Subject: AIQS
Term: Fall 2024
AIQS 100: Journalism and the Digital Disruption (100/5435)
MWF 09:30-10:20 AM Aug 26-Dec 06
Blake, G
More than fifteen years after completing degrees from CWRU, Craig Newmark founded a company that operated a digital bulletin board. This bulletin board, Craigslist, went on to decimate a major source of revenue for newspapers: classified ads. It was one of the key moments in which the dazzling digital technology of the internet seemed to threaten the very existence of print newspapers. This was a pivotal moment in which the business of news changed in fundamental ways. However, not everyone agrees on what the digital disruption means for journalism, storytelling and truth. For some, new digital technologies mean new voices, new audiences, and new ways of telling stories - deploying data in new and compelling ways. For others, this disruption has fundamentally disrupted a venerable tradition of news journalism, pushing audience attention away from difficult subjects and compromising key values at the expense of shareability, efficiency and profit. We will explore this debate as we consider how shifting media shapes the way that journalism is undertaken and conceptualized. Students will gain exposure to long-running debates regarding journalism and society, with attention to blurring boundaries between genres of writing and tensions between profit, narrative, and independent truth-finding. Along the way, students will complete assignments that involve writing in academic as well as journalistic genres.
AIQS 100: Urban Environmental Practices (102/5436)
MW 03:20-04:35 PM Aug 26-Dec 06
Burkhart, M
At a time when more than 70% of U.S. residents live in metropolitan areas, efforts to regenerate the social and environmental health of urban spaces emerge as a paramount concern. This course addresses how many urban populations are pushing back against legacies of industrial pollution, chronic underinvestment, and food scarcity. Our course readings, films, and field experience suggest how regenerative urban ecological practices can model strategies for reclaiming the vitality of forgotten spaces while also providing a vehicle for community self-determination. Cleveland, as a city undergoing cultural and economic redefinition, stands as an ideal place to engage the work of contemporary environmental writers, filmmakers, community organizers, and urban planners. While we will focus on environmental transitions taking place in Cleveland, we will consider how similar dynamics play out in other deindustrializing cities. This seminar's driving questions include: How have people in cities forged meaningful relationships with urban environments? How do global histories, carried through the legacies of enslavement, immigration, and refugee resettlement affect the ways that current communities interact with urban environments? How might communities regenerate blighted city spaces, through practices such as urban farming, developing climate resiliency, and restoring green spaces? How might these locally driven community revitalization efforts unfold without displacing long standing residents through "green gentrification"? Through discussion-driven inquiry, writing (including journal entries and three more fully developed essays), as well as individual and small group presentations, this seminar offers nuanced understandings of the environmental histories that have shaped city spaces. Vitally, this course also offers critical perspectives that might contribute to the shaping of more equitable, environmentally just conditions in contemporary cities.
AIQS 100: Urban Environmental Practices (103/5437)
MW 04:50-06:05 PM Aug 26-Dec 06
Burkhart, M
At a time when more than 70% of U.S. residents live in metropolitan areas, efforts to regenerate the social and environmental health of urban spaces emerge as a paramount concern. This course addresses how many urban populations are pushing back against legacies of industrial pollution, chronic underinvestment, and food scarcity. Our course readings, films, and field experience suggest how regenerative urban ecological practices can model strategies for reclaiming the vitality of forgotten spaces while also providing a vehicle for community self-determination. Cleveland, as a city undergoing cultural and economic redefinition, stands as an ideal place to engage the work of contemporary environmental writers, filmmakers, community organizers, and urban planners. While we will focus on environmental transitions taking place in Cleveland, we will consider how similar dynamics play out in other deindustrializing cities. This seminar's driving questions include: How have people in cities forged meaningful relationships with urban environments? How do global histories, carried through the legacies of enslavement, immigration, and refugee resettlement affect the ways that current communities interact with urban environments? How might communities regenerate blighted city spaces, through practices such as urban farming, developing climate resiliency, and restoring green spaces? How might these locally driven community revitalization efforts unfold without displacing long standing residents through "green gentrification"? Through discussion-driven inquiry, writing (including journal entries and three more fully developed essays), as well as individual and small group presentations, this seminar offers nuanced understandings of the environmental histories that have shaped city spaces. Vitally, this course also offers critical perspectives that might contribute to the shaping of more equitable, environmentally just conditions in contemporary cities.
AIQS 100: Modern Virtues: Examining Contemporary Moralities (106/5439)
MWF 11:40-12:30 PM Aug 26-Dec 06
Lucas, K
If you want to be successful today, society gives you a lot of advice. Be optimistic! Be productive! Be creative! Be informed! Our class will critically examine these modern virtues. Do they really help us flourish? In class, students will learn about how modern positive psychologists like Martin Seligman have updated ancient ethical theories from Aristotle and Confucious. Next, we will read the work of contemporary social critics who question whether being virtuous--which can be defined as being both morally good and satisfied with life--is still even possible given the complexity of modern problems. Through a sequence of writing assignments, students will develop research questions that relate expert debates to their professional ambitions. For example, does being self-aware really make you a better doctor, scientist, or manager?
AIQS 100: Modern Virtues: Examining Contemporary Moralities (108/5440)
MWF 02:15-03:05 PM Aug 26-Dec 06
Lucas, K
If you want to be successful today, society gives you a lot of advice. Be optimistic! Be productive! Be creative! Be informed! Our class will critically examine these modern virtues. Do they really help us flourish? In class, students will learn about how modern positive psychologists like Martin Seligman have updated ancient ethical theories from Aristotle and Confucious. Next, we will read the work of contemporary social critics who question whether being virtuous--which can be defined as being both morally good and satisfied with life--is still even possible given the complexity of modern problems. Through a sequence of writing assignments, students will develop research questions that relate expert debates to their professional ambitions. For example, does being self-aware really make you a better doctor, scientist, or manager?
AIQS 100: Pursuit of Happiness: Approaches to the Good Life (109/5441)
TR 10:00-11:15 AM Aug 26-Dec 06
Sattler, A
When Thomas Jefferson placed the pursuit of happiness alongside life and liberty as unalienable rights in the Declaration of Independence, he was writing into a long intellectual tradition. This course examines that tradition: both how we pursue and experience happiness, and how philosophers, artists, sociologists, psychologists, and neuroscientists have defined and studied happiness. We will read scientific research and philosophy alongside autobiographies, narratives, and other art works as we explore happiness. Then, we will collect quantitative and qualitative data, synthesize our findings, write essays, and produce a podcast as we participate in the larger conversation about the pursuit of happiness.
AIQS 100: Reading Japanese Fiction in Translation (110/5442)
MW 12:45-02:00 PM Aug 26-Dec 06
DeLong, J
For this course we will read works of Japanese fiction, with a focus on contemporary authors such as Banana Yoshimoto, Yukiko Motoya, and Nobel Prize-contender Haruki Murakami. Our semester will begin by exploring the question of what it means to read works of literature in translation, and students will learn about literary translation as an art form in its own right. Similarly, students will learn about and gain practice in additional forms of writing that let them engage with our readings as literary critics: literary scholarship, book reviews, and even creative writing. We will also discuss cultural concepts such as bushido and senpai that can enrich your understanding and appreciation of Japanese literature. Overall, this course aims to provide you with an entertaining and thought-provoking selection of Japanese fiction while also helping you think more deeply and intentionally about the relationship between your writing and reading practices.
