ORIGINS & MIGRATIONS

The American West | Coming of Age | Peoples of the Book | What's for Dinner?

Origins & Migrations:  The American West

Lynne Getz and David Huntley
IDS 1103-104
MWF 10:00-1:50
LLR 426

From the original (Native) Americans to London Bridge, the lure of the American West has proven irresistible to those looking for land, work, wealth, and opportunity. In this course we will examine the significant migrations to the West and their impact on the development and character of both the West and the United States. Classes will be a combination of lecture, discussion, and group and individual reports as students explore in depth specific migratory groups and/or individuals.

Required books:
The American West: A New Interpretive History, Hine and Faragher
Lasso the Wind: Away to the New West, Timothy Egan

Origins & Migrations:  Coming of Age

Yoshiko Kato and Jay Wentworth
IDS 1103-103
MWF 10:00-1:50
LLA 205

This course will approach the theme of "Coming of Age" from intra-cultural, cross-cultural, and historical points of view using social science and humanities materials. We will look at the sociology of counter-cultures and of education in the United States, Japan, and other socities, the character and meaning of coming of age rituals (through ethnographies and ethnographic films), and we will read novels and autobiographies and see commercial films. Assignments may consist of written response papers, a significant final project, and small group work. Dr. Yoshiko Kato is a visiting professor from Japan and will be joining Watauga College as our faculty in residence in the Living and Learning Center.

Origins & Migrations:  Peoples of the Book: Historical and Contemporary Inquiries About Literacy, Communities, and Texts

Bud Gerber and Kay Smith
IDS 1103-101
MWF 10:00-1:50
LLA 223

Does it matter that tribal languages are rapidly disappearing? What are the disadvantages of writing? What accounts for the power of hip-hop verbal and gestural styles? Is English bound to dominate the globe so that Americans can forget about learning other languages? Can Arabic be translated successfully into English? How do the higher primates communicate? What can we know about the speech capacities of the Neanderthals?  If a child is never taught to speak, will it somehow be sub-human? 

These are the sorts of questions that drive the first unit , entitled: "What is language? What is literacy?" 

Unit Two focuses on how texts form peoples. Here we look at Judaism, Christianity, and Islam -- the three children of Abraham, or "The Peoples of the Book.:" Our questions are: Where did the Hebrew Bible come from? How did the Hebrews become a "Torah-people," shaped by divine commandments? What are the different ways modern Jews regard Torah? How did the followers of Jesus, a man who criticized many forms of Torah-based faith, wind up with their own Torah -- i.e., the New Testament. What led Muhammed to long for a Book that would unite his strife-ridden people? What is the relation of the Qu?n to the Bible? What principles of Biblical and Qu?nic interpretation lead to jihad?

The final unit of the course is called "New Caves, New Fires: On Media." The driving questions are: Do we live in a "post-literate" age? What is/are "media"? What is "media literacy"? What are the consequences of the multiplicity of media? What is "cultural literacy" and is it a good thing? Is Marshall McLuhan the best interpreter of our age? Are we, because of the Internet, actually becoming a more literate, more reading-and-writing-oriented culture? What is the significance of new form of written discourse -- email, Instant Messenger, chat rooms? Are boys really "falling behind" girls in verbal achievement? Does television trivialize every thing it touches, making our culture at once more immature and more cynical? Are media depriving young people of "cultural literacy"? If so, who cares?

The course uses these books:  The Bible
Religions of the World,   by Nielsen, et al.
The Inheritors, by William Golding
Media Unlimited, by Todd Gitlin
A History of Reading, by Alberto Manguel
Labyrinths, by Jorge Luis Borges
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Amusing Ourselves To Death, by Neil Postman
Approaching the Qu?n: The Early Revelations, by Michael Sells
Ali and Nino: A Love Story, by Kurban Said
The course will also feature films, videos, workshops, and other active-learning strategies.

Betsy Beaulieu and Chuck Smith
IDS 1103-102
MWF 10:00-1:50
LLA 214

"Since Eve ate apples, 
Much depends on dinner."
~ Lord Byron, Don Juan

This course will take as its subject food-peoples and their appetites, foods and their origins and various migrations, foodways and the traditions and communities they build. By the end of the semester, you will have a new appreciation for the profound implications -- social, cultural, political, and economic -- of the seemingly simple question, "What's for dinner?"

