NOTE: The Center for Ethics and Culture does not endorse the content or professors of the following courses, but finds the topics worthwhile. For online reviews of courses and professors by Notre Dame students, go to NDToday. These courses have been offered in the past at Notre Dame. While many of these courses are offered currently at Notre Dame, some courses may not be offered at present. Follow the course link for course prerequisites and restrictions.
Undergraduate Courses
. College of Arts & Letters
. College of Business
. School of Architecture
. College of Engineering
. College of Science
. Philosophy
. Political Science
. Medieval Studies
. Sociology
. Theology
Undergraduate Courses
African and African American Studies
AFAM 20575 - Ways of Peacemaking: Gandhi/King
An intensive study of the philosophy and spirituality of two of the greatest activists and peace educators of our century, M. Gandhi and M. Luther King. We will be especially concerned with the way each of these men came to construct new, yet quite ancient, images or controlling myths that they hoped would lead us to think and act in revolutionary ways.
3.000 Credit HoursAFAM 20703 - Social Problems
Analysis of selected problems in American society such as crime, narcotic addiction, alcoholism, delinquency, racial and ethnic conflict, prostitution, and others. Discussions, debates, films, tapes, and readings.
3.000 Credit HoursAFAM 30205 - US Labor History
This course will examine the history of paid and unpaid labor in the United States from colonial times to the near present. We will seek to understand how working people both shaped--and were shaped by--the American Revolution, the debates over slavery and free labor culminating in the Civil War and Reconstruction, the rise of big business, the creation of a national welfare state, the Cold War-era repression of the Left, and continuing debates over the meanings of work, citizenship, and democracy. Throughout the course, we will devote considerable time to the organizations workers created to advance their own interests, namely the labor movement. We will also pay special attention to the complicated yet crucial connections between work and racial and gender identities. Specific topics may include slavery, farm labor, women's domestic work, trade unions, questions of industrial democracy, the role of radicalism, and the challenges confronting workers in the current era of corporate globalization and anti-sweatshop activism.
3.000 Credit HoursAFAM 30213 - American Social Movements
This interdisciplinary survey of civil rights and social protest movements in the United States examines suffrage inclusion, abolitionism and black Civil Rights Movements, labor organizing, and women's rights in the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as several contemporary protest movements. These movements certainly question selected American ideologies, but they also draw on American values and practices. We will use history, film, fiction, journalism, and autobiographies to trace a tradition of protest that both depends on and offers challenges to a democratic society.
3.000 Credit HoursAFAM 30605 - Social Movements
How is social change possible? This is one of the central questions for the study of social movements, as well as the organizing theme of this course. In this course, we will consider the ways in which different sociological theories of social movements have asked and answered this question, paying particular attention to theories of identity, emotion, and networks.
3.000 Credit HoursAFAM 30705 - Poverty/Inequality/Social Stratification
Social inequality is a prominent and persistent feature of modern society. Social stratification theory attempts to explain the causes of inequality and the reasons for its persistence. This course will address such questions as: Why are some people rich and some people poor? Why does inequality persist? Who gets ahead? Can men and women get the same jobs? Do different races have the same opportunities? Is inequality necessary? Potential topics include inner-city and rural poverty, welfare dependency, homelessness, status attainment and occupational mobility, racial and ethnic stratification, and gender stratification and class theory.
3.000 Credit HoursAFAM 30720 - Cultural Aspects of Clinical Medicine
This course examines popular medical concepts and expectations patients bring with them to the clinical or hospital setting, as well as the attitudes, organization, and goals of clinical medical care. Students divide their time between classroom and service as patient/family liaisons in an area emergency room. Student access to a car is necessary.
4.000 Credit HoursAFAM 40204 - Culture Wars: 1960s America
America remains divided over the legacy of the 1960s. We worry about whether our President inhaled marijuana or served in Vietnam; we debate abortion and the extent of the welfare state; we continue to have serious problems with racial relations and the aftermath of the sexual revolution; and we wonder how our culture broke so clearly along religious lines. The 1960s continue to be a controversial part of America's historical memory because many of our current debates can be traced to that decade. How can we understand a time so recently in America's past that it is both the source of new freedoms and frustrations? This course will explore the nature of American society--its culture, politics, and people--through an in-depth look at the 1960s. By studying primary sources, biography, architecture, films, and the work of historians students will be able to locate and describe the basic divisions, main events, actors, and culture of 1960s, and be able to relate them to our present society. Cross-listed with American Studies 30313.