AIQS 100: Reading Japanese Fiction in Translation (111/5443)
MW 03:20-04:35 PM Aug 26-Dec 06
DeLong, J
For this course we will read works of Japanese fiction, with a focus on contemporary authors such as Banana Yoshimoto, Yukiko Motoya, and Nobel Prize-contender Haruki Murakami. Our semester will begin by exploring the question of what it means to read works of literature in translation, and students will learn about literary translation as an art form in its own right. Similarly, students will learn about and gain practice in additional forms of writing that let them engage with our readings as literary critics: literary scholarship, book reviews, and even creative writing. We will also discuss cultural concepts such as bushido and senpai that can enrich your understanding and appreciation of Japanese literature. Overall, this course aims to provide you with an entertaining and thought-provoking selection of Japanese fiction while also helping you think more deeply and intentionally about the relationship between your writing and reading practices.
AIQS 100: Global Food Challenges: Climate, Health, & Equity (112/5444)
MWF 09:30-10:20 AM Aug 26-Dec 06
Fejes, N
In this seminar, we will examine the environmental, social, and health consequences of our food choices. Among other topics, we delve into the history of agriculture and industrial agriculture; the impact of the global food system on climate change; food insecurity; environmental racism in the food system; Black and Indigenous ecologies; and food waste. We look at the food system as both a significant cause of ongoing social, health, and environmental issues and a crucially important lever to optimize environmental sustainability and human health through community-centered regenerative and transformative solutions. Students will also engage with food and sustainability initiatives on campus and in our Cleveland community and visit a farmer's market nearby.
AIQS 100: Global Food Challenges: Climate, Health, & Equity (113/5445)
MWF 10:35-11:25 AM Aug 26-Dec 06
Fejes, N
In this seminar, we will examine the environmental, social, and health consequences of our food choices. Among other topics, we delve into the history of agriculture and industrial agriculture; the impact of the global food system on climate change; food insecurity; environmental racism in the food system; Black and Indigenous ecologies; and food waste. We look at the food system as both a significant cause of ongoing social, health, and environmental issues and a crucially important lever to optimize environmental sustainability and human health through community-centered regenerative and transformative solutions. Students will also engage with food and sustainability initiatives on campus and in our Cleveland community and visit a farmer's market nearby.
AIQS 100: Race and Racism in Shakespeare (114/5446)
MWF 11:40-12:30 PM Aug 26-Dec 06
Higgins, J
This class will use several of Shakespeare's plays to introduce students to central questions surrounding the scholarly examination of race. Several decades ago, many scholars argued that race as a social category was not really present in Shakespeare's plays or his culture; clearly there were prejudices in both, but these literary scholars and historians argued that these prejudices were not based in "race" as it has come to be understood in a modern sense. More recent scholars have challenged this view, however, and argued that racial categories provide a powerful tool for explaining what goes on in Shakespeare's plays. This class will look at several Shakespeare plays with central characters who, in a modern understanding, seem to come from racial minorities. We will ask whether or not Shakespeare and his culture seem to understand these people as belonging to a distinct "race" of people. We will also ask whether Shakespeare's plays present race as a biological reality or a social construction, and whether the plays seem to endorse the prejudices articulated by characters within them. We will also discuss how race intersects with gender, sexuality, and class; and examine several modern adaptations of the plays that we read, to see how more contemporary writers, actors and directors have engaged with the potentially troubling implications of how Shakespeare represented minority characters.
AIQS 100: Spectacle in American Culture (115/5447)
MWF 10:35-11:25 AM Aug 26-Dec 06
Jim, B
The Academic Inquiry Seminar (AIQS), Spectacle in American Culture, will examine the topic of spectacle chronologically and typologically to better understand the power of remarkable visual experiences to awe, entertain, persuade, and create meaning from the colonial period to the present day. Students will examine spectacle in theory and in practice, analyzing the phenomenon through their written assignments and producing a video journal of spectacular occurrences over the course of the semester. Theorists of spectacle, such as Guy DeBord and David Nye, have shown that spectacle frequently has been used to assure complicity with dominant cultural ideals. This course will encourage students to look for the operation of power oftentimes hidden behind the bright light of spectacle. We will study natural spectacles, such as the Grand Canyon and Niagara Falls, and technological spectacles, such as rocket launches, fireworks, and building implosions. Students will work together to develop a theory of spectacle, and we will discuss how spectacle has changed American cities and informed the construction of personal identity. We will draw upon the disciplines of science, art history, history of technology, and sociology to help us better understand the creation of spectacle (and spectators).
AIQS 100: Spectacle in American Culture (116/5448)
MWF 11:40-12:30 PM Aug 26-Dec 06
Jim, B
The Academic Inquiry Seminar (AIQS), Spectacle in American Culture, will examine the topic of spectacle chronologically and typologically to better understand the power of remarkable visual experiences to awe, entertain, persuade, and create meaning from the colonial period to the present day. Students will examine spectacle in theory and in practice, analyzing the phenomenon through their written assignments and producing a video journal of spectacular occurrences over the course of the semester. Theorists of spectacle, such as Guy DeBord and David Nye, have shown that spectacle frequently has been used to assure complicity with dominant cultural ideals. This course will encourage students to look for the operation of power oftentimes hidden behind the bright light of spectacle. We will study natural spectacles, such as the Grand Canyon and Niagara Falls, and technological spectacles, such as rocket launches, fireworks, and building implosions. Students will work together to develop a theory of spectacle, and we will discuss how spectacle has changed American cities and informed the construction of personal identity. We will draw upon the disciplines of science, art history, history of technology, and sociology to help us better understand the creation of spectacle (and spectators).
AIQS 100: Dead Ends: The American Cemetery (118/5449)
MW 12:45-02:00 PM Aug 26-Dec 06
Daniel, V
Cemeteries in the United States have evolved over three centuries, from the local churchyard to the garden cemetery, from the memorial park to the natural burial preserve. This evolution in form reflects larger shifts in how Americans have thought about death and mourned their dead. Yet, this history also raises deeper questions about community, identity, and belonging. Why, for example, have so many cemeteries been separated by race, religion, and class? Why have some burial grounds been perceived as sacred while others have been bulldozed in the name of development? This class will explore what American cemeteries can teach us about American society, as well as how this history has shaped our current burial practices. We will visit local burial grounds, welcome guest speakers from the cemetery business, and use writing assignments to investigate course themes related to death, memorialization, and social identity.
AIQS 100: Digital Literature (119/5450)
TR 01:00-02:15 PM Aug 26-Dec 06
Kelly, K
Digital literature refers to literary works designed to be read or experienced on a computer. Such works encourage readers' active participation and often provoke multi-sensory engagement, asking readers to interact with the story through words, images, sounds, touch, and movement. In this class, we read various kinds of digital literature, including choose-your-own-adventure-style stories, narrative games, and media-rich interactive stories. We write about how these works use visual media, interactive features, and digital technology to tell their stories or make their claims in ways that promote readers' agency and engagement. Through seminar discussions, a wide range of reading and playing experiences, and substantial exploratory and analytical writing, we will consider how digital literature helps us understand our digital, networked culture.
