations.

Class Number

1297

Credits

1.5

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Online

Description

This class offers small group tutoring for students who do not speak English as their first language. Students meet with an EIS instructor in groups of three for 1 1/2 hours each week. Students receive assistance with their class assignments for Art History, Liberal Arts and Studio classes. Activities may include discussing class concepts, checking comprehension, exploring ideas for papers or projects, revising papers, or practicing pronunciation and presentations.

Class Number

1288

Credits

1.5

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1011

Description

This class offers small group tutoring for students who do not speak English as their first language. Students meet with an EIS instructor in groups of three for 1 1/2 hours each week. Students receive assistance with their class assignments for Art History, Liberal Arts and Studio classes. Activities may include discussing class concepts, checking comprehension, exploring ideas for papers or projects, revising papers, or practicing pronunciation and presentations.

Class Number

1298

Credits

1.5

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1011

Description

This class offers small group tutoring for students who do not speak English as their first language. Students meet with an EIS instructor in groups of three for 1 1/2 hours each week. Students receive assistance with their class assignments for Art History, Liberal Arts and Studio classes. Activities may include discussing class concepts, checking comprehension, exploring ideas for papers or projects, revising papers, or practicing pronunciation and presentations.

Class Number

1289

Credits

1.5

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1011

Description

This class offers small group tutoring for students who do not speak English as their first language. Students meet with an EIS instructor in groups of three for 1 1/2 hours each week. Students receive assistance with their class assignments for Art History, Liberal Arts and Studio classes. Activities may include discussing class concepts, checking comprehension, exploring ideas for papers or projects, revising papers, or practicing pronunciation and presentations.

Class Number

1290

Credits

1.5

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1011

Description

This class offers small group tutoring for students who do not speak English as their first language. Students meet with an EIS instructor in groups of three for 1 1/2 hours each week. Students receive assistance with their class assignments for Art History, Liberal Arts and Studio classes. Activities may include discussing class concepts, checking comprehension, exploring ideas for papers or projects, revising papers, or practicing pronunciation and presentations.

Class Number

1300

Credits

1.5

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1011

Description

This class offers small group tutoring for students who do not speak English as their first language. Students meet with an EIS instructor in groups of three for 1 1/2 hours each week. Students receive assistance with their class assignments for Art History, Liberal Arts and Studio classes. Activities may include discussing class concepts, checking comprehension, exploring ideas for papers or projects, revising papers, or practicing pronunciation and presentations.

Class Number

1291

Credits

1.5

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Online

Description

This class offers small group tutoring for students who do not speak English as their first language. Students meet with an EIS instructor in groups of three for 1 1/2 hours each week. Students receive assistance with their class assignments for Art History, Liberal Arts and Studio classes. Activities may include discussing class concepts, checking comprehension, exploring ideas for papers or projects, revising papers, or practicing pronunciation and presentations.

Class Number

1292

Credits

1.5

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1011

Description

This class offers small group tutoring for students who do not speak English as their first language. Students meet with an EIS instructor in groups of three for 1 1/2 hours each week. Students receive assistance with their class assignments for Art History, Liberal Arts and Studio classes. Activities may include discussing class concepts, checking comprehension, exploring ideas for papers or projects, revising papers, or practicing pronunciation and presentations.

Class Number

1301

Credits

1.5

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1011

Description

This class offers small group tutoring for students who do not speak English as their first language. Students meet with an EIS instructor in groups of three for 1 1/2 hours each week. Students receive assistance with their class assignments for Art History, Liberal Arts and Studio classes. Activities may include discussing class concepts, checking comprehension, exploring ideas for papers or projects, revising papers, or practicing pronunciation and presentations.

