Tangents
To complete the Watauga College curriculum, all Wataugans must take, in addition to Origins and Migrations and Contextures, at least one sophomore-level and one junior-level interdisciplinary seminar (currently called Tangents). All courses are interdisciplinary, but each section pursues its goals through widely different topics. Students earn a variety of credits in Humanities, Literature, Social Sciences, and Fine Arts, depending on the section.
IDS 2202/2205/3xxx. 3 hours. Fall/Spring.
Spring 2007 Tangents:
Freud / Movement, The Arts, and Metaphor / The Counterculture of the Fifties and Sixties / Postmodern Futures / Japanese Literature and Identity
Fall 2007 Tangents:
OUR PLACE IN NATURE: APPLIED ECOPSYCHOLOGY
IDS 2202-101
Ms. Patience Perry
T 3:30-6:00
LLA 205
Social Science credit, MC
Course Description:
This course examines the roles, functions, and dysfunctions of humans in the web of life. Participants explore individual and cultural perspectives as to our place in nature. This course pursues a constructivist path where students co-create and facilitate learning opportunities. Class will be conducted in both indoor and outdoor settings, so proper attire should be worn to each class. Ultimately, students investigate mutually positive relationships with the self, community, and the earth.
Goals/Objectives:
- To examine the foundational theories of Deep Ecology, Ecopyschology, and Green Politics.
- To participate in sensory immersion and experiential activities.
- To re-vision relationship and relatedness of self, others, animals, and earth.
- To engage in community building through direct action in local green movements.
Course Themes:
- Ecopsychology
- Ecotherapy
- Defining Wilderness
- Indigenous cultures and their relationship with Earth
- Western cultures and their relationship with Earth
- Arts in Eco-healing
- Rites of passage
- Green Political Movements
- Activism vs. radicalism
Method of Teaching:
A variety of approaches will be utilized including lecture, discussion, group presentations, peer-facilitation, outdoor immersion activities, and self-directed research.
Course Requirements:
- Students are required to attend all classes since the methodology of this course is largely experiential. Likewise, positive intentions and confidentiality shall be maintained.
- Complete assigned reading including books, journal articles, and online searches.
- Type a 1-2 page Reflection after each required immersion activity and incorporate at least one reference to applicable required readings in the typed text
- Write a contract and establish a personal Ecotherapy goal for the semester. Keep a journal of your reflections while in pursuit of this goal and evaluate your performance at the conclusion of the semester. Type a 3-5 page summary from your journal for evaluation.
- Co-Facilitate one group-designed presentation for the class and include both content and experiential learning.
- Participate in one method of direct action and write a 1-2 page summary of your experience.
- Pick one area of Applied Ecopsychology and create a final project to be shared during the final exam session.
Evaluation/Grading:
Attendance/Participation 30
Reflection Papers 15
Personal Ecotherapy Goal 10
Group project/ presentation 15
Direct Action and Summary 15
Final Project 15
Total 100
Attendance/Participation Policy:
Active and intentional participation is expected and required at all times. The responsibility lies with individuals to communicate any need for exceptions.
Required Readings:
Clinebell, H. (1996). Ecotherapy: Healing ourselves, healing the earth. Binghamton,
NY: Hayworth.
Roszak, T., Gomes, M.E., & Kanner, A.D. (Eds.)(1995). Ecopsychology. San Francisco, CA: Sierra Club Books.
Hollywood Theology: Jewish and Christian Themes in Blockbuster Movies
IDS 2202-102
Dr. Bud Gerber
MW 3:30-4:45
Humanities CD
PURPOSES:
To acquaint students with the long history of Hollywood's participation in the work of doing "public theology"--i.e., contributing to discussions on the nature of God, divine law, sin, judgment, doubt, sacrifice, redemption, the destiny of humanity, and the end of time.
To focus on particular films that invoke the Hebrew and Christian Bibles, directly and indirectly.
To show how theologians attempt to interrelate and systematize the central convictions of their faiths.
To teach the student how better to notice, "read," and reflect upon the theological (and anti-theological) elements that structure an important body of filmic texts.
POSSIBLE TEXTS:
The New Oxford Annotated Bible
Joseph Rabbi Telushkin, The Book of Jewish Values
The Catechism of the Catholic Church
Electronic Reserve Readings
REQUIREMENTS:
The student will have excellent attendance in both class and "viewing labs"; will come prepared to discuss films and the short daily reading assignments; and will keep a portfolio which informally reflects on classes, films, key ideas, and reading assignments.
UNITS OF STUDY:
Beginning to Speak about God: Hollywood engages in lots of "God-talk"--what are we to make of this? Possible films: "Bruce Almighty," "The Third Miracle," "It's a Wonderful Life"
Deliverance: Moses, Jesus, and their relationship in Jewish and Christian biblical and theological texts: Possible films: "The Ten Commandments," "Prince of Egypt," "Jesus of Montreal," "The Last Temptation of Christ," "The Passion of the Christ"
Temple, Church and the Moral Life: Possible films: "Crimes and Misdemeanors," "Breaking the Waves," "Changing Lanes," "Dead Man Walking," "The Chosen," "Places in the Heart."
End Games--Personal and Civilizational: Possible Films: "Schindler's List," "Flatliners," "Leaving Las Vegas," "The Seventh Seal." Did the Holocaust signal the ultimate death of "Judeo-Christian Civilization"? What is meant by "bodily resurrection"? What really lasts in the long scheme of things? Are biblical texts "predictive"?
