Each semester the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies offers courses in areas of mutual
student and faculty interest. These are courses not easily aligned with a single department
or program, are often offered only once or occasionally and thus do not appear in the
College catalog.
FALL 2012 COURSES
CIS 220: Introduction to Film & Media Studies
Maggie McCarthy
An introduction to film history and analysis, with an equal emphasis on film language
(cinematic means of expression) and thematics. Viewing and discussion of films from a wide
variety of national traditions and genres, supplemented by discussion of analytical and
theoretical texts. Required course for fulfilling the Film and Media Studies concentration.
CIS 237: Business Ethics and Consumer Responsibility
David Perry
The stories behind the extraction of raw materials from the earth or sea, the people who
grew or manufactured the stuff we buy, how well or badly they were treated as workers, and
the environmental impact of the product life-cycle: those stories can be both fascinating
and exceedingly complex. How do they relate to us as consumers, and as potential employees
and managers of corporations? What does society have a right to expect from corporations in
the realm of moral responsibility? This course addresses these and other related questions,
and satisfies the distribution requirement in Philosophical and Religious Perspectives.
CIS 315: Masterpieces of French Cinema (FRE 365)
Alan Singerman
Overview of the most important movements and key films of classical French cinema from its
origins in 1895, with an emphasis on poetic realism in the 1930s and the New Wave in the
late 50s and early 60s, followed by a selection of more recent French films. Emphasis will
be placed on honing skills in film analysis including both aesthetic and thematic elements.
Weekly evening screenings of films by pioneers such as Lumière, Méliès, Buñuel and Dalí and
by iconic French filmmakers like Renoir, Carné, Clément, Tati, Bresson, Truffaut, Godard,
Resnais, Malle, Rohmer, and Varda, as well as more recent directors such as Collard and
Kassovitz. Counts toward the Film and Media Studies Concentration. Prerequisites and Notes:
Any course numbered French 200 and above. Taught in English. For French major credit, all
readings and written work, as well as additional weekly oral discussion, are done in
French.
CIS 321: Interactive Digital Narratives
Neil Lerner
PREQ (enforced) CIS 220 or ENG 293
A close study of selected video games using an interdisciplinary blend of methodologies
culled from cultural studies, film and media studies, literary criticism, and history, this
seminar will require several essays and presentations.
Counts in 2011-12 for the 400-level seminar course required for the concentration in Film
and Media Studies.
CIS 383: Civil Rights Wars & Warriors
Jim Fuller
Learn about-and from-the lawyers and litigants who accepted personal and financial risk to
challenge Jim Crow Laws. This course, with an emphasis on oral history, brings into the
classroom some of these historically important clients and lawyers. Theirs is the untold
story behind the landmark legal decisions that changed our way of life in our region and
throughout the nation. It is a story only they can tell. We will read law and cases,
research the press, the lawyers, judges, and plaintiffs, and cover broader history in order
to prepare for several visits from some of the actors in these landmark events; each visit
forming a basis for creating oral history. Readings, response papers, presentation of an
oral history project, and a major final paper.
CIS 390: Health Care Ethics
Lance Stell
Permission Required - Recommended prerequisites: CIS 391, PHI 130 or REL 256
CIS 397: The American Health Care System
Joe Konen
This course reviews the origins and concepts of primary care medicine in America in its
present state and proposes models which might better serve a majority of the basic health
care needs of America's population in the new millennium. By the end of the course,
students are expected to be creative in articulating a workable primary care system for the
next century.
CIS 470: Global Health Ethics
Kristie Foley
Global health ethics seeks to understand values and principles which guide medical and
public health practice throughout the world. Particular attention will be given to health
inequalities and how medicine and public health may work to resolve these problems.
Students will apply ethical frameworks to identify and clarify the dilemmas posed intra-
and internationally related to the study, prevention, and treatment of disease. Ultimately,
students will be able to analyze various courses of actions and their consequences and
propose pragmatic and value-driven solutions to current global health concerns.
SPRING 2012 COURSES
CIS 303, HISTORY OF MEDICINE
Joe Konen & Staff
This is an interdisciplinary, team taught seminar format of selected topics by Davidson
faculty from various departments as well as guest faculty from the fields of medicine,
surgery, psychiatry and pharmacology. Together we will trace the evolution from pre-
historic through modern times of the interconnections of cultural, philosophical, ethical
and religious influences on the development of the arts, humanities and sciences of the
healing practices that characterize modern medicine. The last two centuries will be
emphasized to explain present day medical achievements and challenges in optimum health
care delivery.
CIS 391, RESEARCH ETHICS
Kristie Foley
This course provides students with a comprehensive overview of the responsible conduct of
research. Topics will include: animal welfare; ethical guidelines for research involving
human subjects; informed consent; data acquisition and ownership; individual and group
rights; confidentiality; conflict of interest and commitment; intellectual property rights;
and responsible dissemination of research findings. Topics will be framed within the
historical foundations of research ethics.
CIS 431, THEORETICAL EXPLORATIONS ON COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Stacey Riemer
This course examines community engagement through a range of theoretical and pedagogical
lenses. After interrogating constructions of "community" and "service," we will explore the
ways in which topics such as social justice, civic engagement, empowerment, diversity & the
ethics of service frame community work. Students will engage in a service experience with a
local nonprofit organization and use these experiences to inform seminar readings.
CIS 432, THEORY & PRACTICE IN LITERARY TRANSLATION
Scott Denham & Kyra Kietrys
This seminar addresses theoretical and practical aspects of literary translation,
underscoring translation as both a distinctive form of creative writing and a demonstration
of cross-cultural and linguistic competencies. The course explores translation across
languages and cultures, but also issues of genre, adaptation, register, period, colonial
and post-colonial literary and cultural relations, canonicity and innovation, for example.
Coursework includes weekly literary translation, theoretical and historical readings, peer
review, and a substantial final project and writing portfolio.
Pre-requisites: intermediate competence (one course beyond 201) in at least one language
besides English; distribution requirement in literature (old) or Literary Studies, Creative
Writing, and Rhetoric (new).
CIS 483, CIVIL RIGHTS WARS; CIVIL RIGHTS WARRIORS
Jim Fuller
Learn about-and from-the lawyers and litigants who accepted personal and financial risk to
challenge Jim Crow Laws. In this course, you will visit with these legal and individual
trailblazers for justice in an oral history format.
This course, with an emphasis on oral history, brings into the classroom some of these
historically important clients and lawyers. Theirs is the untold story behind the landmark
legal decisions that changed our way of life in our region and throughout the nation. It is
a story only they can tell. We will read law and cases, research the press, the lawyers,
judges, and plaintiffs, and cover broader history in order to prepare for several visits
from some of the actors in these landmark events; each visit forming a basis for creating
oral history. Readings, response papers, presentation of an oral history project, and a
major final paper.
CIS 485, THE ART & CRAFT OF DIPLOMACY IN AFRICA
Haywood Rankin
This seminar will focus on four regions and four periods of crisis within those regions
that required intense diplomatic engagement over the past 20 years: The Maghreb, Sudan and
Chad, West Africa, Congo basin and Great Lakes.
The four units of the seminar will cover the history and culture of each region, then focus
on an event that demanded diplomatic action by several actors, with readings and discussion
of the stakes, limits, goals, and points of view of the relevant actors. The instructor Mr.
Rankin was present as a U.S. diplomat for each event. Readings that the instructor and the
students bring to each of the four units will be historical, political, cultural, and
diplomatic and will include general and specific histories, period news sources, period
original source documents, memoir and personal accounts, policy and strategic statements
and analyses. This course will also address, implicitly throughout, but also explicitly
for each of the units and crises, the important question of what it means to be an American
diplomat.
CIS 490, ETHICS IN PUBLIC HEALTH PRACTICE & POLICY
Kristie Foley
Greatest advances in life expectancy in the United States were achieved in the early 20th
century, when our country experienced the epidemiological transition. This transition can
be largely explained by three intersecting movements: 1) reductions in chronic malnutrition
as a result of improved living standards; 2) health behavior campaigns that encouraged
individuals to engage in proper hygiene, food handling, hand washing, and breastfeeding;
and 3) major public health interventions, including access to clean water, better
sanitation and refuse management. The latter of these required governments to create
physical and policy environments that promote health. Creating healthy environments today
requires deliberate actions on the part of citizens and their elected officials to
construct "spaces" (physical, economic, and social) that maximize the potential for health
and quality of life, but may compromise autonomy of residents in those spaces. This course
will consider the impact of community design on health, strategies for promoting healthy
places, and the ethical tensions that arise when practitioners and policy makers wrestle
with alternative strategies to promote health. Students in this course will also
participate in the Town of Davidson's Design for Life (DD4L) project that uses health
impact assessments to foster healthy community design.
