Course Archive
Fall 2016
Fall 2016
Richard Poss
THURSDAYS
6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Sep 29 to Dec 8
This survey of astronomy begins here on Earth and heads outward to the ends of the observable universe. We will explore the Sun, the Moon, and the most interesting planets in our stellar neighborhood. Comets, asteroids, the Kuiper Belt, and the Oort Cloud are the next topics we will consider as we assess our solar-system environment. From our local solar system we then move to star formation and the nature of the Milky Way galaxy. Neutron stars, debris disks, supernovas, black holes, and dark matter follow.
Are we alone? How do you find an exoplanet? We will ask these questions as we study...
Fall 2016
Thomas P. Miller
THURSDAYS
1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Sep 29 to Dec 8
This course steps back from polls and punditry to reflect on broader historical developments. It considers women in politics, divisions between rich and poor, and ethnic minorities becoming the new majority. To deepen our analyses, we will consider writings on politics and ethics, including some that shaped the founding of the republic as well as recent research on political cognition and moral imagination. That research has brought us back to Hume’s view that “reason is a slave of the passions,” something abundantly apparent in the current campaign. Stepping back from the attack ads, we will...
Fall 2016
Bella Vivante
THURSDAYS
9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Sep 29 to Dec 15
We initiate a year of exploring Homer by reading his scintillating epic poem presenting a few days near the Trojan War’s end: The Iliad. While the poem highlights battle and military matters, human complexities also emerge: conflict between military and domestic realms; women as war prizes or prized family members; the role of gods; concepts of heroism; ways of warfare; the oral tradition; creation of poetry; and more. The aim is to appreciate from multiple perspectives The Iliad’s exquisite poetry and its multilayered ideas about war, peace, and related themes. A greater understanding of...
Fall 2016
Donna Guy
WEDNESDAYS
9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Sep 28 to Dec 14
Stereotypes of dictators, machismo, endemic drug violence, and staunch Catholicism are often applied to Latin America. Countries as different as Argentina, Mexico, and Brazil are lumped together despite varying ethnicities and economics. How can we tell the difference between the myths and the realities? How can a little island like Cuba so enrage the United States? This ten-week course approaches these questions topically. Lectures and selected readings explore topics such as the decline of Catholicism, democracy, the role of Jews and Muslim immigrants in shaping this region, U.S.-Latin...
Fall 2016
Lynda Zwinger
TUESDAYS
1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Sep 27 to Dec 13
In this class we will begin to see for ourselves what James contributed to the art to which he devoted his entire life. The course will include lectures on the history and form of the English and American novel, Henry James’s life and times, selected passages from James’s prefaces to the famous New York edition, and an introduction to foundational formal and theoretical concepts we will need for our exploration. James wrote for many kinds of readers: those looking for a good story, his fellow artists, and for his ideal reader—who, not surprisingly, bears an extremely close resemblance to...
Fall 2016
Albrecht Classen
MONDAYS
9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Sep 26 to Dec 12
Medieval literature was not simply doom and gloom. It also had a strong sense of hope, happiness, and love, embodied best perhaps in the Holy Grail and courtly love. As in all other literary eras, we can also find many tragic or religious works. But one of the hallmarks of medieval literature, at least in its secular form, is the search for happiness, individual fulfillment, and love, all perhaps best captured by the term “quest.” Think of the quest for the grail, quest for the social ideal of a courtly knight, and quest for love. Happiness is important for us today as well, so in this course...
Fall 2016
Thomas P. Miller
FRIDAYS
10:30 AM to 12:30 PM
Aug 15 to Dec 16
This course steps back from polls and punditry to reflect on broader historical developments. It considers women in politics, divisions between rich and poor, and ethnic minorities becoming the new majority. To deepen our analyses, we will consider writings on politics and ethics, including some that shaped the founding of the republic as well as recent research on political cognition and moral imagination. That research has brought us back to Hume’s view that “reason is a slave of the passions,” something abundantly apparent in the current campaign. Stepping back from the attack ads, we will...
Summer 2016
Summer 2016
Doug Weiner
WEDNESDAYS
9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Aug 3 to Aug 24
The Bolshevik Revolution and the Soviet Union played defining roles in the twentieth century, yet are poorly understood. To help us to better grasp their history, this course will integrate the best scholarship and currently available evidence to provide a broad picture of Soviet history that makes the most sense today. We will begin with the context of the Bolshevik seizure of power. Among other topics, the course will cover the relationship of Marxism to Soviet ideology and practice, the rise of Stalin, the Soviet economy, ethnic policy, World War II, the Cold War, Khrushchev’s “thaw,” and...
Summer 2016
Peter Medine
TUESDAYS
9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Aug 2 to Aug 30
This seminar will focus on the ideal political state as it is represented in More's Utopia (1516) and Swift's Gulliver's Travels (1726). There are no incontrovertibly valid answers to the question of what constitutes the ideal state and how it may be realized, and neither Utopia nor Gulliver Travels pretends to advance them. The works are fictional, and the methods are literary—a Platonic dialogue and a prose satire. Each work advances two arguments, one that affirms the ideal political state and the other that rejects its possibility. Neither author endorses one argument over the other. The...
Summer 2016
David Soren
THURSDAYS
2016 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Jul 7 to Jul 28
In this course Professor David Soren presents four of his most significant accomplishments from his fifty-year career in archaeology (Oxford University has cited his work as among the fifty greatest archaeological discoveries of all time). First, he will discuss his excavations at Kourion, Cyprus, where he uncovered a Greco-Roman city buried by the devastating earthquake of July 21, 365, which triggered tsunamis so powerful they demolished the Greek coast. Next, he will tell the story of the agony of Roman emperor Augustus, which caused him to go with the poet Horace to an exotic spa in...
