Cultural Formations
6 Hours
Note: GEC students will no longer be able to enroll in CF, CFA or CFB courses effective Fall 2016. Students can satisfy the Cultural Formations requirement by enrolling in any course that carries Ways of Knowing credit, except for KNW 2000 special topics courses. A list of available KNW courses can be found here.
About Cultural Formations:
Cultural Formations (CF, CFA, CFB) courses allow students the opportunity to study interdisciplinary approaches to knowledge within the humanities and the social sciences, and the natural sciences when related to either of these other two areas of knowledge. CF courses value new and unusual combinations of study and are intended to encourage faculty innovation and creativity.
CF courses go beyond disciplinary training to develop awareness of the complex formations of values, traditions, and institutions that constitute cultures, and to examine the paradoxes such formations pose. These courses have three major purposes: 1) to introduce students to broad maps of human culture and to the fact that they, as the heirs of all that has gone before, need to assess a long past and a global present; 2) to reveal the interrelatedness of problems of knowledge amid shifting intellectual boundaries; and 3) to make points of reference along those boundaries and so begin to form intellectual communities that embrace the varied schools and disciplines at SMU.
Cultural Formation Requirements:
CF courses must be interdisciplinary. These courses explore how the approaches and materials of more than one discipline can be brought to bear on the study of complex social, cultural, and institutional formations. Teaching in teams is strongly encouraged to realize these interdisciplinary goals. Courses must be broad in scope – whether historically over time or more immediately in the contemporary world. They may include emphasis on global awareness, interculturalism, and ethnic diversities as well as engage problems of ethics and value. CF courses must be critical in approach, writing-intensive, and focus on primary sources.
CF courses must be taken at SMU, either on the Dallas campus, at SMU-in-Taos, or through the Study Abroad International Programs. Courses transferred from other institutions may not receive CF credit under any circumstances. CF credit will only be given for courses taken at SMU that bear the CF, CFA, or CFB prefix.
Cultural Formations may also carry departmental co-listings; if the course is taken with the departmental number, it will not be given Cultural Formations credit. Similarly, a course taken with a CF number will not also count as a departmental course. Please note that the departmental co-listing of a CF course may NOT receive Perspectives credit. Cultural Formations and Perspectives are mutually-exclusive categories; one cannot count for the other.
Students must complete two CF courses between their sophomore and senior years.
NOTE: Courses cross-listed with CF, CFA, and CFB courses may not fulfill any of the Perspectives requirements. Courses marked with an asterisk (*) fulfill the Human Diversity requirement including cross-listed sections.
*CF 3300 (ANTH 3300). Race, Gender, and Culture in the African Diaspora: A comparative analysis of the historical, economic, social, and cultural experiences of peoples of African descent in societies in the Western hemisphere.
CF 3302 (ENGL 3329, MDVL 3329). The World of King Arthur. This course will investigate Britain’s greatest native hero and one of the world’s most compelling story stocks: the legend of King Arthur and the Round Table. This course will explore the early Arthurian materials in chronicle, history, archaeology, and folklore, as well as the later romance, epic, and artistic traditions.
CF 3303 (PLSC 3387). Political Geography. This course examines topics in international political rivalries within the nation-state system. Major emphasis will be given to the adaptations within that system since 1850 for spatial distributions of physical terrain, populations, economic resources and activities, and political and social divisions.
CF 3304. France-Amérique Between the World Wars: Making a New Culture. This course will explore the political, economic, ideological, cultural relationships and exchanges between France and America during the Interwar period and their impact on the modeling of our contemporary world.
CF 3305 (ENGL 3383). Literary Executions: Imagination and Capital Punishment. This course studies the literary treatment, in different forms and periods, of capital punishment. Its aim is to locate a social issue of continuing importance within literary traditions that permit a different kind of analysis from that given in moral, social, and legal discourse. The literary forms include drama, lyric, novel, and biography; the periods of history range from the English Reformation and the Renaissance to the English Civil War, the French Revolution, and contemporary America. The course emphasis falls upon literary techniques of imaginative participation and distancing.
*CF 3306 (HIST 3363). The Holocaust. This course examines the destruction of the European Jews emerging from pre-World War I anti-Semitism and Nazi racism. It considers Jewish responses to genocide, behavior of bystanders, and possibilities of rescue.
CF 3307 (PHIL 3374). Philosophy of Law. This course is both a study of our contemporary legal system and an exploration of the three predominant theories of the nature of law – natural law, positivism, and legal realism/critical legal studies. It examines what claims, if any, our system has to legitimacy based on a consistent, underlying philosophy.
CF 3308 (PHIL 3363). Aesthetic Experience and Judgment. This course examines basic questions in the understanding and appreciation of art: What is beauty? What is art? What characteristics make something a good work of art? What is the correct way to interpret the meaning of a work of art? Are there ways to establish or prove that something is beautiful or that a work of art is good? Some issues pertaining to particular art forms, such as music and literature, will also be examined. Classical writers such as Plato, Aristotle, Hume, Kant, and Nietzsche will be discussed, as well as contemporary authors.
CF 3309 (HIST 3306). Colony to Empire: U.S. Diplomacy, 1789 to 1941. This course begins with the diplomacy of the American Revolution and ends with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. It will examine the expansionist tendencies of early American foreign policy, Indian removal, the Mexican War, and the relationship between continental expansion (“Manifest Destiny”) and the crisis over slavery. It will also address the movement toward an overseas empire in the Caribbean and the Asian Pacific, climaxing with the war against Spain and the Open Door. Policy constitutes the next unit of study. The issues surrounding American involvement in the two world wars are the chief concerns of the final portion of the course.
*CF 3310 (HIST 3326). The Venture of Islam. A survey of Islamic civilization from Muhammad to the modern era through readings in Islamic history and society, arts and letters, science and philosophy, and the legal order to present a broad picture of the dynamics and achievements of Muslim civilization.
*CF 3311 (HIST 3316). History of Sex in America: An Introduction. This course will test the hypothesis that gender and sexuality are constructed categories. Readings in anthropology, history, literary criticism, and psychiatry will be utilized.
CF 3312 (HIST 3368). Warfare in the Modern World. This course explores the nature, origins, and evolution of the phenomenon of total war from the late democratic and industrial revolutions of the late 18th and early 19th centuries through World War II, giving particular emphasis to questions of doctrine and theory; problems of organization and command; and the scientific, technological, and psychological dimensions as well as the impact on modern culture.
CF 3313 (HIST 3358). The Renaissance. A history of culture in the Renaissance from the perspective of advances in scholarship and science and, above all, in appreciation of social and political contexts.
CF 3314 (HIST 3376). Social and Intellectual History of Europe. This course will examine the intellectual in modern European society. It will explore major intellectual and social issues raised by and affecting a number of figures instrumental in shaping the European world of the 19th and 20th centuries. In a fundamental sense, however, the themes developed will be outside time and place. Consequently, they should interest those concerned with the relationship of their values and ideas to the society in which they live today.
*CF 3315 (HIST 3387). Asia and the West. Goods, ideas, religions, artistic styles, technologies, soldiers, and diseases have long traveled between East and West. Scholarship, primary sources, literature, and film illuminate the material and ideological effects of the exchanges.
CF 3316 (RELI 3318). The Hero in the Bible and the Ancient Near East. An examination of the concepts of the hero in the literatures of ancient Mesopotamia, Canaan, and Israel, with special attention to the nature of traditional narrative and to the relationship between the hero, society, and the self.
*CF 3317 (HIST 3301, HRTS 3301). Human Rights: America’s Dilemma. The study of human rights requires intellectual history and moral courage, for no nation or society in human history has been totally innocent of human rights abuses. This course will examine certain violations of human rights within their historical contexts and will also focus on America’s human rights record, with regard to its own policies and its relationship to human rights violations in other countries. Attention will also be given to the evolution of both civil and human rights as entities within global political thought and practice.
*CF 3318 (HIST 3305). The Hispanos of New Mexico, 1848-Present. History of the Mexican-American subculture of New Mexico, with a brief overview of the Indian, Spanish, and Mexican periods, so that events, after formal U.S. possession in 1848, are seen in context. The course, however, focuses on the era after the Mexican Cession and stresses the indigenous background of the “Indo-Hispanos.”