FALL 2011 COURSES
CIS 220: Introduction to Film & Media Studies
Prof. Neil Lerner
An introduction to film history and analysis, with an equal emphasis on film language
(cinematic means of expression) and thematics. Viewing and discussion of films from a wide
variety of national traditions and genres, supplemented by discussion of analytical and
theoretical texts. Required course for fulfilling the Film and Media Studies concentration.
CIS 234: The Future of Media in the Digital Age
Batten Professor of Public Policy - John Alexander
Few professions are undergoing change more rapidly or fundamentally than journalism -
whether in print, on television, or via the Internet. In an era when venerable Newsweek
magazine sells for one dollar, while the upstart online Huffington Post is purchased for
more than $300 million, anything goes. Old business models collapse, yet viable new ones
have not yet emerged. In the midst of this revolution, how can citizens find the news they
need to make informed decisions affecting the future of their neighborhoods, communities,
and nation? Using a variety of source materials, this course will examine trends in all
media and their prospects for success both as business enterprises and as reliable
purveyors of information. The role of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube
in the gathering and dissemination of news will be explored, as will influential blogs and
specialty web sites. Students will be expected to conduct original research into these
topics, and classes will be highly interactive. Assignments will hone students' own
communication skills, both verbal and written. Emphasis will be placed on the implications
of these trends for the continued development of an informed public in a democratic
society.
CIS 236: Ethics and Warfare
Prof. David Perry
Every human society (as far as we can tell) has prescribed some moral rules against killing
other human beings. But nearly every society has also permitted killing under certain
conditions, e.g., in self-defense, in defense of family or community, or as punishment for
particular offenses. War is a peculiar human activity, in that it can bring out some of our
best traits (such as courage and self-sacrifice) yet also elicit tremendous cruelty and
suffering. For all of these reasons and more, war is a prime candidate for ethical
scrutiny. This course examines theories about why human beings engage in mass killing, the
history of moral deliberation about war in major philosophical and religious traditions,
and modern analyses of the diverse and sometimes conflicting moral principles that those
traditions have bequeathed to us. Students will develop an appreciation for the richness of
ethical thinking about war, and enhance their skills in applying moral philosophical
reasoning to contemporary wars.
CIS 285: Southeast Asian Cultures and Politics
Prof. Laura Elder (Luce Postdoctoral Fellow)
This course offers anthropological and historical perspectives on the societies and
cultures of Southeast Asia, a region which includes the countries of Vietnam, Laos,
Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar (Burma), Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, and the
Philippines. Initially we will focus on culture and power in the everyday lives of people
in pre-colonial and colonial Southeast Asia. We will then proceed to investigate colonial
and post-colonial transformations through a case study of power and inequality within
Indonesia. Finally, we will investigate aspects of culture and power in modern Southeast
Asia through a regional focus on aspects of gender, ethnicity, religion and class in
relation to the forging of nation-states and projects of development.
CIS 312/GER 341: Screening the Environment
Prof. Maggie McCarthy
Understanding how humans interact with the environment in movies requires a cultural and
historical backdrop, as well as familiarity with symbolic tropes that represent nature.
This course will use German concepts of nature - from Romanticism through National
Socialism to the birth of the Green Party - as well as Ecofeminism in the American context
as reference points for interpreting films. Particular emphasis will be placed on
imaginative constructions of the environment and their role in the way that we conceive our
own identities. As much as science objectively measures the global conditions in which will
live, subjective representations, including cinematic images, indelibly color the way we
perceive our surroundings. This course will map out some particularly German and American
fantasies - from the notion of Heimat to a love of the open road - that in turn become core
components in national identities.
CIS 335: Travel & Service Revisited
Profs. Shireen Campbell & Maggie McCarthy
This course offers students returning from intensive depth study and/or service abroad the
opportunity to "debrief," reflect on their experiences, and to share their insights in a
public forum. It will provide them with the means to reflect on their experiences in
relation to scholarship on autobiography and travel literature, as well as essays by
writers, philosophers, and religious figures who have historically lead lives of leadership
and service. By the end of the semester students will have created a portfolio of work that
documents their experiences, which may include photojournalism, documentary, or creative
non-fiction. Questions should be directed to Professor Campbell or McCarthy.
CIS 352/PSY 352: Gender Identity: Psychological Theories and Literary Representations
Prof. Ruth Ault
This seminar considers gender identity from an interdisciplinary perspective, combining
literature and psychology. The psychological theories of sex-role development that we will
consider are biological, social cognitive (Bandura), schema (Bem), and Freudian. Literature
includes novels, short stories, plays, memoirs, and films. Students have written and oral
communication assignments and perform critical analyses of theories and literature. The
course satisfies the major "seminar" requirement in Psychology. It might also count as a
seminar or elective for the Gender Studies Concentration-inquire of that coordinator.
REGISTER VIA PSY number; changes to a CIS number can be accomplished, if desired, after the
course begins.
CIS 390: Health Care Ethics
Prof. Lance Stell
CIS 392: Introduction to Epidemiology
Prof. Kristie Foley
Epidemiology is the systematic and rigorous study of health and disease in a population.
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to core concepts in epidemiology,
including: history, philosophy, and uses of epidemiology; descriptive epidemiology, such as
patterns of disease and injury; association and causation of disease, including concepts of
inference, bias, and confounding; analytical epidemiology, including experimental and non-
experimental design; and applications to basic and clinical science and policy. The course
is designed to require problem-based learning of epidemiological concepts and methods, so
that students can use epidemiology as a scientific tool for addressing the health needs of
a community.
CIS 397: The American Health Care System
Prof. Joe Konen
This course reviews the origins and concepts of primary care medicine in America in its
present state and proposes models which might better serve a majority of the basic health
care needs of America's population in the new millennium. By the end of the course,
students are expected to be creative in articulating a workable primary care system for the
next century.
CIS 421/GER 446: Migration & Identity on Film (taught in translation)
Prof. Maggie McCarthy
This course looks at issues of migration, assimilation, and their impact on national
identity in recent films from a variety of cultural contexts. Against the backdrop of the
European Union and dreams of a "post-Europe" with fluid boundaries, xenophobia and forms of
ultra-nationalism persist. Larger anxieties about cultural differences feed filmic
fantasies about migrant populations in need of either containment or, in most extreme form,
expulsion. At the same time, many films depict the concrete and psychic ways in which
migrants negotiate new identities across seemingly hard and fast boundaries. What results
can have significant repercussions for the national identity against and through which
migrant populations define themselves. Films will include: Dirty, Pretty Things (England,
Stephen Frears, 2002), The Edge of Heaven (Germany, Fatih Akin, 2007); Code Unknown
(France, Michael Hanneke, 2000); and Once (Ireland, John Carney, 2006).
CIS 434: The Theory and Practice of Leadership
Batten Professor of Public Policy - John Alexander
The past decade has brought a proliferation of best-selling books, research studies,
academic courses, and even whole university departments, schools, and training institutions
devoted to leadership and leadership development. Yet leadership remains a controversial
subject for scholarly exploration. There is no accepted definition for leadership, and
scholars debate the extent to which leadership plays a pivotal role in the rise and fall of
organizations, communities, and even societies. This course will trace the evolution of
leadership as an emerging academic discipline and will examine leadership from a variety of
perspectives, including historical, psychological/behavioral, political, and literary.
Special attention will be given to leadership in global and cross-cultural settings, and to
the relationship of leadership to personal and organizational change. Methods for
developing leadership at the individual, group, and organizational levels will also be
examined. Students will explore their own capacity for and orientation toward leadership
through a series of exercises, assessments, and readings.
SPRING 2011 COURSES
CIS 223/GER 242, HOLLYWOOD ALTERNATIVES
Maggie McCarthy
CIS 239, THE MORAL STATUS OF HUMANS & OTHER ANIMALS
David Perry
There is a general consensus today that all people share a set of basic rights, or what
might also be called full moral status. But we are less likely to agree about the moral
status of human beings at the edges of life, such as early embryos (may we use them to
extract stem cells, or freeze them indefinitely?) and individuals who are permanently
unconscious (should they be considered dead?). We also have not reached a consensus about
the moral status of various non-human animals: Some cultures revere all living things,
while others grant non-human animals little or no independent moral status at all. Some
contemporary theorists argue that any sentient animals (capable of suffering) deserve to
have their interests count in our moral deliberations; among them are many proponents of
vegetarianism who regard our treatment of food animals as unnecessarily cruel. A few
philosophers go so far as to argue that highly intelligent animals like chimpanzees and
dolphins have rights like ours, and should not be kept in zoos or used in biomedical
experiments. This course will explore these and other fascinating ethical questions,
drawing in part on recent findings in neuroscience and zoology.
