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FALL 2001 COURSE GUIDE These courses are based on the Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian traditions from their origins through modern European and American culture.
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FALL 2001 COURSE GUIDE These courses are based on the Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian traditions from their origins through modern European and American culture.
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ART HISTORY 120g
Foundations of Western Art
Professor Malone
TTh, 11:00 - 12:20
The following course description belongs to Professor Howe.
This course serves as an introduction to the history of western art and culture. It covers a broad sweep of visual material produced by successive civilizations, beginning with Prehistoric Art in Paleolithic Europe and ending with Renaissance Art around the year 1500. Attention is also directed to the legacy of these cultures, as we consider the impact of clasical and biblical traditions on contemporary society.
Lectures present works of art as primary documents representative of specific historical moments, examining the ways in which such work serve to communicate social, political, and religious values. It soon becomes clear that paintings, sculpture and architecture are not simpy repositories of meaning but also exert an impact on their respective cultures as well as on posterity. Discussion thus emphasizes the interrelation between the formal qualities of a work of art and its meaning, while also revealing patterns of revival and transformation.
Readings from an integral part of this course. The crucial assignments appear in (1) textbooks with reproductions that will be the basis for exams and (2) primary sources that will be the basis for discussion and written assignments. These are supplemented by other readings pertinent to research and writing about the visual arts.
Students who enroll in this course assume a responsibility for viewing, learning about and understanding a considerable range of artifacts and monuments. In return, they will acquire the skills to reflect critically on the visual manifestations of our western European heritage.
ART HISTORY 201g
Digging Into the Past: Material Culture and the Civilizations of the Ancient Mediterranean
Professor Pollini
TTh, 9:30 - 10:50
This broad survey course, which covers approximately 8,000 years of human prehistory and history, focuses on the cultural pillar of western civilization -- the Ancient Near East, Egypt, Greece, and Rome -- and on the role of cultural diffusion in the ancient world. In addition to the various civilizations and cultures of the ancient Mediterranean area, this course examines how the products of material culture (artifacts, works of art, architecture, and urban planning) relate to the written record. Important original ancient literary and historical documents will be read and discussed in their relationship to the monuments.
Grading
* Museum Paper: 10%
* Research Paper: 20%
* Midterm Exam: 30%
* Final Exam: 40%
AMERICAN STUDIES 301g
America, the Frontier and the New West
Professor Gustafson
MW, 10:00 - 11:50
This course will not focus on America and the "New Millenium". Instead, it will examine the foundations of the United States and American culture in such actions as exploration, conquest, revolution, consitution-making, pioneering, and immigration, with particular attention paid to the revisionary history prompted in part by the Bicentennial of the Constitution in 1987, the Quincentennial of Columbus' "discovery" of American in 1992, and the Centennial in 1993 of Frederick Jackson Turner's essay, "The Significance of the Frontier in American History." As an introductory course for the American Studies major, this course will also practice and preach interdisciplinary study: it will draw upon various modes of inquiry including, especially, literary, historical, and political analysis.
This course will begin by juxtaposing the legacy of the three sets of founders: (1) those who invented and settled in the United States through the words of the Declaration and the Constitution (backed by force), (2) those who settled the country by deeds of adventurism, violence, community building, corporate enterprise, and political intervention (backed by myths, dreams, and political rhetoric), and (3) those who sought to oppose, resist, or revise the words, deeds and legacies of the founding fathers and pioneers of the West (often by upholding the same principles or ideals). Some of the most powerful myths about America that this course will examine in the second part of the West was a "virgen land" and that our wilderness was tamed by the heroic courage of pioneers and lonesome cowboys (a myth that denies how the settlement of the West has been aided and abetted by the policies and acts of the federal government). The couse will then turn in its third part to a study of the relationship between American public life and the mythology of the frontier as it considers the connection between two of America's most potent dream factories -- Hollywood and Washinton D.C. -- in the media age. This section concludes with a study of the symbolic and institutional policies of two presidents who claimed a special relationship to the frontier: John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan.
In the fourth and final part, we will consider how the West, and contemporary Los Angeles, in particular, can serve as a laboratory for investigating how governments at all levels and the American people themselves are responding to the problems and challenges the United States at the close of the 20th century. This is a city confronting -- indeed colliding with -- the crisis of modern America: environmental threats, racial and ethnic friction, urban violence, and the strains associated with American unprootedness, mobility, and materialsm. Given the location of USC, we will also be alert, too, to how Hollywood -- our dream factory -- has manufactured an image of the West.
CLASSICS 150g
The Greeks and the West
Professor Thalmann
TTh, 12:30 - 2:00
The following course description belongs to Professor Farenga.