Summer 2016
Malcolm Compitello
WEDNESDAYS
2016 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Jun 29 to Jul 27
Francisco de Goya y Lucientes has undoubtedly profoundly influenced the techniques, form, and meaning of modern art. From his innovations that revolutionized making etchings to the form and content of his historical and allegorical painting, Goya’s influence on artistic creation is immense. This course will study that influence and examine how Goya’s view of the world and his thought emerged. We will see how his paintings and etchings evolved into a systematic criticism of the antiquated nature of Spain’s institutions and way of life. We will also explore how Napoleon’s invasion of Spain...
Summer 2016
Laura C. Berry
TUESDAYS
9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Jun 7 to Jun 28
Sherlock Holmes never actually said “Elementary, my dear Watson!” There have been more than 60 Holmes films, including one in which he is portrayed by a mouse, one by a dog, and at least one as a woman. Arthur Conan Doyle, the original author, was a medical doctor, a freemason, and a believer in spiritualism and clairvoyance. These and other curious facts will be explored (or should we say “detected“?) in this seminar, as we examine a cross-section of the many adaptations of Doyle’s iconic detective. We will begin by reading many of the original short stories, followed by viewing film and...
Summer 2016
Eleni Hasaki
WEDNESDAYS
9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
Jun 1 to Jun 22
What were the key technologies and major technical achievements of classical Greek antiquity? This course examines two crucial and interconnected industries: ceramics and bronze-working. The two crafts are often discussed separately, but in this course we will focus on their deeply rooted connections. We will examine the qualities of the raw materials used, the technological know-how of potters and bronze-smiths, the pyrotechnological principles of their kilns and furnaces, as well as the social, political, economic, and cultural milieus that promoted their breakthroughs. We will explore...
Summer 2016
Melissa Tatum
THURSDAYS
10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
May 5 to May 26
The Civil War was not only pivotal moment in American history, it was a key moment in the development of American music. Even as the war was ripping the country in half, the military was bringing together soldiers from differing ethnic and musical backgrounds. The resulting comingling of instruments, songs, and styles has been called the first recognizably “American” folk music.
This is not a history class or a music class, but rather is an examination of the connection between music, history, and place. It is a class about how a unique period of history gave birth to a new era of music and...
Summer 2016
David Byrne
TUESDAYS
9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
May 3 to May 31
While many people living in Tucson and its surroundings are experienced outdoor aficionados, many lack an understanding of our near neighbors--those plants and animals that live close to us in our urban environment. Certainly we can choose to ignore the flora and fauna of our desert community and function reasonably well. Our lives are enriched, however, if we take the time to develop a better understanding of our companion species. Developing this awareness/knowledge ?is the goal of this course. Using ecology, the scientific analysis and study of interactions among organisms and their...
Spring 2016
Spring 2016
Monica j. Casper
TUESDAYS
10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Mar 1 to Apr 5
Superman, Wonder Woman, Spiderman, Batman, Captain America, Green Lantern, Iron Man, Black Widow--the list of America’s superheroes is long. Comic books, TV, and cinema have long built up the appeal of superheroes, and they remain popular. Embodiments of cultural meanings, social practices, and political imaginaries, superheroes tell us stories about ourselves. Historically, representations of superheroes have been connected to national security and the Cold War, changing gender roles, racial stereotypes, and environmental issues. In this course we attend to gender, race, and sex as they play...
Spring 2016
Irene Bald Romano
MONDAYS
1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Feb 1 to Feb 29
Art has often been plundered or stolen during times of war, occupation, or even peace. This course explores the historical, political, and legal framework of specific moments when art has been taken. The class focuses on how art has been used for propagandistic purposes, as pawns in high-stakes politics, or as a “cash cow” in the legitimate or black market. It also looks at ethical issues of museum collecting, the debate over cultural property, and the dilemma of recovery or repatriation of stolen art. Case studies include the looting of Greece by the Romans; plunder of art from Italy and...
Spring 2016
David Gibbs
FRIDAYS
10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Jan 29 to Apr 8
U.S. intervention in underdeveloped countries raises many basic issues of international relations and foreign policy. The main purpose of this class is to provide students with an ability to examine such issues critically and in a historical context. Among the general areas we will look at are: the historical background that led to the emergence of the USA as a major power, beginning at the end of the 1940s; the role of covert operations during the Cold War; the Vietnam War and its long-term effects; the end of the Cold War; and the War on Terror. The course lectures will emphasize the...
Spring 2016
Peter Medine
THURSDAYS
1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Jan 28 to Apr 7
This course encompasses Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus, and King Lear. While addressing ourselves to such matters as language and theatricality, we shall approach plays primarily from the perspectives of plot and characterization. This line of inquiry will enable us to focus on the psychology and morality of the tragic protagonists and at the same time take into account the shape of the plays' action. Thereby we shall be able to move beyond the misguided idea of the “tragic flaw” of characterization to come to terms with the...
Spring 2016
Bella Vivante
THURSDAYS
9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Jan 28 to Apr 7
The first great work of Western literature, Homer’s phenomenal epic The Iliad, sings of the Trojan War, its horrors and its glories. To the ancient Greeks war was a fact of life. Proving oneself in battle was fundamental to becoming a man. Despite modern Western beliefs that we can resolve conflicts diplomatically, war still confronts us. Today, facing an implacably savage enemy leaves many conflicted about the morality of warfare.
Greek warfare differed from modern practices: unquestioningly accepting that war was necessary; promoting the material gains of war; glorifying the warrior; and...