CIS 303, HISTORY OF MEDICINE
Joe Konen & Staff
This is an interdisciplinary, team taught seminar format of selected topics by Davidson
faculty from various departments as well as guest faculty from the fields of medicine,
surgery, psychiatry and pharmacology. Together we will trace the evolution from pre-
historic through modern times of the interconnections of cultural, philosophical, ethical
and religious influences on the development of the arts, humanities and sciences of the
healing practices that characterize modern medicine. The last two centuries will be
emphasized to explain present day medical achievements and challenges in optimum health
care delivery.
CIS 380, ISSUES IN MEDICINE
Kristie Foley
The purpose of Issues in Medicine is to critically evaluate the external influence of
social values, culture, political climate, technological development, population
characteristics, and global concerns on shaping health care systems and delivery.
Implications for the patient and health care provider will be discussed. By participating
in clinical rotations, students are expected to apply concepts learned in class to real
world experiences.
CIS 390, HEALTH CARE ETHICS
Lance Stell
CIS 391, RESEARCH ETHICS
Kristie Foley
This course provides students with a comprehensive overview of the responsible conduct of
research. Topics will include: animal welfare; ethical guidelines for research involving
human subjects; informed consent; data acquisition and ownership; individual and group
rights; confidentiality; conflict of interest and commitment; intellectual property rights;
and responsible dissemination of research findings. Topics will be framed within the
historical foundations of research ethics.
CIS 421/ENG 493, FILM & MEDIA STUDIES: FILM ART
Zoran Kuzmanovich
This course is a hands-on study of style and narration in the fiction film. After a
reminder of the pre- and post- production processes, we'll focus on individual directorial
styles. We'll also make a communal film to explore the capabilities and shortcomings of the
available equipment. Then, each student will be given a chance to write/adapt, direct,
film, and edit a short film using digital video cameras and non-linear editing equipment.
We'll look at those films in light of the latest theories of narrative and the knowledge
about cinema acquired from the film-maker's end. The final versions of all films will be
burnt to DVDs. If there are musicians among us, they will be given a chance to score a film
and/or do sound design.
No special knowledge of technology is presumed. A course on film (X through film, X and
film, the X of film, film as X, X on film, film X, Filmmaker X and Filmmaker Y , etc.)
should be decent preparation for this class; an upper level course in art, creative
writing, literature, semiotics, or literary criticism would also be of help.
CIS 431, THEORETICAL EXPLORATIONS ON COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Stacey Riemer
This course examines community engagement through a range of theoretical and pedagogical
lenses. After interrogating constructions of "community" and "service," we will explore the
ways in which topics such as social justice, civic engagement, empowerment, diversity & the
ethics of service frame community work. Students will engage in a service experience with a
local nonprofit organization and use these experiences to inform seminar readings.
CIS 485, THE ART & CRAFT OF DIPLOMACY IN AFRICA
Haywood Rankin
This seminar will focus on four regions and four periods of crisis within those regions
that required intense diplomatic engagement over the past 20 years: The Maghreb, Sudan and
Chad, West Africa, Congo basin and Great Lakes.The four units of the seminar will cover the
history and culture of each region, then focus on an event that demanded diplomatic action
by several actors, with readings and discussion of the stakes, limits, goals, and points of
view of the relevant actors. The instructor Mr. Rankin was present as a U.S. diplomat for
each event. Readings that the instructor and the students bring to each of the four units
will be historical, political, cultural, and diplomatic and will include general and
specific histories, period news sources, period original source documents, memoir and
personal accounts, policy and strategic statements and analyses. This course will also
address, implicitly throughout, but also explicitly for each of the units and crises, the
important question of what it means to be an American diplomat.
FALL 2010 COURSES
CIS 101, Living the Liberal Arts: The Self and Creation
Profs. Greta Munger and Shelley Rigger
Are you the author of your own life? Or are you at the mercy of the world around you? Do
you make your own luck? Or are you a puppet in the hands of nature? Where does your
autonomy begin and end?
Living the Liberal Arts: The Self and Creation will consider these questions from the
standpoints of literature, philosophy, art and science. The course will engage you in a
shared intellectual community, introducing you to the liberal arts through readings,
discussions and cultural events. Plays, musical performances, visiting lecturers and art
openings are part of the course; the assignments are designed to make these events exciting
and intellectually satisfying by embedding them in a collective intellectual journey. The
course satisfies one distribution requirement in social science.
Course speakers & events
Brian Turner, Here, Bullet (on campus 9/7 - 9/10)
The Reynolds lecture (Literature), Junot Díaz (9/23)
The Smith Lecture (Physics), Lawrence Krauss (10/6)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Così fan tutte (Opera Carolina, 10/21)
Jane Austen, Pride & Prejudice (Department of Theatre production, 10/27-31)
Bertolt Brecht, Life of Galileo (Department of Theatre production, 11/17-21)
Ewan Gibbs, Visual Arts Center exhibit
Selected readings
Plato, Apology
Kamo no Chomei, "An Account of My Hut"
Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild
Junot Díaz, The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Stephen Jay Gould, Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History
Dava Sobel, Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith and Love
Rebecca Skloot, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Galileo Galilei, "Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina of Tuscany, 1615"
CIS 131, Introduction to Health Economics
Reg for ECO 122
Prof. Alica Sparling
This course provides students without an economics background a broad overview of the
health economics field. A foundation of microeconomics principles is developed and this
foundation is then used to analyze leading health care issues. [Not for major or minor
credit in Economics.]
CIS 171: Introduction to Environmental Studies
Profs. Annie Ingram, Cindy Hauser & Julianne Mills
CIS 171 introduces students to major issues in environmental studies from both disciplinary
and interdisciplinary perspectives. The CIS 171 professors have research and teaching
interests in both interdisciplinary Environmental Studies and their respective disciplines.
The course has three main units: Sustainability, Global Climate Change, and Food &
Agriculture. Students learn course content through reading assignments, case studies,
discussion, lecture, hands-on projects, and reflection. Individual and group assignments
include papers, oral presentations, community-based learning, and campus-as-lab projects.
Occasionally, guest speakers will address issues of local interest, and students may also
earn extra credit by attending relevant campus and community events. By the end of the
semester, students will know more about environmental issues at the campus, local,
national, and global levels, and will be better writers, speakers, critical thinkers, and
community participants.
CIS 220: Introduction to Film & Media Studies
Prof. Maggie McCarthy
An introduction to film history and analysis, with an equal emphasis on film language
(cinematic means of expression) and thematics. Viewing and discussion of films from a wide
variety of national traditions and genres, supplemented by discussion of analytical and
theoretical texts. Required course for fulfilling the Film and Media Studies concentration.
CIS 224: Introduction to Modern Chinese Culture
Register for CHI 120
Prof. Vivian Chen
Note: Taught in English. Satisfies the cultural diversity requirement.
Introduces several aspects of Chinese culture including Chinese cultural motifs and their
cultural implications, holidays and festivals, Peking opera, 20th century Chinese drama,
Chinese etymology and calligraphy, Chinese popular music, Chinese cinema, Chinese martial
arts, and food. Additionally, the course will also talk about some paradox, dialectics and
misconception in Chinese culture.
CIS 238: Ethics in Professional Life
Prof. David Perry
Complex and challenging ethical issues can arise in professional life. Some writers have
argued that the special responsibilities inherent in professional roles justify a kind of
immunity to "normal" moral duties: for example, that doctors should lie to their patients
if the truth might cause them unnecessary stress, or that a lawyer's duty of
confidentiality to clients overrides any other ethical considerations. We'll explore those
and other claims about the nature and scope of professional ethics to see how well they
hold up under scrutiny. This course is intended: to foster awareness of ethical concerns
across a wide range of professions (such as law, medicine, journalism, engineering and
accounting) and professional environments (education, business, government, etc.); to
enable you to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of various moral beliefs and ethical
arguments relative to professional life; and to reinforce your personal sense of compassion
and fairness in the context of your future professional roles.
CIS 253: The First Amendment
Batten Professor of Public Policy Scott Bosley
Tension over all five First Amendment freedoms creates clashes with other constitutional
guarantees or, simply, changing mores. Diminution of these freedoms threatens discourse in
the public square that is essential to the strength of democracy. Free speech, religious
freedom, the right to assemble and the right to petition government are all facing
challenges. The freedom of the press is, perhaps, under the most intense pressure. With the
Internet came a drumbeat of challenges on privacy grounds; measures to provide parental
control bump against the rights of the general population at the public library. With 9/11
came challenges to press freedom based on national security concerns and/or simply fear.
Attendant and critical questions arise over open government and access to public records.
Journalists and courts clash over the conflict with Sixth Amendment rights to a fair trial.
An opportunity to balance the challenges to all five freedoms, based on current events and
settled law, will allow students deeper understanding of role of the First Amendment in our
free society.