3.000 Credit HoursAFAM 40205 - Labor Movements in Twentieth-Century US.
This course explores American workers' collective efforts in their search for economic security, political power, and social and cultural autonomy from the 1890s to the near present. For the most part, this course will focus on the unions and related organizations forged by workers throughout the past century--from major umbrella groups like the American Federation of Labor, the Industrial Workers of the World, and the Congress of Industrial Organizations, to important sectoral actors like the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the United Automobile Workers, the American Federation of Teachers, and the United Farm Workers. The central questions of the course will be when, where, and why have US workers organized collectively in the 20th century--and how successful have they been? What has been the response of employers, the government, and the public-at-large to these collective efforts of workers, and how and why have those responses changed over time? What has been the relationship between organized labor and racial and gender discrimination, as well as the causes of racial and gender equality? And how have Americans generally, and workers in particular, understood the labor movement in relation to capitalism, freedom, and democracy? Students will be expected to write several short papers, engage in regular classroom discussion, and screen several films outside of class.
3.000 Credit HoursAFAM 40778 - Society and Culture through Films
This course will deal with a variety of social issues as they are perceived, conceptualized, represented, and understood by the movies. The focus of this course will not be on the cinema history, cinema structure, or movie-making processes, but on how important human problems such as cultural diversity, race relations, the crafting of national identity and national heroes, urban life, class conflict, family structure, war, and some ideological values such as success, love happiness, fairness, misfortune, destiny, honesty, faith, and the like are depicted and treated by the movies.
3.000 Credit HoursAFAM 40779 - Human Rights in Latin America
This course takes the concept of international human rights as the framework to explore contemporary cultural, economic, and political debates about identity, culture, and society in Latin America. We will review the civil and political rights, the social and economic rights, and the indigenous people's rights of the International Declaration of Human Rights through ethnographic case studies. For example, we will explore freedom of speech in Chile and review the report of the findings of the Truth Commission; indigenous people's rights in Colombia and learn about the Afro-Colombian movements for ancestral lands; and social and economic rights in Guatemala and current efforts to implement socio-economic recommendations of the Commission for Historical Clarification. In each area, we will specifically address the role of anthropology, the American Anthropological Association's human rights declaration, and the unique contribution anthropologists can make to international efforts to understand human rights.
3.000 Credit HoursAmerican Studies
AMST 13120 - American Culture and Community
Freshman seminar in American culture and community.
3.000 Credit HoursAMST 13186 - Literature University Seminar
Henry James once remarked that Americans "are the only great people of the civilized world that is a pure democracy, and we are the only great people that is exclusively commercial." For James, New York City defined the spot where everything modern and distinctly "American," everything about money and about politics, everything about the individual and about society came together as a formed, physical identity for good and bad. These tensions are endemic to the notion of the city itself. For many, cities such as New York and Chicago were places to despise, places of suspicion, of immigration, of ethnicity, places which were distinctly un-American and that challenged America's conception of itself as a country founded upon and guided by rural principles. But the democracy and commerce James identified as specifically American is a combination that depends upon the city in all its variegated senses. Using James's comment as a beginning this course will examine the relationship between the development of the American city and the emergence of a metropolitan consciousness. The course will be thematically driven and will focus on the roles of money, democracy, culture, and politics and will examine how these forces coalesced through the process of urbanization and become embedded in the distinctively modern American identity. While the bulk of the course will deal with the late 19th and early 20th century, we will look back to the country's early urban development and forward to its most recent urban metamorphoses.
3.000 Credit HoursAMST 30100 - Fundamentals of Journalism
What is news? What are the most effective ways of presenting news to the public? What ethical decisions are involved in gathering and reporting news? These are a few of the questions addressed in this course.
3.000 Credit HoursAMST 30108 - American Social Movements
This interdisciplinary survey of civil rights and social protest movements in the United States examines suffrage inclusion, abolitionism and black civil rights movements, labor organizing, and women's rights in the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as several contemporary protest movements. These movements certainly question selected American ideologies, but they also draw on American values and practices. We will use history, film, fiction, journalism, and autobiographies to trace a tradition of protest that both depends on and offers challenges to a democratic society.
3.000 Credit HoursAMST 30112 - Witnessing the Sixties
The purpose of this interdisciplinary course is twofold: to examine the social context and cultural change of the sixties, on the one hand, and on the other to explore the various journalistic and aesthetic representations of events, movements, and transformations. We will focus on the manner in which each writer or artist witnessed the sixties and explore fresh styles of writing and cultural expression, such as the new journalism popularized by Tom Wolfe and the music/lyrics performed by Bob Dylan. Major topics for consideration include the counterculture and the movement--a combination of civil rights and anti-war protest.
3.000 Credit HoursAMST 30208 - American Literature: Varieties of Religious Experience
Many American authors are skeptical toward religion, yet they are, nonetheless, preoccupied with the religious experience. This course explores the relationship between these attitudes in American literature.
