Courses

Young Adult Literature in a Contemporary Context

Michael B Hock: Section 001 - TR 9am-10:15am

Young Adult Literature has existed for as long as we have had books, but the classification is still relatively new. In this class, we'll take a look at why this is important, why there's been increased scrutiny on these texts, and how these novels have grown in popularity over the years. We will also explore how they can fit into the literary canon and "classics" and just what makes a classic. Topics will include contemporary texts, social media, true crime, short stories, how soon is too soon to write about something, the shared literary experience, and of course the John Green of it all. As a bonus, we'll also take a look into what is literature in the 21st century, as we'll expand beyond the novel to explore digital short stories, webtoons, and a podcast.

Greek Myth: Persistence and Change

Christopher Gregg: Section 002 - TR 10:30am-11:45am

For more than 2,000 years the myths of ancient Greece have captured the imagination of artists, writers and audiences. Stories of gods, goddesses, heroes and monsters have proven surprisingly persistent in the imagination of artists and writers. From museums to novels and movies, Greek myth has transcended its original cultural boundaries to find a new home in Europe and the Americas, often changing to respond to contemporary cultures. Challenging, engaging, provocative and yet timeless, the stories of Greek myth raise critical questions about the nature of the universe and the very essence of humanity. This course will examine the mythic narratives of the major deities and heroes through literature and art. We will explore representations of myths in ancient Greek and Roman works of art and then trace their representation in post classical periods from the Renaissance to the modern world. Likewise, we will read and discuss a 21st century novel that has its roots in the mythic past of Greece. The classwork will include exams, written work, and group work.

Visual Media and the Environment

Caroline West: Section 003 - MW 10:30am-11:45am and Section 004 - MW 12pm-1:15pm

This course asks how environmental issues are represented in various visual media, including films, photographs, art, and performance as well as digital visualizations, and maps. Most of our experience and communication take place within spaces of media so students will be asked to think critically about the many relationships between media and the environmental issues. We will explore visual media from the perspective of different ecological problems and the communities effected to consider how visual media are part and parcel to understanding environmental change.

Climate Fiction

Richard Todd Stafford: Section 005 - TR 3pm-4:15pm

What can we learn from fictional stories about living in a world with a changing climate? How do we personally respond to the climate futures they imagine? Why do certain genres and narrative arcs predominate in this literature? How do these stories relate to other important conversations about climate change? How do they reinforce or contest certain visions or ideologies about climate response? What else might be done with climate fiction? In this class, we'll read several works of climate fiction and analyze them closely, paying attention to how these stories work - and for whom. We'll also have a chance to write a brief work of climate fiction ourselves, using our own creativity to explore the genre.

Literature in Under 1,000 Words

Ariel Goldenthal: Section 006 - MW 10:30am-11:45am

How do you tell a complete story in only three pages? How do writers convey full emotional arcs in just a few short paragraphs? How do readers engage with writing in unique formats that include lists, diagrams, and even quizzes? This course will introduce you to the short-writing world of flash fiction and creative non-fiction, where every piece is under 1,000 words. As you’ll learn in this course, powerful writers don’t need hundreds of pages to share what they notice about the world around them, and in fact, as lives get busier and attention spans of younger generation shorten, these flash stories and essays are gaining in popularity. Together, we will read and discuss short fiction and non-fiction by authors with a diversity of experiences and perspectives. Throughout the semester, some of these authors will come to our class as guest speakers so that you can hear directly from them about their writing processes and intentions. By the end of the semester, you will have honed your skills in critical analysis and will craft your own short story or essay in, you guessed it, under 1,000 words.

Reading Moving Images

William Beaman: Section 007 - MW 1:30pm-2:45pm and Section 008 - MW 3pm-4:15pm

Is meaning in the eyes of the beholder? If so, how do we read what we see? This course develops scholarly techniques for reading films as ambiguous social texts, always in excess of the any preferred meaning, yet inescapably of our world. Moving through selections from global film history, we will explore and historicize how cinematic forms make meaning in our lives.

Digital & Visual Bodies

Collin Hawley: Section 009 - MW 9am-10:15am and Section 010 - MW 10:30am-11:45am

“Bodies are maps of power and identity” – Donna Haraway, “The Cyborg Manifesto”

In contemporary gender and sexuality studies, the body and biology, persist as continual sites of conflict and contradiction, particularly on the internet. As seen in arguments about “real womanhood” and gender-based panics over women’s spaces deployed on social media by trans exclusionary radical feminists (TERFs) to the expansion of beneficial and educational communities of gender and sexual minorities through these same same social networks, the “virtual” exists as a site of seemingly limitless potential. Using smartphones and their inbuilt camera, social media and dating apps allow users to reimagine themselves as well as connect with others from around the world in previously impossible arrangements of digital intimacy. At the same time, the internet holds the possibility of harm that could extend beyond the screen into one’s “real” life. This course will interrogate the distinction between digital spaces and “real” life and consider the significance of the virtual body within the construction of contemporary gender and sexual identities and practices, both normative and non-normative. Digital and Visual Bodies will trace contemporary work that engages with “the body” within second and third wave feminist writings. Additionally, students will watch films, read stories, view art, play games, and listen to music that explores the contradictions inherent to contemporary gender and sexual formations.

Identity in Disney's World

Sheri Huerta: Section 001 - TR 10:30am-11:45am and Section 002 - TR 12pm-1:15pm

This course identifies and analyzes the ways that Disney media has influenced or reflected a sense of identity, community, and difference over the past hundred years. From "Snow White" to "Frozen," from “Hannah Montana” to “The Proud Family,” what can Disney media tell us about American cultural trends and their relationship to broader historical questions about race, gender, identity, ability, age, religion, representation, globalization, and conflict? Through discussions, we will evaluate media messaging and public response by seeking out multiple perspectives, defining values, and analyzing intentions and effects of media in their historical contexts. We will apply what we have learned by becoming Disney Imagineers. In collaborative teams, you will design a new prototype Disney character, story, and “world” that creatively identifies, addresses, and informs diverse audiences about an important, current issue related to concepts of identity, community, and difference.

Intersecting Identities

Aziza Ahmed: Section 003 - TR 10:30am-11:45am and Section 004 - TR 12pm-1:15pm

In this course, students will be given the tools and skills to engage with intersectional identities both interpersonally and professionally. We will begin the course by establishing a common language and practice for discussing and engaging with intersectional identities. Then, we will use mass media such as television, podcasts, and digital media to investigate how intersectionality takes shape in our contemporary society. Topics will include gender, caste, race, ethnicity, class, religion, disability, sexuality, and more. The course will culminate with students producing a final project demonstrating their understanding of intersectional theories and approaches.

Ecological Identity

Elizabeth Freeman: Section 005 - W 4:30pm-7:10pm

This class explores our relationship with the natural world and how it shapes our sense of self as citizens of Earth. Through the exploration of notable contemporary and historic authors, such as Emerson, Thoreau, Muir, Leopold and Carson, students will investigate the evolution of the conservation movement and environmental ethics. Students also will discover, clarify and share the evolution of their own ecological identity and conservation values through dialogue, reflection, and creative expression. The purpose of this course is to deepen our understanding of our role within and interconnectedness with the natural world. The course will prepare students to contribute to our society’s ongoing conversation about threats to biodiversity conservation, the issues and our potential solutions for sustaining a healthy planet.

Queer African American Literature

Keith Clark: Section 006 - MW 3pm-4:15pm

The 21st-century has witnessed a profusion of African American queer voices—from television mainstays Janet Mock and RuPaul, to pioneering filmmaker Dee Rees, to performers Wanda Sykes, Queen Latifah, Billy Porter, and Lil Nas X. In the spirit of this artistic production, this course will engage the rich if under-recognized tradition of African American LGBTQ authors. Focusing primarily on fiction, drama, memoir, and nonfiction, we will undertake a robust exploration of writers whose sexual orientation has perpetually “troubled the waters,” whether in the established field of African American literature or the relatively recent discipline of Queer Studies. Our critical concerns will include: early and veiled literary voices from the 1920s to the 40s; the catalytic arrival of James Baldwin to the American literary scene during the McCarthy and Hoover eras; the post-Stonewall profusion of Black Feminist/Womanist/Lesbian writers/“warriors” in the 1970s; the Age of AIDS in the 1980s and 1990; and the 21st-century explosion of diverse forms of writing. Authors to be studied include Audre Lorde, Ann Allen Shockley, Barbara Smith, Alice Walker, Randall Kenan, Jacqueline Woodson, Tarell Alvin McCraney, and KB Brookins.

Judaism and Social Justice

Rabbi Bruce Aft: Section 007 - T 4:30pm-7:10pm

This course is action oriented and will look at Jewish sources that inspire Tikkun olam/efforts to repair our world. We will set our agenda based upon the interests of the students who register. Past classes have worked with Afghan refugees, met with civil rights leaders, interacted with police and social workers who ride with them, helped better understand the pressures of being a college student today, and met with people who are working to improve our environment. Judaism has much to teach us about how faith and morality can provide inspiration as we pursue justice in our world.

Memory, Art, and Identity

Luma Mousa: Section 008 - TR 1:30pm-2:45pm and Section 009 - TR 3pm-4:15pm

Identity is the way we understand and express ourselves. Circumstances that we are born with usually influence defining one's identity, decision-making, building friendships, aligning with certain political beliefs, and many more. Yet, various aspects of identity change with experiences, and social interactions with others. Memory, storytelling, and art are all forms to express, explore, and question notions about identity. This course considers memory, art, and narrative identity. Throughout the course, we will study how memory and art contribute to shaping identity and the essence of home for immigrants, refugees, and everyone who is away from their home, lost it, or is at risk of losing it. Concepts like race, class, gender, intersectionality, nationality, ethnicity, diversity, and multiculturalism will be a foundational part of discussing, identifying, and explaining the contextual, historical, and nature of identity, community, and difference. Essential questions, such as: what is the role of remembering and the influence of memorialization on identity? How is collective memory shaped through art production? How do memories affect who we are and why they are important? How does art address the difficulties of fitting in society? will be thoroughly discussed during the course.

Subcultures of Music

Shayna Maskell: Section 010 - MW 12pm-1:15pm

Subcultures have been understood as “imaginative representations” brought into being through narration and narrative – the stories that subculturists tell about themselves as well as those that others tell about them. In this class, we will map music-based subcultures through their most enduring narrative(s) – resistance and identity, both political and cultural, to mainstream values, norms, and practices. Considering subcultures through music, style, and practice, we will explore how subculturalists voice their opposition and their sense of self and community, considering the following questions: how do specific genres of musical act as conduits for the creation of subcultural identities? What role does context – place, space, and time – play in developing subcultural identities and forms of resistance? How does the creative practice and process of music work to inform ideas of self and resistance? In an attempt to answer these questions, we will trace a genealogy of musical subcultural resistance, considering a range of contemporary subcultural groups alongside their historical counterparts.

Disability, Health and Illness

Claudia Rector: Section DL1 - MW 9am-10:15am and Section DL2 - MW 10:30am-11:45am

This course considers how identity intersects with the body, specifically with disability, health and illness. We will examine how identity in the contemporary U.S. is shaped by physical difference, and consider what possibilities are created or foreclosed by various imaginings of both identity and disability. Specific topics to be considered include (among others): eugenics, the medical model of disability and the disability rights response, chronic illness, Deaf culture, abortion, mental health/illness, and neurodivergence

Eliminating Global Hunger: Problems, Progress, and Challenges

Phillip Thomas: Section 001 - MW 12pm-1:15pm

Global hunger is one of the most critical problems confronting the global community in the 21st Century. Despite numerous efforts over the past 50 years its elimination remains elusive due to a complex array of environmental and human factors. The purpose of this course is to develop a comprehensive understanding of the causes and effects of global hunger and analyze threats to global food security including the climate crisis, environmental degradation, animal and plant diseases, access to clean water, food waste and loss, contaminated food, agricultural terrorism, and antimicrobial resistance. The current intensifying climate crisis, the Russian Invasion of the Ukraine, and the continuing COVID Pandemic have exacerbated the global food security crisis. This course will address food security, in terms of access to critical food supplies including major supply chain disruptions, and the nutritional impact on vulnerable food insecure populations at a global and national level. We will address food security related national and global health, economic, social, and ethical impacts of these disruptive forces. We will also examine strategies for protecting and enhancing the security of global food production and supply systems. In the final analysis, our goal is to gain insight into the interrelationship between food security and national security and develop an understanding of policies and programs necessary to achieve sustainable food security that is environmentally appropriate to ensure availability, access, utilization, and stability of adequate nutritious food for all people at all times.

Climate Change for Humans

Amy Rose-Tejwani: Section 002 - MW 10:30am-11:45am and Section 003 - MW 12pm-1:15pm

This course will examine the effects of climate change on our everyday lives and develop strategies for coping with severe weather and health concerns from climate change through the mindset of “thinking globally and acting locally.” We will investigate topics such as environmental policy, sustainability, aerosols, radiation, spectroscopy, and satellite imagery from the perspectives of humanities, technology, engineering, and science. Students will learn strategies for critical multidisciplinary analysis of meteorological events, climatic trends, reducing their carbon footprints, and effective science communication. With respect to the earth systems of the biosphere, lithosphere, and hydrosphere, this course will focus on climate change in our atmosphere.

International Migration

Dae Young Kim: Section 004 - TR 12pm-1:15pm

In 2023, more than 281 million people globally were on the move. Push and pull factors, such as the demand for both skilled and unskilled laborers, declining fertility rates in the global North, as well as economic, political, and environmental crises in the global South, have contributed to increased migration across national borders. As many advanced industrialized countries experience significant demographic changes through immigration, they are not only confronted with the challenges of integrating new immigrants and their children but also negotiating the meanings of citizenship and national identity. From the Syrian and Afghan refugee crisis in Europe and the Middle East to the rising number of apprehensions, deportations, and asylum seekers in the United States, to the growing anti-immigrant sentiment and nativism in the global North, international migration is at the forefront of impassioned public debates and policymaking.

This course has several objectives. First, it aims to help students become familiarized with theoretical, empirical, and policy-related issues related to immigration. Second, we explore case studies of immigrant communities and their integration, with a particular focus on immigrants from Latin America, Asia, the Caribbean, and the Middle East.

Sustainable Tourism: Balancing Growth and Responsibility

I-Chun Nicky Wu: Section 005 - TR 9am-10:15am

Get ready to explore the dynamic world of tourism through real-world case studies with a focus on sustainability and responsible travel. This course goes beyond traditional tourism concepts—products, services, and stakeholders—and challenges you to critically assess tourism’s impacts on communities, economies, and the environment. You'll engage with complex real-world tourism development issues such as over-tourism, gentrification, and economic inequalities, while applying core principles to analyze tourism's broader impacts. At the heart of the course are sustainable tourism criteria and indicators, where you'll learn how to balance economic growth with environmental and social well-being, benefiting all stakeholders involved. Through interactive sessions, case studies, and lively discussions, you'll collaborate with peers to present actionable solutions to real tourism development challenges. The course emphasizes interdisciplinary thinking, drawing on knowledge from fields such as psychology, economics, sociology, and political science. Expect guest speakers, group work, and LinkedIn Learning assignments that bring sustainable tourism to life and enhance your professional communication and problem-solving skills. The final project allows for creative freedom, as you present your sustainable tourism strategies and solutions in innovative formats like podcasts, short videos, or presentations. By the end of the semester, you'll have developed key transferable skills: effective communication, critical thinking, and interdisciplinary collaboration. You'll also learn to connect academic knowledge to real-world civic issues, preparing you to tackle complex challenges and become a change-maker in your future career.

History of AI

Jan Allbeck: Section 001 - MW 9am-10:15am

In this course, we will explore the history of artificial intelligence and its impact. We will trace the evolution of key technologies and how they have changed the way that we live. We will also discuss potential future technologies and the impact that they might have on society.

Reading the Past: Pandemics in American History and Memory

Rosemarie Zagarri: Section 002 - MW 12pm-1:15pm

The advent of the pandemic in 2020 caused by covid-19 transformed American society, affecting everything from work to school to leisure activities to the economy and politics. Yet pandemics have occurred frequently throughout American history. In this course, we will explore the epidemiology of pandemic diseases, the historical context in which they occurred, and their impact on American society and culture. In addition to studying the coronavirus pandemic, other episodes to be examined include the smallpox outbreaks of the eighteenth century (including the American Revolution), the yellow fever epidemic of 1793, cholera outbreaks in the 1820s and 1830s, the Spanish influenza pandemic of 1918, polio in the 1950s, HIV/AIDs during the 1980s, and others. A written exam, several short papers, and an oral presentation will be required, along with frequent class participation.

The Global Sixties

Matt Karush: Section 003 - TR 12pm-1:15pm

This course examines the political, social, and cultural history of one of the twentieth century’s most turbulent decades: the sixties. It takes a global perspective to explore how and why the world changed in these years. We will examine political conflicts and movements such as the Cuban Revolution, the Vietnam War, decolonization in Africa, the Cultural Revolution in China, the US civil rights movement, and the new student politics of 1968 alongside major social and cultural transformations, such as the emergence of youth as a marketing category, the impact of the birth control pill, and the power of a new brand of rock music. Students will read the work of historians as well as a broad range of primary sources, as they learn to construct their own historical interpretations of a period that continues to shape our world.

The Rhetoric of the Early Woman's Movement

Lisa Gring-Pemble: Section 004 - TR 10:30am-11:45am

In an age where we all have easy access to electronic media and can make use of multiple platforms to share our ideas, it is inconceivable that women at one point in our history did not have the “right” to speak in public. But, at the beginning of the 19th century, public advocacy of any sort was considered outside of women’s proper sphere. How women claimed their voice and succeeded in leading major social and political reforms, is a powerful and important story. Recalling the successes of the early woman’s movement, Lucy Stone once remarked “I think with never-ending gratitude, that the young women of today do not and can never know at what price their right to free speech and to speak at all in public has been earned.” In this learning community, we will explore the roots of the early woman’s movement as a case study to understand social change. We will get to know extraordinary women, analyze influential primary texts, and learn about social movement theory as we investigate the obstacles, dilemmas, and successes of the 19th century woman’s movement.

Technology and Identity

Zachary Schrag: Section 005 - TR 1:30pm-2:45pm

We define ourselves with the tools we make, the tools we use, and the tools we reject. Individuals select consumer goods, communities invest in infrastructure, and whole nations seek glory through invention and deployment of technology. This course will explore the intersection of technology and identity in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in the United States and other nations. We will learn how people living today and previous generations made choices about three sets of technologies: vaccination; electrification of cities, homes, and farms; and transportation, with an emphasis on the automotive safety. By learning this history, we can better understand the choices we ourselves face as individuals, communities, and nations.

Mass Culture Across Classes

Stephen Hickson: Section 006 - MW 9am-10:15am and Section 007 - MW 10:30am-11:45am

Technological innovations and enhanced time for leisure in the mid-nineteenth century facilitated the development of cultural forms, like photography, that were easily distributed to and accessible by the masses. Mass cultural forms, including photography, novels, films, radio, and television, further grew in scope and reach in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In this class, we will trace the historical creation and cultural development of mass forms and explore the relation of these forms to the history of labor movements and class struggles.

Postwar America Through Print Media

Andrew L Yarrow: Section 008 - W 4:30pm-7:10pm

The United States emerged from World War II as the world's dominant nation. Although America became enmeshed in a Cold War and nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union that lasted until 1989,and became entangled in proxy wars around the world, the postwar era was a time of rapidly increasing prosperity, dazzling technological advances, unparalleled US power and influence, buoyant optimism, and radical social change. This course will explore these and other themes through the lens of major newspapers and magazines. We will examine how affluence, new ideas, and immigration transformed communities, lifestyles, leisure, sexuality, and the family. How did print journalism cover and influence many other aspects of American life, including: the civil rights movement, feminism, and gay rights, which expanded the rights of people of color, women, and LGBTQ Americans; domestic politics, which shifted from a "liberal consensus" from the 1940s to 1970s--of support for economic growth and a welfare state at home and fighting communism abroad--to conservatism in the 1980s and the political polarization of more recent years. Just as television changed America in the 1950s and 1960s, so did personal computers and the Internet in the 1990s and early 2000s, ending this golden age for newspapers and magazines. While books and films will help students understand US history from 1945 to the beginning of the 21st century, our primary texts will be newspapers and magazines.

Black Movements in America

Amaka Okechukwu: Section 009 - MW 3pm-4:15pm

Black movements have done much to challenge and transform reality, articulate and practice self-determination, freedom, and autonomy, and project visions for a more just world. This course explores Black movements in the United States, of the past and present, as a means to better understand oppression, exploitation, power, and agency across time and space. Beginning with slavery and ending with contemporary movements against police brutality and imprisonment, this course will explore a variety of movements and local struggles concerning labor, internationalism, civil rights, Black nationalism, feminism and queer organizing, Black arts, student organizing, and more. This course will engage a variety of texts and sources, including academic texts, journalism, film, and visual arts. Through it all, we will consider what it means to struggle for justice in the context of American democracy, and what it means to vision a different world entirely.

College Success Partnerships

Aimee Weinstein and Rachel Cleaver: Section 001 - W 4:30pm-7:10pm

Interested in improving access to college for first generation students? Do you want to help students who would be the first in their families to attend college prepare for the experience? By enrolling in this section of HNRS 261, students agree to participate in the College Success Coaches service project. The project will involve learning how to provide effective mentoring to high school students as they develop college application essays and envision themselves as college students, perhaps even Honors College students. Students who take the class will learn about effective mentoring practices, specific topics and resources for first generation students, community-based research, and the admissions process as a wholistic review. In addition to regular class meetings and assignments, students must be willing to meet mentees at their mentoring sites twice during the semester at local high schools and attend an on-campus Saturday workshop on February 15. Transportation will be coordinated to the high schools.

Video Games, Psyche, & Society

Serena Abdallah: Section 002 - MW 12pm-1:15pm and Section 003 - MW 1:30pm-2:45pm

The purpose of this course is to learn how narrative-based roleplaying video games can be used as an identity-forming, community-building, and social action tool. Students will tackle how video games can teach players both about themselves, others, and the world around them through escapism, leaving gamers with foundational messaging they may then bring into their real-world communities and beyond. This will be taught through classical and contemporary theory and philosophy, in line with contemporary research; students will assess how and why people play video games, and the ways video games affect us. Each week students will be assigned readings and will be required to play a roleplaying video game and write a reflection on how theories and conclusions from these readings alongside their gameplay experience could enforce change. Students will also be assigned individual, partnered, and group projects to put into practice how things change from the individual to the communal scale and to personally see how what they have learned may be applied from the position of a gamer, an academic, and/or a member of the video game industry. *Please note that because of the nature of the material we will be covering, and some of the storylines that are present in roleplaying video games and different behaviors in the gaming community, we will often touch on topics that may be triggering to some students throughout the semester.

Public Service in Modern Times

Nadeen Makhlouf: Section 004 - MW 9am-10:15am and Section 005 - MW 10:30am-11:45am

This course provides a broad overview of the field of public service and covers the history and development of the public sector, as well as how it serves contemporary society. Public service requires coordinating efforts both within and between different sectors of society whether it is the government, international organizations, community-based organizations, nonprofits, or citizens. Everyone, regardless of interest, should be cognizant of the tremendous influence of public administration, leaders, and administrators in shaping public life. Topics include an overview of public management, leadership, motivation, ethics, citizen engagement, innovation, collaboration, and social equity. Activities will include a variety of written assignments, in-class simulations, presentations, and other activities designed to prepare students for professional work in the field.

Honors College Connects

Melanie Fedri: Section 006 - MW 1:30pm-2:45pm and Section 007 - MW 3pm-4:15pm

In Honors College Connects (HCC), students contribute to the work of local nonprofits addressing health, social justice, environmental, and other challenges. They build professional skills while making a real impact in the community beyond Mason, and work in teams that are mentored by peers who have previously taken the class. Through this course, students join the HCC community, which includes optional in-person opportunities during the semester, along with an invitation to later enroll in the HCC Mentorship section of HNRS 361 (encouraged but not required). HCC endeavors to promote students' commitment to diversity, inclusion, and belonging, and seeks to partner with both diversely led and diversely serving nonprofits. Any questions? Email hcc@gmu.edu.

Women, Power and Policy

Bonnie Stabile: Section 008 - TR 9am-10:15am

This course will consider how women exhibit power in the public sphere, with an emphasis on the US policy context. It will examine how culture, rhetoric, law and policy influence women's representation in leadership positions across sectors, and study related implications for their personal and professional lives. The course will consider factors contributing to women's continued underrepresentation in positions of power, despite significant advancement, as well as their overrepresentation in experiencing various adverse outcomes, with a focus on how these conditions might be mitigated through policy intervention. Various tools of policy analysis will be brought into play, including relevant legal, philosophical and theoretical frameworks.

Societal Well-Being

Todd B. Kashdan: Section 009 - TR 1:30pm-2:45pm

What does it mean to lead a fulfilling life? How can we enhance our well-being and reach our full potential? This interactive class delves into the latest psychological research on well-being, exploring psychological strengths, social relationships, and societal influences. The course provide a comprehensive understanding of the theoretical, empirical, and applied advances in the science of well-being. We will examine psychological qualities such as happiness, meaning, purpose, curiosity, creativity, courage, compassion, connection, resilience, flow, and flexibility. Participants will engage in experiential learning and practical exercises designed to nurture their strengths and foster personal growth. By integrating the latest scientific findings with personal insights, this course encourages helps you to become a whole person, working with the dark and light sides of humanity.

Colonialism, Knowledge & Power

Sausan Ghosheh: Section 011 - W 4:30pm-7:10pm

This course explores the intricate relationship between colonialism, knowledge, and power and their impact on our understanding of the world and our place in it. It examines the various facets of colonialism, utilizing a range of academic disciplines to analyze the power dynamics inherent in colonialism, explore resistance to colonial domination, investigate how notions of race and culture were shaped by imperial encounters, and scrutinize the impact of colonialism on peace and justice. The course also introduces students to diverse methodologies for studying colonialism, encourages them to challenge and decenter the dominance of Western/Eurocentric frameworks, and sheds light on marginalized perspectives and practices. The course fosters critical thinking, prompts students to question prevailing narratives, and encourages meaningful conversations about global justice, social equity, and the ongoing struggle for a more inclusive and just world.

Public Participation in Environmental Governance

Julie Minde: Section 012 - T 4:30pm-7:10pm

This course introduces the topic of how members of the public take part in activities associated with government implementation of environmental policy, regulation, and management. Important questions include, but are not limited to: When, how and why do citizens participate in activities related to government management of natural resources, stewardship of the environment, planning and preparation for environmental disasters, and environmental risk assessment? What are the dynamics between governments and their publics, and how do these dynamics shape environmental governance processes and outcomes? Are there more effective, equitable, and efficient ways to engage citizens and communities in environmental governance? Such questions are becoming more critical in a world marked by uncertainty and rapid environmental change as well as political fluctuation. We will investigate these and related questions through activities such as: literature review, case study analysis, role-playing and simulation, and model development.

Peer Mentorship in Honors

Nadeen Makhlouf: Section 013 - F 10:30am-1:10pm

This section of HNRS 260 is a service-based learning practicum to train Honors College Peer Mentors (PMs). PMs engage in the Honors College community by mentoring first-semester students taking HNRS 110: Principles of Research and Inquiry or HNRS 302: Research and Inquiry Transfers. In addition to fostering a positive sense of community, students are actively engaged in the ongoing process of articulating what “mentorship” and “collaborative learning” mean in the context of the Honors College curriculum. Over the course of the semester, students will train to become Peer Mentors and work in collaborative teams to develop assignments and programming related to HNRS 110/HNRS 302. Students who successfully complete this course in Spring 2025 are eligible to apply to take HNRS 360: Peer Leadership in Honors and serve as a mentor in Fall 2025.

Public History and Racial Justice

Charles Chavis: Section 014 - T 4:30pm-7:10pm & Off-campus Spring Break

John Mitchell Jr. Program (JMJP) in the Carter School of Peace and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University is advancing their work as the co-founder of the National Archive for Racial and Cultural Healing (ARCH), a project funded by the Institute for Library and Museum Sciences (IMLS). The ARCH performs research alongside Freedmen communities to document often-silenced histories. The ARCH is a multi-university effort focused on preserving US-based Freedmen communities. The Spring Break experiential learning fellowship is optional but highly encouraged. However, all students will be required to meet virtually with stakeholders, descendants communities, and or local activists within the communities that we are serving. Those participating in the optional spring break experiential learning trip will receive a stipend, and their travel and meals will be covered. The proposed Spring break research and community engagement trip will focus on the Dark Branch Community in Winnabow and Wilmington, NC. The Dark Branch Community includes the descendants of the formerly enslaved from West Africa, brought to a nearby port and settlement, referred to as Brunswick Town, during the 19th century. Members were enslaved at a few dozen plantations; however, the largest plantations include Orton, Lilliput, Kendal, and Pleasant Oaks. Dark Branch descendants remain in the community. Questions? Contact Professor Chavis at cchavis2@gmu.edu.

Social Justice Philanthropy

Valentino Bryant: Section DL1 - MW 12pm-1:15pm

The serious philanthropist must think and work strategically —building a deep understanding of the specific social issues of interest and community context and dynamics, identifying the highest potential leverage points and relevant resources, building relationships with a range of stakeholders, and negotiating the intersections between donor interests and community need, balancing innovation and experience, understanding legal issues, creating a robust investment strategy with clear goals and aligned actions, considering long-term exit strategies, designing and implementing impact evaluations, assessing potential partner organizations and plans, and monitoring and supporting grantee organizations.

Social Innovation

Melanie Fedri: Section 001 - TR 1:30pm-2:45pm

In an American society teeming with social issues, how might we understand and contextualize social innovation? And how are attempts to innovate influenced by larger forces? To explore these questions, we will engage in two parallel learning processes. In one, we will collectively examine a social issue that has wide-ranging implications: racial wealth inequality. In parallel, we will complete a whole-class project to advance the work of a nonprofit partner whose work touches on this issue. The project will grant students real-world, resume-worthy experience while amplifying the good work of our diversely led, diversely serving nonprofit client.

Mason's History in Archives

Maoria Kirker: Section 002 - TR 3pm-4:15pm

This course will explore the history of George Mason University using the University Libraries’ Archives. We will learn how archives work, what knowledge we can learn from archival records, and critique what is missing from the archival record. In teams, you’ll uncover an aspect of the university’s history using the archives and create a publicly accessible digital exhibit. This is a product for the University Libraries, and so you may even choose to explore a project related to creating and maintaining a stable platform for the work produced in this class, e.g. a wiki site or Omeka. This class is for any student interested in working with primary sources, learning more about the University and its community, or building workflows for a new technology project.

Science of Cities

James Trefil: Section 003 - M 4:30pm-7:10pm

A study of the scientific and technological aspects of the modern urban world. Research groups will study the question of how specific cities got to be the way they are and what they will look like in the future. This course has an irregular meeting pattern—some sessions are scheduled in person and some are synchronous online. Students are expected to participate in both modalities. Exams and presentations are conducted in-person, as designated in the course syllabus. Please see Patriot Web for the exact class meeting schedule.

Modern Scientific Revolutions

James Trefil: Section 004 - T 4:30pm-7:10pm

This course will examine the rather extraordinary changes in the way we view the universe as a result of scientific advances since 1900. This course has an irregular meeting pattern—some sessions are scheduled in person and some are synchronous online. Students are expected to participate in both modalities. Exams and presentations are conducted in-person, as designated in the course syllabus. Please see Patriot Web for the exact class meeting schedule.

AI and Human Values

Dean Taciuch: Section 005 - TR 12pm-1:15pm and Section 006 - TR 3pm-4:15pm

The quest for artificial intelligence has led to many types of “narrow AI,” most of which are better than humans at their specific skills (from playing games to predicting the structure of a protein). But the goal for much AI research is Artificial General Intelligence, or AGI. A narrow AI can drive a car, for example, but it can’t play chess, or answer a trivia question. An AGI could. Much of the in AI scholarship has been on the risks of AI development: misaligned values, ethical dilemmas, economic concerns. But the rewards are immense: longer, healthier lives, more stable governments, more equitable societies, a cleaner environment, and the exploration of our universe. This course will explore current and future ethical questions of AI development, including questions of human values and identity.

Feminist Theory Into Practice

David Powers Corwin: Section 007 - TR 12pm-1:15pm

While feminist theory started with the voices of activists and community organizers, its tensions within the academy as an accessible and inclusive framing of identity continue to be contested causing some activists to avoid engaging with the field. This course troubles the stereotypes and academic conventions of studying theory through various writing and research projects that bridge theory, research, practice, and personal development while still engaging with difficult conversations about gender, sexuality, power, and intersecting social identities.

Scientific Controversies

Davis Kuykendall: Section 008 - TR 1:30pm-2:45pm and Section 009 - TR 3pm-4:15pm

Why are so many in the public misinformed about important scientific issues such as climate change and vaccine safety— issues that have major implications for public policy and well-being? When is there a genuine scientific controversy about such scientific issues and when is the controversy fake or manufactured? What explains why some segments of the public are more likely to be misinformed about important scientific topics than others? Which strategies are effective in decreasing the likelihood of misinformation and which strategies backfire? In this course, we’ll draw from the history and philosophy of science, psychology, sociology, and related fields to address these and related questions.

UN Sustainable Development Goals in Local Context

Amy Lewis: Section 010 - M 4:30pm-7:10pm

This multidisciplinary course offers an in-depth exploration of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG) and examines how local strategies can contribute towards solving challenges in an interlinked world. Topics from this framework range from poverty, health, education and inequality to infrastructure, climate, land and water. While the course reviews cases and phenomena worldwide in confronting sustainable development, it more so attempts to find meaningful local connections for all to have a part in being careful stewards. The course emphasizes civic learning by students practicing skills to interact effectively with others and understanding the commitments of active participation in their own communities. Through a combination of readings, lectures, community engagement, and collaborative research projects, the course places a significant focus on identifying and fostering meaningful local connections. Students will contribute to discussions within the campus and the local community by proposing actionable solutions to address the UNSDGs.

Art, Culture, and Soft Power

Amy Lewis: Section 011 - W 4:30pm-7:10pm

This course examines case studies of art as soft power and inquires on culture as import and export through the actions of governments, international organizations, corporations, museums, communities, and individuals. Students will delve into the historical development of cultural diplomacy, analyze various practices and initiatives, and debate about soft power and globalization. Engaging across academic disciplines, students will investigate a range of artistic and creative works which advocate for increased understanding between peoples. This course is guided by key questions: How can we learn about cultural values and representation through the study of creative works? What examples of art challenge social norms and foster dialogue across differences? In what ways has art harnessed or harmed understanding between communities? How are art and culture levers of power deployed globally as instruments of diplomacy? Whose attitudes and perceptions does soft power seek to influence? What are the complexities involved in assessing the role of arts and culture as phenomena of soft power?

You Got Your OER in My DH: History, Theory, and Practice in Digital Open Education

Tonya Howe: Section 012 - TR 1:30pm-2:45pm

Digital Humanities (DH) is an approach to knowledge-making that brings digital tools and methods to bear on humanities subjects like literature, history, and philosophy. Open Education, distinguished by its use of Open Educational Resources (OER)—or freely shared learning objects made available digitally—is an educational practice organized around the belief that education should be accessible to all. DH and OER overlap in many ways, and yet today they remain discursively and functionally separate. Why? What might be gained from combing them? This course will introduce students to the history, methods, and theory of both DH and Open Education. Students will also put the ideas of each into practice by collaborating on a federally-funded Open Digital Humanities grant project by adding new digital editions of frequently taught texts to a growing database, which can in turn be used as a textbook alternative in high school and college classrooms across the globe. Throughout the project, students will learn more about research, public writing, copyright, linked open data, standardized XML markup, metadata, and more. This course will be of particular interest to students in education, humanities, and computer science programs. Digital expertise is not required, but openness and curiosity are. Our hybrid class will meet in-person on Thursdays. Wondering about the course title? Visit https://bit.ly/HNRS360. 

User Experience (UX)

Yi-Ching Lee: Section 013 - MW 12pm-1:15pm

Human Factors is a specialization of psychology that studies how humans interact with systems and technology, and how those interactions may be made safer, more efficient, intuitive, and enjoyable. In Psyc 340, we cover historical events in the development of Human Factors as a discipline and future directions, the cognitive ‘attributes’ of humans, and methods used for studying human-technology interactions and accident investigations. User Experience (UX) is a topic within Human Factors and focuses on user perception of technology’s ease of use, efficiency, and utility. In this HNRS 360 User Experience course, we will work on applying the fundamental concepts in Human Factors to improving existing products and systems. We plan to collaborate with an office at GMU and help them improve their phone applications, websites, or interfaces. We also plan to work on a research project that is of interest to a state agency. Students are expected to work both individually and in small groups for discussion, hands-on activities, and presentations. We will also have guest speakers from a variety of backgrounds as well as demonstrations of different UX and human factors applications.

Honors College Consults

Anthony Hoefer: Section 014 - TR 12pm-1:15pm

Students in this course will work in multidisciplinary teams to design a solution to a challenge or problem offered by two of Mason’s partners from the Northern Virginia business community. Students will be supported in this project by a faculty instructor and a mentor from the participating partner. They will have opportunities to synthesize the knowledge and practices they have developed over the course of their undergraduate experience, to develop the skills and strategies necessary for working effectively in multidisciplinary teams, and to apply all of this as they work to solve a problem or challenge in a professional environment. Work on the project will culminate with the public presentation of the team’s proposed solution, as well as a final report to be delivered to the participating business partner. [Note: in the past, this course has been titled "Industry & Professional Challenges"]

Lead Mentorship in Honors

John Woolsey: Section 015 - F 10:30am-1:10pm

HNRS 360: Lead Mentorship in Honors is open to students who have previously taken HNRS 260: Peer Mentorship in Honors with Dr. Makhlouf or HNRS 261: College Application Coaches with Dr. Weinstein. Building on their service-learning and mentoring experiences in one of the courses above, students taking HNRS 361 will work on teams to conduct a community-based research project identifying and addressing larger needs within the Honors College community at George Mason University. Contact Dr. Woolsey directly if you have questions: jwoolsey@gmu.edu.

Leadership, Innovation, & Change

Christopher Carr: Section 016 - MW 3pm-4:15pm

This course explores the intersection of leadership principles, innovative thinking, and organizational change. Students will develop skills to lead transformative initiatives, foster innovation, and manage change effectively in dynamic environments. With impacts in engineering, technology, and the humanities, this course is ideal for future leaders aiming to drive impactful change.

The Politics of PTSD

Claudia Rector: Section DL1 - TR 9am-10:15am

Mental disorder has always been a phenomenon subject to politics and rhetoric, as changing ideas of normalcy and deviance prove. In this course, we will examine the conceptual frameworks and rhetoric around the diagnosis, treatment, and experience of mental disorder in the U.S., specifically the politics of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), stress and trauma, and their differentiation from other forms of mental disorder. We will examine the history of the diagnostic category of PTSD, including the conceptual frameworks and rhetoric that shaped its evolution. We will consider how the individual experience of trauma is related to the individual’s relationship with the community, and consider what that might imply for both the ways that individuals are helped and the ways that the community regards their experiences. After examining the development of the diagnosis of PTSD in context, we will consider two other situations where trauma and PTSD have been identified—within fundamentalist Christianity, and around mass shootings—to examine the politics of trauma, including whose suffering is acknowledged and the community responses to that.

Honoring Our Community Fellowship Seminar

Jasmyne Rogers: Section 001 - W 4:30pm-5:45pm

A seminar for students participating in the Honoring Our Community Fellowship Program. Through this seminar, students will learn from others with a range of experiences, perspectives, and identities and then apply that learning to community engagement/activism. Students will become familiar with interpersonal communication skills and campus resources that will enable them to effectively engage the community they choose to serve. Enrollment only with acceptance into the Honoring Our Community Fellowship program

Chesapeake Literature

Paul Haspel: Section 001 - TR 12pm-1:15pm

The Chesapeake region was the site of the first successful effort to establish a permanent English colony in North America, at Jamestown in 1607. Early visitors marveled at the Bay’s rich resources, including the crabs, oysters, fish and other seafood for which the Chesapeake is renowned. Today, the Chesapeake region is home to four major metropolitan areas, including the nation’s capital; but overpopulation, commercial development, pollution, and climate change make the Chesapeake of today a threatened resource. This course looks at this important region – one in which every student on the Mason campus has chosen to study – through a survey of literature of the Chesapeake region from the colonial period through the present day. The class will discuss the work of Chesapeake-region authors like Captain John Smith, Frederick Douglass, George Alfred Townsend, Adele V. Holden, Gilbert Byron, John Barth, William Styron, Helen Chappell, Marguerite Henry, Katherine Paterson, and William H. Warner. Topics to be discussed will include colonialism, race, religion, social class, and differing attitudes regarding the use of natural resources.

US Life & Identity in Poetry

Lori Rottenberg: Section 002 - MW 10:30am-11:45am

Think poetry is just something you have to learn to get through high school English, with no relevance to your life or today’s world? Buckle up and think again! In this class, we will be exploring visceral, accessible poetry that probes what it is to be an American, in so many of its numerous identities. We will discuss what makes poetry “poetry” and read and analyze important poets from the last 20 years, covering a broad range of styles and personal perspectives. We will review the terms we need for analyzing poetry and examine how each poet makes meaning through their choices on the page. We will also be giving YOU the chance to write and workshop your own original poetry! Our tentative reading list includes Natasha Trethewey, Victoria Chang, Ocean Vuong, Craig Santos Perez, Claudia Rankine, Ada Limón, Layli Long Soldier, Philip B. Williams, Brian Turner, and others. (Please note that as poetry often deals with sensitive issues involving race, gender, sexuality, class, war, oppression, history, environmental destruction, and personal trauma, these topics may be discussed in this class.) Get ready to talk, interact, share, create, and learn!

Ruins of the Apocalypse

Benjamin Renne: Section 003 - MW 1:30pm-2:45pm and Section 004 - MW 3pm-4:15pm

The apocalypse is upon us! So what comes next? In this course we will examine the literature of ruin. Through close literary analysis, creative artistic response, and critical discussion of speculative fiction (SF), poetry, film, anime, and video games, we will explore the possible futures left to us in the wake of apocalypse. With particular emphasis on survival, community, and resilience, we will encounter the various survivors of ruin: scavengers and shapeshifters, mutants and monsters, and the mythic remnants of the human past. Our exploration will be guided by the following key questions: What is our (human) relationship to the apocalypse? What is useful or even necessary about imagining our future ruin? How can art and literature prepare us to survive apocalyptic scenarios of the present and future? How can possibility, justice, wonder, and even delight exist amid destruction?

The Art of Memory

James Savage: Section 005 - TR 3pm-4:15pm

In Ancient Greece, a good memory was celebrated as both essential to any orator as well as a way of communicating with and memorializing the dead. What has become of the concept of memory since that time? What role does memory (both individual and collective) play in our lives today, particularly as we remember traumatic events and the loss of loved ones? And how do artists use memory to understand the past and heal from moments of loss and trauma? These questions will be examined in this course through various genres, including academic writing, fiction, creative nonfiction, live storytelling, film, and poetry. The semester will culminate in a Moth Story Slam that asks students to tell a story aloud from memory.

Creative Nonfiction: The Story of YOU!

Aimee Weinstein: Section 006 - MW 10:30am-11:45am and Section 007 - MW 12pm-1:15pm

What does it mean to tell your story? How does an ordinary person put together descriptions, thoughts and reflections to create a work that is truly extraordinary? This course will focus on the definition of creative nonfiction as separate from journalism, essays or other works of nonfiction that are less biographical and creative. Our end goal is to create something ourselves that is read-worthy by someone other than our mothers and to imagine ourselves as authors of the story of our lives. We will explore how writers do not only tell their stories – as in WHAT happened – but also the ways they reflect on their snippet of reality, how they make sense of the experiences and how they bring those experiences to life for the reader. How do they succeed in making their regular lives vivid and interesting to an outside reader?

Literature and Film of War

Richard Nanian: Section 008 - TR 1:30pm-2:45pm

At first glance, literature and war have little connection. Literature is about creating something; war is the most destructive activity in which human beings engage. Writing usually requires order, quiet, and solitude; war creates chaos and noise, and requires an enemy. The medium of film, too, initially seems inadequate to the truth of war. War is usually long, and the repercussions from war last much longer; a film has only a few hours at most in which to tell its story. Given that war has been a nearly constant facet of human existence, though, it would be surprising if writers and film-makers did not attempt to capture some of the reality of war within their works. Moreover, literature and film both virtually require both irony and paradox, and war provides both. As terrible as war is, it also provides the opportunity to demonstrate many qualities that we admire, such as courage, camaraderie, and occasionally chivalry. As deadly as war is, proximity to death makes one feel more alive than one might otherwise. As brutal as war is, it can also be spectacular and awe-inspiring. War is not only a suitable subject for both literature and film but a nearly irresistible one._x000B_ This course requires reading literary works and watching films, as well as contributing short writing assignments to the class discussion board, but no outside research or formal essays.

Fictions of Identity

Deborah Forbes: Section 009 - TR 3pm-4:15pm and Section 010 - TR 1:30pm-2:45pm

A core part of human culture is telling stories that aren’t true. Why do we create fiction, and how does this work relate to our understanding of ourselves and others? How do we judge authenticity in an imagined world? This course follows the development of realistic fiction in English from the origins of the novel in the late 1600s to the present day. We’ll pay particular attention to authors who write from the point of view of characters with a racial or gender identity different from their own. What can they tell us about the line between representation and appropriation, empathy and exploitation? How have our moral preoccupations evolved over time? Together we will develop individual criteria for evaluating the boundary crossing fiction involves. The coursework will emphasize critical analysis, but we will also undertake creative experiments to test the limits of our ability to imagine ourselves as someone else.

Inquiry in Science Fiction

Carlos Chism: Section 011 - TR 10:30am-11:45am

Science fiction is often discussed as primarily speculative, or as a tool for predicting the future. But some of the greatest authors of the genre, from Mary Shelley to Phillip K. Dick and NK Jemisin, demonstrate the genre serves less as a crystal ball to predict the future, and more like a mirror to reflect on and question our present. Through what Ursula K. Le Guin describes as the “peculiar, devious, and thought-experimental manner proper to science fiction,” the genre helps us ask probing questions about the world around us. In this course, we will examine science fiction across a range of time periods, subgenres, and modalities to better understand how the genre can help us ask critical questions about social, cultural, and political issues in the world today. We will read novels, short stories, and screen TV episodes to analyze how various works both use and subvert conventions of the genre to construct piercing questions and probe for new answers. Through engaging with these texts, we will develop skills of critical reading, inquiry, and analysis, so that we can ask revealing questions of the world around us in the spirit of Octavia Butler’s observation that “there is nothing new under the sun, but there are new suns.”

Gender, Sexuality, and 1990s Culture

David Corwin: Section 002 - TR 1:30pm-2:45pm

This section will focus on how the 1990s was a critical decade for issues related to gender and sexuality and intersecting identities. Coming off the heels of Apartheid in South Africa, The Reagan Administration, the Cold War, and many other international political events and in the midst of the HIV/AIDs epidemic, LGBTQ+ activism, and third wave feminist politics, the 90s served as a transition decade to move us into the twenty-first century. Through literature, television, film, music, historical and theoretical texts, this course will focus on issues related to women and LGBTQ+ people in light of the sociological and historical context of the decade and how representation is indeed a political act that shapes culture.

The Power of Place: Examining Locality’s Influence on Identity

Amanda Bryan: Section 003 - MW 10:30am-11:45am

The world space we occupy influences each of us greatly; it builds individuals into a community. This community (where we live and when we come from) often shapes how we respond to the situations in our life as well as how we empathize with others with similar or different experiences. I posit that our identities are significantly influenced by our historical (childhood and young adult) localities. This course will focus on the broad concept of “place” as a power or pressure – sometimes positive and sometimes negative – on identities and one’s capacities to build new communities, especially those across differences. Drawing from physics’ Principle of Locality, nonlocality, and entanglement theory, we will consider (mostly) fictional, narrative characters’ responses to various situations and how their place influences their actions and thought processes. Our texts will be multinational, including some focused on the various regions of the United States, the Caribbean, India, the Middle East, and the United Kingdom across the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. We will analyze novels/novellas, short stories, poetry, as well as musical compositions and paintings as texts. (Disclosure: I am not a physics professor, and no knowledge of physics is required.)

Exploring Differences & Celebrating our Commonalities

Khaseem Davis: Section 004 - W 4:30pm-7:10pm

In a world that can be chaotic, divisive, and hostile, "Exploring Differences & Celebrating Our Commonalities" offers a comprehensive journey into the intricacies of human uniqueness and unity. This course delves into the multifaceted aspects of what sets us apart – be it cultural backgrounds, personal identities, or lived experiences – while celebrating the threads that bind us together as a global community. Throughout this course, students will reflect and explore ways in which individuals and communities differ. From examining our rich cultural traditions and practices to delving into the nuances of personal identity and background, students will gain a deeper appreciation for the diversity that defines human existence. Through introspective exercises and engaging discussions, students will identify and celebrate the unique attributes that contribute to the rich mosaic of humanity. Exploring Differences & Celebrating Our Commonalities goes beyond mere acknowledgment of diversity by actively seeking out common ground among individuals and groups. This course will emphasize our shared values, aspirations, and experiences, and will foster greater understanding and empathy among students. Through collaborative activities and dialogue, participants will work to transcend superficial differences necessary to connect on a deeper level. The purpose of this course is twofold: to deepen our understanding and appreciation of difference and cultivate a sense of interconnectedness. Students will leave this course equipped with the tools to navigate complex cultural landscapes and foster an environment of mutual respect and appreciation; this course will lay a solid foundation for scholarly exploration.

Identity in Video Games

Seth Hudson: Section 005 - MW 1:30pm-2:45pm

This class explores the function of identity in video game culture(s). By engaging related scholarship, journalism, and games themselves, we will seek the intersections of player experiences with the evolving medium and communities that surround it. What do we play? How do we play? What do the answers to these questions say about us?

Know Thyself: Insights from the Psychology of Self-Knowledge

Lauren Kuykendall: Section 006 - MW 3pm-4:15pm

This class will explore the significance of self-knowledge for a fulfilling life and the possibilities for knowing ourselves better. We will begin by investigating when and why self-knowledge matters for a good life, examining its impact on well-being, decision-making, careers, and relationships. We will learn why obtaining self-knowledge is so challenging, particularly when relying on introspection. Then, focusing primarily on insights from the psychological sciences–with occasional input from philosophy and other relevant disciplines–we will consider a variety of strategies for increasing self-knowledge, including: (1) learning about common biases and bias reduction strategies, (2) becoming skillful observers of our emotions and actions, (3) knowing ourselves through others, (4) making sense of the multiple traits, values, and group identities that define us and how they fit together, and (5) narrating our stories in ways that foster purpose and coherence. We will experiment with these strategies for knowing ourselves better and reflect on our experiences with each other. Through practical experimentation with these strategies and reflective discussions with peers, this course will empower students to articulate personally meaningful reasons and strategies for pursuing self-knowledge.

The American Dilemma: Race, Caste and Social Inequality in the 21st Century

Patricia Masters: Section 007 - TR 10:30am-11:45am

In 1938, the Swedish economist and sociologist, Gunnar Myrdal was engaged by the Carnegie Foundation to study and document the social and economic inequities faced by Southern Black Americans. His book, The American Dilemma, highlights the discrepancy between the American ideals of freedom, democracy, and equality, and the American realities of discrimination, prejudice, and exclusion blacks faced in their everyday lives. This problem was, Myrdal asserted, the greatest challenge facing America. In the 21st Century it remains an unresolved dilemma. There are three components of this course. First, there is the history of chattel slavery beginning in 1619 when the first Africans arrived in Virginia. We examine the process through which categories of White and Black were constructed in practice and through law. This will be followed by a discussion of Isabel Wilkerson’s “Eight Pillars” of the American caste system the underlies and legitimates a hierarchy of races. Secondly, we will analyze the Civil Rights Movement and the unique roles played by Martin Luther King and Malcolm X in framing demands for racial equality and the legislative outcomes of their powerful movement. Thirdly, we will discuss the resistance to the programs advancing positive racial change and the increasing importance of media and the uses of media images and symbols in creating negative, or positive racial images and symbols. Accompanying the discussion of media will be an analysis of specific political ideologies, including white supremacy and its impact on questions surrounding race in the national dialogue. Using social-psychological studies of such groups we will explore the motivations and fears that drive individuals to seek and support these groups. All of the issues discussed force us to again re-visit Myrdal’s American Dilemma and raise the question as to whether the American Creed will ever correspond to the American Deed.