*CF 3319 (ANTH 3327). Culture Change and Globalization: Social Science Perspectives. Introduction to anthropological perspectives on global transformations: world economic integration, Third World development and sociocultural change, ethnic resurgence and nationalism, population migration, and changes in women’s roles and statuses.
*CF 3320 (HIST 3308). History of Hispanics in the U.S. Through Film. In this course, selected events and developments in the histories of Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cuban Americans, and other Latinos are examined, as depicted in film, video, and television. The objective is to understand how these powerful media have shaped society’s view of Hispanic participation in the history of the United States. While learning to recognize distortions and stereotypes, students will also learn to recognize positive depictions of Latino history.
CF 3321 (MDVL 3321). The Birth of the Individual. This course examines several basic notions pertaining to selfhood, including consciousness, cognition, motivation, personal identity, and decision, as found in medieval texts.
*CF 3322 (HIST 3329). Women in Early Modern Europe. A study of the influence of women in European society and intellectual movements from the Renaissance through the French Revolution.
*CF 3323 (THEA 4381, 4382, 4383, or 4384). Gender in Performance (Studies in Theatre, Drama, and Performance). This course will explore and discuss performed gender through historical periods and contemporary theatre. Students will be expected to have a high level of participation and will be assigned projects that add to class dynamics and challenge “traditional” thinking about gender stereotypes in dramatic literature, history, and performance.
CF 3324. An Archaeology of Values: The Self and Ethics From Kant to Baudrillard. Following a line of writers from Kant to Freud to Baudrillard, the course explores the rocky development of the self in relation to history, economic and moral values, and rapidly transforming social relations in the modern period.
*CF 3325 (HIST 3355). Class and Gender in Ancient Society. An examination of class and gender in the ancient world with special emphases on changing definitions of masculinity and femininity in Greek and Roman culture and the position, rights, and interaction of different groups (e.g., free and slave, citizen and foreigner, soldier and civilian).
CF 3326. Utopia: Voyage Into a Possible Future. Through the study of major literary works on the topic of social ideals and communal experiments, this course focuses on the value systems and the social realities these works reflect.
CF 3327 (HIST 3373). Science, Religion, and Magic in Early Modern England. This course studies the interaction between three ways of thinking about nature and the place of human beings within nature – science, magic, and religion. Early modern England is the focus of this course because all three ways of thinking are prevalent, contested, and can be set in a rich cultural context. Some of the great figures of English science, like Robert Boyle and Isaac Newton, were practicing alchemists. Others, like Francis Bacon, looked to the new science as a way to prepare for the Second Coming of Christ. The religious divisions of the English Reformation and the Civil Wars brought about political dissension and produced many competing views of nature and society.
CF 3328 (HIST 3374). Diplomacy in Europe: Napoleon to the European Union. This course examines the evolution of the European state system and the idea of “Europe” from the post-Napoleonic settlement of 1815 through the end of the Cold War and the creation of the European Union. Some themes considered are the changing art of diplomacy, the relationship of domestic structure to foreign policy, the impact of war, the role of ideology, technological change, economics, and the expansion of European great power politics to a worldwide framework.
CF 3329 The Mathematical Experience. The variety of mathematical experience presented through discussion of its substance, its history, its philosophy, and how mathematical knowledge is elicited. The course will focus on questions regarding the roles of proof, rigor, and institution in mathematics and the limits and applicability of mathematical knowledge.
CF 3330 (HIST 3391). From Pew to Bleacher: American Culture and Institutions. This course introduces students to American culture and civilization. The course considers the formation of five sets of cultural institutions that have shaped American life: the Church; print culture; museums, galleries, and libraries; theatre, Hollywood, and television; and amateur and professional sports. Students will read autobiographies, novels, and synthetic histories; they will view Hollywood movies, MTV excerpts, and sporting events; and they will visit museums, fairs, and parks in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Students will emerge from the course with an understanding of the central features in the formation of culture in 19th- and 20th-century America.
CF 3331 (RELI 3305). Religion as Story. An interpretation of stories as modes of religious discernment as well as means of religious communication. Special attention is given to selected narrative forms such as myth, fairy tale, novel, and autobiography.
*CF 3332 (RELI 3321). Religion and the Holocaust. A study of responses to the Holocaust by Jews and Christians. The course will begin with an overview of the history of the Holocaust as it affected the Jewish communities of Central and Eastern Europe. Readings will include personal memoirs of survivors of ghettos, concentration camps, and Nazi Germany. Postwar responses will include questions of faith after the Holocaust. Christian responsibility for modern anti-Semitism, the impact of the Holocaust on the creation of the State of Israel and Middle East politics today, and postwar relations between Jews and Germans will be considered.
CF 3333. Clash of Cultures, 1450-1850. This course is an examination of how the global equilibrium of 1450 gave way to a clash of cultures and eventual European domination. The Western Church was reformed; business grew; new states were created; families were uprooted. Colonialism, modern warfare, nationalism, and Marxism appeared on the world stage.
CF 3334 (ANTH 3334). Fantastic Archaeology and Pseudoscience: Lost Tribes, Sunken Continents, Ancient Astronauts, and Other Strange Ideas About the Past. Did ancient astronauts visit the Earth? Are there secrets of the Maya calendar that archaeologists aren’t revealing? Is creation a scientific alternative to evolution of humanity? This course investigates these and other claims about our past, and how archaeologists respond to them.
CF 3335 (WL 3335, HIST 3335). One King, One Law: France 1500-1789. This course studies the culture of France through its history and literature. It emphasizes the historical developments, ideas, and literary texts that define the period and illuminate both French classicism and Absolutism. The course focuses on the early modern period because then France both set cultural tone and made significant contributions to the transformation of Western civilization.
CF 3336 (HIST 3397). Modernity and the Crises of Identity: The Reorientation of the West. Drawing on the works of major intellectuals and artists, this course explores crises of identity in Western culture during the decades prior to World War I.
CF 3337 Nuclear Physics and Society. How do applications of nuclear physics affect society? Topics include nuclear weapons and proliferation, nuclear power generation, and nuclear waste management – issues relevant to current public-policy challenges.
*CF 3338. Defining the Southwest: From the Alamo to Hollywood. An interdisciplinary seminar designed to introduce students to the idea of regionalism in American life, to identify the distinctive features that make the Southwest a region, and to suggest the variety of ways in which different disciplines understand the regional distinctiveness of the Southwest.
*CF 3339 (RELI 3365). Understanding the Self: East and West. This course provides an examination of several basic notions pertaining to selfhood, including consciousness, cognition, motivation, personal identity, and decision, as found in Eastern and Western sources.
CF 3340 (MDVL 3327). The Unicorn: Understanding Varieties of the Truth in the Middle Ages. As moderns, we make distinctions between what we see as verifiable reality (history) and what we see as created, imaginative reality (fiction). This course investigates the question of how history and fiction were perceived in the Middle Ages.
CF 3341 (PHIL 3362). Creativity, Discovery, and Science. This course considers central issues in the history and philosophy of science with a special emphasis on the nature of creativity and discover in scientific thought. General questions are: what is science, and what is the nature of scientific method? What is the nature of evidence and explanation in science? The course will address in some detail the question of how new ideas- such as theories and problem solutions – are produced and assessed in scientific thinking. Is creativity essentially a random or blind process, or is the rule governed in some way? What is the nature of a scientific discovery? This course will combine literature in the history and philosophy of science together with psychological literature on the nature of creativity to answer these and other questions. No previous coursework in science is required, but students with some science background will be well equipped to appreciate the relevant issues.
CF 3342 (PHIL 3371). Social and Political Philosophy. This course will examine some of the basic questions in these fields, and the most important answers that have been given to them. Topics may vary, but typical questions include the following: What forms of government are most reasonable and morally defensible? Are citizens in a modern state normally obligated to obey the law? What is justice, and how might it be embodied in a system of government? Are there such things as ‘natural rights’ and how do we know about them? What is the basis for saying that we have rights to freedom of speech and religion? When, if ever, is it legitimate for a state to go to war? These questions have been asked since antiquity, and we will be looking at the important answers that have been given to them since then.
*CF 3343 (RELI 3375). Wives, Lovers, Mothers, Queens: Expressions of the Feminine Divine in World Religions and Culture. This course is a historical and cross-cultural overview of the relationship between feminine and religious cultural expressions through comparative examinations and analyses of various goddess figures in world religions.