POETRY WRITING WORKSHOP
IDS 2202-103
Dr. Jay Wentworth
MW 3:30-4:45
Humanities/Literature Credit, W
This course is designed to work on your writing of poetry. We will read a lot of poetry by other people, but the focus of the class will be your own work. The class is demanding and fun, and you will learn about preparing to write, finding ideas, the line, rhythm, sound connections, free verse, some verse forms, reading aloud, making images, revision, and so on. Most important, you will learn to read other poets’ work the way a poet needs to read in order to use others as mentors. A poem can be understood in a way that will help you work on your own poetry more effectively and to make your poems more effective. If you love to write poetry, give this class a try; with any luck at all, and some hard work, you’ll like and understand your work better and have a clearer idea of what you can do to improve.
The class will present a public reading toward the end of the semester.
We’ll read from:
Mary Oliver, A Poetry Handbook
Edward Hirsch, How to Read a Poem
Florence Howe, ed., No More Masks!
Ellmann & O’Clair, Modern Poems
Grades will be based on a journal, a paper, participation, and a portfolio of poems.
The Art of Capoeira
IDS 2202-104
Mr. Frederico Castelloes
MW 4:00-5:15
LLA 205
Humanities/Fine Arts, MC
The course is a beginning study of capoeira. Capoeira is a Brazilian art form that encompasses but is not limited to art, dance, music, expressive movements, drama, martial arts, philosophy and culture. This course will focus on the non-verbal discourse experienced through the movements, rhythms and rituals of the capoeira dance/game. The class is veiled with these many disciplines simultaneously; therefore, students are expected to explore and reflect upon their movements and gestures in and out of class. The main objective of this class is to perform basic movements in the dance like game of capoeira as well as to understand the rituals and rules of engagement of the art form.
TEXT:
Capoeira, A Brazilian Art Form, Bira Almeida-Mestre Acordeon, 1986, North Atlantic Books.
REQUIREMENTS:
- Demonstrated ability to perform basic capoeira movements
- An oral presentation on any choice topics of the art form
- A brief written report on the main building blocks of capoeira history coupled with a subjective introspective of personal experience in the art of capoeira
- A presentation/performance at the LLC Celebration of Student Research and Creative Endeavors in December
The Rise and Fall of Empires
IDS 2202-410
Dr. Joe Gonzalez
TR 3:30-4:45LLR 221
Humanities/Social Science CD,MC, Honors/Watauga
As Americans we live in an empire -- the most powerful empire the world has ever known. Blessed with both the world's largest economy and its most powerful military, the United States can fairly be said not only to be the world's only superpower, but also the world's only true empire, a nation with global interests and the means to defend them. How long will the American empire last? No one knows for certain; we only know that empires decline, and, when they do, their citizens must cope with increased burdens and reduced expectations.
This course will examine how three empires rose and fell: The Spanish, British, and Russians (Soviets). Half of the course, however, will be devoted to an examination of our own "empire," a democratic republic that became a global power in the late 19th century. In early November, we will travel to Washington, DC to interview lawmakers, policymakers, and scholars about the current state of the American empire, it problems and possibilities. (Participation in this trip is encouraged, but not required.)
In addition to writing short essays on the readings, students will devote most of their time to the study of a contemporary problem confronting American policymakers today (e.g., global climate change, terrorism, immigration). Students will research the context of their problem, focusing on the consequences for individual Americans and our society as a whole, and present a range of solutions. At the end of term, students may wish to send their analyses to lawmakers and/or scholars at non-profit research organizations.
Texts may include:Jared Diamond, Collapse: How Societies Choose or Fail to SucceedPaul Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of the Great PowersNiall Fergusson, Colossus: The Price of America's Empire
Spring 2006 Tangents:
Clash of Civilizations | New Yorker | Politics, Technology & Environment: Revisiting Nature As A Social Space | Addictions | Relationships & Community | From Bologna to Boone:
Universities, Colleges, and Students, 1300-present | Hollywood Theology | Movements, The Arts & Metaphor | Future Shock
Fall 2005 Tangents:
Appalachian Strings | The Culture of Everyday Life | Love and Death | The History and Culture of Printmaking as Seen Through a Silk Screen | Teaching Arts in Prison | Utopia
Spring 2005 Tangents:
Art, Peace and Conflict | Cultural Translation | Hollywood Prison | Lords and Rings | Maps and Facts | New Yorker | Old-Time String Band Music in Appalachia | Playing the Internet | Possibilities of Manga | Relationships and Community | The Roots of Chinese Culture | In Search of America's Civil Rights Movement
Fall 2004 Tangents :
Appalachian Strings | Being a Man | Bodies, Places, Spaces, Times and Things | Bridging the Two Cultures | Death, Dying and Living | Discover Your Self-Portrait | The History and Culture of Printmaking as Seen Through a Silk Screen | Latin America Today | Leading With the Hand You are Dealt | Pre-Historic Astronomy | Prison Culture | The Roots of Chinese Culture | The Tao of the East and the Tao of the West | Women and Leadership
Spring 2004 Tangents :
Archeoastronomy | Cultural Translation | Cinema as Autobiography | Earth, Art, and Me | Hiking the Appalachian Trail | History on the Road | Maps and Facts | Movement in the Expressive Arts | New Yorker | Possibilities of Manga | Relationships and Community | "Words, words, words..."
Fall 2003 Tangents :
Appalachian Strings | Archeoastronomy | Art in War/War in Art | Bodies, Places, Spaces, Times and Things | Bridging the Two Cultures | Everyday Ethics | The History and Culture of Printmaking as Seen Through a Silk Screen | Leading With the Hand You are Dealt | Life Politics | Poetry Writing Workshop | Politics, Technology, and Environment | Women and Leadership
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