Liberalism and its Critics

Theodore Kinnaman: Section 008 - TR 1:30pm-2:45pm

American society is a liberal one that professes to value freedom above all else. But are human beings naturally suited for life in liberal democracy, or must we be taught how to be free? Are people equally suited to be citizens in a democracy? What is this freedom we value so much? We will consider these questions as they are addressed in philosophical works by Plato, Mill, Locke, and Rawls, as well as conservative, communitarian, and feminist critiques of liberalism.

Identity-Based Conflict

Tabatha Hargrove: Section 009 - MW 12pm-1:15pm

This course delves into the complex dynamics of identity-based conflicts, exploring the intersection of individual and group identities in conflict situations. Students will examine the role of identities such as race, ethnicity, religion, gender, and nationality in shaping conflicts and learn strategies for conflict resolution and reconciliation. Through case studies and interactive discussions, participants will gain a deeper understanding of the impact of identity on conflicts and develop skills to navigate and address identity-based tensions effectively. In this course on Identity-Based Conflicts, participants will explore the psychological and sociological aspects that contribute to conflicts rooted in identity. By analyzing historical and contemporary examples, students will gain insights into the complexities of identity dynamics and their influence on conflict escalation and resolution. Through a combination of class discussions, group activities, and simulations, learners will develop critical thinking skills and practical approaches to address identity-based conflicts in diverse contexts. Additionally, the course will provide opportunities for reflection and dialogue to promote empathy, understanding, and constructive engagement in conflict transformation processes. Students in the Identity-Based Conflicts course will engage with theories and frameworks that help dissect the underlying causes of identity-based tensions. They will also explore the role of power dynamics, historical narratives, and communication strategies in shaping conflict outcomes. Through experiential learning activities and guest lectures from practitioners in the field, students will deepen their understanding of the complexities of identity conflicts and gain insights into innovative approaches to fostering reconciliation and peacebuilding. The course aims to equip participants with both theoretical knowledge and practical skills to navigate identity-based conflicts with sensitivity, empathy, and effectiveness. The main focus of the Identity-Based Conflicts course is to examine the psychological and sociological dimensions of conflicts that stem from identity differences. Participants will delve into the complexities of how identity factors such as ethnicity, religion, nationality, and ideology can influence the dynamics of conflict escalation and resolution. The course emphasizes understanding the root causes of identity-based tensions, exploring strategies for constructive engagement, and developing skills for promoting reconciliation and peacebuilding in diverse and challenging contexts. Ultimately, the course aims to equip learners with the knowledge and tools to navigate identity-based conflicts with empathy, critical thinking, and a commitment to positive social change.

Experiencing Difference

Lisa Sechrest-Ehrhardt: Section 010 - MW 10:30am-11:45am and Section 011 - MW 1:30pm-2:45pm

Diversity in the United States provides a rich, yet complicated environment regarding social interaction among people from varying racial, ethnic, and socio-economic backgrounds. Different world perspectives affect behavior in social interactions and can have positive and or negative consequences. How does a person’s race, ethnicity, or gender affect his or her interactions with others? Students will be introduced to Social Interaction Theory and Cognitive Theory which provide a robust foundation for navigating diverse social interactions. Using inquiry and collaborative learning processes students will learn how these theories provide an understanding to what one “brings” to communications and exchanges with others. Students will examine the “intersectionality” of race, ethnicity, gender, ability, socioeconomic status, and age to comprehend the importance of self-awareness in the process of understanding self, others and community.

Disability, Health and Illness

Claudia Rector: Section DL1 - MW 9am-10:15am and Section DL2 - MW 10:30am-11:45am

This course considers how identity intersects with the body, specifically with disability, health and illness. We will examine how identity in the contemporary U.S. is shaped by physical difference, and consider what possibilities are created or foreclosed by various imaginings of both identity and disability. Specific topics to be considered include (among others): eugenics, the medical model of disability and the disability rights response, chronic illness, Deaf culture, abortion, mental health/illness, disability studies, non-violent resistance, and COVID.

Markets and Morality

Virgil Storr: Section 001 - T 4:30pm-7:10pm

This seminar will explore key writings on the relationship between markets and morality. The course will, thus, also focus on a number of the critical debates that have occupied political economists and moral philosophers over the years about the moral underpinnings of market societies, the moral nature of market activities, and the moral status of market outcomes. The goal of the class is to prepare students to understand and engage in the contemporary debates around these issues.

Sea-Level Rise & Social Impact

Matthew Sedlar: Section 002 - TR 3pm-4:15pm

As global temperatures rise, coastal cities find themselves on the front lines of a battle against the forces of climate change. As sea levels inexorably rise, these cities are witnessing the gradual submergence of their once-familiar landscapes. The threat posed by the encroaching sea is multifaceted and far-reaching, encompassing everything from the erosion of beaches and the salinization of freshwater sources to the inundation of critical infrastructure and the displacement of entire communities. This course will closely examine case studies from Norfolk, VA, to New Orleans and Miami to understand the impacts of rising sea levels. Students will leave this course knowing the effects of rising sea levels on society and the types of efforts underway to mitigate its impacts.

Eliminating Global Hunger: Problems, Progress, and Challenges

Phillip Thomas: Section 003 - MW 12pm-1:15pm

Global hunger is one of the most critical problems confronting the global community in the 21st Century. Despite numerous efforts over the past 50 years its elimination remains elusive due to a complex array of environmental and human factors. The purpose of this course is to develop a comprehensive understanding of the causes and effects of global hunger and analyze threats to global food security including the climate crisis, environmental degradation, animal and plant diseases, access to clean water, food waste and loss, contaminated food, agricultural terrorism, and antimicrobial resistance. The current intensifying climate crisis, the Russian Invasion of the Ukraine, and the continuing COVID Pandemic have exacerbated the global food security crisis. This course will address food security, in terms of access to critical food supplies including major supply chain disruptions, and the nutritional impact on vulnerable food insecure populations at a global and national level. We will address food security related national and global health, economic, social, and ethical impacts of these disruptive forces. We will also examine strategies for protecting and enhancing the security of global food production and supply systems. In the final analysis, our goal is to gain insight into the interrelationship between food security and national security and develop an understanding of policies and programs necessary to achieve sustainable food security that is environmentally appropriate to ensure availability, access, utilization, and stability of adequate nutritious food for all people at all times.

Social Media & Culture

Matthew West: Section 004 - TR 1:30pm-2:45pm

What is Social Media? We all use it, some of you will even “code” the next platforms, but to what extent do we really “get” it? How has social media changed the cultures that we live in and what are the consequences of these changes? Contemporary “real” life has now long been immersed in digital culture: our politics, our social and love lives, and our views of ourselves are all caught up in mobile, networked, visual, and even cyborg cultures. This course leads students to explore the many ways in which social media interactions are a central element in the everyday lives of humans across the globe in the 21st century. The course is arranged around a series of readings and watchings, lectures introducing scholarly tools for understanding them and for sparking discussions, and a set of projects that lead students to get their hands dirty, experiencing and analyzing the real “e-world” of social media. This semester we will delve into topics including online dating, political movements, gaming culture, “internet addiction,” truth online, surveillance, and social activism. Throughout the course, we will be focused also on the ways that inequalities and power relations are changed by and are enacted through a variety of new “social” tools of cyberspace. The course welcomes HNRS affiliated students from all majors: from anthropology to humanities, fine arts, and social sciences students and from computer science and engineering students to those from other sciences backgrounds.

Responses to Climate Change

Richard Stafford: Section 005 - TR 12pm-1:15pm

How are we responding to climate change? What responses are we planning? How might we respond in the future? Who is this "we" anyway? The answers to these questions are vital: climate change is reshaping patterns of migration, impacting human health, changing the availability and cost of necessities like water and food, increasing the frequency or severity of natural disasters, causing sea-level rise and coastal flooding, and more. These impacts are projected to intensify in the coming years. However, because many of the activities that contribute most to climate change are deeply interwoven with our cultures, political systems, and economies, action is complicated and fraught. In this class, we will read about and discuss a range of different kinds of responses to climate change, how groups and institutions can be mobilized to respond, and what causes inaction.

Climate Change for Humans

Amy Rose-Tejwani: Section 006 - M 4:30pm-7:10pm and Section 007 - T 4:30pm-7:10pm

This course will examine the effects of climate change on our everyday lives and develop strategies for coping with severe weather and health concerns from climate change through the mindset of “thinking globally and acting locally.” We will investigate topics such as environmental policy, sustainability, aerosols, radiation, spectroscopy, and satellite imagery from the perspectives of humanities, technology, engineering, and science. Students will learn strategies for critical multidisciplinary analysis of meteorological events, climatic trends, reducing their carbon footprints, and effective science communication. With respect to the earth systems of the biosphere, lithosphere, and hydrosphere, this course will focus on climate change in our atmosphere.

Memory, Narrative, and Natural Disaster

Andy Hoefer: Section 001 - TR 10:30am-11:45am

What do we mean when we describe a catastrophe as a “natural disaster”? How much of what happens before, during, and after these events is about the weather, and how much is a consequence of human decisions and actions – things like public policy, economic structures, infrastucture and engineering innovations, agricultural practices, and broad values and social norms? How do communities come together to survive, and who gets left behind? What stories do we tell in order to make sense of the chaotic, incoherent, and devasting experiences of these events? In this course, we’ll consider these questions and look closely at three major disasters from the last hundred years of US history: the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, the Dust Bowl, and Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. Our texts will include works of popular history, archived artifacts and documents from these periods, and relevant works of imaginative literature, visual art, and music. Collaborative inquiry will be essential throughout the semester, and students will have opportunities to dive deeply into specific topics and questions of their choosing.

History of the Family

Spencer Crew: Section 002 - TR 10:30am-11:45am

The definition of family and the role of each member has evolved over the years. Often the changes are related to economic circumstances and the social beliefs of the society. This course will primarily examine the way the American family has changed since colonial days. In the process, we will study how the responsibilities of women, children, and men have evolved and why. In addition, we will learn how oral history can aid in researching family history.

Slavery & Freedom in Virginia

Sheri Huerta: Section 003 - MW 10:30am-11:45am

What is freedom and how do we use the past to create a narrative of what American freedom means? This course tackles the complex questions of what freedoms like movement, residency, bodily control, and family meant in an era of enslavement (1619-1865); how the boundaries between freedom and enslavement were created, policed, negotiated, transgressed, and challenged; and how these stories impact our present understanding of American freedom(s). To do this, we will uncover stories of the people most often marginalized and silenced by history and follow their journeys across the Atlantic Ocean, into sites of enslavement, within legislative debates about freedom, along the Underground Railroad, and into local courthouses as they sought to make claims to freedom and define its meaning. We will discuss how stories of resistance and resilience during the era of enslavement have been represented in public history and then work towards social justice by designing a memorial in teams to amplify the marginalized or silenced voices of people who help us better understand the meanings of freedom and enslavement in Virginia.

Free Speech and Censorship

Samuel Lebovic: Section 004 - MW 12pm-1:15pm

What do we have the right to say? Can censorship ever be justified? This course explores the changing ways that Americans have answered these questions in the past, in order to better understand how we should think about the right to free speech in our current moment. We will read broadly in the law, philosophy and politics of free speech over the course of the nation’s history, examining such subjects as political radicalism, hate speech, obscenity, criminal incitement, fake news, and defamation. Particular attention will be paid to analyzing the development of First Amendment law, to studying the history of some famous, controversial cases, and to thinking about the role that free expression should play in U.S. democracy.

History of AI

Jan Allbeck: Section 005 - MW 9am-10:15am

In this course, we will explore the history of artificial intelligence and its impact. We will trace the evolution of key technologies and how they have changed the way that we live. We will also discuss potential future technologies and the impact that they might have on society.

Public Participation in Environmental Governance

Julie Minde: Section 001 - W 4:30pm-7:10pm

This course introduces the topic of how members of the public take part in activities associated with government implementation of environmental policy, regulation, and management. Important questions include, but are not limited to: When, how and why do citizens participate in activities related to government management of natural resources, stewardship of the environment, planning and preparation for environmental disasters, and environmental risk assessment? What are the dynamics between governments and their publics, and how do these dynamics shape environmental governance processes and outcomes? Are there more effective, equitable, and efficient ways to engage citizens and communities in environmental governance? Such questions are becoming more critical in a world marked by uncertainty and rapid environmental change as well as political fluctuation. We will investigate these and related questions through activities such as: literature review, case study analysis, role-playing and simulation, and model development.

Redesigning College

Kathleen deLaski: Section 002 - M 4:30pm-7:10pm

This course will teach students a set of design tools to research, prototype and test their new ideas for fixing what’s wrong with college. We will use “redesigning college,” a close-to-home issue, as our prime case study, but students will also have a chance to apply the skills to other social issues that are important to them, whether it’s global warming, mental health or parking access on campus. The design methodology is called “design thinking” or “human-centered design.” We will use these tools to step inside the lives of students, faculty and employers to analyze barriers and unmet needs. We will ideate solution sets and “design criteria.” We will hone the skills of “rapid prototyping” and “guerilla testing” and build pilot plans to present to the administration. We will address the challenge that 70% of career-entry jobs require a bachelor’s degree, yet most American adults, 62%, do not possess a four-year degree. Can “college” and the path to meaningful work be reimagined to address exclusivity, access, cost, racial equity and flexibility to break the cycle of poverty in families with no college degree experience? Students will meet practitioners in this fast-moving field who are driving change and they will have a chance to bring their best bets to life. This is also a great course to understand the changing ways that employers are hiring entry level talent and to understand and present your own skills on your resume and beyond.

Thriving in Organizations: Being a Successful Employee in Today's Organizations

Kevin Rockmann: Section 003 - M 4:30pm-7:10pm

Most of you will at some point in your life work in an organization. Whether small, medium, large, non-profit, governmental, family-owned, etc-organizations form the backbone of our society and as such employ almost every worker. Where do we learn though how to think about organizations, examine organizations, and succeed as organizational members? Here! In this practicum course you will be visiting several organizations to train yourselves to be thoughtful observers of culture, processes, and relationships, with the goal of helping you succeed and thrive in your future organizational lives.

Social Justice Philanthropy

Valentino Bryant: Section 004 - TR 12pm-1:15pm

The serious philanthropist must think and work strategically —building a deep understanding of the specific social issues of interest and community context and dynamics, identifying the highest potential leverage points and relevant resources, building relationships with a range of stakeholders, and negotiating the intersections between donor interests and community need, balancing innovation and experience, understanding legal issues, creating a robust investment strategy with clear goals and aligned actions, considering long-term exit strategies, designing and implementing impact evaluations, assessing potential partner organizations and plans, and monitoring and supporting grantee organizations. This course will engage students in the conceptual frameworks and research regarding philanthropy, social change, organizational dynamics, and concrete practice in designing and implementing a philanthropic strategy.

Refugees, Borders & Migration

Sophia Balakian: Section 005 - TR 3pm-4:15pm

What is the nature of borders at the dawn of the new millennium? What are the effects of borders on human life on the planet – for individuals, families, and communities? We live in a world of greater global interconnectivity than ever before, and simultaneously, border walls, fences, offshore migrant detention centers, refugee camps, and “smart borders” employing new technologies, contain and separate. Forces such as the global economy, military interventions, civil and international conflicts, and the destruction of environments and livelihoods due to worsening climate change, propel people from their homes in mass numbers. News headlines, images, and popular discourses typically take national borders themselves at face value. Instead, we might ask, What is a border? When and how did states begin controlling human movement? How do borders come to bear on the lives of real people and communities? In this course, we examine how race, class, gender, kinship, and colonial histories shape migration today. We study critical writings about migration, borders, and citizenship; and how people trying to cross borders interact with border policies, technologies, and their often-deadly violence. The course focuses on case studies from across the world, while also considering borders and migration through global frameworks. We read, view, and listen to works that foreground ethnography, history, social theory, as well as first-person narratives that center the voices of people on the move.

Global Issues in Tourism and International Mobility

Minkyung Park: Section 006 - T 4:30pm-7:10pm

Tourism is a multi-faceted phenomenon that involves economic, cultural, social, and environmental discourses. Tourism is also a third largest export category in the world that significantly contributes to the world economy. This course examines tourism as a global industry and human activity that promotes and facilitates understanding of historical, cultural, and social values, and of international trends that showcase global issues faced by the global society. Topics include tourism in relation to experience economy, sharing economy, social media, touristification, overtourism, ESG, DEI, Fair Tourism, Carbon Neutral Tourism, AI and Digital Technology.

Home, Housing and Belonging

Supriya Baily: Section 007 - T 4:30pm-7:10pm

The place that we live is a complex idea enmeshed in identity, politics, culture, economics and a myriad of other interrelated issues. In this course, we will explore these intersections, across time, place and space, to better understand how home, housing and belonging are intertwined, taking a very personal issue into very public spaces. We will explore what it means to create a home in challenging circumstances. We will deconstruct how housing has always been a contested issue. And we will debate what belonging means when one’s understanding of home is challenged. Taking a global view, we will look at the politics of immigration, colonization, land-ownership, citizenship, nationalism and patriarchy as it relates to the creation of home and the rules that we exist under to be able to live as cohesive communities. The course will draw from current events, policy and global practices to help students better navigate what it means when we say “home is where the heart is."

Colonialism, Knowledge & Power

Sausan Ghosheh: Section 008 - R 4:30pm-7:10pm

This course explores the intricate relationship between colonialism, knowledge, and power and their impact on our understanding of the world and our place in it. It examines the various facets of colonialism, utilizing a range of academic disciplines to analyze the power dynamics inherent in colonialism, explore resistance to colonial domination, investigate how notions of race and culture were shaped by imperial encounters, and scrutinize the impact of colonialism on peace and justice. The course also introduces students to diverse methodologies for studying colonialism, encourages them to challenge and decenter the dominance of Western/Eurocentric frameworks, and sheds light on marginalized perspectives and practices. The course fosters critical thinking, prompts students to question prevailing narratives, and encourages meaningful conversations about global justice, social equity, and the ongoing struggle for a more inclusive and just world.

Coastal Conflict & Resilience

Kristin Weis: Section DL1 - R 4:30pm-7:10pm

Coastal communities around the world face unique challenges due to the impacts of climate change, resource use, and increasing population density. This course will explore how coastal communities can navigate these challenges and related conflicts. From local disputes to geopolitical dynamics, students will analyze case studies of coastal conflicts and their political, economic, social, and ecological factors. Students will also study key concepts and strategies to increase resilience, including stakeholder engagement, resource management, and coastal adaptation and protection methods. The course will emphasize a multidisciplinary approach, drawing on insights from environmental science, conflict studies, international affairs, political science, economics, anthropology, and other fields. Students will be able to experiment with real-world assessment tools, create custom strategies, practice stakeholder negotiation, and engage in regular class discussions.

Peer Mentorship in Honors

Nadeen Makhlouf: Section 001 - F 10:30am-1:10pm

Peer Mentorship in Honors is a service-based learning practicum to train Honors College Peer Mentors (PMs). PMs engage in the Honors College Community by mentoring first-semester students taking HNRS 110: Principles of Research and Inquiry. HNRS 261 students must be available to attend one section of HNRS 110 in addition to HNRS 261 in order to serve as a mentor. In addition to providing mentorship, PMs foster a sense of community and are actively engaged in the ongoing process of articulating what “service,” “civic engagement” and “collaborative learning” mean in the context of the Honors College Curriculum. Students who successfully complete HNRS 261 are eligible to take HNRS 361 "Peer Leadership in Honors" in Spring or Fall 2025.

Honors College Connects

Melanie Fedri: Section 002 - TR 10:30am-11:45am

In Honors College Connects, students contribute to the work of local nonprofits addressing health, social justice, environmental, and other challenges. Students work in multi-disciplinary teams and are mentored by student alums of the program. Through Honors College Connects, students build professional skills while making a real impact in the community beyond Mason. Over the past 12 years, 325 Honors College students have contributed to the work of 60 nonprofits. Through Honors College Connects, Honors College students like you have an opportunity to advance the work of diversely led and diversely serving community organizations. In addition, for those looking for leadership opportunities, Honors College Connects runs on a strong student leadership model, with paid student officers and mentors, along with a volunteer Partner and Alumni Council. 

AI and Human Values

Dean Taciuch: Section 001 - TR 10:30am-11:45am and Section 002 - TR 12pm-1:15pm

The quest for artificial intelligence has led to many types of “narrow AI,” most of which are better than humans at their specific skills (from playing games to predicting the structure of a protein). But the goal for much AI research is Artificial General Intelligence, or AGI. A narrow AI can drive a car, for example, but it can’t play chess, or answer a trivia question. An AGI could. Much of the in AI scholarship has been on the risks of AI development: misaligned values, ethical dilemmas, economic concerns. But the rewards are immense: longer, healthier lives, more stable governments, more equitable societies, a cleaner environment, and the exploration of our universe. This course will explore current and future ethical questions of AI development, including questions of human values and identity.

The Future of Higher Education

Sharon Doetsch-Kidder: Section 003 - TR 3pm-4:15pm

The role of universities as tools of equity and social mobility was diminishing along with government funding when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The pandemic laid bare to many the uncertainty that was always already part of our lives and particularly our institutions and exacerbated what was already recognized by many as a mental health crisis among all ages in the U.S. In 2020, people at a large number of institutions were able to make rapid changes in pedagogies, policies, and modes of work, despite previous resistance. Many of these changes increased accessibility to some, while broader political and economic changes made it more difficult for low-income students to enroll and succeed in higher education. Student success and completion have also been negatively impacted by increasing mental health challenges, which continue even as universities work to “get back to normal” and proceed, often with reduced enrollments, reduced government funding, and, in some states, increasing restrictions on faculty and institutions. In this class, we will explore some of the current challenges facing universities and consider what practices and policies should be preserved, what should be left behind, and how we can transform higher education for a world filled with growing inequalities and unprecedented global crises. We will explore questions such as: • What is the purpose of higher education? • What roles could/should universities play in society? • Who belongs in higher education? • What should we teach? • How should we teach? • Who should pay for higher education? • What role should technology play in education? • What do we want/hope for the future of higher education? Through our exploration of current issues in higher education, students will: 1. Using multidisciplinary perspectives, connect issues in higher education to wider intellectual, community or societal concerns 2. Apply critical thinking skills to evaluate the quality, credibility and limitations of an argument or a solution using appropriate evidence or resources 3. Apply critical thinking skills judge the quality or value of an idea, work, method or principle based on appropriate analytics and standards 4. Develop communicative skills to actively listen and productively engage with others in various and appropriate modalities 5. Function effectively on a team whose members together provide leadership, create a collaborative and inclusive environment, establish goals, plan tasks, and meet objectives

Development of Modern Science

James Trefil: Section 004 - M 4:30pm-7:10pm

The course covers the development of science from the earliest times to 1900. It covers Egyptian, Greek, Islamic, and European scientific developments. No previous scientific knowledge is required. The course emphasizes group research projects and communication skills. This course has an irregular meeting pattern—some sessions are scheduled in person and some are synchronous online. Students are expected to participate in both modalities. Exams and presentations are conducted in-person, as designated in the course syllabus. Please see Patriot Web for the exact class meeting schedule.

Multimedia Storytelling

Brenna Maloney: Section 005 - TR 1:30pm-2:45pm

Students examine and practice methods for reporting nonfiction stories using a combination of text, images, sound, video and graphics. The course highlights a multimedia approach to journalism, yet the content is appropriate for non-journalism students who wish to expand their multimedia storytelling knowledge.

Global Social Thought

Lester Kurtz: Section 006 - W 4:30pm-7:10pm

Global Social Thought investigates alternatives to classical Western social theory, exploring classical and contemporary Nonwestern, non-white scholarship. It is a postcolonial effort to remedy the deep racism of our knowledge, which is so profoundly influenced by the Euro-American experience, to the neglect of other significant streams of social theory over the millennia and across the globe, with a focus on South Asian, East Asian, African, Islamic, and Indigenous American thought.

Opera as Social Action: The Case of "Loving v. Virginia"

Richard Davis: Section 007 - R 4:30pm-7:10pm

In a landmark 1967 decision, the United States Supreme Court struck down laws in Virginia and 15 other states banning interracial marriage, based on a case brought by Mildred and Peter Loving, whose 1958 marriage led to their arrest and banishment from the Commonwealth of Virginia. Now, Virginia Opera has commissioned a new operatic treatment of the case, with music by Damien Geter and libretto by Jessica Murphy Moo, directed by Denyce Graves. This course will examine the social, cultural, and legal contexts of the case in parallel with an exploration of the developmental process of this new opera, including interactions with members of the creative and production team. The course will also examine the role of opera as an art form in responding to or seeking to shape social issues throughout history. Students will do original research to help create "public dramaturgy" materials in support of the opera's premiere performances at Mason next May, 2025.

The Politics of PTSD

Claudia Rector: Section DL1 - TR 9am-10:15am

Mental disorder has always been a phenomenon subject to politics and rhetoric, as changing ideas of normalcy and deviance prove. In this course, we will examine the conceptual frameworks and rhetoric around the diagnosis, treatment, and experience of mental disorder in the U.S., specifically the politics of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), stress and trauma, and their differentiation from other forms of mental disorder. We will examine the history of the diagnostic category of PTSD, including the conceptual frameworks and rhetoric that shaped its evolution. We will consider how the individual experience of trauma is related to the individual’s relationship with the community, and consider what that might imply for both the ways that individuals are helped and the ways that the community regards their experiences. After examining the development of the diagnosis of PTSD in context, we will consider two other situations where trauma and PTSD have been identified—within fundamentalist Christianity, and around mass shootings—to examine the politics of trauma, including whose suffering is acknowledged and the community responses to that.

Lead Mentorship in Honors

John Woolsey: Section 001 - F 10:30am-1:10pm

This section of HNRS 361 is a project- and service-based learning practicum. Students work on collaborative projects aimed at creating a wider sense of belonging, engagement and inclusion for Honors College students. Students serve as Peer Mentors to HNRS 110 students, fostering a positive sense of community and facilitating the ongoing process of articulating what “mentorship,” “service,” “civic engagement” and “collaborative learning” mean in the context of the Honors College curriculum. Approval required for registration: please contact Dr. Woolsey.

Honors College Consults

Melanie Fedri: Section 002 - TR 1:30pm-2:45pm

Students in this course will work in multidisciplinary teams to design a solution to a challenge or problem offered by Mason’s partners from the Northern Virginia business and government communities. Students will be supported in this project by a faculty instructor and a mentor from the participating partner. They will have opportunities to synthesize the knowledge and practices they have developed over the course of their undergraduate experience, to develop the skills and strategies necessary for working effectively in multidisciplinary teams, and to apply all of this as they work to solve a problem or challenge in a professional environment. Work on the project will culminate with the public presentation of the team’s proposed solution, as well as a final report to be delivered to the partner.

Honoring Our Community

Sam Steen: Section 1 - R 3pm-4:15pm and Section 2 - F 10:30am-11:45am

This course is a part of the Honoring Our Community Fellowship Program. The application for next year has not yet opened. Watch the Honors College newsletter for more information.

Documentary Photography and Film

Caroline West: Summer Session C MTWR 10:30am-12:35pm

How do we define documentary? How do we differentiate between documentary, fiction, and entertainment? In this class, we will examine these questions, thinking about the special expectations we have for documentary photography and film: to tell us the truth. We’ll approach the work through essential questions about authenticity, representation, voice, authorship, form, and politics by exploring the historical and social contexts in our examination of a broad range of documentary work. Our explorations, and the readings that support them, will be both theoretical and empirical. Throughout the semester, we will be conscious of the way that documentaries deal with questions of what is truth/reality, and the ethical issues involved in photographing and filming real people.

Peer Mentorship in Honors

Nadeen Makhlouf: Summer Session C TWR 9:30am - 12:30pm

Do you like working with others, supporting your community, and getting course credit while doing so? Are you interested in further building your communication, organization, and leadership skills? Then consider enrolling in HNRS 261: Peer Mentorship in Honors this summer. This section of HNRS 261 is a service-based learning practicum. HNRS 261 students will engage with high school students and soon to be first-generation college students enrolled in the Early Identification Program and train to be Honors College Peer Mentors. In addition to fostering a positive sense of community, students will explore definitions of “mentorship,” “service,” “civic engagement” and “collaborative learning” in the context of higher education. Students who complete HNRS 261 this summer are eligible to enroll in HNRS 361: Lead Mentorship in Honors for Fall 2024.

Contact Dr. Makhlouf for permission to enroll.

Peer Leadership in Honors

Nadeen Makhlouf: Summer Session C TWR 9:30am - 12:30pm

Do you like working with others, supporting your community, and getting course credit while doing so? Have you already completed HNRS 260 or 261? Then you should consider enrolling in HNRS 361: Lead Mentorship in Honors this summer. This section of HNRS 361 is a service-based learning practicum. HNRS 361 students will work alongside peers to practice their leadership skills, engage with high school students enrolled in the Early Identification Program and train to be Honors College Peer Mentors. In addition to fostering a positive sense of community, students will explore definitions of “mentorship,” “service,” “civic engagement” and “collaborative learning” in the context of higher education. Students who complete HNRS 361 this summer are eligible to apply to be Lead Mentors for Fall 2024. This section is especially recommended for students who have previously taken the Peer Mentorship in Honors or College Application Coaches sections of HNRS 261.
Contact Dr. Makhlouf for permission to enroll.

The Dutch "Golden Age"

Angela Ho: Section 001 - TR 1:30pm-2:45pm

The seventeenth century has long been regarded as the “Golden Age” of Dutch art. The Dutch developed a booming, sophisticated art market, creating an environment in which new genres such as still life, landscape, and scenes of contemporary life, flourished. This course explores how the creations of Rembrandt, Vermeer, and their less well-known but equally interesting peers were shaped by—and shaped—Dutch culture and society. Within decades of its emergence as an independent state at the turn of the seventeenth century, the Dutch Republic rose to the position of a great economic and colonial power in Europe. We will situate Dutch images within this historical context and investigate the intricate links between art, commerce, colonialism, politics, and science. We will also consider how Dutch art is marketed to today’s audience in the form of blockbuster museum exhibitions as well as popular novels and movies. By participating in class discussions and completing the course assignments, students will develop important academic skills such as visual analysis, critical reading, and evidence-based reasoning.

Young Adult Literature in a Contemporary Context

Michael Hock: Section 002 - TR 9am-10:15am

Young Adult Literature as a concept has been around for years, but the classification is new. Why is it important, and why is it worth analyzing? In this class we'll take a look at contemporary young adult novels and explore how they can fit into the literary canon and "classics". We'll also look into the concept of literature itself as it's presented in our modern age, as we explore podcasts, digital short stories, and webcomics. Class discussions include on the importance of all literature, how social media has allowed us new access to authors, and just what we should consider literature in the 21st century.

Visual Media and the Environment

Caroline West: Section 003 - MW 12pm-1:15pm

This course asks how environmental issues are represented in various visual media, including films, photographs, art, and performance as well as digital visualizations, maps, and VR. Most of our experience and communication take place within spaces of media so students will be asked to think critically about the many relationships between media and the environmental issues. We will explore visual media from the perspective of different ecological problems and the communities effected to consider how visual media are part and parcel to understanding environmental change.

Photography and Culture

Caroline West: Section 004 - MW 1:30pm-2:45pm

This course will examine how photography has participated in and shaped our understanding key social and political issues in society. We will explore photography through its multiple functions in our social world by paying particular attention to critiques and analysis of photographs within historical and cultural contexts: how they are to be understood and interpreted; whether they have clear-cut content and meanings; how they shape and are shaped by politics, economics, and social life.

Visual Culture and (Cosmic) Horror

Collin Hawley: Section 005 - MW 9am-10:15am and Section 006 - MW 10:30am-11:45am

Horror is a genre that presents the unrepresentable: the taboo, the horrible, the inexplicable. Cosmic horror specifically, a style popularized by the writer H.P. Lovecraft, employs sanity-stretching narratives to de-center humanity from its supposed central place in the hierarchy of nature. This course will examine how the growing popularity of cosmic horror themes reconstruct the discourse of how we understand the position of humanity in opposition to threats from “the outside.”

Reading Moving Images

William Beaman: Section 007 - MW 1:30pm-2:45pm and Section 008 - MW 3pm-4:15pm

Is meaning in the eyes of the beholder? If so, how do we read what we see? This course develops scholarly techniques for reading films as ambiguous social texts, always in excess of the any preferred meaning, yet inescapably of our world. Moving through selections from global film history, we will explore and historicize how cinematic forms make meaning in our lives.

Creative Nonfiction: The story of YOU!

Aimee Weinstein: Section 009 - TR 10:30am-11:45am

What does it mean to tell your story? How does an ordinary person put together descriptions, thoughts and reflections to create a work that is truly extraordinary? This course will focus on the definition of creative nonfiction as separate from journalism, essays or other works of nonfiction that are less biographical and creative. Our end goal is to create something ourselves that is read-worthy by someone other than our mothers and to imagine ourselves as authors of the story of our lives. We will explore how writers do not only tell their stories – as in WHAT happened – but also the ways they reflect on their snippet of reality, how they make sense of the experiences and how they bring those experiences to life for the reader. How do they succeed in making their regular lives vivid and interesting to an outside reader?

Experiencing Difference

Lisa Sechrest-Ehrhardt : Section 001 - MW 10:30am-11:45am and Section 002 - MW 1:30pm-2:45pm

Diversity in the United States provides a rich, yet complicated environment regarding social interaction among people from varying racial, ethnic, and socio-economic backgrounds. Different world perspectives affect behavior in social interactions and can have positive and or negative consequences. How does a person’s race, ethnicity, or gender affect his or her interactions with others? Students will be introduced to Social Interaction Theory and Cognitive Theory which provide a robust foundation for navigating diverse social interactions. Using inquiry and collaborative learning processes students will learn how these theories provide an understanding to what one “brings” to communications and exchanges with others. Students will examine the “intersectionality” of race, ethnicity, gender, ability, socioeconomic status, and age to comprehend the importance of self-awareness in the process of understanding self, others and community.

Making and Unmaking the Human

Rachel Jones : Section 003 - MW 3pm-4:15pm

In this class, we will consider the ways in which ‘the human’ has been historically produced in the modern Western world through concepts of race and gender, as well as through structuring contrasts between both self and Other, culture and nature, human and animal. We will also examine how these conceptual frameworks have been used to withhold the status of the human in colonial contexts. We will be accompanied in our investigations by ‘Animal,’ the main character in Indra Sinha’s novel, "Animal’s People," set in the aftermath of the 1984 Bhopal disaster. We will undertake a close read of this book alongside a variety of theoretical sources drawn from philosophy, postcolonial studies, the ecological humanities, disability theory, philosophy of race, and gender and sexuality studies. By doing so, we will explore the multiple ways in which the human can be made, un-made, and re-imagined.

Judaism and Social Justice

Bruce Aft : Section 004 - T 4:30pm-7:10pm

Facing the challenges of living in a world where we are concerned about public safety, refugees, mental health, and the consequences of a pandemic, we will join together and search for meaningful ways to repair our world. We will examine racism, antisemitism, other isms. homophobia, gender fluidity, food insecurity and our biases. We also will set our agenda based upon the interests of the students who register. Judaism has much to teach us about how faith and morality can provide inspiration as we pursue justice in our world.

Design Studio: Big Ideas as a Lens for Design

Theodore Prawat : Section 005 - MW 10:30am-11:45am

Every design starts with a spark of an idea, and the designer works to solve a problem that we didn’t even know existed. Great designs can be subtle, seamless, bold, epic or even whimsical. This course uses design studies to unpack how these designs are intricately constructed. This course is project based, hand’s on, and encourages a process of discovery and imagination. Students in this course will actively engage design ideas through educational game design, art, music, architecture, and other significant cultural productions. Students will be able to think critically and reflect upon how these designs became cultural landmarks. Emulating a working design studio, we will use a variety of tools such as AI, AR, and the Unity 3D game engine, and even robot design to address specific problems based on real life design case studies.

Masculinity and Music

Amanda Bryan : Section 006 - MW 10:30am-11:45am

This course focuses on how masculinity is socially constructed through music and various musical genres. By reading contemporary musical compositions as texts, we will examine how a plurality of communities defined as masculine are developed, articulated, reinforced, and practiced. We will consider how difference is viewed, treated, and at times encouraged in various masculine communities. We will consider the various masculine roles, traditionally and non-traditionally, held by those identifying as masculine. Course assessments will incorporate world music explorations, guiding discussions, writing guided text responses, closely reading and analyzing texts, building case studies, presenting on case studies, and regular student engagement. (This course is not taught by a music instructor and will not focus on music theory or compositional techniques. No musical skill is necessary for success in this course.)

Intersecting Identities

Aziza Ahmed : Section 007 - TR 1:30pm-2:45pm and Section 008 - TR 3pm-4:15pm

In this course, students will be given the tools and skills to engage with intersectional identities both interpersonally and professionally. We will begin the course by establishing a common language and practice for discussing and engaging with intersectional identities. Then, we will use mass media such as television, podcasts, and digital media to investigate how intersectionality takes shape in our contemporary society. Topics include gender, caste, sex, race, ethnicity, class, religion, disability, sexuality, and more.

Memory, Art, and Identity

Luma Mousa : Section 009 - TR 1:30pm-2:45pm and Section 010 - TR 3pm-4:15pm

Identity is the way we understand and express ourselves. Circumstances that we are born with usually influence defining one's identity, decision-making, building friendships, aligning with certain political beliefs, and many more. Yet, various aspects of identity change with experiences, and social interactions with others. Memory, storytelling, and art are all forms to express, explore, and question notions about identity. This course considers memory, art, and narrative identity. Throughout the course, we will study how memory and art contribute to shaping identity and the essence of home for immigrants, refugees, and everyone who is away from their home, lost it, or is at risk of losing it. Concepts like race, class, gender, intersectionality, nationality, ethnicity, diversity, and multiculturalism will be a foundational part of discussing, identifying, and explaining the contextual, historical, and nature of identity, community, and difference. Essential questions, such as: what is the role of remembering and the influence of memorialization on identity? How is collective memory shaped through art production? How do memories affect who we are and why they are important? How does art address the difficulties of fitting in society? will be thoroughly discussed during the course.

Resolving Identity Conflict

Toni Farris : Section 011 - MW 9am-10:15am and Section 012 - MW 10:30am-11:45am

This course pursues focused questions about how different conceptions of identity, community and difference are articulated and practiced in specific social and historical contexts. Students will explore how questions about individuality and subjectivity are asked in the humanities, arts, and/or social sciences. Identity can be the glue that holds communities together or the catalyst for protracted conflict. This course will explore the role of identity in individual and group conflict dynamics by presenting foundational theories and transformational practices. We will pay particular attention to how identities inform the way we view ourselves and others, as well as how we interpret the world around us. Our study will utilize an interdisciplinary approach that includes analysis of psychosocial, anthropological, political, and conflict resolution theories that can enhance social responsibility and efforts towards peace.

Thinking Through Identity

Alison Landsberg : Section 013 - TR 9am-10:15am

What make us who we are? Is identity grounded in the psyche? Is identity “natural”? Does it have a biological basis? Is it manifested on the body? Or is identity externally imposed by the social world we inhabit? Do one's memories shape one's identity? How free are individuals to invent themselves, to change their identities, and what limits such attempts? To answer these questions, this course will explore various philosophical, psychological, sociological, and historical conceptions of self. We will consider aspects of identity such as race, gender, sexuality, nationality, and class. We will also assess the impact of the internet on conceptions of the self. Analyzing a broad range of fictional, theoretical/philosophical and autobiographical texts, we will consider how the self is constructed, and both the potential for, and limits on, personal transformation.

Disability, Health and Illness

Claudia Rector : Section DL1 - TR 9am-10:15am and Section DL2 - TR 10:30am-11:45am

This course considers how identity intersects with the body, specifically with disability, health and illness. We will examine how identity in the contemporary U.S. is shaped by physical difference, and consider what possibilities are created or foreclosed by various imaginings of both identity and disability. Specific topics to be considered include (among others): eugenics, the medical model of disability and the disability rights response, chronic illness, Deaf culture, abortion, mental health/illness, disability studies, non-violent resistance, and COVID.

K-12 Education Policy

Amy Crockett : Section 001 - MW 1:30pm-2:45pm

This course explores the various social and economic issues within K-12 education. We will examine the intersectionality of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, culture, and other forms of identity impact various educational issues. Students will consider the different approaches to understanding different policy debates as well as understand the different stakeholder views. Some of the issues to be considered are purpose of school, school admissions tests, inequities of school funding, school access, impact of charter schools and private schools, and the school to prison pipeline. The course will provide students with the opportunity to think through the challenges with creating and designing public policy to address various education issues. Students will also consider the issues from a wide range of perspectives. The goal of the class is to prepare students to understand and engage in the contemporary debates around these issues.

Climate Change for Humans

Amy Rose-Tejwani : Section 002 - M 4:30pm-7:10pm and Section 003 - T 4:30pm-7:10pm

This course will examine the effects of climate change on our everyday lives and develop strategies for coping with severe weather and health concerns from climate change through the mindset of “thinking globally and acting locally.” We will investigate topics such as environmental policy, sustainability, aerosols, radiation, spectroscopy, and satellite imagery from the perspectives of humanities, technology, engineering, and science. Students will learn strategies for critical multidisciplinary analysis of meteorological events, climatic trends, reducing their carbon footprints, and effective science communication. With respect to the earth systems of the biosphere, lithosphere, and hydrosphere, this course will focus on climate change in our atmosphere.

Eliminating Global Hunger: Problems, Progress, and Challenges

Phillip Thomas : Section 004 - MW 12pm-1:15pm

Global hunger is one of the most critical problems confronting the global community in the 21st Century. Despite numerous efforts over the past 50 years its elimination remains elusive due to a complex array of environmental and human factors. The purpose of this course is to develop a comprehensive understanding of the causes and effects of global hunger and analyze threats to global food security including the climate crisis, environmental degradation, animal and plant diseases, access to clean water, food waste and loss, contaminated food, agricultural terrorism, and antimicrobial resistance. The current intensifying climate crisis, the Russian Invasion of the Ukraine, and the continuing COVID Pandemic have exacerbated the global food security crisis. This course will address food security, in terms of access to critical food supplies including major supply chain disruptions, and the nutritional impact on vulnerable food insecure populations at a global and national level. We will address food security related national and global health, economic, social, and ethical impacts of these disruptive forces. We will also examine strategies for protecting and enhancing the security of global food production and supply systems. In the final analysis, our goal is to gain insight into the interrelationship between food security and national security and develop an understanding of policies and programs necessary to achieve sustainable food security that is environmentally appropriate to ensure availability, access, utilization, and stability of adequate nutritious food for all people at all times.

Introduction to Nationalism

Mohammad Ehsan : Section 005 - TR 1:30pm-2:45pm and Section 006 - TR 3pm-4:15pm

Nationalism, by far the most powerful political ideology of the last two and a half centuries, has transformed the course of human history across the world. By presenting a new type of human identity, it has both emancipated and enslaved, constructed and destroyed. It persisted in portraying itself as a natural component of human existence. Therefore, the study of nationalism is an exercise in self-exploration. Even though nationalism has characterized the modern era, there is significant dispute over its most essential concepts. There are numerous forms of nationalism. It can present itself through civic, ethnic, cultural, linguistic, religious, or ideological traits. The goal of this course, "Introduction to Nationalism," is to offer students with a thorough and critical analysis of the main nationalist ideologies and examples from across several continents in order to grasp both their claims and historical contexts.

History of AI

Jan Allbeck: Section 001 - MW 9am-10:15am

" In this course, we will explore the history of artificial intelligence and its impact. We will trace the evolution of key technologies and how they have changed the way that we live. We will also discuss potential future technologies and the impact that they might have on society. "

Slavery & Freedom in Virginia

Sheri Huerta: Section 002 - MW 12pm-1:15pm and Section 003 - MW 1:30pm-2:45pm

"What is freedom and how do we use the past to create a narrative of what American freedom means? This course tackles the complex questions of what freedoms like movement, residency, bodily control, and family meant in an era of enslavement (1619-1865) and the enduring legacies of racism and racist policies. We will investigate how the boundaries between freedom and enslavement were created, policed, negotiated, transgressed, and challenged in Virginia and identify how these stories impact our present understanding of American freedom(s). To do this, we will uncover stories of the people most often marginalized and silenced by history and follow their journeys across the Atlantic Ocean, into sites of enslavement, within legislative debates about freedom, along the Underground Railroad, and into local courthouses as they sought to make claims to freedom and challenge racial oppression. We will identify links between past injustices and present situations. We will discuss how stories of resistance and resilience during the era of enslavement have been represented in public history and work towards social justice by designing, in teams, public history projects that create more inclusive narratives. "

Early Woman's Movement

Lisa Gring-Pemble: Section 004 - TR 10:30am-11:45am

" In an age where we all have easy access to electronic media and can make use of multiple platforms to share our ideas, it is inconceivable that women at one point in our history did not have the “right” to speak in public. But, at the beginning of the 19th century, public advocacy of any sort was considered outside of women’s proper sphere. How women claimed their voice and succeeded in leading major social and political reforms, is a powerful and important story. Recalling the successes of the early woman’s movement, Lucy Stone once remarked “I think with never-ending gratitude, that the young women of today do not and can never know at what price their right to free speech and to speak at all in public has been earned.” In this learning community, we will explore the roots of the early woman’s movement as a case study to understand social change. We will get to know extraordinary women, analyze influential primary texts, and learn about social movement theory as we investigate the obstacles, dilemmas, and successes of the 19th century woman’s movement. "

U.S. Colleges and Universities

Blake Silver: Section 005 - TR 1:30pm-2:45pm

"U.S. colleges and universities have changed in notable ways over the years, but inequality in student access and experiences remains an enduring feature. This course explores sociological perspectives on the history of U.S. higher education with a focus on examining the evolving forms of inequality in colleges and universities and placing contemporary postsecondary institutions in historical context. Sociological perspectives on the past will be employed in analyzing primary and secondary sources in order to answer a number of questions about (a) the form and function of U.S. colleges and universities, (2) their societal impact, (3) their responsiveness to various social forces, and (4) the persistence of inequality in U.S. higher education."

Mass Culture Across Classes

Stephen Hickson: Section 006 - MW 9am-10:15am and Section 007 - MW 10:30am-11:45am

Technological innovations and enhanced time for leisure in the mid-nineteenth century facilitated the development of cultural forms, like photography, that were easily distributed to and accessible by the masses. Mass cultural forms, including photography, novels, films, radio, and television, further grew in scope and reach in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In this class, we will trace the historical creation and cultural development of mass forms and explore the relation of these forms to the history of labor movements and class struggles.

Public Service in Modern Society

Nadeen Makhlouf : Section  001 - MW 9am-10:15am

This course provides a broad overview of the field of public service and covers the history and development of the public sector, as well as how it serves contemporary society. Public service requires coordinating efforts both within and between different sectors of society whether it is the government, international organizations, community-based organizations, nonprofits, or citizens. Everyone, regardless of interest, should be cognizant of the tremendous influence of public administration, leaders, and administrators in shaping public life. Topics include an overview of public management, leadership, motivation, ethics, citizen engagement, innovation, collaboration, and social equity. Activities will include a variety of written assignments, in-class simulations, presentations, and other activities designed to prepare students for professional work in the field.

Access Issues in U.S. Education

Maoria Kirker : Section  002 - TR 3pm-4:15pm

This course will explore issues related to access in U.S. education. We will examine access through three lenses throughout the semester: historical, socioeconomic, and public policy. The first half of the class will focus on K-12 education while the second half will focus on higher education. The class is meant to be relevant to students in any major as there will be space to explore a topic of their own interest related to access, social justice, and U.S. education.

Sifting Through the Noise: Navigating the Disinformation Age

David Lemmons : Section 003 - TR 3pm-4:15pm

Information surrounds us: on social media, in conversations, and in our coursework. How do we navigate a world that is increasingly saturated with information? How do you know what’s true when everyone seems to disagree? In Sifting Through the Noise, students will learn how to engage with this environment of information overload. By learning to evaluate information, apply their lived experience to what they read, and learn about the context of how information is created, students will get the tools they need to make informed decisions and engage with the world around them. Students can expect a discussion-oriented course where they will engage with a variety of sources in a variety of formats.

Spatializing (In)justice

Christine Rosenfeld : Section  004 - TR 10:30am-11:45am

This 3-credit course activates or flexes your already-existing social justice mindset with a spatial perspective. The course is anchored around theories of spatial justice, which teach us how to critically interrogate the unequal distribution of various beneficial and detrimental environmental and social resources (examples: public transportation, hazardous waste sites, school funding, etc) which result in social inequities. Furthermore, we consider what can be done by various stakeholders including yourself to disrupt processes and discourses that have led to spatial injustices in the first place.

Journeying Through Cultural Heritage Tourism

Abena Aidoo Hewton : Section 005 - TR 12pm-1:15pm

This course looks at the components of cultural heritage, and cultural heritage tourism, including the characteristics of cultural heritage tourism, its significance, scope, demand, supply, opportunities, and challenges. The importance of learning how to walk the fine line of sustainable cultural heritage tourism development will be discussed, to highlight how cultural heritage can be enjoyed now, while at the same time being safeguarded for future generations. Interpretation of, or storytelling about cultural heritage is important and the course will delve into how stories are told, who tells the stories, why not all stories are told, and the implications of the storytelling. Students will have an opportunity to apply the concepts they learn to analyze actual cultural heritage tourist sites.

Women, Power and Policy

Bonnie Stabile : Section 006 - TR 9am-10:15am

This course will consider how women exhibit power in the public sphere, with an emphasis on the US policy context. It will examine how culture, rhetoric, law and policy influence women's representation in leadership positions across sectors, and study related implications for their personal and professional lives. The course will consider factors contributing to women's continued underrepresentation in positions of power, despite significant advancement, as well as their overrepresentation in experiencing various adverse outcomes, with a focus on how these conditions might be mitigated through policy intervention. Various tools of policy analysis will be brought into play, including relevant legal, philosophical and theoretical frameworks.

Adulting 101

Charles Thomas : Section 007 - M 4:30pm-7:10pm

Adulting 101 will be a seminar/discussion-based class in which the collective wisdom of students and guest speakers will offer insight into how to navigate the complexities and uncertainties of life. The course will be mainly student-led. You will decide the topics of discussion that matter and we will engage appropriately. Varied viewpoints will be heard and divergent thinking will be offered. Even if we disagree, we will communicate in a civil manner and learn the absolute necessity of emotion management, critical thinking, and perspective-based dialogue. Some of the conversations will be fun. Some of them will be serious. All of them will offer value as you prepare for life in the real world. You will have access to industry leaders who have learned how to "play the game" and can offer experience-based feedback on how to effectively manage yourself as you walk through varied life terrain. Open your mind. Come prepared to engage on topics that matter to you. Be ready to be challenged. Know that our classroom will be a safe space to be yourself. Our discussions and the subsequent internal reflection will prepare you to start the journey of becoming the person that you want to become.

Colonialism, Knowledge & Power

Sausan Ghosheh : Section 008 - T 4:30pm-7:10pm and Section 009 - W 4:30pm-7:10pm

This course explores the intricate relationship between colonialism, knowledge, and power and their impact on our understanding of the world and our place in it. It examines the various facets of colonialism, utilizing a range of academic disciplines to analyze the power dynamics inherent in colonialism, explore resistance to colonial domination, investigate how notions of race and culture were shaped by imperial encounters, and scrutinize the impact of colonialism on peace and justice. The course also introduces students to diverse methodologies for studying colonialism, encourages them to challenge and decenter the dominance of Western/Eurocentric frameworks, and sheds light on marginalized perspectives and practices. The course fosters critical thinking, prompts students to question prevailing narratives, and encourages meaningful conversations about global justice, social equity, and the ongoing struggle for a more inclusive and just world.

