{"id":660,"date":"2021-10-27T20:12:27","date_gmt":"2021-10-28T01:12:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/collegescholars\/?page_id=660"},"modified":"2023-11-08T11:45:04","modified_gmt":"2023-11-08T16:45:04","slug":"spring-2022-honors-seminars","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/collegescholars\/spring-2022-honors-seminars\/","title":{"rendered":"Spring 2022 Honors Seminars"},"content":{"rendered":"

HONS 1810W-73
\n\u201cHuman Sociality and Reality Construction\u201d
\nTR 9:30 \u2013 10:45 am<\/strong>
\nProfessor Lucius Outlaw
\nDepartment of Philosophy
\nAXLE: Humanities & the Creative Arts (HCA)<\/em><\/p>\n

Homo sapiens<\/em>, the human species, is but one of many social species. However, our species has evolved through successful cross-generational dispersions from one geographical context of emergence\u2014continental Africa\u2014to adaptive survival in a variety of geographical contexts across planet earth that have resulted in the formation of diverse forms and modes of shared social life\u2014eusociality<\/em>\u2014unique among eusocial species. Important factors that have been crucial to this adaptive evolutionary diversification have been specie-particular forms of cross-generational learning,<\/em> communication<\/em>, and institution-building<\/em>, ways of contending with the challenges and opportunities of prevailing and anticipated realities that have made for adaptive survival and evolutionary changes. We will devote immersive, critical, evaluative attention to explorations of accounts of these key factors in the evolution of human eusociality.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

HONS 1810W-75
\n\u201cBody and Mind\u201d
\nW: 1:25 \u2013 4:15 pm
\n<\/strong>Professor Lenn Goodman
\nDepartment of Philosophy
\nAXLE: Humanities & the Creative Arts (HCA)<\/em><\/p>\n

Almost all philosophers today regard the mind-body problem as the core issue of metaphysics, and questions about consciousness raise what is widely called The Really Hard Problem: How can a thinking being be physical \u2013 or a physical being think? The problem, for interesting reasons, did not seem to trouble most ancient or medieval philosophers. It comes to the fore in modern times, in the wake of Descartes\u2019 anchoring the modern approaches to philosophy in a system that understood matter and mind in radically different terms. Our aim will be to grapple with questions about the body-mind interaction for ourselves. Our readings will include Descartes\u2019 Meditions on First Philosophy<\/em>, key passages from Spinoza, Berkeley, Hume, Kant, and Dennett, and Coming to Mind: The Soul and its Body<\/em> (2013) by Goodman and D. G. Caramenico. The book includes chapters on Perception, Consciousness, Memory, Agency (Free Will), and Creativity, and is replete with brain science, alongside its philosophical argument.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

HONS 1810W-76
\n\u201cBeyond Human\/Animal: The Social Lives of Microbes, Fungi & Trees\u201d
\nF 9:05 am \u2013 12:05 pm
\n<\/strong>Professor Beth Conklin
\nDepartment of Anthropology
\nAXLE: Humanities & the Creative Arts (HCA)<\/em><\/p>\n

This class explores the growing recognition in science and medicine of human\/non-human interdependence and how symbiotic views of life are upending old thinking about divisions between nature and culture, body\/organism and environment, self and other. Exploring how these emerging scientific perspectives intersect with Indigenous and other non-Western world views and patterns for living, we will explore the cultural-political implications for society of these new understandings how humans and non-humans together shape environments, bodies, and political ecologies.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

HONS 1820W-37
\n\u201cNashville and the Civil War\u201d
\nTR 2:45 \u2013 4:00 pm
\n<\/strong>Professor Peter Lorge
\nDepartment of History
\nAXLE: Perspectives (P)<\/em><\/p>\n