CIS 311: Film Adaptation
Register for GER 341
Prof. Maggie McCarthy
Traditionally, the topic of filmic adaptation has inspired its share of old-fashioned
scholarship. Predictable metaphors describing film's inevitable "betrayal" of literary
sources abounded. In recent years a veritable boom of new scholarship has sought
sophisticated theories for rethinking relations between texts and films. To move beyond the
conceptual impasse of origin and deficient copy, critics have looked to Russian critic
Mikhail Bakhtin's notion of "dialogics." Accordingly, all texts - broadly understood to
encompass films and other artistic products - are more accurately "intertexts" which quote
or embed fragments of texts in an endless cycle of transformation. Source texts can take
many forms, including songs, poems, newspaper articles, comic strips and books, plays and
other films. My "bias" throughout this course will be to remain as unbiased as possible,
privileging neither textual sources nor the films they inspire but instead respecting each
as their own unique artistic creation.
CIS 331: Seminar - Ecological Economics
Prof. Julianne Mills
Despite vast accumulations of knowledge, environmental crises continue to mount. Human
economies and natural systems have both been explored in great depth, but while global
problems require unified, holistic approaches, our tendency has been to compartmentalize
knowledge of these fields into discrete disciplines. Ecological economics endeavors to
overcome this weakness-both by joining the disciplines of economics and ecology and by
forcing its practitioners to question some of the primary assumptions that color
disciplinary thinking. Mainstream economics, for instance, has long presumed that economic
principles can be applied to the use of natural resources with predictable outcomes, and
ecology has too often ignored the critical roles played by humans and their myriad economic
motivations. Ecological economics challenges the foundation of these disciplinary
approaches by placing the human economy squarely within the natural system-creating a new
set of expectations that emphasize both the importance of human-ecosystem interactions and
the notion that the human economy is bound by the laws of nature.
No formal prerequisites. Independence, motivation, and dedication to critical analysis
(including of your own views or assumptions) are a must. Earns Social Science distribution
credit and fulfills the Social Science requirement of the Environmental Studies
Concentration. Open to sophomores and above.
CIS 387: Education in African-American Society
Register for EDU 300
Prof. Hilton Kelly
This seminar explores the social and historical forces shaping the education of people of
African descent in the United States from slavery to the 21st century. We will examine
values, beliefs, and perspectives on education across gender and class lines, individual
and group efforts toward building educational institutions and organizations, hidden or
forgotten educational initiatives and programming, and cross-cultural projects to promote
literacy and achievement in African-American society. Students will write a seminar paper
and complete a midterm and final review.
CIS 397: The American Health Care System
Prof. Joe Konen
This course reviews the origins and concepts of primary care medicine in America in its
present state and proposes models which might better serve a majority of the basic health
care needs of America's population in the new millennium. By the end of the course,
students are expected to be creative in articulating a workable primary care system for the
next century.
CIS 453: The Future of Journalism
Batten Professor of Public Policy Scott Bosley
Journalism is an essential element in delivering the necessary information for the self-
governance of society. Today, the quality and breadth of journalism as practiced by
traditional media is threatened by evolving technology and a collapsing economic model. The
search for new models is both frantic and exhilarating. Legacy media companies and
entrepreneurial start-ups are battling very publicly for audience share that can be
monetized. Layoffs in legacy media and the smaller revenue streams of start-ups lead to
questions both near-term and long-term about the ability to pay for quality journalism. Tax
breaks, non-profit status, foundation support and hybrid models are among experiments and
suggestions; all raise questions about the integrity and quality of the outcome. Background
readings on journalism will underpin a broad real-time examination of some interesting
models. Individuals or teams could posit answers through research.
Spring 2010 Courses
CIS 175, Globalization, food & Environment
Reg for ECO 180
Julianne Mills
Cheap bananas in the global North . . . tomatoes in January . . . coffee on every street
corner-these things seem commonplace today, but this cheap global grocery store has
certainly not always existed. When did the concept of seasonal, local produce fall off the
radar of the American public? How did exotic foods make their way around the globe to wind
up on our dinner tables and next to our cereal bowls? And most importantly, how do the
processes of globalization that make these incredible feats of global transfer (of goods,
preferences, culture, experience, etc.) appear mundane wind up affecting our environment
and our world?
We will invoke economics, history, political science, biology, sociology, anthropology, and
geography as we explore a myriad of interrelated issues: the historic, economic, and
political foundations of globalization, concepts of the "global environment," the
institutional implementation of economic globalization, the historical distributions of
food and agriculture, the genetics of the Green Revolution, the technologies that make
global-scale food transport possible, the interaction of globalization and development, and
the economic, environmental and social effects which arise from the global restructuring of
the food system. No economics prerequisite. Earns Social Science distribution credit and
fulfills the Social Science requirement of the Environmental Studies Concentration.
CIS 211, INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN STUDIES: ORIGINS & DESTINIES
Hilton Kelly, Anne Wills
What makes an American? Baseball, apple pie, and dear old Mom? Or, is it shopping malls,
fast food, Hip Hop and "Drop Dead Diva?" Do we understand ourselves through "The Jamestown
Project" or "Project Runway" - John Wayne or Lil' Wayne - through the Swamp Fox or Jamie
Foxx - through chicken soup or chicken curry? In this course, we will explore American
identity and think critically about the discipline of "American studies." We will attend
particularly to the complexity of American sociopolitical life as it reflects historical
memory, national identity, and cultural diversity. Topics of the course will include
American myths and symbols, immigration and migration, colonialism and empire-building, and
the internationalization of the nation. By investigating literary, visual, sociological,
historical, and religious artifacts and data, we will examine some foundational questions
raised in the field.
CIS 224, INTRODUCTION TO MODERN CHINESE CULTURE
Reg for CHI 120
Vivian Shen
Note: Taught in English. Satisfies the cultural diversity requirement.
This course introduces several aspects of Chinese culture including Chinese cultural motifs
and their cultural implications, holidays and festivals, Peking opera, 20th century Chinese
drama, Chinese etymology and calligraphy, Chinese popular music, Chinese cinema, Chinese
martial arts, and food. Additionally, the course will also talk about some paradox,
dialectics and misconception in Chinese culture.
CIS 237, BUSINESS ETHICS & CONSUMER RESPONSIBILITY
David Perry
We often purchase and use products without any idea where they come from. The stories
behind the extraction of raw materials from the earth or sea, the people who grew or
manufactured the stuff we buy, how well or badly they were treated as workers, and the
environmental impact of the product life-cycle: those stories can be both fascinating and
exceedingly complex. How do those stories relate to us as consumers, and as potential
employees and managers of corporations? What does society have a right to expect from
corporations in the realm of moral responsibility? Do corporate leaders have any moral
obligations beyond serving the interests of the stockholders and obeying the law? Do they
have moral obligations to other "stakeholders" such as employees, consumers, suppliers,
members of communities living near factories, et al.?
In business as in other arenas of life, it's important for us to develop moral wisdom and
moral courage: wisdom to recognize when an ethical problem arises, as well as to make sound
decisions in situations of moral conflict; and courage to do what we know is right even
when there are strong pressures or incentives to do otherwise. Hence, the primary
objectives of this course are: 1) to increase your awareness of a wide range of ethical
challenges that can arise in business and the global economy; 2) to enable you to test the
strengths and weaknesses of various moral beliefs and ethical arguments relevant to
business practices; and 3) to reinforce your personal sense of compassion and fairness in
the context of your current and future roles as consumers, citizens, and professionals.
CIS 253, LOSING THE NEWS?
Ed Williams
"Losing the News," a new book by Alex Jones, director of Harvard University's Shorenstein
Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, will be used as a resource. The course
will look at the implications of the revolution in communications, evident in the decline
in conventional mass media and the growth of niche media -- particularly on-line -- and the
emergence of non-journalist reporters as the source of much news.
CIS 322, MEMORY & FILM
Reg for GER 336
Maggie McCarthy
This course will examine memory as a frequent theme in film, film as a form of memory, how
filmic structures represent memory, and the extent to which memory counters the official
stories of history and nation. Besides attending weekly film screenings, students will
write short essays and create a larger memory project which can take written or filmic
form. Films include Memento, Blade Runner, Pulp Fiction, Paris, Texas, The Cabinet of Dr.
Caligari, Winter Sleepers, The Sweet Hereafter, All About My Mother, Gods and Monsters,
Mein Krieg, Good Bye, Lenin, The Edge of Heaven, La Jetee and Twelve Monkies.
