Fall 2021 HNRS Courses

This course will guide participants from an understanding of the evolutionary and cultural history of the human species and its effects on the ecology of this Earth to a deeper understanding of the ecological effects and ethical dimensions of human actions.

The course will discuss (1) physical and ecological characteristics... Read More...

We humans have had an enormous influence on the global environment.

Together, let’s examine, analyze, and discuss what we know about – and how we might respond to – some of the most prominent changes (including those that have altered the Earth’s biodiversity, climate, and ecosystems).

Make your own fresco!  Create your own jewelry from milk!  Learn why Jackson Pollock used Duco paint!  Learn how oil paint is different than acrylic paint.

Our goal is to learn how visual art through the ages has been influenced by the development of new materials, especially polymeric materials. 

In... Read More...

In HNRS 2000 this year, faculty and students will discuss issues of special concern to residents of Louisiana, particularly questions of environmental justice. After reading Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore by Elizabeth Rush, the Shared Read for 2021, we will think about how climate change and sea level rise are affecting the state. The... Read More...

This course will address questions such as: Is spending in college sports out of hand? Should the authority of the NCAA be reigned in? Should student-athletes be paid? Are opportunities for women and men equal?

Your health is one of the most important aspects of who you are. So, why do some people live healthy lives and others don’t; and what drives our behaviors to perform healthy actions?

This course addresses the interplay between humans as agents of change and choice in determining their health,... Read More...

What do Harry Potter, sports fandom, mind-body medicine, taking college exams, prosperity gospel, Star Wars, New Age spirituality, Game of Thrones, and the ways in which we think about contemporary political figures have in common? They each represent major features in America's magical landscape, which extends into nearly every aspect of contemporary society, and back... Read More...

COVID-19 discloses the fissures and fractures that belie America’s creed, E pluribus unum. It articulates the foibles and fabrications that have questioned whether America believes in the values that it has broadcast since its birth. To brown and black folk, COVID-19 tells the truth. To those willing to listen, it tells... Read More...

This course approaches climate and natural disasters, specifically, hurricanes in the Greater Caribbean Basin, through the lens of cultural and historical studies. We will connect human reactions and cultural representations of disaster with the underlying social, cultural, and political issues at the heart of climate driven catastrophe. We will trace... Read More...

In an era of escalating political polarization, distrust, and social tension along the axes of race, class, geography, and creed, the difficult task of inventing and fostering humane and just communities falls to “we the people.” Though formal civic education continues to decline in America, the isolating effects of the... Read More...

This course will begin with a discussion of bioethics and its past abuse, rapidly move on to the foundational principles in medical ethical decision making, and spend the rest of the semester discussing controversial topics ranging from assisted suicide and brain death to human enhancement and manipulation of our... Read More...

This course will look at art produced during the period of the French Revolution, ca. 1775-1825, from an interdisciplinary perspective. It will retrace how neoclassical subject matter developed by Jacques Louis David and his students became increasingly politicized during the 1780s, and how it provided potent visual allegories during Robespierre’s... Read More...

This course provides an in-depth look at art, literature, history, and visual culture in South Africa in the 20th and 21st centuries. Apartheid, Afrikaans for “separateness,” was an oppressive system of legalized segregation and racial discrimination that impacted everyday life in South Africa most directly from 1948 to 1994. Throughout... Read More...

This course is an introduction to contemporary global cinema covering the films of internationally recognized filmmakers from a diverse range of countries. We will examine the aesthetic, cultural, and political aspects of the films; their cinematic techniques and major genres; their distinctive national cinemas; and the composition of their film audiences.... Read More...

This course aims to introduce and contextualize twentieth-century music through the backdrop of visual arts. We will survey artistic movements from impressionism through post-modernism to deepen our understanding of twentieth-century music from social, political, and artistic perspectives. The course will be driven by weekly source readings, critical blog posts, and... Read More...

Steel pannists in Trinidad. Bagpipers in Bulgaria. Turntablists in the Bronx.

In this course, we study people who have made music in a variety of different traditions, from the global to the local, the remote to the familiar, the past to the present. As we explore the variety of roles... Read More...

Tap into the power of spontaneous creativity with a philosophy you can use in every aspect of your life. Discover why doctors, lawyers, and the most successful companies in the world are doing improv training. Learn where improv came from and where it is going. Explore a type of teamwork that reinforces individuality... Read More...

