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AMERICAN STUDIES EXTENDED UNIVERSITY COURSE DESCRIPTIONS - Spring 2011 EXTENDED UNIVERSITY WEST SIDE COURSES - call 925-8669 for locations 182.036 Intro to Environment, Science & Tech T 11:00 - 1:30 Martin 16 Weeks Arts & Sciences group: Social Science / Core Curriculum: Social Science This is an introduction to American attitudes toward nature, science, technology and the impacts of those attitudes on built and natural environments regionally, nationally and globally. This course covers the period from World War II to the present, focusing on the environmental effects of such diverse scientific and technological products as chemical pesticides, nuclear power, and television. More specifically, this course will consider: In this course we will look at current environmental issues, delving into contentious topics and passionate debates, while asking difficult questions. How does consumerism impact the environment, and how much stuff do we really need? Is wilderness a necessity or a luxury? Should an endangered fish have water rights? Are pesticides giving us cancer? We'll consider debates within the scientific community, explore conflicts between developers and environmentalists, and look at the promise and limitations of technological solutions. 186.036 Intro to Southwest Studies R 11:00 - 1:30 Eleshuk-Roybal 16 Weeks Arts & Sciences group: Humanities/ Core Curriculum: Humanities Provides both an introduction to the complex history and culture of the southwestern United States and a demonstration of the possibilities of the interdisciplinary study of regional American culture. It is multicultural in content and multidisciplinary in methodology. Examines cross-cultural relationships among the peoples of the Southwest within the framework of their expressions and experiences in art, culture, religion, and social and political economy. More specifically, this course will consider: What is this place we call the Southwest? How is it defined- geographically, politically, and culturally? Who are the people that live there? How have their lives been transformed by social and historical forces into the cultures we see today? At the same time, how have these same groups retained their traditions, customs, and beliefs in response to change? This course will explore contemporary Southwestern cultures, their multiple voices and culture expressions, using an interdisciplinary approach that draws from geography, anthropology, history, literature, and the arts. 320.030 Sustainability in America F 10:00 - 3:00 Marcum *2nd Eight weeks Arts & Sciences group: Social Science More than 150 years ago the poet and naturalist Henry David Thoreau wrote: "Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind." Thoreau's critique of consumption and the "American way of Life" has echoed From the Transcendentalist movement of his own time to the counter-culture of the 1960s, to contemporary movements for environmental sustainability such as the food movement. This course examines the discourses and practices of sustainability in the contemporary United States through an exploration of how notions of sustainability have taken shape in American culture and thought over time. Taking seriously Thoreau's injunction to "Simplify, simplify, simplify," means asking how the practice of sustainability might alter our understandings of American culture and life while examining how embedded notions of individualism and freedom through consumption have both taken root in American culture, and at the same time, been challenged through various forms of cultural production and activism. Course texts include Vandana Shiva's Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature and Knowledge and American Earth: Environmental Writing Since Thoreau. Contact Andrew Marcum at amarcum@unm.edu for more information. 340.011 Urban Legends F 10:00 - 3:00 McCormack *1st Eight weeks Arts and Sciences group: Humanities This course is an exploration of urban legends in contemporary culture. We will explore recurring themes and means of transmission, as well as the cultural meanings and interpretations that have been ascribed to them. Our readings and discussions will examine the underlying components of these stories, including issues of race, class, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and ideology. 340.012 American Popular Culture F 10:00 - 3:00 Dewan *1st Eight weeks Arts & Sciences group: Humanities Popular Culture is a ubiquitous term that may be narrowly defined as the existing aspects of shared culture that encompass the most immediate and contemporary elements in our lives. In this course, we will critically examine the impact and role of popular culture in 21st century American life, including the realms of advertising, television, film, music, the internet, sports, and video games. Since these spheres penetrate nearly all aspects of our lives, learning how to critically think, speak, and write about them is an essential tool in navigating through the Information Age. This course is designed to teach students how to decipher the symbols and underlying meanings in popular culture, including its relationship to race, gender, and national identities. 340.013 Age & Sex in America W 10:00 - 3:00 Gravagne *1st Eight Weeks Arts & Sciences group: Humanities What stories are being told about aging in American culture today? How do these stories both reinforce and resist the multiple and often invisible practices of ageism? In what ways do gender, class, race, and ethnicity inflect these stories? What might be the consequences of telling these stories differently? In this course, we attempt to answer these questions by exploring cultural representations of aging in contemporary movies such as "Gran Torino," "Up," "Something's Gotta Give," and "Young @ Heart," literature such as Endnotes and To Love What Is, and TV programs such as "South Park," "Golden Girls," and "30 Rock." By critiquing the stories these movies, books, and programs tell, we can learn to understand these stories differently and find other ways to age. 340.031 UFO's in America F 10:00 - 3:00 Dewan *2nd Eight weeks Arts & Sciences group: Humanities This course traces the emergence and continued subsistence of the UFO phenomenon in American culture, from its origins in the Cold War era to its prosperousness in the Internet Age. In dealing with topics such as contemporary folk traditions, Cold War paranoia, conspiracy culture, and new religious movements, this course will teach students to critically examine how contemporary belief systems are formulated and integrated into popular culture, as well as how these beliefs inhabit "battlegrounds" of meaning between modern rationalist and quasi-religious ideologies. 