*CF 3344 (RELI 3376). Constructions of Gender: Sexuality and the Family in South Asian Religions. This course will provide a comprehensive historical overview of gender issues as represented in the great textual traditions of South Asia. These categories include Vedic materials, medical literature, treatises on law and sexual behavior, and texts that outline the great debates over questions of gender identity and salvation preserved in certain Jaina and Buddhist materials. To make these classical texts more relevant, readings in recent anthropological studies of religion will also be included to enable the student to trace recurring themes, images, and symbols. This will allow the student to gain a sense of the continuity of traditions and attitudes as well as innovation and contemporary variants.
CF 3345 (ENGL 3374). Literature of Religious Reflection. This course will examine issues of faith and doubt in British and American literature, drawn from texts reflecting Christian humanism, secular rationalism, individualistic romantic faith, scientific modernism, and other modern alternatives.
*CF 3346 (RELI 3352). Love and Death in Ancient Mythology. This course presents an exploration of love and death in the mythologies of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Canaan, Greece, and India. The interaction of these twin themes will be pursued as a key to the religious and philosophical perspectives of these ancient peoples. The significance of ancient mythology for modern reflection will be a central concern throughout the course.
*CF 3347 (WL 3363, WS 3347). Figuring the Feminine. The feminist inquiry of France from the Middle Ages to the present. The course introduces students to a large body of French texts (in translation) by and about women that bear witness to women’s struggle for civil, social, and political adulthood. Contemporary feminist theory and feminist action in France constitute an attempt to rethink the very terms and the goals of human enterprise.
CF 3348. 21st Century Property Issues. Not a course in “how to do law” but a study of how (and how well) law and economics, history and philosophy do in resolving current property issues ranging from fighting over Barry Bonds’ baseball, to selling human organs. Substantial to decisions and law journal articles.
*CF 3349 (WL 3349, HIST 3392). The African Diaspora: Literature and History of Black Liberation. Black literature played an important role in bringing on the collapse of the European colonial order, and it remains a major force in the struggle against neocolonialism today. This course explores links between literature and politics, literature and history, thought and action in 20th-century Africa, the Caribbean, and North America.
CF 3350. Introduction to Media Literacy: Semiotics and the Myths of Our Time. Society is a complex social text. We are bombarded daily with countless intertwining messages, in many different languages, some of them verbal, most not. Only some enter our awareness, yet all affect the way we think of ourselves and the world. The students will learn how to read a variety of verbal and nonverbal languages and texts, from advertising to network news, and from fashion and cuisine to sitcoms and gender roles.
CF 3351 (MDVL 3351). The Pilgrimage: Images of Medieval Culture. This course presents an exploration of the medieval world through one of its own literal and metaphorical images. Moving from Jerusalem, the earthly and heavenly city, students set out through time and space on a pilgrimage to Constantinople, the exotic empire of New Rome. From there, they travel to Rome itself and flow across the map of Europe on the pilgrimage roads of the Middle Ages, investigating the pleasures of the way: the music, art, monuments, and literature of that thousand years of human experience called the Middle Ages.
*CF 3352 (MDVL 3352). Ideas and Ideals of Gender in the Middle Ages. This team-taught course will focus on the status of women in the Middle Ages, the emergence of sacred and secular law and ideology regarding women, and the impact of ideas regarding the feminine on the development of (mostly) Western thought.
CF 3353 (MDVL 3353). Medieval Ideas. The goal of this course is to present some of the classic achievements of the medieval mind, focusing on developments of continuing interest; where advisable, comparisons and contrasts will be drawn with methods of thinking and solving problems in use in later times. While the main focus will be on Medieval Europe and the adjacent Muslim world, wherever possible, students’ attention will be drawn to developments in other culture areas.
CF 3354 (THEA 4351). Historical Cultures Within Theatrical Design. Using the elements of design, the course will focus on the exploration of political, social, economic, and artistic influences of various cultures in history, and how the designer uses this information to create a theatrical production, film, or opera.
CF 3356 (RELI 3337). Christianity and American Public Life. The objectives of this course include the following: 1) to acquaint students with some recent criticisms of the dangers of individualism permeating American understanding and life; 2) to propose the communitarian dimensions of human existence from the Christian perspective; and 3) to help students enter more critically into the dialogue about the role of religion in pluralistic contemporary American society.
CF 3357 (RELI 3317). Human Meaning and Value in Personal Life. This course explores the two positive marks of a productive life – love and work – and the two threats to an abundant life – suffering and death.
*CF 3358. Culture of Oaxaca: A Sense of Place. Learning adventure in Oaxaca: exploration of multilayered cultural history through field trips to artists’ workshops, museums, archaeological sites, and religious fiestas. Focus on art, art history, folklore, and religion.
*CF 3359 (ENGL 3359). American Narratives of Discovery. This course focuses on the generic process of culture and integrates tools and methods from anthropology, philosophy, geography, history, and literature. It engages value issues that are both aesthetic (analyzing the narrative strategies employed by authors formulating an intercultural dialogue) and ethical (Was the Conquest a criminal act? Should modern day Indian tribes be left to their own devices?).
CF 3360. The North American Great Plains: Land, Water, Life. In the late 19th century, the North American Great Plains, which extend from central Canada to West Texas, was mapped as the Great American Desert, a place to be crossed, not settled. This course looks across disciplinary boundaries to see what geology, ecology, climate studies, archaeology, ethnology, and history reveal of past, present, and (perhaps) the future of life of European Americans and Native Americans on the Great Plains.
CF 3361 (RELI 3309). Bioethics From a Christian Perspective. This course studies bioethics from a Christian ethical perspective with special attention to different methodological approaches, to the significant themes and realities involved (e.g., life, health, suffering, death), and to the most important issues faced today.
CF 3362. The Europeans: A Case Study of Two Nations. This course examines the national identity and cultural configuration of France and Germany within the European context, with frequent references to other European nations. It looks at “European consciousness” – how Europeans think about themselves as citizens of their respective countries and of Europe.
*CF 3363 (ENGL 3371, HIST 3357). Joan of Arc: History, Literature, and Film. This course considers the life and later reception of the extraordinary peasant girl, Joan of Arc (ca. 1412 to 1431), who in two years changed the course of European history before she was burned at the stake.
CF 3364 (ENGL 3367). Ethical Implications of Children’s Literature. This course will examine children’s literature from an ethical perspective, particularly the construction of notions of morality and evil in the works with emphasis upon issues of colonialism, race, ethnicity, gender, and class.
*CF 3365 (WL 3325). Perspectives on Modern China. A survey course on the social and cultural history of modern China, from the perspectives of literature and cinema.
CF 3366 (HIST 3336). Cultural History of the United States. An interdisciplinary study of American literature, painting, architecture, music, theatre, popular amusements, and social customs viewed against the major currents of American intellectual history from 1877 to the present.
*CF 3370 (ENGL 3364, WS 3370). Women in the Southwest. A study and exploration of women writers, artists, and thinkers in the American Southwest, and their vision of this region as singularly hospitable to women’s culture.
CF 3371. Ideas of Enlightenment in Western Culture. Explores Plato, Augustine, and Kant on “What is enlightenment?” Their three different, competing ideas shape our contemporary understandings of the educated, virtuous, and free person.
*CF 3372 (RELI 3364). Native-American Religions. An investigation of the mythologies of North America, centering on Southwestern cultures (especially Pueblo and Navajo) and Northern Plains cultures (especially Lakota). Native texts will be approached by way of modern theories of the interpretation of myth, ritual, and religion. Topics will include the cultural history of the regions, theories of myth, creation myths, culture heroes, trickster tales, sacred music and dance, and rites of healing and passage. An important dimension of the course will be interaction with the local Pueblo culture through field trips and guest speakers.
CF 3374 (ANTH 3374). Cultures and Environments of the Southwest. This course examines patterns of land-use and resource-use in prehistoric and early historic times in the Southwest. Focus is on the mutual influence of cultures and resources in the northern Rio Grande. The course draws on archaeological, archival, ethnographic, and ecological evidence. Comparisons involve Pueblo and Plains Indians, Colonial Spanish, Territorial U.S., and U.S. Forest Service.