CIS 358, NORTH KOREA HISTORY & GEOPOLITICAL PERSPECTIVE
Rebecca Ruhlen
North Korea's nuclear program has been a thorny international and regional issue for the
last two decades. Due to skewed attention to the nuclear issue in contemporary US/North
Korean relations, however, a broader perspective on North Korean history, economics, and
international relations is often lacking. This course will consider North Korea in
historical and geopolitical perspective, with the goal of decentering the nuclear issue and
US/North Korean relations in pursuit of a more complex and regionally-grounded
understanding.
CIS 380, ISSUES IN MEDICINE
Kristie Foley
The purpose of Issues in Medicine is to critically evaluate the external influence of
social values, culture, political climate, technological development, population
characteristics, and global concerns on shaping health care systems and delivery.
Implications for the patient and health care provider will be discussed. By participating
in clinical rotations, students are expected to apply concepts learned in class to real
world experiences.
CIS 395, ADVANCED RESEARCH METHODS IN THE HUMANITIES
Scott Denham, Maria Fackler
This team-taught research seminar addresses the methodological needs of students in
humanities fields who plan to do advanced work at Davidson and beyond - a senior thesis,
summer research, or perhaps graduate school. We will cover:
• advanced library research skills (the library is the humanities student's "lab");
• how to identify - and then pursue - research projects in the humanities that make an
original contribution and are of appropriate scale for publication and/or presentation;
• differences between individual and collaborative research;
• grant application and proposal writing skills (including submitting an actual proposal
for a Davidson College or external grant);
• how to develop a timeline for completing the student's own project.
The course will begin with framing a research question (that leads to a DRI, DR, Abernethy,
etc. grant proposal), then present related and various methods and problems to solve for
half the semester (bibliography, historical-critical text editing, how to use archives,
paleography, theoretical and interpretive perspectives, how to frame questions and follow
leads, how to get a sense of the state of a scholarly question in the field, and the like),
then students will undertake an individual project for the second half (workshops and
presentation on individual problems and progress). Sophomores and juniors only.
CIS 405, SEMINAR: TOPICS IN CHINESE CINEMA & MODERN LITERATURE
Reg for CHI 405
Vivian Shen
Reading and discussion of selected works in Chinese literature and cinema. Discussion of
individual research projects.
CIS 453, WRITING WITH READERS IN MIND
Ed Williams
This course involves writing in a variety of forms (news reports, personal essays,
interviews, profiles, reviews of books, movies and music, etc.) and analyzing what's needed
to have your work published in various print and on-line publications.
CIS 470, GLOBAL HEALTH ETHICS
Kristie Foley
Global health ethics seeks to understand values and principles which guide medical and
public health practice throughout the world. Particular attention will be given to health
inequalities and how medicine and public health may work to resolve these problems.
Students will apply ethical frameworks to identify and clarify the dilemmas posed intra-
and internationally related to the study, prevention, and treatment of disease. Ultimately,
students will be able to analyze various courses of actions and their consequences and
propose pragmatic and value-driven solutions to current global health concerns.
CIS 472, ENVIRONMENTAL SUCCESS & FAILURE
Pat Peroni, Lynn Poland
This seminar is designed to help students learn how to investigate environmental questions
from an interdisciplinary perspective. The faculty and peer collaborators will help
students define and investigate questions that flow from Jared Diamond's Collapse. The
seminar is the required capstone course for the Environmental Studies Concentration.
CIS 483, CIVIL RIGHTS BATTLES IN NC
Jim Fuller
In the 60's and 70's, the fight for justice for all took place in many fora: in bitter
congressional debates and votes, in the streets of Montgomery and Selma, in the sit-ins and
demonstrations throughout the South--and in the federal courts of North Carolina. Charlotte
and Western N. C. produced a significant number of important civil rights cases that
ultimately produced precedent-setting decisions of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (NC,
VA, SC, WVA, MD) and the U. S. Supreme Court. Behind each written court opinion were
ordinary citizens who stepped forward as plaintiffs, risking jobs, family security, and
even personal safety for a cause in which they believed. Each case was fought by lawyers
who were willing to champion clients and causes that were unpopular to the majority, and
undertaken with only a faint hope of ever achieving financial compensation.
Fall 2009 Courses
101W: New Intellectual Writing, "Susan Sontag as Intellectual"
Scott Denham
What is a public intellectual? How do public intellectuals arise; what are their positions;
how do they argue or influence the public; how do they bring about change or reflect and
represent status? What are their concerns, and why? These and other questions will motivate
our study of the work of Susan Sontag (1933-2004), the preeminent American intellectual of
the last generation. Sontag was above all an essayist, but also wrote novels, plays,
directed films. We will read Sontag alongside Orwell and his critics, and Carson and hers.
While George Orwell's "Politics and the English Language" is about political discourse (and
we will write about it and read it as such), and Rachel Carson's Silent Spring is concerned
with incorrect relationships between humans and the natural world, and we will see the
reactions to her concerns, Sontag's work is, at heart, about aesthetics: how we understand
the arts, how the arts work, what the arts can and should do in our lives. But at the same
time, art for Sontag is always about explaining human experience, and writing about art is
always writing about the human experience, be that love, illness, war, beauty, or the realm
of ideas.
Writing for Sontag is a process of engagement and change. Referring to essays in her first
collection Against Interpretation (1966), she wrote in the preface to that volume: "Before
I wrote the essays I did not believe many of the ideas espoused in them; when I wrote them,
I believed what I wrote; subsequently, I have come to disbelieve some of these same ideas
again-but from a new perspective, one that incorporates and is nourished by what is true in
the argument of the essays. Writing criticism has proved to be an act of intellectual
dismemberment as much as of intellectual self-expression" (viii).
We will look at Sontag's work of literary, film, and cultural criticism in Against
Interpretation, Under the Sign of Saturn, Where the Stress Falls, and At the Same Time, and
consider her novels Volcano Lover and In America. Then, we'll move to her work on illness
in Illness as Metaphor and AIDS and Its Metaphors. Finally, we'll look at her books On
Photography and Regarding the Pain of Others. In all these works we will seek out the
arguments Sontag makes at the level of the text, that is, in the sense of working through a
clear philosophical and rhetorical position on the page; but we will also find the
arguments she is making more broadly about life, politics, sex, war, and art; we will see
how and why these arguments do change and grow over time; and we will seek to understand
how public intellectuals like Orwell, Carson, and Sontag act in the world.
This course is one of eight W courses offered as part of the "New Intellectual Writing"
project at Davidson.
CIS 171: Intro to Environmental Studies
Annie Ingram, Cindy Hauser & Staff
CIS 220: Intro. to Film & Media Studies
David Pettersen
An introduction to film history and analysis, with an equal emphasis on film language
(cinematic means of expression) and thematics. Viewing and discussion of films from a wide
variety of national traditions and genres, supplemented by discussion of analytical and
theoretical texts. Required course for fulfilling the Film and Media Studies concentration.
CIS 233: The Global Energy Challenge
Prerequisite - ECO 101 or CHE 115
Peter Hess & Durwin Striplin
Syllabus
This course addresses the energy options for achieving sustainable development. The
supplies and demands for energy, the role of markets and governments in allocating energy
resources, and the consequences of energy production and consumption for the environment
and global warming are explored. Policy options for energy efficiency and conservation are
considered.
CIS 236: Ethics and Warfare
David L. Perry
Every human society has no doubt prescribed some moral rules against killing other human
beings. But it seems reasonable to suppose that most human societies have also permitted
killing under certain conditions, e.g., in self-defense, in defense of family or community,
or as punishment for particular offenses. War is a peculiar human activity, in that it can
bring out some of our best traits (e.g., courage and self-sacrifice) yet also elicit
tremendous cruelty and suffering. It's therefore a prime candidate for ethical scrutiny.
This course examines theories about why human beings engage in mass killing, the history of
moral deliberation about war in major philosophical and religious traditions, and modern
analyses of the diverse and sometimes conflicting moral principles that those traditions
have bequeathed to us. Students will develop an appreciation for the richness of ethical
thinking about war, and enhance their skills in applying moral philosophical reasoning to
contemporary wars.
CIS 273: The Environmental History of the U.S. South
Mart Stewart - Thomson Distinguished Visiting Professor of Environmental Studies
"Environmental history," conceived broadly, is the history of the role and place of nature
in society and culture. The main purpose of the course is to introduce you to several
important concepts and main problems in environmental history and to provide you with the
analytical tools that will help you think about and respond to ongoing environmental issues
in contemporary life. The course will acquire focus and analytical structure by studying
the environmental history of the U.S. South in a national and a global context. The course
will proceed chronologically: it will begin by looking at the environmental changes caused
by the colonization of the North American South by European powers in the 16th-18th
centuries, and end with a consideration of the Sunbelt South.
CIS 321: Interactive Digital Narratives
Neil Lerner
A close study of selected video games using an interdisciplinary blend of methodologies
culled from cultural studies, film and media studies, literary criticism, and history, this
seminar will require several essays and presentations.