AIQS 100: Digital Literature (120/5451)
TR 02:30-03:45 PM Aug 26-Dec 06
Kelly, K
Digital literature refers to literary works designed to be read or experienced on a computer. Such works encourage readers' active participation and often provoke multi-sensory engagement, asking readers to interact with the story through words, images, sounds, touch, and movement. In this class, we read various kinds of digital literature, including choose-your-own-adventure-style stories, narrative games, and media-rich interactive stories. We write about how these works use visual media, interactive features, and digital technology to tell their stories or make their claims in ways that promote readers' agency and engagement. Through seminar discussions, a wide range of reading and playing experiences, and substantial exploratory and analytical writing, we will consider how digital literature helps us understand our digital, networked culture.
AIQS 100: Bicycles (121/5452)
MW 08:00-09:15 AM Aug 26-Dec 06
Chilton, E
For most of us, the bicycle seems a simple, everyday object, associated with children's toys or recreational sport. But this remarkably efficient machine has developed in distinct technological, social, and economic contexts, and these contexts are closely intertwined with community values. In this seminar, we will trace the history of bicycles and consider how we can shape public environments, including urban spaces, to better reflect the values of present and future generations. Students will work individually and in groups to explore these topics, producing formal essays as well as presentations in coordination with classmates. We will use Cleveland and University Circle as a laboratory for understanding the complexity and challenges of managing city infrastructure for different kinds of users. We will also critically examine claims that increased bicycle use can lead to better energy efficiency, less traffic, improved health, better quality of life, and more fun. By engaging with popular and scholarly sources, we will consider the significance of bicycles even for non-cyclists. Topics will include the development and engineering of bicycle technology, the aesthetic and cultural aspects of the cycling experience, the role of bicycles in the fight for women's suffrage and equality, and the place of bicycles in our transportation infrastructure. In all this, we will consider how to remake urban public spaces to accommodate all people and reflect our common values.
AIQS 100: Bicycles (122/5453)
MW 12:45-02:00 PM Aug 26-Dec 06
Chilton, E
For most of us, the bicycle seems a simple, everyday object, associated with children's toys or recreational sport. But this remarkably efficient machine has developed in distinct technological, social, and economic contexts, and these contexts are closely intertwined with community values. In this seminar, we will trace the history of bicycles and consider how we can shape public environments, including urban spaces, to better reflect the values of present and future generations. Students will work individually and in groups to explore these topics, producing formal essays as well as presentations in coordination with classmates. We will use Cleveland and University Circle as a laboratory for understanding the complexity and challenges of managing city infrastructure for different kinds of users. We will also critically examine claims that increased bicycle use can lead to better energy efficiency, less traffic, improved health, better quality of life, and more fun. By engaging with popular and scholarly sources, we will consider the significance of bicycles even for non-cyclists. Topics will include the development and engineering of bicycle technology, the aesthetic and cultural aspects of the cycling experience, the role of bicycles in the fight for women's suffrage and equality, and the place of bicycles in our transportation infrastructure. In all this, we will consider how to remake urban public spaces to accommodate all people and reflect our common values.
AIQS 100: The Bioethics of Horror (124/5454)
TR 02:30-03:45 PM Aug 26-Dec 06
Larson, S
When is a person really dead? What obligations do clinicians have to patients? Should we prioritize bodily autonomy or community good in the face of a deadly outbreak? These questions are paramount not only to the field of bioethics -- a branch of philosophy concerned with healthcare, medicine, and advances in biotech and science -- but are also central concerns of the horror genre. In this course we will use writing to explore the ways horror fiction and film deal with biomedical ethical, social, and legal issues. We'll explore topics like genetics, disability, medical decision-making, and public health ethics through texts by authors like Stephen King, Octavia Butler, John Carpenter, and Shirley Jackson. Our goal as a class will be to consider how we can use our writing about the widely popular and accessible genre of horror to explore and communicate the ideas and arguments of biomedical ethics across modalities and audiences.
AIQS 100: Pursuit of Happiness: Approaches to the Good Life (125/5455)
TR 08:30-09:45 AM Aug 26-Dec 06
Sattler, A
When Thomas Jefferson placed the pursuit of happiness alongside life and liberty as unalienable rights in the Declaration of Independence, he was writing into a long intellectual tradition. This course examines that tradition: both how we pursue and experience happiness, and how philosophers, artists, sociologists, psychologists, and neuroscientists have defined and studied happiness. We will read scientific research and philosophy alongside autobiographies, narratives, and other art works as we explore happiness. Then, we will collect quantitative and qualitative data, synthesize our findings, write essays, and produce a podcast as we participate in the larger conversation about the pursuit of happiness.
AIQS 100: What Is College For? (126/5456)
TR 04:00-05:15 PM Aug 26-Dec 06
Lucas, D
Why are we here? Not on this planet -- that's another course -- but here, at this university? What is the purpose of a university? What do we -- as students, as faculty, as different communities -- expect of such an institution? And what should those institutions expect from us? In this course we will explore historical and contemporary ideas of the university, and in our seminar discussions we will measure our own experiences against that history and those theories. We will place particular emphasis on the current state of the idea of the university, and the subsequent effects of those ideas on current university students. We will ask, for example, how cultural and societal notions of the university's purpose affect our expectations for our own time and work there. How and why do debates about the university present a stage for some of our most contentious societal questions? We will acquaint ourselves with the histories and contexts of some of these debates in order to address the complexities of our present moment. We will take up this debate ourselves in our daily seminar conversations. We will write and think in a variety of genres, including personal essays, critical analyses, and individual and group oral presentations.
AIQS 100: Journalism and the Digital Disruption (127/5457)
MWF 10:35-11:25 AM Aug 26-Dec 06
Blake, G
More than fifteen years after completing degrees from CWRU, Craig Newmark founded a company that operated a digital bulletin board. This bulletin board, Craigslist, went on to decimate a major source of revenue for newspapers: classified ads. It was one of the key moments in which the dazzling digital technology of the internet seemed to threaten the very existence of print newspapers. This was a pivotal moment in which the business of news changed in fundamental ways. However, not everyone agrees on what the digital disruption means for journalism, storytelling and truth. For some, new digital technologies mean new voices, new audiences, and new ways of telling stories - deploying data in new and compelling ways. For others, this disruption has fundamentally disrupted a venerable tradition of news journalism, pushing audience attention away from difficult subjects and compromising key values at the expense of shareability, efficiency and profit. We will explore this debate as we consider how shifting media shapes the way that journalism is undertaken and conceptualized. Students will gain exposure to long-running debates regarding journalism and society, with attention to blurring boundaries between genres of writing and tensions between profit, narrative, and independent truth-finding. Along the way, students will complete assignments that involve writing in academic as well as journalistic genres.
AIQS 100: Objects of Literacy: The Technology of Reading (128/5458)
MWF 10:35-11:25 AM Aug 26-Dec 06
Lyons-McFarland, H
This course explores the technology behind the act of reading, from oral traditions, to clay tablets and sticks, to paper and pen, to e-books and apps. Literacy is defined as the ability to read and write, but what is reading? What is writing? And how did we get where we are, where text is continuously around us such that we barely notice it any longer? Over the semester, we will explore how we record meaning and the labor behind the end result, even as we examine our own literacy practices, the combination of audience and author that each of us embodies. We will visit Special Collections at the Kelvin Smith Library, try our hands at manual presses at the New Gutenberg Annex, and create our own "objects of literacy," wherever that takes us. In addition, we will take the opportunity to be intentional about our own experience as literate individuals. We will practice academic methods of both reading and writing, calling upon our experiences and the wealth of knowledge around us to think about and react to the objects and processes we encounter. Through critical thinking and practicing rhetorical approaches, this class will help prepare you for future critical thinking and communication both in and out of academia.