The goals of this course are: (1) To survey the Greeks' cultural achievements in government, warfare, science and philosophy, literature and drama, art and architecture; (2) To understand how their achievements serve as positive and negative models for realizing the goals of modern and postmodern western societies (e.g., democratic community; social justice; gender and racial equality; multiculturalism); (3) To learn to read and write about complex texts (epic, lyric,philosophy, tragedy, history) as explorations of the problems both the Greeks and we face in realizing these goals in communal and personal life. This course addresses: (1) The changing nature of community, authority and justice; (2) The changing nature of membership and participation in community (relations between citizens and non-citizens, including women, foreigners and slaves);and (3) The changing conceptions of individuality (self).
Structure: Class lecture, discussion and readings are based on (1) a chronological survey of types of state and non-state community in Greece 1400 - 200 BC; (2) analysis of material (archaeological, artistic) and documentary (written) evidence from Bronze & Dark Ages; archaic, classical, hellenistic periods.
Readings and Assignments:
* Homer. Iliad [selections];
* early lyric poets and philosophers [selections]
* Aeschylus. Oresteia.
* Sophocles. Antigone.
* Herodotus. History of the Persian Invasion [selections]
* Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War [selections]
* Plato. Republic [selections]
* Apollonius. Argonautika (Jason and the Golden Fleece) [selections]
* N. Demand. A History of Ancient Greece (textbook)
Assignments:
* 2 essays, 7pp. each (non-research)
* midterm and final exam (short answers and essay questions)
* quiz (short answers)
Grading:
* 2 essays (30%)
* midterm (25%)
* final (30%)
* quiz (15%).
Note: The readings and assignments list may be subject to change. Please contact the department for verification.
CLASSICS 280g
Classical Mythology
Professor Vasunia
MWF, 1:00 - 1:50
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the mythology of the ancient Greeks and the Romans -- the stories about gods, heroes, and monsters that the ancient peoples used to explain their relationship to the world around them. How were these stories created and transmitted? What was their function in their original context? Why have they had such an impact on later wrtiters and artists? In what ways does the mythology of Greece and Rome resemble or differ from other mythological systems, including our own? Because literature provides us with the best evidence for classical myth, we will concentrate on the use of myth iin certain key texts of the classical Western literary tradition, especially Homer's Odyssey and the tragedies of Athens, although we will draw on the visual arts, religion, and philosophical as well.
Grading and Course Requirements:
* Midterm Examination - 20%
* Final Examination - 30%
* 2 Term Papers - 20% each
* discussion section - 10%
Required Texts:
* Aeschylus, The Oresteia (trans. H. Lloyd-Jones)
* R. Caldwell, The Origin of the Gods: A Psychoanalytic Study of Greek Myth
* Euripides, The Bacchae and Other Plays (trans. P. Vellacott)
* D. Grene and R. Lattimore, eds., Euripides I
* Homer, The Odyssey (trans. R. Fitzgerald)
* Livy, The Rise of Rome: Books 1-5 (trans. T. J. Luce)
* M. P. O. Morford and R. J. Lenardon, Classical Mythology (sixth edition)
* Sophocles, The Three Theban Plays (trans. R. Fagles)
* M. Warner, Six Myths of Our Time
Note: For the latest information about this couse, visit the instructor's website.
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE 150gm
Literature and Western Civilization
Professor Frisch
TTh, 12:00 - 2:00
The following course description belongs to Professor Farenga.
This course offers a broad, conceptual introduction to Western civilization that provides multiple interdisciplinary contexts to help you interpret cultural documents, socio-historical problems, and life experiences by peoples of the past and present (including your own). It will focus on a limited number of key thematic questions linking power, community and individuality. These include:
- How did civilization arise in the Near East from a dialogue between "core" urban city-states and "peripheral" regions?
- How did epic heroes serves as models for the elite male self in patriarchal cultures of the Near East and Mediterranean?
- How did the core-periphery dialogue influence Greco-Romans and Jews to manage power, identify heroes, and worship divinity differently?
- How did Socrates, Jesus and Augustine transform a self based on external social roles, honor and material wealth into an internal, morally responsible and purely spiritual sole?
- Why were Cristian conversion and salvation solutions to a crisis of community in the Roman Empire?
- How could storytelling enable medieval men and women to imagine alternatives to feudal community?
- How did men and women use liminal concepts of time-space to envision ideal community differently?
- Starting with Columbus, what motivated early modern national states to use colonization to dominate culturally different "primitve" peoples?
- How did the novel replace epic and romance as a type of storytelling suited to an age "disenchanted" by waning spiritual authority and by belief in a rational, scientific worldview?
