ORIGINS AND MIGRATIONS

TBA

TANGENTS

Tangents:  Appalachian Strings

Mr. Alex Hooker
IDS 2202-108
MW 3:30-4:45
LLA 263
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

top

Tangents:  Being A Man In America: Historical Models of Masculinity in American Popular Media

Dr. Michael T. Wilson
IDS 2202-118
MW 5:00-6:15
LLR 226
Social Science/History credit

Using both literature and film, this course will trace the elements of American ideas about "manhood" over the course of American history. In doing so, we will examine the ways that these "models of manhood" were reflected, enforced, and contested in the popular media of the day, both in a chronological and thematic framework. We will particularly focus on the ways that the American ideal of masculinity was socially debated and shaped by marginalized as well as mainstream groups and artists. In terms of films, we will use film clips rather than complete films in class; I may show some films in full outside of regular class times, but attendance at those will not be mandatory. At times, we will contrast the literary version of a text with its filmed adaptations. There will be some lecture material, but we will rely primarily on class discussions. Students will write a mid-term paper and a final paper, and classroom participation will constitute some part of their grade as well. Students will generate their own topics based on our readings and viewings.

Objectives
Students will be encouraged to think and write critically about gender, masculinity, and the way that popular media both reflects and shapes our notions of both.  The class will  provide a historical perspective on contemporary notions of manhood as well.

Texts
Most of the class material will be provided in a Xeroxed packet, and rely on excerpts in the case of longer works.  
Primary "Texts" may include:
Ben Franklin?Autobiography
"Sleepy Hollow" / Frederick Douglass: "The Heroic Slave" / Washington / DuBois / Dixon, Jr.
The Last of the Mohicans / Nick of the Woods / The Cherokee Memorials
Death of a Salesman / Amazing Adventures of Cavalier and Clay /
Fight Club / Cool Hand Luke / High Noon / Sleepless in Seattle / Taxi Driver / The Graduate / Straw Dogs / Tootsie / Queer Eye for the Straight Guy

top

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

Dr. Richard Carp
IDS 2202-109
TR 9:30-10:45
 LLR 221 
 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.

top

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

Dr. J. Linn Mackey
IDS 2202-106
TR 9:30-10:45
LLR 226
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.

top

Tangents:  Death, Dying & Living

Dr. Pete Reichle
IDS 2202-101
TR 3:30-4:45
LLR 263
Social Science credit

Separation, loss and death are major emotional, intellectual and spiritual/intuitive aspects of daily life. Coming to terms with jihad and the events of 9/11 may help us lead a more focused, enriched life. This class will look at grief, loss and life from many different aspects. We will examine major theories from folks such as Steven Levine, Gerald May, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, Threse Rando. We will look at movie themes from a variety of films (Ordinary People, Return to Bountiful, Fried Green Tomatoes, Sleepers, Harold & Maude, Dragonfly, Shipping News) plus your favorite. Music themes, especially about love and loss in relationships will be closely examined. Epidemiology of suicide, fear of death, the funeral industry, life philosophies are all themes we may examine. Cross cultural, historical and literary themes are a part of the interdisciplinary material to be covered. This will be a group process, interactive as well as an intellectual lecture class.

Course Goal
To become (more) emotionally, intellectually and intuitively/spiritually aware of the process of loss, ending relationships and death, and to identify the personal, emotional, social, spiritual, cultural and economic factors relating to this process.  To become more alive and more aware of the present.

Required Texts
Out of the Blue: the Story of September, 11, 2001 from Jihad to Ground Zero. Richard Bernstein. 2002. New York Times. Critique due:
Forgiveness: a Bold Choice for a Peaceful Heart by Robin Casarjian. 1992. Bantam. Critique due:
Two approved books of your choice from the bibliography, etc.

top

Tangents:  Discover Your Self-Portrait 

IDS 2202-103 
MW 3:30-4:45 
LLR 221 
Humanities/Fine Arts CD 

In this interdisciplinary and language arts course, identity, through self-portraiture, will be explored via the mediums of visual and language arts. We will read and study artists' and writers' self-portraits, from the Renaissance painter Rembrandt to the contemporary writer Jamaica Kincaid, the monologuist Spalding Gray and multimedia artist Laurie Anderson. 

Over the semester, each student will keep a journal and produce a series of self-portraits using charcoal, paint, collage, and found materials. Eventually we will incorporate words and stories into the visual self-portrait, creating a merger of the two art forms and an exciting record of existence. Artists and writers may include:

Visual Artists
Rembrandt 
Van Gogh (written material also) 
Alberto Giacommetti (written material also) 
Frida Kahlo (written material also) 
Cindy Sherman 
David Wojnarowicz (written material also) 
Faith Ringgold (written material also) 

Writers
J.P. Satre 
Gertrude Stein 
M.F.K. Fisher 
Sylvia Plath 
Ved Mehta 
Annie Dillard 
Paul Monette 
Jamaica Kincaid 

Others 
Spalding Gray 
Laurie Anderson 
Woody Allen

  top

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

Dr. Joan Meixell
IDS 2202-104 
MW 4:00-5:15 
LLR 121 
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. Students will encounter the current printmaking and craft-artist culture through field work at area crafts fairs. 