Sustainable Tourism

Susan Slocum : Section DL1 - F 1:30pm-4:10pm

Sustainable Tourism will consider the characteristics of environmentally, economically, and socio-culturally responsible tourism and assess the possibilities and limitations for its implementation within a variety of destinations and product settings. Conventional “mass” tourism as well as small-scale “alternative” tourism will also be emphasized. Ethical and responsible travel, as well as issues related to the development of tourism products will be considered. This is an upper-level course in tourism and events management requiring the use of information derived from: lecture/textbook material; video; general print and online library resources; and external data sources. The objective is threefold: to encourage a collaborative and supportive learning environment among students; to emphasize that students are as responsible for their learning as the instructor; and to encourage analysis and critical thinking.

Women's Rights, Law and Policy

Weixia Chen: Section DL2 - F 10:30am-1:10pm

This learning community is both interdisciplinary and comparative rather than having a United States focus. Its purpose is to expose students to the complex issues - social, political, economic and legal - that characterize women’s rights around the globe. It will discuss the theoretical debate on women’s rights, culture and religion and the international legal instruments for women’s rights. It will also focus on various topics including women’s rights and environment, women’s rights and health, violence against women in peace and war, women’s rights and human trafficking and etc., from a global perspective.

Peer Mentorship in Honors

Nadeen Makhlouf : Section 001 - F 10:30am-1:10pm

This section of HNRS 261 is a service-based learning practicum to train Honors College Peer Mentors (PMs). PMs engage in the Honors College community by mentoring first-semester students taking HNRS 110: Principles of Research and Inquiry. In addition to fostering a positive sense of community, students taking HNRS 261 are actively engaged in the ongoing process of articulating what “mentorship,” “service,” “civic engagement” and “collaborative learning” mean in the context of the Honors College curriculum. Over the course of the semester, HNRS 261 students will train to become Peer Mentors and work in collaborative teams to develop assignments and programming related to HNRS 110. Students who successfully complete HNRS 261 in Spring 2024 are eligible to apply to take HNRS 361 and serve as a Peer Mentor in Fall 2024.

College Success Partnerships

Aimee Weinstein - Section 002 - W 4:30pm-7:10pm

Think about your college application experience: did you feel confident? Overwhelmed? Do you want to use what you learned to help students who would be the first in their families to attend college? By enrolling in this section of HNRS 261, students agree to participate in the College Success Partnerships service project in conjunction with Mason’s Early Identification Program for first-generation college students. The practicum will involve learning best practices for nonprofit partnership work and putting applying them while providing support to an assigned group of high school juniors as they begin tackling their college applications and essays. Students participating in College Success Partnerships will meet three times in-person with the students they are mentoring, and will provide resources and guidance remotely in between meetings. Students will also engage in regular class meetings (except on weeks in-person visits take place) and will complete assignments intended to help them understand and grapple with the systems that control college access, and to become effective college preparedness mentors.

Honors College Connects

Melanie Fedri : Section  003 - MW 12pm-1:15pm and Section 004 - MW 3pm-4:15pm

In Honors College Connects (HCC), students contribute to the work of local nonprofits addressing health, social justice, environmental, and other challenges. They build professional skills while making a real impact in the community beyond Mason, and work in teams that are mentored by peers who have previously taken the class. HCC seeks to partner with both diversely led and diversely serving nonprofits. Any questions? Email hcc@gmu.edu.

College Success Partnerships

Aimee Weinstein : Section  005 - W 4:30pm-7:10pm

Think about your college application experience: did you feel confident? Overwhelmed? Do you want to use what you learned to help students who would be the first in their families to attend college? By enrolling in this section of HNRS 261, students agree to participate in the College Success Partnerships service project in conjunction with Mason’s Early Identification Program for first-generation college students. The practicum will involve learning best practices for nonprofit partnership work and putting applying them while providing support to an assigned group of high school juniors as they begin tackling their college applications and essays. Students participating in College Success Partnerships will meet three times in-person with the students they are mentoring, and will provide resources and guidance remotely in between meetings. Students will also engage in regular class meetings (except on weeks in-person visits take place) and will complete assignments intended to help them understand and grapple with the systems that control college access, and to become effective college preparedness mentors.

Climate Change and Culture

Todd Stafford: Section 001 - MW 12pm-1:15pm

What can we learn about climate change by paying attention to culture? How will cultures change in response to climate change? What cultural forms are most compatible with living in a carbon-constrained world? How are cultural forms connected to resilience and adaptation in the face of a changing climate? After exploring selected case studies that illuminate these questions as a class, students will work in small groups to explore a shared topic related to the course theme. Students will then work individually to develop their own final deliverable that explores a narrowed version of their group's topic. Final deliverables in the class may include research papers; journalistic nonfiction; zines; works of literary, visual, or performing art; video essays; a series of podcast episodes; etc. The commonality will be that each final deliverable will be informed by a rigorous research process, capaciously understood to include creative approaches.

Us Against When: Exploring Peaceful Futures for the United States

Keil Eggers : Section 002 - W 4:30pm-7:10pm

In the field of conflict resolution, there has recently been a pivot to working in the United States to overcome polarization, restore American democracy, increase belonging and inclusion, and transform conflicts in the United States. Domestic peacebuilders seek to build bridges between people on different ends of the political spectrum and are experimenting with building networks to make the political system more resilient. The guiding question for our course is: Does our imagination for peacebuilding practice go far enough? To answer this question, we will utilize methods from the field of foresight and futures studies to collaboratively explore alternative futures for the United States and develop creative experiments that you and other change makers can do to bring that future about. Along the way, we will discuss and debate political engagement in the digital age, sensemaking, practical imagination, and how the future can be mobilized as a force for change.

Science of Cities

James Trefil : Section 003 - M 4:30pm-7:10pm

A study of the scientific and technological aspects of the modern urban world. Research groups will study the question of how specific cities got to be the way they are and what they will look like in the future. This course has an irregular meeting pattern—some sessions are scheduled in person and some are synchronous online. Students are expected to participate in both modalities. Exams and presentations are conducted in-person, as designated in the course syllabus. Please see Patriot Web for the exact class meeting schedule.

Modern Scientific Revolutions

James Trefil : Section 004 - T 4:30pm-7:10pm

This course will examine the rather extraordinary changes in the way we view the universe as a result of scientific advances since 1900. This course has an irregular meeting pattern—some sessions are scheduled in person and some are synchronous online. Students are expected to participate in both modalities.  Exams and presentations are conducted in-person, as designated in the course syllabus. Please see Patriot Web for the exact class meeting schedule.

Dean Taciuch : Section  005 - MW 1:30pm-2:45pm and Section 006 - MW 3pm-4:15pm

The quest for artificial intelligence has led to many types of “narrow AI,” most of which are better than humans at their specific skills (from playing games to predicting the structure of a protein). But the goal for much AI research is Artificial General Intelligence, or AGI. A narrow AI can drive a car, for example, but it can’t play chess, or answer a trivia question. An AGI could. Much of the in AI scholarship has been on the risks of AI development: misaligned values, ethical dilemmas, economic concerns. But the rewards are immense: longer, healthier lives, more stable governments, more equitable societies, a cleaner environment, and the exploration of our universe. This course will explore current and future ethical questions of AI development, including questions of human values and identity.

The Future of Higher Education

Sharon Doetsch-Kidder : Section 007  - TR 3pm-4:15pm

The role of universities as tools of equity and social mobility was diminishing along with government funding when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The pandemic laid bare to many the uncertainty that was always already part of our lives and particularly our institutions and exacerbated what was already recognized by many as a mental health crisis among all ages in the U.S. In 2020, people at a large number of institutions were able to make rapid changes in pedagogies, policies, and modes of work, despite previous resistance. Many of these changes increased accessibility to some, while broader political and economic changes made it more difficult for low-income students to enroll and succeed in higher education. Student success and completion have also been negatively impacted by increasing mental health challenges, which continue even as universities work to “get back to normal” and proceed, often with reduced enrollments, reduced government funding, and, in some states, increasing restrictions on faculty and institutions. In this class, we will explore some of the current challenges facing universities and consider what practices and policies should be preserved, what should be left behind, and how we can transform higher education for a world filled with growing inequalities and unprecedented global crises. We will explore questions such as: • What is the purpose of higher education? • What roles could/should universities play in society? • Who belongs in higher education? • What should we teach? • How should we teach? • Who should pay for higher education? • What role should technology play in education? • What do we want/hope for the future of higher education? Through our exploration of current issues in higher education, students will: 1. Using multidisciplinary perspectives, connect issues in higher education to wider intellectual, community or societal concerns 2. Apply critical thinking skills to evaluate the quality, credibility and limitations of an argument or a solution using appropriate evidence or resources 3. Apply critical thinking skills judge the quality or value of an idea, work, method or principle based on appropriate analytics and standards 4. Develop communicative skills to actively listen and productively engage with others in various and appropriate modalities 5. Function effectively on a team whose members together provide leadership, create a collaborative and inclusive environment, establish goals, plan tasks, and meet objectives.

Scientific Controversies

Davis Kuykendall : Section 008 - TR 1:30pm-2:45pm and Section 009 - TR 3pm-4:15pm

Why are so many in the public misinformed about important scientific issues such as climate change and vaccine safety— issues that have major implications for public policy and well-being? When is there a genuine scientific controversy about such scientific issues and when is the controversy fake or manufactured? What explains why some segments of the public are more likely to be misinformed about important scientific topics than others? Which strategies are effective in decreasing the likelihood of misinformation and which strategies backfire? In this course, we’ll draw from the history and philosophy of science, psychology, sociology, and related fields to address these and related questions.

Social Innovation

Melanie Fedri: Section 010 - TR 1:30pm-2:45pm

In an American society teeming with social issues, how might we understand and contextualize social innovation? And how are attempts to innovate influenced by larger forces? To explore these questions, we will engage in two parallel learning processes. In one, we will collectively examine a social issue that has wide-ranging implications: racial wealth inequality. In parallel, you will form teams based on shared interests and study a social issue of your team’s choosing. The selected social issue will directly pertain to a BIPOC or other marginalized community, and we will focus on learning from leaders and writers from the background of those most affected.

Consulting for Impact: Empowering Entrepreneurs

Crystal Fickers : Section  011 - R 4:30pm-7:10pm

"Consulting for Impact: Empowering Entrepreneurs" is an experiential course that bridges education with real-world consultancy for emerging entrepreneurs. Students will be paired with participant clients from the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship’s Shrivastava Family Refugee and Immigrant Success through Entrepreneurship (RISE) Program. Students will actively support participating entrepreneurs address genuine business challenges. This course equips you with essential consulting skills while nurturing a sense of social responsibility. You'll collaborate in interdisciplinary teams to provide practical solutions and strategies for your assigned entrepreneurs. Guided by an experienced instructor/entrepreneur, you'll be introduced to market research, project management strategies, and cultural competency. Throughout the semester, workshops, case studies, and simulations build your project management toolkit. Beyond preparing for professional careers, you'll play a vital role in empowering RISE community members in realizing their vision for the future. Note that no prior experience in consulting or project management is necessary to join. "Consulting for Impact" transcends typical classrooms, offering a rich, hands-on learning environment. Join this class if you want to be a part of the changemakers turning dreams into realities in the world of business and beyond.

Politics of Mental Disability

Claudia Rector : Section DL1 - MW 9am-10:15am

Mental disorder has always been a phenomenon subject to politics and rhetoric, as changing ideas of normalcy and deviance prove. In this course, we will examine the conceptual frameworks and rhetoric around the diagnosis, treatment, and experience of mental disorder in the U.S., specifically the politics of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), stress and trauma, and their differentiation from other forms of mental disorder. We will examine the history of the diagnostic category of PTSD, including the conceptual frameworks and rhetoric that shaped its evolution. We will consider how the individual experience of trauma is related to the individual’s relationship with the community, and consider what that might imply for both the ways that individuals are helped and the ways that the community regards their experiences. After examining the development of the diagnosis of PTSD in context, we will consider two other situations where trauma and PTSD have been identified—within fundamentalist Christianity, and around mass shootings—to examine the politics of trauma, including whose suffering is acknowledged and the community responses to that.

Lead Mentorship in Honors

John Woolsey : Section 001 - F 10:30am-1:10pm

HNRS 361: Lead Mentorship in Honors is open to students who have previously taken HNRS 261: Peer Mentorship in Honors with Dr. Makhlouf or HNRS 261: College Application Coaches with Dr. Weinstein. Building on their service-learning and mentoring experiences in one of the courses above, students taking HNRS 361 will work on teams to conduct a community-based research project identifying and addressing larger needs within the Honors College community at George Mason University. Contact Dr. Woolsey directly if you have questions: jwoolsey@gmu.edu.

Honors College Consults

Patrick Money : Section 002 - R 4:30pm-7:10pm

Students in this course will work in multidisciplinary teams to design a solution to a challenge or problem offered by two of Mason’s partners from the Northern Virginia business community. Students will be supported in this project by a faculty instructor and a mentor from the participating partner. They will have opportunities to synthesize the knowledge and practices they have developed over the course of their undergraduate experience, to develop the skills and strategies necessary for working effectively in multidisciplinary teams, and to apply all of this as they work to solve a problem or challenge in a professional environment. Work on the project will culminate with the public presentation of the team’s proposed solution, as well as a final report to be delivered to the participating business partner. [Note: in the past, this course has been titled "Industry & Professional Challenges"]

Ruins of the Apocalypse

Benjamin Renne: Section 001 - TR 10:30am-11:45am and Section 002 - TR 12pm-1:15pm

"The apocalypse is upon us! So what comes next? In this course we will examine the literature of ruin. Through close literary analysis, creative response, and critical discussion of speculative fiction (SF), poetry, film, anime, and video games, we will explore the possible futures left to us in the wake of apocalypse. With particular emphasis on survival, community, and resilience, we will encounter the various survivors of ruin: scavengers and shapeshifters, mutants and monsters, and the mythic remnants of the human past. Our exploration will be guided by the following key questions: What is our (human) relationship to the apocalypse? What is fascinating or necessary about imagining our future ruin? How can art and literature prepare us to survive apocalyptic scenarios of the present and future? How can possibility, justice, wonder, and even delight exist amid destruction? Class sessions will be predominantly discussion based, centered on major readings drawn from both contemporary and foundational voices in SF (speculative fiction), including Octavia E. Butler, Samuel R. Delany, Jeff VanderMeer, adrienne maree brown, and others. Students will be expected to respond to these texts through both analytical and creative writing, as well as small group activities, presentations, and other creative/artistic projects."

Fictions of Identity and the Ethics of Fiction

Deborah Forbes: Section 003 - MW 10:30am-11:45am and Section 004 - MW 12pm-1:15pm

The heart of creating fiction is making up lives that may be very different from the author’s own. But who has a right to tell whose stories? This question is fueling the most urgent literary controversies of our young century. How can we tell the difference between representation and appropriation, empathy and projection, elevation and exploitation? How do we judge authenticity in an imagined world? This course will give historical context to these questions by sampling texts from the origins of the novel to the present day, with special attention to authors who write from the point of view of characters with a racial or gender identity other than their own. Together we will develop our individual criteria for the moral and aesthetic evaluation of these texts. The coursework will emphasize critical analysis, but we will also use creative exercises to test our ability to imagine ourselves as someone different.

Contemporary Poetry Survey

Lori Rottenberg: Section 005 - MW 10:30am-11:45am

In this class, we will discuss what makes poetry “poetry” and read and analyze many contemporary writers, covering a broad range of styles and personal perspectives. We will review terms for analyzing poetry and examine how each poet makes meaning through their choices on the page. Students will also have the chance to lead discussions collaboratively and write in the style of various authors. One day per week will be spent discussing poems, and the other day will be spent sharing and workshopping original poetry by students. Tentative reading list includes Natasha Trethewey, Victoria Chang, Ocean Vuong, Craig Santos Perez, Claudia Rankine, Ada Limón, Layli Long Soldier, Philip B. Williams, Brian Turner, and others. As poetry often deals with sensitive issues involving race, gender, sexuality, class, war, oppression, history, environmental destruction, and personal trauma, these topics may be discussed in this class. Get ready to talk, interact, share, create, and learn!

The Art of Memory

James Savages: Section 006 - TR 1:30pm-2:45pm

In Ancient Greece, a good memory was celebrated as both essential to any orator as well as a way of communicating with and memorializing the dead. What has become of the concept of memory since that time? What role does memory (both individual and collective) play in our lives today, particularly as we remember traumatic events and the loss of loved ones? And how do artists use memory to understand the past and heal from moments of loss and trauma? These questions will be examined in this course through various genres, including academic writing, fiction, creative nonfiction, live storytelling, film, and poetry. The semester will culminate in a creative writing project.

Creative Nonfiction: The story of YOU!

Aimee Weinstein: Section 007 - TR 12pm-1:15pm

What does it mean to tell your story? How does an ordinary person put together descriptions, thoughts and reflections to create a work that is truly extraordinary? This course will focus on the definition of creative nonfiction as separate from journalism, essays or other works of nonfiction that are less biographical and creative. Our end goal is to create something ourselves that is read-worthy by someone other than our mothers and to imagine ourselves as authors of the story of our lives. We will explore how writers do not only tell their stories – as in WHAT happened – but also the ways they reflect on their snippet of reality, how they make sense of the experiences and how they bring those experiences to life for the reader. How do they succeed in making their regular lives vivid and interesting to an outside reader?

Expression in Video Games

Jan Allbeck: Section 008 - MW 9am-10:15am

This course will examine video games and expression, including expression manifestation in color choice, lighting, animation, pacing, dialogue, environmental storytelling, and character design. We will also look at video games as a form of expression for both game designers and players. Finally, we will discuss the influence of society on video games and the influence of video games on society.

Pompeii: A Window on Ancient Roman Society

Christopher Gregg: Section 009 - TR 1:30pm-2:45pm

Since its rediscovery over 200 years ago, the Roman city of Pompeii has fascinated the modern world. This minor Roman town, entombed by a volcanic eruption in 79 CE, has fired the imagination of both scholars and artists. As an example of Roman civilization, Pompeii gives us a view into a past society that has had a tremendous impact on Western European and North American architecture, art, law and literature. This class will use the unparalleled physical remains of Pompeii’s art, architecture and infrastructure as well as primary Roman literary source material in translation to explore the complex urban and cultural environment of this ancient civilization. Class discussion, critical reading of sources, visual analysis, and application of critical ideas will all play significant parts in our multi-disciplinary approach to interpreting this familiar yet “foreign” culture and application of critical ideas.

Literature and Film of War

Richard Nanian: Section 010 - TR 10:30am-11:45am

At first glance, literature and war have little connection. Literature is about creating something; war is the most destructive activity in which human beings engage. Writing usually requires order, quiet, and solitude; war creates chaos and noise, and requires an enemy. The medium of film, too, initially seems inadequate to the truth of war. War is usually long, and the repercussions from war last much longer; a film has only a few hours at most in which to tell its story.

Given that war has been a nearly constant facet of human existence, though, it would be surprising if writers and film-makers did not attempt to capture some of the reality of war within their works. Moreover, literature and film both virtually require both irony and paradox, and war provides both. As terrible as war is, it also provides the opportunity to demonstrate many qualities that we admire, such as courage, camaraderie, and occasionally chivalry. As deadly as war is, proximity to death makes one feel more alive than one might otherwise. As brutal as war is, it can also be spectacular and awe-inspiring. War is not only a suitable subject for both literature and film but a nearly irresistible one.

This course requires reading literary works and watching films, as well as contributing short writing assignments to the class discussion board, but no outside research or formal essays.

Contemporary Southern Fiction

Lindley Estes Thomas: Section DL1 - TR 9am-10:15am

*Coming Soon*

What's the Matter with Men/Challenges Facing American Men

Andrew Yarrow: Section 001 - W 4:30pm-7:10pm

This honors course will explore a range of problems affecting millions of men in contemporary America. Although men, on average, remain more privileged than women, millions are disconnected from work, personal relationships, family and children, and civic and community life. Many are angry at government, employers, women, and “the system” in general—and millions have done time in prison and have cast aside many social norms. Too many are unsure what it means to be a man today. Wives or partners reject them; children are estranged from them; and many have disappeared into a netherworld of drugs, alcohol, poor health, loneliness, misogyny, economic insecurity, online gaming, pornography, other off-the-grid corners of the internet. Among the topics to be discussed and examined in lectures, discussions and group projects are: the changing status of men in American history; men out of the labor force and economic insecurity; changing ideas of male identity; misogyny/ “toxic masculinity,” sexism, and the backlash against feminism; “angry white men” and the political gender gap; boys and men falling behind girls and women educationally; relationships with women; fatherhood; men’s health, mental health, addictions, and loneliness; Black men (and other men of color) and racism; misandry and “ men’s rights”; formerly incarcerated men; gay men and non-cis-gender men; comparing American men to men in other rich countries; men in popular culture; and possible policy responses to men's problems.

Liberalism and its Critics

Theodore Kinnaman: Section 002 - TR 1:30pm-2:45pm

American society is a liberal one that professes to value freedom above all else. But are human beings naturally suited for life in liberal democracy, or must we be taught how to be free? Are people equally suited to be citizens in a democracy? What is this freedom we value so much? We will consider these questions as they are addressed in philosophical works by Plato, Mill, Locke, and Rawls, as well as conservative, communitarian, and feminist critiques of liberalism.

Gender, Sexuality, and 1990s Culture

David Corwin: Section 003 - TR 12pm-1:15pm

This section will focus on how the 1990s was a critical decade for issues related to gender and sexuality and intersecting identities. Coming off the heels of Apartheid in South Africa, The Reagan Administration, the Cold War, and many other international political events and in the midst of the HIV/AIDs epidemic, LGBTQ+ activism, and third wave feminist politics, the 90s served as a transition decade to move us into the twenty-first century. Through literature, television, film, music, historical and theoretical texts, this course will focus on issues related to women and LGBTQ+ people in light of the sociological and historical context of the decade and how representation is indeed a political act that shapes culture.

Identity in Disney's World

Sheri Huerta: Section 004 - MW 1:30pm-2:45pm

For the better part of the last century, the Walt Disney franchise has helped shape perceptions of race, gender, culture, identity and difference through its characters, popular media, merchandise, and theme park experiences. While often dismissed as simple “entertainment,” a closer investigation explores how these representations shape identity, delineate difference, and create inclusive and exclusive communities. This course focuses on detecting constructions of identity in popular culture and how they promote certain narratives about the past and present. How have these forms of entertainment perpetuated or challenged gender, racial, or cultural stereotypes over time? What factors contributed to their creation? This course emphasizes collaborative work and conversations. We will engage in thoughtful discussions to develop an informed voice on issues of identity, diversity, privileged perspectives, and depictions of gender, race, and culture. We will cultivate an appreciation for the ways that popular culture can restrict, impose, reflect, and affect an individual and community sense of self.

Experiencing Difference

Lisa Sechrest-Ehrhardt: Section 005 - MW 1:30pm-2:45pm and Section 006 - MW 10:30am-11:45am

Diversity in the United States provides a rich, yet complicated environment regarding social interaction among people from varying racial, ethnic, and socio-economic backgrounds. Different world perspectives affect behavior in social interactions and can have positive and or negative consequences. How does a person's race, ethnicity, or gender affect his or her interactions with others? Students will be introduced to Social Interaction Theory and Cognitive Theory which provide a robust foundation for navigating diverse social interactions. Using inquiry and collaborative learning processes students will learn how these theories provide an understanding to what one “brings” to communications and exchanges with others. Students will examine the “intersectionality” of race, ethnicity, gender, ability, socioeconomic status, and age to comprehend the importance of self-awareness in the process of understanding self, others and community.

Identity in Video Games

Seth Hudson: Section 007 - TR 9am-10:15am

This class explores the function of identity in video game culture(s). By engaging related scholarship, journalism, and games themselves, we will seek the intersections of player experiences with the evolving medium and communities that surround it. What do we play? How do we play? What do the answers to these questions say about us?

The American Dilemma: Race, Caste and Social Inequality in the 21st Century

Patricia Masters: Section 009 - TR 3pm-4:15pm

In 1938, the Swedish economist and sociologist, Gunnar Myrdal was engaged by the Carnegie Foundation to study and document the social and economic inequities faced by Southern Black Americans. His book, The American Dilemma, highlights the discrepancy between the American ideals of freedom, democracy, and equality, and the American realities of discrimination, prejudice, and exclusion blacks faced in their everyday lives. This problem was, Myrdal asserted, the greatest challenge facing America. In the 21st Century it remains an unresolved dilemma. There are three components of this course. First, there is the history of chattel slavery beginning in 1619 when the first Africans arrived in Virginia. We examine the process through which categories of White and Black were constructed in practice and through law. This will be followed by a discussion of Isabel Wilkerson’s “Eight Pillars” of the American caste system the underlies and legitimates a hierarchy of races. Secondly, we will analyze the Civil Rights Movement and the unique roles played by Martin Luther King and Malcolm X in framing demands for racial equality and the legislative outcomes of their powerful movement. Thirdly, we will discuss the resistance to the programs advancing positive racial change and the increasing importance of media and the uses of media images and symbols in creating negative, or positive racial images and symbols. Accompanying the discussion of media will be an analysis of specific political ideologies, including white supremacy and its impact on questions surrounding race in the national dialogue. Using social-psychological studies of such groups we will explore the motivations and fears that drive individuals to seek and support these groups. All of the issues discussed force us to again re-visit Myrdal’s American Dilemma and raise the question as to whether the American Creed will ever correspond to the American Deed.

Bodies and Religious Identity: Constructions of Gender and Sexuality in the American Religious Context

Alexandria Frisch: Section 010 - MW 1:30pm-2:45pm

Consider abortion, modest clothes, and marriage ceremonies. As much as we might think religion is constituted by written words such as scripture, prayer, or commandments, religious practice is very much an embodied, lived experience. This course will explore how religious identity (and difference) is constructed by ideas about the body. First, we will examine the body and, in particular, gender and sexuality as expressed in the theological depictions, legal codes, ritual procedures, and communal behaviors of religious traditions in the United States (primarily in Judaism, Christianity and Islam). Then we will focus on how these religious ideas both challenge and shape (and are challenged and shaped by) cultural norms around gender and sexuality in the contemporary American context. Specific topics include gender and sex in sacred texts, purity rituals, standards of modesty, egalitarianism, reproduction, homosexuality, transgender identity, and consent.

Judaism and Social Justice

Bruce Aft: Section 011 - T 4:30pm-7:10pm

Facing the challenges of living in a world where we are concerned about public safety, refugees, mental health, and the consequences of a pandemic, we will join together and search for meaningful ways to repair our world. We will examine racism, antisemitism, other isms. homophobia, gender fluidity, food insecurity and our biases. We also will set our agenda based upon the interests of the students who register. Judaism has much to teach us about how faith and morality can provide inspiration as we pursue justice in our world.

Disability, Health and Illness

Claudia Rector: Section DL1 - MW 9am-10:15am and Section DL2 - MW 10:30am-11:45am

This course considers how identity intersects with the body, specifically with disability, health and illness. We will examine how identity in the contemporary U.S. is shaped by physical difference, and consider what possibilities are created or foreclosed by various imaginings of both identity and disability. Specific topics to be considered include (among others): eugenics, the medical model of disability and the disability rights response, chronic illness, Deaf culture, abortion, mental health/illness, and autism.

Climate Change for Humans

Amy Rose-Tejwani: Section 001 - T 4:30pm-7:10pm

This course will examine the effects of climate change on our everyday lives and develop strategies for coping with severe weather and health concerns from climate change through the mindset of “thinking globally and acting locally.” We will investigate topics such as environmental policy, sustainability, aerosols, radiation, spectroscopy, and satellite imagery from the perspectives of humanities, technology, engineering, and science. Students will learn strategies for critical multidisciplinary analysis of meteorological events, climatic trends, reducing their carbon footprints, and effective science communication. With respect to the earth systems of the biosphere, lithosphere, and hydrosphere, this course will focus on climate change in our atmosphere.

Eliminating Global Hunger: Problems, Progress, and Challenges

Phillip Thomas: Section 003 - MW 12pm-1:15pm

The purpose of this course is to develop a fundamental understanding of all the fundamental elements of global hunger and analyze threats to global food security including those related to the climate crisis and environmental degradation, animal and plant diseases, access to clean water, food loss and waste, contaminated food, agricultural terrorism, and antimicrobial resistance. The current intensifying global climate crisis, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the continuing pandemic Coronavirus Crisis of COVID-19 will be addressed in terms of access to critical food supplies, major supply chain disruptions, and the nutritional impact on food insecure vulnerable populations at a global and national level. We will address national and global health, economic, social , and ethical impacts of these disruptive forces. We also examine strategies for protecting and enhancing the security of global food production and supply systems. In the final analysis, our goal is to gain insight into the interrelationship between food security and national security and develop an understanding of the policies and programs necessary to achieve resilient and sustainable global food security through ensuring availability, access, utilization, and stability to adequate nutritious food for all people on the planet.

Introduction to Nationalism

Mansoor Ehsan: Section 004 - TR 1:30pm-2:45pm and Section 005 - TR 3pm-4:15pm

Nationalism, by far the most powerful political ideology of the last 250 years, has transformed the course of human history across the world. By presenting a new type of human identity, it has both emancipated and enslaved, constructed and destroyed. It persisted in portraying itself as a natural component of human existence. Therefore, the study of nationalism is an exercise in self-exploration. Even though nationalism has characterized the modern era, there is significant dispute over its most essential concepts. There are numerous forms of nationalism. It can present itself through civic, ethnic, cultural, linguistic, religious, or ideological traits. The goal of this course, "Introduction to Nationalism," is to offer students with a thorough and critical analysis of the main nationalist ideologies and examples from across several continents in order to grasp both their claims and historical contexts.

Responses to Climate Change

Richard Todd Stafford: Section 006 - W 4:30pm-7:10pm

How are we responding to climate change? What responses are we planning? How might we respond in the future? Who is this "we" anyway? The answers to these questions are vital: climate change is reshaping patterns of migration, impacting human health, changing the availability and cost of necessities like water and food, increasing the frequency or severity of natural disasters, causing sea-level rise and coastal flooding, and more. These impacts are projected to intensify in the coming years. However, because many of the activities that contribute most to climate change are deeply interwoven with our cultures, political systems, and economies, action is complicated and fraught. In this class, we will read about and discuss a range of different kinds of responses to climate change, how groups and institutions can be mobilized to respond, and what causes inaction.

Markets and Morality

Virgil Storr: Section 007 - T 4:30pm-7:10pm

This seminar will explore key writings on the relationship between markets and morality. The course will, thus, also focus on a number of the critical debates that have occupied political economists and moral philosophers over the years about the moral underpinnings of market societies, the moral nature of market activities, and the moral status of market outcomes. The goal of the class is to prepare students to understand and engage in the contemporary debates around these issues.

History of Emotions

Peter Stearns: Section 001 - TR 1:30pm-2:45pm

This course focuses on the history of emotions, a rapidly growing field that seeks to contribute both to an understanding of the past and interdisciplinary analysis of emotion itself. The history of emotion offers an opportunity to develop historical thinking and also to consider the role of emotion in human life, past and present. Key methodological and analytical issues in the field will be addressed, along with work (both existing and potential) on emotions such as love, shame, fear, and happiness. Coverage will focus on American patterns but with opportunities for comparison with other societies. Student participation will be emphasized, including recurrent discussion of why history seems to have undertaken an “emotional” turn and whether this is a desirable direction.

History of the Family

Spencer Crew: Section 002 - TR 10:30am-11:45am

The definition of family and the role of each member has evolved over the years. Often the changes are related to economic circumstances and the social beliefs of the society. This course will primarily examine the way the American family has changed since colonial days. In the process, we will study how the responsibilities of women, children, and men have evolved and why. In addition, we will learn how oral history can aid in researching family history

Slavery and Freedom in Virginia

Sheri Huerta: Section 003 - MW 10:30am-11:45am

What is freedom and how do we use the past to create a narrative of what American freedom means? This course tackles the complex questions of what freedoms like movement, residency, bodily control, and family meant in an era of enslavement (1619-1865); how the boundaries between freedom and enslavement were created, policed, negotiated, transgressed, and challenged; and how these stories impact our present understanding of American freedom(s). To do this, we will uncover stories of the people most often marginalized and silenced by history and follow their journeys across the Atlantic Ocean, into sites of enslavement, within legislative debates about freedom, along the Underground Railroad, and into local courthouses as they sought to make claims to freedom and define its meaning. We will discuss how stories of resistance and resilience during the era of enslavement have been represented in public history and then work towards social justice by designing a memorial to amplify the marginalized or silenced voices of people who help us better understand the meanings of freedom and enslavement in Virginia.

Mason's Legacies

George Oberle: Section 004 - M 7:20pm-10pm

"Northern Virginia prides itself on being a region of great diversity. This is a recent development. At the end of World War II, local governments initiated a process of ""slum clearance,"" which altered the face of Fairfax County. The bulldozer became a symbol of this process. By the 1950s, new middle-class suburbs were emerging on razed ground where the memories of prior residents were removed with the earth; many long-time Black homeowners were displaced by these clearing bulldozers. Over the next two decades, prosperous white properties extended as far as the eye could see.

Our class is a research seminar. It will examine the complex histories of displacement and suburbanization in Fairfax County. Students will use interdisciplinary frameworks to explore the silences of the past—concreted over by heavy machinery—and reconstruct forgotten lives. In so doing, students will learn how to relocate in time and space once-vibrant communities. Many of the publicly available records that you are expected to consult will be found in local archival repositories. In addition, relevant documents will be accessible online in searchable databases. The methodology of this course is straightforward. Students will learn how to discover key sources and devise research questions during seminar discussions. Following the collection, collation, and interpretation of historical evidence, students will be expected to create and curate a digital archive. Throughout the semester, we will discuss how this is done using metadata and exhibits on the Omeka (software) platform."

Public Participation in Environmental Governance

Julie Minde: Section 001 - T 7:20pm-10:00pm

This course introduces the topic of how members of the public take part in activities associated with government implementation of environmental policy, regulation, and management. Important questions include, but are not limited to: When, how and why do citizens participate in activities related to government management of natural resources, stewardship of the environment, planning and preparation for environmental disasters, and environmental risk assessment? What are the dynamics between governments and their publics, and how do these dynamics shape environmental governance processes and outcomes? Are there more effective, equitable, and efficient ways to engage citizens and communities in environmental governance? Such questions are becoming more critical in a world marked by uncertainty and rapid environmental change as well as political fluctuation. We will investigate these and related questions through activities such as: literature review, case study analysis, role-playing and simulation, and model development.

Disasters and Community Resilience

Matthew Sedlar: Section 003 - MW 3pm-4:15pm

As disasters and catastrophic events increase across the United States, more attention has shifted to how to build resilience within communities. This course will start with the theoretical underpinnings of resilience and move to real-world examples of concepts such as social capital. After completing this course, students will have a firm grasp on types of education and organizing needed to build resilience within communities facing environmental hazards.

Global Issues in Tourism and International Mobility

Minkyung Park: Section 004 - T 4:30pm-7:10pm

Tourism is a multi-faceted phenomenon that involves economic, cultural, social, and environmental discourses. Tourism is also a third largest export category in the world that significantly contributes to the world economy. This course examines tourism as a global industry and human activity that promotes and facilitates understanding of historical, cultural, and social values, and of international trends that showcase global issues faced by the global society. Topics include tourism in relation to experience economy, sharing economy, social media, touristification, overtourism, ESG, DEI, Fair Tourism, Carbon Neutral Tourism, AI and Digital Technology.

Designing the Future of Higher Education and Work

Kathleen deLaski: Section 005 - M 4:30pm-7:10pm

This course will provide students the tools to become problem solvers combatting social injustice. We will use “redesigning college,” a close-to-home issue, as our prime case study. We will address the challenge that 75% of career-entry jobs require a bachelor’s degree, yet most American adults, 62%, do not possess a four-year degree. Can “college” and the path to meaningful work be reimagined to reduce exclusivity, access, cost, racial equity and flexibility to break the cycle of poverty in families with no college degree experience? We will use “human-centered design” tools to step inside the lives of users to analyze equity barriers and unmet needs. We will ideate solution sets and “design criteria.” We will hone the skills of “rapid prototyping” and “guerilla testing” and build pilot plans against a “theory of change” and viable goals. Students will meet practitioners in this fast-moving field who are driving change and they will have a chance to bring their best bets to life. We will also draw connections for applying these design skills to other social impact issues of interest to the class, for example, in health care, environment, racial equity. Finally, we will contextualize the skills sets we are building across majors represented in the class to support career planning. This critical thinking process can provide life-long frameworks and entry points to analyze problems and solutions.

Social Justice Philanthropy

Valentino Bryant: Section 006 - TR 9am-10:15am

The serious philanthropist must think and work strategically —building a deep understanding of the specific social issues of interest and community context and dynamics, identifying the highest potential leverage points and relevant resources, building relationships with a range of stakeholders, and negotiating the intersections between donor interests and community need, balancing innovation and experience, understanding legal issues, creating a robust investment strategy with clear goals and aligned actions, considering long-term exit strategies, designing and implementing impact evaluations, assessing potential partner organizations and plans, and monitoring and supporting grantee organizations. This course will engage students in the conceptual frameworks and research regarding philanthropy, social change, organizational dynamics, and concrete practice in designing and implementing a philanthropic strategy.

Access Issues in Higher Education

Maoria Kirker: Section 007 - MW 3:00pm - 4:15pm

This course will explore issues related to access in U.S. education. We will examine access through three lenses throughout the semester: historical, socioeconomic, and public policy. The first half of the class will focus on K-12 education while the second half will focus on higher education. The class is meant to be relevant to students in any major as there will be space to explore a topic of their own interest related to access, social justice, and U.S. education.

Social Innovation

Melanie Fedri: Section 008 - MW 3:00 pm-4:15 pm (hybrid; M: Horizon Hall 1008, W: Zoom)

In an American society teeming with social issues, how might we understand and contextualize social innovation? And how are attempts to innovate influenced by larger forces? To explore these questions, we will engage in two parallel learning processes. In one, we will collectively examine a social issue that has wide-ranging implications: racial wealth inequality. In parallel, you will form teams based on shared interests and study a social issue of your team’s choosing. The selected social issue will directly pertain to a BIPOC or other marginalized community, and we will focus on learning from leaders and writers from the background of those most affected.

Coastal Conflict & Resilience

Kristin Weis: Section DL1 - R 4:30pm-7:10pm

Coastal communities around the world face unique challenges due to the impacts of climate change, resource use, and increasing population density. This course will explore how coastal communities can navigate these challenges and related conflicts. From local disputes to geopolitical dynamics, students will analyze case studies of coastal conflicts and their political, economic, social, and ecological factors. Students will also study key concepts and strategies to increase resilience, including stakeholder engagement, resource management, and coastal adaptation and protection methods. The course will emphasize a multidisciplinary approach, drawing on insights from environmental science, conflict studies, international affairs, political science, economics, anthropology, and other fields. Students will be able to experiment with real-world assessment tools, create custom strategies, practice stakeholder negotiation, and engage in regular class discussions.

Peer Mentorship in Honors

Nadeen Makhlouf: Section 001 - F 10:30am-1:10pm

This section of HNRS 261 is a problem-based learning practicum to train Honors College Peer Mentors (PMs). PMs engage in the Honors College community by mentoring first-semester students taking HNRS 110: Principles of Research and Inquiry. In addition to fostering a positive sense of community, students taking HNRS 261 are actively engaged in the ongoing process of articulating what “mentorship,” “service,” “civic engagement” and “collaborative learning” mean in the context of the Honors College curriculum. Over the course of the semester, HNRS 261 students will serve as Peer Mentors and work in collaborative teams to develop programming for and support students enrolled in HNRS 110. Students who successfully complete HNRS 261 are eligible to take HNRS 361 "Peer Leadership in Honors" in Spring or Fall 2024.

Honors College Connects

Melanie Fedri: Section 002 - MW 12pm-1:15pm

In this course, students contribute to the work of local nonprofits addressing health, social justice, environmental, and other challenges. Students work in multi-disciplinary teams and are mentored by student alums of the program. Through HCC, students build professional skills while making a real impact in the community beyond Mason. Apply here.

AI and Human Values

Dean Taciuch: Section 001 - MW 10:30am-11:45am and Section 002 - MW 12pm-1:15pm

The quest for artificial intelligence has led to many types of “narrow AI,” most of which are better than humans at their specific skills (from playing games to predicting the structure of a protein). But the goal for much AI research is Artificial General Intelligence, or AGI. A narrow AI can drive a car, for example, but it can’t play chess, or answer a trivia question. An AGI could. Much of the in AI scholarship has been on the risks of AI development: misaligned values, ethical dilemmas, economic concerns. But the rewards are immense: longer, healthier lives, more stable governments, more equitable societies, a cleaner environment, and the exploration of our universe. This course will explore current and future ethical questions of AI development, including questions of human values and identity.

The post-pandemic university

Sharon Doetsch-Kidder: Section 003 - TR 1:30pm-2:45pm

The role of universities as tools of equity and social mobility was diminishing along with government funding when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The pandemic laid bare to many the uncertainty that was always already part of our lives and particularly our institutions and exacerbated what was already recognized by many as a mental health crisis among all ages in the U.S. In 2020, people at a large number of institutions were able to make rapid changes in pedagogies, policies, and modes of work, despite previous resistance. Many of these changes increased accessibility to some, while broader political and economic changes made it more difficult for low-income students to enroll and succeed in higher education. Student success and completion have also been negatively impacted by increasing mental health challenges, which continue even as universities work to “get back to normal” and proceed, often with reduced enrollments, reduced government funding, and, in some states, increasing restrictions on faculty and institutions. In this class, we will explore the current challenges facing universities and consider what practices and policies should be preserved, what should be left behind, and how we can transform higher education for a world filled with growing inequalities and unprecedented global crises.

Development of Modern Science

James Trefil: Section 004 - M 4:30pm-7:10pm

The course covers the development of science from the earliest times to 1900. It covers Egyptian, Greek, Islamic, and European scientific developments. No previous scientific knowledge is required. The course emphasizes group research projects and communication skills. The course is offered in hybrid mode.

Nuclear Energy and its Ethics

Harold Geller: Section 005 - TR 9am-10:15am

This course addresses the science, technology, and ethical issues associated with the use of nuclear energy. This includes the nuclear generation of electrical energy, as well as nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons are among the most dangerous military threats facing humanity. Nuclear power plant waste is considered one of the most fearsome long-term risks to life on Earth. Students will learn about nuclear energy using multiple modalities including case studies. Students will address several ethical challenges posed by nuclear energy depending upon their own preferences determined in class. This may include strategic military policy; nuclear reactors and how it may mitigate climate change; as well as the measures utilized to prevent nuclear terrorism. Student groups will focus on a case study and produce a lengthy report and presentation for the entire class. For each ethical challenge posed by a nuclear energy issue, you will be presented questions which you will then strive to answer, based on your: (a) analytical metric; (b) fact-finding results; and (c) application of the metric to the facts. You must clearly define a standard by which you plan to analyze the question. We will work together to set out, clarify, and understand the decision principles with which we will analyze ethical questions. We will work within the ethical principles established for professional engineers:

• Hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public.
• Perform services only in areas of their competence.
• Issue public statements only in an objective and truthful manner. 
• Act for each employer or client as faithful agents or trustees.
• Avoid deceptive acts.
• Conduct themselves honorably, responsibly, ethically, and lawfully, so as to enhance the honor, reputation, and usefulness of the profession.

The Silk Road and the Railroad: An artistic exploration of the Transcontinental Railroad in American history and culture

Rick Davis: Section 006 - R 4:30pm-7:10pm

In the context of a developing concert project with the renowned world-music ensemble Silkroad, students will explore the many cultures and histories, musics and narratives, impacts and legacies of the Transcontinental Railroad. Artists from Silkroad will make several visits to the class, and the full ensemble will perform a concert on the theme at Mason in November. The Transcontinental Railroad represents both a mammoth historical event and a powerful metaphor for America's relationship to its land and peoples; research from this course may help Silkroad continue shaping their two-year exploration of this powerful story.

The Politics of Mental Disorder

Claudia Rector: Section DL1 - TR 9am-10:15am

Mental disorder has always been a phenomenon subject to politics and rhetoric, as changing ideas of normalcy and deviance prove. In this course, we will examine the conceptual frameworks and rhetoric around the diagnosis, treatment, and experience of mental disorder in the U.S. How is psychiatry shaped by advertising and the pharmaceutical industry? How are the politics of health care shaped by lingering racism? And how do these questions about culture and society affect our everyday lives? We’ll examine how different rhetorics from different cultural institutions such as religion, advertising and industry, and medicine differ from descriptions from those who experience mental disorder themselves.

Lead Mentorship in Honors

John Woosley: Section 001 - F 10:30am-1:10pm

This section of HNRS 361 is a project- and service-based learning practicum. Students work on collaborative projects aimed at creating a wider sense of belonging, engagement and inclusion for Honors College students. Students serve as Peer Mentors to HNRS 110 students, fostering a positive sense of community and facilitating the ongoing process of articulating what “mentorship,” “service,” “civic engagement” and “collaborative learning” mean in the context of the Honors College curriculum.

Honors College Consults

Anthony Hoefer: Section 003 - TR 1:30pm-2:45pm

Students in this course will work in multidisciplinary teams to design a solution to a challenge or problem offered by two of Mason’s partners from the Northern Virginia business community. Students will be supported in this project by a faculty instructor and a mentor from the participating partner. They will have opportunities to synthesize the knowledge and practices they have developed over the course of their undergraduate experience, to develop the skills and strategies necessary for working effectively in multidisciplinary teams, and to apply all of this as they work to solve a problem or challenge in a professional environment. Work on the project will culminate with the public presentation of the team’s proposed solution, as well as a final report to be delivered to the participating business partner. [Note: in the past, this course has been titled "Industry & Professional Challenges"]

Documentary Photography and Film

Caroline West: Summer Session C MTWR 10:30am-12:35pm

How do we define documentary? How do we differentiate between documentary, fiction, and entertainment? In this class, we will examine these questions, thinking about the special expectations we have for documentary photography and film: to tell us the truth. We’ll approach the work through essential questions about authenticity, representation, voice, authorship, form, and politics by exploring the historical and social contexts in our examination of a broad range of documentary work. Our explorations, and the readings that support them, will be both theoretical and empirical. Throughout the semester, we will be conscious of the way that documentaries deal with questions of what is truth/reality, and the ethical issues involved in photographing and filming real people.

Peer Mentorship in Honors

Nadeen Makhlouf: Summer Session C TWR 9:00am - 12:00pm

Do you like working with others, supporting your community, and getting course credit while doing so? Are you interested in further building your communication, organization, and leadership skills? Then consider enrolling in HNRS 261: Peer Mentorship in Honors this summer. HNRS 261 students will engage with high school students and soon to be first-generation college students enrolled in the Early Identification Program and train to be Honors College Peer Mentors. In addition to fostering a positive sense of community, students will explore definitions of “mentorship,” “service,” “civic engagement” and “collaborative learning” in the context of higher education. Students who complete HNRS 261 this summer are eligible to enroll in HNRS 361: Lead Mentorship in Honors for Fall 2023.
Contact Dr. Makhlouf for permission to enroll.

Social Innovation

Melanie Fedri: Summer Session A MWF 1:20pm – 4:20pm

In an American society teeming with social issues, how might we understand and contextualize social innovation? And how are attempts to innovate influenced by larger forces? To explore these questions, we will engage in two parallel learning processes. In one, we will collectively examine a social issue that has wide-ranging implications: racial wealth inequality. In parallel, you will form teams based on shared interests and study a social issue of your team’s choosing. The selected social issue will directly pertain to a BIPOC or other marginalized community, and we will focus on learning from leaders and writers from the background of those most affected.

Peer Leadership in Honors

Nadeen Makhlouf: Summer Session C TWR 9:00am - 12:00pm

Do you like working with others, supporting your community, and getting course credit while doing so? Have you already completed HNRS 260 or 261? Then you should consider enrolling in HNRS 361: Lead Mentorship in Honors this summer. HNRS 361 students will work alongside to practice their leadership skills, engage with high school students enrolled in the Early Identification Program and train to be Honors College Peer Mentors. In addition to fostering a positive sense of community, students will explore definitions of “mentorship,” “service,” “civic engagement” and “collaborative learning” in the context of higher education. Students who complete HNRS 361 this summer are eligible to apply to be Lead Mentors for Fall 2023. This section is especially recommended for students who have previously taken the Peer Mentorship in Honors or College Application Coaches sections of HNRS 261.
Contact Dr. Makhlouf for permission to enroll.

Metatheatrical Shakespeare

Jennifer Linhart Wood: Section 001 - TR 12pm - 1:15pm

“Metatheatrical Shakespeare” is a course that will consider how certain Shakespeare plays draw special attention to the fact that the audience is witnessing dramatic performance—both within and beyond the reality created on stage. It will explore this theme of metatheatricality in plays where characters themselves choose to stage plays, direct their actors, act histrionic, set the scenes, break character, break the “fourth wall,” and meditate on the significance of performance—all while engaging in theatrical performance. In studying these instances, we will investigate the performance conventions of the Shakespearean stage, as well as theatrical, performative, and audience-reception histories. We will even use our classroom space to test out some of Shakespeare’s ideas about meta-performance and performativity. If “all the world’s a stage,” then Shakespeare’s metatheatrical plays doubly indulge the histrionic nature of existence, as the actors hold a mirror up to their fellow stage-performers and to themselves. Our class will interrogate what that mirror might reflect and teach us about meta-level awareness of performance in Shakespeare’s day and our own.

Young Adult Literature in Modern Context

Michael B. Hock: Section 002 - MW 9am - 10:15am

What is Young Adult Literature, a relatively new classification of literature? In this class we'll take a look at contemporary young adult novels (and one old one, but just the one I promise) and explore how they can fit into the literary canon. We'll also be exploring new concepts of literature as we look at how podcasts, YouTube, and audiobooks can make meaning in what we're reading. Students will be given an opportunity to create their own young adult literary canon or write their own fiction young adult story.

Fictions of Identity and the Ethics of Fiction

Deborah Forbes: Section 003 - TR 12pm - 1:15pm

The heart of creating fiction is making up lives that may be very different from the author’s own. But who has a right to tell whose stories? This question is fueling the most urgent literary controversies of our young century. How can we tell the difference between representation and appropriation, empathy and projection, elevation and exploitation? How do we judge authenticity in an imagined world? This course will give historical context to these questions by sampling texts from the origins of the novel to the present day, with special attention to authors who write from the point of view of characters with a racial or gender identity other than their own. Together we will develop our individual criteria for the moral and aesthetic evaluation of these texts. The coursework will emphasize critical analysis, but we will also use creative exercises to test our ability to imagine ourselves as someone different.

Postcolonial Creative Cultures

Amanda Bryan: Section 004 - MW 1:30pm - 2:45pm

This honors seminar focuses on questions raised by colonial and postcolonial creative works, mostly literature (prose, poetry, drama) but also in visual and vocal art, from the early 20th century to the present. Often, creativity enables the processing of traumas. What does this work look like when deployed at a national level? What about at a minority-majority global level? While the British Empire will guide our route, we additionally discuss other empires. Most inquiries are informed by texts created both during colonization in response to imperialism and those composed “post-colonization,” which analyze the effects of colonial power. Following a historical trajectory of British imperialism, we will consider texts from Southeast Asia, the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, South America, and Asia. We also read texts that explore neo-colonial effects from North America. Some major postcolonial discussion topics include naming, knowledge valuation, power, inequalities and insurgence.

