Spring 2019 HNRS Courses

America’s population in 1800 was 94% rural and 6% urban, and by 1900, that ratio was 60%/40%. This demographic shift – and the reasons for that shift – had profound effects on evolving 19th-century concepts of the natural and built environments. In turn, these concepts influenced 19th-century intellectual thought, literature, religious attitudes,... Read More...

The primary goal of this course is to introduce students to the surveillance states of Germany during the National Socialist period as well as during the years of former East Germany. Students will more closely examine the concept of these “Big Brother” societies as they are portrayed in the films... Read More...

Throughout the semester we will examine the Italian American experience by analyzing historical, cultural, literary and cinematic representations. Our analysis will provide an overview of Italian emigration to America in the 19th and 20th centuries (with specific references to Italians in Louisiana) and the conditions within the United States as... Read More...

During the 20th Century the British fought two world wars, lost an empire, and developed a welfare state. From Winston Churchill to Margaret Thatcher to Tony Blair, their Prime Ministers have played a prominent role in world affairs. The British Invasion of the 1960s brought the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and... Read More...

This course is the gateway course for the LASAL Scholars Program.

At its conclusion, students should have a basic understanding of the root causes of poverty in Louisiana; a basic understanding of the daily challenges that Louisiana children and families face who live in poverty; and a basic understanding of... Read More...

This course follows the main historical developments in China from the establishment of the first Republic in 1911 to the rise of the Communist regime in 1949, the introduction of market reforms in the 1990s, and China’s current bid for political and economic world relevance.

The collapse of the imperial... Read More...

The post-World War II period witnessed widespread anti-colonial agitations and calls for the end of European colonial rule in African societies. After a century of European imperial dominance, the decolonization of Africa became one of the turning points in the history of the post-war world. The struggle for political liberty... Read More...

How has technology affected business practice in contemporary U.S. Corporations? We will apply critical thinking in both its rational and creative aspects to an investigation of this question with respect to three prominent corporations: Apple, Tesla, and Lamar Outdoor Advertising.

Our readings and conversation will range from Plato’s Phaedrus on... Read More...

Homelessness in the United States is a significant social problem, but there are ways we can understand the issue more deeply, and there are approaches that have worked and are working to get individuals and families into permanent housing. In this course, we will explore experiences and public perceptions of... Read More...

Media can impact how we feel, what we think and what we do. Entertainment arguably has mixed effects on society. The study of media entertainment – its uses and effects – has been the focus of mass communication scholars since at least the 1920s, and a focus of parents and... Read More...

NOTE: Enrollment in this course requires participation in the LSU/Honors in Cuba spring break excursion.

As part of the LSU/Honors in Cuba program, this course will provide students with an introduction to contemporary Cuban culture and society by focusing on the role of the arts in activism. Unprecedented in the... Read More...

This colloquium gives students an opportunity to explore in-depth the life and work of Pablo Picasso, arguably the most important visual artist of the twentieth century. We will study Picasso in the broader framework of the evolution of modern art, and relate key events in his artistic career to currents... Read More...

How does one know a city? What makes different people flock there? Why did it become a hotbed for artistic creativity and innovation? What makes Chinese cities unique in the world? What makes them “Chinese”? This course reflects on these and other questions by focusing on major Chinese cities (Beijing,... Read More...

In this course, we will explore music as a social and aesthetic phenomenon; the elements of music as it is composed, performed, and listened to; music as art; music as part of history and public life; music as an economic activity; music and science/technology; and music as a sacred and profane... Read More...

We will read eight African-American writers who have contributed to the canon of American Drama over the past 60 years: Lorraine Hansberry, Alice Childress, Adrienne Kennedy, Amiri Baraka, Ed Bullins, August Wilson, Suzan-Lori Parks, and Dael Orlandersmith. Special attention will be given to how these writers respond to the Civil... Read More...

Through lectures, readings, movies, and discussion, this course will explore how contrasting and contested memories of the Civil War emerged—among whites in the North, whites in the South, and African Americans. It will then explore manifestations of those memories in various novels and movies as well as in movements and... Read More...

One of the most remarkable developments in political and moral philosophy in recent years has been the resurgence of interest in the ancient and medieval authors Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas. Both wrote extensively on morals and politics, the latter offering detailed commentary on the former while adapting his work in... Read More...

We will look at some classics in the social contract tradition in political thought: Thomas Hobbes and John Locke. As these writers claim that life in states is superior to life in non-state societies (that is, in the “state of nature”) we’ll critically examine the state superiority thesis by work... Read More...

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... Read More...

Persecution, demonization, pain, suffering, compelled conversions, temple destruction, and even assassinations contributed to the formation of Christian culture, identity, and belief in the period known to scholars as Late Antiquity. Through a careful reading of many primary sources and secondary writings pertaining to the history of the church and theorizing religious violence, students will... Read More...

This course examines several works of Charles Dickens (such as Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, Little Dorrit, and Great Expectations) along with a range of important film, television, and dramatic adaptations from 1837 to 2018.

Dickens wrote while acting his characters in front of a mirror, laughing out loud along... Read More...

Women have often been told that we are terrible at being friends because we are unkind and competitive in relation to each other. It is commonly assumed, moreover, that we will abandon our women friends for romantic relationships. "Female Friendship: Fictional and Critical Perspectives" will address these issues by engaging... Read More...

This course will be an introduction to contemporary metaphysics and epistemology, broadly construed. It will consist of three modules, one each in epistemology proper, philosophy of language, and metaphysics proper. 

The epistemology module will be concerned with skepticism about the external world as it comes to us in Descartes’s Meditations... Read More...

Plays in which non-European characters figure prominently will be the focus of study and discussion in an exploration of Shakespeare’s dramatization of issues that today we call multicultural or multiethnic. What are the distinctive features of these plays? What theatrical contexts can we identify for the conflicts in which these... Read More...

This course looks at how social media, digital technology, a resurgent populism and severe polarization in American life have created an environment for manipulators to infiltrate the nation’s information flow and influence public opinion. 

During the semester we will examine government and media investigations begun in 2017 of the manipulation... Read More...

This course will critically examine historical and contemporary LGBTQ activism in the United States. We will study moments 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...

Why do governments violate human rights? What impacts do repressive acts (such as torture, disappearances, surveillance, and genocide) have on society? And what can be done to improve human rights across the globe? In this course, we will explore issues related to the development of international human rights standards. We... Read More...

Nothing is more precious in American democracy than the right to vote. The ideal of one-person, one-vote is at the heart of our principles, but it never has been easy to achieve. We will study the struggle by minorities for voting rights in the 1960s and examine how turnout affected... Read More...

Exploring the themes of JOURNEY and RETURN in the ancient Greek and Roman worlds, HNRS 2402 will feature Homer’s Odyssey, the plays of Sophocles and Euripides, the histories of Herodotus and Thucydides, the philosophy of Plato, and Virgil’s Aeneid.

Exploring the themes of JOURNEY and RETURN in the ancient Greek and Roman worlds, HNRS 2402 will feature Homer’s Odyssey, the plays of Sophocles and Euripides, the histories of Herodotus and Thucydides, the philosophy of Plato, and Virgil’s Aeneid.

The 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 ethical dimensions of human actions.

The course will present overviews of (1) the physical characteristics of this... Read More...