3.000 Credit HoursAMST 30309 - US Labor History
This course will examine the history of paid and unpaid labor in the United States from colonial times to the near present. We will seek to understand how working people both shaped--and were shaped by--the American Revolution, the debates over slavery and free labor culminating in the Civil War and Reconstruction, the rise of big business, the creation of a national welfare state, the Cold War-era repression of the Left, and continuing debates over the meanings of work, citizenship, and democracy. Throughout the course, we will devote considerable time to the organizations workers created to advance their own interests, namely the labor movement. We will also pay special attention to the complicated yet crucial connections between work and racial and gender identities. Specific topics may include slavery, farm labor, women's domestic work, trade unions, questions of industrial democracy, the role of radicalism, and the challenges confronting workers in the current era of corporate globalization and anti-sweatshop activism.
3.000 Credit HoursAMST 30310 - American Peace Movement since World War II
This course examines the emergence of the modern American peace movement between the two World Wars and its development in the Nuclear Age since World War II. It examines the shifting patterns of support for the peace movement, the curious ways Americans have searched and worked for peace, and some of the important peace groups and leaders.
3.000 Credit HoursAMST 30314 - Media and American Culture
This course examines the myths and realities of media in the American past and present, paying particular attention to the ways in which old media and new have combined to change our lives, and the ways different groups of Americans have used various media to make history.
3.000 Credit HoursAMST 30319 - Environmental History
This course is an introduction to the new field of environmental history. In recent decades, historians have begun to actively explore the past sensibilities of various groups toward the quality of their air, water, and land; the passionate discussions of philosophers, theologians, and social and natural scientists about resource use, the safety of the environment, and long-term prospects for humanity; and the customs, laws, and managerial systems that guided use of the environment. Historians have also increasingly paid attention to the ways environmental factors have affected the course of history: the effects of the distribution of water, wood, and minerals and of changes in climate or endemic disease. This course ranges widely in methodology from the history of ideas to paleoclimatology, geographically from the ancient Near East to modern America, topically from wood-cutting rights in medieval France to the rise of the organic farming movement and water-allocation laws in the 20th-century American West.
3.000 Credit HoursAMST 30323 - American Legal History
This seminar style course deals with the interaction between the legal system and social change in the United States from the 1600s to the 1980s. Primary emphasis is given to the 19th century and 20th century, two periods where American legal culture took on much of its fundamental character and adjusted to significant social change. Main themes include the relationships between law and development; individual rights in the public and private spheres; the development of the legal profession; the post-New Deal state; and the various US "rights" movements. Reading consists of primary sources documents and a short survey text. Grades will be based on a series of short papers and classroom discussion. Prior knowledge of American history is helpful but not required.
3.000 Credit HoursAMST 30330 - Morality and Social Change in US History
How do we explain sweeping moral changes in society? Why did so many people support legal slavery for so long, and what motivated others to turn against it? What is the relationship between social change and moral theory? The purpose of this class is to examine the moral frameworks that Americans have used to understand -- and to change -- their society. We will focus on hotly debated issues in American history, looking at the way that Americans thought about issues such as slavery, animal cruelty, sex, family roles, labor, economics, war and citizenship, and civil rights. We will look at both sides of debates to understand the values and beliefs that shaped traditions of social change and resistance to that change.
3.000 Credit HoursAMST 30406 - Introduction to Public Policy
The objective of this course is to introduce students to the process of public policy formation in American politics. The course will be divided into three parts. The first section will encompass a brief review of some of the more important mechanisms of American politics that affect the legislative process (political participation, interest groups, congressional elections, etc.). We will then engage in a general review of how such factors have affected the direction and tone of federal public policy over the past 30 years. The final two sections of the course will be devoted to detailed analysis of two public policy areas of particular interest to younger voters: education reform and drug laws. Building on the earlier readings and the analytical tools developed, we will examine the current debates and prospects for reform in these policy areas, with an eye toward understanding the political realities of public policy formation.
3.000 Credit HoursAMST 30414 - Religion and Politics
Voters hear increasing amounts of religious discourse in American political campaigns and administrations are turning to religious institutions for social service delivery. The linkages between religion and politics, however, are very complex and constitutionally delicate. This course utilizes a burgeoning body of empirical studies, drawn from political science, sociology, and psychology, that address relationships among religious beliefs and organizations on the one hand, and political attitudes and actions, on the other. Topics include the meaning and measurement of religiosity; linkages between religion and politics at the level of the individual, the local community of faith, and the policy maker; foundational beliefs, images of God, conceptions of human nature, and their consequences for the political order; religious values embedded in the American political system; religion and the state, as seen in selected court cases; and denominational bodies, interest groups, and religious movements in American politics. Students will be responsible for one or two exams, oral presentations, and an original research paper. Depending on class size, either a lecture-discussion or a seminar-tutorial mode of teaching will be used. Students will read books by Wald, Benson and Williams, and several other authors, and may do directed research on NES or GSS datasets. (Also open to graduate students.)