CIS 352: Adv. Seminar: Gender Identity
Register for PSY 352
Ruth Ault
This course is a seminar, intended for juniors and seniors in a variety of majors. It is
designed to consider gender identity from an interdisciplinary perspective, combining
psychology and literature. Four psychological theories of gender-role development will be
covered: biological, social learning, cognitive-schema, and Freudian. After learning about
each theory, students will look for concrete examples of that theory in some works of
literature, with both male and female central characters.
CIS 361: Sociology of Unemployment
Register for SOC 361
Mattias Strandh - STINT Visiting Professor of Sociology
This course is an introduction to the sociological study of unemployment. We will discuss
such overarching issues as individual and macro causes of unemployment and how contextual
features and institutional settings shape both the unemployed and their unemployment
experience. This will provide the background for further exploration of several central
topics relating to the unemployment experience: coping strategies and adaptation; health
and psychological well-being; work involvement and motivation; job search behavior; family
dynamics; job prospects and the scarring effects of long-term unemployment.
CIS 373: Climate & Culture in American History
Mart Stewart - Thomson Distinguished Visiting Professor of Environmental Studies
Climate is very much in the news lately - and in the last five years the inconvenient truth
about global warming has finally begun to acquire a larger public hearing in the United
States. How the findings of climate scientists are reported and how public narratives about
global warming are constructed is shaped by current American culture - just as ideas about
climate have always worked their way through the crucible of human understanding. This
course will proceed in general from the observation that our understanding of climate and
the weather is shaped profoundly by perceptions of both, and these in turn are mediated by
ideas and conceptions that come from culture. We will look at significant episodes in
American history, from the eighteenth century to the present, of what the historian Raymond
Williams calls the "human history" of nature. We'll see how these episodes have reflected
differences in relations between humans and the physical environment, but also differences
in social and political relations - some of which have done more to obscure than illuminate
what is actually happening with the climate and the weather - with the hope that we'll end
the course better prepared to understand the deep history of one of the issues of our time,
global warming.
CIS 390: Health Care Ethics
Lance Stell
CIS 391: Research Ethics
Kristie Foley
This course provides students with a comprehensive overview of the responsible conduct of
research. Topics will include: animal welfare; ethical guidelines for research involving
human subjects; informed consent; data acquisition and ownership; individual and group
rights; confidentiality; conflict of interest and commitment; intellectual property rights;
and responsible dissemination of research findings. Topics will be framed within the
historical foundations of research ethics.
CIS 397: Future of American Health Care
Joe Konen
CIS 421: Seminar: Film and Media Studies, "Film Art: A Seminar in Filmmaking"
Register for ENG 493
Zoran Kuzmanovich
Film Art is a hands-on study of style and narration in the fiction film. After a reminder
of the pre- and post- production processes, we'll focus on individual directorial styles.
We'll also make a communal film to explore the capabilities and shortcomings of the
available equipment. Then, each student will be given a chance to write/adapt, direct,
film, and edit a short film using digital video cameras and non-linear editing equipment.
We'll look at those films in light of the latest theories of narrative and the knowledge
about cinema acquired from the film-maker's end. The final versions of all films will be
burnt to DVDs. If there are musicians among us, they will be given a chance to score a film
and/or do sound design.
No special knowledge of technology is presumed. A course on film (X through film, X and
film, the X of film, film as X, X on film, film X, Filmmaker X and Filmmaker Y , etc.)
should be decent preparation for this class; an upper level course in art, creative
writing, literature, semiotics, or literary criticism would also be of help. Limited to
Juniors and Seniors.
CIS 421: Seminar: Film and Media Studies, "Berlin Films" (in translation)
Register for GER 440
Maggie McCarthy
This course examines both imaginary and historical images of Berlin in films dating from
the Weimar Republic to the present. Via documentaries, canonical, art house and feature
films, we will gain a sense of Berlin in its various 20th century guises. Special attention
will be paid to the new phenomenon of the "Berlin School" of filmmaking, which has drawn
attention in recent years from critics and academics. This course does not count as the
400-level capstone course for Film and Media Studies concentrators.
CIS 470: Global Health Ethics
Kristie Foley
Global health ethics seeks to understand values and principles which guide medical and
public health practice throughout the world. Particular attention will be given to health
inequalities and how medicine and public health may work to resolve these problems.
Students will apply ethical frameworks to identify and clarify the dilemmas posed intra-
and internationally related to the study, prevention, and treatment of disease. Ultimately,
students will be able to analyze various courses of actions and their consequences and
propose pragmatic and value-driven solutions to current global health concerns.
Spring 2009 Courses
CIS 220, Introduction to Film and Media Studies
Maggie McCarthy
An introduction to film history and analysis, with an equal emphasis on film language
(cinematic means of expression) and thematics. Viewing and discussion of films from a wide
variety of national traditions and genres, supplemented by discussion of analytical and
theoretical texts. Required course for fulfilling the Film and Media Studies concentration.
CIS 270, Interdisciplinary Science Writing
Michael Branch
There has never been a greater need for writers who can interpret science for a wider
public of readers who may have little training or even interest in the sciences. In an
American culture in which the gulf between highly specialized, technically sophisticated
science and average Americans-people whose values, decisions, and behaviors have a
tremendous impact upon the environment-seems ever widening, the work of the science writer
has become increasingly urgent. What is the role of the science writer as cultural
translator or interpreter of environmental science? How do these writers make science
accessible and engaging to general readers? How do they accurately represent the dramatic
insights of specific scientific disciplines without bogging down in technical jargon? What
approaches do they use to teach and to delight-to entertain us into becoming more
ecologically literate? We'll read prominent examples of American science writing from the
seventeenth to the twenty-first century, and will include in our survey the work of such
major twentieth-century and contemporary figures as Loren Eiseley, Rachel Carson, John
McPhee, Lewis Thomas, Stephen Jay Gould, E. O. Wilson, Sandra Steingraber, Chet Raymo,
Michael Pollan, and Jennifer Ackerman. Texts covered will include representation of
scientific insights from geology, glaciology, botany, zoology, evolutionary biology,
physical anthropology, ecotoxicology, physics, biogeography, and astronomy.
CIS 303, History of Medicine
Joe Konen & Staff
This is an interdisciplinary, team taught seminar format of selected topics by Davidson
faculty from various departments as well as guest faculty from the fields of medicine,
surgery, psychiatry and pharmacology. Together we will trace the evolution from pre-
historic through modern times of the interconnections of cultural, philosophical, ethical
and religious influences on the development of the arts, humanities and sciences of the
healing practices that characterize modern medicine. The last two centuries will be
emphasized to explain present day medical achievements and challenges in optimum health
care delivery.
CIS 342, Human Rights & U.S. Foreign Policy
Hassan El Menyawi
This course explores the role of human rights in the formulation and conduct of U.S.
foreign policy. Students will begin by exploring international relations theory, examining
the concepts of human rights and the U.S. national interest. They will analyze some of the
changes in U.S. human rights rhetoric, policy, and organizational structure in recent
decades, probing the links between American decision making and international and
nongovernmental influences and institutions. By examining recent cases of U.S. foreign
policymaking, the class will explore the intersection between human rights, economic and
security aims, and domestic politics.
CIS 343, Contemporary Issues in the Middle East
Hassan El Menyawi
This course is an introduction to politics in the Middle East and North Africa, 1945 until
today. These include the impact of colonialism, nationalism and nation-state formation;
regional crises; the Arab-Israeli conflict; the politics of oil; Islamism; the changing
faces of authoritarianism; democratization; the diversity of citizen activism and
burgeoning forms of new media; the treatment of women and gays; the Middle East's abidance
to international human rights norms; the political economy; and globalization. By examining
such factors and developing an understanding of the contemporary politics and international
relations of the Middle East, the course will examine the political interrelationship
between regional political change and international political conflict. It will also
explore exogenous and endogenous factors in the evolution of Middle Eastern politics and
how the interaction of these factors produces the nature of the system of political
relations which exist there today. The course will also explore US foreign policy toward
the Middle East.
CIS 372, Western American Literature & Bioregionalism
Michael Branch
Some have joked that in America the South and the West are "the regions," while everywhere
else is just the United States. While regionalism has long provided a rubric for
understanding place and culture in different parts of the country, American environmental
writers have experimented with a variety of new ways to conceptualize and localize
identity. Among the most provocative of these "new regionalisms" are bioregional and
watershed-based conceptions of place, which attempt to locate cultural and individual
identity within a richer and more ecologically nuanced understanding of environment and
home. Along the way our environmental and literary guides will include Álvar Núñez Cabeza
de Vaca, Mary Austin, John Muir, Edward Abbey, Gary Snyder, Terry Tempest Williams, Linda
Hogan, Barry Lopez, Rick Bass, David Mas Masumoto, Rebecca Solnit, and Robert Michael Pyle.