*CF 3375 (ARHS 3377). Art and Architecture of Hispanic New Mexico. This course examines the artistic and cultural legacies of colonial New Mexico: Spanish city planning and church design; retablos, santos, and their place in religious experience; art in the secular life of towns; and haciendas of colonial and postcolonial New Mexico. Field trips.
*CF 3376. Southwest Ethnic Diversity. This interdisciplinary course examines the way in which the three cultures of the American Southwest have coexisted. Students are introduced to the history of the Spanish colonial period and American frontier, and the range of Native American cultures and lifestyles as a context for contemporary ethnic relations. Native and Hispanic arts and crafts are studied as an expression of ethnicity. The course explores the factors that support or discourage the formation and persistence of ethnic identity and the fluidity of cultural boundaries.
CF 3377 (THEA 4381, 4382, 4383, or 4384). Ritual, Festival, and Theatre (Studies in Theatre, Drama, and Performance). This course will examine how theatre has been connected to the performance of both ritual and festival, examining the common connections as well as the differences between these three public forms of expression: sites of performance, community values, power and control, subversion, and cultural comparison.
CF 3378 (THEA 4381, 4382, 4383, or 4384). Solo Performance (Studies in Theatre, Drama, and Performance). This course surveys major figures and issues in contemporary solo performance and performance studies, acquainting students with artists, forms, and venues ranging from the mainstream to the alternative. We will view videos and video documentation of the work and read performance texts, performance theory, and interviews/writings by and about the artists and their work. The two major assignments are a research and analysis paper examining an issue related to the course and a brief original piece applying in performance what we have studied.
CF 3379. German Culture in Weimar. The course traces German culture using Weimar as the location to study literature, music, and film in their historical context from Goethe’s Weimar, the Weimar Republic, through National Socialism and the recent Unification.
CF 3380 (ENGL 3380). The Literature of Vision. An examination of how shamans, prophets, and imaginative writers seek to communicate “things invisible to mortal sight,” whether as a confirmation of or a challenge to the leading ideas of their time.
*CF 3381 (ARHS 4371, WS 3381). Modern Myth Making: Studies in the Manipulation of Imagery. This course examines the quest for enduring cultural heroes and projection of changing social messages as reflected in images from past epochs to modern times. Examples traced range from politician to musician, from the fine arts to television.
CF 3382 (THEA 4381, 4382, 4383, or 4384). American Dramatic Literature (Studies in Theatre, Drama, and Performance). This course will provide an opportunity for in-depth study of texts in a variety of genres and styles by looking at popular literature. Students will work with scripts as organic markers of political and aesthetic taste, events, and world view, learning to use practices of performance studies and anthropology to look closely at the authenticity of live performance in its relationship to audience values.
CF 3383. Contemporary Urban Problems. This seminar is designed to introduce students to conceptualizing social problems and to the distinctive conditions defined and treated as social problems in the American Southwest. The course aims to improve students’ skills in critical reasoning and evaluative writing on the alleviation of social problems.
CF 3384. Gaming the Rise of Civilization. This course provides an interdisciplinary understanding of three primary issues concerning the rise of civilization: food production, germs, and technology. Games will be used to develop a deeper understanding of the variables that gave rise to civilization through playing related board games. in addition, students will think about the variables as a complex set of systems that can be loosely modeled using game design techniques.
*CF 3385 (SOCI 3383). Race, Culture, and Social Policy in the Southwest. This interdisciplinary seminar introduces students to applying the concepts of race and culture to social problems and policy in the American Southwest. The course combines lectures, readings, field trips, survey research, and documentary films to focus on special topics on the Southwest.
CF 3387. Order Out of Chaos. Deterministic chaos, fractal structures, self-organization, and nonlinear dynamics comprise an approach to the study of complicated realistic systems common to a great diversity of natural and social sciences. Students will study the significance of the relatively new science as well as relationships and applications to medicine, the natural sciences, economics, history, philosophy, and the social sciences.
CF 3388 (PLSC 3342). Making Democracy Work. This course aims to answer the fundamental question that mankind has asked since ancient Greece of why does democracy thrive in some nations, while it struggles in others and in many more has yet to take root?
CF 3389 (PLSC 3389). International Political Economy. The course introduces students to inter-national political economy, focusing on the development of regimes for international trade and finance. The objective is to understand how nation-states manage international economic relations.
*CF 3390 (WL 3310). Transnational Chinese Cinema. This course will introduce students to the subject of Asian cinema through films produced in the People’s Republic, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. In considering cinema as a system for the construction of meaning, this course examines national identities in film aesthetics.
CF 3392 (ARHS 3318, HIST 2353). Currents in Classical Civilization. The interdisciplinary study of the art, literature, and history of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds, including ideals of democracy, individualism, immortality, heroism, justice, sexuality nature, etc.
CF 3393. Evolution and Creationism as Public School Issues. An in-depth examination of controversies concerning organic evolution from social, educational, and legal perspectives. Discussion includes alternative philosophies of science and evidence from fossil and living organisms.
CF 3394 (HIST 3344). The Oxford Landscape, From the Stone Age to the Tudors. This course studies the historical landscape of the upper Thames Basin and Oxford, the region’s urban focus for over a millennium. Students can read this history on site, using resources from anthropology, history, architecture, city planning, political and social organization, and imaginative literature. Readings and trips concern local Neolithic, Bronze Age, and Iron Age (Celtic) cultures as well as the historical phases of regional experience from the first Roman probe of 55 B.C. to the start of the Tudor Dynasty in A.D. 1485.
*CF 3395. A Cultural Journey to China. Suzhou, in China’s cultural heartland, hosts this course on the development of Chinese culture: religion, literature, cinema, art, architecture, and history. Trips complement readings centered on self, family, and state.
CF 3396. Rome and the Italians: History, Culture, and Politics. This course, taught in Italy, explores the cultural and political identity of Italy as it evolved from antiquity to present day.
CF 3397. Science and Politics in a Nuclear Age: Change and Resolution of Conflict. Investigation of societal changes associated with the development of scientific discoveries such as nuclear energy. Consideration is given to resulting conflicts and their resolution at local, national, and international levels.
*CF 3398 (ENGL 3365). Jewish American Literature and Culture. An interdisciplinary introduction to Jewish culture through literature, especially in the American environment, as well as to the issues in studying any distinctive ethnic and cultural literature.
*CF 3399 (RELI 3377). Cultural History of Tibet. A critical study of Tibetan history, culture, and religion and how they relate to the representation of Tibet in travel, scholarly, and popular literature.
*CF 3401 (HIST 3401). The Good Society. This course will focus on the historical construction of the concept of the “good society” in Western culture. Although the term did not enter our literature until Graham Wallas published The Good Society in 1915, we can clearly distinguish its origins in the religious, political, and intellectual traditions of Europe and the United States. Affiliated with the Center for Inter-Community Experience.
CF 3402. Divided Loyalties: The Problem of Identity in a Global World. Focusing on questions of individualism, citizenship, and public identity, this course investigates tensions among localism, nationalism, and globalism within contemporary literature and culture. In order to enhance understanding of course readings, students will participate in Center for Inter-Community Experience (ICE) programs in the multiethnic, multinational East Dallas community of Garrett Park East.
*CF 3403. Imagined Communities: Place, Nation, and Construction of Cultural Identity. The flagship course of the Center for Inter-Community Experience, “Imagined Communities” investigates from historical and contemporary perspectives the forms of local, national, and transnational identities that characterize American life. In order to enhance understanding of course readings, students will participate in Center for Academic-Community Engagement (ACE) programs in the multiethnic, multinational East Dallas community of Garrett Park East. CF 3404. Social Class and the Democratic Public Sphere. This course explores the concept of class in American life and investigates the effects of class differences and tensions on American democratic institutions. In order to enhance understanding of course readings, students will participate in Center for Academic-Community Engagement (ACE) programs in the multiethnic, multinational East Dallas community of Garrett Park East. NOTE: Students who have taken CFA 3494 are not permitted to enroll in CF 3404.
*CF 3405. Troubled Youth. This course explores American adolescence from contemporary and historical perspectives, covering the period from the eighteenth century onward, and focusing on the period between the Civil War and the present.
*CFA 3300 (ARHS 4300). Calligraphy and Culture. A multidisciplinary inquiry into the cultural history of calligraphy and line in several major cultural traditions of the world: readings and discussions will encompass philosophical, anthropological, archaeological, materialist, cultural-historical, and art-historical perspectives on line and cultural signification in the visual arts.