Objectives

• to understand food history as a theme of world history
• to understand the political, ecological, economic, and cultural ramifications of specific food and foodways
• to understand foods, foodways, and culinary history of the past in order to prepare for a sustainable present and future
• to understand the relationship between food, immigration, and ethnic American identity
• to understand the impact of class and gender on food choices, food preparation, and food habits
• to analyze literature and film in order to appreciate food symbolism and connections between food and community
• to articulate one's personal relationship with food and one's cultural and ethnic food traditions through a series of oral and written projects

Films
Babette's Feast
Like Water for Chocolate
Soul Food

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

Tangents:  Appalachian Strings

Mr. Alex Hooker
IDS 2202-105
MW 2:00-3:15
LLA 223
Humanities/Fine Arts credit

This course will introduce students to the music of the Appalachian region through performance and discussions of the cultural traditions that combined to create this art form. Readings will emphasize the musical history of Appalachia and will address topics such as Appalachian culture, musical styles, and biographical sketches of Appalachian musicians. Students will also have the opportunity to learn to play one of the instruments common to this style of music, specifically the fiddle or banjo. It is not necessary that students have any prior musical experience; however, they will need to have either a fiddle or a banjo (and possibly a mandolin) for this class. Violins are available for rent for $25.00 a month.

Selected Readings
(Note: Because of the lack of a definitive text on this subject, the bulk of readings will be available on reserve in the Appalachian Collection in Belk Library.)

Masters of Old-Time Fiddling , Miles Krassen
Tennessee Strings, Charles Wolfe
The New Lost City Ramblers Song Book, Mike Seeger
Bluegrass, Neil V. Rosenburg
Play of a Fiddle, Gerald Milnes
Round Peak Style Clawhammer Banjo, Brad Leftwich
Albion's Seed, David Hackett Fischer
The Study of American Folklore, Jan Harold Brunvand
Singing Family of the Cumberlands, Jean Ritchie

Evaluation
Exams, response papers, participation

Tangents:  Archeoastronomy

Mr. Frank Edge
R 2:00-4:30
Social Science Credit CD

We will explore the nature and cultural importance of ancient astronomy and learn to follow the primary movements of the heavens and of heavenly bodies. We will study a small number of astronomical traditions in depth, including Ice Age astronomy, Megalithic astronomy of northern Europe, and Anasazi astronomy of the American Southwest. We will also discuss in some depth oral traditions recording ancient awareness of the "precession of the equinoxes."

Objectives
In this course students will come to better appreciate and understand:

• the astronomical development of the calendar and Holy Days
• the depth of cultural history and the importance of oral traditions and mythology
• the pervasiveness of astronomical metaphors and archetypes
• the practical importance of astronomy for hunting, navigation, and anticipating seasonal changes
• the interplay of psyche and reason in the development and interpretation of astronomical knowledge
• ancient practices for making observations of motions of the heavens
• the observation of objects in the heavens
• the nature and observation of the relative motions of some objects in the heavens

Presentations
One small group sharing of one culture-specific astronomical story
An individual final project

Evaluation
Class participation     15%
Astronomical diary and observations  20%
Examination(s) on astronomical knowledge 25%
Small group story     10%
Final paper      20%
Presentation of final project   10%

Readings
Evan Hadingham, Early Man and the Cosmos
Edwin Krupp, In Search of Ancient Astronomies
Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend, Hamlet?Mill: An Essay on Myth and the Frame of Time
J. McKim Malville and Claudia Putnam, Prehistoric Astronomy in the Southwest
Jean Guard Monroe and Ray Williamson, They Dance in the Sky: Native American Star Myths
Franklin Edge, "Aurochs in the Sky Dancing with the Summer Moon"

Required Software
Skyglobe, KLASSM Software © Mark Haney, Ann Arbor MI (shareware, cost $20)

Film
Cracking the Stone Age Code , with Alexander Thom

Tangents:  Art In War / War In Art: A Comparative Exploration of Artistic Views and Reflections of 20th Century Conflict

Ms. Nancy Sokolove
IDS 2202-112
TR 2:00-3:15
263 LLR
Humanities/Fine Arts Credit CD

... it seems to me that there is another ambition that ought to belong to to all writers: to bear witness and shout aloud, every time it is possible, insofar as our talent allows, for those who are enslaved ... ~ Albert Camus, from the essay Why Spain, Regarding the Spanish Civil War and his play State of Siege If, as Camus posits, the role of the artist is to bear witness and shout aloud, what have the artists shouted/written/composed/painted concerning the many wars of the 20th century? How can we gain understanding, insight, and compassion from these works of art? Can art inspire us to become witnesses, to become activists? Is this the role of art? Can war be beautiful artistically?

During the semester we will study the art surrounding several wars, including poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, visual arts (including movies), and music will be explored. Classroom discussion will be a major part of this class. There will be a midterm and final exam, as well as 8 short reaction papers and a lengthy comparative research paper. 