3.000 Credit HoursAMST 30417 - American Political Thought
This course examines the ideas that form the foundations of American politics. We will read the Declaration of Independence, selected Federalist and Anti-Federalist writings, Tocqueville's DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA, and the Lincoln-Douglas debates with the goal of exploring and assessing competing definitions of liberty, democracy, and human nature within the American tradition. Requirements include four short papers, class participation, and a final exam. This course assumes you are familiar with the structure of American government and the basic history of the period. If you have background in political theory, you should find it useful.
3.000 Credit HoursAMST 30418 - Introduction to Public Policy
The objective of this course is to introduce students to the process of public policy formation in American politics. The course will be divided into three parts. The first section will encompass a brief review of some of the more important mechanisms of American politics that impact on the legislative process (i.e., political participation, interest groups, congressional elections, etc.). We will then engage in a general review how such factors have impacted the direction and tone of federal public policy over the last 30 years. The final two sections of the course will be devoted to detailed analysis of two public policy areas of particular interest to younger voters, education reform and drug laws. Building on the earlier readings and the analytical tools developed, we will examine the current debates and prospects for reform in these policy areas, with an eye towards understanding the political realities of public policy formation.
3.000 Credit HoursAMST 30501 - Social Movements
How is social change possible? This is one of the central questions for the study of social movements, as well as the organizing theme of this course. In this course we will consider the ways in which difference sociological theories of social movements have asked and answered this question, paying particular attention to theories of identity, emotion, and networks.
3.000 Credit HoursAMST 30502 - Catholicism in Contemporary America
This course offers a sociological overview of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States since World War II. Recent trends will be examined at the societal, organization, and individual levels of analysis. Topics include: the involvement of the Church in public life, the causes and consequences of the priest shortage, and increasing individualism and personalism among lay Catholics.
3.000 Credit HoursAMST 30504 - Poverty, Inequality, and Social Stratification
Social inequality is a prominent and persistent feature of modern society. Social stratification theory attempts to explain the causes of inequality and the reasons for its persistence. This course will address such questions as: Why are some people rich and some people poor? Why does inequality persist? Who gets ahead? Can men and women get the same jobs? Do different races have the same opportunities? Is inequality necessary? Potential topics include inner-city and rural poverty, welfare dependency, homelessness, status attainment and occupational mobility, racial and ethnic stratification, gender stratification, and class theory.
3.000 Credit HoursAMST 30602 - American Social Movements
This interdisciplinary survey of civil rights and social protest movements in the United States examines suffrage inclusion, abolitionism and black civil rights movements, labor organizing, and women's rights in the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as several contemporary protest movements. These movements certainly question selected American ideologies, but they also draw on American values and practices. We will use history, film, fiction, journalism, and autobiographies to trace a tradition of protest that both depends on and offers challenges to a democratic society.
3.000 Credit HoursAMST 34103 - American Political Journalism
An overview of and an introduction to the different facets of American political journalism. Although we will look at local and state politics and their relationship to the news media, our principle focus will be on national concerns, including the coverage of the presidency and Congress. Some of the sessions will include presentations by journalists and visits to news institutions in Washington. The deputy national editor of the WASHINGTON POST teaches this class.
3.000 Credit HoursAMST 40108 - Media Criticism
This course will explore the work of such seminal American media critics as A.J. Liebling and Walter Lippmann, as well as the plethora of contemporary critics in newspapers, magazines, television, and Web publications. It will examine the philosophical principles against which journalism in the American democracy ought to be measured. It also will explore the phenomenon of the ombudsman, or reader representative, in modern American media, with a particular focus on whether ombudsmen have been able to build or buttress the credibility of news organizations. And it will challenge students to write on a regular basis their own media criticism.
3.000 Credit HoursAMST 40300 - American Thought, Belief, and Values since 1865
A study of Americans' most characteristic American intellectual, moral, and religious beliefs, especially as expressed by leading thinkers, and of why these beliefs have flourished in the American cultural setting. Topics will include questions such as the competing authorities of faith and science, the search for truth in a pluralistic society, professional and popular philosophies including pragmatism and post-modernism, moral authority in democratic culture, social science and law, the relation of individuals to communities, the relation of American materialism to American beliefs, the outlooks of diverse sub-cultures, African-American outlooks, feminist perspectives, competing religious and secular faiths, and roles of various forms of Christianity and other religious beliefs in American life.