Middle East Literature

Amal Amireh: Section 005 - TR 1:30pm - 2:45pm

This course is focused on the study of modern and contemporary Middle East literature in English translation. We will read different genres of literature: poetry, novels, and short stories, written by established and new authors from different countries including Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Palestine, and Syria. Focusing on these works’ thematic concerns and formal features, we will place them in their historical and cultural contexts. Therefore, we will combine close reading of texts with the study of contexts of production and reception. In addition to literary works, the course will use visual texts (such as feature films, documentaries, music videos, and other relevant material) to help us better understand the dynamism of Middle Eastern cultural production. Among the issues we will be discussing are ones relating to tradition and modernity, nationalism and globalization, gender and sexuality, war and revolution, totalitarianism and freedom. My objective is to create throughout the semester a learning community that develops interest in and knowledge of Middle Eastern literature and culture that goes beyond sensationalist news headlines, stereotypical understandings of the region’s societies, and reductionist views of literature as a mirror that directly reflects reality. Instead, I hope we get to understand these societies and their literary production in all its complexity and dynamism.

Visual Culture and Horror

Collin Hawley: Section 006 - MW 9am - 10:15am and Section 007 - MW 10:30am - 11:45am

Horror is a genre that presents the unrepresentable: the taboo, the horrible, the inexplicable. Cosmic horror specifically, a style popularized by the writer H.P. Lovecraft, employs sanity-stretching narratives to de-center humanity from its supposed central place in the hierarchy of nature. This course will examine how the growing popularity of cosmic horror themes reconstruct the discourse of how we understand the position of humanity in opposition to threats from “the outside.”

Form and Meaning in Film

Will Beaman: Section DL1 - MW 12pm - 1:15pm and Section DL2 - MW 3pm - 4:15pm

Is meaning in the eyes of the beholder? If so, how do we read what we see? This course develops scholarly techniques for reading films as ambiguous social texts, always in excess of the any preferred meaning, yet inescapably of our world. Moving through selections from global film history, we will explore and historicize how cinematic forms make meaning in our lives.

Graphic Novel as Literature

Stephen Hickson: Section DL3 - MW 9am - 10:15am and Section DL4 - MW 10:30am - 11:45am

Graphic narratives—comics and graphic novels—have garnered critical attention as not just popular entertainment but, increasingly, as a form of literature with its own tropes and traditions. Moreover, the unique formal qualities of graphic narratives especially benefit the genre of the memoir, and even more especially, memoirs that concern traumatic subjects. This course examines graphic narrative memoirs across multiple cultural traditions as a literary form and asks how the form’s conventions permit both the authors and readers to productively confront traumatic life experiences. We will read some foundational texts in the growing field of comics studies, along with several graphic narrative memoirs themselves, and consider how we can analyze these multimodal visual texts from different literary, critical perspectives. Additionally, we’ll take creative inspiration from the graphic narrative form and engage in multimodal methods of analysis and self-reflection.

The Immigrant Experience

Mark Rudnicki: Section 001 - TR 10:30am - 11:45am

The Immigrant Experience Discussions on immigration historically revolve around the question: “what does it mean to be part of a nation state?” The discourse around answering that question often devolves into nativist rhetoric and harmful stereotypes. The 20th and the 21st Centuries have particularly witnessed massive displacements of people mainly due to war and unsafe environments, persecution, poverty, and many other factors. With this in mind, this course will examine texts (theoretical and literary) that explore the concepts of home, belonging, and otherness. Relatedly, the course will scrutinize the similarities and differences of how and why various immigrant groups have been treated differently when arriving in the destination country.

Intersecting Identity and Economic Inequality: The Power of a Narrative

Caroline West: Section 002 - MW 10:30am - 11:45am and Section 003 - MW 12pm - 1:15pm

This course addresses inequalities in wealth and poverty as not only a fundamental question of economics, but also one that is historical, political, psychological, and place-based. Economic status affects one's access to an assortment of social and material goods, it informs a person’s politics, and it contributes to how identities and differences are understood. No identity, whether it be class, race, gender, sexuality, citizenship, or ability, exists in isolation. In this class we will investigate the relationships and the interconnections of identity and inequalities in the ways they intersect and interact in a system of privileges and oppressions. The course will be framed around dominant narratives and discourses related to wealth and poverty to examine how these narratives have worked to organize people according to their identities and influence perceptions of U.S. poverty and wealth.

Experiencing Difference

Lisa Sechrest-Erhardt: Section 004 - MW 10:30am - 11:45am and Section 006 - MW 1:30pm - 2:45pm

Diversity in the United States provides a rich, yet complicated environment regarding social interaction among people from varying racial, ethnic, and socio-economic backgrounds. Different world perspectives affect behavior in social interactions and can have positive and or negative consequences. How does a person’s race, ethnicity, or gender affect his or her interactions with others? Students will be introduced to Social Interaction Theory and Cognitive Theory which provide a robust foundation for navigating diverse social interactions. Using inquiry and collaborative learning processes students will learn how these theories provide an understanding to what one “brings” to communications and exchanges with others. Students will examine the “intersectionality” of race, ethnicity, gender, ability, socioeconomic status, and age to comprehend the importance of self-awareness in the process of understanding self, others and community.

Colonial American Lives

Randolph Scully: Section 005 - MW 9am - 10:15am

European colonization of the Americas brought diverse groups of people from three continents together in new, often disruptive, and sometimes violent, ways. This course uses a series of biographical case studies to explore this process and what it meant for the people who experienced it: how did people understand and shape their own identities, their relationships with others, and the boundaries of their communities in this new world? We will read and discuss work by historians, sociologists, anthropologists, psychologists, and even children’s authors to think about how identity, community, and difference are constructed, what that meant for people in the colonial era, and what we might learn from that history today.

Identity, Community, and Difference: Resolving Identity Conflict

Toni Farris: Section 007 - TR 10:30am - 11:45pm

This course pursues focused questions about how different conceptions of identity, community and difference are articulated and practiced in specific social and historical contexts. Students will explore how questions about individuality and subjectivity are asked in the humanities, arts, and/or social sciences. Identity can be the glue that holds communities together or the catalyst for protracted conflict. This course will explore the role of identity in individual and group conflict dynamics by presenting foundational theories and transformational practices. We will pay particular attention to how identities inform the way we view ourselves and others, as well as how we interpret the world around us. Our study will utilize an interdisciplinary approach that includes analysis of psychosocial, anthropological, political, and conflict resolution theories that can enhance social responsibility and efforts towards peace.

Judaism and Social Justice

Bruce Aft: Section 008 - T - 4:30pm - 7:10pm

Can we forgive others? Can we let go of our bias? Do we care enough to give of ourselves? Facing the challenges of living in a world that has endured and may still be enduring a pandemic requires us to search for meaningful ways to cope. Judaism, as the oldest of the Western Religions has much to teach us about faith and morality.

Memory, Art, and Identity

Luma Mousa: Section 009 - TR 1:30pm - 2:45pm and Section 010 - TR 3pm - 4:15pm

Identity is the way we understand and express ourselves. Circumstances that we are born with usually influence defining one's identity, decision-making, building friendships, aligning with certain political beliefs, and many more. Yet, various aspects of identity change with experiences, and social interactions with others. Memory, storytelling, and art are all forms to express, explore, and question notions about identity. This course considers memory, art, and narrative identity. Throughout the course, we will study how memory and art contribute to shaping identity and the essence of home for immigrants, refugees, and everyone who is away from their home, lost it, or is at risk of losing it. Concepts like race, class, gender, intersectionality, nationality, ethnicity, diversity, and multiculturalism will be a foundational part of discussing, identifying, and explaining the contextual, historical, and nature of identity, community, and difference. Essential questions, such as: what is the role of remembering and the influence of memorialization on identity? How is collective memory shaped through art production? How do memories affect who we are and why they are important? How does art address the difficulties of fitting in society? will be thoroughly discussed during the course.

Disability, Health and Illness

Claudia Rector: Section DL1 - TR 9am - 10:15am and Section DL2 - TR 10:30am - 11:45am/h5>

This course considers how identity intersects with the body, specifically with disability, health and illness. We will examine how identity in the contemporary U.S. is shaped by physical difference, and consider what possibilities are created or foreclosed by various imaginings of both identity and disability. Specific topics to be considered include (among others): eugenics, the medical model of disability and the disability rights response, chronic illness, Deaf culture, abortion, mental health/illness, disability studies, non-violent resistance, and COVID.

Contemporary Nationalism

Delmer Kevin Nazar Pastor: Section 001 - TR 1:30pm - 2:45pm and Section 002 - TR 12pm - 1:15pm

This course will present an introduction to the contemporary forms of Nationalism in the world. Nationalism is a concept that has been studied from many disciplines and in different historical contexts. In this course we will focus mostly on the contemporary forms of Nationalism that have emerged in the last forty years while drawing on some of the older ideas. We will emphasize on the advantages and also the dangers of Nationalism.

Eliminating Global Hunger: Problems, Progress, and Challenges

Phillip J. Thomas: Section 003 - MW 12pm - 1:15pm

Global hunger is one of the most critical problems confronting the global community in the 21st Century. Despite numerous efforts over the past 50 years its elimination remains elusive due to a complex array of environmental and human factors. The purpose of this course is to develop a comprehensive understanding of the causes and effects of global hunger and analyze threats to global food security including the climate crisis, environmental degradation, animal and plant diseases, access to clean water, food waste and loss, contaminated food, agricultural terrorism, and antimicrobial resistance. The current intensifying climate crisis, the Russian Invasion of the Ukraine, and the continuing COVID Pandemic have exacerbated the global food security crisis. This course will address food security, in terms of access to critical food supplies including major supply chain disruptions, and the nutritional impact on vulnerable food insecure populations at a global and national level. We will address food security related national and global health, economic, social, and ethical impacts of these disruptive forces. We will also examine strategies for protecting and enhancing the security of global food production and supply systems. In the final analysis, our goal is to gain insight into the interrelationship between food security and national security and develop an understanding of policies and programs necessary to achieve sustainable food security that is environmentally appropriate to ensure availability, access, utilization, and stability of adequate nutritious food for all people at all times.

K-12 Education Policy

Amy Crockett: Section 004 - TR 10:30am - 11:45am

This course explores the various social and economic issues within K-12 education. We will examine the intersectionality of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, culture, and other forms of identity impact various educational issues. Students will consider the different approaches to understanding different policy debates as well as understand the different stakeholder views. Some of the issues to be considered are purpose of school, school admissions tests, inequities of school funding, school access, impact of charter schools and private schools, and the school to prison pipeline. The course will provide the students with the opportunity to think through the challenges with creating and designing public policy to address various education issues. Students will also consider the issues from a wide range of perspectives. The goal of the class is to prepare students to understand and engage in the contemporary debates around these issues.

Climate Change for Humans

Amy Tal Rose: Section 005 - W 4:30pm - 7:10pm

This course will examine the effects of climate change on our everyday lives and develop strategies for coping with severe weather and health concerns from climate change through the mindset of “thinking globally and acting locally.” We will investigate topics such as environmental policy, sustainability, aerosols, radiation, spectroscopy, and satellite imagery from the perspectives of humanities, technology, engineering, and science. Students will learn strategies for critical multidisciplinary analysis of meteorological events, climatic trends, reducing their carbon footprints, and effective science communication. With respect to the earth systems of the biosphere, lithosphere, and hydrosphere, this course will focus on climate change in our atmosphere.

First-Gen College Students

Tharuna Kalaivanan: Section 006 - MW 10:30am - 11:45am

Course topic varies by semester and section. Students will pursue a focused question about contemporary social issues. Students consider and apply theories, methods and evidence from the social sciences and humanities. Topics range in focus from global to local issues involving how power and inequality shape social and institutional structures.Limited to three attempts.

Special Effects

Jan Allbeck: Section 001 - MW 9am - 10:15am

This course will look at the history of special effects from their origins in the late 1800s through today. We will study the progression of techniques and their impact on film and tv audiences.

The Roots of American Popular Music

Suzanne Smith: Section 002 - MW 12pm - 1:15pm

This course explores the roots of American popular music. American roots music encompasses a wide array of music styles including: the blues, gospel, early jazz, country, bluegrass, Western swing, as well as immigrant music such as polka and zydeco. Throughout the semester, we study how these different styles evolved, influenced each other, and laid the foundation of rock and roll. Another important dimension of the course is learning how the history of race relations, gender relations, and class in America play a key role in understanding why certain musical styles develop and become popular. Since music is the focal point of the course, weekly assignments include readings, listening to music, and screenings of films about American roots music.

The Cold War: Cultures & Legacies

Kevin Flanagan: Section 003 - MW 3pm - 4:15pm

"The Cold War: Cultures & Legacies" will look at the cultural history of the Cold War (roughly, 1945-1990) by providing contrasts in Western bloc (USA and allies) and Eastern bloc (Soviet Union and allies) artifacts. The class will track the history of the conflict by looking at several themes, including conformity, home and family, attitudes towards space exploration, decolonization, and youthful protest, and will have students consider films, comics, architecture, music, and several other modes of cultural expression in tracking these ideological encounters. The course will also look at the legacy of the Cold War in terms of recent memorializations of the conflict and will interrogate a kind of Cold War nostalgia that still lingers in both the United States and in Russia.

Slavery & Freedom in Virginia

Sheri Huerta: Section 004 - TR 1:30pm -2:45pm and Section 005 - TR 12pm - 1:15pm

What is freedom and how do we use the past to create a narrative of what American freedom means? This course tackles the complex questions of what freedoms like movement, residency, bodily control, and family meant in an era of enslavement (1619-1865); how the boundaries between freedom and enslavement were created, policed, negotiated, transgressed, and challenged; and how these stories impact our present understanding of American freedom(s). To do this, we will uncover stories of the people most often marginalized and silenced by history and follow their journeys across the Atlantic Ocean, into sites of enslavement, within legislative debates about freedom, along the Underground Railroad, and into local courthouses as they sought to make claims to freedom and define its meaning. We will discuss how stories of resistance and resilience during the era of enslavement have been represented in public history and then work towards social justice by designing a memorial to amplify the marginalized or silenced voices of people who help us better understand the meanings of freedom and enslavement in Virginia.

Abraham Lincoln in American History and Memory

David Gerleman: Section 006 - MW 1:30pm - 2:45pm

Abraham Lincoln-- ‘great emancipator,’ savior of the Union, and homespun political genius or overrated ‘first-rate second-rate man,’ backwoods simpleton, and coarse humorist? This course confronts those questions by using select primary source documents, contemporary accounts, and academic writings to reveal different facets of Lincoln’s personal life, private thoughts, and public actions. Students will investigate how historians reconstruct the past, develop skills in historical interpretation, and analyze why the ‘Railsplitter’s imprint upon America’s national consciousness still compels modern leaders to try to “get right with Lincoln.”

Pandemics in American History

Rosemarie Zagarri: Section 007 - MW 10:30 - 11:45am

The advent of the pandemic caused by covid-19 transformed American society in 2020, affecting everything from work to school to leisure activities to the economy and politics. Yet pandemics have recurred frequently throughout American history. In this course, we will explore both the epidemiology of pandemic diseases and how American men and women in the past reacted to these outbreaks. In addition to the current coronavirus pandemic, episodes to be examined include smallpox outbreaks that occurred during the American Revolution, yellow fever in 1793, cholera in the 1820s and 1830s, the Spanish influenza of 1918, polio in the 1950s, HIV/AIDs during the 1980s, and others. A few short papers, blog posts, and a longer research project and oral presentation will be required.

Access Issues in Higher Education

Maoria Kirker: Section 001 - MW 10:30am - 11:45am

This course will explore issues related to access in U.S. education. We will examine access through three lenses throughout the semester: historical, socioeconomic, and public policy. The first half of the class will focus on K-12 education while the second half will focus on higher education. The class is meant to be relevant to students in any major as there will be space to explore a topic of their own interest related to access, social justice, and U.S. education.

What is Democracy?

Matthew Scherer: Section 002 - TR 10:30am - 11:45am

There is a broad consensus among politicians, activists, and scholars around the world that democracy is imperiled today. To understand why, we first have to answer a basic question, What is democracy? This course asks that question in three ways: First, what do we understand by "democracy" in the United States today, and why is democracy in that sense under threat? Second, why has democracy always been problematic and imperiled throughout history? Third, is democracy better understood as a form of government or as something more like a culture? This course will take a multi-disciplinary approach to answering these questions by examining literature, film, news media, artifacts of popular culture, history, policy, and theory across time and place. The word democracy may seem simple at first: it combines the words for "the people" and "power" to suggest that democracy is a form of government in which the people have power. However, history and theory suggest that democracy is more complicated than its etymology suggests. As we will see, wherever democracy appears, hard questions follow: Who gets to be counted among "the people," and why has every historical democracy been marked by exclusions (of enslaved people, women, the poor, etc.)? Does "the people" actually exist? Over whom or what do the people exercise power? If governments exercise power, can the people still be said to rule themselves? Is democracy ubiquitous and perennial? Fugitive and fleeting? Or merely a hope for the future? Do the people want democracy? To what extent did the founders of American government intend to limit democracy, and to what extent are the people today bound by their intent? Texts and topics may include: *The 1619 Project*, Herodotus's *Histories*, Racial Capitalism, The Federalist Papers, W.E.B. Du Bois, Feminism, Decolonization, Reconstruction, Walt Whitman, *Black Panther*, Queer Theory, Indigenous politics, The January 6th Insurrection, and the idea of equality.

Museums and Public Memory

Eric W. Ross: Section 003 - TR 1:30pm - 2:45pm and Section 005 - TR 10:30am - 11:45am

Museums and monuments are a vital part of the American historical landscape. Museums, in particular, are one of the most trusted sources for information about the past. This course will examine the role that history museums play in shaping our understanding of both the past and the present. How and why have museums developed over time? What responsibility do museums have to their communities? Can museums be "decolonized"? What is museum activism? This course will examine the ways in which the relationship between memory and history has been both understood and mobilized by a number of recently opened national history museums and how they have opened up spaces for new political formations and understandings and enactments of democracy. This course includes field trips to local history museums.

Community Engagement for Social Change

Lauren Cattaneo: Section 004 - TR 10:30am - 11:45am

This class will explore influences on social problems and approaches to addressing them, with particular emphasis on the system level of analysis. As a case example, we will focus on the social problem of poverty through students’ service to community organizations (a minimum of 20 hours over the course of the semester, arranged by the instructor), readings, class exercises and both written and oral projects. The class is meant to be relevant across majors, for those who have an interest in social justice and a willingness to dive into the complexity of social problems and solutions.

Policing People and Places

Vanessa Correa: Section 006 - R 4:30pm - 7:10pm

We have all seen the devastation caused by the murders of private citizens at the hands of police officers.  Equally disturbing have been images of community members calling the police on citizens who are in public (and sometimes private) spaces where they are deemed “not belonging here.”  This class will first explore policing in the United States from a historical perspective.  Discussions about current policing strategies, including excessive use of force and police/community relations will also be discussed.  The class will then transition to discussions and assignments around policing places, such as parks, grocery stores, and people’s private residences.  We will discuss the intersections of power, privilege, and agency in the decisions around who is allowed to “police” a particular area or space.  Students will work on assignments and projects individually as well as in groups, and should be prepared for lively discussions during each class session.

Vaccination Hesitancy and Refusal

Tim Leslie: Section 007 - TR 9:00am - 10:15am

Vaccination exemption and hesitancy have become a nationwide cultural debate that has implications in the medical, education, and public health spheres. Major vaccination aspects such as the immunity process, vaccine safety, and public health advocacy will be evaluated and discussed. Students will engage the topics through instructor-provided lectures and readings, student-driven reflections, and an externally focused course project. The intended final product will be the production of an audience-specific and culturally vaccination related intervention (through several filters) that draws on the student’s expertise. We will focus primarily on the US.

Health and Society

Nader Silver: Section 008 - MW 12:00pm - 1:15pm and Section 009 - MW 3:00pm - 4:15pm

In this course, you will gain a better understanding of US health and healthcare, and how we compare as a nation to other wealthy countries. We’ll discuss historical injustices related to medicine, as well as current health disparities that exist within our communities. We’ll analyze the socioeconomic factors that impact health and how life expectancy can vary greatly within the country and even within individual cities. The course will explore questions like: Why does healthcare cost so much in the United States? Given how much we spend on healthcare, why isn’t our society healthier? We will talk about the impact that your neighborhood and environment have on your health outcomes. Given how important healthy diet is in promoting good health, we will also discuss food policy, how it is created, and the influences that shape its recommendations. The course will integrate main concepts from lifestyle medicine to help us examine how we can help prevent chronic disease in our communities.

Public History and Racial Justice

Charles Chavis: Section 010 - W 4:30pm - 7:10pm

This multi-disciplinary course focuses on co-creating archives and co-creating digital humanities projects with established Black cultural institutions through a repatriatory, reparative, post-custodial, and community-centered model. Together, we will cultivate critical historical thinking and transferable humanities skills by discussing closely adjacent topics such as Blackness, anti-Blackness, racial terror lynching, power and the production of the past, archival silences, and salvaging, agency, resistance, lived experience, and liberation. Led by instructors connected to the Carter School’s John Mitchell, Jr. Program for History, Justice, and Race, students will further support the establishment of a local truth commission and the mission of the Archives for Racial and Cultural Healing (ARCH™). The ARCH aims to heal the wounds born of past and present oppressive structures by supporting and empowering a dispersed network of community-specific, historically Black cultural institutions that will initiate a narrative transformation of our nation and world. Students will contribute to the establishment of the Archive for Cultural and Racial Healing by conducting human rights investigations using Gail Christopher’s Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation framework and Michelle Sotero’s Conceptual Model of Historical Trauma, concept of “mass trauma experience,” and the subsequent tactics of domination, social control and subjugation imposed on two historically Black communities on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

Ethnography, Place, and Community

Blake Silver: Section DL1 - TR 1:30pm - 2:45pm

This course considers how we can understand place and community through ethnographic research. Over the course of the semester, we will examine a variety of questions focused on ethnographic methods and conceptions of place and community. What are the factors that influence our experiences of and meaning making about place? How does place become tied to notions of community and shape how we engage with communities? What kinds of inequalities become woven into place and community, shaping issues of access, ownership, influence, and inclusion/exclusion? And what are the possibilities and limitations of using ethnographic methods to study these questions? We will approach these topics and others with the support of sociological concepts and research methods.

Public Service in Modern Society

Nadeen Makhlouf: Section DL2 - MW 1:30pm - 2:45pm

This course provides a broad overview of the field of public service and covers the history and development of the public sector, as well as how it serves contemporary society. Public service requires coordinating efforts both within and between different sectors of society whether it is the government, international organizations, community-based organizations, nonprofits, or citizens. Everyone, regardless of interest, should be cognizant of the tremendous influence of public administration, leaders, and administrators in shaping public life. Topics include an overview of public management, leadership, motivation, ethics, citizen engagement, innovation, collaboration, and social equity. Activities will include a variety of written assignments, in-class simulations, presentations, and other activities designed to prepare students for professional work in the field.

Social Justice Philanthropy

Valentino Bryant: Section DL3 - MW 12:00pm - 1:15pm

Philanthropy – “giving away money” – sounds attractive and straightforward. The serious philanthropist must think and work strategically —building a deep understanding of the specific social issues of interest and community context and dynamics, identifying the highest potential leverage points and relevant resources, building relationships with a range of stakeholders, and negotiating the intersections between donor interests and community need, balancing innovation and experience, understanding legal issues, creating a robust investment strategy with clear goals and aligned actions, considering long-term exit strategies, designing and implementing impact evaluations, assessing potential partner organizations and plans, and monitoring and supporting grantee organizations

College Application Coaches

Aimee Weinstein: Section 001 - MW 12:00pm - 1:15pm

Interested in improving access to college? Want to help students who would be the first in their families to attend college prepare? By enrolling in this section of HNRS 261, students agree to participate in the College Application Coaches service project. The project will involve learning how to provide effective coaching to these high school students as they develop resumes and college application essays. Students participating in College Application Coaches will meet virtually with the students they are coaching, and will provide online resources and guidance. Students will also engage in regular class meetings and complete assignments intended to help them understand and grapple with the systems that control college access, and to become effective college preparedness mentors.

Honors College Connects

Melanie Fedri: Section 002 - MW 12:00pm - 1:15pm and Section 003 - MW 3:00pm - 4:15pm

In Honors College Connects (HCC), students contribute to the work of local nonprofits addressing health, social justice, environmental, and other challenges. They build professional skills while making a real impact in the community beyond Mason, and work in teams that are mentored by peers who have previously taken the class. Through this course, students join the HCC community, which includes optional in-person opportunities during the semester, along with an invitation to later enroll in the HCC Mentorship section of HNRS 361 (encouraged but not required). HCC endeavors to promote students' commitment to diversity, inclusion, and belonging, and seeks to partner with both diversely led and diversely serving nonprofits. Any questions? Email hcc@gmu.edu . Apply for permission to enroll in Honors College Connects here.

Peer Mentorship in Honors

Nadeen Makhlouf: Section DL1 - MW 9:00am - 10:15am

This section of HNRS 261 is a problem-based learning practicum to train Honors College Peer Mentors (PMs). PMs engage in the Honors College community by mentoring first-semester students taking HNRS 110: Principles of Research and Inquiry. In addition to fostering a positive sense of community, students taking HNRS 261 are actively engaged in the ongoing process of articulating what “mentorship,” “service,” “civic engagement” and “collaborative learning” mean in the context of the Honors College curriculum. Over the course of the semester, HNRS 261 students will train to become Peer Mentors and work in collaborative teams to develop assignments and programming related to HNRS 110. Students who successfully complete HNRS 261 in Spring 2023 are eligible to apply to take HNRS 361 and serve as a Peer Mentor in Fall 2023.

Industry and Professional Challenges

Francis Money: Section 001: M 4:30pm - 7:10pm

Students in this course will work in multidisciplinary teams to design a solution to a challenge or problem offered by two of Mason’s partners from the Northern Virginia business community. Students will be supported in this project by a faculty instructor and a mentor from the participating partner. They will have opportunities to synthesize the knowledge and practices they have developed over the course of their undergraduate experience, to develop the skills and strategies necessary for working effectively in multidisciplinary teams, and to apply all of this as they work to solve a problem or challenge in a professional environment. Work on the project will culminate with the public presentation of the team’s proposed solution, as well as a final report to be delivered to the participating business partner.

The Grand Challenges

Gregory Washington & Zofia Burr: Section 002 - M 4:30pm - 7:10pm

Faculty experts from across the university will introduce students to some of the most complex and consequential challenges of our day. The Grand Challenges we will consider include cyber security, infectious disease, climate change, biodiversity and ecosystem losses, digital equity, international labor and migration, and education. Assignments will prepare students for weekly discussion with the experts and with one another. Every student will also have the opportunity to do an in depth project on the Challenge that interests them the most. A brief application is required for enrollment. No previous experience with or knowledge of the topics in necessary, however! Curious minds from all majors should apply.

Science of Cities

Jim Trefil: Section 003 - M 4:30pm - 7:10pm

What will the Washington area look like in 50 years? This course will focus on the technology and development of cities, using the Washington, D.C. area as an example. Students will look at present-day cities from a historical standpoint and learn what we can predict for its future in light of robotics, nanotechnology, and genetic engineering. Pending campus closures and health considerations, the schedule for online and in-person classes is as follows:

Modern Scientific Revolutions

Jim Trefil: Section 004 - T 4:30pm - 7:10pm

This course will examine the rather extraordinary changes in the way we view the universe as a result of scientific advances since 1900. It is a synchronous online course and research groups will meet with the instructor each week as scheduled. In addition, the entire class will meet synchronously on the first and last days of class and to hear the reports of the research groups. These meetings are noted on the syllabus. Pending campus closures and health considerations, the schedule for online and in-person classes is as follows:

AI and Human Values

Dean Taciuch: Section 005 - MW 1:30pm - 2:45pm and Section 006 - MW 3pm - 4:15pm

The quest for artificial intelligence has led to many types of “narrow AI,” most of which are better than humans at their specific skills (from playing games to predicting the structure of a protein). But the goal for much AI research is Artificial General Intelligence, or AGI. A narrow AI can drive a car, for example, but it can’t play chess, or answer a trivia question. An AGI could. Much of the in AI scholarship has been on the risks of AI development: misaligned values, ethical dilemmas, economic concerns. But the rewards are immense: longer, healthier lives, more stable governments, more equitable societies, a cleaner environment, and the exploration of our universe. This course will explore current and future ethical questions of AI development, including questions of human values and identity.

Scientific Controversies

Davis Kuykendall: Section 007 - TR 3pm - 4:15pm Section 011 - TR 1:30pm - 2:45pm

Why are so many in the public misinformed about important scientific issues such as climate change and vaccine safety— issues that have major implications for public policy and well-being? When is there a genuine scientific controversy about such scientific issues and when is the controversy fake or manufactured? What explains why some segments of the public are more likely to be misinformed about important scientific topics than others? Which strategies are effective in decreasing the likelihood of misinformation and which strategies backfire? In this course, we’ll draw from the history and philosophy of science, psychology, sociology, and related fields to address these and related questions.

Learning in Uncertain Times: Building the Post-Pandemic University

Sharon P. Doetsch-Kidder: Section 008 - TR 1:30pm - 2:45pm

The role of universities as tools of equity and social mobility was diminishing along with government funding when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The pandemic laid bare to many the uncertainty that was always already part of our lives and particularly our institutions and exacerbated what was already recognized by many as a mental health crisis among all ages in the U.S. In 2020, people at a large number of institutions were able to make rapid changes in pedagogies, policies, and modes of work, despite previous resistance. Many of these changes increased accessibility to some, while broader political and economic changes made it more difficult for low-income students to enroll and succeed in higher education. Student success and completion have also been negatively impacted by increasing mental health challenges, which continue even as universities work to “get back to normal” and proceed, often with reduced enrollments, reduced government funding, and, in some states, increasing restrictions on faculty and institutions. In this class, we will explore the current challenges facing universities and consider what practices and policies should be preserved, what should be left behind, and how we can transform higher education for a world filled with growing inequalities and unprecedented global crises. Topics addressed will be driven by student interest and may include:

• What is the purpose of higher education?
• What roles could/should universities play in society?
• Technology, Access, and the Digital Divide
• Campus Life
• Equity v. Elitism
• Inclusion, Belonging, and Well-Being
• Changing Demographics
• Cost, Funding, Privatization, Student Loans
• Regulation and Accreditation
• Pedagogy and Assessment: How do we teach and assess in a way that is responsive to multiple intelligences/learning styles and widely varying preparation and student resources?
• 21st century skills: What is needed to address inequities and climate crises?
• International Education

Research and Creative Project Seminar

Richard Stafford: Section 009 - W 4:30pm - 7:10pm

Students will develop an individually-designed research or creative project that is original and substantial. Throughout the process of developing individual projects, the class will work together to pursue the insights that emerge from a consideration of research and creative practices across disciplinary and professional boundaries. This class is especially well-suited for students who wish to extend research they began in another class, pursue a long-term projects as part of an undergraduate thesis in their major, propose or undertake an OSCAR URSP project, or design and undertake major project under the guidance of a mentor. 

Business Models for Impact

Rebecca Howick: Section 010 - MW 10:30am - 11:45am

Business Models for Impact is an experiential entrepreneurship and innovation course. Students will have an opportunity to explore business models that incorporate social impact. Guest speakers from across industries will share their unique experiences with business models, how they measure impact and success. Students will learn about making an impact through their entrepreneurship education. Experiential opportunities will be infused in both group and individual work. Students will be actively working on and understanding various components of running a small entrepreneurial enterprise including: marketing, accounting, business development, human resources and more.

Lead Mentorship in Honors

John Woolsey: Section 001 - F 10:30am - 1:10pm

This section of HNRS 361 is a project-based learning practicum. Students will work in collaborative teams to explore and create practices, events or materials that foster a wider sense of belonging, engagement and inclusion for Honors College students. In addition to fostering a positive sense of community, students taking HNRS 361 are actively engaged in the ongoing process of articulating what “mentorship,” “service,” “civic engagement” and “collaborative learning” mean in the context of the Honors College curriculum. This section is only open to students who have previously taken HNRS 261: Peer Mentorship in Honors, or wish to repeat HNRS 361: Lead Mentorship in Honors.

Story of You: Creative Nonfiction

Aimee Weinstein: Section 001 - TR 10:30-11:45am and Section 002 - TR 12pm-1:15pm

How does an ordinary person compile descriptions, thoughts, and reflections to create a work that is truly extraordinary? This course will focus on the definition of creative nonfiction as separate from journalism or other works of nonfiction that are less biographical and creative. Our end goal is to create something that is read-worthy by someone other than our mothers and to imagine ourselves as authors of the story of our lives. We will read creative nonfiction and explore how these writers not only tell their stories as in "WHAT happened" but also the ways they reflect on their snippet of reality, how they make sense of the experiences, and how they bring those experiences to life for the reader. Students will learn to read critically and therefore think critically about what they read and the world around them. The work of the term will consist of written discussion responses and a journal that will lead us to the sparkling creative nonfiction essay that tells our story.

Art and Controversy

Michele Greet: Section 003 - MW 10:30am-11:45am

What is the function of art in society? Should art be political, religious, educational? Or is its purpose merely decorative? Who gets to decide what is art and what isn't? Who can claim ownership of the art of the past or the art of other cultures? How should the art of other cultures be displayed? When should a monument be taken down or removed? Who has the final say about content, the artist or the patron? What happens when art offends or disturbs? Should it be censored and who gets to decide? Through a series of case studies of controversial moments in the history of the visual arts (e.g. Elgin Marbles, Civil War Monuments, Duchamp's Fountain, Banksy) this class will examine the role of art in society and debate some of the issues that spark intense disagreement.

Postcolonial Creative Culture

Amanda Bryan: Section 004 - MW 1:30pm-2:45pm

This honors seminar focuses on questions raised by colonial and postcolonial creative works, mostly literature (prose, poetry, drama, and visual and vocal art), from the early 20th century to the present. Often, creativity enables the processing of traumas. What does this work look like when deployed at a national level? What about at a minority-majority global level? Following a historical route of British imperialism, we start in Ireland and continue to Southeast Asia, the Caribbean, Africa, and the Middle East. We also read texts from the indigenous peoples of North America. While the British Empire will begin our route, we additionally discuss other empires. Most inquiries are informed by texts created both during colonization in response to imperialism and those composed post-colonization, analyzing the effects of colonial power. Some major postcolonial discussion topics are language, education, power, insurgence, gender/racial inequalities, center/periphery, and neocolonialism.

Metatheatrical Shakespeare

Jennifer Wood: Section 005 - MW 10:30am-11:45am

Metatheatrical Shakespeare considers how certain Shakespeare plays draw special attention to the fact that the audience is witnessing dramatic performance” both within and beyond the reality created on stage. It will explore meta theatricality in plays where characters choose to stage plays, direct their actors, act histrionic, set the scenes, break character, break the fourth wall, and meditate on the significance of performance all while engaging in theatrical performance. We will investigate performance conventions of the Shakespearean stage, theatrical, performative, and audience-reception histories, and will even use our classroom to test out moments of Shakespearean meta-performance. If all the world's a stage, then Shakespeare's plays doubly indulge the histrionic nature of existence. Metatheatrical plays we will cover in this course include A Midsummer Night's Dream; Hamlet; Love's Labors Lost; Antony and Cleopatra; Pericles; The Tempest; and As You Like It.

Museums & the World on Display

Savannah Fetterolf: Section 006 - TR 1:30pm-2:45pm

More than merely a storage unit for important objects or artworks, the museum is a site for education and cultural consumption. Therefore, the museum serves as a fascinating lens through which to consider its role as an institution in the codification, preservation, and display of knowledge. Assessing how new (and not so new) technologies are impacting the traditional spaces of museums, the ethics of display, and ways of engaging with art and other cultural objects will serve as the foundation for understanding how museums make sense of the world. Be prepared to visit local museums!

Fictions of Identity

Deborah Forbes: Section 007 - TR 12pm-1:15pm

The heart of creating fiction is making up a life, one that may be far from the author's own. But who has a right to whose stories? This question is fueling the most urgent literary controversies of our young century. How can we tell the difference between representation and appropriation, between projection and empathy? How do we judge authenticity in a fictional world? This course will give historical context to these questions by sampling texts from the origins of the novel to the present day, with special attention to authors who write from the point of view of characters with a racial or gender identity other than their own. Together we will develop criteria for the moral and aesthetic evaluation of these texts. The coursework will emphasize critical analysis, but we will also use creative exercises to test our ability to imagine ourselves as someone different.

Ruins of the Apocalypse

Benjamin Renne: Section 008 - TR 10:30am-11:45am

The apocalypse is already upon us! So what comes next? In this course, we will examine the literature of ruin. Through close literary analysis and critical discussion of speculative fiction (SF), poetry, film, anime, and video games, we will explore the possible futures left to us in the wake of apocalypse. With particular emphasis on the setting of the ruined city, we will encounter the various survivors of ruin: scavengers and shapeshifters, mutants and monsters, and the mythic remnants of the human past. Our exploration will be guided by the following key questions: What is our (human) relationship to the apocalypse? What is fascinating or necessary about imagining our future ruin? How does the city situate and embody ruin? How can possibility, justice, wonder, and even delight exist amid destruction? Major readings will be drawn from both contemporary and foundational voices in SF, including Octavia Butler, Samuel R. Delany, Jeff VanderMeer, Adrienne Maree Brown, and others.

The Art of Memory

James Savage: Section 009 - TR 1:30pm-2:45pm

In Ancient Greece, a good memory was celebrated as both essential to any orator as well as a way of communicating with and memorializing the dead. What has become of the concept of memory since that time? What role does memory (both individual and collective) play in our lives today, particularly as we remember traumatic events and the loss of loved ones? And how do artists use memory to understand the past and heal from loss and trauma? These questions will be examined in this course through various genres, including academic writing, fiction, creative nonfiction, film, and poetry. The semester will culminate in a creative writing project.

Reinventing Classic Stories

Lindley Estes Thomas: Section DL1 - TR 9am-10:15am

Description Forthcoming

Expression in Video Games

Jan Allbeck: Section 011 - MW 9am-10:15am

This course will examine video games and expression, including expression manifestation in color choice, lighting, animation, pacing, dialogue, environmental storytelling, and character design. We will also look at video games as a form of expression for both game designers and players. Finally, we will discuss the influence of society on video games and the influence of video games on society.

Contemporary Poetry

Lori A Rottenberg: Section 013 - MW 10;30am - 11:45pm

In this class, we will discuss what makes poetry “poetry” and read and analyze many contemporary writers, covering a broad range of styles and personal perspectives. We will review terms for analyzing poetry and examine how each poet makes meaning through their choices on the page. Students will also have the chance to lead discussions collaboratively and write in the style of various authors. One day per week will be spent discussing poems, and the other day will be spent sharing and workshopping original poetry by students. As poetry often deals with sensitive issues involving race, gender, sexuality, class, war, oppression, history, environmental destruction, and personal trauma, these topics may be discussed in this class. Get ready to talk, interact, share, create, and learn!

The Politics of Language

Anna Habib: Section 002 - MW 3pm-4:15pm

This course explores how discourse and language construct our realities and establish/reinforce power differentials that lead to sociocultural perceptions of difference.  We will examine how linguistic forces in the media, in our institutions, and in our communities function as mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion and impact our own lived experiences. We will explore a variety of angles on this topic, including the language of power/politics, the politics of language, the colonial roots of linguistic discrimination and profiling, linguistic erasure and language revitalization projects, and the power of language to both divide and to heal.

The Immigrant Experience

Mark Rudnicki: Section 004 - TR 12pm-1:15pm

"The Immigrant Experience Discussions on immigration historically revolve around the question: “what does it mean to be part of a nation state?” The discourse around answering that question often devolves into nativist rhetoric and harmful stereotypes. The 20th and the 21st Centuries have particularly witnessed massive displacements of people mainly due to war and unsafe environments, persecution, poverty, and many other factors. With this in mind, this course will examine texts (theoretical and literary) that explore the concepts of home, belonging, and otherness. Relatedly, the course will scrutinize the similarities and differences of how and why various immigrant groups have been treated differently when arriving in the destination country."

Resolving Identity Conflict

Toni Farris: Section 005 - MW 1:30pm-2:45pm

Identity can be the glue that holds communities together or the catalyst for tragedy. This course will explore the role of identity in individual and group dynamics by presenting foundational theories and transformational practices. We will pay particular attention to how identities inform the way we view ourselves and others, as well as how we interpret the world around us. Our study will utilize an interdisciplinary approach that includes analysis of psychosocial, anthropological, political, and conflict resolution theories that can enhance social responsibility and efforts towards peace.

What's the Matter with Men?

Andrew Yarrow: Section 006 - W 4:30pm-7:10pm

This honors course will explore a range of problems affecting millions of men in contemporary America. Although men, on average, remain more privileged than women, millions are disconnected from work, personal relationships, family and children, and civic and community life. Topics include: the changing status of men in American history; men out of the labor force and economic insecurity; changing ideas of male identity; misogyny/ “toxic masculinity,” sexism, and the backlash against feminism; “angry white men” and the political gender gap; boys and men falling behind girls and women educationally; relationships with women; fatherhood; men’s health, mental health, addictions, and loneliness; Black men (and other men of color) and racism; misandry and “ men’s rights”; formerly incarcerated men; gay men and non-cis-gender men; and comparisons with men in other cultures.

Judaism and Social Justice

Bruce Aft: Section 007 - T 4:30pm-7:10pm

Can we forgive others? Can we let go of our bias? Do we care enough to give of ourselves? Facing the challenges of living in a world that has endured and may still be enduring a pandemic requires us to search for meaningful ways to cope. Judaism, as the oldest of the Western Religions has much to teach us about faith and morality.

Whither Religion and Politics?

Mohamed S. Mohamed: Section DL3 - MW 3:00pm - 4:15pm

This course will explore the intricate intersection between religion, politics, and society and how religious identities and religious institutions have been conducive to the reconfiguration of our national and global sociopolitical spheres. While the course begins with an overview of the classical sociological conceptualization of religion and a rebuttal of the classical assumptions that religion is doomed under modernity, the main tenor of the course is to examine, within sociological, anthropological, and comparative politics frameworks, the influence of religion on politics and vice versa and the implications of this complex relationship on issues related to democracy, immigration, sex and gender, race and ethnicity, counterterrorism, and foreign policy.

Markets and Morality

Virgil Storr: Section 001 - T 4:30pm-7:10pm

This seminar will explore key writings on the relationship between markets and morality. The course will, thus, also focus on a number of the critical debates that have occupied political economists and moral philosophers over the years about the moral underpinnings of market societies, the moral nature of market activities, and the moral status of market outcomes. The goal of the class is to prepare students to understand and engage in the contemporary debates around these issues.

Eliminating Global Hunger

Phillip Thomas: Section 002 - MW 12pm-1:15pm

Hunger is one of the most critical problems confronting global society in the Twenty-First Century. The purpose of this course is to develop a comprehensive understanding of the fundamental elements of global hunger and analyze threats to global food security including those related to our accelerated climate crisis, environmental degradation, access to nutritional food and clean water, food safety, food waste, and loss, public health, good governance, and national security. The continuation of the COVID-19 Pandemic and the rapid escalation of the climate crisis has exacerbated global food insecurity disrupting the food supply chain, threatening famine-like conditions, and destabilizing many fragile food-insecure countries. Over one billion people (one-eighth of the global population) remain chronically and acutely malnourished. The global community needs to increase food production by 60 percent by the year 2050 while facing increased resource and environmental challenges.

Social Media & Culture

Matthew West: Section 003 - MW 12pm-1:15pm

What is social media? We all use it, some of us will even “code” the next platforms, but to what extent do we really “get” it? How do different cultures around the world use social media differently? How has social media changed the societies that we live? Contemporary “real” life has now long been immersed in digital culture: our politics, our social and love lives, and our views of ourselves are all caught up in mobile, networked, visual, and even cyborg cultures. Out of a series of readings, watchings, and lectures providing social scientific tools and examples to spark discussion, students will develop a set of projects allowing them to experience, analyze, and write about the real “worlds” of social media. We will delve into topics like political movements, online dating, gaming culture, “internet addiction,” social currencies, truth, surveillance, and social activism. All HNRS students from any major are welcome.

Responses to Climate Change

Richard Stafford: Section 004 - TR 12pm-1:15pm

How are we responding to climate change? What responses are we planning? How might we respond in the future? Who is this "we" anyway? The answers to these questions are vital: climate change is reshaping patterns of migration, impacting human health, changing the availability and cost of necessities like water and food, increasing the frequency or severity of natural disasters, causing sea-level rise and coastal flooding, and more. These impacts are projected to intensify in the coming years. However, because many of the activities that contribute most to climate change are deeply interwoven with our cultures, political systems, and economies, action is complicated and fraught. In this class, we will read about and discuss a range of different kinds of responses to climate change, how groups and institutions can be mobilized to respond, and what causes inaction.

First-Gen College Students

Tharuna Kalaivanan: Section 005 - TR 1:30pm-2:45pm

This course explores first-generation college students, who are the first in their families to attend a four-year college. We will examine the intersectionality of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and other forms of identity and how they shape first-generation college students’ experiences. Throughout the semester, we will discuss readings that address the inequalities first-generation college students encounter on their pathways to and through college. The impact of families, schools, and other social institutions will be considered. The course will provide students with opportunities to think through the challenges faced by first-generation college students as well as the forms of cultural wealth they bring to college from a range of perspectives.

Disaster and Society

Section DL1 - MW 12:00pm-1:15pm

With the world facing a future in which extreme weather-related events are becoming more common, this course asks how much of a disaster is the result of a changing climate and how much is socially constructed? What are the roles the economy, government policies and civil society play in creating disaster risks? How can institutions instead work together to mitigate these risks? And what role can researchers play in the discussion? Using case studies from the United States, students will explore intersecting roles of institutions and how they create disaster risks before and even after an event. By the end of the course, students will be able to view disasters as complex social phenomena instead of natural occurrences that appear to be out of our control.

History of Emotions

Peter Stearns: Section 001 - TR 1:30pm-2:45pm

"This course focuses on the history of emotions, a rapidly growing field that seeks to contribute both to an understanding of the past and interdisciplinary analysis of emotion itself. The history of emotion offers an opportunity to develop historical thinking and also to consider the role of emotion in human life, past and present. Key methodological and analytical issues in the field will be addressed, along with work (both existing and potential) on emotions such as love, shame, fear, and happiness. Coverage will focus on American patterns but with opportunities for comparison with other societies. Student participation will be emphasized, including recurrent discussion of why history seems to have undertaken an “emotional” turn and whether this is a desirable direction. "

History of the Family

Spencer Crew: Section 002 - TR 10:30am-11:45am

The definition of family and the role of each member has evolved over the years. Often the changes are related to economic circumstances and the social beliefs of the society. This course will primarily examine the way the American family has changed since colonial days. In the process, we will study how the responsibilities of women, children, and men have evolved and why. In addition, we will learn how oral history can aid in researching family history

Technology and Identity

Zachary Schrag: Section 003 - TR 10:30am-11:45am

We define ourselves with the tools we make, the tools we use, and the tools we reject. Individuals select consumer goods, communities deploy infrastructure, and whole nations seek glory through science, invention, and warfare. This course will explore the intersection of technology and identity in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in the United States and other nations. We will learn how people living today and previous generations made choices about three sets of technologies: vaccination; electrification of cities, homes, and farms; and aviation, with an emphasis on the role of the pilot. By learning this history, we can better understand the choices we ourselves face as individuals, communities, and nations.

Cold War: Culture & Legacies

Kevin Flanagan: Section 004 - TR 3pm-4:15pm

"The Cold War: Cultures & Legacies" will look at the cultural history of the Cold War (roughly, 1945-1990) by providing contrasts in the Western bloc (USA and allies) and Eastern bloc (Soviet Union and allies) artifacts. The class will track the history of the conflict by looking at several themes, including conformity, home and family, attitudes towards space exploration, decolonization, and youthful protest, and will have students consider films, comics, architecture, music, and several other modes of cultural expression in tracking these ideological encounters. The course will also look at the legacy of the Cold War in terms of recent memorialization of the conflict and will interrogate a kind of Cold War nostalgia that still lingers in both the United States and in Russia.

Historicizing Race Terror

Stefan Wheelock: Section 005 - T 4:30pm-7:10pm

This course examines how writers of various stripes, both past and present, and across genres, grappled with the issue of racial terror after slavery was abolished in 1865. The readings are arranged as a dialogue between past and present critiques of white supremacy and anti-black racism; in this way, the course is deliberately interdisciplinary, placing writers from our current moment in conversation with black literary figures from the late-nineteenth century. We will focus on how gender and class concerns intersect race, as key historical writers think through the consequences of race terror for both men and women in American culture.

Slavery & Citizenship

Anthony Hoefer: Section 006 - MW 10:30am - 11:45am

The great and painful contradiction of the Enlightenment is the emergence of revolutionary ideas about individual liberty and individual rights nearly simultaneously with development of the Atlantic slave trade. In this seminar, students will consider questions of freedom and bondage alongside each other. Our assigned readings will include relevant primary documents, including the founding documents of the United States and other writings of key Enlightenment figures (some of whom enslaved others), writing from people who were enslaved and gained freedom, abolitionists, and others. We’ll also look at relevant and contemporary texts, including academic work by historians, sociologists, and literary scholars, as well as recent works of fiction and poetry. Our collaborative inquiry into these works will focus on key Enlightenment concepts – the individual self, the possibilities of democracy and self-governance, the meaning of revolution, and natural and human rights. We’ll seek to deepen our understanding of each of these ideas by both considering their development in this broader historical context and by paying careful attention to the perspectives of those who were held in bondage as well as those who enslaved people.

Social Justice Philanthropy

Valentino Bryant: Section 001 - TR 3pm-4:15pm

This course will engage students in the conceptual frameworks and research regarding philanthropy, social change, and organizational dynamics; as well as concrete practice in designing and implementing a philanthropic strategy. In this course, students will:

• Engage in the sociological, social, cultural/moral, organizational, political, strategic, and other dynamics of social change and philanthropy.
• Build students’ understanding of how to engage with a local community, including cultural context and diversity, community-defined needs, relationships, and capacity.
• Deepen students’ understanding of a particular content area and its expression in the community (e.g., education, health care, poverty, etc.).
• Develop skills in designing, implementing, and articulating strategies and initiatives and measuring the impact of those strategies; and practice the basic tools and processes of philanthropy.

Global Student Movements

Jennifer Ashley: Section 002 - TR 10:30am-11:45am

This course focuses on the creative ways in which civically engaged students around the world have promoted social and political change. We begin the course with a discussion of some of the theoretical frameworks commonly used to analyze social movements. We will then work through a series of case studies to think through the reasons that drive young people to become civically engaged, the resources and opportunities upon which these movements draw in order to further their causes, and the role of leadership in successful social and political change. Throughout the course, we will pay special attention to media as contested terrain for political struggle and consider how the use of digital technology in today’s student movements is similar to and different from media used in earlier social movements. As a final project, students will produce a podcast on a movement of their choice.

Gender and Social Change

Jennifer Ritterhouse: Section 003 - TR 9am-10:15am

The year 2020 marked the centennial of U.S. women’s right to vote. This course begins with the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment and explores what came next. Was woman suffrage a “failure,” as some critics began to ask within just a few years? What made it possible for a so-called “second wave” of feminism to break in the late 1960s and 1970s? How did issues of race, class, sexual orientation, and religion factor into the political struggles for gender equality over the decades? After examining these historical questions in class, through readings, and in individual and group assignments, students will work in small groups to pursue research projects that explore ongoing challenges to the achievement of gender equality in the United States.

Rhetorics of Social Justice

Lourdes Fernandez: Section 004 - TR 3pm-4:15pm

This course will explore how discourse around a variety of social justice issues is amplified, circulated, and repurposed. The course will pay particular attention to how rhetorical choices often found in advocacy and activism spaces are often appropriated and repurposed to undermine social justice platforms. Students will study language used across several sites, including school boards, universities, and athletics. Students will learn how to systematically analyze rhetorical devices used in these spaces (by institutional actors and the public) and learn how to develop interventions that better support advocacy aims and that recognize the rhetorical complexity of these spaces.