In many respects, the Civil War began and ended in Nashville. Historical markers and sites are scattered all around Nashville, and Vanderbilt University itself sits between the main fortifications of the city and the outer defenses. Once the war in the east bogged down, it was the campaigns in the western theatre that defeated the Confederacy. Nashville was an early objective of the Union army, and it was captured and remained in Union hands for the rest of the war. Hood\u2019s failure to recapture the city at the Battle of Nashville in December of 1864 ended any Confederate hope of military recovery. Just as Nashville was important to the war, the war also left a lasting impression on the city. Many of the African-American neighborhoods developed out of the camps where former slaves had sought refuge under Union guns. This course will cover the Civil War itself, but from the perspective of the western theatre. It will also base the war in the city of Nashville itself, taking advantage of the historical ground in which Vanderbilt sits. Finally, we will avail ourselves of the original documents from the Civil War available here to see Nashville\u2019s Civil War in the eyes of ordinary people.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

HONS 1820W-38
\n\u201cHuman Flourishing: What is a Life Well Lived?\u201d
\nMW 1:25 \u2013 2:40 pm
\n<\/strong>Professor Michael Bess
\nDepartment of History
\nAXLE: Perspectives (P)<\/em><\/p>\n

In this course we explore what it means to live a good life.\u00a0I\u2019ve divided the topic into three thematic levels \u2013 societal, personal\/psychological, and spiritual.\u00a0We will look at what it means to be a good global citizen, and how much impact a single individual can make.\u00a0At the national and community level, we\u2019ll study the socioeconomic systems of the Scandinavian countries, comparing them point by point with the American system \u2013 assessing the strengths and weaknesses on either side.\u00a0The personal\/psychological portion of the course will explore what makes us humans distinct from animals and intelligent machines, laying out some key qualities and features of our species.\u00a0Here we\u2019ll look at two millennia of writings about what constitutes a life well lived, and seek practical ways to apply these ideas to our own lives in the present.\u00a0The final phase of the course focuses on the question of transcendence \u2013 the powerful relationship that many people find (or at least seek) between their individual selfhood and a greater sense of purpose or meaning.\u00a0 We\u2019ll survey the long and variegated history of this quest for transcendence among the people of many cultures, exploring how their experiences might be relevant to our own lives today.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

HONS 1830W-56
\n\u201cPublic Opinion and Democracy in Latin America\u201d
\nTR 2:45 \u2013 4:00 pm
\n<\/strong>Professor Elizabeth Zechmeister
\nDepartment of Political Science
\nAXLE: Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS)<\/em><\/p>\n

What can ordinary people tell us about the quality and durability of democracy? How can scholars transform public opinion into a useful resource for the media, analysts, and policymakers? This course considers these questions with a focus on the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region. LAC countries hold elections, yet the depth, breadth, and stability of democracy varies across the region. Further, recent times have seen democratic backsliding in a number of countries. The course introduces students to issues in the measurement and analysis of public opinion survey data. Students have the opportunity to gain applied experience working with Vanderbilt\u2019s LAPOP Lab and, specifically, the\u00a0AmericasBarometer<\/em>. Students acquire and hone knowledge, tools, and skills to analyze survey data and produce policy-relevant reports that address key issues in democracy and governance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

HONS 1830W-62
\n\u201cWhat Makes Us Human\u201d
\nTR: 11:00 am \u2013 12:15 pm
\n<\/strong>Professor Megan Saylor
\nDepartment of Psychological Sciences
\nAXLE: Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS)<\/em><\/p>\n

What is the core of our shared\u00a0humanity? What traits, abilities or dispositions distinguish humans from other animals? In this course we will draw on a broad base of perspectives that include theorists from Psychology, Linguistics, Philosophy, and Neuroscience. Among other features, we will discuss the possibility that humans are unique in their tendency to cooperate to achieve shared goals and in their affinity for language and communication.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

HONS 1840W-38
\n\u201cCold War America\u201d
\nW 1:25 \u2013 4:15 pm
\n<\/strong>Professor Thomas Schwartz
\nDepartment of History
\nProfessor David Maraniss
\nDepartment of Political Science, The Washington Post
\nAXLE: US History and Culture (US)<\/em><\/p>\n