3.000 Credit HoursAMST 40304 - Labor Movements in Twentieth-Century US
This course explores American workers' collective efforts as workers in their search for economic security, political power, and social and cultural autonomy from the 1890s to the near present. For the most part, this course will focus on the unions and related organizations forged by workers throughout the past century-from major umbrella groups like the American Federation of Labor, the Industrial Workers of the World, and the Congress of Industrial Organizations, to important sectoral actors like the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the United Automobile Workers, the American Federation of Teachers, and the United Farm Workers. The central questions of the course will be: When, where, and why have US workers organized collectively in the 20th century? And how successful have they been? What has been the response of employers, the government, and the public at large to these collective efforts of workers, and how and why have those responses changed over time? What has been the relationship between organized labor and racial and gender discrimination, as well as the causes of racial and gender equality? And how have Americans generally, and workers in particular, understood the labor movement in relation to capitalism, freedom, and democracy? Students will be expected to write several short papers, engage in regular classroom discussion, and screen several films outside of class.
3.000 Credit HoursAMST 40306 - Catholicism in Twentieth-Century America
The course examines the patterns of Catholic intellectual life, religious culture, social engagement, and public presence in the United States throughout the 20th century. Themes receiving special attention in the lectures and class discussions will include the US Catholic response to the theory of evolution and to the social sciences, the rise and decline of Thomism as the philosophical framework of Catholic thought and education, Catholic participation in the labor movement and the Civil Rights Movement, the new theologies and social ethics of the '60s, the impact of the Second Vatican Council, shifting modes of public Catholicism, and the Catholic culture wars of the 1980s and 1990s.
3.000 Credit HoursAMST 40310 - Medicine in Modern History
An exploration of themes in European and American medicine. This course integrates the perspectives and issues of social history--Who were the medical practitioners? Who were their patients? What relations existed between these groups? How have the realities of illness and death figured in the lives of ordinary people in different places and times?--with the perspectives and issues of the history or medicine as a science--What understandings of the human body and its ills have practitioners had? What tools have they developed and used for intervening in illnesses? Topics include the humoral pathology, epidemics as social crises, the rise of pathological anatomy, the germ theory and public health, the transformation of the hospital, the history of nursing, changing modes of health care, finance and administration, and relations between "regular" doctors and sectarian medical traditions such as homeopathy and osteopathy.
3.000 Credit HoursAMST 40312 - Consumers and Culture in US History
This course will explore the emergence of modern consumer society in the United States. From the vantage point of the close of the 20th century, American culture seems to be defined by the conspicuous consumption of goods. It is important to remember, however, that phenomena like mass marketing, advertising, and mass distribution were not always so entrenched. A historical approach allows us to explore the changing relationship of Americans to consumer goods and the cultural transformation that went along with this change. The course is roughly chronological, with readings organized around a specific theme each week. The course will consist of both lectures and class discussions. Topics covered include the evolution of the American economy, advertising, retailing, gender and consumption, leisure, and consumer protest. There will be two short written assignments and one longer research paper.
3.000 Credit HoursAMST 40404 - First Amendment
This seminar offers an advanced exploration of Supreme Court jurisprudence involving freedom of speech and expression, freedom of the press, freedom of association, and freedom of religion and religious establishment. We examine the reasoning and assumptions behind these opinions, and we assess the foundations and implications of competing interpretations of cherished constitutional principles. We conclude by evaluating the effects of these decisions on American politics and American society. Requirements include midterm and final exams, a research paper, and active class participation. Enrollment is limited to students with previous course work in constitutional law or constitutional interpretation.
3.000 Credit HoursAMST 40405 - American Constitutional Law
The focus of this course is the Constitution as interpreted by the United States Supreme Court. It covers landmark constitutional cases in leading topical areas such as abortion, death penalty, freedom of speech, church-state relations, equal protection, and the war powers of president and congress. The main goals of the course are three: (1) To introduce students to the leading principles and policies of American constitutional law; (2) to acquaint them with the process of constitutional interpretation; and (3) to explore with them the role of the federal judiciary, and most particularly the Supreme Court, in the American political system.
3.000 Credit HoursAMST 40406 - Federalism and the Constitution
Beginning in 1995, the Rehnquist Court has sought to restore some of the immunities from federal power that the states had enjoyed prior to the late 1930s. These cases reflect the view that "federalism" is a fundamental feature of the American constitutional order, an institutional principle dear to the framers of the Constitution and integral to the values of "limited government" and "liberty." Critics of this view contend that the framers' first priority was a strong national government and that advances in personal and civil liberties in America historically have come at the expense of "states rights." This course asks what "federalism" is in the American context, whether "federalism" in any sense is a genuine constitutional principle, and if so, for what textual, historical, or moral reasons. The first part of the course will be concerned with questions of constitutional interpretation and the decisions of the Supreme Court in the principal areas of federal-state conflict: commerce clause, civil rights, and criminal justice. The second part of the course will turn to what statesmen and philosophers have said about our subject and related matters. In addition to around 30 Supreme Court cases, readings will include selections from The Federalist Papers and writings by Tocqueville, Calhoun, Lincoln, Martin Diamond, Herbert Storing, Charles Taylor, and John Rawls. Grades will be based on an objective exam covering the Supreme Court cases, optional oral reports in class, and a term paper. This course is available for graduate credit (as a reading course), with the instructor's approval.