*CFA 3301 (ANTH 2321, CLAS 2321, ENGL 2371). The Dawn of Wisdom: Ancient Creation Stories From Four Civilizations. Explores the visions of the cosmos expressed in the art, archaeology, and literature of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greco-Roman civilization and the New World, emphasizing the role of human beings as central and responsible actors therein.
*CFA 3302 (WS 2322). Women: Images and Perspectives. An examination of the constant and changing understanding of women reflected in myths, research, and theories of biology, history, religion, the social sciences, literature, and language.
*CFA 3303 (WS 2380). Human Sexuality. This course explores the biosocial aspects of human sexuality and sex behaviors. A multidisciplinary and cross-cultural perspective will address a wide range of theoretical and pragmatic sexual issues.
*CFA 3304 (PLSC 4341). Comparative Rights and Representation. This course will explore the tension that exists between rights and democratic representation. Issues explored include judicial social policy making, individual vs. collective rights, aboriginal rights and affirmative action.
CFA 3305. Literature and Film: Adaptations by Italian Directors of Literary Texts. Through the study of major literary works and their cinematic adaptations, the course focuses on the value systems and the social realities the works reflect. The analogies and the differences that exist between literary and cinematic approaches will be explored by reading the texts and confronting them with their filmic renderings.
CFA 3306 (RELI 3316). Religion and Science. An exploration of how religion and science understand such topics as the origins and destiny of the universe and the evolution of life.
CFA 3307 (RELI 3371). Religion and Culture in the Greco-Roman World. This course investigates the intersections of political history, social history, philosophical thought, and religious belief and practice in the ancient Greco-Roman world, with particular attention to Judaism and Christianity in their Greco-Roman context.
*CFA 3308 (WS 2308). Revisions: Woman as Thinker, Artist, and Citizen. This course is designed to discover how an emphasis on the particular experiences of women can enhance and complicate traditionally conceived areas of scholarship and critical endeavor. It will also explore areas of women’s experience traditionally undervalued, such as friendship, sexuality, motherhood, and old age.
*CFA 3309 (WS 2309). Lesbian and Gay Literature and Film: Minority Discourse and Social Power. The exploration through literature and film of the struggles by gay men and lesbians to create social identities and achieve human rights. Study of key cultures and pivotal historical periods in the West from ancient Greece to contemporary America. Authors include Sappho, Plato, Michelangelo, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, E.M. Forster, Virginia Woolf, James Baldwin, Audre Lord, Adrienne Rich, and Tony Kushner. Cinematography includes Pedro Almodovar, Derek Jarman, Maria Luisa Bemberg, Sally Potter, and James Ivory.
*CFA 3310 (ETST 2301, SOCI 3305). Race and Ethnicity in the United States. An interdisciplinary seminar designed to introduce students to the analysis of race and ethnicity in the United States within a global context.
CFA 3311 (CLAS 2311). Myth and Thought in the Ancient World. The goal of this course is to explore the conceptual and philosophical underpinnings of ancient understandings of reality in Western and non-Western cultures. The materials for investigation will be primarily textual, including myths, epics, tragedies, and philosophical discourse in ancient Greece. Key points of concern will include concepts of the human condition; the nature of the good life; the problems of death, evil, and misfortune; the relationships between humans and gods and between the individual and society; and the difference between illusion and reality. The relationship between modern thought and ancient thought, both Western and non-Western, will also be a recurring theme.
CFA 3312. Making History: Representations of Ethical Choices. Interdisciplinary course examining ethical issues associated with the writing of “historical fictions” and the production of historical exhibits. Students will complicate conventional distinctions between disciplines and genres by looking at how playwrights, novelists, filmmakers, and museum curators/directors shape their productions from the raw materials of historical data. They will explore the ways in which historical memory is created and represented, further developing and refining their own engagements with texts, films, and museums.
*CFA 3313 (ARHS 3392). Islamic Art and Architecture: The Creation of a New Art. This course will treat issues significant to the creation and expansion of Islamic art from the 7th to the 15th century. Topics to be discussed include cultural and political exchange and conflict between Muslims and Christians; religious concerns and the artistic forms created to meet them; the importance of the book in Muslim culture; the distinctions between religious and secular art; and the appropriation of sacred space in Muslim architecture.
CFA 3314 (DANC 2370). Movement as Social Text. The course will look at ways in which movement and dance have meaning in different cultural, social, and historical contexts. Examinations of examples of dance in a cross-cultural context, encompassing both Western and non-Western dance forms, will be included. Emphasis will be placed on the nature of movement, its unique properties, the ways in which it conveys meaning, and its relationship to culture.
*CFA 3315 (WS 2315). Gender, Culture, and Society. An interdisciplinary study of gender ideology stressing anthropological and literary perspectives, this course will analyze gender difference as a structuring principle in all societies and explore some of its representations in literature, film, and contemporary discourse.
*CFA 3316 (ANTH 3333). The Immigrant Experience. An interdisciplinary focus on the issue of immigration in the United States. The course explores historical, ethical, social, cultural, and political dimensions of the immigrant experience, as well as America’s attitudes toward the immigrant. Controversial issues such as bilingual education and illegal immigration will be examined.
CFA 3317. Global Perspectives on Environmental Issues. Many of the major environmental issues our planet faces – greenhouse climate changes, air and water pollution, acid rain and related atmospheric problems, ozone shield destruction, toxic and radioactive waste disposal, land-use management, energy resource development, geologic hazards, population growth, and food supplies – will be examined from scientific as well as cultural, political, and ethical viewpoints.
*CFA 3318 (HIST 2384). Latin America: The Colonial Period. An introductory survey covering the development of Latin American society from pre-discovery to the early 19th century.
*CFA 3319 (HIST 2385). Latin America in the Modern Era. An introductory survey beginning with the 19th-century wars of independence from Spain and Portugal and emphasizing the 20th century as the new nations struggle for political stability and economic independence.
*CFA 3320 (WL 3323, HIST 2323). Russian Culture. Significant aspects of Russian thought and culture at its various stages of development are presented and illustrated by examples from literature, folklore, prose, drama, journalism, architecture, the fine arts, and music.
CFA 3321. Ways of Thinking in the Ancient World. Distinctions between heaven and earth, divine and human, “spirit” and “matter,” living and living well, mind (language) and “reality,” are categories of thought explored in this course. This is a course in how thinking gets done, as well as in some of what human beings have thought.
CFA 3322 (RELI 3358). Psychology of Religion. Covers the psychological, biological, and social foundations of religion and its consequences. Topics include mystical experience, conversion, prayer, cults, and the effects of religion on health, prosocial behavior, and prejudice.
CFA 3323. The Emergence of the Modern Mentality of the West. This course examines some of the major changes in philosophical thought and religious life that took place between the end of the Middle Ages and the Industrial Revolution. It focuses on contrasts between magic and science, the rise of the capitalist spirit, and conflicts between traditional beliefs and modern skepticism.
CFA 3324 (THEA 4385). English Theatre, Restoration to the Present (Studies in Theatre, Drama, and Performance). Surveys English theatre, Restoration to today. Focuses on selected scripts and social contexts: audiences, society, theatrical forms, modes of production, theatre architecture, and broader historical, economic, and political forces and influences.
*CFA 3325 (HIST 3379). A Cultural History of New Mexico. This course, taught only at SMU-in-Taos, explores the struggles between the state’s dominant ethnic groups – Native Americans, Hispanos, and Anglos – over rituals, spaces, and objects.
*CFA 3326 (PLSC 4322). Latino Politics. An analysis of contexts, causes, and consequences of Latino political participation. The focus is on Latinos in the Southwest with some attention to other racial and ethnic groups elsewhere in the U.S.
CFA 3327. Environmental Problems and Policy: A European Perspective. As the threats of local, regional, and global environmental problems grow, so does the public political and scholarly debate about the remedies to control them. A study of current issues, options, and politics from the European perspective.
CFA 3328 (WL 3309). Contemporary France. This course will provide an interdisciplinary immersion in the main concerns of France today. It will explore its institutions, social issues, and intellectual and cultural interests as they relate to the past and strive to meet the challenge of the 21st century, particularly the making of Europe.