AIQS 100: Objects of Literacy: The Technology of Reading (129/5459)
MWF 11:40-12:30 PM Aug 26-Dec 06
Lyons-McFarland, H
This course explores the technology behind the act of reading, from oral traditions, to clay tablets and sticks, to paper and pen, to e-books and apps. Literacy is defined as the ability to read and write, but what is reading? What is writing? And how did we get where we are, where text is continuously around us such that we barely notice it any longer? Over the semester, we will explore how we record meaning and the labor behind the end result, even as we examine our own literacy practices, the combination of audience and author that each of us embodies. We will visit Special Collections at the Kelvin Smith Library, try our hands at manual presses at the New Gutenberg Annex, and create our own "objects of literacy," wherever that takes us. In addition, we will take the opportunity to be intentional about our own experience as literate individuals. We will practice academic methods of both reading and writing, calling upon our experiences and the wealth of knowledge around us to think about and react to the objects and processes we encounter. Through critical thinking and practicing rhetorical approaches, this class will help prepare you for future critical thinking and communication both in and out of academia.
AIQS 100: Rex Futurus: King Arthur in Culture and Commentary (130/5460)
MWF 08:25-09:15 AM Aug 26-Dec 06
Kapelle, R
King Arthur retains a substantial degree of name recognition hundreds of years after he initially entered the public imagination. But he means something different to different people. Fans, writers, filmmakers, scholars of literature and history, and cultural critics all care about the legendary king but express varying perspectives on his significance. For some, he is a tragic seeker after an ideal community. For others, he is an action hero. He represents Britishness, or authority, or tradition, or equality. His story teaches valuable morals, or his story desperately needs updating. This course examines representations of Arthur's story, including Sir Thomas Malory's influential work Le Morte Darthur. The course also explores conversations about Arthur and his knights, scholarly and otherwise. We will discuss the evolution of the story over time, the various ideals that the legend has expressed, the challenges of adapting the legends to film, the perspective of scholars and reviewers of Arthurian films, and the approaches that new adaptations are taking. By the end of the course, students will have a nuanced perspective on the Arthurian legends but also an enhanced understanding of the stakeholders in a cultural tradition.
AIQS 100: Rex Futurus: King Arthur in Culture and Commentary (131/5461)
MWF 09:30-10:20 AM Aug 26-Dec 06
Kapelle, R
King Arthur retains a substantial degree of name recognition hundreds of years after he initially entered the public imagination. But he means something different to different people. Fans, writers, filmmakers, scholars of literature and history, and cultural critics all care about the legendary king but express varying perspectives on his significance. For some, he is a tragic seeker after an ideal community. For others, he is an action hero. He represents Britishness, or authority, or tradition, or equality. His story teaches valuable morals, or his story desperately needs updating. This course examines representations of Arthur's story, including Sir Thomas Malory's influential work Le Morte Darthur. The course also explores conversations about Arthur and his knights, scholarly and otherwise. We will discuss the evolution of the story over time, the various ideals that the legend has expressed, the challenges of adapting the legends to film, the perspective of scholars and reviewers of Arthurian films, and the approaches that new adaptations are taking. By the end of the course, students will have a nuanced perspective on the Arthurian legends but also an enhanced understanding of the stakeholders in a cultural tradition.
AIQS 100: Dead Ends: The American Cemetery (134/5462)
MW 03:20-04:35 PM Aug 26-Dec 06
Daniel, V
Cemeteries in the United States have evolved over three centuries, from the local churchyard to the garden cemetery, from the memorial park to the natural burial preserve. This evolution in form reflects larger shifts in how Americans have thought about death and mourned their dead. Yet, this history also raises deeper questions about community, identity, and belonging. Why, for example, have so many cemeteries been separated by race, religion, and class? Why have some burial grounds been perceived as sacred while others have been bulldozed in the name of development? This class will explore what American cemeteries can teach us about American society, as well as how this history has shaped our current burial practices. We will visit local burial grounds, welcome guest speakers from the cemetery business, and use writing assignments to investigate course themes related to death, memorialization, and social identity.
AIQS 100: Stories of Science and Scientists (135/5463)
TR 01:00-02:15 PM Aug 26-Dec 06
Pecastaings, A
Stories of Science and Scientists explores the treatment of scientific themes and the depiction of scientists in literature. This is not a course about science fiction: instead of envisioning future scientific advancements, Science in Literature pays close attention to the ways in which literary texts comment upon ongoing scientific debates and respond to the questionings of science. Science lives in the world, not aside from it, and literature shines a light on this truth precisely because it engages with scientific findings in ways that are often outside the purview of science itself. For instance, literary texts can consider the following questions: How do scientists factor in other, non-scientific facets of their lives (e.g., their fear of death or political pressures bearing on them) into their work? How does a given scientific item inflect our lived experiences and our understanding of our place in the universe? What is it like to live with such knowledge? What is it like to live in awareness of what we do not know about the natural world? Our readings will include Arcadia, Einstein's Dreams, and QED.
AIQS 100: Stories of Science and Scientists (136/5464)
TR 10:00-11:15 AM Aug 26-Dec 06
Pecastaings, A
Stories of Science and Scientists explores the treatment of scientific themes and the depiction of scientists in literature. This is not a course about science fiction: instead of envisioning future scientific advancements, Science in Literature pays close attention to the ways in which literary texts comment upon ongoing scientific debates and respond to the questionings of science. Science lives in the world, not aside from it, and literature shines a light on this truth precisely because it engages with scientific findings in ways that are often outside the purview of science itself. For instance, literary texts can consider the following questions: How do scientists factor in other, non-scientific facets of their lives (e.g., their fear of death or political pressures bearing on them) into their work? How does a given scientific item inflect our lived experiences and our understanding of our place in the universe? What is it like to live with such knowledge? What is it like to live in awareness of what we do not know about the natural world? Our readings will include Arcadia, Einstein's Dreams, and QED.
AIQS 100: High Art & Guilty Pleasures (137/5465)
MWF 09:30-10:20 AM Aug 26-Dec 06
PInkerton, S
How, and why, do we draw distinctions between art and entertainment? Lowbrow and highbrow? A crowd-pleasing "flick" and a critic-approved "film"? This seminar will explore the logic of this common sorting process, as well as its consequences. After all, such distinctions have historically been linked with other forms of discrimination--often amplifying or silencing certain voices on the basis of gender, race, or class. In this course we will investigate these connections between critical evaluation and broader social dynamics, while also engaging critically with our own tastes, values, and received ideas. What makes "The Great Gatsby" so great? Is there any value in keeping up with the Kardashians? Who determines the criteria that make one work a "classic," the other a "guilty pleasure"? Traversing a range of artworks, novels, comics, and movies, we'll work both the high and the low ends of the cultural spectrum, paying special attention to works that seem to blur or combine the usual categories -- compelling us to ask whether great art and guilty pleasures can sometimes be one and the same.
