Spring 2021 HNRS Courses

Broad patterns of biodiversity (biomes), from rainforests to deserts to tundra, are products of geography, climate, and evolutionary history.  These properties affect each biome’s history of human exploitation and their threats in the 21st century.  We will explore Earth’s biomes and their threats, focusing on North America and the New... Read More...

What is science? What do scientists do? Why does so much of science seem controversial these days? How much of your behavior is in your genes? (And what exactly is a gene?) Are there really genes for infidelity? aggression? novelty seeking? How do we choose our mates? Do human genes continue to... Read More...

Understanding the complexities surrounding the human/nature relationship provides us with a necessary framework to co-exist in an ever-changing world. How we experience nature and the environment, however, differs among and between communities. In this course, we will collaborate with peers from Scott Community College in Iowa and San Jose State... Read More...

Do you live in a watershed? Yes, everyone does. Water on earth is connected, from the atmosphere to the land, streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans. In this course we will explore the connections and interactions at the watershed scale and learn about human impacts on them, as well as integrated... 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...

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...

NOTE: This section is reserved for students participating the LASAL Scholars Program.

The State of Louisiana is a foundation course for LASAL Scholars; it provides an introduction to the greatest challenges facing our state. Students will study the root causes of poverty in Louisiana, and the daily challenges that children who live in poverty... 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...

Revolt. Judaism. Islam. Intifada. War. Peace. Palestine. Israel. Zionism. Settlements. Hamas. PLO. Jerusalem.

Feel lost? This course will help you find your bearings.

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... Read More...

Religious leaders and movements have been at the heart of social and cultural change for millennia and around the globe. How did they do it, and what would it mean for you to take the ideas and principles of transformative efforts to make your own impact on the world?

This... Read More...

The summer of 2020 saw renewed protests in response to the high-profile police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and others. The protests called attention to ongoing racial injustice in the United States and the role of the criminal legal system in perpetuating systemic wrongs. This course will explore what... Read More...

This course is designed to approach the issue of art and its role in the commercial market place from a variety of perspectives. It is divided into two parts. Part I will retrace the origins of the various "players" in the modern art market setting (dealers, auction houses, collectors, museums,... 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...

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 will introduce students to German and American relations, traditions, history, and cultures from the 19th Century to today. Students will obtain a better understanding of the similarities and differences of each country as they are portrayed and examined in film, literature, scholarly readings, lecture, and course discussion.

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...

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...

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...

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...

What is mind? How can non-dualistic philosophy be applied in cleaning tables? What do female Zen Masters teach? What Zen rituals help heal delusions? We’ll explore answers to such questions as proffered in historical and philosophical developments across the eighth through twentieth centuries in the cultural contexts of China, Japan,... Read More...

How do we remember (and forget) the past? How is cultural or public memory shaped and constructed? What is its value? Are their specifically cultural forms of memory? Do we have duties to remember (and forget?) and if so, how can we fulfill these obligations? How are cultural and public... Read More...

This course investigates writings about the lives of saints, or “hagiography,” in late antique Christianity (ca. 100-700 C.E.). Through a critical engagement with these texts in translation, students will encounter apostles, martyrs, mystics, and holy people from Greek, Latin, Coptic, and Syriac literature. In our seminar-style discussions and individual research,... Read More...

Humans have been altering our environment since before we were humans. The environment has been altering us for just as long. We will discuss the history of these human-environment interactions over the past 12,000 years. Topics Include: the Neolithic revolution, industrialization, energy and climate, population growth, & ecological economics.

Arthur C. Clarke once wrote, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” How can we understand recent and future technological developments that promise to change the very nature of what it means to be human? The entities created by Artificial Intelligence may be compared and contrasted with the ways that humans... Read More...

Nothing is more precious in our 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 for voting rights in the 1960s & examine how progress has often been... 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.

HNRS 2406 is an interdisciplinary course that explores European conceptions of the individual and the world during the eventful period from the Renaissance to the French Revolution. Classes alternate between lectures and seminars, aiming to uncover the historical and philosophical “back story” of the texts studied in relation to debates... Read More...

HNRS 2406 is an interdisciplinary course that explores European conceptions of the individual and the world during the eventful period from the Renaissance to the French Revolution. Classes alternate between lectures and seminars, aiming to uncover the historical and philosophical “back story” of the texts studied in relation to debates... Read More...

The Coronavirus pandemic has sown panic and pandemonium globally, forcing a reflection on individual and collective health as well as on the future of the human race itself. We are never alone in our contemplation of existential crisis though. Literature, art, and culture provide desperately needed anchors in times of... Read More...