3.000 Credit HoursAMST 40407 - Constitutional Interpretation
Americans have always debated Supreme Court opinions on specific constitutional questions involving the powers of government and the rights of individuals and minorities. The leading objective of this course is to familiarize students with the basic issues of constitutional interpretation and to show how they influence questions involving constitutional rights and powers and the scope of judicial review.
3.000 Credit HoursAMST 40412 - Schools and Democracy
Education sits high on the public policy agenda. We are living in an era of innovations in education policy, with heated discussion surrounding issues such as vouchers, charter schools, and the No Child Left Behind Act. This course introduces students to the arguments for and against these and other educational innovations, and does so through the lens of how schools affect the civic health of the nation. Often forgotten amidst debates over school choice and standardized testing is the fact that America's schools have a civic mandate to teach young people how to be engaged citizens. Students in this course will grapple with the civic implications of America's educational landscape, and have an opportunity to propose ways to improve the civic education provided to young people.
3.000 Credit HoursAMST 40501 - Theorizing Popular Culture
The first half of the course is designed to introduce a variety of theoretical perspectives to the students. We develop a historical overview of popular cultural theory and the several iterations it has taken, to include mass culture theory, Marxism, the Frankfurt Schools, Structuralism, Semiotics, Feminism, and Post-Modernism. During the first section of the course, students will be required to write a paper using one of the theories to analyze a popular culture phenomenon of the instructor's choice. The second half of the semester is devoted to a historical analysis of the social impact and meaning of rock'n'roll. I begin with a demonstration of African music, using recordings of early chants and celebratory music, and then give the class some example of known slave songs, indicating the presence, as early as 1750, of elements that eventually became R and B, then rock'n'roll. This course is not recommended for students who have taken SOC 34151, as the content will overlap.
3.000 Credit HoursAMST 40504 - Meaning and Materialism in Modern Life
In the 20th century, the twin problems of meaning and materialism have come to the forefront of modern civilization, forming the basis of variety of philosophies and social theories, animating revolutionary movements in art, looming as the silent specter behind mass society and its dramas of consumption. It is by no means clear that the massive technological advances and material gains in advanced industrial societies have contributed to a better way of life--many would say increased meaninglessness is the actual result.
3.000 Credit HoursAMST 40507 - Religion in Post-War America
This course surveys the major developments in religious life in the United States since the 1950s through an in-depth examination of several of the most important recent books on the subject, such as Wade Clark Roof's SPIRITUAL MARKETPLACE, Tom Beaudoin's VIRTUAL FAITH, Christian Smith's AMERICAN EVANGELICALISM, and Helen Berger's A COMMUNITY OF WITCHES. With these works as the backdrop, each student will research and write his or her family's religious history across three generations.
3.000 Credit HoursAMST 40600 - Film and Society
Students will contextualize the films via a reader packet drawing on articles from anthropology, film studies, basic film production, and culture theory. Course work will include research papers and the production of a short visual narrative piece representing students' conceptualizations of a theme.
3.000 Credit HoursAMST 43102 - Confronting Homelessness in American Culture and Society
The purpose of this seminar is to examine the conditions of extreme poverty and homelessness within the broader context of American culture and society. In order to confront the nature of these conditions, this seminar will draw upon insights from history, literature, documentary film and photography, and the social sciences. We will focus on the degree of permanence and change in our approach to both traditional and modern forms of the social problem. There will be an experiential component to the seminar as well.
3.000 Credit HoursAMST 43110 - Media Ethics
This course will examine the journalistic and ethical challenges that newsroom managers face as well as the issues that reporters in the field must tackle on a daily basis. Roughly half of the course will deal with case studies of ethical dilemmas and the other half will involve students in making choices for the front of the mythical newspaper. Although there will be readings from books on the topics, students will be expected to read The NEW YORK TIMES, THE SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE, and THE OBSERVER on a regular basis, especially on the class days when the front-page decisions will be made. The stories in those newspapers will provide the basis for those decisions. We will also consider how television deals with news on local and network levels.