AIQS 100: High Art & Guilty Pleasures (138/5466)
MWF 10:35-11:25 AM Aug 26-Dec 06
PInkerton, S
How, and why, do we draw distinctions between art and entertainment? Lowbrow and highbrow? A crowd-pleasing "flick" and a critic-approved "film"? This seminar will explore the logic of this common sorting process, as well as its consequences. After all, such distinctions have historically been linked with other forms of discrimination--often amplifying or silencing certain voices on the basis of gender, race, or class. In this course we will investigate these connections between critical evaluation and broader social dynamics, while also engaging critically with our own tastes, values, and received ideas. What makes "The Great Gatsby" so great? Is there any value in keeping up with the Kardashians? Who determines the criteria that make one work a "classic," the other a "guilty pleasure"? Traversing a range of artworks, novels, comics, and movies, we'll work both the high and the low ends of the cultural spectrum, paying special attention to works that seem to blur or combine the usual categories -- compelling us to ask whether great art and guilty pleasures can sometimes be one and the same.
AIQS 100: Fake News: A History (139/5467)
MW 12:45-02:00 PM Aug 26-Dec 06
Reader, L
Fake news is nothing new. In 2017, the Oxford English Dictionary traced the etymology of the term to an 1890 Milwaukee Daily Journal news article. Since that time, fake news has had a consistent meaning--misleading, untruthful information, often driven by emotion or individual belief, that seems indistinguishable from legitimate news reporting. Over the semester, we will investigate the history of fake news and explore the ways in which people understand this concept. Our story begins with a study of the revolution in mass-communication technology in Europe during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Afterwards, we will look at historical examples of fake news and explore the conditions in which misinformation thrives. Finally, we will examine contemporary, non-U.S., examples of fake news and see what distinguishes this idea from propaganda and conspiracy theories.
AIQS 100: Fake News: A History (140/5468)
MW 03:20-04:35 PM Aug 26-Dec 06
Reader, L
Fake news is nothing new. In 2017, the Oxford English Dictionary traced the etymology of the term to an 1890 Milwaukee Daily Journal news article. Since that time, fake news has had a consistent meaning--misleading, untruthful information, often driven by emotion or individual belief, that seems indistinguishable from legitimate news reporting. Over the semester, we will investigate the history of fake news and explore the ways in which people understand this concept. Our story begins with a study of the revolution in mass-communication technology in Europe during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Afterwards, we will look at historical examples of fake news and explore the conditions in which misinformation thrives. Finally, we will examine contemporary, non-U.S., examples of fake news and see what distinguishes this idea from propaganda and conspiracy theories.
AIQS 100: 13 Ways of Looking at Taylor Swift (141/5469)
TR 08:30-09:45 AM Aug 26-Dec 06
Redekop, S
In 2014, Bloomberg declared: "Taylor Swift Is The Music Industry." Today, Swift's cultural impact is greater than ever--and extends far beyond the business of music. In this course, we will build a more complex understanding of Swift's cultural importance by examining how different genres of academic and public writing can illuminate a single subject in vastly different ways. Together, we will examine articles that study Swift from a wide range of vantage points, including data science, linguistics, musicology, law, literature, conservation science, psychiatry, business, gender studies, and behavioral science; as well as personal essays, op-eds, and social media posts. We will consider and compare different writers' goals, methods, and evidence, and use these insights to inform our own writing assignments and weekly discussions about Swift. Writing assignments for this course include analyzing Swift's songs and music videos; evaluating the genre and rhetorical moves of two articles about Swift; designing an educational museum exhibit about Swift for a general audience; and using academic research to develop an argument about Swift's significance to a specific social or professional community of your choosing.
AIQS 100: 13 Ways of Looking at Taylor Swift (142/5470)
TR 10:00-11:15 AM Aug 26-Dec 06
Redekop, S
In 2014, Bloomberg declared: "Taylor Swift Is The Music Industry." Today, Swift's cultural impact is greater than ever--and extends far beyond the business of music. In this course, we will build a more complex understanding of Swift's cultural importance by examining how different genres of academic and public writing can illuminate a single subject in vastly different ways. Together, we will examine articles that study Swift from a wide range of vantage points, including data science, linguistics, musicology, law, literature, conservation science, psychiatry, business, gender studies, and behavioral science; as well as personal essays, op-eds, and social media posts. We will consider and compare different writers' goals, methods, and evidence, and use these insights to inform our own writing assignments and weekly discussions about Swift. Writing assignments for this course include analyzing Swift's songs and music videos; evaluating the genre and rhetorical moves of two articles about Swift; designing an educational museum exhibit about Swift for a general audience; and using academic research to develop an argument about Swift's significance to a specific social or professional community of your choosing.
AIQS 100: Death, Mourning, & Immortality (143/5471)
MWF 10:35-11:25 AM Aug 26-Dec 06
Wiehl, J
Poems about death, mourning, and immortality have long been a staple of literature, and in this course we will discuss British poetry from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. Loss, and poetically revisiting that loss, drove writers to construct some of the most interesting and compelling verses. These losses were frequently (but not always) about death, and so we will occasionally consider what it means to mourn a still-living hero or to mourn the passing of a moment in time. The poem becomes the "moment's monument" in one apt description. We will think about what it means to write yourself or others into immortality. By reading poetry in the classroom, in the Cleveland Museum of Art, and in Lakeview Cemetery we will make some of those lost live again in our words. We will also briefly consider mourning across genres, outside of the purely poetic form. Understandings of religious belief, sex/desire, and gender will inform our discussions. You don't have to be a good reader of poetry or literature to take this course -- we will start with the basics and improve over time.
AIQS 100: Death, Mourning, & Immortality (144/5472)
MWF 11:40-12:30 PM Aug 26-Dec 06
Wiehl, J
Poems about death, mourning, and immortality have long been a staple of literature, and in this course we will discuss British poetry from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. Loss, and poetically revisiting that loss, drove writers to construct some of the most interesting and compelling verses. These losses were frequently (but not always) about death, and so we will occasionally consider what it means to mourn a still-living hero or to mourn the passing of a moment in time. The poem becomes the "moment's monument" in one apt description. We will think about what it means to write yourself or others into immortality. By reading poetry in the classroom, in the Cleveland Museum of Art, and in Lakeview Cemetery we will make some of those lost live again in our words. We will also briefly consider mourning across genres, outside of the purely poetic form. Understandings of religious belief, sex/desire, and gender will inform our discussions. You don't have to be a good reader of poetry or literature to take this course -- we will start with the basics and improve over time.
AIQS 100: What is a Book? (145/12195)
TR 01:00-02:15 PM Aug 26-Dec 06
Iammarino, D
Books are common objects in our everyday lives. They are containers for information, aesthetic objects, and cultural artifacts. Often all at once. Yet, the role and significance of this everyday object within our literary and larger culture is being scrutinized today with an intensity unseen since the 1450 invention of the printing press in the West. The diverse field of book arts is a place where such scrutiny not only exists, but is embraced. Book arts, or the umbrella term for art forms that range from traditional skills, such as papermaking, letterpress printing, and bookbinding, to new methods of artmaking inspired by the form and function of books, views the potential for the book to model new, radical forms of creativity, subjectivity, and political engagement. This course will explore the interdisciplinary and historical reaches of book arts to investigate the questions: What is a book? Is a book a functional object or an art object? Are books designed? How do you distinguish between a book's function and its form? Does book arts reflect or respond to cultural and technological changes in book production? And, how does the digital turn complicate these questions and their answers? In order to engage with these questions, this course will attempt to account for the book in light of the history of its production, materialization, publication, transmission, and reception. Besides researching answers to these questions, we will also look at manuscripts and early printed materials in-person and online as well as make our own traditional books and artist books.
