ORIGINS & MIGRATIONS

What's for Dinner?

O&M What's for Dinner?

Dr. Betsy Beaulieu
IDS 1103-101
MWF 10:00-1:50
LLA 221

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 students will have a new appreciation for the profound implications ~ social, cultural, political, and economic ~ of the seemingly simple question, "What's for dinner?"

TEXTS:
Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
Hungering for America:  Italian, Irish, and Jewish Foodways in the Age of Migration
Stolen Harvest by Hasia R. Diner
The Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood
Chocolat by Joanne Harris

FILMS:
Fast Food Nation
Babette's Feast
Soul Food
Like Water for Chocolate

TANGENTS

Tangents:  Appalachian Strings

Mr. Alex Hooker
IDS 2202-101
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

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Tangents:  The History & Culture of Printmaking as Seen Through a Silk Screen

Dr. Joan Meixell
IDS 2202-102 
MW 5:00-7:30 
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.

         
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Tangents:  Teaching Arts In Prison

Dr. Katie Adams
IDS 2202-103
MW 5:00-6:15
LLR 221
Social Science Credit CD

This course will explore the cultural, political, creative and educational landscapes for teachers inside correctional facilities. We will examine the history of an arts movement behind bars, the impetus for that movement in the last three decades, program models and their impact on corrections (lives of prisoners and their families, recidivism rates, as well as institutional concerns). In addition we will examine and discuss different pedagogical approaches for arts educators within prisons; where they originated; the political, cultural and correctional responses and implications for each as well as their effectiveness as educational models. Coursework includes readings from artist-instructors, participants of programs inside, interviews with key artists, prison visits, creative work, interdisciplinary research and analysis, and visits from artists who have been teaching the arts inside for over 30 years.

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Tangents:  Love & Death: An Introduction To The Life & Works of Sigmund Freud 

Dr. Derek Stanovsky
IDS 2202-104
TR 12:30-1:45
LLR 226
Humanities/Social Science CD

What do sex, perversions, and fetishes have in common with art, religion, and politics? Why do we dream? Why do we die? This course will examine such questions through the life and works of Sigmund Freud, one of the most influential and misunderstood thinkers of the twentieth century. Psychoanalysis aims at providing a general theory of all human life and culture, and Freud's legacy extends far beyond the realm of clinical psychology. Literature, film, economics, ethics, and virtually every other field of study have felt the influence of his ideas. This course will provide an introduction to the breadth of psychoanalytic theory through Freud's own writings with illustrations from some contemporary authors and artists. 

Textbooks: 
Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams (Avon).
Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (Basic Books).
Dora: An Analysis of a Case of Hysteria (Simon & Schuster).
Beyond the Pleasure Principle (W. W. Norton).
Civilization and Its Discontents (W. W. Norton).

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Tangents:  The Culture of Everyday Life

Dr. Thomas Mc Laughlin
IDS 2202-105
TR 2:00-3:15
LLR 221
Humanities/Social Science W CD

The goal of this course is to give you the opportunity to be reflective and critical about the practices of everyday life.  The conviction of the course is that the major cultural issues of our time work themselves out in everyday experience, as we work, play, watch television, shop and consume, participate in clubs and civic activities, and as we attend church and school.  It is in these daily practices that we learn the values and beliefs, the ways of thinking and feeling, the ways of moving the body in space, the ways of relating to others and forming communities that our culture encourages.  Much of this learning happens unconsciously, without self-reflection, as we go about our daily lives.  This course will take a critical look at this cultural process, asking questions about what usually goes without question.  What kind of culture emerges from our daily practices?  Who controls the production of that culture?  How does it affect our personal lives and identities?

This course will be writing intensive.  You will choose a topic for the semester, research it from a number of different perspectives, share your discoveries with the class, and write about the topic in many different modes.  We will read cultural and social theorists, analyze media texts, become participant-observers in our communities, and pursue individual research projects.  This course will be an opportunity to work on advanced writing skills and to experience the many ways that writing can be a form of cultural exploration and critique.

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Tangents:  Utopia: The Search for the Ideal Community

Dr. Joseph J. Gonzalez
IDS 2202.106
TR 11:00-12:15
LLA 205 Great Hall
Humanities credit

Long before they made fire, our ancestors formed communities; later, as their spiritual needs grew, they imagined perfect communities, in which justice, not might, governed human relationships. Our course will explore this desire for the perfect community, surveying utopian ideas in books, films, as well as history. Utopias, we will discover, are not only literary fantasies, but also historical realities, built by people in search of more satisfying lives. As you become acquainted with the value of utopian ideas, you will have the opportunity to apply what you learned to Watauga College and the Living-Learning Center LLC), your new-found communities at Appalachian State.

This course is reading and writing intensive, as is common in Watauga. Students should be prepared to read a significant number of pages, beginning with Guns, Germs, and Steel , and write a short essay each week. Students will also undertake two collaborative projects, both involving Watauga College and LLC.

Texts:
Plato, The Republic
Thomas Moore, Utopia
Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Herland
Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale

FRAMES

Mr. David Huntley
IDS 2202-107
MWF 1:00-2:50
LLR 205 Great Hall
CD

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.

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 2004-2005 Watauga 100, and will design, implement, and present group projects, performances, or events emerging from our explorations.  Please note that this class has no reading list or traditional syllabus.  Students develop their own reading and source lists based on the topics they explore and the due dates for written are determined by class consensus.

Even though the class is scheduled for six hours a week, we will average three hours of meeting time per week for the semester.

The credit students earn depends on their topic and research with help from appropriate faculty.

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