CIS 392, Introduction to Epidemiology
Kristie Foley
Epidemiology is the systematic and rigorous study of health and disease in a population.
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to core concepts in epidemiology,
including: history, philosophy, and uses of epidemiology; descriptive epidemiology, such as
patterns of disease and injury; association and causation of disease, including concepts of
inference, bias, and confounding; analytical epidemiology, including experimental and non-
experimental design; and applications to basic and clinical science and policy.
CIS 421, Seminar in Media & Film Studies
ENG 393: Film Theory may serve as the equivalent of CIS 421 for Film and Media Studies
concentrators for 2008-2009).
CIS 470, Global Health Ethics
Kristie Foley
Global health ethics seeks to understand values and principles which guide medical and
public health practice throughout the world. Particular attention will be given to health
inequalities and how medicine and public health may work to resolve these problems.
Students will apply ethical frameworks to identify and clarify the dilemmas posed intra-
and internationally related to the study, prevention, and treatment of disease. Ultimately,
students will be able to analyze various courses of actions and their consequences and
propose pragmatic and value-driven solutions to current global health concerns.
CIS 481, Human Rights
Hassan El Menyawi
From the ashes of World War II and the Holocaust, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(1948) was built in the hope of bringing an end to suffering caused by nation-states.
States had invaded other states, violating their sovereignty, but worse than that, had
intentionally coordinated the mass murder of millions of human beings in what we now call
"genocide." The idea of human rights was to constrain nation-states' treatment of
individuals within and beyond the borders of the state. The Universal Declaration of Human
Rights provided a foundation for international human rights, inspiring countless treaties
regulating areas such as torture, genocide, war, gender discrimination, censorship,
discrimination against the disabled, children's rights, poverty, access to health care, and
economic development. The language of human rights has traveled the globe in what can now
be called a "globalization of human rights"--and the discourses of human rights has spread
everywhere in the world.
Fall 2008 Courses
CIS 171: Intro to Environmental Studies
Profs. Paradise, A. Ingram, and Padhy
CIS 253: Media Use in the Digital Age
Virginia Dodge Fielder, Batten Professor of Public Policy
In this course, we will examine how the digital revolution is reshaping traditional mass
media - newspapers, magazines, radio and television - both journalistically and
economically. The course provides an in-depth look at audiences - which media people are
using for what purposes, how media use has changed in recent years, and what traditional
media are doing to respond. In this election year, we will focus on the role of the press
in a free society, looking especially hard at the news gathering process and what people
should expect from their news media. Particular attention will be paid to the Internet's
influence on the presidential race, young people's interest in public affairs, and the
movement known as "grassroots journalism." The course also looks at key elements of the
communication process and how they are being blurred by the Internet and other digital
media. Other topics include the social effects of mass media and the various controls -
both formal and informal - designed to regulate media and hold them accountable for their
actions.
CIS 281: Irish Women's Writing 1800 to the Present
Heidi Hansson, Visiting STINT Professor of Literature
The course will offer insights into fiction, drama and poetry by Irish women writers from
Maria Edgeworth to Anne Enright, or from the early nineteenth century to the present. The
works will be placed in the context of Irish history and culture, paying attention to what
may be termed "the condition of Ireland" as described by women. Literary representations of
defining historical events such as the Union with England, the 1798 United Irishmen
uprising, the Famine, the Easter Rising, the Civil war and the beginnings of a new era in a
divided country will be discussed. Further, the course will take up issues such as what it
means for a woman to write about a country that has traditionally been conceived of as a
woman - Erin or Hibernia - and how women writers fit into a literary tradition where women
are more often seen as authors' muses than authors themselves - Kathleen ní Houlihan, Queen
Medbh or Molly Bloom. A related question is how far powerful female images such as the
goddesses Banbha, Fodla and Ériu or the sixteenth-century pirate Grace O'Malley function as
inspirations and how far they confine women to a particular idea of Irishness. The course
will combine Irish history, literary history, cultural criticism, literary analysis and
gender studies. Some of the writers featured will be the novelists Sidney Owenson (Lady
Morgan), Emily Lawless and Kate O'Brien, the poet Nuala ní Dhomnaill, novelist and
autobiographer Nuala O'Faolain and dramatist Marina Carr.
CIS 350: Human Rights, Foreign Policy, and the 2008 Election
Hassan El Menyawi, Kemp Visiting Professor
Across the world, America's 2008 election is being hailed as one of the most crucial in
recent history. Republican and Democratic candidates have staked out starkly contrasting
positions on foreign policy and human rights issues. These issues include the war in Iraq,
genocide, nuclear proliferation, terrorism, climate change, and world poverty. This course
will examine both the substantive foreign policy and human rights issues related to the
election. The course is designed to cover events as they evolve during the campaign in
September, October, and November.
CIS 380: Issues in Medicine
Jerry Putnam
CIS 390: Health Care Ethics
Lance Stell
CIS 391: Research Ethics
Kristie Long Foley
This course provides students with a comprehensive overview of the responsible conduct of
research. Topics will include: animal welfare; ethical guidelines for research involving
human subjects; informed consent; data acquisition and ownership; individual and group
rights; confidentiality; conflict of interest and commitment; intellectual property rights;
and responsible dissemination of research findings. Topics will be framed within the
historical foundations of research ethics.
CIS 397: Future of American Health Care
Joe Konen
CIS 421: Seminar: Film and Media Studies, "The Horror Film"
Neil Lerner
CIS 453: Research on Mass Media Effects
Virginia Dodge Fielder, Batten Professor of Public Policy
In this seminar we will examine what is known - and unknown - about the effects of mass
media on individuals, society, and the democratic process. The course provides an
historical overview of media effects research and the various methods used to investigate
these effects. In this election year, we will focus in particular on the effects of news
and political content, including an in-depth look at presidential election polls and the
media's ability to set the agenda and persuade. Other topics include the effects of media
violence, sexual content in the media, media stereotypes, and media entertainment. We will
speculate on how new technologies will influence various media effects in the future.
CIS 484: Leadership for Human Rights: Becoming a Leader
Hassan El Menyawi, Kemp Visiting Professor
Leadership is an essential component of effecting positive social change across the world.
Whether in the world of government, business, civil service, non-governmental organizations
("NGOs"), or human rights activism, leadership is seen as the pivot from which success is
possible. This course sets out to examine how leadership develops in particular contexts,
and, more importantly, which types have effected change for human rights during particular
struggles worldwide. The course explores historical figures who have had a tremendous
impact on human rights, such as Mahatma Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Abraham
Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, Golda Meier,
and George W. Bush. To do this, we will examine the leadership journey of these historical
figures in an attempt to identify what makes a leader and how her leadership skills allow
her to achieve her goals. We will examine political and psychological theories and identify
what leadership assets are needed in our time-an era that struggles with the cataclysmic
human rights challenges in the areas of nuclear proliferation, terrorism, war, climate
change, world poverty, human rights violations, authoritarianism, and genocide. This course
is not cross listed with Political Science and will not count for Political Science credit.
Spring 2008 Courses
CIS 220 Introduction to Film and Media Studies
Maggie McCarthy
An introduction to film history and analysis, with an equal emphasis on film language
(cinematic means of expression) and thematics. Viewing and discussion of films from a wide
variety of national traditions and genres, supplemented by discussion of analytical and
theoretical texts. Required course for fulfilling the Film and Media Studies
concentration.
CIS 261 Introduction to Forensic Sciences
Karen Bernd, Helen Cho, Cindy Hauser
Forensic science is the application of science to the law and encompasses various
scientific disciplines. This course will introduce various methodologies and applications
used in a forensic context. Topics discussed include organic and inorganic chemical
analyses of physical evidence, principles of serology and DNA analysis, identification of
fresh and decomposed human remains, ballistics, fingerprint analysis, facial
reconstruction, drug analysis, and forensic entomology.
CIS 303 History of Medicine
Joe Konen
A seminar format will be used to explore from classical through modern times the
interconnections of cultural, philosophical, ethical and religious influences on the
development of science and healing practices that characterize modern Western medicine. The
last two centuries will be emphasized to explain present day medical achievements and
health care delivery. Course includes team teaching of selected topics from medical
history, ethics, religion, and examples of present day clinical medicine.
CIS 347 International Law
Hassan El Menyawi
When can a nation go to war? Can a state use torture to extract information from possible
terrorists? When can a nation-state intervene in the affairs of another? Due to
globalization, nation-states are increasingly inter-dependent, reinforcing the importance
of international law as a regulatory body of laws and norms for the global community. In
fact, given the exponentially increasing interaction and mutual interdependency of nation-
states, international law has been historically transformed from one of the least relevant
legal fields to one of the most crucial in the span of a century.