Some of the artists/writers/composers we will examine are: Romare Bearden, Benjamin Britten, Otto Dix, Bob Dylan, Spaulding Gray, Richie Havens, Kathe Kollwitz, Maya Lin, Tim O'Brien, Faith Ringgold, Pablo Picasso, and Nancy Spero.

Tangents:  Bodies, Places, Spaces, Times & Things: Meaning in Material Culture

Dr. Richard Carp
IDS 2202-114
TR 9:30-10:45
LLR 321
Social Science or Humanities Credit CD, MC

Human beings have covered the earth with physical evidence of our activities: railroads and cities, clothing and tools, calendars and time management, television and ski resorts are aspects of our cultural landscape. Also called the built environment, the cultural landscape (material culture) surrounds us like a second skin. 

Even our own bodies are shaped by and become elements in material culture. The various elements of the cultural landscape interact to form a web of physical meaning and pragmatic utility. Each object, artifact, space, place and body assumes its uses and meanings within this web. This class will explore how meaning is embodied in the cultural landscape. We will interpret some of the meanings of our own and other's material worlds.

Although there will be reading and writing assignments, the class will concentrate on bodies, places, spaces and things, rather than on words. In the second half of the course, our specific focus will be guided by student interest. We may investigate works of art; elements of popular culture; architectural sites; public spaces; consumer goods and packaging; human bodies; events, rituals and celebrations; and so on. Our reading will be adjusted to guide the investigation of our choices. 

Readings may include selections from: 
The Varieties of Sensory Experience, Howes & Classen, eds. 
Understanding Media, Marshall McLuhan 
History from Things, Lubar and Kingery
Carnal Knowing, Margaret Miles 
The Order of Things, Michel Foucault 
Mythologies, Roland Barthes 
"Hamburger Science and Sushi Science" 
Worlds of Sense, Constance Classen 
The Silent Language, E.T. Hall
The Hidden Dimension, E.T. Hall
Sensuous Scholarship, Paul Stoller
The Senses Still, Nadia Sreremetakis

Evaluation
There will be several methods of evaluation. Each student will keep and turn in weekly a class journal; there will be three short papers and a larger final paper; preparation and classroom participation will count, as well. One short paper may be replaced with material culture.

Tangents:  Bridging The Two Cultures: Reading About Science for Fun and Cultural Enrichment

Dr. J. Linn Mackey
IDS 2202-111
TR 9:30-10:45
LLR 263
Social Science Credit 

In 1959 the British author C. P. Snow published The Two Cultures. Snow argued that there was a polarization of culture into a scientific culture and a humanistic culture. He decried this split between scientific and humanistic cultures and argued that it was as important for the educated person to know about the Second Law of Thermodynamics as about Shakespeare's writings.

Since Snow's book the impact of science and technology on our lives has intensified. The communications revolution symbolized by computers and the internet and genetic engineering illustrate this impact on our lives and raises many kinds of political, social, and moral implications. Yet the polarization of the two cultures still remains.

Fortunately, helpful attempts to bridge the two cultures exist. Scientists and science writers provide a deluge of articles about important developments in science written for non-scientists. These appear in popular magazines such as Discover, National Geographic, Harpers Magazine, and The New Yorker.

This course attempts to bridge science and humanistic cultures. It is premised on the view that reading about new developments in science can be fun as well as broadening and enriching to ones cultural literacy.

Reading
The Best American Science Writing 2002, Matt Ridley, ed.

Methods of Teaching
The class will be primarily discussion with some background lectures.

Evaluation
50% Daily quizzes on assigned readings
20% Journal 
10% Class participation
20% Final paper:  This will involve an analysis of an article about science. This analysis should utilize the approach used in this course.

Tangents:  Everyday Ethics: Character, Conduct, and Moral Vision(s) in Post-Modern America

Dr. Bud Gerber
IDS 2202-110
MWF 9:00-9:50
LLR 263
Humanities credit

This course will introduce students to key discussions about the nature and uses of virtue and character in the confusing/interesting setting of "contemporary society." For me (Bud), that society is a place of competing moral traditions, exhausted/refreshed certainties, unstable "politics," and liberated/preyed upon citizen-consumers. Virtue and character will not be seen as "answers" to post-modern anxieties, but rather as "formations" evoked and instilled by alternative traditions. For example, the virtue of "industriousness" (or "having a work ethic") is clearly "good" within our sort of capitalism, as are toleration, flexibility, and mobility. Market capitalism is a moral tradition, therefore, with its particular "schedule" of virtues and vices. However, capitalist virtues are not always cherished within Judaism, Christianity, or Buddhism, though people want to make them so. On the other hand, the "success ethic" is clearly incompatible with the demands for sacrifice and loyalty in our current "war on terrorism." What's a poor college student to do? Take the course!