This course will examine German historical and cultural roots in the state of Louisiana from the 18^th Century to present day. We will concentrate on the early arrival of German settlers, the historically German geographic areas of Louisiana, the influence of German customs on Louisiana culture, and the shared traditions... Read More...

Octavio Paz writes, “The conception of poetry as magic implies an aesthetics of action. Art ceases to be exclusively representation and contemplation; it becomes an intervention into reality.” In this class, we will investigate the role of poet as medium, conjuring visions from the beyond that explode our political, historical,... Read More...

This is a broad introductory course in the current research into the biological underpinnings and evolutionary origins of morality. The course is interdisciplinary, combining psychology, biology, neuroscience, and philosophy; it is both an introduction to cutting-edge research and a chance to revisit perennial questions. 

Students will study the entirety of Dante’s Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatory, Paradise), a work of great scope that aims to provide a complete picture of the reality of the cosmos and of human virtues and vices.  One of the great masterpieces of world literature, Dante’s poem is a compendium of the scientific, philosophical, religious,... Read More...

Manon Lescaut is a classic story of illicit passion, punishment, and finally tragic redemption in the wilds of eighteenth-century Louisiana. This class will look at successive adaptations of this tale, tracking how the chosen form – be it novel, opera, or movie – transforms the meaning and moral of this icon... Read More...

In-depth study of three subject areas within finance; namely, asset allocation, financial markets, and time value of money, as well as learning about career opportunities in the field of finance. Asset management entails managing a portfolio of stocks, analyzing securities, diversifying across various asset classes, measuring the performance of portfolios... Read More...

Reacting to the Past is an innovative way to study history. The dynamics of history come alive through elaborate simulations in which students play the roles of historical characters. In Fall 2021 the course focuses on two key moments in modern history:

Rousseau, Burke, and Revolution in France, 1791 plunges students... Read More...

This course will critically examine historical and contemporary LGBTQ activism in the United States. We will study movements when LGBTQ-identified people banded together, challenged systems, and demanded change. There is no uniform approach or goal of LGBTQ organizing, and we will study the multiple ways that people have mobilized in... Read More...

Since 2017, the #MeToo movement has shifted public conversations surrounding sexual harassment and rape. Discussing sexual violence and engaging in high level critical analysis of the various ways we communicate about sexual violence in mediated and public life is gravely important.

This course explores how sexual violence is symbolically negotiated... Read More...

This class will explore how medieval people understood themselves, the world around them, and other-worldly things. HNRS 2404 will consider judgment and salvation, sex and gender, monstrosity, travel and pilgrimage, chivalry and war, authority and dissent, and the birth of the University.

Our readings will feature Dante, Chaucer, travel narratives from Europe... Read More...

This class will explore how medieval people understood themselves, the world around them, and other-worldly things. HNRS 2404 will consider judgment and salvation, sex and gender, monstrosity, travel and pilgrimage, chivalry and war, authority and dissent, and the birth of the
University.

Our readings will feature Augustine’s Confessions, The Song of Roland,... Read More...

This course introduces students to some of the most fascinating and provocative figures, texts, and works of art created between about 1800 and the present.  Readings include works by Mary Shelley, Karl Marx, Henrik Ibsen, Anton Chekhov, Vladimir Lenin, and Friedrich Hayek. Course assignments include weekly quizzes, two take-home midterm... Read More...

**Required for third-year Psychology majors pursuing Upper Division Honors or College Honors**

Interested in going to graduate school in psychology?
Want to get one-on-one mentoring in a psychology research project?
This is the class for you!

This is the first class in a four-semester sequence designed to enable you to... Read More...

The Mississippi River Delta is one of the most important deltaic systems in the world, but it is vanishing at an alarming rate, making Louisiana vulnerable to relative sea-level rise. Learn how our desire to control and manage the river has led to a series of consequences that now amplify... Read More...

Learn the ins and outs about active and healthy living, to become an agent of change to public and community health. The course offers lectures, seminars, online forums, article critiques, and hands-on, service-learning experience, to ensure meaning learning.

A survey course of the current state of the art of personalized diagnostics and medicine with a focus on cancer biology, treatment, and progression. Students will be surveyed on numerous aspects of technology, biology, and human health related to biosensing, microtechnology, disease heterogeneity, and ethics. Students will also participate in... Read More...