Power, Policy, and Practice

Amber Holton-Thomas: Section 005 - MW 3pm-4:15pm

Description Forthcoming

Strengthening Community Bonds

Robert Graham: Section 006 - TR 1:30pm-2:45pm

Drawing inspiration from the everyday folks that stepped into the fold of our historical human and civil rights movements in the U.S., the participants in this course will explore the ways that Americans have come together for the collective good. We will generate tools and models for strengthening our community bonds and forging a more just society. Questions we will address include: What are the origins of our perceived differences? How do people and institutions bridge their differences? How can we be advocates and supporters of others’ rights movements? What are the risks? Why should we be hopeful about the future of our country and communities?

Social Change and Women’s Rights

Lisa Gring-Pemble: Section 007 - TR 10:30 am-11:45 am

In an age where we all have easy access to electronic media and can make use of multiple platforms to share our ideas, it is inconceivable that women at one point in our history did not have the right to speak in public. But, at the beginning of the 19th century, public advocacy of any sort was considered outside of women’s proper sphere. How women claimed their voice and succeeded in leading major social and political reforms, is a powerful and important story. In this learning community, we will explore the roots of the early woman’s rights movement as a case study to understand social change. We will get to know extraordinary women, analyze influential primary texts, and learn about social movement theory as we investigate the obstacles, dilemmas, and successes of the 19th century woman’s rights movement.

Peer Mentorship in Honors

John Woosley: Section 001 - F 10:30am-1:10pm

Lead Mentorship in Honors students serve as Peer Mentors for HNRS 110. Peer mentors attend a session of 110 once a week, hold a weekly office hour for mentees, and participate in events aimed at creating a wider sense of belonging, engagement and inclusion for first-year Honors College students. This section of HNRS 361 is open to all students interested in fostering a positive sense of community and civic engagement.

Honors College Connects

Melanie Fedri: Section 004 - TR 10:30am-11:45am

In Honors College Connects (HCC), students contribute to the work of local nonprofits addressing health, social justice, environmental, and other challenges. They build professional skills while making a real impact in the community beyond Mason, and work in teams that are mentored by peers who have previously taken the class. Through this course, students join the HCC community, which includes optional in-person opportunities during the semester, along with an invitation to later enroll in the HCC Mentorship section of HNRS 361 (encouraged but not required). HCC endeavors to promote students' commitment to diversity, inclusion, and belonging, and seeks to partner with both diversely led and diversely serving nonprofits. Any questions? Email hcc@gmu.edu . Apply for permission to enroll in Honors College Connects here:

Cybernetics and AI

Dean Taciuch: Section 001 - TR 10:30am-11:45am and Section 002 - TR 1:30pm-2:45pm

The course will begin with the concept of Cybernetics, developed by Norbert Wiener in the mid-20th Century. Cybernetics, as Wiener and the first generation of computer engineers defined it, is the science of control and communication in machines, animals, and human beings. Cybernetics gave us the concepts of cyberspace and the cybernetic organism "the cyborg". Throughout this course, we will address technology, in particular the idea of cybernetics and AI, from the perspectives of a wide range of disciplines including engineering, physics, mathematics, linguistics, sociology, psychology, neuroscience, biology, and philosophy. The field of cybernetics is inherently interdisciplinary, born as it was from the fields of engineering and mathematics combined with biology, neuroscience, and sociology. We will investigate the philosophical and social implications of cybernetic technology.

Coping with the Internet

Alexander Monea: Section 003 - W 4:30pm-7:10pm

This course will examine the effects of internet technologies on our everyday lives and look to develop coping strategies so that we can become more intentional about how we use the internet. Students will engage humanities and social science research on internet platforms, social media, smartphones, Internet of Things, logistics, web services and data storage. They will learn about issues ranging from screen addiction to trolling to surveillance to advertising to globalization to the environmental impacts of internet technologies. Along the way, students will learn critical strategies for obfuscating their data, managing their privacy settings, controlling their attention, and reducing their carbon footprint.

Development of Modern Science

James Trefil: Section 004 - M 4:30pm-7:10pm

This course will trace the development of science from the construction of monuments like Stonehenge to the beginning of the twentieth century. No previous scientific knowledge will be presumed, and the major ideas of science will be developed in their historical context. The course will include readings from important historical texts, and students will be asked to develop and present topics related to the course subject matter.

Material Culture Research

Claudia Rector: Section DL1 - MW 3pm-4:15pm

Research in material culture uses objects and landscapes as primary sources. In this section of HNRS 361, we will use "stuff" as a means of examining culture to reveal ideas about race, gender, class, religion, and nation, among others. We will look at a wide range of historical and contemporary objects and landscapes, from kimchi to the indigenous food sovereignty movement, saris to RuPaul's Drag Race, Virginia plantations to highways.

Peer Leadership in Honors

John Woosley and Caroline West: Section 001 - F 10:30am-1:10pm

Lead Mentorship in Honors students serve as Peer Mentors for HNRS 110. Peer mentors attend a session of 110 once a week, hold a weekly office hour for mentees, and participate in events aimed at creating a wider sense of belonging, engagement and inclusion for first-year Honors College students. This section of HNRS 361 is open to all students interested in fostering a positive sense of community and civic engagement.

Business Models for Impact

Rebecca Howick: Section 002 - MW 10:30am-11:45am

Business Models for Impact is an experiential entrepreneurship and innovation course. Students will have a unique opportunity to learn about our regional food system and explore business models that incorporate social impact. Students will work with various community stakeholders such as: local food and beverage producers, restaurant owners, government agencies, community event organizers, on-campus social impact partners, etc. In addition to course sessions, students will have multiple opportunities to participate in a pop-up retail farm store and/or participate in and organize other community facing sales events. Students will learn about making an impact through their entrepreneurship education. Experiential opportunities will be infused in both group and individual work. Students will be actively working on all aspects of running a small entrepreneurial enterprise including: marketing, accounting, business development, human resources and more.

HCC Mentoring

Melanie Fedri: Section DL1 - TR 1:30pm-2:45pm

In the Honors College Connects (HCC) Mentorship section of HNRS 361, students who previously participated in HCC or any other HNRS 261 section have the opportunity to develop mentorship skills. In this course, students will serve as mentors for a section of HNRS 261, develop mentoring skills, and engage in a human-centered design project that deepens understanding/appreciation for the experiences of mentees in the HNRS 261 HCC section. Special attention is paid to diversity, inclusion, and belonging, both among student team members and between HCC and the nonprofits with which we partner. Any questions? Email hcc@gmu.edu . Apply for permission to enroll here:

Documentary Photography and Film

Caroline West: MTWR 10:30am-12:35pm

How do we define documentary? How do we differentiate between documentary, fiction, and entertainment? In this class, we will examine these questions, thinking about the special expectations we have for documentary photography and film: to tell us the truth. We’ll approach the work through essential questions about authenticity, representation, voice, authorship, form, and politics by exploring the historical and social contexts in our examination of a broad range of documentary work. Our explorations, and the readings that support them, will be both theoretical and empirical. Throughout the semester, we will be conscious of the way that documentaries deal with questions of what is truth/reality, and the ethical issues involved in photographing and filming real people.
 

Peer Mentorship in Honors

Nadeen Makhlouf: Session C TWR 09:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Do you like working with others, supporting your community, and getting course credit while doing so? Then you should consider enrolling in HNRS 261: Peer Mentorship in Honors this summer. HNRS 261 students will engage with high school students enrolled in the Early Identification Program and train to be Honors College Peer Mentors. In addition to fostering a positive sense of community, students will explore definitions of “mentorship,” “service,” “civic engagement” and “collaborative learning” in the context of higher education. Students who complete HNRS 261 this summer are eligible to enroll in HNRS 361: Lead Mentorship in Honors for Fall 2022.

Social Innovation

Melanie Fedri: Session C MWF 1:20pm - 4:20pm

In an American society teeming with social issues, how might we understand and contextualize social innovation? And how are attempts to innovate influenced by larger forces? To explore these questions, we will engage in two parallel learning processes. In one, we will collectively examine a social issue that has wide-ranging implications: racial wealth inequality. In parallel, you will form teams based on shared interests and study a social issue of your team’s choosing. The selected social issue will directly pertain to a BIPOC or other marginalized community, and we will focus on learning from leaders and writers from the background of those most affected.

Peer Leadership in Honors

Nadeen Makhlouf: Session C TWR 09:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Do you like working with others, supporting your community, and getting course credit while doing so? Have you already completed HNRS 260 or 261? Then you should consider enrolling in HNRS 361: Lead Mentorship in Honors this summer. HNRS 361 students will work alongside to engage with high school students enrolled in the Early Identification Program and train to be Honors College Peer Mentors. In addition to fostering a positive sense of community, students will explore definitions of “mentorship,” “service,” “civic engagement” and “collaborative learning” in the context of higher education. Students who complete HNRS 361 this summer are eligible to apply to be Lead Mentors for Fall 2022. This section is especially recommended for students who have previously taken the Peer Mentorship in Honors or College Application Coaches sections of HNRS 261.

Narrative Journalism

Steven Pearlstein: Section 001 - TR 10:30-11:45am

Story-telling has always been at the heart of great journalism. In this course, we’ll explore the last century of American history by reading some of the best examples of narrative—that is, story-telling—journalism as published in books, newspapers and magazines. We will explore how narrative journalism is done, the historical and media context in which it is written and published, what makes it effective, and what impact it has had on readers and society. This is not a journalism course as much as it is a literature and history course. The aim is not to teach you how to write great journalism but how to recognize it, analyze it and get the most out of reading it.

Pompeii: Window on Antiquity

Christopher Gregg: Section 002 - MW 10:30am-11:45am

Since its rediscovery over 200 years ago, the Roman city of Pompeii has fascinated the modern world. This minor Roman town, entombed by a volcanic eruption in 79 CE, has fired the imagination of both scholars and artists. As an example of Roman civilization, Pompeii gives us a view into a past society that has had a tremendous impact on Western European and North American architecture, art, law and literature. This class will use the unparalleled physical remains of Pompeii’s art, architecture and infrastructure as well as primary Roman literary source material in translation to explore the complex urban and cultural environment of this ancient civilization. Class discussion, critical reading of sources, visual analysis, and application of critical ideas will all play significant parts in our multi-disciplinary approach to interpreting this familiar yet “foreign” culture and application of critical ideas.

Creative Nonfiction

Aimee Weinstein: Section 003 - TR 10:30am-11:45am and Section 013 - TR 12:00pm-1:15pm

What does it mean to tell your story? How does an ordinary person put together descriptions, thoughts and reflections to create a work that is truly extraordinary? This course will focus on the definition of creative nonfiction as separate from journalism, essays or other works of nonfiction that are less biographical and creative. Our end goal is to create something ourselves that is read-worthy by someone other than our mothers and to imagine ourselves as authors of the story of our lives. To achieve our aim, we will read several works of creative nonfiction by authors such as Anna Quindlen, Joan Didion and Cheryl Strayed. We will explore how these writers do not only tell their stories — as in what happened — but the ways they reflect on their snippet of reality, how they make sense of the experiences and how they bring those experiences to life for the reader. How do they succeed in making their regular lives vivid and interesting to an outside reader? Students in this class will learn to read critically and therefore think critically — about what they read and the world around them. In addition, we will notice, practice and write about the art of reflection. What is a reflective practice and how does it help us get the story on to the page? Our discussions will focus on what makes someone else’s life interesting to read about and all students should be prepared to contribute to class discussions. By the end of the semester students will have engaged in reading, thinking and writing. The work of the term will consist of reading quizzes, written discussion responses, and a journal that will lead us all to the sparkling creative nonfiction essay that tells our story.

Graphic Novel as Literature

Stephen Hickson: Section 005 - MW 10:30am-11:45am and Section 006 - MW 9am-10:15am

Graphic narratives—comics and graphic novels—have garnered critical attention as not just popular entertainment but, increasingly, as a form of literature with its own tropes and traditions. Moreover, the unique formal qualities of graphic narratives especially benefit the genre of the memoir, and even more especially, memoirs that concern traumatic subjects. This course examines graphic narrative memoirs across multiple cultural traditions as a literary form and asks how the form’s conventions permit both the authors and readers to productively confront traumatic life experiences. We will read some foundational texts in the growing field of comics studies, along with several graphic narrative memoirs themselves, and consider how we can analyze these multimodal visual texts from different literary, critical perspectives. Additionally, we’ll take creative inspiration from the graphic narrative form and engage in multimodal methods of analysis and self-reflection.

Visual Culture and Horror

Collin Hawley: Section 007 - MW 9am-10:15am and Section 008 - MW 10:30am-11:45am

Horror is a genre that presents the unrepresentable: the taboo, the horrible, the inexplicable. This course will examine the visual discourse in horror narratives across various media including short stories, film, television, and photography. We will particularly examine the persistent cultural fascination with these gruesome and repulsive texts.

Art and Protest

Savannah Fetterolf: Section 009 - MW 12:00pm-1:15pm, Section 010 - MW 1:30-2:45pm, and Section 011 TR 9am-10:15am

As an expression of both discontent and desire for social and political change, protest is a crucial means of challenging the legitimacy of the status quo and disrupting the (im)balance of power. Visual art has long played a pivotal role in the history of protest and resistance culture. The power of the visual to convey meaning is deployed not only through “fine” art, but also through objects ranging from posters to t-shirts, protest signs to logos, Instagram filters to face masks. Throughout the semester, we will be looking at the role of art in contemporary protest movements in order to understand the way that artists and image-makers employ the visual to advocate for change through a reimagination of the future.

Documentary Photo and Film

Caroline West: Section 012 - MW 10:30am-11:45am

How do we define documentary? How do we differentiate between documentary, fiction, and entertainment? In this class, we will examine these questions, thinking about the special expectations we have for documentary photography and film: to tell us the truth. We’ll approach the work through essential questions about authenticity, representation, voice, authorship, form, and politics, Exploring the historical and social contexts in our examination of a broad range of documentary work will ground our study. Our explorations, and the readings that support them, will be both theoretical and empirical. Throughout the semester, we will be conscious of the way that documentaries deal with questions of what is truth/reality and the ethical issues involved in photographing and filming real people.

Intersecting Identity and Economic Inequality: The Power of a Narrative

Caroline West: Section 001 - TR 10:30am-11:45am and Section 002 - TR 1:30pm-2:45pm

This course addresses inequalities in wealth and poverty as not merely as an economic question, but one that is fundamentally political, historical, sociological, psychological, and geographic. Economic status affects one's access to education and other social goods, informs a person’s politics, and contributes to how identities and differences are understood. No identity, whether it be class, race, gender, sexuality, citizenship, or ability, exists in a discreet bubble. In this class we will investigate the relationships and the interconnections of identity and inequalities in the ways they intersect and interact in a system of privilege and oppressions. The course will be framed around dominant narratives and discourses related to wealth and poverty to examine how these narratives have worked to organize people according to their identities and influence perceptions of U.S. poverty and wealth.

Gender, Race, and Immigration

Mark Rudnicki: Section 003 - TR 12pm-1:15pm

Identity politics has been a hotly debated topic for a number of years throughout many different fields. This course attempts to provide a philosophical foundation by exploring the construction and transformation of identity. We will pay particular attention to how identities are formed through the interplay of such concepts as the same or “the normal” and difference or otherness. Through the examination of select theoretical texts in the fields of psychoanalysis, feminism, postcolonial, critical race theory, we will build a framework with which we will interpret literary works that primarily address immigration, race, and gender as they relate to identity formation.

Memory, Art, and Identity

Luma Mousa: Section 004 - W 4:30-7:10pm and Section 005 - W 7:20pm-10pm

This course considers the interactions between memory, art, and narrative identity. Throughout the course, we will study how memory and art contribute to shaping identity and the essence of home for immigrants, refugees, and everyone who is away from their home, lost it, or at the risk of losing it. We first will investigate the conception of identity and home, then we will address how artists form and/or challenge the concept of identity in their work, and lastly, we will discuss the role of memory in art creation and identity production. In doing so, concepts like race, class, gender, intersectionality, nationality, ethnicity, diversity, and multiculturalism will be a foundational part of the discussion of identifying and explaining the contextual, historical, and nature of identity, community, and difference.

The Politics of Language

Anna Habib: Section 006 - MW 1:30pm-2:45pm

This course investigates how colonial projects have historically stigmatized non-prestige languages and dialects in order to establish a “standard language ideology” that further marginalizes disadvantaged and/or BIPOC communities. We will explore how this “standard language ideology” continues to permeate inter/national and institutional policies, reinforcing systemic racism and modern subject formation. We will draw on scholarship in sociolinguistics, writing and rhetoric, and cultural studies to challenge longstanding deficit views of “non-standard” linguistic identities and language practices (e.g. Black English, accented English, code-meshed English like “Spanglish,” etc.) often associated with racialized and socially-marginalized communities.

The Wire: Life in the Game

Christopher Pizzino: Section 007 - TR 10:30am-11:45am

This course is focused on the acclaimed television show The Wire, a modern epic that deals with many aspects of urban life, from policing to politics to education to local journalism. Episode by episode and week by week, course readings and activities will draw connections between the series and many different aspects of modern life. There will be particular attention to contemporary political and social issues such as the effects of the drug war on police/community relations, the way electoral politics can shape the identity of public servants, the reality of institutional corruption and the ways it affects group identity, the way labor struggles affect the lives and identities of union workers, and the ways gender, race, sexuality, class, and nationality shape life experience in various contexts. The course will also look at the place of The Wire in the history of television, and in the broader history of mass media storytelling.

Experiencing Difference

Lisa Sechrest-Ehrrhardt: Section 008 - MW 10:30am-11:14am (Face-to-Face) and Section DL2 - TR 10:30am-11:45am (Synchronous Online)

Diversity in the United States provides a rich, yet complicated environment regarding social interaction among people from varying racial, ethnic, and socio-economic backgrounds. Different world perspectives affect behavior in social interactions and can have positive and or negative consequences. How does a person’s race, ethnicity, or gender affect his or her interactions with others? Students will be introduced to Social Interaction Theory and Cognitive Theory which provide a robust foundation for navigating diverse social interactions. Using inquiry and collaborative learning processes students will learn how these theories provide an understanding to what one “brings” to communications and exchanges with others. Students will examine the “intersectionality” of race, ethnicity, gender, ability, socioeconomic status, and age to comprehend the importance of self-awareness in the process of understanding self, others and community.

Selves, Bodies, Differences

Rachel Jones: Section 009 - MW 12pm-1:15pm

This class examines the modern western conception of the self as it emerged in the context of what Maria Lugones calls the ‘modern colonial gender system.’ We explore how this conception of self, inherited broadly from Descartes, depends on both a particular conception of the body and a structuring opposition between self and other. More specifically, we trace how an array of divergent bodily differences become trapped in a self/Other dualism that defines a supposedly rational subject against its devalued and dehumanized ‘Others’. We read selected writings by key western thinkers and those who interrogate their work by centering gender, race, colonialism, disability and animality. Two novels serve as key anchoring points: Toni Morrison’s 'Beloved' and Indra Sinha’s 'Animal’s People' allow us to explore the effects of gendered racialization, slavery, and colonization, as well as possibilities for survival, resistance and new modes of kinship that escape dualisms and embrace differences.

Judaism and Social Justice

Bruce Aft: Section 010 - T 4:30pm-7:10pm

Can we forgive others? Can we let go of our bias? Do we care enough to give of ourselves? Facing the challenges of living in a world that has endured and may still be enduring a pandemic requires us to search for meaningful ways to cope. Judaism, as the oldest of the Western Religions has much to teach us about faith and morality.

Foundations of a Just Society

Shauna Rigaud: Section 011 - TR 1:30pm-2:45pmm

Aims to produce graduates who navigate the diverse world around them in a way that promotes justice, equity, and inclusion. This class provides foundational building blocks for that learning trajectory. In addition to engaging with course material, students will grow through experiential learning and critical dialogue. Students will develop awareness, knowledge, analytical tools, and interpersonal skills related to diversity that will provide a foundation for exploration and constructive contributions to the George Mason community and beyond. Limited to three attempts.

Race, Power & Privilege

Tiwana Barnes: Section DL3 - MW 4:30pm-5:45pm (Synchronous online)

This course will explore the social constructs of race, class, gender, and other differences within the systems of power and privilege. We will cover social positioning and consider questions like: Do I have a social position/what is my social position? Is my social position visible? Are all my social positions visible? This course will analyze how social positions affect our lives and others. The goal of this course is to engage in critical thinking, encourage self-reflection and to understand historical and modern notions of race, power and privilege.

• Seek to understand how the concepts of identity affect our lives and the lives of others in a greater context.
• Consider how race, class, gender and other differences affect communities and the notion of family.
• Examine whether social constructs have changed over the years and whether it is changing again.
• Compare and contrast historical and modern-day social constructs to examine how they have changed over time and how they are currently changing.

Eliminating Global Hunger

Phillip Thomas: Section 003 - MW 12pm-1:15pm

Hunger is one of the most critical problems confronting global society in the Twenty-First Century. The purpose of this course is to develop a comprehensive understanding of the fundamental elements of global hunger and analyze threats to global food security including those related to the accelerated climate crisis and environmental degradation, access to nutritional food and clean water, food safety, food waste and loss, public health, good governance and national security. The continuation of the COVID-19 Pandemic and the rapid escalation of the global climate crisis have exacerbated global food insecurity disrupting the food supply chain, threatening famine like conditions and destabilizing many fragile food insecure countries. Over one billion people (one eighth of the world's population) remain chronically and acutely malnourished. The global community needs to increase food production by 60 percent by the year 2050 while facing increased resource and environmental challenges.

First-Gen College Students

Tharuna Kalaivanan: Section 004 - TR 10:30am-11:45am

This course explores first-generation college students, who are the first in their families to attend a four-year college. We will examine the intersectionality of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and other forms of identity and how they shape first-generation college students’ experiences. Throughout the semester, we will discuss readings that address the inequalities first-generation college students encounter on their pathways to and through college. The impact of families, schools, and other social institutions will be considered. The course will provide students with opportunities to think through the challenges faced by first-generation college students as well as the forms of cultural wealth they bring to college from a range of perspectives.

Social Media & Culture

Matthew West: Section 005 - TR 12pm-1:15pm

What is social media? We all use it, some of us will even “code” the next platforms, but to what extent do we really “get” it? How do different cultures around the world use social media differently? How has social media changed the societies that we live? Contemporary “real” life has now long been immersed in digital culture: our politics, our social and love lives, and our views of ourselves are all caught up in mobile, networked, visual, and even cyborg cultures. Out of a series of readings, watchings, and lectures providing social scientific tools and examples to spark discussion, students will develop a set of projects allowing them to experience, analyze, and write about the real “worlds” of social media. We will delve into topics like political movements, online dating, gaming culture, “internet addiction,” social currencies, truth, surveillance, and social activism. All HNRS students from any major are welcome.

Misinformation and Society

David Lemmons: Section DL1 - MW 1:30pm-2:45pm (Synchronous Online)

Can we trust what we read, hear and see in the media? When we can’t trust what’s true and what isn’t, how can we know the right course of action? Whether it’s a conspiracy theory being shared on Facebook, a newscaster reporting on what turns out to be a hoax, or a video with questionable sources, misinformation has real-world implications and can be a source of violence and political unrest. In this discussion-oriented course, we will engage with the past, present, and possible future implications of misinformation for society. We will also discuss misinformation's many forms, including propaganda, fake news, conspiracy theories, hoaxes, and more. Students will learn about the context and use of misinformation as well as how to identify and combat it in their daily lives. Students can expect to read, watch, and listen to a variety of sources and do individual and collaborative work.

Science Superpowers for All Humans

Hakeem Oluseyi: Section 006 - TR 9:00am-10:15am

Science, technology, and innovation are backbones of the American economy for now and into the foreseen future. An understanding of fundamental concepts in science and technology will equip the learner with the tools necessary to be the innovators of tomorrow's emerging economies as well as the knowledge necessary to be leaders and decision makers in a complex world. The fundamentals of science and technology will be made comprehensible and usable to non-science majors.

A major purpose of this course is to expose students to the major ideas of several branches of science and address foundational questions of our existence. How did the universe begin? Is there life on other worlds? How did life come into existence and evolve on Earth? Where did the atoms and molecules that make up our world come from? What is necessary to populate other planets? Can we do it? And many more...

Special Effects

Jan Allbeck: Section 001 - MW 9am-10:15am

This course will look at the history of special effects from their origins in the late 1800s through today. We will study the progression of techniques and their impact on film and tv audiences.

What is Justice?

Jeffrey Griswold: Section 002 - MW 12pm-1:15pm

Justice is the foundation of human society. It is the administration of law and the assignment of punishment. Justice is the qualities of fairness and moral truth. Yet within these definitions a rift appears. What happens when laws are unjust? Or when legal structures are simply expressions of power? This class will examine how literature animates the human passions underlying abstract ethical dilemmas. We will consider citizens’ obligation to follow unjust laws. And how reparations can be made for injustices committed before our lifetimes. By attending to the ways writers have described the just and the unjust within their historical moment, we will gain insight into the crucial role of the imagination in the formation of ethical citizens across time. From plays written in ancient Greece to science fiction from the twenty-first century, literature helps us ask big questions about justice and its relationship to power, law, and government.

Slavery & Freedom in Virginia

Sheri Huerta: Section 003 - MW 10:30am-11:45am and Section 004 - MW 1:30pm-2:45pm

This course explores the critical role that Virginians, enslaved and free, played in creating degrees of freedom against chattel slavery and how these tactics have been remembered in local public history sites. In particular, we will explore the sites where Black Virginians developed strategies of resistance during the long 19th century. Virtual tours of key events like Gabriel’s Conspiracy (1800) and Nat Turner’s Rebellion (1831) will be placed alongside the much broader landscape of everyday resistance to enslavement. We will follow the footsteps of fugitives along the Underground Railroad, enter courthouses to hear the voices of Virginians fighting for degrees of freedom, locate men and women who negotiated for manumission from enslavers, travel to the free Black colony in Liberia, and visit Freedman’s Bureau offices to understand claims to freedom following formal emancipation. Student projects will contribute to our ongoing understanding of Black resistance in shaping freedom.

Cold War: Culture & Legacies

Kevin Flanagan: Section 005 - TR 12pm-1:15pm

"The Cold War: Cultures & Legacies" will look at the cultural history of the Cold War (roughly, 1945-1990) by providing contrasts in Western bloc (USA and allies) and Eastern bloc (Soviet Union and allies) artifacts. The class will track the history of the conflict by looking at several themes, including conformity, home and family, attitudes towards space exploration, decolonization, and youthful protest, and will have students consider films, comics, architecture, music, and several other modes of cultural expression in tracking these ideological encounters. The course will also look at the legacy of the Cold War in terms of recent memorializations of the conflict and will interrogate a kind of Cold War nostalgia that still lingers in both the United States and in Russia.

Reimagining the News

Amykate Sweeney: Section 001 - T 4:30-5:45pm (Hybrid 50% asynchronous online)

The relationship between the press and the public is broken – even the most ardent defenders of journalism will admit this. Nearly every analysis reveals Americans’ trust in the news media has dramatically declined over the past 25 years. This crisis of trust threatens the institution of journalism and perhaps democracy itself. Critics and experts suggest a renewed commitment to local journalism – by both the press and the public – as a potential solution to this crisis. But an enduring restoration of public trust will require a reimagining of local news, one that engages with and shares power among all sectors of the community. In this course we will ask: what is journalism’s role in society; how does nonfiction storytelling influence civic engagement, and how can journalism’s standards and practices be redesigned to positively impact communities? We will also work collaboratively to envision and propose new models for community-minded journalism.

Access issues in American Education

Maoria Kirker: Section 002 - TR 3pm-4:15pm

This course will explore issues related to access in U.S. education. We will examine access through three lenses throughout the semester: historical, socioeconomic, and public policy. The first half of the class will focus on K-12 education while the second half will focus on higher education. The class is meant to be relevant to students in any major as there will be space to explore a topic of their own interest related to access, social justice, and U.S. education.

Public Service in Modern Society

Nadeen Makhlouf: Section 004 - MW 9am-10:15am and Section 005 - MW 12pm-1:15pm

This course provides a broad overview of the field of public service and covers the history and development of the public sector, as well as how it serves contemporary society. Public service requires coordinating efforts both within and between different sectors of society whether it is the government, international organizations, community-based organizations, nonprofits, or citizens. Everyone, regardless of interest, should be cognizant of the tremendous influence of public administration, leaders, and administrators in shaping public life. Topics include an overview of public management, leadership, motivation, ethics, citizen engagement, innovation, collaboration, and social equity. Activities will include a variety of written assignments, in-class simulations, presentations, and other activities designed to prepare students for professional work in the field.

Divergent Thought

Charles Thomas: Section 006 - M 4:30pm-7:10pm

Divergent Thought is a class that will push you to grow. It will push you to be better. It will ask you to let go of what you think you know and actually think. We currently live in a world in which alternative perspectives and counter narratives are not easily accepted. We are trending in such a way that living in an echo chamber is becoming the norm.This class will not be that. We expect more. We want more. We will engage in civil discourse around topics of interest. This course will be mainly student led. The goal of this class is to prepare you for the real world. We will talk about things that matter to you. We will respectfully challenge each other. We will think. We will debate. We will entertain divergent thoughts. We will engage accordingly today so that you are prepared for tomorrow. Divergent Thought will expect and require divergent thinking. There are no right answers, only varied perspectives. If you want to do better, be better, and lead well...join us.

Higher Education and Society

Blake Silver: Section DL1 - TR 1:30pm-2:45pm (Synchronous online)

This course examines higher education through a sociological lens. We will explore a variety of questions focused on understanding higher education in the contemporary United States. Is higher education a “great equalizer” or is it a way to reproduce advantage across generations? How do we understand the causes and consequences of disparities in college access and completion? What factors shape lived experiences on college campuses? And how do those experiences matter for college outcomes? As we approach these questions and others, this course will build on sociological theories to understand patterns and trends documented in recent research. Additionally, assigned readings and in-class discussions will offer opportunities to explore class, race, gender, and other sociodemographic dimensions as they relate to the sociology of higher education.

College Application Coaches

Eva Bramesco: Section 001 - TR 12pm-1:15pm

Interested in improving access to college? Want to help students who would be the first in their families to attend college prepare? By enrolling in this section of HNRS 261, students agree to participate in the College Application Coaches service project. The project will involve learning how to provide effective coaching to these high school students as they develop resumes and college application essays. Students participating in College Application Coaches will meet virtually with the students they are coaching, and will provide online resources and guidance. Students will also engage in regular class meetings and complete assignments intended to help them understand and grapple with the systems that control college access, and to become effective college preparedness mentors.

Peer Mentorship in Honors

Nadeen Makhlouf: Section 002 - TR 10:30am-11:45am

This section of HNRS 261 is a problem-based learning practicum to train Honors College Peer Mentors (PMs). PMs engage in the Honors College community by mentoring first-semester students taking HNRS 110: Principles of Research and Inquiry. In addition to fostering a positive sense of community, students taking HNRS 261 are actively engaged in the ongoing process of articulating what “mentorship,” “service,” “civic engagement” and “collaborative learning” mean in the context of the Honors College curriculum. Over the course of the semester, HNRS 261 students will train to become Peer Mentors and work in collaborative teams to develop assignments and programming related to HNRS 110. Students who successfully complete HNRS 261 in Spring 2022 are eligible to apply to take HNRS 361 and serve as a Peer Mentor in Fall 2022.

Honors College Connects

Melanie Fedri: Section 003 - MW 1:30pm-2:45pm

In Honors College Connects (HCC), students contribute to the work of local nonprofits addressing health, social justice, and environmental challenges. They build professional skills while making a real impact in the community beyond Mason, and work in multi-disciplinary teams that are mentored by peers who have previously taken the class. Through this course, students join the HCC community, which includes optional in-person opportunities during the semester, along with an invitation to later enroll in the HCC Mentorship section of HNRS 361 (encouraged but not required). HCC endeavors to promote students' commitment to diversity, inclusion, and belonging, and seeks to partner with both diversely led and diversely serving nonprofits. Any questions? Email hcc@gmu.edu. Apply to participate in Honors College Connects.

Energy and Civilizations

Harold Geller: Section 001 - MW 10:30am-11:45am

This course will study the scientific concepts associated with energy and the environment. We begin with an overview of the physical concept of energy and the scientific thoughts and processes associated with energy. We then continue to examine the primary sources of energy in use today, including such examples as fossil fuels, solar energy, wind energy, geothermal energy, nuclear energy, and other alternative energy sources. We conclude with a study of the conservation of energy, and how the use of energy on this planet has a synergism with the issue of pollution and it global effects. The labs for the course include computer simulations and a semester long project (with paper) to demonstrate essential features of (i) the physical concept of energy; (ii) the alternative sources of energy; (iii) the nature of nuclear energy; and (iv) global effects including air pollution and energy conservation.

Life in the Universe

Harold Geller: Section 002 - MW 9am-10:15am

In this course we will critically analyze emergent technologies and their impact on contemporary culture as our species seeks to understand its place in the universe. The core concepts surrounding the technologies and their legal, social, and ethical issues will be considered. Students will develop a significant research project related to the search for life in the universe which, communicated through written, oral, and digital means, demonstrates a critical understanding of the technologies and their impact via multiple disciplinary perspectives. Students will communicate their findings, both verbally and non-verbally, through ethically and culturally aware critical thinking and scientific reasoning.

Science of Cities

James Trefil: Section 003 - M 4:30-7:10pm

What will the Washington area look like in 50 years? This course will focus on the technology and development of cities, using the Washington, D.C. area as an example. Students will look at present-day cities from a historical standpoint and learn what we can predict for its future in light of robotics, nanotechnology, and genetic engineering.

Modern Scientific Revolutions

James Trefil: Section 003 - T 4:30-7:10pm

This course will examine the rather extraordinary changes in the way we view the universe as a result of scientific advances since 1900. It is a synchronous online course and research groups will meet with the instructor each week as scheduled. In addition, the entire class will meet synchronously on the first and last days of class and to hear the reports of the research groups. These meetings are noted on the syllabus

Cybernetics and AI

Dean Taciuch: Section 005 - TR 1:30pm-2:45pm and Section 006 - TR 3pm-4:15pm

The course will begin with the concept of Cybernetics, popularized by Norbert Wiener's Human Use of Human Beings, a book he wrote (in 1950) specifically to explain cybernetics to the interested non-expert. Cybernetics, as Wiener and the first generation of computer engineers defined it, is the science of control and communication in machines, animals, and human beings. Throughout this course, we will address technology, in particular the idea of cybernetics and AI, from the perspectives of of a wide range of disciplines including engineering, statistical mechanics, mathematics, linguistics, sociology, psychology, neuroscience, biology, and philosophy. The field of cybernetics (the topic of our first text) is inherently interdisciplinary, born as it was from the fields of engineering and mathematics combined with biology, neuroscience, and sociology to form what today would be called information theory.

Scientific Controversies

Davis Kuykendall: Section 007 - TR 9am-10:15am and Section 008 - TR 12pm-1:15pm

Why are so many in the public misinformed about important scientific issues such as climate change and vaccine safety— issues that have major implications for public policy and well-being? When is there a genuine scientific controversy about such scientific issues and when is the controversy fake or manufactured? What explains why some segments of the public are more likely to be misinformed about important scientific topics than others? Which strategies are effective in decreasing the likelihood of misinformation and which strategies backfire? In this course, we’ll draw from the history and philosophy of science, psychology, sociology, and related fields to address these and related questions.

The Hundredth Meridian Project

Richard Davis: Section 001 - R 4:30pm-7:10pm

Through individual and group research in fields such as history, literature, public policy, ecology, and ethnography; creative explorations in a variety of art forms; and workshop/devised performance techniques, this course will continue the six-year journey of “The 100th Meridian Project,” a multidisciplinary investigation of the historical roots of the water crisis in the American west and the many contemporary problems that it has created. Students will read, write, create, and exhibit/perform material contributing to a long-term research and creative effort whose ultimate goal is a full-length multimedia performance piece.

Peer Leadership in Honors

John Woolsey: Section 002 - TR 10:30am-11:45am

This section of HNRS 361 is a problem-based learning practicum for Honors College Peer Mentors (PMs). Students will identify and address a challenge or question that emerges from their individual goals & interests or in response to the needs of the community. All students in HNRS 361, whether pursuing individual or community challenges, contribute to and benefit from rigorous discussion among of a cohort of students representing multiple disciplines.

Research and Creative Projects Seminar

Richard Todd Stafford: Section 003 - TR 10:30am-11:45am

Students will develop an individually-designed research or creative project that is original and substantial. Throughout the process of developing individual projects, the class will work together to pursue the insights that emerge from a consideration of research and creative practices across disciplinary and professional boundaries. This class is especially well-suited for students who wish to extend research they began in another class, pursue a long-term projects as part of an undergraduate thesis in their major, propose or undertake an OSCAR URSP project, or design and undertake major project under the guidance of a mentor

Industry and Professional Challenges

Francis Money: Section 004 - W 4:30pm-7:10pm

Students in this course will work in multidisciplinary teams to design a solution to a challenge or problem offered by two of Mason’s partners from the Northern Virginia business community. Students will be supported in this project by a faculty instructor and a mentor from the participating partner. They will have opportunities to synthesize the knowledge and practices they have developed over the course of their undergraduate experience, to develop the skills and strategies necessary for working effectively in multidisciplinary teams, and to apply all of this as they work to solve a problem or challenge in a professional environment. Work on the project will culminate with the public presentation of the team’s proposed solution, as well as a final report to be delivered to the participating business partner.

Honors College Connects Mentoring

Melanie Fedri: DL1 - MW 10:30am-11:45am (Synchronous online)

In the Honors College Connects (HCC) Mentorship section of HNRS 361, students who have previously participated in HCC or who have completed any other HNRS 261 section have the opportunity to develop mentorship skills that serve students in the HCC sections of HNRS 261. In this course, students will serve as project mentors for a section of HNRS 261, develop and refine curricular and co-curricular elements of the program, and work in teams on research projects that aim to enhance HCC’s positive impact on student participants and the wider community. Special attention is paid to diversity, inclusion, and belonging, both among student team members and between HCC and the nonprofits with which we partner. Contact Dr. Melanie Fedri with any questions.

The Story of YOU: Creative Nonfiction

Aimee Weinstein: Section 001 — T 10:30-11:45 am
(Hybrid)

What does it mean to tell your story? How does an ordinary person put together descriptions, thoughts and reflections to create a work that is truly extraordinary? This course will focus on the definition of creative nonfiction as separate from journalism, essays or other works of nonfiction that are less biographical and creative. Our end goal is to create something ourselves that is read-worthy by someone other than our mothers and to imagine ourselves as authors of the story of our lives. To achieve our aim, we will read several works of creative nonfiction by authors such as Anna Quindlen, Joan Didion and Cheryl Strayed. We will explore how these writers do not only tell their stories — as in what happened — but the ways they reflect on their snippet of reality, how they make sense of the experiences and how they bring those experiences to life for the reader. How do they succeed in making their regular lives vivid and interesting to an outside reader?

Students in this class will learn to read critically and therefore think critically — about what they read and the world around them. In addition, we will notice, practice and write about the art of reflection. What is a reflective practice and how does it help us get the story on to the page? Our discussions will focus on what makes someone else’s life interesting to read about and all students should be prepared to contribute to class discussions.

By the end of the semester students will have engaged in reading, thinking and writing. The work of the term will consist of reading quizzes, written discussion responses, and a journal that will lead us all to the sparkling creative nonfiction essay that tells our story.

The Story of YOU: Creative Nonfiction

Aimee Weinstein: Section 002 — T 12-1:15 pm
(Hybrid)

What does it mean to tell your story? How does an ordinary person put together descriptions, thoughts and reflections to create a work that is truly extraordinary? This course will focus on the definition of creative nonfiction as separate from journalism, essays or other works of nonfiction that are less biographical and creative. Our end goal is to create something ourselves that is read-worthy by someone other than our mothers and to imagine ourselves as authors of the story of our lives. To achieve our aim, we will read several works of creative nonfiction by authors such as Anna Quindlen, Joan Didion and Cheryl Strayed. We will explore how these writers do not only tell their stories — as in what happened — but the ways they reflect on their snippet of reality, how they make sense of the experiences and how they bring those experiences to life for the reader. How do they succeed in making their regular lives vivid and interesting to an outside reader?

Students in this class will learn to read critically and therefore think critically — about what they read and the world around them. In addition, we will notice, practice and write about the art of reflection. What is a reflective practice and how does it help us get the story on to the page? Our discussions will focus on what makes someone else’s life interesting to read about and all students should be prepared to contribute to class discussions.

By the end of the semester students will have engaged in reading, thinking and writing. The work of the term will consist of reading quizzes, written discussion responses, and a journal that will lead us all to the sparkling creative nonfiction essay that tells our story.

Expression in Video Games

Jan Allbeck: Section 003 — MW 9-10:15 am
(Face-to-face)

This course will examine video games and expression, including expression manifestation in color choice, lighting, animation, pacing, dialogue, environmental storytelling, and character design. We will also look at video games as a form of expression for both game designers and players. Finally, we will discuss the influence of society on video games and the influence of video games on society.

Art and Protest

Savannah Fetterolf: Section 004 — MW 12-1:15 pm
(Hybrid)

As an expression of both discontent and desire for social and political change, protest is a crucial means of challenging the legitimacy of the status quo and disrupting the (im)balance of power. Visual art has long played a pivotal role in the history of protest and resistance culture. The power of the visual to convey meaning is deployed not only through “fine” art, but also through objects ranging from posters to t-shirts, protest signs to logos, Instagram filters to face masks. Throughout the semester, we will be looking at the role of art in contemporary US-based protest movements — such as #NoDAPL and BLM — in order to understand the way that artists and image-makers employ the visual to advocate for change through a reimagination of the future.

Documentary Photography and Film

Caroline West: Section 005 — MW 1:30-2:45 pm
(Face to Face)

How do we define documentary? How do we differentiate between documentary, fiction, and entertainment? In this class, we will examine these questions, thinking about the special expectations we have for documentary photography and film: to tell us the truth. We’ll approach the work through essential questions about authenticity, representation, voice, authorship, form, and politics, Exploring the historical and social contexts in our examination of a broad range of documentary work will ground our study. Our explorations, and the readings that support them, will be both theoretical and empirical. Throughout the semester, we will be conscious of the way that documentaries deal with questions of what is truth/reality and the ethical issues involved in photographing and filming real people.

Pompeii: Window on the Past

Christopher Gregg: Section DL1 — MW 10:30-11:45 am
(Online synchronous)

Since its rediscovery over 200 years ago, the Roman city of Pompeii has fascinated the modern world. This minor Roman town, entombed by a volcanic eruption in 79 CE, has fired the imagination of both scholars and artists. As an example of Roman civilization, Pompeii gives us a view into a past society that has had a tremendous impact on Western European and North American architecture, art, law and literature. This class will use the unparalleled physical remains of Pompeii’s art, architecture and infrastructure as well as primary Roman literary source material in translation to explore the complex urban and cultural environment of this ancient civilization. Class discussion, critical reading of sources, visual analysis, application of critical ideas will all play significant parts in our multi-disciplinary approach to interpreting this familiar yet “foreign” culture.

Reading Southern Literature, Writing Regional Prose

Lindley Estes Thomas: Section DL2 — TR 9-10:15 am
(Online synchronous)

The South is more than the grotesque, Baptists and banjos. It is a dynamic place and the way Southern stories are told is likewise changing. Students will read classic texts (Faulkner, Welty, O'Connor to name a few) to understand the tradition current authors are navigating before moving on to the current literature of this region: told in traditional stories and novels, and through film and podcasts. We'll read Jesmyn Ward, watch episodes of "Atlanta" and listen to "S-Town." All the while, we will attempt to answer the questions: What are we talking about when we talk about the South? Who are Southern authors, anyway? And, what issues are these authors dealing with? This survey, coupled with a workshop, will provide students with the tools to create their own fiction of place that uses setting not just as backdrop, but with real thematic heft.

Identity in Disney’s World

Sheri Huerta: Section 001 -MW 10:30-11:45 am
(Face-to-face)

For the better part of the last century, the Walt Disney franchise has helped to shape perceptions of race, gender, and culture through its characters, popular media, merchandise, and theme park experiences. While often dismissed as simple “entertainment,” a closer investigation explores how these representations shape identity, delineate difference, and create inclusive and exclusive communities. This course focuses on detecting constructions of identity in popular culture. How have these forms of entertainment perpetuated or challenged gender, racial, or cultural stereotypes over time? What factors contributed to their creation? We will engage in thoughtful discussions of the issues of diversity and authentic depictions in Disney culture. In the process we will develop an informed voice for articulating multiple perspectives on how popular culture can reflect and affect an individual and community sense of self

Identity in Disney’s World

Sheri Huerta: Section 002 -MW 12-1:15 pm
(Face-to-face)

For the better part of the last century, the Walt Disney franchise has helped to shape perceptions of race, gender, and culture through its characters, popular media, merchandise, and theme park experiences. While often dismissed as simple “entertainment,” a closer investigation explores how these representations shape identity, delineate difference, and create inclusive and exclusive communities. This course focuses on detecting constructions of identity in popular culture. How have these forms of entertainment perpetuated or challenged gender, racial, or cultural stereotypes over time? What factors contributed to their creation? We will engage in thoughtful discussions of the issues of diversity and authentic depictions in Disney culture. In the process we will develop an informed voice for articulating multiple perspectives on how popular culture can reflect and affect an individual and community sense of self

Liberalism and Its Critics

Ted Kinnaman: Section 003 -TR 10:30-11:45 am
(Face-to-face)

American society is a liberal one that professes to value freedom above all else. But are human beings naturally suited for life in liberal democracy, or must we be taught how to be free? Are people equally suited to be citizens in a democracy? What is this freedom we value so much? We will consider these questions as they are addressed in philosophical works by Plato, Mill, Locke, and Rawls, as well as conservative, communitarian and feminist critiques of liberalism.

Gender, Race and Immigration

Mark Rudnicki: Section 004 -TR 12-1:15 pm
(Face-to-face)

Identity politics has been a hotly debated topic for a number of years throughout many different fields. This course attempts to provide a philosophical foundation by exploring the construction and transformation of identity. We will pay particular attention to how identities are formed through the interplay of such concepts as the same or “the normal” and difference or otherness. Through the examination of select theoretical texts in the fields of psychoanalysis, feminism, postcolonial, critical race theory, we will build a framework with which we will interpret literary works that primarily address immigration, race, and gender as they relate to identity formation

Chesapeake Indigenous Identities Across Time

Gabrielle Tayac: Section 005 -TR 10:30-11:45am
(Face-to-face)

Since time immemorial, indigenous peoples stewarded lands and created unique cultures in relationship to the place that our university now occupies. Fairfax connects to an interwoven and all too often invisible Native world in the Chesapeake region, extending across Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and Washington, D.C. This campus is adjacent to a much older geography known as Tsenacommacah. Algonquian, Iroquoian, and Siouan languages still name rivers, towns, and villages. In this course, we will travel across time, place, and perspective to meet diverse regional tribes, ancestral chiefdoms, and contemporary communities. We will deeply consider continual impacts that Native peoples encounter through historical contexts. This class will combine research skills with an experiential approach to interpret contemporary issues. Using the new Public History Lab, the class will curate a collective exhibition drawing from interdisciplinary expressions, strengths, and practices. Our goal is nothing less than making sure that students will never see their campus the same way again.

Judaism and Social Justice

Bruce Aft: Section 006 -T 4:30-7:30
(Face-to-face)

Can we forgive others? Can we let go of our bias? Do we care enough to give of ourselves? Facing the challenges of living in a world that has endured and may still be enduring a pandemic requires us to search for meaningful ways to cope. Judaism, as the oldest of the Western Religions has much to teach us about faith and morality.

Experiencing Difference

Lisa Sechrest-Ehrhardt: Section 007 - MW 1:30-2:45
(Face-to-face)

Diversity in the United States provides a rich, yet complicated environment regarding social interaction among people from varying racial, ethnic, and socio-economic backgrounds.  Different world perspectives affect behavior in social interactions and can have positive and/or negative consequences. How does a person’s race, ethnicity, or gender affect his or her interactions with others? Does it matter what neighborhood a person lives in? What part of identity affects social communication?

Students will be introduced to Social Interaction Theory and Cognitive Theory which provide a robust foundation for navigating diverse social interactions. Using inquiry and collaborative learning processes students will learn how these theories provide an understanding to what one “brings” to communications and exchanges with others.  Students will examine the “intersectionality” of race, ethnicity, gender, ability, socioeconomic status, and age to comprehend the importance of self-awareness in the process of better understanding self, others and community.

Experiencing Difference

Lisa Sechrest-Ehrhardt: Section 008 - MW 10:30-11:45
(Face-to-face)

Diversity in the United States provides a rich, yet complicated environment regarding social interaction among people from varying racial, ethnic, and socio-economic backgrounds.  Different world perspectives affect behavior in social interactions and can have positive and/or negative consequences. How does a person’s race, ethnicity, or gender affect his or her interactions with others? Does it matter what neighborhood a person lives in? What part of identity affects social communication?

Students will be introduced to Social Interaction Theory and Cognitive Theory which provide a robust foundation for navigating diverse social interactions. Using inquiry and collaborative learning processes students will learn how these theories provide an understanding to what one “brings” to communications and exchanges with others.  Students will examine the “intersectionality” of race, ethnicity, gender, ability, socioeconomic status, and age to comprehend the importance of self-awareness in the process of better understanding self, others and community.

Disability and Identity

Brendan Scott: Section 009 - MW 9-10:15
(Face-to-face)

The Americans of Disabilities Act of 1990 has come to define how most Americans view people with disabilities. Questions around disability are often framed through discussions on maintaining compliance with policy rather than developing an understanding of the intersectionality of disability.

This course will examine major theories of disability identity and explore how disability activists have influenced the development of disability policy in education and expanded self-conceptions of disability. Through oral histories, biographical works, and primary source documents, students will explore the following questions: How does identity determine access to academic programs? In what ways do we experience this difference?

What's the Matter with Men?

Andrew Yarrow: Section 010 - W 4:30-7:10 pm
(Face-to-face)

Although men, on average, remain more privileged than women, millions are disconnected from work, personal relationships, family and children, and civic and community life. Many are angry at government, employers, women, and “the system” in general—and millions have done time in prison and have cast aside many social norms. Too many are unsure what it means to be a man today. Wives or partners reject them; children are estranged from them; and many have disappeared into a netherworld of drugs, alcohol, poor health, loneliness, misogyny, economic insecurity, online gaming, pornography, or other off-the-grid corners of the internet.

Among the topics to be discussed and examined in lectures, discussions and group projects are: the changing status of men in American history; men out of the labor force and economic insecurity; changing ideas of male identity; misogyny/ “toxic masculinity,” sexism, and the backlash against feminism; “angry white men” and the political gender gap; boys and men falling behind girls and women educationally; relationships with women; fatherhood; men’s health, mental health, addictions, and loneliness; Black men (and other men of color) and racism; misandry and “ men’s rights”; formerly incarcerated men; gay men and non-cis-gender men; comparing American men to men in other rich countries; men in popular culture; and possible policy responses to men’s problems.

Wealth and Poverty

Steven Pearlstein: Section 001 -TR 10:30-11:45 am
(Face-to-face)

In this seminar, we will explore wealth and poverty through different disciplines (literature, economics, politics, sociology, philosophy), different media (biography, non-fiction essays, journalism, novels, plays, movies) and the experience of different countries (England, Russia, the United States). How are the wealthy different from therest of us? Why are the poor poor, and how do we explain the persistence of poverty even in wealthy societies? Through history, how have the poor viewed the rich and the rich view the poor? What is the moral justification for great differences in wealth? How have views of social class changed? Students will be required to write an essay answering one such question, drawing on the course readings as well as their own research and experiences. Readings include Brideshead Revisited (Waugh), Behind the Beautiful Forevers (Boo), The Other America (Harrington), Grapes of Wrath (Steinbeck) and Bonfire of the Vanities (Wolfe). Movies include “Remains of the Day, “The Cherry Orchard,” “There Will Be Blood,” “Slumdog Millionaire,” and “Wall Street.”