Books
Joshua Halberstam, Everyday Ethics
Peter Gardella, Domestic Religion: Work, Food, Sex, and other commitments
Aristotle, The Nicomachaen Ethics
Judith Martin, A Citizen's Guide to Civility
Judith Boss, Analyzing Moral Issues
Moses, et. al., The Bible

Films
What's Eating Gilbert Grape?
Crimes and Misdemeanors
The Crying Game
A Soldier's Story
It's a Wonderful Life
Ordinary People
American Beauty

Tangents:  The History & Culture of Printmaking As Seen Through A Silk Screen

Dr. Joan Meixell
IDS 2202-106
W 3:30-6:30
LLR 221
Humanities/Fine Arts CD

Silk screening is a very versatile form of printmaking that can mimic other methods. It emerged as an art form and social "voice" during the Depression, primarily from the WPA's funding of commissions for artists. It has also fueled the popularity of T-shirts that commemorate events and make statements in endless varieties of colors and designs.

This course will focus on the history of various forms of printmaking and related cultures through text, other assigned readings, and the silk screening process. We will encounter the current printmaking and craft-artist culture through field work at area crafts fairs.

Students will learn the silk screening process and use it to express concepts of other print methods studied through the readings. As part of the course students will be required to do multiple print editions that will be incorporated into books containing prints and commentary.

Texts
The Artist's Way, Julie Cameron
Printmaking: An Introduction to the History and Techniques, Anthony Griffiths
Essays, films, and readings relating to printmaking and its culture.

Course Requirements
Attendance, participation, and timely preparation of assignments

Evaluation
Participation       15%
Visual and written assignments    45%
Quizzes and midterm     20%
Final project (book of prints and related writing) 20%

Tangents:  Leading With the Hand You Are Dealt: Multicultural Leadership Development

Mr. Anwar Cruter and Mrs. Tracey Wright
IDS 2202-107
TR 2:00-3:15
LLR 221
Social science credit

Are you an emerging student leader or do you want to be one? This class serves as the central educational strategy for emerging student leaders, focusing on multicultural leadership topics using theory-based models. We will review various racial and ethnic identity developmental models and gender differences in leadership roles. The course also has a practical component as we will use your personal experiences as part of class projects.

Evaluation
Class participation   10%
4-5 page autobiography  20%
Three interviews   20%
Course reflection paper  25%
Annotated bibliography  15%
Four short reflection papers 10%

Required Events
Martin Luther King Commemoration Program (January 29)
"Binding our Lives" February 10)
At least one Diversity Series sponsored by Office of Multicultural Student Development
A multicultural/special interest organization meeting

Readings
13 essays

Tangents:  Life Politics

Dr. Martha McCaughey
IDS 2202-104
TR 11:00-12:15
LLA 124
Social Science credit CD

Ours is an age characterized by radical uncertainty, rapid change, and the breakdown of tradition. Western people now reflexively seek new sources of meaning, community, identity, and intimacy. This is what social theorist Anthony Giddens calls "life politics," a politics of reflexive life decisions made in the context of competing forms of expert knowledge. Whereas Westerners used to organize politically around emancipation from oppression, today their primary concerns involve not the politics of life chances but a politics of life choices. Using interdisciplinary research and analysis, this course explores the many manifestations of life politics, from holistic health to consumerism to fundamentalism to sex-change surgery to the cultivation of intimate relationships. We will see that much of life politics revolves around lifestyle choices over the body. We will also discuss the ways in which lifestyle politics do and do not address political inequality, oppression, and global political conflicts. In this course students will examine life politics and inequalities that include, but are not limited to, issue of gender, race, and class. This course will also help students develop writing skills, research skills, and speaking skills.

Tangents:  Poetry Writing Workshop

Dr. Jay Wentworth
IDS 2202-108
MW 3:30-4:45
LLR 224
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.

We'll read from:
Mary Oliver, A Poetry Handbook
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.

Tangents:  Politics, Technology, & The Environment: Revisiting Nature as Social Space

Mr. Chuck Smith
IDS 2202-101
MW 5:00-6:15
LLA 124
Social Science Credit

This course will take an interdisciplinary look at the interaction and intersection of politics, technology, and nature in global society. Drawing primarily from the social sciences, we will explore different conceptions of "nature" by reviewing and critiquing various strains of environmentalism. In so doing, we will seek some understanding as to why environmentalists, as practitioners of a new philosophy and politics, seem at many points divided and at other times unified. Some questions considered include what is "nature" or "natural"? Are humans inside or outside of nature? Is "environmentalism" a novel phenomenon or is it rooted in older social philosophy? Are science and technology positive paths toward understanding and or manipulating the natural environment?