AIQS 100: Fight the Power: Legacies of Abolitionist Thought (146/12351)
TR 02:30-03:45 PM Aug 26-Dec 06
Druffel, M
Recently, abolition--which Ruth Wilson Gilmore defines as changing both ourselves and the world to undo bondage--has been applied beyond antislavery. Activists call for abolishing police, private property, and gender. How does abolitionism apply to such different contexts today? This course uses writing to help us 1) decide what we think about abolition, and 2) communicate our ideas so people will want to read and respond to them. To accomplish these goals, we'll explore Cleveland's antislavery history housed in the CWRU archives and analyze how abolitionist tactics in antiracist education--including proposals to abolish grades.
AIQS 100: Fight the Power: Legacies of Abolitionist Thought (147/12352)
TR 04:00-05:15 PM Aug 26-Dec 06
Druffel, M
Recently, abolition--which Ruth Wilson Gilmore defines as changing both ourselves and the world to undo bondage--has been applied beyond antislavery. Activists call for abolishing police, private property, and gender. How does abolitionism apply to such different contexts today? This course uses writing to help us 1) decide what we think about abolition, and 2) communicate our ideas so people will want to read and respond to them. To accomplish these goals, we'll explore Cleveland's antislavery history housed in the CWRU archives and analyze how abolitionist tactics in antiracist education--including proposals to abolish grades.
AIQS 100: Revenge, Violence and Laughter (148/12401)
MW 03:20-04:35 PM Aug 26-Dec 06
Higgins, J
Why do laughter and revenge so often go hand in hand? In the third act of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus, the play's title character, shortly after learning of several acts of grotesque violence enacted on his family - including the rape of his daughter and the killing of his sons - laughs uncontrollably. When asked why he's laughing, Titus gives two reasons. First, he says he has, "Not another tear to shed," and second, he says it's because continuing to cry would keep him from taking revenge on his enemies. This course will explore a series of artistic works where characters are victims and perpetrators of extraordinary acts of violence and injustice, and the response--either from the characters themselves or the audience--includes a grotesque laughter. We'll explore the reasons for this odd conjunction of laughter and revenge, asking the following questions: What is the relationship between pleasure and laughter on the one hand, and justice and revenge on the other? Is revenge, despite its violence, something to be cheered rather than mourned? Can laughter, as Titus suggests, help correct and fight injustice, where tears do not? Where is the line between an upright pleasure at justice being done and a sadistic enjoyment of suffering (even when those suffering are wicked)? Is artistic violence, when exaggerated or extreme, ridiculous rather than shocking? Class discussion will focus on the formal, ethical and social implications of art and literature. This is to say, we will not only discuss how authors get audiences to laugh at murder and dismemberment, but also the political and ethical results of inviting laughter at things like violence against women, genocide, and capital punishment.
AIQS 100: Race and Racism in Shakespeare (149/12402)
MWF 02:15-03:05 PM Aug 26-Dec 06
Higgins, J
This class will use several of Shakespeare's plays to introduce students to central questions surrounding the scholarly examination of race. Several decades ago, many scholars argued that race as a social category was not really present in Shakespeare's plays or his culture; clearly there were prejudices in both, but these literary scholars and historians argued that these prejudices were not based in "race" as it has come to be understood in a modern sense. More recent scholars have challenged this view, however, and argued that racial categories provide a powerful tool for explaining what goes on in Shakespeare's plays. This class will look at several Shakespeare plays with central characters who, in a modern understanding, seem to come from racial minorities. We will ask whether or not Shakespeare and his culture seem to understand these people as belonging to a distinct "race" of people. We will also ask whether Shakespeare's plays present race as a biological reality or a social construction, and whether the plays seem to endorse the prejudices articulated by characters within them. We will also discuss how race intersects with gender, sexuality, and class; and examine several modern adaptations of the plays that we read, to see how more contemporary writers, actors and directors have engaged with the potentially troubling implications of how Shakespeare represented minority characters.
AIQS 100: Digital Citizenship (150/12405)
TR 08:30-09:45 AM Aug 26-Dec 06
Wu, X
What is digital citizenship? How does it relate to social media and Internet regulations? What are the debates surrounding digital world? How do these affect us, collectively and individually? In this class, we invite students from different disciplines to explore these questions. Course texts may include scholarly articles from different disciplines (e.g., business, engineering, psychology), news reports, and film/documentary. Students will participate in student-centered class discussions, which are designed to help them to think critically and make connections between their lives and the readings. Through free writing, reflection, peer feedback, revision and an 8-10-page argumentative research paper, students will understand academic writing as a process, and they will develop academic writing skills such as building arguments and conducting critical analysis. Students are encouraged to use multi-model ways (ppt, video, posters, etc.) to present their final projects.
AIQS 100: You Are Your Language (151/12406)
TR 01:00-02:15 PM Aug 26-Dec 06
Vakili, P
In this seminar, we will look at language as a key component in (re)shaping our modern society in many different ways. We will examine the importance of language in the performance of personal identity, as well as how beliefs about language reflect ideas about individuals and groups. We will explore how language use can both promote and hinder social justice, particularly for minority groups within the larger national community. Some questions we will consider are: How can language serve as a gate-keeping mechanism? What is the relationship between language and power? How does linguistic prejudice contribute to social inequality? To fulfill our course objectives, we will engage with scholarly, journalistic, and literary works. We will also conduct library, media, and community research to deepen our understanding of language, identity, power, and privilege. By the end of the course, we will have the tools necessary to articulate how language use can make positive contributions to our lives and to the social systems in which we live and work.
AIQS 100: You Are Your Language (152/12407)
TR 04:00-05:15 PM Aug 26-Dec 06
Vakili, P
In this seminar, we will look at language as a key component in (re)shaping our modern society in many different ways. We will examine the importance of language in the performance of personal identity, as well as how beliefs about language reflect ideas about individuals and groups. We will explore how language use can both promote and hinder social justice, particularly for minority groups within the larger national community. Some questions we will consider are: How can language serve as a gate-keeping mechanism? What is the relationship between language and power? How does linguistic prejudice contribute to social inequality? To fulfill our course objectives, we will engage with scholarly, journalistic, and literary works. We will also conduct library, media, and community research to deepen our understanding of language, identity, power, and privilege. By the end of the course, we will have the tools necessary to articulate how language use can make positive contributions to our lives and to the social systems in which we live and work.
AIQS 110: Linguistic Diversity and Social Justice (100/5421)
MW 12:45-02:00 PM Aug 26-Dec 06
Mohammed, R
This course investigates the relationship between linguistic diversity, identity performance, and issues of linguistic and social justice in the US context. We will examine the histories of linguistic discrimination, marginalization, and stigmatization/stereotyping towards minority, immigrant, and marginalized communities and the implications of these histories on their current identities, linguistic practice, and societal positions. Students will learn academic writing skills such as synthesizing and argumentation, engaging different types of audience, and evaluating/integrating sources into their writings. Students will be exposed to various textual and multimodal genres written/produced by diverse authors and will engage in critical linguistic and rhetorical analyses of how language is used to include/exclude, emphasize and/or marginalize/stigmatize, and promote/demote certain groups, languages/dialects, and identities. The course is divided into three units. In Unit 1, students will think critically about the course theme and participate in defining essential concepts (diversity, justice, equity, discrimination, ideology, etc.) as they study the historical, social, and linguistic contexts that deem certain languages/dialects and their speakers as more/less prestigious than others. In doing so, students will also reflect on their positionality as diverse speakers studying in a foreign context and practice their authorial agency by critically analyzing how their linguistic and rhetorical choices are defined, negotiated, and oftentimes shaped by genres and writing situations. In Unit 2, students will engage in discussions of language perceptions and their role in forming exclusionary practices (linguistic and otherwise). In Unit 3, students will use their writing as a space for acknowledging our collective roles in disrupting language ideologies for social and linguistic justice.