Class Number

1293

Credits

1.5

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1011

Description

An introductory course in reading, writing, and conversational Spanish.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1505

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1427

Description

Arabic I ???? is a fully integrated introductory course for students with no background in the language. The course is designed for beginning students whose learning objectives and needs are in any of the following categories: continued language study, business purposes, or travel. Students will learn to speak and understand Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and read and write Arabic script. Students will develop speaking and listening skills through audiovisual media, interactive fun activities, and paired dialogue practices. There will be a strong emphasis on oral proficiency needed to provide the necessary framework to communicate clearly and effectively. These objectives will be achieved through the following approaches: speaking, listening, reading, writing, and cultural studies.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1504

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1427

Description

An introductory course in reading, writing and conversational French.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1501

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1427

Description

Chinese I is designed for beginners who take Chinese as a foreign language. Students who speak Chinese as their native language are not allowed to attend this course. Students who have taken Chinese study in the past are required to take the evaluation test and gain approval of the instructor to enroll.

Students will study the Chinese Mandarin sound system PIN YIN, the basic strokes from the Chinese Calligraphy, Chinese numbers, common Chinese Radicals and Lessons 1-5 of <> (Level 1 Part 1). Students can speak and write systematically more than 150 essential vocabulary words, master the key grammatical structures, build the real-life communicative skills. They will also write and tell a story about themselves and their interests on Chinese paper utilizing 150 characters.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1502

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Online

Description

An introductory course in reading, writing, and conversational German.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1500

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1427

Description

This is a continuing course in reading, writing, and speaking Spanish. Prerequisite: LANGUAGE 2001 Spanish I.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: LANGUAGE 2001.

Class Number

1506

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Lakeview - 1427

Description

This course is part two of a two-semester sequence. Its goal is to provide students without any knowledge of the French language a solid foundation in the basic patterns of written and spoken French and an understanding of the particular sociocultural norms necessary for everyday communication in France. These are achieved in several ways: (1) a careful study of French grammar, with a communicative approach, (2) a study of the basics of French phonetics, and (3) a variety of materials such as readings, movies, commercials, etc.

French II is the sequel of French I. Prerequisite: French I or agreement of instructor.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: LANGUAGE 2005.

Class Number

1499

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 501

Description

Chinese II is designed for students who take Chinese as a foreign language and have passed the Chinese I course. For the students who have not taken the Chinese I course at SAIC, an evaluation test is required and students must gain the instructor's approval in writing to enroll in this course. Students who speak Chinese as their native language are not allowed to attend this course.

Students will continue to learn the Lessons 6-10 of <> (Level 1 Part 1) to expand vocabulary words and key grammatical structures. The course will aim to expose students to more Chinese culture, help them with Chinese oral presentations and writing about school life, study, shopping, and transportation.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: LANGUAGE 2008.

Class Number

1503

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

Online

Description

This course will introduce students to modern and contemporary literature by thinking through and against the canon. We will read across genres and traditions while discussing how culture, identity, and power relations impact the production and reception of literature in twentieth- and twenty-first-century America. Through readings such as Nella Larsen¿s Passing (1929) and N. Scott Momaday¿s House Made of Dawn (1968), we will analyze texts that unsettle hegemonic aesthetics and amplify marginalized voices. As such, students can expect to develop as critical thinkers, close readers, writers, and researchers.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1482

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Location

MacLean 608

Description

This course examines how queer communities and practices have sustained themselves amid political, social, and cultural precarity - and how such crises have simultaneously generated new possibilities for connection, creativity, and resistance. Drawing on key concepts in queer studies and queer of color critique, the course investigates how art, activism, and collective care have served as strategies for survival, solidarity, and world-making. Through historical and contemporary case studies - including the Tenderloin riots, the Stonewall uprising, the AIDS activist movement, disability justice, and harm reduction practices, among others - we will explore how moments of crisis have fostered resilient networks of care and mutual support. Readings and case studies spanning art, activism, and politics will illuminate how queer politics continually emerge from majoritarian structures aimed at systemic erasure. Ultimately, the course invites students to think about 'queer' not only as an identity but as a political practice of care and resistance in precarious times.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: First Year English requirement.

Class Number

1753

Credits

3

Department

Liberal Arts

Area of Study

Gender and Sexuality

Location

Lakeview - 203

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