3.000 Credit HoursAMST 43113 - Understanding Story: Conflict, Culture, Identity
During the last decade interest in narratives has increased dramatically. Feminist studies, cultural studies, and anthropology have broadened our appreciation for the role story plays not simply in personal psychology but also in constructing and mediating our social life. The purpose of this seminar-style course is to investigate the shape, purposes, and multiple meanings of narratives both in the lives of individuals and within institutions and cultures. In order to understand how story influences personal identity, contributes to or ameliorates conflict, constructs, deconstructs, and reconstructs history, and advances political agendas, we will examine how story is used by (1) journalists in reporting news as story; (2) medical professionals in collecting case histories; (3) ethnographers in describing unfamiliar cultural practices or investigating inter-group or inter-state conflict situations; (4) historians in interpreting the past; (5) political leaders in establishing public policy and political power; and (6) advertising and marketing interests.
3.000 Credit HoursAMST 43115 - Advanced Reporting
This is an advanced course in journalistic reporting and writing devoted to learning how to prepare, in a professional manner, in-depth articles on issues and events of community interest for Notre Dame and in this area. Emphasis will be on the techniques, ethics, and responsibilities of conducting interviews and research and crafting pieces for newspapers and other publications.
3.000 Credit HoursAMST 43119 - Building America: Architecture, Economics, Politics
A seminar designed to examine the social and economic factors, energy and land use policies, demographic urban/suburban trends, technological innovations, and artistic impulses that have produced the American built environment, 1640-1940. Comparing several building types-the private residence, the workplace, and the public building-the seminar will explore structures and spaces as material culture evidence of American domestic, real estate, political, and cultural history.
3.000 Credit HoursAMST 43120 - Leadership and Social Responsibility
This course examines leadership and empowerment issues from multidisciplinary perspectives, focusing on the role of the leader within organizations that promote service, social action, or other forms of social responsibility. Alternative models of leadership are explored, with attention to value and moral implications.
3.000 Credit HoursAMST 43128 - Limitless Desire: Literature and the Creation of Consumer Culture in America
This course traces the social changes which accompanied America's movement from early retailing to a full-blown consumer culture. Beginning with representations from the later part of the nineteenth century, particularly of the development of Chicago as a mail order capital of the world and moving into the present through an examination of television shopping networks, this course will use material from a variety of perspectives and disciplines to examine what became a wholesale transformation of American life. In attempting to trace the trajectory of change from a country often identified by its rural isolation to a country of relentless publicity, from the farm to Paris Hilton, (who returned to THE SIMPLE LIFE), we will look at a series of linkages each of which played a specific and contributory role in the cultural shift toward a fully saturated consumerism. for instance, the early mail order catalogue empires of Aaron Montgomery Ward and Richard Warren Sears depended on the capacity of the railroad and postal service to transport their goods from shopping catalogues to country kitchens, goods which went beyond kitchen utensils, clothes, ornaments and shoes to include assembly-ready homes. South Bend has several Sears and Roebuck homes and part of our class time will be spent in looking at these houses in the context of the course themes. All of our discussion will take place against the backdrop of a larger question about the democratization of desire, about whiter American culture became more or less democratic after the introduction of the mail order catalogue. Thus the linkage between the catalogue, the home shopping network, and the notion that freedom to desire goods is a measure of democratic freedom. Of course, the possibilities for manipulation and control are also limitless.
3.000 Credit HoursAnthropology
ANTH 20105 - Introduction to Human Ethology
This course explores the cultural and evolutionary origins of language, nonverbal communication, infant behavior, parenting, human aggression, sexual behavior, gender development, and human courtship rituals. Each subject is examined from a cross-species, cross-cultural, evolutionary, and developmental (including historical) perspective.
3.000 Credit HoursANTH 30003 - History of Medicine
An exploration of themes in European and American medicine. Topics include the humoral pathology, epidemics as social crises, the rise of pathological anatomy, the germ theory and public health, the transformation of the hospital, the history of nursing, changing modes of health care, finance and administration, and relations between "regular" doctors and sectarian medical traditions such as homeopathy and osteopathy.
3.000 Credit HoursANTH 30014 - Social Movements
How is social change possible? This is one of the central questions for the study of social movements, as well as the organizing theme of this course. In this course, we will consider the ways in which different sociological theories of social movements have asked and answered this question, playing particular attention to theories of identity, emotion, and networks.
3.000 Credit HoursANTH 30050 - Holy Fools in Christian Tradition
Through the analysis of a variety of texts ranging from the New Testament books to hagiographies and philosophical treatises, we will examine different forms of holy foolishness in spiritual and cultural traditions of Eastern and Western Christianity and establish their cultural bearings. Concepts under discussion will include asceticism, sanctity, heresy, canonization, and hagiography.
3.000 Credit HoursANTH 30072 - Religion and Social Life
How does social life influence religion? How does religion influence society? What is religion's social significance in a complex society like ours? Is religion's significance declining? This course will consider these and other questions by exploring the great variety in social expressions of religion. The course examines the social bases of churches, sects, and cults, and it focuses on contemporary religion in the United States.