AIQS 110: Writing and Political Literacy (101/5422)
TR 10:00-11:15 AM Aug 26-Dec 06
Hoeynck, J
This Academic Inquiry Seminar provides an introduction to various dimensions of academic life. It will be characterized by intense yet open-ended intellectual inquiry, guided by reading from primary as well as secondary sources, and will include practice in written and oral communication in small groups. The goals are to enhance basic intellectual skills of academic inquiry, such as critical reading, thoughtful analysis, and written and oral communication; to introduce basic information literacy skills; to provide a foundation for ethical decision-making; to encourage a global and multidisciplinary perspective on the learning process; to facilitate faculty-student interactions; and, in the most general sense, to provide a supportive common intellectual experience for first-year students at CWRU. More specifically, this Foundations Seminar will focus on writing literacy and political literacy with the broad struggles of the twentieth century as frameworks, including fascism, communism, liberal democracy, racism, and climate change. We will also explore our own relationships to writing (bad and good) while also investigating popular representations of writers in memoirs and essays. At its best, writing allows us to formulate academic arguments about situations that matter deeply to issues of personhood and justice. To that end, readings have also been incorporated which address complicated and violent political topics as well, so that students can begin to learn to incorporate their own interests in specific issues as a means of developing their expressive skills.
AIQS 110: Critical Literacy and Student Voices (102/5423)
TR 02:30-03:45 PM Aug 26-Dec 06
Iammarino, D
The course structure of this section allows for us to spend more time and attention on your individual needs and goals as writers. You will learn academic writing conventions, rhetorical techniques, and various processes that you might apply in new writing situations. For our class, specifically, we shall investigate the broad questions: What is academic literacy? What is critical literacy? How is education power? How can students create change? In order to answer these questions, we shall read literacy narratives; explore academic and non-academic essays about the current state of the university, education, and activism; watch documentaries about literacy, language, and education; and perform archival research about the history of student voices at CWRU.
AIQS 110: Literacy and Life Stories (103/5424)
TR 01:00-02:15 PM Aug 26-Dec 06
Wolfe, M
Our section of AIQS 110 will focus on literacy narratives. We will explore questions such as: What is literacy? What does it mean to be able to read and write? How does the process of literacy learning shape our lives and our sense of self? Who gets to tell their own stories in their own languages? Who gets to teach (or even impose) their own views of language? We will discuss how autobiographers such as Jacqueline Woodson, Malcolm X, Frederick Douglass, and Richard Rodriguez interpret their life stories through the lens of literacy. We will read theories from scholars of literacy such as Deborah Brandt, Mary Louise Pratt, and James Paul Gee. Finally, we will reflect on how literacy has affected our own lives and how we can use these texts to better understand our own reading and writing as well as to contribute to others' literacy journeys.
AIQS 110: Linguistic Diversity and Social Justice (104/5425)
MW 03:20-04:35 PM Aug 26-Dec 06
Mohammed, R
This course investigates the relationship between linguistic diversity, identity performance, and issues of linguistic and social justice in the US context. We will examine the histories of linguistic discrimination, marginalization, and stigmatization/stereotyping towards minority, immigrant, and marginalized communities and the implications of these histories on their current identities, linguistic practice, and societal positions. Students will learn academic writing skills such as synthesizing and argumentation, engaging different types of audience, and evaluating/integrating sources into their writings. Students will be exposed to various textual and multimodal genres written/produced by diverse authors and will engage in critical linguistic and rhetorical analyses of how language is used to include/exclude, emphasize and/or marginalize/stigmatize, and promote/demote certain groups, languages/dialects, and identities. The course is divided into three units. In Unit 1, students will think critically about the course theme and participate in defining essential concepts (diversity, justice, equity, discrimination, ideology, etc.) as they study the historical, social, and linguistic contexts that deem certain languages/dialects and their speakers as more/less prestigious than others. In doing so, students will also reflect on their positionality as diverse speakers studying in a foreign context and practice their authorial agency by critically analyzing how their linguistic and rhetorical choices are defined, negotiated, and oftentimes shaped by genres and writing situations. In Unit 2, students will engage in discussions of language perceptions and their role in forming exclusionary practices (linguistic and otherwise). In Unit 3, students will use their writing as a space for acknowledging our collective roles in disrupting language ideologies for social and linguistic justice.
AIQS 110: Writing and Political Literacy (105/5426)
TR 01:00-02:15 PM Aug 26-Dec 06
Hoeynck, J
This Academic Inquiry Seminar provides an introduction to various dimensions of academic life. It will be characterized by intense yet open-ended intellectual inquiry, guided by reading from primary as well as secondary sources, and will include practice in written and oral communication in small groups. The goals are to enhance basic intellectual skills of academic inquiry, such as critical reading, thoughtful analysis, and written and oral communication; to introduce basic information literacy skills; to provide a foundation for ethical decision-making; to encourage a global and multidisciplinary perspective on the learning process; to facilitate faculty-student interactions; and, in the most general sense, to provide a supportive common intellectual experience for first-year students at CWRU. More specifically, this Foundations Seminar will focus on writing literacy and political literacy with the broad struggles of the twentieth century as frameworks, including fascism, communism, liberal democracy, racism, and climate change. We will also explore our own relationships to writing (bad and good) while also investigating popular representations of writers in memoirs and essays. At its best, writing allows us to formulate academic arguments about situations that matter deeply to issues of personhood and justice. To that end, readings have also been incorporated which address complicated and violent political topics as well, so that students can begin to learn to incorporate their own interests in specific issues as a means of developing their expressive skills.
AIQS 110: Critical Literacy and Student Voices (106/5427)
TR 04:00-05:15 PM Aug 26-Dec 06
Iammarino, D
The course structure of this section allows for us to spend more time and attention on your individual needs and goals as writers. You will learn academic writing conventions, rhetorical techniques, and various processes that you might apply in new writing situations. For our class, specifically, we shall investigate the broad questions: What is academic literacy? What is critical literacy? How is education power? How can students create change? In order to answer these questions, we shall read literacy narratives; explore academic and non-academic essays about the current state of the university, education, and activism; watch documentaries about literacy, language, and education; and perform archival research about the history of student voices at CWRU.
AIQS 110: How I Learned to Read and Write (107/5428)
TR 04:00-05:15 PM Aug 26-Dec 06
Schaffer, M
Reading and writing are crucial to being students, citizens, and professionals. And being able to do these effectively, and with intention, is what gives us power to affect the people, spaces, and ideas around us. How did you learn to read and write? Who taught you? Where did it happen? What did it help you to do? These may seem to be simple questions with easy answers, but literacy is a complex process and activity that lies at the core of who we are and how we are able to participate in our worlds. In this section of Foundations, we will think about what literacy means for each of us individually and as people in communities. We will examine our own literacy development and then the way our groups use language to achieve goals and how this language shapes us as members. Finally, we will analyze the role language plays in the debates and controversies that concern us in society: who has the right and power to speak? How do speaking and writing change us and our societies? Who has access to literacy? In our analysis, we will draw on readings from sociolinguistics, rhetoric, and writing studies in order to apply research and theories about language to our own lived experience as readers and writers in the world. Our projects will include reflective writing, reading responses, a literacy narrative, an ethnography of groups we belong to, and argument to take action on a social problem that negatively impacts our communities. We will also develop our oral communication skills through classroom discussion and debate, informal presentations, and a formal multimodal presentation.