CFA 3329 (WL 3307). The Belle Epoque and the Birth of Modernity. Through its focus on the Belle Epoque, this course will give students the opportunity for in-depth study of one of the richest periods in the history of French culture. Through a variety of cultural objects, they will study the shift of civilization that occurred at the turn of the 20th century based on major changes in concepts of the individual, space, and time, and learn how they gave birth to our modern civilization and culture.
CFA 3330 (WL 3303, SPAN 3373). Spanish Civilization. Through lectures, readings, study trips, and audiovisual presentations, this course presents an interrelated overview of Spanish culture and thought, especially as related to contemporary Spain. This course addresses from multiple disciplinary (anthropology, history, sociology, Spanish literature, etc.) perspectives a vast array of interrelated social and cultural practices and beliefs.
*CFA 3331 (ANTH 2331). The Formation of Institutions: Roots of Society. With illustrations from the prehistoric past, the earliest recorded civilization, and “contemporary ancestors” (bands and tribes of the present), this course will trace the development of familiar notions like the family, property, and the state, resulting in an appreciation of the fundamental questions posed by our common life on Earth and the variety of answers that human societies have given to those questions.
*CFA 3332 (CLAS 2332). Society Expanding – Polis and Empire. This course presents a case-study approach to the development of cities, civilizations, and empires from the appearance of urbanism in Mesopotamia to the end of the European Middle Ages, with special reference to political, economic, and religious institutions.
CFA 3334 (PLSC 4323). The Politics of Change in America, 1930-2000. Focusing on American politics and society from 1930 to the present, this course will examine how America has changed, explain why change occurs, and assess the consequences of these changes.
*CFA 3336 (ANTH 3336). Gender and Globalization: Cultural and Ethical Issues. An analysis of the impact of globalizing forces on women’s lives and identities, as well as on patterns of gender relations and ideology in various cultures around the world.
CFA 3337 (DANC 3374). 20th-Century Musical Theater. This course will examine the significance of dance in the American musical as a medium for reflecting the cultural evolution in America from a social and historical perspective.
CFA 3338 (RELI 3338). Christ as Cultural Hero. An exploration of the impact of Jesus on the history of Western culture, not only in religion and philosophy, but also in the fine arts, literature, and politics.
CFA 3339 (RELI 3339). The Puritan Tradition in England and America. An examination of the religious, political, scientific, economic, and literary dimensions of the Puritan movement in Tudor-Stuart England and in colonial New England.
CFA 3340 (ARHS 4350, CTV 4351, THEA 4381-4384). Mapping Modernism: Artistic Collaborations in Paris and Moscow, 1890-1940. This class examines early 20th-century modernism through the lens of fertile collaborations and exchanges in art, dance, film, music, and theatre in Paris and Moscow between 1890 and 1940.
*CFA 3341. Native Americans in Western Legal Thought. A survey of Spanish and Anglo-American legal treatment of native North Americans from first contact to the present, comparing and contrasting versions of Western jurisprudence and examining whenever possible Native American responses.
CFA 3342. British Studies I. This course is an interdisciplinary, writing-intensive course within the humanities and social sciences taken at a British or Irish university. It can be taken only by students in the yearlong SMU-in-Britain program.
CFA 3343. British Studies II. This course is an interdisciplinary, writing-intensive course within the humanities and social sciences taken at a British or Irish university. It can be taken only by students in the yearlong SMU-in-Britain program.
*CFA 3344. Tradition, Community, and Identity in Black African Cinema. An introduction to film by black African filmmakers. The course explores African film’s relationship to history, African identity, the African political context, and African oral tradition. CFA 3345 (HIST 4319). The Medieval Formation of English Culture. When, where, and how was 'English Culture' - that globally widespread and distinctive variation of 'Western Culture' - formed? In the 8th-16th centuries, in a realm with Oxford at its centre. CFA 3346. The Taos Experience: an Independent Research Seminar. This course is designed to introduce students to the history of New Mexico and its disparate peoples and cultures as well as independent research. After reading general histories, and specific case studies, students will then embark on a thesis-length independent research project.
*CFA 3348 (HIST 3348). American Families: Changing Experiences and Expectations. Explores changes in American family life from the colonial period to the present. Seeks to understand how family ideals, structures, and roles have shaped and been shaped by social and historical change.
*CFA 3350 (ANTH 3350). Good Eats and Forbidden Flesh: Culture, Food, and the Global Grocery Market. A cultural perspective on food that blends biological and medical information about human nutrition and development with an exploration of the global market of eating.
CFA 3352. French Cinema, 1895-1945. An introduction to French cinema’s major works, filmmakers, and trends from 1895 to 1945, with an emphasis on film’s unique manner of constructing and transmitting culture.
CFA 3353. French Cinema, 1945-Present. An introduction to French cinema’s major works, filmmakers, and trends from 1945 to the present, with an emphasis on film’s unique manner of constructing and transmitting culture.
*CFA 3354 (WL 3355). Tradition, Modernity, and Agency in North-African Cinema. An introduction to the cinemas of Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Chad, and Mali. The course explores the themes of migration, occupation, and independence in both individual and national terms.
CFA 3355 (PLSC 4355). Comparative Political Economy of Industrialized Democracies. This course examines the nature and workings of the political economies of industrialized democracies of North America, Europe, and the Pacific in comparative perspective.
*CFA 3358 (ANTH 3358). Indians of the Southwest, 16th Century-Present. An introduction to the non-Pueblo and Pueblo peoples of the Greater Southwest, with a focus on Indian-Indian and Indian-Euro American relations and the resultant transformations. Topics will include class of cultures, tourism, gambling, legal rights, and urbanism.
CFA 3359 (PLSC 3359). From Communism to Democracy. An interdisciplinary survey of the rise and fall of communist regimes, followed by an analysis of the successes, obstacles, and consequences of the democratic transition in the former Eastern Europe and Soviet Union. Particular attention will be paid to cultural, social, economic, and political influences that affect divergent paths to democracy.
CFA 3360 (WL 3360). The Ethics of Colonization in Latin America. Through a study of literary, philosophical, historical, and religious texts, this course considers how the humanist ethics of the Renaissance were debated and carried out in the colonization of Latin America.
*CFA 3362 (CTV 2362). Diversity and American Film: Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality. Historical survey of representations of race-ethnicity, class structure, gender, and sexual orientation in American cinema, as well as the opportunities for minorities within the industry.
CFA 3363 (PLSC 4363). Religion and Politics in the Western Tradition. Analysis of the relationship between religious faith and civil government in the Western tradition. Focuses on thinkers and controversies from the late Roman empire to the contemporary United States.
CFA 3364 (PHIL 3364). Philosophy of Biology. A survey of topics in the Philosophy of Biology. Typical topics include evolution versus creationism, fitness, units of selection, adaptationism, biological taxonomy, evolution in humans, cultural evolution and niche construction.
*CFA 3365 (ANTH 3365). The Rise and Fall of Superpowers: The Dynamics and Ethics of Empire. A comparative introduction to institutions and organizational dynamics of three ancient empires (Roman, Chinese, Inca), with discussions of the lessons that these civilizations can teach American citizens about our own society.
*CFA 3368. Orient and Occident: Encounters Between the Middle East and the West in the Modern Era. This course exposes students to the broad dimensions of Islamic belief and practice, major themes in relations between the countries and cultures of the Middle East and Western Europe from the early modern era to the present, beginning with Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt in 1798.
CFA 3369 (MSA 3369). LONDON: EXPLORING REPRESENTATIONS OF "PERFORMATIVE". The practice of the discipline of performance studies, which itself is an inter/multidisciplinary approach to "performance," defined as a broad array of performance activity ? from formal, theatrically based performance to ritual, tourism, and vernacular performance such as street fairs and carnivals and the experience of food. Performance studies encompass disciplinary materials from cultural studies, ethnology and anthropology, gender studies, history, and the critical theory and analysis of performance.
*CFA 3370. Australian Aboriginal Studies. This course provides an understanding of the history and culture of the indigenous peoples of Australia in a way that makes students more interested in, and sensitive to, the history and culture of indigenous peoples.
*CFA 3371. Inventing Americas I: Explorations and Encounters. A comparative, interdisciplinary examination of literary, ethnographic, artistic, and cinematic texts reflecting cultural encounters in the Americas during the colonial period.