CIS 349 Terrorism in the 21st Century
Hassan El Menyawi
On September 11, 2001, planes crashed into New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon
in Washington, D.C. The attacks destroyed New York's Twin Towers, and the world was forever
changed, making terrorism the greatest non-state security threat the world had ever seen.
September 11th was the most devastating terrorist attack in the history of humanity, and
the perpetrator, Osama Bin Laden and his organization, Al Qaeda, has promised further
attacks. Astonished by the scale of the attack and the degree of imagination and planning
evidenced by the 9/11 attacks, scholars and security experts have attempted to seek new
ways to address terrorist threats through various methods including intelligence, hard
power, soft power, and policy approaches. Some experts have recommended the deployment of a
hard-power approach, including military operations and the use of torture as an
interrogation tactic. Others have emphasized the use of soft power by building alliances
with religious moderates and pursuing human rights, peace, and development goals worldwide
as a means to persuade those in the Arab and Muslim world that the United States can be a
force for good. Advocates of the soft-power approach see these strategies as part of an
ideological struggle--what is sometimes referred to as a "war of ideas," or a "battle for
hearts and minds" in the Muslim world. The course will compare these approaches, examining
their benefits and potential drawbacks.
CIS 454 Ink, Images and Influence: The Role of Media in our Democracy (Seminar)
Fannie Flono, Batten Professor of Public Policy
This course will examine the impact of media coverage on specific events in U.S. history,
on a few ongoing events such as the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and assess journalists who
played an important role in that coverage.
CIS 472 Environmental Success and Failure (Seminar)
Gayle Kaufman, Pat Peroni, Lynn Poland
This upper-level seminar will help students learn environmental-studies themes from each
other and an interdisciplinary faculty. The objective is to have the students define and
investigate questions that flow from Jared Diamond's Collapse and to push them to
understand how disciplines other than their own contribute to the asking and answering of
environmentally important questions. These goals will be developed through four units and
through substantial group work.
CIS 481 Human Rights Strategy (Seminar)
Hassan El Menyawi
From the ashes of World War II and the Holocaust, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(1948) was built in the hope of bringing an end to suffering caused by nation-states.
States had invaded other states, violating their sovereignty, but worse than that, had
intentionally coordinated the mass murder of millions of human beings in what we now call
"genocide." The idea of human rights was to constrain nation-states' treatment of
individuals within and beyond the borders of the state. The Universal Declaration of Human
Rights provided a foundation for international human rights, inspiring countless treaties
regulating areas such as torture, genocide, war, gender discrimination, censorship,
discrimination against the disabled, children's rights, poverty, access to health care, and
economic development. The language of human rights has traveled the globe in what can now
be called a "globalization of human rights--and the discourses of human rights has spread
everywhere in the world.
Fall 2007 Courses
CIS 171: Environmental Studies
Profs. Martin, Paradise, Beach-Verhey
CIS 220: Intro to Film and Media Studies
Prof. Lerner
CIS 348: International Organizations
Hassan El Menyawi, Kemp Visiting Assistant Professor
Due to globalization, nation-states are increasingly working together to tackle problems
that are difficult to address on their own. The primary site for these inter-state
relations has been the "international organization"--these include organizations such as
the United Nations, the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the
World Trade Organization (WTO), and the International Criminal Court (ICC). We will explore
how these international organizations are the locus for discussion--and potentially
resolution--of challenges such as genocide, war, humanitarian intervention, nuclear
proliferation, terrorism, development, natural disasters, post-conflict justice,
environmental crises, and human rights.
CIS 461: American Indians and Democracy
Carol Higham, Visiting Assistant Professor
CIS 482 Gay Rights
Hassan El Menyawi, Kemp Visiting Assistant Professor
Since the birth of the contemporary gay and lesbian civil rights movement with the New York
City Stonewall riot in 1969, there have been breathtaking changes in the perception of the
legitimacy of gay rights, as well as significant strides toward their achievement. In
addition to these successes, there have also been significant setbacks including the
torture of gays, the raiding of gay organizations, and the intentional targeting and
execution of gays, also known as homocide (genocide of gays). While arguments for gay
rights have grown worldwide, gay rights have been pitted against conceptions of the
'traditional' -- often seen as antithetical to religion -- and described as not universal.
We will explore the arguments against gay rights, and examine the political effects of
these discourses worldwide. This course is meant to provide an overview of the development
of gay rights issues and challenges worldwide.
Spring 2007 Courses
CIS 342: The Latin American City
Profs. Maiz-Peña and Mangan
This seminar-style course will study the Latin American city through historical and
cultural perspectives. Students will analyze an array of primary historical sources,
literature, and films organized around particular historical moments for the following
cities: Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, and Chicago. The course will emphasize
comparison of cities over time, with attention to the prehispanic city, the modern city,
and the contemporary Latin American City, as well as one US city with a strong Latino
influence. Students will analyze the relationship between historical context and cultural
production through texts offering historical, cultural, and literary representations of the
cities. The course will encourage students to theorize about historical and cultural
interpretations of a society, and its cultural production in a specific time, space, and
historical moment through a variety of models of urbanism including Latin American history,
Latin American Cultural Studies, Latin American and Latino Literature, and Film Studies.
Readings and discussions will be in Spanish and English. Students wishing to take the
course for credit in Spanish will complete all assignments in Spanish.
CIS 346: Islamic Law
Prof. El Menyawi
This course is dedicated to understanding the idea of Islamic law, to understand its
development and how it is being used during modern times. To that end, students will be
exposed to the divergent opinions in Islamic criminal law, Islamic family law (including
divorce laws), Islamic property law, Islamic contract law, Islamic international law, etc.
The course examines some of the big questions that are currently asked including whether
Islamic law justifies violence, extremism, gender discrimination, and discrimination toward
persons of other faiths. After gaining knowledge about Islamic law, students will be
expected to write an Islamic ruling or fatwa by drawing on sources to develop an argument.
We then explore approaches to Islamic law that support foreign policy goals related to
pluralism and democratization, as well as approaches that support the goals of human rights
activists and reformers seeking ways to produce a liberal image of the Islamic Middle East
that respects human rights norms. After gaining knowledge of Islamic law and its uses,
students will be expected to write a memo to the State Department advising it on strategies
to deploy Islamic law to further general human rights goals as part of its foreign policy.
CIS 347: Governance, International Law and Human Rights
Prof. El Menyawi
This course is meant to provide an overview of the basic conceptions of governance, human
rights, and international law. It provides a set of basic definitions of each of these
concepts, attempting to demonstrate the links between them, as well as their potential
interchangeability. The course begins with an introduction of the core concepts that the
course is named after, followed by an examination of the viability and challenges of
achieving particular social goals/causes, such as peace education, human rights, world
peace (or increasing peaceful relations, or decreasing conflict), and environmental issues.
In fact, the course will attempt to weave together how the concepts of governance, human
rights, and international law are required to appreciate how the challenges of achieving
social goals/causes, and effecting social change. After discussing these topics, students
will be expected to participate in a simulation of the United Nations Security Council as a
practical way to explore the inter-relations between governance, international law, and
human rights.
CIS 357: Advanced Seminar: Psychology Goes to the Movies
Prof. Munger
What happens when you got to the movies? You sit down, the lights dim, images and sound
bombard your senses, and you are moved-emotionally and cognitively. A story unfolds that
depends on your senses, visual and auditory, and that story speaks to you in many ways. How
is art created? How do the various artists involved describe their work? How do you
understand the complex events, visual and auditory, that movies present? "Psychology Goes
to the Movies" will explore the perceptual experience of movies, which includes examining
how we respond to visual art and music, both in terms of understanding the perceptual space
and in terms of understanding corresponding cognitive and emotional responses.
CIS 390: Health Care Ethics
Prof. Stell
CIS 405: Seminar: Chinese Cinema
Prof. Shen
CIS 481: Seminar: Human Rights
Prof. El Menyawi
This course is meant to provide an overview of the basic conceptions of human rights and of
international human rights law. It provides a set of basic definitions of each of these
concepts, attempting to demonstrate the links between them. The course then provides an
examination of the viability and challenges of achieving human rights goals in varying
parts of the world, and perhaps even at a more global level. In examining these challenges,
the course will explore contemporary human rights challenges such as terrorism, torture,
genocide, war, rising religious extremism, discrimination, censorship, and the increasing
restrictions on liberty, (among many others) .The course will then attempt to draw on these
contemporary human rights challenges to explore how national and international governance
interrelate with human rights, both promoting and interfering with the achievement of human
rights goals/causes. With this knowledge, the course then explores the possibilities for
positive social change with an eye on finding potential solutions to address human rights
challenges.
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