Markets and Morality

Virgil Storr: Section 003 -MW 9-10:15 am
(Face-to-face)

This seminar will explore key writings on the relationship between markets and morals. The course will also focus on a number of the critical debates the that have occupied political economists and moral philosophers over the years about the moral underpinnings of market societies, the moral nature of market activities, and the moral status of market outcomes. The goal of the class is to prepare students to understand and engage in the scholarly debates around these issues.

Eliminating Global Hunger

Phil Thomas: Section 004 -TR 1:30-2:45 pm
(Face-to-face)

Eliminating Global Hunger provides a comprehensive understanding of the causes and effects of acute and chronic malnutrition. Weaddress the interrelationship between food insecurity and climate change, contagious diseases ( i.e. COVID-19), environmental degradation, food safety, corruption, poor governance, conflict, agricultural terrorism, and access to water and land. Food insecurity is one of the most critical problems confronting the global community as over 1.1 billion people are currently malnourished throughout the globe. A growing number of national conflicts in recent years has increased the population of refugees in need of emergency food assistance. Hunger is number one on the list of the world's top 10 health risks. It kills more people yearly than AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined. The global community urgently needs to increase food production at least 60 percent by 2050, all while facing a variety of intensifying natural and man-made food security threats.

Immigration

James Witte: Section 005 -TR 1:30-2:45 pm
(Face-to-face)

Immigration has long been a distinguishing feature of American society. The course focuses on different aspects of contemporary immigration, where there is consensus but also contestation. Issues in global migration will also be considered.  

Culture & Social Inequality

Blake Silver: Section DL1 -TR 1:30-2:45 pm
(Online synchronous)

How does culture shape inequality? How do symbolic boundaries, cultural resources,and collective identities shape the form this inequality takes? And what is the role of socialization, daily interactions, and discrimination in the production of social disparities? In responding to these questions, this course will examine the ways thatinequality is produced and reproduced in daily life. Examining the context of the contemporary United States, students will explore key cultural mechanisms that influence the ways we make meaning of, contest, and reinforce social inequality. Throughout the semester, assigned readings and discussion topics will offer opportunities to think through the influence of cultural meanings and practices. Building from a focus on disparities by race, class, and gender, the course will expand to give students the opportunity to use a sociological lens to consider the relationship between culture and inequality in a range of social settings.

History of Emotions

Peter Stearns: Section 001 -TR 1:30-2:45 pm
(Face-to-face)

This course focuses on the history of emotion, a rapidly growing field that seek to improve our understanding of the past and connections between past and present, while contributing to interdisciplinary analysis of emotion as well. The subject offers a good way to define and apply historical thinking. We work both on the history of specific emotions like love, fear and shame, and on larger patterns associated with modernization, the rise of consumerism, and other big trends --including perspectives on the impact of social media. Coverage will focus on American patterns but with opportunities for comparison with other societies. Student participation is emphasized, including recurrent discussion of why history has taken an "emotional turn" and whetherthis is a desirable direction.

History of the Family

Spencer Crew: Section 002 -TR 10:30-11:45 am
(Face-to-face)

The definition of family and the role of each member has evolved over the years. Often the changes are related to economic circumstances and the social beliefs of the society. This course will primarily examine the way the American family has changed since colonial days. In the process we will study how the responsibilities of women, children, and men have evolved and why. In addition we will learn how oral history can aid in researching family history.

Technology and Identity

Zachary Schrag: Section 003 -MW 1:30-2:45 pm
(Face-to-face)

We define ourselves by the tools we make, the tools we use, and the tools we reject. Individuals select consumer goods, communities deploy infrastructure, and whole nations seek glory through science, invention, and warfare. This course will explore the intersection of technology and identity in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in the United States and other nations. We will learn how people living today and previousgenerations made choices about three sets of technologies: vaccination; electrification of cities, homes, and farms; and aviation, with an emphasis on the role of the pilot. By learning this history, we can better understand the choices we ourselves face as individuals, communities, and nations.

Roots of American Music

Suzanne Smith: Section 004 -TR 1:30-2:45 pm
(Face-to-face)

This course explores the roots of American popular music. American roots music encompasses a wide array of music styles including: the blues, gospel, early jazz, country, bluegrass, Western swing, as well as immigrant music such as polka and zydeco. Throughout the semester, we will study how these different styles evolved, influenced each other, and laid the foundation of rock and roll. Another important dimension of the course will be learning how the history of race relations, gender relations, and class in America play a key role in understanding why certain musical styles develop and become popular. Since music is the focal point of the course, weekly assignments include readings, listening to music, and screenings of films about American roots music.

Gender and American Culture

Sheri Huerta: Section 005 -MW 3-4:15 pm
(Face-to-face)

Gender is defined, interpreted, and performed every day in spaces of inclusion and exclusion. Understanding gender today requires analysis and a critical reading of its complicated social, legal, and cultural past. How did everyday people grapple with gendered identities and their perceived freedoms and constraints in different historical periods? How were concepts of gender portrayed, challenged, or legitimized in courts, laws, and popular culture over time? How did individuals and groups advertise, mandate, adapt, or disrupt gender ideals to form new understandings of the self? How do these past understandings inform present debates about gendered spaces and rights? This course utilizes multiple analytical frameworks to explore the ways that cultural cues, language, beliefs, and performative actions legitimized, celebrated, and often stigmatized narratives about gender through structures of power. We will explore and analyze historical texts, images, and artifacts in conversation with current gender issues in our community of inquiry where active student participation and collaborative work (i.e. group projects) are emphasized.

Vaccine Hesitancy/Exemption

Tim Leslie: Section 001 -T 5:55-7:10pm
(Hybrid)

Vaccination exemption and hesitancy have become a nationwide cultural debate that has implications in the medical, education, and public health fields. Major vaccination aspects such as the history of vaccination, vaccination exemption, vaccination policies, and the current research on vaccination behavior will be evaluated and discussed. Students will engage the topics through instructor-provided lectures and readings, student-driven reflections, and an externally-focused course project. The intended final product will be the production of an audience-specific and culturally vaccination related intervention (through a number of filters) that draws on the student’s expertise. We will focus primarily on the US.

Gender and Social Change

Jennifer Ritterhouse: Section 002 -TR 10:30-11:45 am
(Face-to-face)

The year 2020 marked the centennial of U.S. women’s right to vote. This course begins with the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment and explores what came next. Was woman suffrage a “failure,” as some critics began to ask within just a few years? What made it possible for a so-called “second wave” of feminism to break in the late 1960s and 1970s? How did issues of race, class, sexual orientation, and religion factor into the political struggles for gender equality over the decades? After examining these historical questions in class, through readings, and in individual and group assignments, students will work in small groups to pursue research projects that explore ongoing challenges to the achievement of gender equality in the United States.

Vaccine Hesitancy/Exemption

Tim Leslie: Section DL1 -T 3-4:15pm
(Online: half synchronous, half asynchronous)

Vaccination exemption and hesitancy have become a nationwide cultural debate that has implications in the medical, education, and public health fields. Major vaccination aspects such as the history of vaccination, vaccination exemption, vaccination policies, and the current research on vaccination behavior will be evaluated and discussed. Students will engage the topics through instructor-provided lectures and readings, student-driven reflections, and an externally-focused course project. The intended final product will be the production of an audience-specific and culturally vaccination related intervention (through a number of filters) that draws on the student’s expertise. We will focus primarily on the US.

Peer Mentorship in Honors

Nadeen Makhlouf: Section 001 -F 10:30 am -1:10 pm
(Face-to-face)

This section of HNRS 261 is a problem-based learning practicum to train Honors College Peer Mentors (PMs). PMs engage in the Honors College community by mentoring first-semester students taking HNRS 110: Principles of Research and Inquiry. In addition to fostering a positive sense of community, students taking HNRS 261 are actively engaged in the ongoing process of articulating what “mentorship,” “service,” “civic engagement” and “collaborative learning” mean in the context of the Honors College curriculum. Over the course of the semester, HNRS 261 students will serve as Peer Mentors and work in collaborative teams to develop programming for and support students enrolled in HNRS 110. Students who successfully complete HNRS 261 are eligible to take HNRS 361 "Peer Leadership in Honors" in Spring or Fall 2022.

Bridging the Digital Divide

Tawnya Azar: Section 002 -TR 9-10:30 am
(Face-to-face)

This course will examine the digital divide through issues of literacy and access. As part of the course, students will volunteer at one of several local organizations whose missions seek to address digital literacy and access within different communities. Additionally, we will, as a class, develop an advocacy campaign to participate in the annual Digital Inclusion Week. Through these acts of community engagement and advocacy, we will explore what it means to write with, for, and about these digitally disenfranchised communities as well as what role community engagement has or should have in a digital world.

Bridging the Digital Divide

Tawnya Azar: Section 003 -TR 1:30-2:45 pm
(Face-to-face)

This course will examine the digital divide through issues of literacy and access. As part of the course, students will volunteer at one of several local organizations whose missions seek to address digital literacy and access within different communities. Additionally, we will, as a class, develop an advocacy campaign to participate in the annual Digital Inclusion Week. Through these acts of community engagement and advocacy, we will explore what it means to write with, for, and about these digitally disenfranchised communities as well as what role community engagement has or should have in a digital world.

Honors College Connects

Melanie Fedri: Section 004 -TR 10:30-11:45 am
(Hybrid)

In Honors College Connects (HCC), students contribute to the work of local nonprofits addressing health, social justice, and environmental challenges. Students work in multi-disciplinary teams and are mentored by local leaders in the private and public sectors. Through HCC, students build professional skills while making a real impact in the community beyond Mason. This class requires permission of the department.

Cybernetics and AI

Dean Taciuch: Section 001 -TR 1:30-2:45 pm
(Hybrid)

The course will begin with the concept of Cybernetics, popularized by Norbert Wiener's Human Use of Human Beingsa book he wrote (in 1950) specifically to explain cybernetics to the interested non-expert. Cybernetics, as Wiener and the first generation of computer engineers defined it, is the science of control and communication in machines, animals, and human beings. Cybernetics gave us the concepts of cyberspace and the cybernetic organism —the cyborg.

Throughout this course, we will address technology from the perspectives of of a wide range of disciplines including engineering, statistical mechanics, mathematics, linguistics, sociology, psychology, neuroscience, biology, and philosophy. The field of cybernetics (the topic of our first text) is inherently interdisciplinary, born as it was from the fields of engineering and mathematics combined with biology, neuroscience, and sociology to form what today would be called information theory.

Cybernetics and AI

Dean Taciuch: Section 002 -TR 10:30-11:45 am
(Hybrid)

The course will begin with the concept of Cybernetics, popularized by Norbert Wiener's Human Use of Human Beingsa book he wrote (in 1950) specifically to explain cybernetics to the interested non-expert. Cybernetics, as Wiener and the first generation of computer engineers defined it, is the science of control and communication in machines, animals, and human beings. Cybernetics gave us the concepts of cyberspace and the cybernetic organism —the cyborg.

Throughout this course, we will address technology from the perspectives of of a wide range of disciplines including engineering, statistical mechanics, mathematics, linguistics, sociology, psychology, neuroscience, biology, and philosophy. The field of cybernetics (the topic of our first text) is inherently interdisciplinary, born as it was from the fields of engineering and mathematics combined with biology, neuroscience, and sociology to form what today would be called information theory.

Energy and Culture

Richard Todd Stafford: Section 003-TR 9-10:15 am
(Face-to-face)

What can we learn about culture by paying attention to energy systems? What can we learn about energy systems by seeing them in relation to culture? What is the connection between energy transition and cultural change? How might cultures and energy systems respond to global climate change? After surveying of some of the major approaches to these questions, students will work in small groups to explore a shared topic related to the course theme. Students will then work individually to develop their own final deliverable that is related to their group's topic. Final deliverables in the class may include research papers; journalistic nonfiction; zines; works of literary, visual, or performing art; video essays; podcasts; etc. The commonality will be that each final deliverable will be informed by a rigorous research process, capaciously understood.

Coping with the Internet

Alexander Monea: Section DL1-T 4:30-7:30 pm
(Online synchronous)

This course will examine the effects of internet technologies on our everyday lives and look to develop coping strategies so that we can become more intentional about how we use the internet. Students will engage humanities and social science research on internet platforms, social media, smartphones, Internet of Things, logistics, web services and data storage. They will learn about issues ranging from trolling to surveillance to advertising to globalization to the environmental impacts of internet technologies. Along the way, students will learn critical strategies for obfuscating their data, managing their privacy settings, controlling their attention, and reducing their carbon footprint.

Material Culture Research

Claudia Rector: Section DL2-MW 10:30-11:45 am
(Online synchronous)

Research in material culture uses objects and landscapes as primary sources. In this section of HNRS 361, we will use “stuff” as a means of examining culture to reveal ideas about race, gender, class, religion, and nation, among others. We will look at a wide range of historical and contemporary objects and landscapes, from kimchi to the indigenous food sovereignty movement, saris to RuPaul’s Drag Race, Virginia plantations to highways.

Social Innovation

Melanie Fedri: Section DL3-TR 1:30-2:45 pm
(Online synchronous)

In a world teeming with social issues, what might innovation bring to our efforts to address them? In this course, we will explore and complicate our understanding of innovation, familiarize with the tools of innovation, learn from inspiring case studies and the changemakers behind a variety of efforts, and apply frameworks for innovation to a social issue of personal interest and choosing. We will place emphasis on BIPOC changemakers and approaches to innovation, and strengthen our own capacity for critical evaluation of efforts presented as innovative.

Development of Modern Science

James Trefil: Section DL4-M 4:30-7:10 pm
(Online synchronous)

This course will trace the development of science from the construction of monuments like Stonehenge to the beginning of the twentieth century. No previous scientific knowledge will be presumed, and the major ideas of science will be developed in their historical context. The course will include readings from important historical texts, and students will be asked to develop and present topics related to the course subject matter.

Research & Creative Projects Seminar

Anthony Hoefer:Section 001 -TR 1:30-2:45 pm
(Face-to-face)

Students will develop an individually-designed research or creative project that is original and substantial. Throughout the process of developing individual projects, the class will work together to pursue the insights that emerge from a consideration of research and creative practices across disciplinary and professional boundaries. This class is especially well-suited for students who wish to extend research they began in another class, pursue a long-term projects as part of an undergraduate thesis in their major, propose or undertake an OSCAR URSP project, or design and undertake major project under the guidance of a mentor.

Peer Leadership in Honors

John Woolsey: Section 002 -F 10:30 am -1:10 pm
(Face-to-face)

Do you like working with others, supporting your community, and getting course credit while doing so? Want to create an inclusive and supportive learning environment for your peers? HNRS 361 students serve as peer mentors for a section of HNRS 110, help host colloquium, and work on collaborative, community-based research projects. In addition to fostering a positive sense of community, students will explore definitions of “mentorship,” “service,” “civic engagement” and “collaborative learning” in the context of higher education.

Note: This course is designed for students who have already completed HNRS 261: Peer Mentorship in Honors, or those who have gained experience via the Honors College Recruitment Team, Honors College Student Advisory Board, Honors College Application Coaches, Honors College Multicultural Alliance, or Honors College Connects. Students who have served as a Mason Ambassador, peer advisor, or learning assistant will also find the class fulfilling. Please direct any questions directly to Dr. Woolsey

Photography and Culture

Caroline West: Section A01 — Summer Session A 5/17 to 6/19, MWTR 10:30-12:35pm
(Online)

This course will examine how photography has participated in and shaped our understanding key social and political issues in society. We will explore photography through its multiple functions in our social world by paying particular attention to critiques and analysis of photographs within historical and cultural contexts: how they are to be understood and interpreted; whether they have clear-cut content and meanings; how they shape and are shaped by politics, economics, and social life.

The course covers the invention and early reception of photography, its function as an independent art form, its uses in other practices, scientific investigation, reportage and its relationships to major art movements. We will study photographers and photographs of people and places outside of the United States, but our focus is on American culture.

The Story of YOU: Creative Nonfiction

Aimee Weinstein: Section C01 — Summer Session C 6/21 to 7/24, MWTR 10:30-12:35pm
(Online)

What does it mean to tell your story? How does an ordinary person put together descriptions, thoughts and reflections to create a work that is truly extraordinary? This course will focus on the definition of creative nonfiction as separate from journalism, essays or other works of nonfiction that are less biographical and creative. Our end goal is to create something ourselves that is read-worthy by someone other than our mothers and to imagine ourselves as authors of the story of our lives. To achieve our aim, we will read several works of creative nonfiction by authors such as Anna Quindlen, Joan Didion and Cheryl Strayed. We will explore how these writers do not only tell their stories — as in what happened — but the ways they reflect on their snippet of reality, how they make sense of the experiences and how they bring those experiences to life for the reader. How do they succeed in making their regular lives vivid and interesting to an outside reader?

Students in this class will learn to read critically and therefore think critically — about what they read and the world around them. In addition, we will notice, practice and write about the art of reflection. What is a reflective practice and how does it help us get the story on to the page? Our discussions will focus on what makes someone else’s life interesting to read about and all students should be prepared to contribute to class discussions.

By the end of the semester students will have engaged in reading, thinking and writing. The work of the term will consist of reading quizzes, written discussion responses, and a journal that will lead us all to the sparkling creative nonfiction essay that tells our story.

Peer Mentorship in Honors

Nadeen Makhlouf: Section CA2 - Summer Session C 6/21 to 7/24, TWR 9-11:30am
(online synchronous)

Do you like working with others, supporting your community, and getting course credit while doing so? Then you should consider enrolling in HNRS 261: Peer Mentorship in Honors this summer. HNRS 261 students will engage with high school students enrolled in the Early Identification Program and train to be Honors College Peer Mentors. In addition to fostering a positive sense of community, students will explore definitions of “mentorship,” “service,” “civic engagement” and “collaborative learning” in the context of higher education. Students who complete HNRS 261 this summer are eligible to enroll in HNRS 361: Lead Mentorship in Honors for Fall 2021.

Lead Mentorship in Honors

Nadeen Makhlouf: Section CA1 - Summer Session C 6/21 to 7/24, TWR 9-11:30am
(online synchronous)

Do you like working with others, supporting your community, and getting course credit while doing so? Have you already completed HNRS 260 or 261? Then you should consider enrolling in HNRS 361: Lead Mentorship in Honors this summer. HNRS 361 students will work alongside to engage with high school students enrolled in the Early Identification Program and train to be Honors College Peer Mentors. In addition to fostering a positive sense of community, students will explore definitions of “mentorship,” “service,” “civic engagement” and “collaborative learning” in the context of higher education. Students who complete HNRS 361 this summer are eligible to apply to be Lead Mentors for Fall 2021. This section is especially recommended for students who have previously taken the Peer Mentorship in Honors or College Application Coaches sections of HNRS 261.

Narrative Journalism

Steven Pearlstein: Section 001 - TR 10:30-11:45 am
(face-to-face)

Story-telling has always been at the heart of great journalism. In this course, we’ll explore the last century of American history by reading some of the best examples of narrative—that is, story-telling—journalism as published in books, newspapers and magazines. We will explore how narrative journalism is done, the historical and media context in which it is written and published, what makes it effective, and what impact it has had on readers and society. This is not a journalism course as much as it is a literature and history course. The aim is not to teach you how to write great journalism but how to recognize it, analyze it and get the most out of reading it.

Expression in Video Games

Jan Allbeck: Section DL1 - MW 9-10:15 am
(online synchronous)

This course will examine video games and expression, including expression manifestation in color choice, lighting, animation, pacing, dialogue, environmental storytelling, and character design. We will also look at video games as a form of expression for both game designers and players. Finally, we will discuss the influence of society on video games and the influence of video games on society.

Photography & Culture

Caroline West: Section DL2 - TR 10:30-11:45 am
(online synchronous)

This course will examine how photography has participated in and shaped our understanding key themes and issues in American culture through an exploration of photography's multiple histories: as artistic medium, as social text, as reproduction technology, and as cultural practice.

Photography & Culture

Caroline West: Section DL3 - TR 1:30-2:45 pm
(online synchronous)

This course will examine how photography has participated in and shaped our understanding key themes and issues in American culture through an exploration of photography's multiple histories: as artistic medium, as social text, as reproduction technology, and as cultural practice.

20th and 21st Century World Poetry

Vivek Narayanan: Section DL4 - MW 10:30-11:45 am
(online synchronous)

In the 20th century, the art of poetry seems to become newly aware of itself on a planetary level, in a way that’s both intensely utopian and profoundly transnational—with translation helping those sparks to fly—but also impossibly vast, various and fragmented. Modern poetry, as you’ll soon see, is not one thing but many.  The main point of this course is to give you a sense of those fascinating, deeply felt and sometimes crazy experiments with poetry that have happened over the past one hundred years or so.  You will also, hopefully, finish with a new, wider sense of the possibilities available in recent and contemporary poetic traditions—but you’ll have to keep your mind open and ears alert. 

Art and Protest

Savannah Fetterolf: Section DL 5 - T 9-10:15 am
(online semi-synchronous)

As an expression of both discontent and desire for social and political change, protest is a crucial means of challenging the legitimacy of the status quo and disrupting the (im)balance of power. Visual art has long played a pivotal role in the history of protest and resistance culture. The power of the visual to convey meaning is deployed not only through “fine” art, but also through objects ranging from posters to t-shirts, protest signs to logos, Instagram filters to face masks. Throughout the semester, we will be looking at the role of art in contemporary protest movements in order to understand the way that artists and image-makers employ the visual to advocate for change through a reimagination of the future.

Art and Protest

Savannah Fetterolf: Section DL 6 - T 12-1:15 pm
(online semi-synchronous)

As an expression of both discontent and desire for social and political change, protest is a crucial means of challenging the legitimacy of the status quo and disrupting the (im)balance of power. Visual art has long played a pivotal role in the history of protest and resistance culture. The power of the visual to convey meaning is deployed not only through “fine” art, but also through objects ranging from posters to t-shirts, protest signs to logos, Instagram filters to face masks. Throughout the semester, we will be looking at the role of art in contemporary protest movements in order to understand the way that artists and image-makers employ the visual to advocate for change through a reimagination of the future.

Gender, Race and Immigration

Mark Rudnicki: Section 001 - TR 10:30-11:45 am
(face-to-face)

Identity politics has been a hotly debated topic for a number of years throughout many different fields. This course attempts to provide a philosophical foundation by exploring the construction and transformation of identity. We will pay particular attention to how identities are formed through the interplay of such concepts as the same or “the normal” and difference or otherness. Through the examination of select theoretical texts in the fields of psychoanalysis, feminism, postcolonial, critical race theory, we will build a framework with which we will interpret literary works that primarily address immigration, race, and gender as they relate to identity formation.

Gender, Race and Immigration

Mark Rudnicki: Section 002 - TR 12-1:15 pm
(face-to-face)

Identity politics has been a hotly debated topic for a number of years throughout many different fields. This course attempts to provide a philosophical foundation by exploring the construction and transformation of identity. We will pay particular attention to how identities are formed through the interplay of such concepts as the same or “the normal” and difference or otherness. Through the examination of select theoretical texts in the fields of psychoanalysis, feminism, postcolonial, critical race theory, we will build a framework with which we will interpret literary works that primarily address immigration, race, and gender as they relate to identity formation.

Identity in Disney's World

Sheri Huerta: Section DL1 - R 1:30-2:45 pm
(online semi-synchronous)

For the better part of the last century, the Walt Disney franchise has helped to shape perceptions of race, gender, and culture through its characters, popular media, merchandise, and theme park experiences. While often dismissed as simple “entertainment,” a closer investigation explores how these representations shape identity, delineate difference, and create inclusive and exclusive communities. This course focuses on detecting constructions of identity in popular culture. How have these forms of entertainment perpetuated or challenged gender, racial, or cultural stereotypes over time? What factors contributed to their creation? We will engage in thoughtful discussions of the issues of diversity and authentic depictions in Disney culture. In the process we will develop an informed voice for articulating multiple perspectives on how popular culture can reflect and affect an individual and community sense of self.

Diversity, Inclusion, Wellbeing

Lauren Cattaneo: Section DL2 - TR 9-10:15 am
(online synchronous)

The increasing diversity of our society presents opportunities for synergy and resilience, even as it presents risks of exclusion and polarization. In this foundational course, students will immerse themselves in the rich diversity of the George Mason community in order to gain skills that facilitate inclusion and wellbeing. The class will create building blocks in understanding and navigating social identity at the individual and group levels, and will apply key concepts to contexts of interest. This class will prioritize experiential learning, in that exercises in class and assignments outside of class will allow students to learn through doing. Students will also learn through engaging in critical dialogue and course material (reading, podcasts, TED talks). In final projects, students will be guided in gathering information about diversity, inclusion and wellbeing outside the classroom, identifying goals for academic and professional growth.

Whiteness in the U.S.

Tehama Lopez Bunyasi: Section DL3 - MW 1:30-2:45 pm
(online synchronous)

This course will examine the concept of whiteness, and what it has meant to the (white) public over time. We will ask ourselves to what extent is being white a biological, social, ideological, and/or political phenomenon. By examining the relationship of whiteness to American citizenship, immigrants’ motivations to assimilate into whiteness, and by learning how politicians and governmental entities have historically protected the interests of white Americans, students should be better equipped to engage in conversations about the meanings of whiteness today. Oftentimes, white people struggle to articulate the meaning of their racial identity. To help understand why, we will discuss the normative quality of white racial identity. Additionally, we will think about the contexts in which whiteness is made visible, how awareness of white racial identity can be cultivated, and how whites can effectively work for racial justice.

Society & the Transition to Adulthood

Blake Silver: Section DL4 - TR 1:30-2:45 pm
(online synchronous)

What does it mean to become an adult? How do we construct adult identities, and how is this social process shaped by inequality? In responding to these questions, students in this course will draw on sociological theory and research to explore the transition from adolescence to adulthood. This will include exploring the ways social structure and social contexts shape the experiences of youth and the meanings attached to adulthood. Students will interrogate the cultural significance of this transition, seeking to understand who has access to the markers of adulthood, how norms surrounding the transition are reproduced, and how they have changed over time. Additionally, the class will offer opportunities to explore the ways individuals resist traditional expectations regarding the achievement of adult identities. Throughout the course we will consider how experiences and understandings of the transition to adulthood vary by race, class, gender, and other sociodemographic characteristics.

Liberalism and Its Critics

Ted Kinnaman: Section DL5 - TR 10:30-11:45 am
(online synchronous)

American society is a liberal one that professes to value freedom above all else. But are human beings naturally suited for life in liberal democracy, or must we be taught how to be free? Are people equally suited to be citizens in a democracy? What is this freedom we value so much? We will consider these questions as they are addressed in philosophical works by Plato, Mill, Locke, and others.

Experiencing Difference

Lisa Sechrest-Ehrhardt: Section DL6 - MW 3-4:15 pm
(online synchronous)

Diversity in the United States provides a rich, yet complicated environment regarding social interaction among people from varying racial, ethnic, and socio-economic backgrounds.  Different world perspectives affect behavior in social interactions and can have positive and/or negative consequences. How does a person’s race, ethnicity, or gender affect his or her interactions with others? Does it matter what neighborhood a person lives in? What part of identity affects social communication?

Students will be introduced to Social Interaction Theory and Cognitive Theory which provide a robust foundation for navigating diverse social interactions. Using inquiry and collaborative learning processes students will learn how these theories provide an understanding to what one “brings” to communications and exchanges with others.  Students will examine the “intersectionality” of race, ethnicity, gender, ability, socioeconomic status, and age to comprehend the importance of self-awareness in the process of better understanding self, others and community.

Social Media and Culture

Matthew West: Section DL1 - MW 9-10:15 am
(online synchronous)

What is social media? We all use it, some of us will even “code” the next platforms, but to what extent do we really “get” it? How do different cultures around the world use social media differently? How has social media changed the societies that we live? Contemporary “real” life has now long been immersed in digital culture: our politics, our social and love lives, and our views of ourselves are all caught up in mobile, networked, visual, and even cyborg cultures. Out of a series of readings, watchings, and lectures providing social scientific tools and examples to spark discussion, students will develop a set of projects allowing them to experience, analyze, and write about the real “worlds” of social media. We will delve into topics like political movements, online dating, gaming culture, “internet addiction,” social currencies, truth, surveillance, and social activism. All HNRS students from any major are welcome.

Nationalism in a Global Age

David Zeglen: Section DL2 - TR 1:30-2:45 pm
(online synchronous)

The primary question this course asks is whether nations and nationalism are still relevant in the age of globalization. We will take up this question by exploring a few key texts in nationalism studies and consider their contemporary applicability. First, we begin with a historical explanation of the emergence of the nation and nationalism as a form of “imagined community” spurred by print capitalism. This discussion will be followed by an introduction to how the nation is socially reproduced in capitalist societies via “banal nationalism.” The second part of the semester will look at the relationship between capitalism and the nation-state before looking at the link between nationalism, violence, and state terrorism. Finally, we will consider a recent debate on immigration, labor, and the nation-state. Throughout the semester, various case studies from around the world will be drawn upon to test the various arguments introduced in main reading. Students will be asked to critically evaluate these arguments, and to consider whether nations and nationalism not only remain useful concepts in a global world, but whether they are still desirable and necessary.

Nationalism in a Global Age

David Zeglen: Section DL3 - TR 3-4:15 pm
(online synchronous)

The primary question this course asks is whether nations and nationalism are still relevant in the age of globalization. We will take up this question by exploring a few key texts in nationalism studies and consider their contemporary applicability. First, we begin with a historical explanation of the emergence of the nation and nationalism as a form of “imagined community” spurred by print capitalism. This discussion will be followed by an introduction to how the nation is socially reproduced in capitalist societies via “banal nationalism.” The second part of the semester will look at the relationship between capitalism and the nation-state before looking at the link between nationalism, violence, and state terrorism. Finally, we will consider a recent debate on immigration, labor, and the nation-state. Throughout the semester, various case studies from around the world will be drawn upon to test the various arguments introduced in main reading. Students will be asked to critically evaluate these arguments, and to consider whether nations and nationalism not only remain useful concepts in a global world, but whether they are still desirable and necessary.

Eliminating Global Hunger

Phillip Thomas: Section DL4 - TR 10:30-11:45 am
(online semi-synchronous)

This course analyzes the causes and effects of global hunger. Chronic hunger is one of the most critical problems confronting the global community. Despite numerous efforts over the past 70 years, its elimination remains elusive. Today, over 820 million people are chronically malnourished while millions more are acutely food insecure. Hunger is number 1 on the list of the world's top 10 health risks. It kills more people every year than AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined. Missing out on essential nutrients in the first 1000 days after conception causes irreversible cognitive and physical damage. The COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated food insecurity among vulnerable populations. Hunger is a major foreign policy and national security issue. The global community needs to increase food production by at least 60 percent by 2050 to meet the needs of population growth and cope with mounting climate & environmental pressures.

The History of Memory

Jacqueline Burek: Section DL1 - R 10:30-11:45 am
(online semi-synchronous)

George Santayana famously wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” But what does it mean to “remember the past”? And what is “memory,” anyway? Over the centuries, various cultures have defined memory as everything from a rhetorical concept, to a way of preserving family or national history, to the basis of our identity as individuals. This course will trace how conceptions of memory have changed from ancient times to today. We will examine how individual and cultural memories intersect, how buildings and other features of our physical environment shape our memories, and how memories and writing work together to preserve the past.

Pandemics in American History

Rosemarie Zagarri: Section DL2 - MW 10:30-11:45 am
(online synchronous)

The recent advent of the pandemic caused by COVID-19 has transformed American society, affecting everything from work to school to leisure activities to the economy and politics. Yet pandemics have recurred frequently throughout American history. In this course, we will explore both the epidemiology of pandemic diseases and how American men and women in the past reacted to these outbreaks. In addition to the current coronavirus pandemic, episodes to be examined include the smallpox outbreaks that occurred during the 16th century and in the era of the American Revolution, yellow fever in 1793, cholera in the 1820s and 1830s, the Spanish influenza of 1918, polio in 1952, and HIV/AIDs epidemic of the 1980s. Several short papers, blog posts, and a longer research project will be required.  

Race and Visual Culture

Suzanne Smith: Section DL3 - TR 12-1:15 pm
(online synchronous)

This course traces modern African American history (1865-present) through visual culture and public art. Beginning with emancipation from slavery after the Civil War through the present, the course explores how race relations in the United States were reflected in visual and artistic forms including: sculpture, public memorials, painting, and photography. The class examines how popular cultural forms including vaudeville, film, advertising, and television played a critical role in constructing ideas about race through the mass distribution of visual images of African Americans. Most significantly, the course examines how visual and public art act as critical agents in the formation of collective memory about race and racism in modern American culture. The political stakes behind these forms of public art are reflected in current debates about the removal of Confederate monuments as a response to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Indigenous Histories of North America

C. Joseph Genetin-Pilawa: Section DL4 - TR 1:30-2:45 pm
(online synchronous)

This course is designed to introduce students to the histories of Indigenous peoples in what became known as North America from the period before encounter, through the creation of the United States, and into the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries. We will focus on the diversity of experiences that different communities and individuals had throughout this period (as well as in the diversity among the peoples who have become known as “Indian” and those who have become known as “Americans”).

The Past is a Foreign Country

Michael O'Malley: Section DL5 - MW 12-1:15 pm
(online synchronous)

Access Issues in American Education

Maoria Kirker: Section DL1 - TR 10:30-11:45 am
(online synchronous)

This course explores issues related to access in U.S. education. Some themes related to access of education likely to be discussed include reform movements, race, economic inequality, and school choice. The first half of the class will focus on K-12 education while the second half will focus on post-secondary education.

Public Service in Modern Society

Nadeen Makhlouf: Section DL2 - MW 12-1:15 pm
(online synchronous)

This course provides a broad overview of the field of public service and covers the history and development of the public sector, as well as how it serves contemporary society. Public service requires coordinating efforts both within and between different sectors of society whether it is the government, international organizations, community-based organizations, nonprofits, or citizens. Everyone, regardless of interest, should be cognizant of the tremendous influence of public administration, leaders, and administrators in shaping public life. Topics include an overview of public management, leadership, motivation, ethics, citizen engagement, innovation, collaboration, and social equity. Activities will include a variety of written assignments, in-class simulations, presentations, and other activities designed to prepare students for professional work in the field.

Public Service in Modern Society

Nadeen Makhlouf: Section DL3 - MW 3-4:15 pm
(online synchronous)

This course provides a broad overview of the field of public service and covers the history and development of the public sector, as well as how it serves contemporary society. Public service requires coordinating efforts both within and between different sectors of society whether it is the government, international organizations, community-based organizations, nonprofits, or citizens. Everyone, regardless of interest, should be cognizant of the tremendous influence of public administration, leaders, and administrators in shaping public life. Topics include an overview of public management, leadership, motivation, ethics, citizen engagement, innovation, collaboration, and social equity. Activities will include a variety of written assignments, in-class simulations, presentations, and other activities designed to prepare students for professional work in the field.

Global Student Movements

Jennifer Ashley: Section DL4 - R 12-1:15 pm
(online semi-synchronous)

This course focuses on the creative ways in which civically engaged students around the world have promoted social and political change. Through a discussion of cases such as the May events in France of 1968, the DREAMers, the Chilean student movement, the #RhodesMustFall movement in South Africa, the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong, and global activism around climate change, we will consider the reasons that drive young people to become civically engaged, the resources and opportunities upon which these movements draw in order to further their causes, and the role of leadership in successful social and political change. Throughout the course, we will pay special attention to media as contested terrain for political struggle and consider how the use of digital technology in today’s student movements is similar to and different from media used in

Activism and Social Change

Caroline West: Section DL5 - MW 1:30-2:45 pm
(online synchronous)

This course will cover the strategies, tools, and tactics used in social movements, especially as they change in response to different media environments. We will define “media” broadly and consider not only the relationship between movements and mainstream news media, but also social media, street protests, art, print media projects, and more. Digital media have altered the shape and reach of activism and we will trace important historical continuities between today’s social movements and the movements of the past. We will examine the ways in which media has been deployed to spread information, raise awareness, organize resistances, advocate for political change, and document events across time and space.

Reimagining the News

Kate Sweeney: Section DL6 - T 1:30-2:45 pm
(online semi-synchronous)

The relationship between the press and the public is broken. Nearly every analysis reveals Americans’ trust in the news media has declined dramatically over the past 25 years. This crisis of trust threatens the institution of journalism and perhaps democracy itself. Critics and experts suggest a renewed commitment to local journalism – by both the press and the public – as a potential solution to this crisis. But an enduring restoration of public trust will require a reimagining of local news, one that engages with and shares power among all sectors of a community. In this course, we’ll examine the tight connection between local news, government transparency and civic engagement. We’ll explore new models of community-centered journalism intended to build trust across boundaries of politics, race and class. And we’ll envision the public’s role in producing collaborative solutions-oriented journalism.

Migration, Health & Society

Lisa Eckenwiler: Section DL7 - R 1:30-2:45
(online semi-synchronous)

In this class we will: 1. consider ethical concerns, especially questions of responsibility, surrounding the health of asylum-seekers, refugees, and other migrants for governments, global health organizations, humanitarian health organizations, and health workers; 2. study and employ the resources of moral philosophy—ethical theories, concepts, and principles, especially justice—for guidance in (1) identifying, (2) analyzing, and (3) deciding how best to respond to these and related concerns through policy and practice; 3. enhance our capacities to explore and address ethical issues in other domains.

College Application Coaches

Eva Bramesco: Section DL1 - TR 12-1:15 pm
(online synchronous)

Interested in improving access to college? Want to help students who would be the first in their families to attend college prepare? By enrolling in this section of HNRS 261, students agree to participate in the College Application Coaches service project. The project will involve learning how to provide effective coaching to these high school students as they develop resumes and college application essays. Students participating in College Application Coaches will meet virtually with the students they are coaching, and will provide online resources and guidance. Students will also engage in regular class meetings and complete assignments intended to help them understand and grapple with the systems that control college access, and to become effective college preparedness mentors.

Honors College Connects

Anthony Hoefer: Section DL2 - TR 3-4:15 pm
(online synchronous)

In Honors College Connects (HCC), students contribute to the work of local nonprofits addressing health, social justice, and environmental challenges. Students work in multi-disciplinary teams and are mentored by local leaders in the private and public sectors. Through HCC, students build professional skills while making a real impact in the community beyond Mason.  Application required; apply through https://go.gmu.edu/HNRS261_HCC.

Peer Mentorship in Honors

Nadeen Makhlouf: Section DL3 - TR 1:30-2:45 pm
(online synchronous)

This section of HNRS 261 is a problem-based learning practicum to train Honors College Peer Mentors (PMs). PMs engage in the Honors College community by mentoring first-semester students taking HNRS 110: Principles of Research and Inquiry. In addition to fostering a positive sense of community,  students taking HNRS 261 are actively engaged in the ongoing process of articulating what “mentorship,” “service,” “civic engagement” and “collaborative learning” mean in the context of the Honors College curriculum. Over the course of the semester, HNRS 261 students will train to become Peer Mentors and work in collaborative teams to develop assignments and programming related to HNRS 110. Students who successfully complete HNRS 261 in Spring 2021 are eligible to apply to take HNRS 361 and serve as a Peer Mentor in Fall 2021.

Writing, Health & Community

Heidi Lawrence: Section DL4 - R 7:20-10 pm
(online semi-synchronous)

In this class, we will examine how writing and communication shape health and communities and practice and develop the writing and communication skills necessary to write for change across community contexts. As a class, we will examine how health communication works and how the written word has the power to create change while supporting real-world writing and communications projects to improve the health of communities.

Material Culture Research

Claudia Rector: Section DL1 - MW 9-10:15 am
(online synchronous)

In this section of HNRS 360, we will learn to “read” objects and landscapes to gain insight into their historical and contemporary contexts.  Material culture studies arose as a way of using objects as primary sources for research in order to ask questions about their cultural contexts—how they were made, used, and what they were understood to mean by their creators and users.   In this class we will examine buildings and cultural landscapes, food, clothing/adornment, and technology to understand how culture can be manifested in objects and reveal ideas about race, gender, class, religion and nation, among others. 

The Science of Cities

James Trefil: Section DL2 - M 4:30-7:10 pm
(online synchronous)

What will the Washington area look like in 50 years? This course will focus on the technology and development of cities, using the capitol area as an example. Students will look at present-day Washington from a historical standpoint and learn what we can predict for its future in light of robotics, nanotechnology, and genetic engineering.  Course will use an AI Program called Investigator.

Scientific Revolutions

James Trefil: Section DL3 - T 4:30-7:10 pm
(online synchronous)

Critically analyzes emergence and impact of specific technologies on contemporary cultures and the core concepts surrounding these technologies, including legal, social, ethical issues and the technology’s relationship to core information security issues. Students develop a significant research project employing multiple disciplinary perspectives. This project will be communicated ethically and with cultural awareness through written, oral and digital means, showing a critical understanding of technologies and their impact.

Scientific Controversies

Davis Kuykendall: Section DL4 - T 10:30-11:45 am
(online semi-synchronous)

When is a scientific controversy genuine versus fake? Why do so many believe a fake controversy is genuine? These questions bear on important issues such as GMOs, vaccines, and climate change. We’ll draw from the history and philosophy of science, psychology, and other fields to address these and related questions.

Scientific Controversies

Davis Kuykendall: Section DL5 - R 10:30-11:45 am
(online semi-synchronous)

When is a scientific controversy genuine versus fake? Why do so many believe a fake controversy is genuine? These questions bear on important issues such as GMOs, vaccines, and climate change. We’ll draw from the history and philosophy of science, psychology, and other fields to address these and related questions.

Cybernetics

Dean Taciuch: Section DL6 - MW 1:30-2:45 pm
(online synchronous)

The course will begin with the concept of cybernetics, popularized by Norbert Wiener's Human Use of Human Beings, a book he wrote (in 1950) specifically to explain cybernetics to the interested non-expert. Cybernetics, as Wiener and the first generation of computer engineers defined it, is the science of control and communication in machines, animals, and human beings. Cybernetics gave us the concepts of cyberspace and the cybernetic organism — the cyborg.

Throughout this course, we will address technology from the perspectives of a wide range of disciplines including engineering, statistical mechanics, mathematics, linguistics, sociology, psychology, neuroscience, biology, and philosophy. The field of cybernetics (the topic of our first text) is inherently interdisciplinary, born as it was from the fields of engineering and mathematics combined with biology, neuroscience, and sociology to form what today would be called information theory.

Cybernetics

Dean Taciuch: Section DL7 - MW 10:30-11:45 am
(online synchronous)

The course will begin with the concept of cybernetics, popularized by Norbert Wiener's Human Use of Human Beings, a book he wrote (in 1950) specifically to explain cybernetics to the interested non-expert. Cybernetics, as Wiener and the first generation of computer engineers defined it, is the science of control and communication in machines, animals, and human beings. Cybernetics gave us the concepts of cyberspace and the cybernetic organism — the cyborg.

Throughout this course, we will address technology from the perspectives of a wide range of disciplines including engineering, statistical mechanics, mathematics, linguistics, sociology, psychology, neuroscience, biology, and philosophy. The field of cybernetics (the topic of our first text) is inherently interdisciplinary, born as it was from the fields of engineering and mathematics combined with biology, neuroscience, and sociology to form what today would be called information theory.

Social Movements, Persuasion & Civic Engagement

Lisa Gring-Pemble: Section DL8 - TR 10:30-11:45 am
(online synchronous)

Today, we face unprecedented global challenges that transcend sectors and borders.  Social unrest and inequality plague contemporary society and challenge us all to act responsibly, ethically, and purposefully.  In this complex democratic society, it is imperative that we develop the theoretical background and skills necessary for effective civic engagement and deliberative discourse. This course aims to do just that; prepare students for civic responsibilities by equipping them with techniques for effective public argument and civic engagement.  We’ll do this by learning from renowned social movement leaders, investigating historic and contemporary social challenges, and exploring our roles as social advocates and effective citizens.  Students will pursue research projects on ongoing social challenges we face in the United States.

Industry and Professional Challenges

Valentino Bryant: Section 001 - MW 12-1:15 pm
(hybrid)

Students in this course will work in multidisciplinary teams to design a solution to a challenge or problem offered by two of Mason’s partners from the Northern Virginia business community. Students will be supported in this project by a faculty instructor and a mentor from the participating partner. They will have opportunities to synthesize the knowledge and practices they have developed over the course of their undergraduate experience, to develop the skills and strategies necessary for working effectively in multidisciplinary teams, and to apply all of this as they work to solve a problem or challenge in a professional environment. Work on the project will culminate with the public presentation of the team’s proposed solution, as well as a final report to be delivered to the participating business partner.
 

Research and Creative Project Seminar

Richard Todd Stafford: Sections 002 and DL1 - TR 1:30-2:45 pm
(blended)

Students will develop an individually-designed research or creative project that is original and substantial. Throughout the process of developing individual projects, the class will work together to pursue the insights that emerge from a consideration of research and creative practices across disciplinary and professional boundaries. This class is especially well-suited for students who wish to extend research they began in another class, pursue a long-term projects as part of an undergraduate thesis in their major, propose or undertake an OSCAR URSP project, or design and undertake major project under the guidance of a mentor. 

Data Science for Civic Challenges

Nektaria Tryfona: Section 003 - MW 9-10:15 am
(hybrid)

In this section of HNRS 361, students will learn to apply data-driven approaches to address significant civic engagement challenges. In collaboration with Mason’s DataLab and its community partners, students will work in multidisciplinary teams that combine the approaches and methods of data and computer science with the expertise and methods developed in other majors and fields of study. These teams will collaboratively develop solutions to real problems and help address issues digital equity – lack of equal access to crucial data – faced by the DataLab’s partners. Students will learn to view the problem from different angles, ask the right questions, recognize the phases of a data science project and communicate with peers with different background to reach a solution. Course deliverables include an in-class presentation as well as a final report to be shared with the partner. Students in all majors are welcome; no prior data science experience is required. 

Peer Leadership in Honors

John Woolsey: Section DL2 - TR 1:30 - 2:45 pm
(online synchronous)

This section of HNRS 361 is a problem-based learning practicum for Honors College Peer Mentors (PMs). Students will identify and address a challenge or question that emerges from their individual goals & interests or in response to the needs of the community. All students in HNRS 361, whether pursuing individual or community challenges, contribute to and benefit from rigorous discussion among of a cohort of students representing multiple disciplines. Students who successfully complete HNRS 361 are eligible to apply to become Honors College Lead Mentors.

Expression in Video Games

Jan Allbeck: Section 001 - MW 9-10:15 am
(online synchronous)

This course will examine video games and expression, including expression manifestation in color choice, lighting, animation, pacing, dialogue, environmental storytelling, and character design. We will also look at video games as a form of expression for both game designers and players. Finally, we will discuss the influence of society on video games and the influence of video games on society.

Pompeii: Ancient Roman Culture

Christopher Gregg: Section 002 - MW 10:30-11:45 am
(online synchronous)

Since its rediscovery over 200 years ago, the Roman city of Pompeii has fascinated the modern world. This minor Roman town, entombed by a volcanic eruption in AD 79, has fired the imagination of both scholars and artists. As an example of Roman civilization, Pompeii gives us a view into a past society that has had a tremendous impact on Western European and North American architecture, art, law and literature. This class will use the unparalleled physical remains of Pompeii’s art, architecture and infrastructure as well as primary Roman literary source material in translation to explore the complex urban and cultural environment of this ancient civilization. Class discussion, critical reading of sources, visual analysis, application of critical ideas will all play significant parts in our multi-disciplinary approach to interpreting this familiar yet “foreign” culture.

Age of Anxiety

Kristin Samuelian: Section 003 - TR 1:30-2:45 pm
(online synchronous)

How did mental disorders like anxiety and depression register in literature and culture before they had official diagnoses in the medical community? Characters who suffered from these separate but related disorders were called by a variety of terms: nervous, melancholic, hypchondriacal, splenetic, vaporous. Sometimes they were called nothing at all, and their illnesses registered simply as collections of symptoms: sleeplessness; isolation; fasting or “wasting”; paranoia; obsessive or intrusive thoughts. Not quite the madmen of Edgar Allan Poe’s imagination, these characters number among what we sometimes today call the “worried well”: essentially functional and in touch with reality, but hampered by overwhelming sadness, loneliness, and chronic worry. This course will explore depictions in nineteenth-century British fiction and popular culture of mental disorders that fall short of psychosis but that are or become driving forces—shaping characters’ behaviors, choices, and often driving or complicating the outcomes of their stories. Novels may include works by Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, and Charles Dickens.

Photography & Culture

Caroline West: Section 005 - MW 1:30-2:45 pm
(online synchronous)

This course will examine how photography has participated in and shaped our understanding key themes and issues in American culture through an exploration of photography's multiple histories: as artistic medium, as social text, as reproduction technology, and as cultural practice.

Visualizing Modernity

Sun Young Park: Section 006 - TR 3-4:15 pm
(online synchronous)

This course will interrogate past understandings of modernity through the visual culture practices and forms that both engaged with and helped to define this concept in the West, from 1850 to the present. We will ground this exploration in a range of primary and secondary literature that theorizes ‘modernity’ through its political, social, economic, and cultural dimensions. Alongside the fine arts, the visual culture under investigation will include photography, film, popular prints, comic art, advertising, and the mass press. For each medium, we will consider the implications of the technologies allowing its creation; the modes of its practice, from montage techniques to peripatetic photographers; its final form, whether as mass-produced prints or moving images; and its sites of diffusion, from cinema houses to World’s Fair displays. Across this spectrum of visual culture, we will address topics such as the birth of the modern metropolis; new understandings of space and temporality with emerging technologies; consumerism and mass culture; shifting experiences of class, race, and gender.

Museums and the World on Display

Savannah Fetterolf: Section 008 - MW 9-10:15 am
(online synchronous)

As a site of education and cultural consumption, the museum serves as a fascinating lens through which to consider the codification, preservation, and display of knowledge. Yet, thinking about the museum as an institution is not enough. Discussions of art and aesthetics, as well as vision and ways of looking, will allow us to consider the ways that new (and not so new) technologies are impacting the traditional museum space, the ethics of display, and forms of engagement with art and other objects. Along with readings, this class will include trips to museums, creative activities, and writing.

The Story of YOU: Creative Nonfiction

Aimee Weinstein: Section 009 TR 12-1:15 pm
(hybrid)

What does it mean to tell your story? How does an ordinary person put together descriptions, thoughts and reflections to create a work that is truly extraordinary? This course will focus on the definition of creative nonfiction as separate from journalism, essays or other works of nonfiction that are less biographical and creative.  Our end goal is to create something ourselves that is read-worthy by someone other than our mothers and to imagine ourselves as authors of the story of our lives.  To achieve our aim, we will read several works of creative nonfiction by authors such as Anna Quindlen, Joan Didion and Cheryl Strayed.  We will explore how these writers do not only tell their stories – as in WHAT happened – but the ways they reflect on their snippet of reality, how they make sense of the experiences and how they bring those experiences to life for the reader.  How do they succeed in making their regular lives vivid and interesting to an outside reader?

Students in this class will learn to read critically and therefore think critically – about what they read and the world around them.  In addition, we will notice, practice and write about the art of reflection.  What is a reflective practice and how does it help us get the story on to the page? Our discussions will focus on what makes someone else’s life interesting to read about and all students should be prepared to contribute to class discussions.

By the end of the semester students will have engaged in reading, thinking and writing.  The work of the term will consist of reading quizzes, written discussion responses, and a journal that will lead us all to the sparkling creative nonfiction essay that tells our story.