*CFA 3372. Inventing Americas II: Identity Formations. A comparative, interdisciplinary examination of literary, ethnographic, artistic, and cinematic texts reflecting the formation of individual, group, and national identities in the Americas since the 19th century.
CFA 3373. Narrative, Religion, and the Construction of Belief. This course explores narrative as a foundation of religion and as primary agent in the construction of belief, comparative reading, and analysis of texts from a wide variety of religious, philosophical, and literary traditions.
CFA 3374 (ENGL 3348). History of the Book in America, 1620-1900. A multidisciplinary survey of print culture in the United States, exploring literary, historical, technological, legal, and sociological factors that shaped the formations, uses, and dynamics of print in our society.
CFA 3375 (CTV 3375). Postwar European Cinema, 1945-Present. Presents an overview of postwar European cinema focusing on major films, directors, and national movements, with particular emphasis on Italian film. Considers cultural and stylistic features that differ from Hollywood genre models.
CFA 3377 (PHIL 3377). Animal Rights: The Ethics of Human Treatment of Animals. An examination of the moral status of nonhuman animals and its implications for the common use of animals as food and experimental subjects for humans.
CFA 3378 (ENGL 3368). Literary and Artistic Taos: The Town Seen Through Multiple Lenses. Survey of the literary and artistic heritage of early 20th-century Taos, centered on the Native Americans, the artistic and literary salon of Mabel Dodge, and D.H. Lawrence.
*CFA 3379 (ENGL 3379). Literary and Cultural Contexts of Disability: Gender, Care, and Justice. This course examines issues of disability from literary, cultural, and philosophical perspectives. It grapples with current debates in disability studies, providing the student with a variety of contexts in which to examine them.
*CFA 3380 (HIST 2380). Ethnic Regions in the “Western World.” This interdisciplinary course examines the ways regional ethnic minorities – such as the Basques, Quebecois, and Chicanos – have functioned within larger societies in Western Europe and North America.
CFA 3381 (PLSC 3381). Current Issues in International Politics. An interdisciplinary survey of contemporary issues and challenges in the international arena. The student will research and pro-pose solutions, taking into account the multidimensional aspects of these international challenges.
*CFA 3382 (WS 3382). Women’s Body Politics. A cross-cultural, interdisciplinary exploration of the cultural and ideological work that women’s bodies perform, as reflected in literature, art, medicine, philosophy, and political discourses from the Classical era to today.
*CFA 3384 (ANTH 3384). Paradise Lost? The Archaeology and Ethics of Human Environmental Impacts. Interdisciplinary archaeological, anthropological, and historical examination of human impacts on the environment around the world over the last 50,000 years.
CFA 3385 (ANTH 3385). Sustainable Living. Seminar focused on environmental challenges facing society and strategies for achieving a more sustainable existence. From global warming and climate change to extinction and the loss of biodiversity, it is clear that our is changing and that we humans are responsible for much of this deterioration. Environmental issues are highly politicized and polarized, often broken into black and white divisions (e.g., liberal vs conservative), but it remains clear that the future of our planet is something that we must all be concerned about. This course examines the state of our environment and the place of humans in nature focusing on aspects of sustainable living. With a critical eye, we will evaluate the state of knowledge on numerous environmental issues, and the ways that, as everyday Americans, we can lessen our environmental impact and work towards a more sustainable future.
CFA 3386 (THEA 4386). European Theatre, 1879-1953. A survey of major figures and movements in European theatre beginning with the premiere of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and culminating with the premiere of Beckett’s Waiting for Godot.
CFA 3388 (ANTH 3388). Warfare and Violence: The Anthropology and Ethics of Human Conflict. This course provides an examination of the origins and development of human aggression, violence, and warfare using interdisciplinary data and theories from prehistory, ethnology, history, and political science.
CFA 3390 (ME 3390). German Technoculture. Fundamentals of German contemporary culture within the context of technology and study abroad experience. Emphasis is placed on reading and communication (writing and oral) skills. Field trips are an integral part of the course. *CFA 3393. Imagined Communities: Place, Nation, and Construction of Cultural Identity. The flagship course of the Center for Inter-Community Experience, “Imagined Communities” investigates from historical and contemporary perspectives the forms of local, national, and transnational identities that characterize American life. In order to enhance understanding of course readings, students will participate in Center for Academic-Community Engagement (ACE) programs in the multiethnic, multinational East Dallas community of Garrett Park East.
CFA 3394. Social Class and the Democratic Public Sphere. This course explores the concept of class in American life and investigates the effects of class differences and tensions on American democratic institutions. In order to enhance understanding of course readings, students will participate in Center for Inter-Community Experience (ICE) programs in the multiethnic, multinational East Dallas community of Garrett Park East.
*CFA 3399 (ANTH 3399). Ice Age Americans. The first Americans came here from northeast Asia and Siberia over 12,000 years ago, when North America was in the grip of an Ice Age. Their story, being pieced together by disciplines as different as archaeology, linguistics, and molecular biology, is revealing how these pioneers faced the challenge of adapting to a world without other people, which became increasingly exotic as they moved south, and was itself changing as the Ice Age came to an end. This is the story of the first discovery of America, when it truly was a New World.
*CFB 3301 (ANTH 3301, SOCI 3301). Health, Healing, and Ethics: Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Sickness and Society. A cross-cultural exploration of cultures and organization of medical systems, economic development, and the global exportation of biomedicine, and ethical dilemmas associated with medical technologies and global disparities in health.
CFB 3302. Contemporary East Asian Cinema, 1997-Present.The course will be divided into four sections, one of each of the national cinemas we will be studying: Hong Kong cinema after the Colony’s return to the People’s Republic of China as a Special Administrative Region; the cinema of Thailand after the Asian Economic Crisis and the massive devaluation of the bhat; South Korean cinema after the bailout of the Korean Stock Exchange by the International Monetary Fund and the extensive corporate restructuring which followed; and the Japanese cinema in the stagnant late nineties as Japan struggled to overcome the economic and cultural hangover from the burst bubble of the 1980’s economic boom.
CFB 3303 (PHIL 3333). Native American Philosophy. An examination of major topics in philosophy from a variety of Native American standpoints, with an emphasis on the tribes residing in the Southwest. Throughout the course, students will explore Native American themes of metaphysics, epistemology and value theory. We will read essays that address philosophical questions pertaining to knowledge, time, place, history, science, religion, nationhood and ethics. We will also be identifying connections between the philosophical assumptions and the mythology and folklore of the Pueblo Indians.
CFB 3304 (WL 3330). Migration, Occupation, and Independence in North African Cinema. An introduction to the cinemas of Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Chad, and Mali. The course explores the themes of migration, occupation, and independence in both individual and national terms.
*CFB 3306. Postcolonial France. A multidisciplinary course providing an introduction to, or better understanding of, some of the most passionate debates on assimilation, difference, and multiculturalism that have emerged in France in recent years.
CFB 3309 (HIST 3309). North American Environmental History. This course surveys North American environmental history since pre-Columbian times. It expands the customary framework of historical inquiry by focusing on the interaction of human beings and the natural world.
*CFB 3310 (ANTH 3310). Gender and Sex Roles: A Global Perspective. This course compares the life experiences of men and women in societies throughout the world. Discussion will include the evidence regarding the universal subordination of women and examine explanations that propose to situate women’s and men’s personal attributes, roles, and responsibilities in the biological or cultural domain. In general, through readings, films, and lectures, the class will provide a cross-cultural perspective on ideas regarding gender and the ways societies are organized in relation to gender.
CFB 3312 (CLAS 1312). Classical Rhetoric. Readings in the Ancient Sophists, Plato, Aristotle, Isocrates, Cicero, Quintilian, Longinus and St. Augustine; study of the intellectual foundations of Western world.
*CFB 3313. Genetic Determinism and Free Will: The Impact of Human Genetics and Biotechnology on Human Choice. Students will be introduced to human genetics and biotechnology with philosophical analysis of its impact on genetic determinism and free will. Related societal issues will be examined.
CFB 3314 (ARHS 4304) The City as Place. This course will investigate the historical, societal, and cultural contexts of urban space and the built environment through close examination of Italian cities from antiquity to the present.
CFB 3318 (HIST 2318) Schools and Society: The Evolution of America's Public School System. An interdisciplinary exploration of America's public school system from the Colonial period to the present with emphasis on changing social and political ideals.