Students will be shown basic silk screening processes which will be used 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.  Through a Service Learning Project, they will have the opportunity of seeing how silk screening can be used for group-bonding experiences.

Texts: 
To be determined: book on creativity 
Printmaking: An Introduction to the History and Techniques, Anthony Griffiths 
Silk Screen Basics,   Joan Meixell
Essays, films, and readings relating to printmaking and its culture. 

Course Requirements: 
Attendance, participation, and timely preparation of assignments 

top

Tangents:  Latin America Today

Dr. Cynthia Wood
IDS 2202-117
MWF 9:00-9:50
LLR 221
Social Science credit CD, MC

This course will introduce students to contemporary Latin America through exploration of the region's geography, history, politics, film, art, music, dance, literature and food. In addition to traditional assignments, there will also be "participatory" activities such as cooking, dancing, and constructing a "Day of the Dead" altar.

Readings:
Duncan Green, Faces of Latin America
Eduardo Galeano, The Book of Embraces
Julia Alvarez, In the Time of the Butterflies
Hermano Vianna, The Mystery of Samba
Sam Quijones, True Tales from Another Mexico

Films: 
The Mission
Buena Vista Social Club
Tango
Like Water for Chocolate
and others as appropriate

Evaluation:
Participation, Papers, Group Project.

top

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

Mr. Anwar Cruter & Mrs. Tracey Wright
IDS 2202-105
TR 2:00-3:15
LLR 421
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.

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

top

Tangents:  Pre-Historic Astronomy

Mr. Frank Edge
IDS 2202-111
IDS 2203-103
TR 2:30-4:30
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

Besides reading and discussion, students will learn to make basic naked-eye astronomical observations and will be asked to keep an astronomical diary.

 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, ?rochs in the Sky Dancing with the Summer Moon?p> REQUIRED SOFTWARE
  Skyglobe, KLASSM Software © Mark Haney, Ann Arbor MI (shareware, cost $20)

Film:
Cracking the Stone Age Code, with Alexander Thom

top

Tangents:  Prison Culture:  Poetic Text & Experience

Dr. Katy Adams
IDS 2202-112
MW 5:00-6:15
LLR 263
Humanities/Literature

This is an introductory course in Prison Studies with a focus on literature, publication, and film. Students will be reading Prison Literature anthologies, major political prisoner texts, rare prison chapbooks and journals, basic political penal history and theory, watch films and documentaries which explore prison issues, focus major U.S. literary figures within prisons and hear from some of our nation's best writers from the inside.

Students will write three essays, pick a semester-long topic and explore prison issues from a humanities driven, interdisciplinary approach to prison issues and study. Instead of criminal justice statistics we rely upon what poems and stories tell the U.S. prison story.

top

Tangents:  The Roots of Chinese Culture

Mr. Yang De You
IDS 2202-113
MWF 9:00-9:50
263 LLR
Humanities Credit MC

This course will help students obtain a basic understanding of the mentality and values of Chinese and other East Asian nations (Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese) that are playing a fast-growing role in today's world.  The unbroken continuity of Chinese culture and mentality of more than 25 centuries expresses itself both in Chinese literature and today's Chinese behavior and way of thinking.  The tradition of Chinese identity has been extant and active up to now, not essentially changed and easily observable among the Chinese.  The roots of Chinese culture lie, to a great degree, in Confucianism and Taoism, and therefore the works of Confucius, Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, and an anthology of Chinese poetry will be used as texts.  Problems such as the relationship between the Chinese tradition and modernization, the cultural difference between China and the West (and the USA in particular), will be discussed briefly.  It is hoped that a basic understanding of the nature of Chinese culture on the part of American students, in general raised in Western culture, may broaden their horizons and also promote their awareness of their own national tradition and values.

Texts:
Confucius, The Analects
Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching
Chuang Tzu, Basic Writing
The Columbia Book of Chinese Poetry
From Early Times to the Thirteenth Century

top

Tangents:  The Tao of the East & the Tao of the West

Dr. J. Linn Mackey
IDS 2202-107
TR 3:30-4:45
LLR 221
Humanities Credit CD, MC

The I Ching, a book of divination, Tao Te Ching and The Way of Chuang Tzu, wisdom literature written before the birth of Christ, express important beginnings of the Chinese world view. A key part of that worldview is TAO, loosely translated as the way or path. It has been suggested that science is the TAO of the West, i.e. that science is the way or path to understanding followed in the West.