The goals of the course are: (1) to survey the development of the West's civilized societies and civilization's impact on communities and individuals from c. 3000 BC to c. 1600 AD; (2) to understand the sources of social power (economic, political, military and ideological) as the "engine" provoking changes in concepts of community and individuality; and (3) to learn to read and write about complex texts that explore the problems raised by social power. These texts include epic, tragedy, philosophy, religious scripture, spiritual autobiography, literary tale, romance and the novel.
HISTORY 101g
The Ancient World
Professor Nagle
TTh, 11:00 - 12:20
History 101 aims to provide a broad survey of the social, political, cultural and intellectual history of the ancient Middle East, Mediterranean and Europe, from the Agricultural Revolution to the rise of Islam. It emphasizes themes of class; ethnicity; gender; religion; war and warfare and the development of ideas and institutions that have had an impact in the modern world. This course aims to develop an understanding of how modern western concepts of ethics, gender, religion, politics, philosophy and science developed. It discusses the origin of institutionalized Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
Readings:
Primarily original documents from the ancient world supplemented by a textbook.
Assignments:
Weekly reaction papers (to the original sources); two midterms, a term paper and a final exam.
Note: The readings and assignments list may be subject to change. Please contact the department for verification.
HISTORY 102g
Medieval Civilization
Professor Knoll
MWF, 9:00 - 9:50
The beginning of this course will focus upon the Greco-Roman tradition, the Judeo-Christian tradition, and the problem of western cultural singularity. These elements will help define the conceptual framework for the class. Do not mistake this apparent "background" as the equivalent of academic "clearing the throat." As we will see, the medieval period was in some important ways indebted with the Judeo-Christian tradition. Together these things, along with the actual experience of people in the centuries between about A.D. 300 and A.D.1450, helped establish -- in the words of Francis Oakley -- the "cultural singularity" fo the European tradition. It is an assumption of this course that this tradition has meaning, relevancy, and significance for our understanding of the contemporary world in which we live.
Texts
* C. Warren Hollister, Medieval Europe, A Short History. 8th edition.
* C. Warren Hollister, et al., eds., Medieval Europe, A Short Sourcebook. 3rd edition.
* Francis Oakley, The Medieval Experience (Toronto).
* Augustine, The Confessions (Penguin edition).
* The Rule of St. Benedict (Doubleday, Image).
* Two Lives of Charlemagne (Penguin).
* Otto of Freising, The Deeds of Frederick Barbarossa (Toronto).
* A Monk's Confession: The Memoirs of Guibert of Nogent (Penn State).
Grading
* 5 Short Essays (5% each): 25%
* Discussion Group: 15%
* 2 Midterm Exams *(15% each): 30%
* Final Exam (Comprehensive): 30%
HISTORY 103g
The Emergence of Modern Europe
Professor Schwartz
TTh, 11:00 - 12:20
The following course description belongs to Professor Silverman.
History 103g is desiged to serve as an introduction to early modern European society and culture from 1300 to 1800. We will explore three primary areas of European experience: the structures of material life; the relationship between church and state; and the dynamic nature of society and culture. Over the course of the semester, we will examine the origins of institutions still central to modern society: the growth of urbanism; the intensification of gender-specific labor; the rise of capitalism; the emergence of modern state systems; the rise of science, doubt, and philosophies of enlightenment; and the experience of revolutions. We will make use of both primary and secondary sources in our readings and discussions.
Class will meet twice weekly for lecture on and discussion of the week's topics; and once weekly for additional discussion. Because the purpose of the course is not only to survey early modern history, but also to teach students to think critically about the problems faced by societies past and present, writing and participation in discussion will be emphasized. Students are therefore responsible for regular attendance, thoughtful reading, and active participation in discussion. Come prepared with questions and ideas. Students should expect reading assignments of 75-100 pages per week, which must be completed prior to the class for which they are assigned.
HISTORY 200g
The American Experience
Professor Seip
MWF, 8:00 - 8:50
HIST 2OOg explores American history and culture from pre-European contact native civilizations to the nation's present dimensions as a modem pluralistic society. The factual, interpretative, and analytic emphases given to key episodes, personalities, ideas, culture, and social forces in the life of the nation are designed as a foundation for further study. At base we hope to provide students with a useful perspective on the nation's complex and rich past--a central feature of any solid liberal arts education, and, with the family history project, a historical perspective on each student's personal past. The lecture section of the class meets from 8:00 to 8:50 MWF and students are required to enroll in a weekly discussion section led by a teaching assistant.