CFB 3320. Majesty, Memory and Mourning in the Middle Ages. How did nobles, religious leaders and peasants perform acts of memory in the Middle Ages? Students study transdisciplinary contexts of tomb statues (visiting the Dallas Museum of Art) embodying the Burgundian climax of a medieval European culture.
*CFB 3322 (HIST 3322). Native American History. This course examines the roles Native Americans played in the history of North America (excluding Mexico) from 1500 to the present.
*CFB 3323 (HIST 3323). History of Islam in South Asia. A cultural history of Islam in South Asia focusing on the sacred practices, literatures, and institutions of Muslims communities in the Indian subcontinent from 1000 CE to modern times.
CFB 3333 (PHYS 3333). The Scientific Method: (Debunking Pseudoscience). This course provides students with an understanding of the scientific method sufficient to differentiate experimentally verifiable scientific fact and theories from pseudoscience in its many guises: paranormal phenomena, free-energy devices, alternative medicine, and many others.
CFB 3336 (ANTH 4336) Concepts of Evolution. A history of the conception and development of the idea of evolution and the conflicts It has generated. Students will read and discuss original sources from ancient Greece to present.
CFB 3337 (HIST 3337). Ethical Dilemmas in a Global Age. This course is a cross-cultural exploration of major ethical problems emanating out of the radically changing context of human existence in recent decades.
*CFB 3341 (COMM 3341). Ethnicity, Culture, and Communication. This course explores the impact of culture on our understanding and practice of human communication in interpersonal, organizational, and mass media contexts. Strong emphasis is placed on the role of globalization, race, and socio-economic dynamics as impediments and conduits of cross-cultural collaboration and interaction.
*CFB 3342 (COMM 3342). The Construction of Social Identity and Critical Theory in Post Colonial Settings. This class explores the impact that communication practices in organizational, interpersonal and mass media contexts have on the construction of ethnicity, gender and sexuality in both U.S. and post-colonial contexts.
*CFB 3343 (ARHS 3363). Beyond Carnival: Brazilian Art and Architecture. Examines the visual and material culture of Brazil from the 1500’s to the present. Emphasis on the interplay and creative synthesis of diverse visual cultures in the colonial and post-colonial perspective.
CFB 3345 (EMIS 3375). CULTURAL AND ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS OF TECHNOLOGY. This course explores the pervasive use of technology in today's society, the impact of technology on daily life, and the tie between technology and ethical responsibility. Students learn how their lives are being shaped by technology and how they in turn help shape technology.
CFB 3348 (ANTH 3348, HRTS 3348). Health as a Human Right. This course examines the concept of Human Rights critically, with an eye for cross-cultural variation, and a particular focus on rights that are health-related.
*CFB 3350 (SOCI 2350/COMM 3302/WL3302). Ethno-Violence: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. An introduction to ethnoviolence - violence or the threat of violence based on one’s race, ethnicity, religion, gender, or sexual orientation – from a comparative, global and critical framework that synthesizes sociology, colonial studies, communications, and ethnic, religious, historical, and gender studies.
CFB 3351 (ANTH 3351). Forensic Anthropology: Stories Told by Bones. Introduction to the identification of human remains, including conditions of preservation and decay. Estimating sex, stature, age, ethnicity. Identifying pathology, trauma, and other causes of death.
*CFB 3353 (RELI 3353). Borderlands: Latino/a Religions in the United States. An introduction to Latino/a religious practices in the United States, with a special emphasis on social constructions.
CFB 3355 (MUHI 4355). Music and Culture: Studies in Popular Music. This course focuses on music as an element of culture formation. Discussion of current scholarship introduces students to the multidisciplinary study of the role of human agency in creating meaningful spaces in which music unfolds its socio-political and cultural dimensions.
CFB 3360 (WL 3370). Shadows of Enlightenment: Human Rights in Germany. Study of documents and debates on human rights, literature, and art from the Enlightenment to the present. Discussion of the Holocaust, human rights concerns in divided Germany, migration, and multiculturalism.
CFB 3361 European Studies I. These courses are interdisciplinary, writing intensive courses within the humanities and social sciences focused on European topics at an approved SMU Abroad program.
CFB 3362 European Studies II. These courses are interdisciplinary, writing intensive courses within the humanities and social sciences focused on European topics at an approved SMU Abroad program.
CFB 3363 African And Middle Eastern Studies I. These courses are interdisciplinary, writing intensive courses within the humanities and social sciences focused on African and Middle Eastern topics at an approved SMU Abroad program.
CFB 3364 African And Middle Eastern Studies II. These courses are interdisciplinary, writing intensive courses within the humanities and social sciences focused on African and Middle Eastern topics at an approved SMU Abroad program.
CFB 3365 Asian Studies I. These courses are interdisciplinary, writing intensive courses within the humanities and social sciences focused on Asian topics at an approved SMU Abroad program.
CFB 3366 Asian Studies II. These courses are interdisciplinary, writing intensive courses within the humanities and social sciences focused on Asian topics at an approved SMU Abroad program.
CFB 3367 Australian And Pacific Studies I. These courses are interdisciplinary, writing intensive courses within the humanities and social sciences focused on Australian and Pacific topics at an approved SMU Abroad program.
CFB 3368 Australian And Pacific Studies II. These courses are interdisciplinary, writing intensive courses within the humanities and social sciences focused on Australian and Pacific topics at an approved SMU Abroad program.
CFB 3369 Latin American Studies I. These courses are interdisciplinary, writing intensive courses within the humanities and social sciences focused on Latin American topics at an approved SMU Abroad program.
*CFB 3370 Latin American Studies II. These courses are interdisciplinary, writing intensive courses within the humanities and social sciences focused on Latin American topics at an approved SMU Abroad program.
*CFB 3371 The Politics and Religions of Southeast Asia. We explore the political and religious diversity of Southeast Asia in the past and present. Bali’s rich cultural setting facilitates an interdisciplinary approach weaving together insights into a complex region.
*CFB 3374 Back In The Day: American Activisms 1960 - 1980. Study of sequence of overlapping American human rights movements usually known as "The Sixties."
CFB 3375 (MNO 3375). Corporate Ethics and Social Responsibility. The cross listing of CFB 3375 and MNO 3375 is subject to the same rules that restrict credit for all other CF, CFA, and CFB courses that are cross-listed with departmental courses (see General Education Rules 9 and 10). In addition, students who take either CFB 3375 or MNO 3375 (formerly OBBP 3375) may not take ACCT 3391, nor may students taking ACCT 3391 take either of the other two courses for credit. Students seeking accounting certification should note that ACCT 3391 is a gateway course for eligibility to take the CPA examination.
CFB 3381 (MNO 4371). Leadership and Culture in the Southwest. This course studies the psychological, behavioral economics, sociological, anthropological, and organizational behavior foundations of leadership. This course is taught at SMU-in-Taos and uses the Southwest United States as a context to assess leadership and culture.
*CFB 3382. The History of Mexico and New Mexico From Their Origins Until 1848. The central aims of the course are : to summarize the pre-colonial and colonial histories of Mexico, and to survey, as a component of the Mexican past, New Mexico's history. The history of art and architecture is integral to the general history.
*CFB 3383. Utopian Perspectives on the American Southwest. The course focuses on the American Southwest when the region became a "homeland of the imagination" for those fleeing the modern, industrial culture of the West.
*CFB 3384 (RELI 3384). Hinduism and Colonial Encounters. A critical study of the history of colonialism in India and its impact on social, religious, and political discourse.
CFB 3386 (ARHS 4386). Patrons and Collectors. A social history of art from the point of view of its consumers. Art patronage and collecting are examined from antiquity to the present, with emphasis on the modern period.
*CFB 3390 (ANTH 3390). The Plundered Past: Archaeology’s Challenges in the Modern World. This course will provide an interdisciplinary understanding of the importance societies place on knowing, preserving, and altering evidence of the past. Special emphasis is placed on archaeology’s role in understanding and preserving the past.
CFB 3399 (ARHS 3399). The Medieval Jewish-Christian Dialogue in Art and Text. Examines the mutual perceptions, conflicts, and commonalities among medieval European Christians and Jews, as reflected in works of visual art and in philosophical, theological, legal, and literary texts.