The era of the Cold War, lasting from the end of World War II in 1945 until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, had an enormous impact on American politics, society, and culture.\u00a0 This seminar will explore selected topics in this history through the work of the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and associate editor of the Washington Post, David Maraniss, whose works on McCarthyism, the Olympic games, urban America, and the Vietnam War have contributed greatly to our understanding of the period.\u00a0 The seminar is co-taught with Professor Schwartz, who will bring another historical and critical perspective to the seminar\u2019s exploration of this period.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

HONS 1840W-39
\n\u201cGoing to School in America\u201d
\nR 9:35 am \u2013 12:25 pm
\n<\/strong>Professor Christopher Loss
\nDepartment of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations
\nAXLE: US History and Culture (US)<\/em><\/p>\n

This class will explore the history of going to school in America. We will read and study some of the best work on K-12 and higher education to erase the intellectually expedient but artificial boundary that scholars have erected between the two sectors. By deploying an integrated K-16 approach that considers the education system as a single pipeline, albeit a circuitous one with many blockages and leaks, this class will examine how \u201cgoing to school\u201d has shaped and been shaped by politics, society, culture, law, economic opportunity, and shifting boundaries of national belonging and identity.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

HONS 1850W-24
\n\u201cWhat is Real?\u201d
\nTR 1:15 \u2013 2:30 pm
\n<\/strong>Professor Randolph Blake
\nDepartment of Psychology
\nAXLE: Math and Natural Sciences (MNS)<\/em><\/p>\n

We will utilize resources from multiple disciplines including philosophy, art, literature, science, and medicine to address an intellectually vexing question: what constitutes reality? In pursuing this quest, a major focus will be examining the mind\/brain’s contribution to the construction of reality; a recurring “sidebar” will be examining disorders of mind\/brain and their consequences for disordered constructions of reality. An essential challenge will be characterizing the nature of “evidence” and its bearing on the establishment of truth.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

HONS 1860W-25
\n\u201cRelics, Reliquaries, and Pagodas in Chinese Buddhist Architecture\u201d
\nR 9:30 am \u2013 12:20 pm
\n<\/strong>Professor Tracy Miller
\nDepartment of History of Art
\nAXLE: International Cultures (INT)<\/em><\/p>\n

What do bones, mummies, gems, and blood writing all have in common? Why craft an exquisite vessel of the most precious materials just to bury or hide it? Throughout this course, we will discover answers to these questions and other intriguing paradoxes. You might be surprised to find out that the principles underlying these objects and issues that seem so distant from us are in fact ubiquitous in our contemporary society, from celebrity worship to Horcruxes. Revealing the subject to be transhistorical and transcultural, this course analyzes the veneration of Buddhist relics and the construction of reliquaries from crystal containers to multi-storied pagodas from a visual perspective by focusing on their art, ritual, and devotion. As a seminar course, the first part of each class will be lectures where I draw out certain points from the required readings, provide visual accompaniment, and present additional information to augment the week\u2019s theme. The second half of the class will be student-led open discussions of the readings and topic. The semester assignment will focus on the creation of your own reliquary to digitally house in a Chinese pagoda which you have researched. There are no prerequisites for the class, but students who can read and translate Chinese are encouraged to enroll.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

HONS 1860W-26
\n\u201cLatinx in the US Global South\u201d
\nTR 9:30 \u2013 10:45 am
\n<\/strong>Professor Gretchen Selcke
\nDepartment of Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies
\nAXLE: International Cultures (INT)<\/em><\/p>\n

What do Dominican American, Nuyorican, Cuban American, and Mexican American literatures have in common? How does place inform writing? Explore ideas of belonging, identity, and borders in literary texts including Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, Once I Was You, and The Kissing Bug. In this class, we will read the \u201clatest and greatest\u201d from contemporary Latinx writers who grew up in the US South. Works like these negotiate cultural, linguistic, gender, and class differences in dialogue with Tato Laviera’s groundbreaking concept of nideaqu\u00ednideall\u00e1. Course performance will be evaluated by three essays, two cultural event responses, one presentation, participation in class discussions, and a final paper. Students will develop critical writing skills while reading and analyzing fiction by cutting-edge Latinx authors.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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