The class explores the ways in which the patterns of civilizations associated with the Greco--Roman and European traditions have been and are constantly reflected and reshaped in North America (and exported back to Europe and the world). We examine, for example, the Judaic and Christian religions, liberty and enslavement, republicanism and democracy, scientific thought, technological advance, industrialization and mass consumption, mass education and popular culture, secularization, and the like--as well as emergence of increasingly diverse immigration patterns and multiculturalism which continue to shape American society and culture in ways outside the European tradition.
Required Readings:
* Divine, et al., America: Past and Present (Brief 4th edition, 1998)
* Weisner & Hartford (eds.), American Portraits: Biographies in U.S. History (2 vol., 1998)
* America Through the Eyes of Its People: Primary Sources (2d edition, 1997)
* Kyvig & Marty, Your Family History (I 978)
Requirements:
Three essay examinations (15%, 20%, and 25% of final grade); participation in weekly discussion sections (20%); and the family history project (20%). Extra credit for participation in the Joint Educational Project (JEP) is available.
Note: The readings and assignments list may be subject to change. Please contact the department for verification.
JUDAIC STUDIES 100g
Jewish History
Professor Rubin
MW, 2:00 - 3:15
This course is an introduction to the major trends and themes of Jewish history as well as literary and cultural creations of the Jewish people from their beginnings in the ancient Near East through the biblical, classical, and early rabbinic periods. Special emphasis will be placed on ideas and concepts that evolved among the Jews and that have impacted Western civilization, as well as the way in which Jews have interacted with the peoples and cultures among whom they have lived. The tension between "tradition" and "change" will be traced from the beginnings of Jewish civilization in the ancient Near East through the periods discussed. Through this course you will examine the origins of the religious experience as it has been realized in the West. You will study patterns of thinking that have impacted the meaning of what it is to be human, and you will learn how Judaism evolved out of its Near Eastern context and established the patterns and paradigms of Western religion and religious thought.
Readings and Assignments:
* Shanks, ed., Ancient Israel: A Short History from Abraham to the Roman Destruction of the Temple.
* Jaffe, Martin, Early Judaism.
* Shanks, ed., Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism: A parallel History of Their Origins and Early Development.
* Schiffman, Lawrence, Texts and Traditions: A source Reader for the Study of Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism.
Note: The readings and assignments list may be subject to change. Please contact the department for verification.
PHILOSOPHY 262g
Mind and Self: Modern Conceptions
Professor Yaffe
TTh, 11:00 - 12:15
Please contact department for course description.
RELIGION 111g
The World of the Hebrew Bible
Professor Zuckerman
TTh, 11:00 - 12:20
The aim of this course is to give a comprehensive introduction to the Hebrew Bible, concentrating on the most central theological issues in all three subdivisions of the scriptures: the Torah, the Prophets and the Writings. While we shall closely consider what the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament can contribute to our knowledge of history of the Ancient Near East, and also consider the literary aspects of the individual biblical texts, neither the "Bible as History" nor the "Bible as Literature" will be the central focus in this course. Rather, we will focus upon the Bible as a religious document out of which emerged those basic theological concepts that decisively shaped western civilization. Our particular concern will therefore be biblical ideas about the nature of God, the relationship of the Deity to mankind, and the overall human condition.
Texts
* Bible of your choice (preferably not the King James version)
* Frick, Frank S. A Journey through the Hebrew Scriptures. Orlando: Harcourt Brace, 1995.
* Miller, J. Maxwell and Hayes, John H. A History of Ancient Israel and Judah. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1986.
Course Requirements
* Weekly Quizzes: 15%
* Midterm Exam: 15%
* Final Exam: 30%
* 1 Short Paper: 10%
* 1 Term Paper: 30%
RELIGION 121g
The World of the New Testament
Professor Hock
MWF, 11:00 - 11:50
The aim of this course is to explore the beginnings of the Christian religion in first century Palestine and to trace its initial developments as it spread throughout the Roman Empire during that and the next three centuries. These centuries witnessed both the events depicted in the writings that make up the New Testament, the formation of the New Testament itself, and the mergence of Christianity as the dominant religion of Western culture.
To give students a first-hand grasp of the world of the New Testament, a wide variety of primary sources is assisgned so that students can reconstruct for themselves the social, intellectual, and religious worlds within which the early Christians lived and so allow students to understand the earliest Christian writings attention will be given to the ways Christianity adapted the conventions of thought and behavior of the Mediterranean cultures and civilizations they inhabited and, by the fourth century, came to dominate.
Course Requirements and Grading
* Weekly Quizzes:
100 points
* Midterm Exam:
100 points
* Final Exam:
100 points
* 2 Term Papers:
200 points
500 points
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