| Reading Art |
Liberal Arts |
1001 (003) |
Fall 2025 |
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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.
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Class Number
1014
Credits
3
|
| FYS II: Nuclear Problems & Society |
Liberal Arts |
1005 (22S) |
Spring 2025 |
|
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.
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Class Number
1315
Credits
3
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| Top:Globalizing Japanese Pop Culture |
Liberal Arts |
3500 (001) |
Spring 2025 |
|
Description
In this course, we will take various Japanese pop culture genres including comics, anime, food, fashion, music, etc. and examine the interplay between local and global culturescapes. Students are expected to critically inquire into the reality and complexity of people's lives in Japan as reflected in cultural products and to explore cultural transformation in Japan as a part of the dynamics of globalization. Locally 'common' value and knowledge is challenged as culture traverses borders. From the expansion of Japanese fan communities to the Asia-Pacific region and Brazil, to feminist criticism of gender representation, we will employ case studies to overcome our conscious or unconscious exoticism and to deepen our understanding toward Japanese culture in global context. Key points of inquiry will include: what racial and ethnic relations/tensions underlying global popular culture; economic and political factors driving trends in Japanese popular culture; gender, sexuality, and the politics of representation.
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Class Number
2168
Credits
3
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| Top:Sociology of Food |
Liberal Arts |
3500 (002) |
Fall 2025 |
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Description
Eating is a highly individualized behavior. What you put in your mouth is solely and exclusively consumed by yourself, thus issues surrounding food is often understood in terms of personal taste, choice, and practice. While such an individual aspect of food and eating holds true, however, we should realize there is another aspect, namely, a social aspect of food and eating. One?s preference and choice does not emerge in a social vacuum. Individual practice is formed in a society, also vice versa, it is reforming back a given society. This course sociologically inquires the interplays of individual practice and social structure surrounding food issues. We will consider issues of food and diet by using sociological concepts, such as, class, gender, social status, ethnicity, nationalism, and agency and structure. With those conceptual tools, we will explore various food topics: culinary culture, identity, globalization, GMOs, Slow Food movement, urban food desert, ethical consumption, etc. Students are expected to bring their thoughts derived from their own daily food practice, and actively develop theoretical and empirical insights into issues of food cultures.
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Class Number
1815
Credits
3
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| Top:Sociology of Consumption |
Liberal Arts |
3500 (004) |
Spring 2025 |
|
Description
Consumption is central to our lifestyles and identities in contemporary societies. What you wear, what you eat, what you watch ¿ in short, what you buy¿ seems to confirm who you are or how you want to display yourself to society. What does it mean to be a consumer, and how does that specific identity intersect with other identities, such as a citizen, a producer, and an artist? In this course, we will explore various arguments about consumption in modern society to understand the development and significance of this specific economic and cultural behavior.
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Class Number
2254
Credits
3
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