Likely Readings
Thoreau's Walden (excerpts)
Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations (excerpts)
Thomas Malthus and Karl Marx
Deep Ecology, Sessions and Naess (excerpts)
Social Ecology.   Murry Bookchin and David Pepper (excerpts)
Readings  from eco-feminism
G. Harding's "Tragedy of the Commons"
L. White Jr. "The Roots of our Ecological Crisis"
Richard White.  The Organic Machine
Michael Pollan, Second Nature

Tangents:  Women & Leadership

Dr. Lee Williams
IDS 2202-103
T 4:00-6:30
LLA 124
Social Science Credit

This course will be loosely-divided into three parts. The first will examine the modern history of women leaders, including the suffragist movement, the early Black women's movements, the feminist movement, and the role of women in the Civil Rights Movement. The second part will examine theories of women's psychological development and how these theories inform our knowledge of how women lead. The third part will challenge students to apply what has been learned to the development of leadership opportunities for other woman as well as the students themselves.

Texts
Texts will include historical accounts of early women leaders and more theory-based works such as Women's Ways of Knowing and In a Different Voice. We will also view several films, such as Norma Rae and Fundi (a documentary about Ella Baker).

Assignments
Assignments include regular journals about in-class and out-of-class topics, and an individual service-learning project of 16-20 hours followed by a class presentation.

MATH

Introduction To Mathematics

Dr. Sarah Greenwald
MAT 1010-116
TR 2:00-3:15PM Walker Hall 303A
M 4:00-5:50PM Walker Hall 209B LAB
ND, W, C Designators

This section of MAT 1010 is designed for Watauga College students. You'll receive full general education math credit while developing a liberal arts appreciation of mathematics. While parts of the class are similar to other Mat 1010s, it differs from other sections via an interdisciplinary and thematically linked format.

Objectives
Develop mathematical common sense, problem solving skills, critical thinking skills, research techniques, and communication skills.

Format
We will begin the course with a style of doing mathematics familiar to many students, by working with formulas from a textbook and then applying these formulas to interesting real life financial problems (for example, when buying a new car, should you take the rebate or the low interest rate option?).

In the next segment we'll analyze a number of statistical techniques to develop statistical common sense, using this in the context of real life problems (ex., how should we interpret opinion polls?).

In the third segment we'll examine the way mathematicians do research and the kinds of problems they work on, like Fermat's Last Theorem. You'll see that many mathematicians struggle with math in ways that you might, and that there are many diverse styles among successful mathematicians.

In the final segment you'll become a mathematician with the geometry of the earth and universe as your field of study.

Required Resources
Heart of Mathematics:  An Invitation to Effective Thinking (rental text)
How Do You Know?  Using Math to Make Decisions (purchased text)
Scientific calculator that can do powers (y^x or x^y or ^ symbol)
3-Ring Binder to store handouts (from class, lab, or on the Web)
Access to a web-browser and to campus pipeline twice a week

Evaluation
Participation (20%)
Weekly lab projects (35%)
Major topic exams, presentations, and/or papers (20%)
Final exam (25%)

THIS SECTION OF MAT 1010 WILL COUNT TOWARD YOUR TOTAL HOURS IN WATAUGA

PHYSICAL EDUCATION

Physical Education:  Outdoor Pursuits

Mr. Andrew Miller
IDS 2202-115
R 3:30-6:00PM
LLA 124

Literature inspired by wilderness travel and exploration often takes the reader to the most remote places with the most daring and/or foolish of people. These epic campaigns of adventure and challenge often explore the effect of experience on a variety of abstract concepts including personal development. This course will use literature inspired by wilderness travel and exploration as a lens through which we examine and evaluate our own experiences backpacking, rock climbing, and spelunking. Each student will learn the necessary skills to safely and appropriately participate in the selected outdoor pursuits and will then be asked to evaluate and articulate the role of these pursuits to their self-image, capacity to face adversity, desire to succeed, motivation to learn from experience, and ability to work cooperatively with others.

An additional trip fee of $65 is required for this course, to cover food for all outdoor components, transportation and equipment.

Texts will include:
Abbey, E. Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness
Roberts, D. The Mountains of My Fear and Deborah
King, F. & Stetson, L. (Eds). The Wild Muir: Twenty-two of John Muir's Greatest Adventures
Turner, J. The Abstract Wild
Davidson, R. Tracks: A Woman's Solo Trek Across 1700 Miles of Australian Outback.