The Story of YOU: Creative Nonfiction

Aimee Weinstein: Section 011 TR 10:30-11:45 am
(hybrid)

What does it mean to tell your story? How does an ordinary person put together descriptions, thoughts and reflections to create a work that is truly extraordinary? This course will focus on the definition of creative nonfiction as separate from journalism, essays or other works of nonfiction that are less biographical and creative.  Our end goal is to create something ourselves that is read-worthy by someone other than our mothers and to imagine ourselves as authors of the story of our lives.  To achieve our aim, we will read several works of creative nonfiction by authors such as Anna Quindlen, Joan Didion and Cheryl Strayed.  We will explore how these writers do not only tell their stories – as in WHAT happened – but the ways they reflect on their snippet of reality, how they make sense of the experiences and how they bring those experiences to life for the reader.  How do they succeed in making their regular lives vivid and interesting to an outside reader?

Students in this class will learn to read critically and therefore think critically – about what they read and the world around them.  In addition, we will notice, practice and write about the art of reflection.  What is a reflective practice and how does it help us get the story on to the page? Our discussions will focus on what makes someone else’s life interesting to read about and all students should be prepared to contribute to class discussions.

By the end of the semester students will have engaged in reading, thinking and writing.  The work of the term will consist of reading quizzes, written discussion responses, and a journal that will lead us all to the sparkling creative nonfiction essay that tells our story.

Science, Literature, and (Unintended) Consequences

Kevin Stoy: Section DL2 - MW 5:55-7:10 pm
(online synchronous)

Do you identify as a “STEM” student who doesn’t necessarily enjoy or value literature? This might be the class for you. Or do you think of yourself as someone who adores literature and who is interested in writing more creatively? This might be a good class for you, too. A version of this course was taught for almost 30 years by Dr. Harold Morowitz at Yale University before he taught it for several years in Mason’s Honors College. We will keep Dr. Morowitz’s voice alive in the classroom by reading a few of his many writings, and using his words as a guide while we explore literature (fiction, nonfiction, and poetry) that considers recent and projected developments in the sciences. We may invite a scientist or mathematician or two to lecture us as well. Our aim will be to explore the notion of (unintended) consequences while narrowing the gap between humanism and science, which reside in two different colleges at this university. In reading these works, we will keep in mind the moral and ethical issues as well as the literary aspects in play. Books we may read include Frankenstein, Moby Dick, Microbe Hunters, Inherit the Wind, Arrowsmith, and Jurassic Park. We may read poetry by D.H. Lawrence, Emily Dickinson, Rita Dove, Ada Limón, Claudia Emerson, and others. We will most likely read Mike Scalise's memoir, The Brand New Catastrophe. The course will culminate in a final project that will be an original work by each student. The work should incorporate a contemporary biological theme (stem cells, global warming, gene transplant, etc.) in your own creative literature (short story, essay, body of poetry, etc.), the idea for which you will discuss with the instructor as early in the semester as possible.

Freedom

Ted Kinnaman: Section 001 - TR 1:30-2:45 pm
(online synchronous)

American society is a liberal that professes to value freedom above all else. But are human beings naturally suited for life in liberal democracy, or must we be taught how to be free? Are people equally suited to be citizens in a democracy? What is this freedom we value so much? We will consider these questions as they are addressed in philosophical works by Plato, Mill, Kant, and others.

Identity in Disney's World

Sheri Huerta: Section 003 - TR 10:30-11:45 am
(online synchronous)

For the better part of the last century, the Walt Disney franchise has helped to shape perceptions of race, gender, and culture through its characters, popular media, merchandise, and theme park experiences. While often dismissed as simple “entertainment,” a closer investigation explores how these representations shape identity, delineate difference, and create inclusive and exclusive communities. This course focuses on detecting constructions of identity in popular culture. How have these forms of entertainment perpetuated or challenged gender, racial, or cultural stereotypes over time? What factors contributed to their creation? We will engage in thoughtful discussions of the issues of diversity and authentic depictions in Disney culture. In the process we will develop an informed voice for articulating multiple perspectives on how popular culture can reflect and affect an individual and community sense of self.

Locating Identity

Alison Landsberg: Section 004 - TR 12-1:15 pm
(online synchronous)

What make us who we are? Is identity grounded in the psyche? Is identity “natural”? Does it have a biological basis? Is it manifested on the body? Or is identity externally imposed by the social world we inhabit? Do one's memories shape one's identity? How free are individuals to invent themselves, to change their identities, and what limits such attempts? To answer these questions, this course will explore various philosophical, psychological, sociological, and historical conceptions of self. We will consider aspects of identity such as race, gender, sexuality, nationality, and class. We will also assess the impact of the internet on conceptions of the self. Analyzing a broad range of fictional, theoretical/philosophical and autobiographical texts, we will consider how the self is constructed, and both the potential for, and limits on, personal transformation.

Colonial American Lives

Randolph Scully: Section 005 - TR 3-4:15 pm
(online synchronous)

European colonization of the Americas brought diverse groups of people from three continents together in new, often disruptive, and sometimes violent, ways. This course uses a series of biographical case studies to explore this process and what it meant for the people who experienced it: how did people understand and shape their own identities, their relationships with others, and the boundaries of their communities in this new world? We will read and discuss work by historians, sociologists, anthropologists, psychologists, and even children’s authors to think about how identity, community, and difference are constructed, what that meant for people in the colonial era, and what we might learn from that history today.

Black Girls Rock

Keith Clark: Section 006 - MW 12-1:15 pm

The phrases “Black Girls Rock” and “Black Girl Magic” have become immensely popular in the last few years.  Surfacing in multiple contexts—from television awards programs to social movements to markers of excellence—these phrases have attempted to emphasize and showcase all that’s positive and uplifting about black girlhood. Taking a more critical approach, this course will examine representations of girlhood and adolescence in African American literature, exploring a number of critical concerns related to gender, sexuality/sexual identity formation, youth culture, conceptualizations of beauty vis-à-vis historical and popular representations of black girls/women, and other salient issues.  Our rigorous exploration of this topic will concentrate on fiction, autobiography, and drama produced by an array of authors, some well-known and celebrated, others lesser known but deserving of wider readerships. The writers whose works we’ll examine include: Harriet Jacobs, Zora Neale Hurston, Ann Petry, Gwendolyn Brooks, Paule Marshall, Maya Angelou, Gayl Jones, Toni Morrison, Lynn Nottage, and Danielle Evans.

Race, Power & Privilege

Tiwana Barnes: Section 009 - TR 4:30-5:45 pm
(online synchronous)

This course will explore the social constructs of race, class, gender, and other differences within the systems of power and privilege. We will cover social positioning. Consider questions like: Do I have a social position/what is my social position? Is my social position visible? Are all my social positions visible? This course will analyze how social positions affect our lives and others. The goal of this course is to engage in critical thinking, encourage self-reflection and to understand historical and modern notions of race, power and privilege. Seek to understand how the concepts of identity affect our lives and the lives of others in a greater context. Consider how race, class, gender and other differences affect communities and the notion of family. Examine whether social constructs have changed over the years and whether it is changing again. Compare and contrast historical and modern-day social constructs to examine how they have changed over time and how they are currently changing.

Gender, Race and Immigration

Mark Rudnicki: Section 10 - TR 10:30-11:45 am

Identity politics has been a hotly debated topic for a number of years throughout many different fields. This course attempts to provide a philosophical foundation by exploring the construction and transformation of identity. We will pay particular attention to how identities are formed through the interplay of such concepts as the same or “the normal” and difference or otherness. Through the examination of select theoretical texts in the fields of psychoanalysis, feminism, postcolonial, critical race theory, we will build a framework with which we will interpret literary works that primarily address immigration, race, and gender as they relate to identity formation.

Experiencing Difference

Lisa Sechrest-Ehrhardt: Sections 011 and 012 - MW 3-4:15 pm
(hybrid)

Diversity in the United States provides a rich, yet complicated environment regarding social interaction among people from varying racial, ethnic, and socio-economic backgrounds.  Different world perspectives affect behavior in social interactions and can have positive and/or negative consequences. How does a person’s race, ethnicity, or gender affect his or her interactions with others? Does it matter what neighborhood a person lives in? What part of identity affects social communication?

Students will be introduced to Social Interaction Theory and Cognitive Theory which provide a robust foundation for navigating diverse social interactions. Using inquiry and collaborative learning processes students will learn how these theories provide an understanding to what one “brings” to communications and exchanges with others.  Students will examine the “intersectionality” of race, ethnicity, gender, ability, socioeconomic status, and age to comprehend the importance of self-awareness in the process of better understanding self, others and community.

Humanizing the Economy

Cary Beckwith: Section DL2 - MW 3-4:15 pm
(online synchronous)

Is anything so abstract as “the economy”? In everyday discourse, the economy looms over us, enabling and constraining our ability to work, make money, and build a secure life. It appears in the news as numbers and graphs. It’s associated with transactional relationships, rational calculation, and strategic behavior. In practice, however, people operating in the economy do things that people do in other realms of life: they build identities for themselves, they create and reshape communities, and they establish differences between groups of people. This course will examine issues of identity, community, and difference as they are enacted in people’s economic lives. We will explore a body of scholarship on these topics written by sociologists, anthropologists, historians, and social psychologists. By examining how people and groups conduct themselves as economic actors, we will attempt to humanize the abstraction known as “the economy.”

Congressional Elections

Steven Pearlstein: Section 001 - TR 9-10:15 am

The 2020 presidential and congressional campaigns are shaping up to be the most polarized, and most consequential, in recent memory and we will follow them as they unfold. In addition to a few books about the current state of American politics, you will be expected to stay abreast of the major developments nationally—and of one bellwether U.S. Senate race—by reading political news sites and blogs, watching debates, viewing ads, analyzing polls and surveying social media. But you will also follow the election through the eyes of one Virginia voter who doesn’t share your political views, with whom you will speak weekly about the campaign. Most weeks, we will have a guest speaker who knows about politics and campaigns from the inside. We’ll gather on election night to watch together as the results come in. When it is all over, we’ll analyze what happened and why.

This section is open to all majors, but is meant for those who have a demonstrated interest in American politics.  Because it represents a unique and valuable opportunity for in-depth study, enrollment in this section will be by permission only.  To obtain permission, please complete the survey below by 4 p.m. on Thursday, March 19.  You will be notified by Wednesday, March 25 if you have been accepted into this section.

https://gmu.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4VFpT7ZXTaA7XNj

Eliminating Global Hunger

Phil Thomas: Section 003 - TR 3-4:15 pm
(online synchronous)

Chronic hunger is one of the most critical problems confronting the global community. Despite numerous efforts over the past 60 years, its elimination remains elusive. Today, over 821 million people are chronically malnourished. Hunger is number one on the list of the world's top 10 health risks. It kills more people every year than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. Missing out on essential nutrients in the first 1000 days from conception to a child's second birthday translates into irreversible damage to cognitive and physical development. Global Hunger is a major foreign policy issue affecting national security and economic development. The global community needs to increase food production by 60% by 2050 to meet the needs of a population of 9.5 billion all while facing increasing pressures on land and water resources as well as a changing climate. In this class, we will address the nature, scope, and impact of global hunger from a cross-cutting perspective (human rights, gender, age, health, nutrition, land rights, water access, governance, finance, agricultural policy, and conflict). Emphasis will be placed on the growing impact of climate change on food security.

AI & Sci-Fi: Ethical Issues

Jesse Kirkpatrick and William Nitze: Section 004 - W 4:30-7:10 pm
(online synchronous)

Markets and Morality

Virgil Storr: Section 005 - MW 10:30-11:45 am
(online synchronous)

This seminar will explore key writings on the relationship between markets and morals. The course will also focus on a number of the critical debates that have occupied political economists and moral philosophers over the years about the moral underpinnings of market societies, the moral nature of market activities, and the moral status of market outcomes. The goal of the class is to prepare students to understand and engage in the scholarly debates around these issues.

Public Private Partnerships

Nadeen Makhlouf: Section 007 - TR 12-1:15 pm
(online synchronous)

The delivery of public services takes place in a variety of forms, including through nonprofit and private organizations. This course examines the political, managerial, legal, financial, and ethical issues involved in utilizing nongovernmental organizations for the provision of public services.

History of Emotions

Peter Stearns: Sections 002 and 012 - TR 12-1:15 pm
(hybrid)

This course focuses on the history of emotions, a rapidly growing field that seeks to contribute both to an understanding of the past and to interdisciplinary analysis of emotion itself. Key methodological and analytical issues in the field will be addressed, along with work (both existing and potential) on emotions such as love, shame, fear, and nostalgia. Coverage will focus on American patterns but with opportunities for comparison with other societies. Student participation will be emphasized, including recurrent discussion of why history seems to have undertaken an “emotional” turn and whether this is a desirable direction.

Technology and Identity

Zachary Schrag: Section 003 - TR 1:30-2:45 pm
(online synchronous)

We define ourselves by the tools we make, the tools we use, and the tools we reject. Individuals select consumer goods, communities deploy infrastructure, and whole nations seek glory through science, invention, and warfare. By learning this history, we can better understand the choices we ourselves face as individuals, communities, and nations.

On the History of Race Terror

Stefan Wheelock: Section 004 - W 4:30-7:10 pm
(online synchronous)

This course examines American historical responses to the resurgence of racial violence in the decades following the Civil War and into the Progressive Era. In the class, we will discuss the ways the history of slavery shadowed various representations of racial progress and industrial modernity and we will also consider how writers of various stripes interrogated the meaning of white supremacy and racial subjugation and its effects on the evolution of democracy. Authors include W. E. B. Du Bois, Charles Chesnutt, Pauline Hopkins, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Carol Anderson, Eddie Glaude Jr. and others.

Women in Islam

Sumaiya Hamdani: Section 008 - TR 9-10:15 am
(hybrid)

This course surveys the history of women in Islamic society from the rise of Islam in the 7th century to the present-day.  The first half of the course will examine the historical processes that impacted women’s roles, and the ways in which women reacted to, negotiated and subverted them in their own interest.  The second half of the course will focus on specific topics such as work, war, the veil, etc., around which issues of gender status and identity have come into play, especially in the modern period.

Race and Visual Culture

Suzanne Smith: Section DL1 - TR 3-4:15 pm
(online synchronous)

This course traces modern African American history (1865-present) through visual culture and public art. Beginning with emancipation from slavery after the Civil War and concluding with the opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the course explores how race relations in the United States were reflected in visual and artistic forms including: sculpture, public memorials, painting, and photography. Moreover, the class examines how popular cultural forms including vaudeville, film, advertising, and television played a critical role in constructing ideas about race through the mass distribution of visual images of African Americans. Most significantly, the course examines how visual and public art act as critical agents in the formation of collective memory about race and racism in modern American culture. The political stakes behind these forms of public art are reflected in current debates about the removal of Confederate monuments as a response to the Black Lives Matter movement.

The World of W.E.B. Du Bois

Rutledge Dennis:  Section 001 - MW 9-10:15 am
(online synchronous)

This course analyzes race, class, and gender as major sociological issues as they surface and re-surface in three of his autobiographically-centered books: The Souls of Black Folk, Darkwater, and Dusk of Dawn. In these works Du Bois highlights the concepts he used to describe race, class, and gender relations persist today in describing how race, class, and gender operate both within groups and between groups: Double Consciousness, The Veil, Masking (wearing the mask), and the Color Line. Through these works the class will discuss, analyze, and reflect upon the ways in which race, class, and gender have taken on new meanings in contemporary America. Also crucial is the manner in which we continue to grapple with the legacies of the racial, class, and gender behavior inherited from the past. Du Bois helps us to understand the meaning of race, class, and gender when these are placed against the moral and ethical vision Du Bois envisioned for the American society and the larger world.

Gender and Social Change

Jennifer Ritterhouse: Section 003 - MW 9-10:15 am
(online synchronous)

A presidential election year, 2020 also marks the centennial of U.S. women’s right to vote. This course will begin with the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment and explore what came next. Was woman suffrage a “failure,” as some critics began to ask within just a few years? What made it possible for a so-called “second wave” of feminism to break in the late 1960s and 1970s? How did issues of race, class, sexual orientation, and religion factor into the political struggles for gender equality over the decades? After examining such questions through lectures, discussions, and readings, students will pursue their own research projects to explore ongoing challenges to achieving gender equality in the United States.

Leadership, Civility and Personal Responsibility

Charles Thomas: Section 005 - M 4:30-7:10 pm

To offer value in an ever-changing societal landscape, leadership, civility, and personal responsibility should be at the forefront of each person’s mind. Superficial spectacle, ceremony over substance, thoughtless individualism, and lack of self-awareness create spaces for people to behave in ways that do not mirror respect. In order to progress, we must modify our internal dialogues, engage more thoughtfully, offer value at the macro and micro levels, and treat ourselves and others with respect. In this course, you will be introduced to powerful thought processes that will prove valuable in better understanding the world and your place in it. You will learn about various leadership styles, strategies and tactics for more consequential thinking, the necessity of alternatives perspectives analysis, and the importance of self-examination and self-reflection.

Urban Disorder and Implicit Bias

Sue-Ming Yang: Section 006 - MW 3-4:15 pm
(online synchronous)

Urban disorders (commonly known as the "broken windows") are often considered as social negativities by criminologists and has been argued to be the main sources of the “fear” of residents. In this course students will identify “factors” that affect individual perception of urban disorder and how different types of racial stereotypes affect our perception of urban disorder and fear of crime. The controversies related to the broken windows policing (or zero-tolerance policing) will also be reviewed and discussed.

Indigenous Histories of North America

C. Joseph Genetin-Pilawa: Section 007 - TR 3-4:15 pm
(online synchronous)

This course is designed to introduce students to the histories of Indigenous peoples in what became known as North America from the period before encounter, through the creation of the United States, and into the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries. We will focus on the diversity of experiences that different communities and individuals had throughout this period (as well as in the diversity among the peoples who have become known as “Indian” and those who have become known as “Americans”).  Art/Cultural Critic and the all-around super-smart guy (who also happens to be Comanche), Paul Chaat Smith, argues that “no reasonably sentient person of whatever background could seriously dispute the overwhelming evidence that Indians are at the very center of everything that happened in the Western Hemisphere (which, technically speaking, is half the world) over the past five centuries, and so that experience is at the heart of the history of everyone who lives here. That sounds like hyperbole, but actually it understates things. Contact between the two disconnected halves of the world five centuries ago changed the planet and created the world we live in today, so, really, the Indian experience is at the heart of, or pretty damn close to, the history of everybody, period.”  I tend to agree, so this is the jumping off point for our class this semester.

Vaccine Hesitancy in the U.S.

Tim Leslie: Section 008 - T 9-10:15 am
(online synchronous/asynchronous)

Vaccination exemption and hesitancy have become a nationwide cultural debate that has implications in the medical, education, and public health fields. Major vaccination aspects such as the history of vaccination, vaccination exemption, vaccination policies, and the current research on vaccination behavior will be evaluated and discussed. Students will engage the topics through instructor-provided lectures and readings, student-driven reflections, and an externally-focused course project. The intended final product will be the production of an audience-specific and culturally vaccination related intervention (through a number of filters) that draws on the student’s expertise. We will focus primarily on the US.

Honors College Connects

Melanie Fedri: Section 002 - MW 3-4:15 pm
(online synchronous)

In HNRS 261- Honors College Connects (HCC), students contribute to the work of local nonprofits addressing health, social justice, and environmental challenges. Students work in multi-disciplinary teams and are mentored by local leaders in the private and public sectors. Through HCC, students build professional skills while making a real impact in the community beyond Mason. This class is by application: Apply for Honors College Connects.

Bridging the Digital Divide

Tawnya Azar: Section 003 - TR 10:30-11:45 am
(online synchronous)

This course will examine the digital divide through issues of literacy and access. As part of the course, students will volunteer at one of several local organizations whose missions seek to address digital literacy and access within different communities. Additionally, we will, as a class, develop an advocacy campaign to participate in the annual Digital Inclusion Week. Through these acts of community engagement and advocacy, we will explore what it means to write with, for, and about these digitally disenfranchised communities as well as what role community engagement has or should have in a digital world.

Peer Mentorship in Honors

John Woolsey: Sections 004 and 005 - TR 3-4:15 pm
(hybrid)

This section of HNRS 261 is a problem-based learning practicum to train Honors College Peer Mentors. Peer Mentors engage in the Honors College community by mentoring first-semester students taking HNRS 110: Principles of Research and Inquiry. In addition to fostering a positive sense of community,  students taking HNRS 261 are actively engaged in the ongoing process of  articulating what “mentorship,” “service,” “civic engagement” and “collaborative learning” mean in the context of the Honors College curriculum.

Effective Responses to Crime

Laurie Robinson: Section 001 -  TR 1:30-2:45 pm
(online synchronous)

While the violent crime rate in the U.S. today is far lower than 25 years ago -- and much closer to rates in the 1960s -- the nation continues to face challenges in such areas as gun violence, gang crime, domestic violence and high rates of incarceration, and there is deep concern about how fairly the criminal justice system handles racial and ethnic minorities, as events over recent years in Ferguson, Missouri, and numerous other jurisdictions have highlighted.  In this seminar, Honors College students will act as members of a crime commission to look at key issues in criminal justice in the United States today and what solutions are -- or could be -- used to address them effectively.  They will examine aspects of policing, prisons and sentencing, juvenile justice, substance abuse, courts, and use of technology in the criminal justice system, and hold "hearings" at which they question expert guest witnesses (for example, frontline criminal justice practitioners like police chiefs) and explore evidence-based approaches being taken to address problems, including the array of multidisciplinary strategies that are now increasingly being used to prevent criminal offending in communities across the country.

Cybernetics

Dean Taciuch: Section 002 - TR 10:30- 11:45 am
(online synchronous)

The course will begin with the concept of Cybernetics, popularized by Norbert Wiener's Human Use of Human Beings, a book he wrote (in 1950) specifically to explain cybernetics to the interested non-expert. Cybernetics, as Wiener and the first generation of computer engineers defined it, is the science of control and communication in machines, animals, and human beings. Cybernetics gave us the concepts of cyberspace and the cybernetic organism — the cyborg. Throughout this course, we will address technology, in particular the idea of cybernetics and AI, from the perspectives of of a wide range of disciplines including engineering, statistical mechanics, mathematics, linguistics, sociology, psychology, neuroscience, biology, and philosophy. The field of cybernetics (the topic of our first text) is inherently interdisciplinary, born as it was from the fields of engineering and mathematics combined with biology, neuroscience, and sociology to form what today would be called information theory.

Shaming in Public Discourse

Andy Hoefer: Section 004 and 008 - M 4:30-7:10
(hybrid)

Of what use is shame? Is it an individual obstacle to be worked through? An internalization of repressive social norms that must be challenged? A tool to be used to expose injustices and violations of our social contracts? When does shaming change behavior, and when does it reinforce division? These are among the questions explored in this course. Students will engage a wide variety of assigned texts, ranging from speeches by Frederick Douglass, works of fiction by contemporary authors, scholarly articles by psychologists, sociologists, and international relations theorists, and popular works in the self-help genre. These assigned readings will provide a foundation from which students will develop focused, original, and collaborative research projects.

Coping with the Internet

Alexander Monea: Section 005 - T 4:30-7:10
(online synchronous)

This course will examine the effects of internet technologies on our everyday lives and look to develop coping strategies so that we can become more intentional about how we use the internet. Students will engage humanities and social science research on internet platforms, social media, smartphones, Internet of Things, logistics, web services and data storage. They will learn about issues ranging from trolling to surveillance to advertising to globalization to the environmental impacts of internet technologies. Along the way, students will learn critical strategies for obfuscating their data, managing their privacy settings, controlling their attention, and reducing their carbon footprint.

The Development of Modern Science

James Trefil:  Section 006 - M 4:30-7:10 pm
(online synchronous)

This course will trace the development of science from the construction of monuments like Stonehenge to the beginning of the twentieth century. No previous scientific knowledge will be presumed, and the major ideas of science will be developed in their historical context. The course will include readings from important historical texts, and students will be asked to develop and present topics related to the course subject matter.

Material Culture Research

Claudia Rector: Section 007 - MW 9-10:15 am
(online synchronous)

In this section of HNRS 360, we will learn to “read” objects and landscapes to gain insight into their historical and contemporary contexts.  Material culture treats objects as primary sources for research, using them to ask questions about their cultural contexts—how they were made, used, and what they were understood to mean by their creators and users.   We will examine buildings and cultural landscapes, food, clothing/adornment, and technology to understand how culture can be manifested in objects and reveal ideas about race, gender, class, religion and nation, among others.  Students will complete an individual or group research project on either a historical or contemporary object/landscape.  

Research & Creative Projects Seminar

Richard Todd Stafford: Sections 002 and 008 - TR 9-10:15 am
(blended hybrid)

Students will work with faculty, classmates, and mentors through the process of developing an individually-designed research or creative project. This class is open to students of all majors who seek to develop a substantial or original product to put forward for consideration to some audience outside of our classroom. Because of the wide differences between disciplines concerning what counts as "substantial" or "original," as well as what it means to put work forward for consideration, some aspects of the research or creative process and/or product are expected to vary. However, all students will be expected to try out some ways of engaging with their project that lead them beyond their standard disciplinary processes or professional training. Throughout the process of developing individual projects, the class will work together to pursue the insights that emerge from a consideration of research and creative practices across disciplinary and professional boundaries. This class is especially well-suited for students who seek to begin exploring a new research question or creative project outside of their regular coursework; who would like to continue pursuing a research question or creative project that emerged in a prior class; who are preparing to undertake a significant research project in their major; who are developing a research proposal (for instance for an OSCAR grant or fellowship); who are concurrently enrolled in an individualized study, a thesis or capstone course in the major; or who are currently undertaking a funded OSCAR project.

Peer Leadership in Honors

John Woolsey: Sections 005 and 007 - TR 3-4:15 pm
(hybrid)

This course is co-taught by stakeholders and experts from across the university, Honors College Peer Mentors (enrolled in HNRS 261), Honors College Lead Mentors (enrolled in HNRS 361), and members of the Curriculum Development Team. Enrolled students will serve as a peer mentor in the Honors College, and receive training in community-based research and project management. Students are eligible to apply to be an Honors College Lead Mentor (HNRS 361) after taking HNRS 261 - Peer Mentorship in Honors.

Pompeii: A Window on Ancient Roman Art and Society

Christopher Gregg, Section 001, MW 10:30-11:45 am

Since its rediscovery over 200 years ago, the Roman city of Pompeii has fascinated the modern world. This minor Roman town, entombed by a volcanic eruption in AD 79, has fired the imagination of both scholars and artists. As an example of Roman civilization, Pompeii gives us a view into a past society that has had a tremendous impact on Western European and North American architecture, art, law and literature. This class will use the unparalleled physical remains of Pompeii’s art, architecture and infrastructure as well as primary Roman literary source material in translation to explore the complex urban and cultural environment of this ancient civilization. Class discussion, critical reading of sources, visual analysis, application of critical ideas will all play significant parts in our multi-disciplinary approach to interpreting this familiar yet “foreign” culture.

Museums and the World on Display

Savannah Fetterolf, Section 002, MW 9-10:15 am

As a site of education and cultural consumption, the museum serves as a fascinating lens through which to consider the codification, preservation, and display of knowledge. Yet, thinking about the museum as an institution is not enough. Discussions of art and aesthetics, as well as vision and ways of looking, will allow us to consider the ways that new (and not so new) technologies are impacting the traditional museum space, the ethics of display, and forms of engagement with art and other objects. Along with readings, this class will include trips to museums, creative activities, and writing.

Cultural History of Photography

Caroline West, Section 004, TR 10:30-11:45 am

This course will explore photography through its multiple functions in society paying particular attention to critique and analysis of image content within a historical and cultural context. We will examine photography’s multiple histories: as artistic medium, as social text, as technological adventure, and as cultural practice. Students will learn about photographic technologies in creative and historical contexts and become familiar with issues of photographic theory and criticism.

Media, Art & Activism

Caroline West, Section 005, TR 1:30-2:45 pm

The course will examine historical and contemporary art and visual media activist practices to explore how social identities have been constructed, challenged, and commodified. In this course students will think critically about images as objects of truth, to assess the ways visuality has shaped historical memory and collective identity, and the strengths as well as the limitations in the circulation of visual imagery in advocating for social justice.

Media, Art & Activism

Caroline West, Section 006, TR 3-4:15 pm

The course will examine historical and contemporary art and visual media activist practices to explore how social identities have been constructed, challenged, and commodified. In this course students will think critically about images as objects of truth, to assess the ways visuality has shaped historical memory and collective identity, and the strengths as well as the limitations in the circulation of visual imagery in advocating for social justice.

Contemporary Southern Literature

Lindley Estes Thomas, Section 007, MW 1:30-2:45 pm

The South is more than the grotesque, Baptists and banjos. It is a dynamic place and the way Southern stories are told is likewise changing. Students will read classic texts (Faulkner, Welty, O'Connor to name a few) to understand the tradition current authors are navigating before moving on to the current literature of this region: told in traditional stories and novels, and through film and podcasts. We'll read Jesmyn Ward, watch episodes of "Atlanta" and listen to "S-Town." All the while, we will attempt to answer the questions: What are we talking about when we talk about the South? Who are Southern authors, anyway? And, what issues are these authors dealing with? This survey, coupled with a workshop, will provide students with the tools to create their own fiction of place that uses setting not just as backdrop, but with real thematic heft.

Ancient Rome, Italy & Africa

Kristina Olson, Section 008, MW 9:00-10:15 am

In this course we will compare the histories of Roman imperialism and Italian colonialism in Africa while scrutinizing the ways in which the rhetoric of Italian nationalism (as the “New Roman Empire”) utilized the language of empire.  Rome established its first African colony, Africa Vetus (Old Africa), after the fall of the Carthage in 146 B.C. Our course begins by examining how the relationship between Rome and Africa is figuratively depicted in the tragic affair between Dido, Queen of Carthage (modern-day Tunisia), and Aeneas, the mythic founder of the Roman Empire, in Vergil’s Aeneid, and the conflict and struggle over territorial dominion in their story and the history behind it. The imperial conquest of Rome from antiquity prefigures, arguably, the tradition of colonialism in Africa that would take shape again in the hands of the Italian Empire between the 19th and 20th centuries, with colonies in Eastern Africa (Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia) and Libya, during the imperial expansion of Mussolini. We will conclude this course with a survey of the postcolonial period, examining those literary and film texts that reconsider the peninsula's troubled legacy of empire.

Self, Other and Identity

Garry Sparks, Section 001, MW 3:00-4:15 pm

Who and how does one say that they are, compared to what (and what not), and why? This course will explore the critical and creative construction of the identity of a “self” specifically understood as an engagement with cultural “others” and larger themes in religion, such as freedom, survival, memory, power, love, etc. Over the course of the semester students will read and discuss classic as well as more recent religious autobiographies, especially for America as engaged with senses of a wider world. Such readings may include: Augustine of Hippo’s Confessions, The Narrative of Cabeza de Vaca, Eli Wiesel’s Night, Shantung Compound, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, and Joy Harjo’s An American Sunrise. Furthermore, students will consider how the genre(s) of autobiography have shifted and diversified throughout history as well as, toward the end of the course with Robert Caro’s Working, what may be required to craft them well. Along the way students will research and craft three well-written papers: (1) their own critical biography on a historical character of their choice who is not already covered by the readings for the course, (2) an autobiography from the perspective of the end of their own imagined life in a genre of their choice, and finally (3) a critical biography of their self as engaged with a larger (religious) theme of their choice but written from the perspective of an anonymous “outsider.”

Gender, Race and Immigration

Mark Rudnicki, Section 002, TR 12 pm-1:15 pm

Identity politics has been a hotly debated topic for a number of years throughout many different fields. This course attempts to provide a philosophical foundation by exploring the construction and transformation of identity. We will pay particular attention to how identities are formed through the interplay of such concepts as the same or “the normal” and difference or otherness. Through the examination of select theoretical texts in the fields of psychoanalysis, feminism, postcolonial, critical race theory, we will build a framework with which we will interpret literary works that primarily address immigration, race, and gender as they relate to identity formation.

Policing Black Bodies

Angela Hattery, Section 003, T 4:30-7:30 pm

Policing Black Bodies interrogates the myriad ways in which Black Bodies are policed both literally and symbolically. Harnessing the theoretical lenses of intersectionality and color blind racism, this course provides students with a framework for connecting every kind of policing from the incarceration of more than a million black bodies on any given day in the United States to the exploitation of these Black bodies through prison industries, to the role that riots play as a
form of organized protest, to the school to prison pipeline and the policing of both women’s bodies and trans bodies.

Social Justice Philanthropy

Valentino Bryant, Section 004, F 10:30 am - 1:10 pm

The serious philanthropist must think and work strategically —building a deep understanding of the specific social issues of interest and community context and dynamics, identifying the highest potential leverage points and relevant resources, building relationships with a range of stakeholders, negotiating the intersections between donor interests and community need, balancing innovation and experience, understanding legal issues, creating a robust investment strategy with clear goals and aligned actions, considering long-term exit strategies, designing and implementing impact evaluations, assessing potential partner organizations and plans, and monitoring and supporting grantee organizations. This course will engage students in the conceptual frameworks and research regarding philanthropy, social change, and organizational dynamics; as well as concrete practice in designing and implementing a philanthropic strategy.

Gender, Race and Immigration

Mark Rudnicki, Section 005, TR 1:30 pm - 2:45 pm

Identity politics has been a hotly debated topic for a number of years throughout many different fields. This course attempts to provide a philosophical foundation by exploring the construction and transformation of identity. We will pay particular attention to how identities are formed through the interplay of such concepts as the same or “the normal” and difference or otherness. Through the examination of select theoretical texts in the fields of psychoanalysis, feminism, postcolonial, critical race theory, we will build a framework with which we will interpret literary works that primarily address immigration, race, and gender as they relate to identity formation.

Nationalism in a Global Age

David Zeglen, Section 001, TR 4:30-5:45 pm

The primary question this course asks is whether nations and nationalism are still relevant in the age of globalization. We will take up this question by exploring a few key texts in nationalism studies and consider their contemporary applicability. First, we begin with a historical explanation of the emergence of the nation and nationalism as a form of “imagined community” spurred by print capitalism. This discussion will be followed by an introduction to how the nation is socially reproduced in capitalist societies via “banal nationalism.” The second part of the semester will look at the relationship between capitalism and the nation-state before looking at the link between nationalism, violence, and state terrorism. Finally, we will consider a recent debate on immigration, labor, and the nation-state. Throughout the semester, various case studies from around the world will be drawn upon to test the various arguments introduced in main reading. Students will be asked to critically evaluate these arguments, and to consider whether nations and nationalism not only remain useful concepts in a global world, but whether they are still desirable and necessary.

Nationalism in a Global Age

David Zeglen, Section 002, TR 1:30-2:45 pm

The primary question this course asks is whether nations and nationalism are still relevant in the age of globalization. We will take up this question by exploring a few key texts in nationalism studies and consider their contemporary applicability. First, we begin with a historical explanation of the emergence of the nation and nationalism as a form of “imagined community” spurred by print capitalism. This discussion will be followed by an introduction to how the nation is socially reproduced in capitalist societies via “banal nationalism.” The second part of the semester will look at the relationship between capitalism and the nation-state before looking at the link between nationalism, violence, and state terrorism. Finally, we will consider a recent debate on immigration, labor, and the nation-state. Throughout the semester, various case studies from around the world will be drawn upon to test the various arguments introduced in main reading. Students will be asked to critically evaluate these arguments, and to consider whether nations and nationalism not only remain useful concepts in a global world, but whether they are still desirable and necessary.

21st Century Work Issues

Lydia Craig, Section 003, MW 3-4:15 pm

On average, people spend 90,000 hours at work over the course of their lifetime. These hours can be highly rewarding, as work is a source of pride and accomplishment for many. But these hours can also be stressful or boring, serving merely as a means to a paycheck. In this class, we will explore the issues that 21st century workers face, issues that affect people across the lifespan both at work and at home. We will discuss questions such as: • How can people find careers that let them live the lives that they want? • What role should work play in our lives among the other activities and relationships that we value? • How can dual-career couples make decisions that allow both partners to balance work and nonwork life? • What should we make of the gender pay gap and occupational gender gaps? • What are the implications of the growing gig economy for the way work is done? • How do questions of career and home differ for members of different socioeconomic groups? We will draw on popular news and opinion pieces as well as research from psychology, sociology, economics, and other disciplines to take a deeper dive into the above questions. We will evaluate evidence and perspectives, striving to generate practical insights that students can apply to their own lives and careers. In this course, students will practice reading sources carefully and closely and can expect to engage in class discussions based on the readings. Students should expect to leave the class with a deeper understanding of the world of work and with ideas about how to navigate it.

Truth, Trust, News & Society

Kate Sweeney, Section 004, T 7:20-10:00 pm

The relationship between the news media and the public is broken. In this class, we will author recommendations to fix it! Nearly every analysis reveals Americans’ trust in the news has declined dramatically over the past 25 years. While a vibrant free press is an essential element of a healthy democracy, much of the public lacks faith that the news media are accurate and unbiased. Advances in technology have given citizens unprecedented access to information, yet these same tools allow misinformation and disinformation to spread virally. Meanwhile, the line between news and opinion has blurred, local papers are shuttering, and attacks by politicians on journalists further dent public confidence. This semester, we’ll delve into case studies, popular films, and current and past news coverage to wrestle with the ethical and practical decisions reporters face while reporting stories of public interest. And, we will tangle with the questions: How do we restore public trust in our news media? What can our nation’s citizens, journalists and leaders do to better distinguish between truth and disinformation and govern ourselves fairly and effectively?

Eliminating Global Hunger

Phil Thomas, Section 005, MW 9-10:15 am

Global hunger and food insecurity is one of the most critical problems confronting the global community in the 21st Century. Despite numerous national and international efforts over the pasty 60 years, its elimination remains elusive due to a complex array of environmental and human factors. Despite the existence  of an adequate supply of food to feed the global population at this time, the absence of effective political resulting from flawed and corrupt governance  at the national and international level is perhaps the most significant obstacle to achieving global food security. Today over 800 million people are chronically malnourished while millions more are suffering from acute malnutrition due to unprecedented political instability and conflict. Hunger is number one on the list of the world's top health risks. Missing out on essential nutrients in the 1000 days from conception to a child's second birthday translates into irreversible damage  to physical and cognitive development. Global food security is a major foreign policy issue  severely affecting national security and economic development.The global community needs to increase food production by at least 60 percent  by 2050, while facing increasing pressures on land and water resources from a growing population and a changing climate. Insufficient access to adequate water, and limited arable land further exacerbate food insecurity. 

This course is a broad-based cross-cutting interdisciplinary review of the causes, impact, challenges, and opportunities of global hunger. It is designed to provide a comprehensive  perspective on food insecurity as a multidimensional challenge to the global community. The key objectives of this course are to 1) define the nature and scope of global food insecurity; 2) assess food insecurity's  impact on people, nation state, and the global community; 3) review and examine the development and implementation of U.S. Government and multilateral policies and programs designed to achieve global food security; 4) review and evaluate the relationship between  national governments, multilateral institutions, non-profits, and profit oriented entities  in addressing global food security issues; 5) analyze the relationship between food security and national security; 6) review and anlyze food safety issues; 7) examine the challenges confronting the elimination of hunger and attainment of global food security; and develop policy and program options for eliminating global hunger and attaining food security. This course emphasizes critical thinking, class discussion, role playing, research and analysis. It is designed to motivate students to engage in a semester-long critical thinking exercise on one of the most daunting and complex challenges of our time, global hunger.

Social Media and Culture

Matthew West, Section 006, MW 9-10:15 am

What is social media? We all use it, some of us will even “code” the next platforms, but to what extent do we really “get” it? How do different cultures around the world use social media differently? How has social media changed the cultures that we live in and what are the consequences of these changes? Contemporary “real” life has now long been immersed in digital culture: our politics, our social and love lives, and our views of ourselves are all caught up in mobile, networked, visual, and even cyborg cultures. This course leads students to explore the many ways in which social media interactions are a central element in the everyday lives of humans across the globe in the 21st century. The course is arranged around a series of readings and watchings, lectures introducing scholarly tools for understanding them and for sparking discussions, and a set of projects that lead students to get their hands dirty, experiencing and analyzing the real “e-world” of social media. This semester we will delve into topics including online dating, political movements, gaming culture, “internet addiction,” social currencies, surveillance, and social activism.

Legacies of George Mason

George Oberle, Section 001, TR 1:30-2:45 pm

This course is designed to provide an introduction to local history and historical research methods. It will allow students to explore the ongoing legacy of our University’s namesake, George Mason, to the region and our nation. We will examine the era of American founders and early decades of the United States to help better understand the impact of a variety of issues, including the lasting impact of slavery. The required readings include several core texts from the age of Jefferson, Washington, and Mason. Following this introduction, the student will join a research team and will explore a topic, and students will disseminate that information via an online exhibit tool and institutional archive called Omeka. The topics will include exploring slavery and the lives of enslaved people, and the African American Communities in Northern Virginia, examining the monuments and memorials designed to promote George Mason’s memory, exploring the refined and provocative histories of Gunston Hall, investigating our campus history to find out whose names adorn our buildings and why. This class will allow students to explore local history topics that have a lasting impact on the region and the country.

Food and Drugs in Latin America

Joan Bristol, Section 002, TR 9-10:15 am

We will examine how foods (including chocolate, bananas, and sugar) and drugs (including marijuana and cocaine) have affected Latin America and its global identity.

The History of Memory

Jacqueline Burek, Section 003, TR 10:30-11:45 am

George Santayana famously wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” But what does it mean to “remember the past”? And what is “memory,” anyway? Over the centuries, various cultures have defined memory as everything from a rhetorical concept, to a way of preserving family or national history, to the basis of our identity as individuals. This course will trace how conceptions of memory have changed from ancient times to today. We will examine how individual and cultural memories intersect, how buildings and other features of our physical environment shape our memories, and how memories and writing work together to preserve the past.

Special Effects

Jan Allbeck, Section 004, MW 9-10:15 am

This course will look at the history of special effects from their origins in the 1920 through today. We will study the progression of techniques and their impact on film and tv audiences.

The Past is a Foreign Country

Michael O'Malley, Section 005, TR 12-1:15 pm

Gender in American Culture

Sheri Ann Huerta, Section 006, TR 9-10:15 am

Gender is performed, interpreted, and defined every day. Understanding how this process of gender identity developed requires analysis of a complicated historical, social, legal, and cultural past. This course explores the ways that masculinity and femininity have been socially constructed in America from the pre-Columbian era to the present: the rites, symbols, beliefs, cultural cues, and performative actions that evolved over time and were legitimized through structures of power. How did everyday people grapple with gendered identities and their perceived freedoms and constraints in different historical periods? How were concepts of gender portrayed, challenged, or legitimized in courts, laws, and popular culture over time? How were gendered ideals promoted, adapted, or disrupted? While there will be an emphasis on gender in the United States, the course will also contextualize gender within a transnational approach. This course emphasizes participation and student analysis of the history of gender through a close and critical reading of historical artifacts.

Access Issues in U.S. Education

Maoria Kirker, Section 001, TR 3-4:15 pm

The course will explore issues related to access in U.S. education. Some themes related to access of education likely to be discussed include race, economic inequality, and ableism. The first half of the class will focus on K-12 education while the second half will focus on post-secondary education. The class is meant to be relevant to students in any major as there will be space to explore a topic of their own interest related to social justice and U.S. education.

Higher Education and Society

Blake Silver, Section 002, TR 1:30-2:45 pm

This course examines higher education through a sociological lens. We will explore a variety of questions focused on understanding higher education in the contemporary United States. Is higher education a “great equalizer” or is it a way to reproduce advantage across generations? How do we understand the causes and consequences of disparities in college access and completion? What factors shape lived experiences on college campuses? And how do those experiences matter for college outcomes? As we approach these questions and others, this course will build on sociological theories to understand patterns and trends documented in recent research. Additionally, assigned readings and in-class discussions will offer opportunities to explore class, race, gender, and other sociodemographic dimensions as they relate to the sociology of higher education.

Cross-Cultural Communication

Megan Patrick, Section 003, W 7:20-10 pm

This class explores identity, power, social conflict, and approaches to restorative civic engagement within the United States. Students will develop awareness of their own cultural norms and values, as well as unpack the method in which worldview informs distinct approaches to political and economic policies. The assigned films and readings examine divergent views on national points of contention based on the value systems, unconscious bias, and narratives that ground these perspectives. Over the course of the semester, students will critically engage a variety of films and texts that explore present social conflicts, efforts toward civic engagement, and the diversity of the American experience. By establishing mindfulness of our own cultural programming, as well as an understanding of the obstacles to cross-cultural civic engagement, participants will build the necessary skill set to further understand the partisan policy landscape within the United States.

Interrogating the Rule of Law

Susan Hirsch, Section 004, T 4:30-7:10 pm

As concepts, justice and rule of law are defining features of democracy. The ancient philosophers believed that justice is the highest ideal we can set for ourselves, and rule of law protects us from the arbitrary rule of man that tyrants wield. In reality, achieving either justice or rule of law is a challenge for most contemporary democracies, including the United States. This course begins by considering the many scholarly definitions of justice and rule of law and then assessing the relation between the two concepts and their significance for us today. Readings from multiple disciplines (anthropology, legal studies, literature, conflict studies) will highlight the conditions under which justice and rule of law become difficult to achieve, such as authoritarian regimes, where leaders believe they are above the law, and severely unequal societies, where justice is lacking for many. Case examples will focus on several broad-scale processes that are contributing to the erosion of justice and rule of law worldwide, namely, migration and displacement of people; environmental degradation and climate change; securitization of borders and harsh policing; and persistent gender inequality and discrimination. Course readings will also highlight many examples of people who strive to promote justice and build rule of law, including through projects aimed at tackling the difficult problems mentioned above. The course will also consider how justice and rule of law can emerge in new ways and in unlikely places, such as local communities seeking to self-govern, religious legal systems, and social media communities. Through the course, examples will be drawn from historical and contemporary issues in the United States and also in other contexts globally. Small group projects will identify areas where the erosion of justice or rule of law could be countered by strategies to engage with current issues, and students will be encouraged to determine their own approaches to justice and rule of law.

Peer Mentorship in Honors

John Woolsey, Section 001, MW 10:30-11:45 am

"Peer Mentorship in Honors" is a course co-taught by stakeholders and experts from across the University, Honors College Lead Mentors (enrolled in HNRS 361), and members of the Curriculum Development Team. Enrolled students will serve as a peer mentor in the Honors College, and receive training in community-based research and project management. Upon successful completion of the course, students will be eligible to apply to be an Honors College Lead Mentor (HNRS 361).

College Application Coaches

Richard Todd Stafford, Section 002, TR 12-1:15 pm

Interested in improving access to college? Want to help students who would be the first in the families to attend college prepare? By enrolling in this section of HNRS 261, students agree to participate in the College Application Coaches service project. This will involve learning how to provide effective coaching to high school students who will be the first in their families to attend college as they develop resumes and college application essays. Students participating in College Application Coaches will meet with the students they are coaching face-to-face and will provide online coaching. Students will also be expected to engage in regular class meetings and complete assignments intended to help them understand and engage with questions regarding college access and college preparedness mentorship.

Health Research in Agencies

Catherine Tompkins, Section 003, TR 9-10:15 am

This course will examine issues related to health research.  Students will engage with a community partner to analyze a community problem, strategize possible solutions, and produce a grant application or a similar product to create positive change in the community. Course objectives include:  Defining community-engaged health research; recognizing the benefits and challenges of effective collaborative partnerships in proposal writing and community-engaged health research; examining the health topic area that will be explored with the community agency; and using proposal writing skills to produce a product (i.e., letter of intent, grant application, literature review) for the community agency. Students will complete online modules that include rhetoric, health and writing, teamwork, community-engaged research and defining health & disease. This class is team taught by faculty from Social Work, Global and Community Health and English.

Diversity & Expansive Wellbeing - Curriculum Development in Context

Lauren Cattaneo, Section 004, T 6-8:40 pm

This seminar will engage students and instructors in an exploration of the ways in which social identity plays a role in global and national affairs, with profound impact on the wellbeing of individuals and communities, and where the levers are for positive social change. In addition to this macro-level exploration, we will focus on higher education in the US as an institution that might play a role in positive social change, and we will explore how diversity-related curriculum might be part of that role.

Science of Cities

James Trefil, Section 001, M 4:30-7:10 pm

What will the Washington area look like in 50 years? This course will focus on the technology and development of cities, using the capitol area as an example. Students will look at present-day Washington from a historical standpoint and learn what we can predict for its future in light of robotics, nanotechnology, and genetic engineering.  Course will use an AI Program called sInvestigator.

Scientific Revolutions

James Trefil, Section 002, T 4:30-7:10 pm

Critically analyzes emergence and impact of specific technologies on contemporary cultures and the core concepts surrounding these technologies, including legal, social, ethical issues and the technology’s relationship to core information security issues. Students develop a significant research project employing multiple disciplinary perspectives. This project will be communicated ethically and with cultural awareness through written, oral and digital means, showing a critical understanding of technologies and their impact.

Life in the Universe

Harold Geller, Section 003, TR 3-4:15 pm

In this course we will critically analyze emergent technologies and their impact on contemporary culture as our species seeks to understand its place in the universe. The core concepts surrounding the technologies and their legal, social, and ethical issues will be considered. Students will develop a significant research project related to the search for life in the universe which, communicated through written, oral and digital means, demonstrates a critical understanding of the technologies and their impact via multiple disciplinary perspectives. Students will communicate their findings, both verbally and non-verbally, through ethically and culturally aware critical thinking and scientific reasoning. Major Topics to be included are: the physical and chemical basis of the universe and its origins; the birth, life and death of galaxies and their stars; the geology of solid celestial objects; the biochemistry of life on Earth and possibly elsewhere; the diversity and similarity of life on Earth and implications for the universe; the search for planets outside our own solar system; and, the exploration and colonization of space and its extraterrestrial planets.

Borders, Migration, World Film

Jessica Scarlata, Section 004, T 4:30-7:10 pm

This course will focus on global film and visual media that represent borders and the act of crossing them—as tourists, migrants, immigrants, asylum seekers, and armed agents of state and anti-state violence. We will consider the audio-visual representation of various spaces and how this representation engages with questions of social and spatial justice, the right to move, and the right to be able to stay home. How does film construct spaces and places as welcoming, alienating, foreign, or familiar? How have film, TV, video art, and photography challenged xenophobic, anti-refugee, and anti-immigrant ideologies? How have they reproduced those ideologies? How does visual culture distinguish tourism from migration? What are the borders between visual art forms, and what is their role in these wider conversations? In considering these questions, we will also address how identity categories (such as race, gender, ethnicity, nationality, religion, class, sexuality) intersect with issues of space, place, and mobility. 

Scientific Controversies

Davis Kuykendall, Section 005, MW 10:30-11:45 am

When is a scientific controversy genuine versus fake? Why do so many believe a fake controversy is genuine? These questions bear on important issues such as GMOs, vaccines, and climate change. We’ll draw from the history and philosophy of science, psychology, and other fields to address these and related questions.

Scientific Controversies

Davis Kuykendall, Section 006, MW 12-1:15 pm

When is a scientific controversy genuine versus fake? Why do so many believe a fake controversy is genuine? These questions bear on important issues such as GMOs, vaccines, and climate change. We’ll draw from the history and philosophy of science, psychology, and other fields to address these and related questions.

Cybernetics

Dean Taciuch, Section 007, MW 1:30-2:45 pm

The course will begin with the concept of Cybernetics, popularized by Norbert Wiener's Human Use of Human Beings, a book he wrote (in 1950) specifically to explain cybernetics to the interested non-expert. Cybernetics, as Wiener and the first generation of computer engineers defined it, is the science of control and communication in machines, animals, and human beings. Cybernetics gave us the concepts of cyberspace and the cybernetic organism — the cyborg. Throughout this course, we will address technology, in particular the idea of cybernetics and AI, from the perspectives of of a wide range of disciplines including engineering, statistical mechanics, mathematics, linguistics, sociology, psychology, neuroscience, biology, and philosophy. The field of cybernetics (the topic of our first text) is inherently interdisciplinary, born as it was from the fields of engineering and mathematics combined with biology, neuroscience, and sociology to form what today would be called information theory.