340.032 Televising Citizenship F 10:00 - 3:00 Cattrell *2nd Eight Weeks Arts & Sciences group: Humanities Within this course, we will examine the various ways in which American citizenship and identity are portrayed on and constructed through contemporary American TV programs. We'll focus on the intersections of race, class, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality, and look at the way in which these intersections are negotiated in popular TV programs. Throughout the semester, we'll study a variety of TV programs, including sci fi dramas, crime dramas, sit coms, talk shows, and soap operas. For your final project in this course, you will be expected to develop a paper and presentation based on the TV series of your choice. 356.030 Art & Politics of Native America M 10:00 - 3:00 Denetdale *2nd Eight Weeks Arts & Sciences group: Humanities This course introduces students to the creative cultural expressions of Native America, including storytelling, autobiography, art, and music. In the 1960s, a resurgence of Native cultural expressions reflected a new native critical consciousness. Native American poets, writers, artists, and musicians insisted upon the acknowledgement of painful histories and painted visions of a future for Native Peoples, which must include land and sovereignty. Drawing upon a variety of mediums, this course examines the role of creative expressions in shaping Native identities - individual, collective, and national. Some of the topics we explore include history and culture; colonization and decolonization; gender and two-spirit; and land, tribal nations and concepts of sovereignty. Online Courses 182.004 Intro to Environment, Science & Tech Richter 182.005 Intro to Environment, Science & Tech Richter 182.006 Intro to Environment, Science & Tech Juhasz-Wood 182.007 Intro to Environment, Science & Tech Berger Arts & Sciences group: Social Science / Core Curriculum: Social Science This is an introduction to American attitudes toward nature, science, technology and the impacts of those attitudes on built and natural environments regionally, nationally and globally. This course covers the period from World War II to the present, focusing on the environmental effects of such diverse scientific and technological products as chemical pesticides, nuclear power, and television. More specifically, this course will consider: In this course we will look at current environmental issues, delving into contentious topics and passionate debates, while asking difficult questions. How does consumerism impact the environment, and how much stuff do we really need? Is wilderness a necessity or a luxury? Should an endangered fish have water rights? Are pesticides giving us cancer? We'll consider debates within the scientific community, explore conflicts between developers and environmentalists, and look at the promise and limitations of technological solutions. For more information, special technology fees and computer requirements, please go to the EU Website at eu.unm.edu 185.005 Intro to Race/Class/Ethnicity Matjaka 185.006 Intro to Race/Class/Ethnicity Olorunsiwa 185.007 Intro to Race/Class/Ethnicity Sanchez 185.008 Intro to Race/Class/Ethnicity Staff Arts & Sciences group: Social Sciences/Core Curriculum: Social Sciences This is an interdisciplinary introduction to the issues, and social and cultural formation of race, class and ethnicity in American life and society. The course is designed to foster an appreciation of the heterogeneity of experience in American life. The course is focused on the study of cross-cultural group relations. More specifically, this course will consider: Who are you? For most of us, self-description includes our race, class, and ethnicity, but what do these terms mean? Are these terms fixed and unchanging? This course introduces the terms, race, class and ethnicity and offers a critical discussion of their historical meaning and their meaning in modern society. We will pay attention to cross-cultural and interdisciplinary themes within these definitions. 186.006 Intro to Southwest Studies Montaņez Arts & Sciences group: Humanities/ Core Curriculum: Humanities Provides both an introduction to the complex history and culture of the southwestern United States and a demonstration of the possibilities of the interdisciplinary study of regional American culture. It is multicultural in content and multidisciplinary in methodology. Examines cross-cultural relationships among the peoples of the Southwest within the framework of their expressions and experiences in art, culture, religion, and social and political economy. More specifically, this course will consider: What is this place we call the Southwest? How is it defined- geographically, politically, and culturally? Who are the people that live there? How have their lives been transformed by social and historical forces into the cultures we see today? At the same time, how have these same groups retained their traditions, customs, and beliefs in response to change? This course will explore contemporary Southwestern cultures, their multiple voices and culture expressions, using an interdisciplinary approach that draws from geography, anthropology, history, literature, and the arts. 310D.021 Women Artists of the American West MW 7:00-8:00 Ressler Arts & Sciences group: Fine Arts (On-line course - Required online chat: Monday and Wednesday evenings, 7-8pm) This course is taught entirely on the Internet. It presents the vital contributions that women have made to the visual art and history of the American West and focuses on women artists who are living or have lived west of the Mississippi River during the 19th- and 20th-centuries. Students will study a broad range of subjects that include Native American Potters, Women on the Pacific Rim, Lesbian Photography, and Quilt making in New Mexico. Additional historical readings introduce the four course themes: Community, Identity, Spirituality, and Locality. Designed to develop a learning community, students will learn how to extend discussion outside the conventional classroom by interacting in wholly online (Internet) chat rooms and other discussion forums. Projects include weekly writings and independent written or visual research. Highlights include guest lectures, an optional field trip, and CD-ROM. For more information on special technology fees and computer requirements, please go to the EU Website at eu.unm.edu
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