AIQS 120: Food Matters: Dilemmas of Our Food Choices (101/5430)
TR 08:30-09:45 AM Aug 26-Dec 06
Codita, A
While it goes without saying that eating is an essential human activity - we eat food to stay alive, some people may not consider the large scale implications of their food choices. What is food and what does it mean to make good food choices? Is eating meant to be healthy, ethical, pleasurable, or something else? Does it matter? This course will examine our everyday food choices as a site of inquiry where policies, health guidelines, ethics, cultural norms, and socioeconomic factors intersect. Through a variety of academic essays, journalistic texts, and memoirs, the course provides students with the opportunity to read and evaluate a myriad of controversies and debates around food. First, we will explore and complicate the ways in which we can define food, the purposes and reasons for which we eat, and how these connect with health, values, status, and culture. Second, it is important to examine and understand the larger social, economic, and ethical factors which contribute to what food choices are available to us and what foods we actually choose to eat every day. Through food as a window, this course aims to improve students' abilities to read and respond to sophisticated arguments. The weekly readings, daily class activities, and writing assignments will instruct students on how to write about food from various angles by considering the purpose and the audience for which they are writing, the position that they are putting forward, and the argument that they intend to make. Students will be expected to engage with weekly readings and participate in class discussions, complete three (shorter) essays and one longer research paper, and deliver two presentations.
AIQS 120: Digital Citizenship (102/5431)
TR 10:00-11:15 AM Aug 26-Dec 06
Wu, X
What is digital citizenship? How does it relate to social media and Internet regulations? What are the debates surrounding the digital world? How do these affect us, collectively and individually? In this class, we invite students from different disciplines to explore these questions. Course texts may include scholarly articles from different disciplines (e.g., business, engineering, psychology), news reports, and film/documentary. Students will participate in student-centered class discussions, which are designed to help them to think critically and make connections between their lives and the readings. Through free writing, reflection, peer feedback, revision and an argumentative research paper, students will understand academic writing as a process, and they will develop academic writing skills such as building arguments and conducting critical analysis. Students are encouraged to use multimodal ways (video, posters, etc.) to present their final projects.
AIQS 120: Linguistic Diversity and Social Justice (104/5433)
MWF 11:40-12:30 PM Aug 26-Dec 06
Mohammed, R
This course investigates the relationship between linguistic diversity, identity performance, and issues of linguistic and social justice in the US context. We will examine the histories of linguistic discrimination, marginalization, and stigmatization/stereotyping towards minority, immigrant, and marginalized communities and the implications of these histories on their current identities, linguistic practice, and societal positions. Students will learn academic writing skills such as synthesizing and argumentation, engaging different types of audience, and evaluating/integrating sources into their writings. Students will be exposed to various textual and multimodal genres written/produced by diverse authors and will engage in critical linguistic and rhetorical analyses of how language is used to include/exclude, emphasize and/or marginalize/stigmatize, and promote/demote certain groups, languages/dialects, and identities. The course is divided into three units. In Unit 1, students will think critically about the course theme and participate in defining essential concepts (diversity, justice, equity, discrimination, ideology, etc.) as they study the historical, social, and linguistic contexts that deem certain languages/dialects and their speakers as more/less prestigious than others. In doing so, students will also reflect on their positionality as diverse speakers studying in a foreign context and practice their authorial agency by critically analyzing how their linguistic and rhetorical choices are defined, negotiated, and oftentimes shaped by genres and writing situations. In Unit 2, students will engage in discussions of language perceptions and their role in forming exclusionary practices (linguistic and otherwise). In Unit 3, students will use their writing as a space for acknowledging our collective roles in disrupting language ideologies for social and linguistic justice.
AIQS 120: Digital Citizenship (105/5434)
TR 01:00-02:15 PM Aug 26-Dec 06
Wu, X
What is digital citizenship? How does it relate to social media and Internet regulations? What are the debates surrounding the digital world? How do these affect us, collectively and individually? In this class, we invite students from different disciplines to explore these questions. Course texts may include scholarly articles from different disciplines (e.g., business, engineering, psychology), news reports, and film/documentary. Students will participate in student-centered class discussions, which are designed to help them to think critically and make connections between their lives and the readings. Through free writing, reflection, peer feedback, revision and an argumentative research paper, students will understand academic writing as a process, and they will develop academic writing skills such as building arguments and conducting critical analysis. Students are encouraged to use multimodal ways (video, posters, etc.) to present their final projects.
AIQS 130: Children's Literature in Cleveland (100/12127)
TR 08:30-09:45 AM Aug 26-Dec 06, W 12:45-02:00 PM Aug 26-Dec 06
Byrne, C
"NOTE: This is a 4-credit, community-engaged section of AIQS." Children's picture books not only introduce young children to basic ideas like what sounds animals make and how to count to ten but also to their culture's belief systems. In this course, we will take seemingly simplistic children's picture books and analyze the underlying messages and the "hidden adult" present in their illustrations and text. From The Cat in the Hat to Last Stop on Market Street to The 1619 Project: Born on the Water, we will analyze both well-known best-sellers and recent picture books with timely messages. To deepen our understanding of the picture books we study, we will also collaborate with local stakeholders, including children and community members who read, create, and/or distribute these books. We will partner with 2nd graders at a local elementary school, area literacy nonprofits, and libraries to deepen our understanding of young people in Cleveland and the books they read. The key questions we will explore and answer together include: What is a "children's picture book"? How do we analyze the visual arguments in picture books? What assumptions are made about the readers of these books? What function do the adult producers/ purchasers/ distributors of these books serve in the creation and circulation (or banning) of these texts? How are complex and difficult topics (like racism, death, and war) explored in works for children? By examining the underlying messages in these deceptively simple books, we can uncover surprisingly complicated visions of the world.
AIQS 130: Children's Literature in Cleveland (101/12128)
TR 10:00-11:15 AM Aug 26-Dec 06, W 12:45-02:00 PM Aug 26-Dec 06
Byrne, C
"NOTE: This is a 4-credit, community-engaged section of AIQS." Children's picture books not only introduce young children to basic ideas like what sounds animals make and how to count to ten but also to their culture's belief systems. In this course, we will take seemingly simplistic children's picture books and analyze the underlying messages and the "hidden adult" present in their illustrations and text. From The Cat in the Hat to Last Stop on Market Street to The 1619 Project: Born on the Water, we will analyze both well-known best-sellers and recent picture books with timely messages. To deepen our understanding of the picture books we study, we will also collaborate with local stakeholders, including children and community members who read, create, and/or distribute these books. We will partner with 2nd graders at a local elementary school, area literacy nonprofits, and libraries to deepen our understanding of young people in Cleveland and the books they read. The key questions we will explore and answer together include: What is a "children's picture book"? How do we analyze the visual arguments in picture books? What assumptions are made about the readers of these books? What function do the adult producers/ purchasers/ distributors of these books serve in the creation and circulation (or banning) of these texts? How are complex and difficult topics (like racism, death, and war) explored in works for children? By examining the underlying messages in these deceptively simple books, we can uncover surprisingly complicated visions of the world.