Contemporary Central Asia

Benjamin Gatling, Section 008, MW 12-1:15 pm

This course explores everyday life in contemporary Central Asia: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and surrounding places like Afghanistan and western China. We will use readings from a range of disciplines—history, anthropology, political science, sociology, and more—as windows into how global themes, such as the effects of labor migration, worries about religious radicalism, tensions between global powers, water rights, ecological challenges, threats to democratic governance like creeping authoritarianism, and human rights, affect the everyday lives of Central Asians. Our course will begin with history, helping us to contextualize contemporary developments. We will use ethnographic accounts to think about ground-level perspectives as well as policy papers and think-tank reports to think through different modalities specialists use to write about Central Asia. Drawing on your own disciplines and majors, students will conduct original research on a topic of their choosing related to the region and produce a final research paper. No background in the study of Central Asia is expected.

Peer Leadership in Honors

John Woolsey, Section 001, MW 10:30-11:45 am

Research and Creative Project Seminar

Richard Todd Stafford, Section 003, TR 10:30-11:45 am

Students in the Multidisciplinary Research and Creative Projects Seminar will work with faculty, classmates, and mentors through the process of developing an individually-designed research or creative project. This class is open to students of all majors who seek to develop a substantial or original product to put forward for consideration to some audience outside of our classroom. Because of the wide differences between disciplines concerning what counts as "substantial" or "original," as well as what it means to put work forward for consideration, some aspects of the research or creative process and/or product are expected to vary. However, all students will be expected to try out some ways of engaging with their project that lead them beyond their standard disciplinary processes or professional training. Throughout the process of developing your individual projects, the class will work together to pursue the insights that emerge from a consideration of research and creative practices across disciplinary and professional boundaries. This class is especially well-suited for students who seek to begin exploring a new research question or creative project outside of their regular coursework; who would like to continue pursuing a research question or creative project that emerged in a prior class; who are preparing to undertake a significant research project in their major; who are developing a research proposal (for instance for an OSCAR grant or fellowship); who are concurrently enrolled in an individualized study, a thesis or capstone course in the major; or who are currently undertaking a funded OSCAR project.

Human-Centered Design

Melanie Fedri, Section 004, W 4:30-7:10 pm

Students in this course will work in multidisciplinary teams to design a solution to a challenge or problem offered by two of Mason’s partners from the Northern Virginia business community: Northrup Grumman Corporation and the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority. Students will be supported in this project by a faculty instructor and a mentor from the participating partner. They will have opportunities to synthesize the knowledge and practices they have developed over the course of their undergraduate experience; to develop the skills and strategies necessary for working effectively in multidisciplinary teams; and to apply all of this as they work to solve a problem or challenge in professional environment. Work on the project will culminate with the public presentation of the team’s proposed solution, as well as a final report to be delivered to the participating business partner.

Visual Culture: Visual Literacy for Animation, Illustration, and Digital Arts

Hasani McIntosh, Section 001 TR 12:00pm - 1:15pm, Section 003 TR 10:30am - 11:45am

This course explores diversity in the visual arts with a special focus on digital media and graphic novels. In exploring research topics related to animation, illustration and design, students critically examine issues in digital art and develop digital media assets and/or pitch original  stories and designs.   

20^th and 21^st Century Poetry from Around the World

Vivek Narayanan, Section 002, MW 3:00pm - 4:15pm

‘World Poetry’ is a mind-boggling and unfathomable thing.  In this course, we’ll imagine and puzzle our way into it by sampling moments of global convergence and mutual influence: modernism and its early love of translation; 'beat' poetry, internationalism, sound and visual art; the transnational political poetry of the 1970s and after; and, today, poetry across the internet as both possibility and limitation.  We’ll look at poetry not only on the printed page but as something that can be performed, listening to audio recordings and other multimedia.  Students in the class will have regular opportunities to write and develop their own poems—in response to the works we encounter—in addition to learning and exploring critical reading and writing. 

Contemporary Southern Literature

Lindley Estes, Section 004, TR 1:30pm - 2:45pm

The South is more than the grotesque, Baptists and banjos. It is a dynamic place and the way Southern stories are told is likewise changing. Students will read classic texts (Faulkner, Welty, O'Connor to name a few) to understand the tradition current authors are navigating before moving on to the current literature of this region: told in traditional stories and novels, and through film and podcasts. We'll read Jesmyn Ward, watch episodes of "Atlanta" and listen to "S-Town." All the while, we will attempt to answer the questions: What are we talking about when we talk about the South? Who are Southern authors, anyway? And, what issues are these authors dealing with? This survey, coupled with a workshop, will provide students with the tools to create their own fiction of place that uses setting not just as backdrop, but with real thematic heft.

Theater and Major Social Shifts

Charles Leonard, Section 007 MW 10:30am - 11:45am, Section 010 MW 12:00pm - 1:15 pm  

This course focuses on the literature and production of theater by studying drama as a mirror of society. The development of drama in most cultures has a distinct relationship to changing social, political, historical, technological, and psychological issues of the time. We will explore theater's role as a banner indicating change, as well as being a vehicle for change. Our purpose is to develop new ways of seeing theater and gain new insights into the world by reading and seeing theater.  Student involvement includes critical thinking, analysis, and class discussion.  Additional readings may also be made available through Blackboard. 

Comic Books and Visual Narrative

Jennifer Stevens, Section 008, TR 4:30pm - 5:45pm

Whether they’re called comic books, comic strips, sequential narratives, and/or graphic novels,  comics are a vibrant art form that includes a wide variety of genres, styles, viewpoints, and  topics. In this class, we’ll focus on reading and interpreting the visual narratives presented by  comics creators. We’ll start with Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics (a comic about  comics), and then move on to look at a variety of comics.    We’ll also look at the larger cultural context that comics are created and read in. In addition to  class readings and discussions, we’ll have two guest speakers from the Mason community talk  about how comics have influenced their own work. And in order to get a better understanding  of the creative process behind comics, you’ll make your own minicomic at an in class workshop.

Know Thyself?

Catherine Prueitt, Section 005, MW 3:00pm - 4:15pm

Socrates admonished that before we can know anything else, we must know ourselves. Yet, around the same time and halfway around the world, the Buddha traced the root of human suffering to the erroneous view that we have enduring selves at all---wisdom doesn't come from knowing oneself, but rather from knowing that one has no self. What is this elusive self? Can we know it? What does having or not having a self mean about who we are? Is authentic identity tied to being oneself, or rather is it formed through interaction with others? This course will take a cross-cultural look at these fundamental questions about self, knowledge, and identity. We'll examine debates about the self in classical Eastern and Western philosophy with an eye to understanding selfhood in the contemporary world.

The History of Our Selves

Michael O’Malley, Section 004, MW 10:30am - 11:45am

This course surveys a history of ideas about the nature of the self. It begins by examining the self in relation to the idea of the divine, and ends with the idea of artificial intelligence. On the way it examines the nature of individualism, the role of the social, and the relationship between the self and the body.

Locating Identity: Body, Subjectivity, Self

Alison Landsberg, Section 007, TR 10:30am - 11:45am

What make us who we are?  Is identity grounded in the psyche?  Is identity “natural”? Does it have a biological basis? Is it manifested on the body? Or is identity externally imposed by the social world we inhabit? How free are we to invent ourselves? To what extent can one change one’s identity or self? To answer these questions, this course will explore various philosophical, psychological, sociological, and historical conceptions of self.  We will consider aspects of identity such as race, gender, sexuality, nationality, and class. It will also assess the impact of the internet on conceptions of the self. Analyzing a broad range of fictional, theoretical/philosophical and autobiographical texts, we will consider how the self is constructed, and both the potential for, and limits on, personal transformation.

African American Literary and Cultural Masculinities

Keith Clark, Section 008, TR 1:30pm - 2:45pm

Undertaking an intense investigation of fiction, drama, autobiography, and criticism, the course will examine African-American male representation in the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries.  We will investigate a plethora of critical and theoretical issues related to gender, sexuality, history, politics, and--of course--race, as well as address formal and narratological concerns in exploring how black male subject formation has evolved in literary discourse.  How have authors attempted to fashion a counter-narrative of black male subjectivity in a historical context that has often rendered black men feral, menace, and Other?  How have black writers mounted discursive interventions upon an often malignant configuration of black masculinity in the American imaginary?  Have black writers, consciously or not, reconstructed and reformed black masculine representation in contradistinction to what Charles Johnson identifies as an erasure of their “interiority”?  And to what degree have African-American writers upheld or contested a hegemonic apparatus that valorizes patriarchy and phallocentrism while rejecting alternative masculine ontologies as “insufficiently” masculine?  These are only a few potential questions for critical scrutiny; of course, you should formulate and articulate your own points of critical inquiry throughout the semester.

Selves, Others and Relations

Rachel Jones, Sections 009, MW 9:00am - 10:15am

In this section of HNRS130, we will use philosophy, literature and film to explore the question of the ‘self’ and its relations to others. We will begin by examining the birth of modern subjectivity in the work of Descartes and Locke, while also testing the limits of the modern conception of self via Christopher Nolan’s 2000 film, ‘Memento’. Drawing on the work of existentialist thinkers such as Sartre, de Beauvoir and Fanon, we will go on to examine the importance of projects and commitments to our sense of self and the crucial role played by relations to others. Toni Morrison’s 1987 novel, Beloved, will help us explore the self at the intersections of race and gender, and allow us to re-situate the role of memory in relation to history, community and trauma. In the final part of the course, we will broaden the frame and investigate the role of non-human others in human conceptions of self. How might relations between human and non-human need to be re-thought, given the global environmental crises we currently face, and how might this lead us to question or even abandon the very concept of ‘self’?

Nationalism in a Global Age

David Zeglen, Sections 011 TR 3:00pm - 4:15pm, Section 004 TR 1:30pm - 2:45pm

This course explores the relevance of nationalism in the age of globalization. We will take up this question by exploring several key debates within global studies. First, we begin with an overview of the debate over the historical origins of the “nation.” This discussion will be followed by an introduction to competing theories over how nationalism is reproduced over time. Then, we will consider the nation’s connection to the state, and the claim of latter’s declining sovereignty under globalization. Students will then be asked to critically evaluate the link between nationalism, colonialism, and violence, before considering the realms of national culture and global culture. The course will conclude with a discussion on the meaning and relevance of Transnationalism, Cosmopolitanism, and Internationalism in relation to national citizenship. Throughout the semester, various case studies from around the world will be drawn upon to test the various arguments introduced in each module. Students will be asked to critically evaluate these arguments, and to consider whether nationalism is not only still relevant in a global world, but whether it is still desirable and necessary.

Sociology of Higher Education

Amber Kalb, Section 002 MW 12:00pm-1:15pm, Section 007 MW 3:00pm - 4:15pm

One of the cornerstone principles of the American meritocracy is the idea that education provides everyone equal opportunity to achieve their full potential. Education is seen as the great equalizer in a society that is, by most measures, far from equal. Over the last generation the role of higher education has become more important as policy makers are telling us of the increasing importance of higher education in the competitive global marketplace. At the same time, federal and state funding has been systematically cut for higher education while private, corporate funding and student tuition has risen to cover the costs. Among the questions we will explore are: What is the role of higher education in American democracy? What is the mission of higher education and how has it changed? How has the logic of neo-liberalism impacted the university? 

Wealth and Poverty

Steve Pearlstein, Section 005, TR 10:30am - 11:45am

In this seminar, we will explore wealth and poverty through different disciplines (literature, economics, politics, sociology, philosophy), different media (biography, non-fiction essays, journalism, novels, plays, movies) and the experience of different countries (England, Russia, the United States).  How are the wealthy different from the rest of us? Why are the poor poor, and how do we explain the persistence of poverty even in wealthy societies? Through history, how have the poor viewed the rich and the rich view the poor? What is the moral justification for great differences in wealth? How have views of social class changed?  Students will be required to write an essay answering one such question, drawing on the course readings as well as their own research and experiences.  Readings include Brideshead Revisited (Waugh), Behind the Beautiful Forevers (Boo), The Other America (Harrington), Grapes of Wrath (Steinbeck) and Bonfire of the Vanities (Wolfe).  Movies include “Remains of the Day, “The Cherry Orchard,” “There Will Be Blood,” “Slumdog Millionaire,” and “Wall Street.”

Eliminating Global Hunger

Phil Thomas, Section 006, MW 3:00pm - 4:15pm

Global hunger and food insecurity is one of the most critical problems confronting the global community in the 21st Century. Despite numerous national and international efforts over the pasty 60 years, its elimination remains elusive due to a complex array of environmental and human factors. Despite the existence  of an adequate supply of food to feed the global population at this time, the absence of effective political resulting from flawed and corrupt governance  at the national and international level is perhaps the most significant obstacle to achieving global food security. Today over 800 million people are chronically malnourished while millions more are suffering from acute malnutrition due to unprecedented political instability and conflict. Hunger is number one on the list of the world's top health risks. Missing out on essential nutrients in the 1000 days from conception to a child's second birthday translates into irreversible damage  to physical and cognitive development. Global food security is a major foreign policy issue  severely affecting national security and economic development.The global community needs to increase food production by at least 60 percent  by 2050, while facing increasing pressures on land and water resources from a growing population and a changing climate. Insufficient access to adequate water, and limited arable land further exacerbate food insecurity. 

This course is a broad-based cross-cutting interdisciplinary review of the causes, impact, challenges, and opportunities of global hunger. It is designed to provide a comprehensive  perspective on food insecurity as a multidimensional challenge to the global community. The key objectives of this course are to 1) define the nature and scope of global food insecurity; 2) assess food insecurity's  impact on people, nation state, and the global community; 3) review and examine the development and implementation of U.S. Government and multilateral policies and programs designed to achieve global food security; 4) review and evaluate the relationship between  national governments, multilateral institutions, non-profits, and profit oriented entities  in addressing global food security issues; 5) analyze the relationship between food security and national security; 6) review and anlyze food safety issues; 7) examine the challenges confronting the  the elimination of hunger and attainment of global food  security; and develop policy and program options for eliminating global hunger and attaining food security. This course emphasizes critical thinking, class discussion, role playing, research and analysis. It is designed to motivate students to engage in a semester-long critical thinking exercise on one of the most daunting and complex challenges of our time, global hunger.

Culture and Social Inequality

Blake Silver, Sections 008, TR 12:00pm - 1:15pm

How does culture shape inequality in our broader social landscape? How do symbolic boundaries, cultural resources, and collective identities shape the form this inequality takes? And what is the role of socialization, daily interactions, and discrimination in the production of social disparities? In responding to these questions, this course will examine the ways that inequality is produced and reproduced in daily life. Examining the context of the contemporary United States, students will explore key cultural mechanisms that influence the ways we make meaning of, contest, and reinforce social inequality. Throughout the semester, assigned readings and discussion topics will offer opportunities to think through the influence of cultural meanings and practices. Building from a focus on disparities by race, class, and gender, the course will expand to give students the opportunity to use a sociological lens to consider the relationship between culture and inequality in a range of social locations.

Public Policy Challenges: Climate Change Adaptation

Dana Dolan, Section 001, F 1:30pm - 4:15pm

This course examines climate change adaptation as a long-term governance challenge for the U.S. and other advanced democracies. Since at least 2007, the public debate about climate change has focused primarily on mitigation (efforts to reduce the amount of heat-trapping gases emitted globally), with far less attention paid to adaptation (efforts to prepare society for the anticipated impacts of climate change). Adaptation, in addition to mitigation, is an essential component of the government response to climate change that demands more attention. After introducing the science of climate change, its impacts, and opportunities for adaptation, we will turn our attention to the puzzle of why the U.S., despite its high adaptive capacity, still struggles to adopt policies aimed at adapting to the threats of a changing climate. In this course, we will investigate climate change adaptation as a public policy problem, examine actual policies as potential solutions to the problem, and analyze the politics that surround efforts to adopt these policies. What makes policymaking for the future so difficult? How have some countries overcome these challenges in certain cases? Students will examine questions like these by reading and discussion scholarly and primary sources, engaging in related class exercises, and applying these ideas to develop their own case study research papers.

Civil Society, Philanthropy, and the Nonprofit Sector

Emily McDonald, Section 002, TR 10:30am - 11:45am

The nonprofit and philanthropic sector - the “third sector” - in the United States is a key development of modern civil society. This course will provide an in-depth, critical understanding of the third sector, including its historical development, institutions, elements, and operation. The following questions will be explored: What is the basis, forms, and challenges of private action for the public good? How are philanthropic dollars distributed? How do nonprofit organizations and philanthropic dollars effect a modern democracy? How do non-governmental organizations operate domestically and globally? This course will include readings in political philosophy, sociology, and public policy. Students will: (1) engage in the conceptual frameworks and research regarding philanthropy and social change and, (2) work in teams to develop an applied practice in designing and implementing a strategy.

US Vaccine Hesitancy/Refusal

Timothy Leslie, Section 003, TR 10:30am - 11:45am

Vaccination exemption and hesitancy have become a nationwide cultural debate that has implications in the medical, education, and public health fields. Major vaccination aspects such as the history of vaccination, vaccination exemption, vaccination policies, and the current research on vaccination behavior will be evaluated and discussed.  Students will engage the topics through instructor-provided lectures and readings, student-driven reflections, and an externally-focused course project. The intended final product will be the production of an audience-specific and culturally vaccination related intervention (through a number of filters) that is draws on the student’s expertise.

Connecting Indigenous Knowledge and Modern Society through Water

Thomas Woods, Section 004, F 1:30pm - 4:10pm

Water is a foundation of all life and cultures.   It can be used to develop respect between cultures through common goals of human and ecosystem health, food production, cultural values and public policy.  In this course, students will engage in the intersection of current issues involving water from the views of indigenous people and modern society to discover common ground.  Both the biological and cultural role of water will be used to develop this knowledge. 

Leadership, Civility, and Personal Responsibility

Charles Thomas, Section 005, T 7:20pm - 10:00pm

This course will explore issues pertaining to leadership, civility, and personal responsibility within an ever-changing world landscape. Themes related to leadership mass incarceration, mental health, communication, decision-making, and personal responsibility and meaning will be discussed. This course will seamlessly weave the aforementioned themes into a cohesive narrative that will challenge conventional thinking. The classroom engagement model will encourage students to leverage their personal leadership styles and commitment to personal responsibility in ways that enhance civil discourse between and among like-minded and divergent thinkers.

Community Engagement for Social Change

Lauren Cattaneo, Section 007, TR 10:30am - 11:45am

This class will explore influences on social problems and approaches to addressing them by drawing from student experience and the perspectives of multiple disciplines. As a case example, we will focus on the social problem of poverty through students’ service to community organizations (a minimum of 20 hours over the course of the semester, arranged by the instructor), readings, class exercises and both written and oral projects. The class is meant to be relevant across majors, for those who have an interest in social justice and a willingness to dive into the complexity of social problems and solutions.

Global Student Movements

Jennifer Ashley, Section 009, MW 12:00pm - 1:15pm

This course considers the role of student movements in questioning structures of power and promoting the protection of human rights. The course begins with a discussion of some of the theoretical frameworks commonly used to analyze social movements. We will then work through a series of case studies to think through the emergence, the development, and decline of social movements in particular spaces and historical moments. Through a discussion of cases such as the March for our Lives Movement, the student movements in Chile and Nicaragua, and the DREAMers, we will consider the reasons that drive individuals to participate in social movements, the resources and opportunities upon which these organizations draw in order to further their causes, and the role of leadership in successful social change. Throughout the course we will pay special attention to media as contested terrain for political struggle. Over the semester, we will critically interrogate mainstream media representations of the social issues that we will study to consider the ways in which they may fail to do justice to the cultural and historical particularities of a phenomenon, while at the same pay close attention to how activists creatively navigate the media infrastructure available to them in order to strategically draw attention to their cause.

Social Justice and Contemporary Education

Maoria Kirker, Section 010, TR 3pm-4:15pm

The course will explore issues related to access in U.S. education in a discussion-based format. The course looks at socioeconomic, racial, and geopolitical differences that shape American education. The first half of the class will focus on K-12 education while the second half will focus on post-secondary education. The class is meant to be relevant to students in any major as there will be space to explore a topic of their own interest related to social justice and U.S. education.

Foods and Drugs in Latin American and the World

Joan Bristol, Section 002, MW 10:30am-11:45am

This course examines the role of Latin American commodities, including foods like chocolate and sugar, drugs like cocaine and marijuana, and other products like cotton, in constructing the modern world system from the sixteenth century through the twentieth century. While these commodities are not all indigenous to Latin America they have all played a significant role in the region’s economy and culture. We will examine how these commodities were exported and imported, how they affected populations, and how ideas about these goods and their meanings developed through time and over space. Commodity flows are integral to world politics, economics, and historical events. The desire for commodities justified colonialism, created significant trade imbalances, and led to the exploitation of land and labor in many parts of the world.   

Technological Impacts: Special Effects

Jan Allbeck, Section 004, MW 9:00am - 10:15am

This course will look at the history of special effects from their origins in the 1920 through today. We will study the progression of techniques and their impact on film and tv audiences.

Slavery and the Historical Imagination

Stefan Wheelock, Section 005, F 10:30am - 1:10pm

The historical research on American Slavery has grown substantially in recent decades; and this class is concerned with the ways historical writers of various stripes have reflected on slavery and its traumas in the historical wake of abolition.  Any meaningful approach to the discussion of slavery must be mindful of the role black antislavery biography and black polemic played in advancing early critiques of slavery.  Along with legal historians and philosophers, we will consider the role black autobiography and polemic played in the historical discussion of slavery.  Authors include Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, Ida B. Wells, Michelle Alexander, and Eddie Glaude Jr.

Kevin Stoy, Section 001, R 4:30-7:10 pm

Building on projects begun in HNRS 310, students use research/scholarship skills to address community problems presented by nonprofit organizations. Designated as a research and scholarship intensive course.

College Application Coaches

Richard Stafford, Section 002, TR 12:00pm - 1:15pm

Interested in improving access to college? Want to help students who would be the first in the families to attend college prepare? By enrolling in this section of Honors 330, students agree to participate in the College Application Coaches service project. This will involve learning how to provide effective coaching to high school students who will be the first in their families to attend college as they develop resumes and college application essays. Students participating in College Application Coaches will meet with the students they are coaching face-to-face and will provide online coaching. Students will also be expected to engage in regular class meetings and complete assignments intended to help them understand and engage with questions regarding college access and college preparedness mentorship.

Innovation and Adaptation

Zachary Schrag, Section 002, MW 10:30am - 11:45am

Who made that? Who used it? And how did they imagine it? In this section of HNRS 353, students will work in groups to trace the history of a technology in use today. Each group will select a technology, anything from a kitchen appliance to a weapons system to a medical device. Throughout the semester, they will gather press accounts, patents, advertisements, fictional representations, and other sources to explore how people created the tool, used it, adapted it, and represented it. The goals are to understand technology as the product of negotiations between producers and consumers, and to develop a range of skills of research, interpretation, and presentation.

Cybernetics

Dean Taciuch, Section 004, TR 10:30am- 11:45am

The course will begin with the concept of Cybernetics, popularized by Norbert Wiener's Human Use of Human Beings, a book he wrote (in 1950) specifically to explain cybernetics to the interested non-expert. Cybernetics, as Wiener and the first generation of computer engineers defined it, is the science of control and communication in machines, animals, and human beings. Cybernetics gave us the concepts of "cyberspace" and the "cybernetic organism"—the cyborg.

Throughout this course, we will address technology, in particular the idea of cybernetics and AI, from the perspectives of of a wide range of disciplines including engineering, statistical mechanics, mathematics, linguistics, sociology, psychology, neuroscience, biology, and philosophy. The field of cybernetics (the topic of our first text) is inherently interdisciplinary, born as it was from the fields of engineering and mathematics combined with biology, neuroscience, and sociology to form what today would be called information theory.

Technology in a Changing Society: Theater

Charles Leonard, Section 005 TR 9:00am - 10:15am, Section 013 TR 1:30pm -2:45pm

Theater has pushed the envelope of technology in many directions. Students will examine new developments of tech designed for use in theater and new uses of existing tech, focusing on the cutting- edge. We will also look at bleed-over tech moving from one area into use in other areas, including theatre.     

Life in the Universe

Harold Geller, Section 010, TR 3:00pm - 4:15pm

In this course we will critically analyze emergent technologies and their impact on contemporary culture as our species seeks to understand its place in the universe. The core concepts surrounding the technologies and their legal, social, and ethical issues will be considered. Students will develop a significant research project related to the search for life in the universe which, communicated through written, oral and digital means, demonstrates a critical understanding of the technologies and their impact via multiple disciplinary perspectives. Students will communicate their findings, both verbally and non-verbally, through ethically and culturally aware critical thinking and scientific reasoning. Major topics include the: physical and chemical basis of the universe and its origins; birth, life and death of galaxies and their stars; geology of solid celestial objects; biochemistry of life on Earth and possibly elsewhere; diversity and similarity of life on Earth and implications for the universe; search for planets outside our own solar system; and, exploration and colonization of space and its extraterrestrial planets.

Science of Cities

James Trefil, Section 011, M 4:30pm - 7:10pm

What will the Washington area look like in 50 years? This course will focus on the technology and development of cities, using the capitol area as an example. Students will look at present-day Washington from a historical standpoint and learn what we can predict for its future in light of robotics, nanotechnology, and genetic engineering.  Course will use an AI Program called sInvestigator.

Scientific Revolutions

James Trefil, Section 012, T 4:30pm - 7:10pm

Critically analyzes emergence and impact of specific technologies on contemporary cultures and the core concepts surrounding these technologies, including legal, social, ethical issues and the technology’s relationship to core information security issues. Students develop a significant research project employing multiple disciplinary perspectives. This project will be communicated ethically and with cultural awareness through written, oral and digital means, showing a critical understanding of technologies and their impact.

Contemporary Central Asia

Benjamin Gatling, Section 014, MW 1:30 - 2:45pm

This course explores everyday life in contemporary Central Asia: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and surrounding places like Afghanistan and western China. We will use readings from a range of disciplines—history, anthropology, political science, sociology, and more—as windows into how global themes, such as the effects of labor migration, worries about religious radicalism, tensions between global powers, water rights, ecological challenges, threats to democratic governance like creeping authoritarianism, and human rights, affect the everyday lives of Central Asians.     Our course will begin with history, helping us to contextualize contemporary developments. We will use ethnographic accounts to think about ground-level perspectives as well as policy papers and think tank reports to think through different modalities specialists use to write about Central Asia. Drawing on your own disciplines and majors, students will conduct original research on a topic of their choosing related to the region and produce a final research paper. No background in the study of Central Asia is expected. 

Television, Technology, and Power

Hatim El-Hibri, Section 015, T 4:30pm - 7:10pm

The course examines how pre-existing cultural attitudes and patterns of power have shaped the course of television’s technological development. The landscape of TV has changed dramatically since the era of state-run broadcasters, or the era of the ‘Big Three’ networks in the U.S. As programming diversifies, social media burns, media platforms and screens proliferate, more and more parts of public life seem made for TV. This course will interrogate the priorities that continue to shape television by examining key debates and critical approaches to the policies, cultural formations, and social and economic contexts that shape this key media technology.

Richard Stafford and Dean Zofia Burr, Section 001, TR 9:00am - 10:15am

Students in HNRS 410 will work with faculty, classmates, and mentors through the process of developing an individually-designed research or creative project. This class is open to students of all majors who seek to develop a substantial or original product to put forward for consideration to some audience outside of our classroom. Because of the wide differences between disciplines in what counts as “substantial” or “original,” as well as what it means to “put [work] forward for consideration,” some aspects of the research or creative process and/or product are expected to vary. However, all students will be expected to try out some ways of engaging with their project that lead them beyond their standard disciplinary processes or professional training.

Throughout the process of developing your individual projects, the class will work together to pursue the insights that emerge from a consideration of research and creative practices across disciplinary and professional boundaries.

This class is especially well-suited for students who seek to explore and begin to develop a new research question or creative project outside of their regular coursework; who would like to continue pursing a research question or creative project that emerged in a prior class; who are developing a research proposal (for instance for an OSCAR grant or fellowship); or who are concurrently enrolled in an individualized study, a thesis or capstone course in the major; or who are currently undertaking a funded OSCAR project.

Zofia Burr and Richard Stafford, Section 001,TR 9:00am - 10:15am

Directed research on topic agreed on by student, advisor, and the Honors College to be undertaken with instructor permission by students who have previously taken HNRS 410. Meets concurrently with HNRS 410.  

Anthony Hoefer, Section 001, R 4:30-7:10 pm

Students in this course will work in multidisciplinary teams to design a solution to a challenge or problem offered by two of Mason’s partners from the Northern Virginia business community: Northrup Grumman Corporation and the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority. Students will be supported in this project by a faculty instructor and a mentor from the participating partner. They will have opportunities to synthesize the knowledge and practices they have developed over the course of their undergraduate experience; to develop the skills and strategies necessary for working effectively in multidisciplinary teams; and to apply all of this as they work to solve a problem or challenge in professional environment. Work on the project will culminate with the public presentation of the team’s proposed solution, as well as a final report to be delivered to the participating business partner.

Expression in Video Games

Jan Allbeck, Section 001 MW 9am-10:15am

This course will examine video games and expression, including expression manifestation in color choice, lighting, animation, pacing, dialogue, environmental storytelling, and character design. We will also look at video games as a form of expression for both game designers and players. Finally, we will discuss the influence of society on video games and the influence of video games on society.

Sequencing the Sonnet

Martin Leigh Harrison, Section 005 MW 3pm-4:15pm

Go in search of a "classic love poem," and you'll likely discover a sonnet: the 14-line rhyming form made famous (in English) by Early Modern writers such as William Shakespeare. But where did this poetic form come from, and what has it been up to lately? In this course we'll examine the sonnet's literary and cultural contexts, from its medieval precursors to the present, gaining a better appreciation along the way for developments in material culture and the history of ideas. Students will investigate and present on topics ranging from to paper to portraiture, gardens to graveyards. Writing will consist of analyses, two response papers, and a bibliography.

Pompeii: A Window on Ancient Roman Art and Society

Christopher Gregg, Section 006 TR 1:30pm-2:45pm

Since its rediscovery over 200 years ago, the Roman city of Pompeii has fascinated the modern world. This minor Roman town, entombed by a volcanic eruption in AD 79, has fired the imagination of both scholars and artists. As an example of Roman civilization, Pompeii gives us a view into a past society that has had a tremendous impact on Western European and North American architecture, art, law and literature. This class will use the unparalleled physical remains of Pompei's art, architecture and infrastructure as well as primary Roman literary source material in translation to explore the complex urban and cultural environment of this ancient civilization. Class discussion, critical reading of sources, visual analysis, and the application of critical ideas will all play significant parts in our multi-disciplinary approach to interpreting this familiar yet foreign culture.

Comics: Text and Content

Jen Stevens, Section 007 TR 9am-10:15am

Also known as comic books, comic strips, sequential narrative, and/or graphic novels, comics are a vibrant art form that includes a wide variety of genres, styles, viewpoints, and topics. We'll start with Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics (a comic about comics), and then move on to a variety of book and web-based comics. We'll also discuss how comics interact with culture and vice versa. In addition to class readings and discussions, we'll have guest speakers from Mason and the local community come in to talk about how comics have influenced their own work. And in order to get a better understanding of the creative process behind comics, you'll make your own minicomic.

Theater and Major Social Shifts

Charles Leonard, Section 008 MW 12pm-1:15pm; Section 009 MW 1:30pm-2:45pm; Section 010 MW 3pm-4:15pm

This course focuses on the literature and production of theater by studying drama as a mirror of society. The development of drama in most cultures has a distinct relationship to changing social, political, historical, technological, and psychological issues of the time. We will explore theater's role as a banner indicating change, as well as being a vehicle for change. Our purpose is to develop new ways of seeing theater and gain new insights into the world by reading and seeing theater. A primary learning objective is that students can critically evaluate plays, both written and performed. Analysis will explore the subjective response and deconstruct the various elements of the script or production. Student involvement includes critical thinking, analysis, and class discussion. Additional readings may also be made available through Blackboard.

Visual Literacy for the Digital Arts

Hasani McIntosh, Section 011 TR 1:30-2:45p

This course explores diversity in the visual arts with a special focus on digital media and graphic novels. In exploring research topics related to animation, illustration and design, students critically examine issues in digital art and develop digital media assets and/or pitch original stories and designs.

Self, Other and Identity

John Riskind, Section 001 T 1:30pm-4:10pm

This course is aimed at understanding conceptions of the self, other, and identity in a social context and from a variety of psychological, cognitive neuroscience and sociological perspectives. It will take a multimedia approaching using a combination of assigned readings, films, short essay and thought papers, TED talks and other media to explore key topics related to self, identity and the construal and construction of social reality. Questions to be covered include: where does your self-knowledge, and understanding of your emotions, behavior and self-identity come from? Do you see yourself and the world as they actually are? What is nature of your social reality? Is it inherently true of is it socially constructed? Does anyone see oneself and others without subjective biases and errors? What are the effects of acquired social stereotypes and gender identities on well-being and happiness? What is happiness? What is the nature of a person's personality structure and how does it affect them and their behavior and the behavior of others?

Gender, Race, and Immigration

Mark Rudnicki, Section 002 TR 10:30am-11:45am

Identity politics has been a hotly debated topic for a number of years throughout many different fields. This course attempts to provide a philosophical foundation by exploring the construction and transformation of identity. We will pay particular attention to how identities are formed through the interplay of such concepts as the same or "the normal" and difference or otherness. Through the examination of select theoretical texts in the fields of psychoanalysis, feminism, postcolonial, critical race theory, we will build a framework with which we will interpret literary works that primarily address immigration, race, and gender as they relate to identity formation.

The Romantic Self: Identity in the Age of Revolution

Kristin Samuelian, Section 003 TR 12pm-1:15pm

This course looks at conceptions of selfhood from a period in European history when writers, philosophers, and political thinkers were becoming increasingly preoccupied with questions of what it meant to be an individual self as distinct from a communal or collective identity: the later eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, often referred to as the Romantic Period or the Age of Revolution. Through reading selections of fiction and philosophical essays by some major and some lesser-known eighteenth- and nineteenth-century writers including David Hume, William Godwin, Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Shelley, and Charlotte Bronte and writing essays both formal and informal, we will explore the origins of a concept of selfhood that remains the basis of most modern psychological and philosophical doctrines, from Freudian psychoanalysis and theories of personality to existentialism and beyond.

I Am Not Myself: Representations of Fragmented Selves

Tamara Harvey, Section 004 MW 1:30pm-2:45pm

In this course we consider representations of divided or multiplying selves in the literary and visual arts alongside important theories that characterize individuals as fragmented. We begin with the haunted or divided selves, turn to the intentional posturing evident in "selfies," and finish by considering more self-consciously political representation of selves pulled in different directions by personal and social forces but also in some ways healed through community and social activism.

Diversity, Inclusion and Wellbeing

Lauren Cattaneo, Section 005 TR 3:00pm-4:15pm

The increasing diversity of our society presents opportunities for synergy and resilience, even as it presents risks of exclusion and polarization. In this foundational course, students will immerse themselves in the rich diversity of the George Mason community in order to gain skills that facilitate inclusion and wellbeing. The class will create building blocks in understanding and navigating social identity at the individual and group levels, and will apply key concepts to contexts of interest. This class will prioritize experiential learning, in that exercises in class and assignments outside of class will allow students to learn through doing. Students will also learn through engaging in critical dialogue and course material (reading, podcasts, TED talks). In final projects, students will be guided in gathering information about diversity, inclusion and wellbeing outside the classroom, identifying goals for academic and professional growth.

College or Bust? How We Pay for College

Stephanie Foster, Section 001 MW 3pm-4:15pm

This inquiry-based course will explore the policies, practices, and impacts of how we pay for college. The course will be organized around questions such as: who goes to college and why; why does college cost so much; what role do the federal and state governments play; and how do institutional and state policies promote or hinder access, equity, and completion. The course may explore questions such as, What is in an institutional budget? Who pays for college sports? What are states doing to help historically disadvantaged minorities and low-income populations to get a college education? Students will learn to ask critical questions about the individual and societal outcomes of college financing, and consider alternative policies and practices from the US and in other countries. In this collaborative learning community, students will have the opportunity to work together to pursue these questions on multiple levels -- individual, societal, and global. Students will engage with various forms of scholarship, governmental and public sources of information.

Freedom

Ted Kinnaman, Section 003 TR 9am-10:15am

In this course we will examine the very complex but important concept of freedom. We will consider two very different, but related, issues. One concerns political and moral freedom: What is it? Is it good for people to be free, and if so, why? What would a genuinely free society look like? Here we will consider views from philosophers and economists. The second, distinct question is whether human beings have free will. This concerns the control a person has over her own actions. We will look at how this question has been answered both historically and more recently. We will also take a look at some contemporary psychological work on this question, with particular focus on drug addiction.

Local and Global Migrations

Shannon Fyfe, Section 004 MW 1:30pm-2:45pm

This course will focus on the migration of people both within and across national boundaries, which we will approach from historical, political, moral, and legal perspectives. We will begin by exploring broad philosophical concepts like justice, citizenship, and the idea of home. Next, students will critically examine the movement of people in the United States during the last century, tracing the political, economic, and social consequences of these population shifts. We will focus on urbanization and segregation. In the later part of the course, we turn to global concerns, and investigate forced migration due to economic insecurity, violence, and environmental catastrophe. Our final task will be to analyze state and collective responsibility for providing humanitarian assistance and/or adopting refugee policies.

Culture and Social Inequality

Blake Silver, Section 005 TR 3pm-4:15pm

How does culture shape inequality in our broader social landscape? How do symbolic boundaries, cultural resources, and identities shape the form this inequality takes? And what is the role of socialization, daily interactions, and discrimination in the production of social disparities? In responding to these questions, this course will examine the ways that inequality is produced and reproduced in daily life. Examining the context of the contemporary United States, students will explore key cultural mechanisms that influence the ways we make meaning of, contest, and reinforce social inequality. Throughout the semester, assigned readings and discussion topics will offer opportunities to explore the influence of cultural meanings and practices. Building from a focus on disparities by race, class, and gender, the course will expand to give students the opportunity to use a sociological lens to consider the relationship between culture and inequality in a range of social locations.

Markets and Morality

Virgil Storr, Section 006 MW 10:30am-11:45am

This seminar will explore key writings on the relationship between markets and morals. The course will also focus on a number of the critical debates the that have occupied political economists and moral philosophers over the years about the moral underpinnings of market societies, the moral nature of market activities, and the moral status of market outcomes. The goal of the class is to prepare students to understand and engage in the scholarly debates around these issues.

Race, Gender, and Culture in Disney's World

Sheri Ann Huerta, Section 007 MW 9am-10:15am

For the better part of the last century, the Walt Disney franchise has shaped perceptions of race, gender, and culture through its animated and live action movies, television shows, and theme parks. While each of these creations have been presented as an entertaining view of past events, they also reflected historical and social forces of the time that emphasized certain perspectives while silencing others. This course focuses on developing a socially aware and informed voice on issues of representations and misrepresentations in popular culture. How have these forms of entertainment perpetuated or challenged gender, racial, or cultural stereotypes over time? What factors contributed to their creation? We will explore how the history of these pop culture experiences have reflected and shaped public memory of historical events and provided a lens through which to interpret gender roles, relationships, and values over time. We will engage in thoughtful discussions of the issues of diversity and authentic depictions in Disney popular culture and how this is changing. We will discuss whether these forms of entertainment reflect or affect an individual sense of self. Throughout the course we will emphasize the development of an informed, responsible, and inclusive perspective that respects diversity and differences within our global communities. Weekly assignments will include viewing and thoughtfully engaging with films, TV shows, and other forms of cultural representations from Disney's World.

Framing the War on Terror: The Impact on Muslims and Muslim Americans

Maha Hilal, Section 008 M 4:30pm-7:10pm

In response to the terrorist attacks on 9/11, the United States government under former President Bush's leadership implemented a set of policies under the umbrella of the "War on Terror." The stated purpose of these policies was to fight Islamic extremism and more specifically, Al-Qaeda. Because of the aims and policies of that organization, the "War on Terror" has generally focused on Muslims both abroad and domestically. While former President Bush often reiterated that the "War on Terror" was not aimed at Muslims qua Muslims, notions of collective responsibility and racial logics have lead to the targeting of the Muslim community at large, because of their shared identity with the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks. Rather than, however, curbing back the War on Terror, President Obama perpetuated many of the same policies and now President Trump has not only escalated the "War on Terror," but utilized demonizing language to characterize Muslims domestically and across the globe. To understand the implications of the "War on Terror" on the Muslim and Muslim American community, this class will explore a range of counterterrorism policies, how the War on Terror has been framed, and the constructions of this community that's embedded within. This class will also highlight lived experiences of Muslims and Muslim Americans post 9/11 and how they make sense of their realities as targets of the "War on Terror." The goal of this course is to develop an understanding of how various policies couched under the War on Terror have had adverse consequences on Muslims and Muslim Americans and to learn more about how this group has responded to being targeted by the U.S. government.

Wealth and Poverty

Steven Pearlstein, Section 009 TR 10:30am-11:45am

In this seminar, we will explore wealth and poverty through different disciplines (literature, economics, politics, sociology, philosophy), different media (biography, non-fiction essays, journalism, novels, plays, movies) and the experience of different countries (England, Russia, the United States).  How are the wealthy different from the rest of us? Why are the poor poor, and how do we explain the persistence of poverty even in wealthy societies? Through history, how have the poor viewed the rich and the rich view the poor? What is the moral justification for great differences in wealth? How have views of social class changed?  Students will be required to write an essay answering one such question, drawing on the course readings as well as their own research and experiences.  Readings include Brideshead Revisited (Waugh), Behind the Beautiful Forevers (Boo), The Other America (Harrington), Grapes of Wrath (Steinbeck) and Bonfire of the Vanities (Wolfe).  Movies include “Remains of the Day, “The Cherry Orchard,” “There Will Be Blood,” “Slumdog Millionaire,” and “Wall Street.”

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Professor TBA, Section 001 TR 12pm-1:15pm

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The History of Science

James Trefil, Section 002 M 4:30pm-7:10pm

This course will trace the development of science from the construction of monuments like Stonehenge to the beginning of the twentieth century. No previous scientific knowledge will be presumed, and the major ideas of science will be developed in their historical context. The course will include readings from important historical texts, and students will be asked to develop and present topics related to the course subject matter.

The History of Emotion

Peter Stearns, Section 003 TR 12pm-1:15pm

This course focuses on the history of emotions, a rapidly growing field that seeks to contribute both to an understanding of the past and to interdisciplinary analysis of emotion itself. Key methodological and analytical issues in the field will be addressed, along with work (both existing and potential) on emotions such as love, shame, fear, and nostalgia. Coverage will focus on American patterns but with opportunities for comparison with other societies. Student participation will be emphasized, including recurrent discussion of why history seems to have undertaken an "emotional" turn and whether this is a desirable direction.

Technology and Identity

Zachary Schrag, Section 004 TR 1:30pm-2:45pm

We define ourselves by the tools we make, the tools we use, and the tools we reject. Individuals select consumer goods, communities deploy infrastructure, and whole nations seek glory through science, invention, and warfare. This course will explore the intersection of technology and identity in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in the United States and other nations. We will learn how people living today and previous generations made choices about three sets of technologies: vaccination; electrification of cities, homes, and farms; and aviation, with an emphasis on the role of the pilot. By learning this history, we can better understand the choices we ourselves face as individuals, communities, and nations.

George Mason in History and Memory

Rosemarie Zagarri, Section 005 MW 1:30pm-2:45pm

George Mason is often called the "Forgotten Founder" because his contributions to the founding of the United States are not well-known today. Like his friend and neighbor, George Washington, Mason was a wealthy Virginia planter and slaveowner. Like Thomas Jefferson, he was active in colonial politics and promoted the cause of revolution against Great Britain. Most importantly, in 1776 Mason authored Virginia's "Declaration of Rights" which became the basis for a Bill of Rights in many other states and in the US Constitution. In this course, we will explore Mason's family life at Gunston Hall, his political activities in service of the American Revolution, his opposition to the US Constitution, and his impact on the US Bill of Rights. We will also study the politics of memory in order to understand why Mason's reputation has been eclipsed by that of the other founding fathers and how it was revived in the twentieth century. As part of the class, students will visit Gunston Hall.

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Professor TBA, Section 006 TR 10:30am-11:45am

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From History to Performance

Chuck Leonard, Section 008 TR 12pm-1:15pm

This course will examine Elizabethan history, writers and the politics of the period, focusing on Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream." The culminating project will be construction of a performance piece, that reflects one of the specific aspects of Elizabeth I's situation. The class will take a dramaturgical approach, researching the play, the writer, the subject, and the context of the times and place where it was written. Our purpose is to develop new ways of seeing and comprehending history that uses theatre as a lens for understanding. Student involvement includes, but is not limited to, critical thinking, analysis, research, group work and class discussion. Additional required readings and videos will also be made available in library reserve, through Blackboard, or YouTube.

Slavery and the Founding of the United States

Randolph Scully, Section 009 TR 10:30am-11:45pm

In 1775, as North American colonial resistance to British imperial policy burst into open rebellion, the English writer Samuel Johnson posed an uncomfortable question for the American rebels: “How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of negroes?” The question still resonates today. How could the architects of a nation built on the assertion of a universal, natural right to liberty maintain a brutal system of bondage that ultimately denied such liberty to millions of men and women? In this course we will explore this deceptively simple question by studying the political, social, economic, and cultural history of slavery and race from the American Revolution into the 1850s. By examining individual lives, communities and migrations, political debates, economic production, and large structural transformations, we will seek to understand the complex ways in which the history of slavery was intertwined with the creation and growth of the new United States. 

Global Student Movements

Jennifer Ashley, Section 002 TR 12pm-1:15pm

Are young people inherently rebellious? This course explores the role that civically engaged students around the world have played in various historical, cultural, and political contexts in promoting social and political change. We begin the course with a discussion of some of the theoretical frameworks commonly used to analyze social movements. We will then work through a series of case studies to think through the emergence, development, and decline of student movements in particular spaces and historical moments. Through a discussion of cases such as the May events in France of 1968, the DREAMers, the Chilean student movement, the #RhodesMustFall and #FeesMustFall movements in South Africa, the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong, and the 2018 March for our Lives, we will consider the reasons that drive young people to become civically engaged, the resources and opportunities upon which these movements draw in order to further their causes, and the role of leadership in successful social and political change. In our readings and discussions, we will be attentive to the particular characteristics of student movements in order to consider questions such as: What advantages and disadvantages do students' liminal positions in-between childhood and adulthood have for effecting change? In what ways is the school a significant site from which to study social reproduction and social change? In what contexts and with which tactics have youth movements captured transgenerational support? Throughout the course, we will pay special attention to media as contested terrain for political struggle, and consider how the use of digital technology in today's student movements is similar to and different from media used in earlier social movements.

Reforming Justice, Re-imagining Community

Stacey Houston, Section 004 TR 9:00a-10:15a

The relationship between the American justice system and the communities in which they serve is one of the least harmonious relationships in society. There exists a tension between public safety and effective law enforcement that is embedded in the historical threads of this country. In this course, we will uncover the historical foundation of mass incarceration and the way in which it has contributed to the lack of legitimacy and trust in the justice system in American communities today. We will have a particular eye toward understanding how race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status have been central axes around which social control has been practiced by the justice system. At various points throughout the course, we will put ourselves in the shoes of justice system actors, community members, and reformers to understand the most important issues and envision a way forward. Whose responsibility is it to mend the relationship between the justice system and community?  Should the goal of reform be equality or equity? Is there even a way forward? These are questions we will consider as the semester progresses. Students will leave the course with concrete ideas about what should be done, and by which stakeholders, to reform justice system-community relationships. 

Peer Mentorship in Honors

John M. Woolsey, Section 001 F 10:30am-1:10pm

"Peer Mentorship in Honors" is a course co-taught by stakeholders and experts from across the University, Honors College Lead Mentors (enrolled in HNRS 361), and members of the Curriculum Development Team. Enrolled students will serve as a peer mentor in the Honors College, and receive training in community-based research and project management. Upon successful completion of the course, students will be eligible to apply to be an Honors College Lead Mentor (HNRS 361).

Media for Learning & Engagement

Kevin Clark, Section 002 MW 10:30am-11:45am

Students will explore how media and technology impacts community-based engagement and learning opportunities. Students will be introduced to the attributes of inclusive media and effective learning technologies. Students will design proposed technology and media enabled solutions that can be applied to engaging community-based efforts.

Coping with the Internet

Alexander Monea, Section 001 W 7:20pm-10pm

This course will examine the effects of internet technologies on our everyday lives and look to develop coping strategies so that we can become more intentional about how we use the internet. Students will engage humanities and social science research on internet platforms, social media, smartphones, Internet of Things, logistics, web services and data storage. They will learn about issues ranging from trolling to surveillance to advertising to globalization to the environmental impacts of internet technologies. Along the way, students will learn critical strategies for obfuscating their data, managing their privacy settings, controlling their attention, and reducing their carbon footprint.

Cybernetics and AI

Dean Taciuch, Section 002 TR 10:30am-11:45am

The course will begin with the concept of Cybernetics, popularized by Norbert Wiener's Human Use of Human Beings, a book he wrote (in 1950) specifically to explain cybernetics to the interested non-expert. Cybernetics, as Wiener and the first generation of computer engineers defined it, is the science of control and communication in machines, animals, and human beings. Cybernetics gave us the concepts of cyberspace and the cybernetic organism - the cyborg. We will continue this exploration by addressing the idea of a technological singularity and the risks and benefits of Artificial Intelligence. 

Throughout this course, we will address technology, in particular the idea of cybernetics and AI, from the perspectives of of a wide range of disciplines including engineering, statistical mechanics, mathematics, linguistics, sociology, psychology, neuroscience, biology, and philosophy. The field of cybernetics (the topic of our first text) is inherently interdisciplinary, born as it was from the fields of engineering and mathematics combined with biology, neuroscience, and sociology.

Energy and Culture Research Seminar

Richard Todd Stafford, Section 003 F 10:30am-1:10pm

Students in the Energy and Culture Research Seminar will develop and undertake an original research project concerning the connections between energy sources and culture. During the first part of the course, we will read several works that demonstrate the range of different approaches to researching the intersection of energy and culture. Then, students will select topics, develop research questions, engage with appropriate evidence, and then present the results of their research to the whole class. Our emphasis will be how questions about energy and culture require a multidisciplinary and multiperspectival approach.

Peer Mentorship in Honors

John M. Woolsey, Section 001 F 10:30am-1:10pm

This course is co-taught by stakeholders and experts from across the University, Honors College Peer Mentors (enrolled in HNRS 261) Honors College Lead Mentors (enrolled in HNRS 361), and members of the Curriculum Development Team. Enrolled students will serve as a peer mentor in the Honors College, and receive training in community-based research and project management. Students are eligible to apply to be an Honors College Lead Mentor (HNRS 361) after taking HNRS 261 "Peer Mentorship in Honors."

Multidisciplinary Research and Creative Projects Seminar

Richard Todd Stafford, Section 002 TR 9am-10:15am

Students in the Multidisciplinary Research and Creative Projects Seminar will work with faculty, classmates, and mentors through the process of developing an individually-designed research or creative project. This class is open to students of all majors who seek to develop a substantial or original product to put forward for consideration to some audience outside of our classroom. Because of the wide differences between disciplines concerning what counts as "substantial" or "original," as well as what it means to put work forward for consideration, some aspects of the research or creative process and/or product are expected to vary. However, all students will be expected to try out some ways of engaging with their project that lead them beyond their standard disciplinary processes or professional training. Throughout the process of developing your individual projects, the class will work together to pursue the insights that emerge from a consideration of research and creative practices across disciplinary and professional boundaries. This class is especially well-suited for students who seek to begin exploring a new research question or creative project outside of their regular coursework; who would like to continue pursuing a research question or creative project that emerged in a prior class; who are preparing to undertake a significant research project in their major; who are developing a research proposal (for instance for an OSCAR grant or fellowship); who are concurrently enrolled in an individualized study, a thesis or capstone course in the major; or who are currently undertaking a funded OSCAR project.