In the first part of the course we will investigate the Tao of the East. This will include reading and discussing the I Ching , Tao Te Ching , and The Way of Chuang Tzu. You will learn to use the I Ching as a divination tool and to do a simple form of Tai Chi.

In the second part of the course we will look at some recent developments in Western science in quantum mechanics and the science of chaos which have a strong resemblance to the ancient Chinese interpretation of the Tao. No math or science skills are required for this part of the course.

Readings: 
I Ching
Tao Te Ching, Lao Tsu
The Way of Chuang Tzu
Seven Life Lessons of Chaos, John Briggs and F. David Peat
Reserve Readings and Handouts 

Course Requirements:
Attendance, daily reading, participation in discussion and class activities.

Evaluation:
There will be several methods of evaluation.  Each student will keep a class journal, which will be collected and evaluated several times during the semester.  There will be two short papers and a longer final paper; participation in group and class discussion and class activities will count as well.

top

Tangents:  Women & Leadership

Dr. Lee Williams
IDS 2202-102
T 4:00-6:30
LLA 326
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.

top

Fall 2004 MATH

TBA

Fall 2004 PHYSICAL EDUCATION

TBA

FRAMES

Buchanan | Stanovsky | Wood

Sometime during their second year, Watauga students select a section of this three hour capstone course. Frames asks students to fit together and build on the elements from their first year of courses in Watauga College, and to produce and present collaboratively an original project reflecting these studies to the students, faculty, and staff of Watauga College. The course begins from the Watauga 100 list developed during the students' first year in Watauga College and frames, explores, integrates, connects, and pursues issues and elements on this list. Faculty help frame these elements through selected readings, guided discussion, and focused research. Students then work at developing and producing an original project, performance, publication, or other event. These projects are then presented to the entire College at the end of the semester and may take the form of a theatrical production, literary magazine, service-learning event, community research project, experiential education, travel opportunity, video, fine art, landscape design, Web project, or some other type of performance, publication, or event. Frames emphasizes creative, independent, and collaborative learning; explores performative communication; and develops skills in research and creative synthesis. Frames classes typically meet MWF 2:00-2:50 but includes 1:00-1:50 for common time.

top

Frames: IDS 2202-115

Dr. Harriette Buchanan
MWF 1:00-2:50
LLR 321
Humanities/Literature, CD

This section of Frames will be led by Dr. Harriette C. Buchanan. Harriette has a Ph.D. in English from UNC-Chapel Hill. Her focus was on the historical and cultural influences on American Literature. Her current scholarly interests are an outgrowth of this earlier focus on the influence of culture and history on the lives of individuals, particularly as represented in the writings of contemporary North Carolinians and writers of the Southern Appalachian region. An offshoot from this primary focus is her interest in the literature of popular culture, particularly medical thrillers, science fiction, and murder mysteries by women writers. She is also interested in applying mythic theories from writers such Joseph Campbell to contemporary fiction, seeking universal themes in depictions of specific realities.

This section will use T. S. Eliot's Four Quartets as a base text for discussing and researching selected people, places, events, and texts from the 2003-2004 Watauga 100. Based on our research and discussion, students will develop projects, performances, or other products to construct representations that synthesize their Watauga College education.

top

Frames: IDS 2202-116

Dr. Derek Stanovsky
MWF 1:00-2:50
LLR 421
Humanities, CD

This section of Frames will be facilitated by Dr. Derek Stanovsky. The background Derek brings to this class includes a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin. His interests include political philosophy, computer technology, and feminist theory, and his writings cover topics ranging from virtual reality and Marxism, to African music and Princess Diana. He is the Director of the new Internet Studies program at ASU, a member of the Women's Studies faculty and, in addition to teaching in Watauga College, regularly offers courses on Internet Studies and Marxism.

Together, and combined with the interests and expertise of the students in the class, we will creatively explore the diverse facts, people, places, and events collected in our 2003-2004 Watauga 100, and will design, implement, and present a project, performance, or event emerging from our explorations.

top

Frames: IDS 2202-114

Dr. Cynthia Wood
MWF 1:00-2:50
LLR 221
Social Science, CD

This section of Frames will be led by Dr. Cynthia Wood, who has a BA in English, a Ph.D. in Economics, and is a member of the faculty of Latin American Studies, Women's Studies, and Sustainable Development. She is widely interested in questions of social, political, and economic inequality, and has pursued this interest in classes and research in topics as diverse as latino farmworkers in North Carolina, neoliberal economics and the World Bank, resistance from civil rights to ACT UP to the global justice movement, the politics of alternative sexualities, and how representations of poor women allows bad development policies to continue.

Together, and combined with the interests and expertise of the students in the class, we will creatively explore the diverse facts, people, places, and events collected in our 2003-2004 Watauga 100, and will design, implement, and present a project, performance, or event emerging from our explorations.

top