3.000 Credit HoursANTH 30210 - Health, Healing, and Culture
After introducing the student to the discipline of medical anthropology, this course focuses on the interaction between disease and culture and on the characteristics and functions of diverse medical systems.
3.000 Credit HoursANTH 30254 - Cultural Aspects of Clinical Medicine
This course examines popular medical concepts and expectations patients bring with them to the clinical or hospital setting, as well as the attitudes, organization, and goals of the clinical medical care. Students divide their time between classroom and service as patient/family liaisons in an area emergency room. Student access to a car is necessary.
4.000 Credit HoursANTH 34751 - Archaeological Ethics and Law
This class explores the ethical, legal, and practical dimensions of modern archaeology through a consideration of the following topics: archaeology as a profession; archaeological ethics; the relationship between archaeology and others (the public, ethnic groups, avocational archaeologists, collectors, etc.); international and national approaches to archaeological heritage management; the antiquities market; maritime law, underwater archaeology, and treasure hunting; cultural resource management in the United States; and archaeological education. Guest lectures and visits to archaeological sites, national heritage sites, museums, and art and antiquities sale rooms are regular features.
3.000 Credit HoursANTH 40017 - Children-Poverty: Developmental Implication
Examines the impact of rising levels of child poverty and related concerns from the perspective of developmental and social psychology.
3.000 Credit HoursANTH 40020 - Child Development and Family Conflict
Current trends and findings pertaining to constructive and destructive conflict within families, and the effects of conflicts within families on children, will be considered. A focus will be on interrelations between family systems (marital, parent-child, and sibling), and methodologies for studying these questions.
3.000 Credit HoursANTH 40030 - Mental Health and Aging
This course provides an introduction to mental health issues relevant to an older population. Although the primary focus will be on psychopathology and potential therapeutic interventions, the course will also overview the positive aspects of functioning in later life (successful aging).
3.000 Credit HoursANTH 40031 - Psychology and Medicine
The course covers a range of topics dealing with health issues related to different stages of human development (childhood, adolescence, and adulthood), disabled populations, culture and gender, stress, physician-patient interactions, death and dying, professional ethics, and social policies relating to health care. The course is primarily intended for students intending to enter medical school.
3.000 Credit Hours
Course Attributes:
ANTH Approaches & Methods, ANTH Topics in Anthropology, Social Science - Univ. Req.ANTH 40065 - Religion in Post-War America
This course surveys the major developments in religious life in the United States since the 1950s through an in-depth examination of several of the most important recent books on the subject, such as: Wade Clark Roof's Spiritual Marketplace, Tom Beaudoin's VIRTUAL FAITH, Christian Smith's AMERICAN EvANGELICALISM, and Helen Berger's A COMMUNITY OF WITCHES.
3.000 Credit HoursANTH 40069 - Religion and Power in Latin America
The course will describe the changing condition of the Catholic Church in Latin America and the new situation of religious pluralism produced by the growing presence of evangelical groups and Pentecostalism. It will look at the impact of religion in the empowerment of people from below, and its relation to new social movements as well as to the institutionalization of power at the state level in the new context of globalization.
3.000 Credit HoursANTH 40079 - International Migration and Human Rights
A wide coverage of international migration experiences in the world with an emphasis on human rights. It starts with a historical approach to various immigration waves to the United States. It focuses on the current debate on the impact of the undocumented immigration from Mexico and Central America and the differences between Mexico and the United States' migration policies, and their social and economic implications.
3.000 Credit HoursANTH 40311 - Topics in Social/Cultural Anthropology
This course explores the latest developments in social-cultural anthropology including, but not limited to, nationalism and transnationalism; colonialism and post-colonialism; political-economy; gender; religion; ethnicity; language; and medicine and the body. Emphasis will be on social and cultural transformations in specific historical contexts.
3.000 Credit HoursANTH 45832 - Anthropology of War and Peace
This class will explore the human capacity for war and for peace. The course will explore the many forms of war, from tribal conflicts through guerrilla warfare to conventional and nuclear war. It will also study societies without war, the place of war and peace in human society, whether violence is inherent in human nature or learned, and what the future of war and peace is likely to be on our planet.
3.000 Credit HoursANTH 45833 - Global Crime and Corruption
This class will look at what constitutes the illegal today; who is engaged in crime and corruption; and what kinds of economic, political, and social powers they wield. It will also look at the societies and cultures of "out-laws."
3.000 Credit HoursANTH 47252 - Evolutionary Medicine
This course will reconceptualize a variety of human diseases, syndromes and disorders from the standpoint of evolution, in the modern cultural context. The evolution of infectious diseases, menopause, women's reproductive cancers, allergy, pediatric topics, breastfeeding, obstetrics, geriatric medicine, structural and genetic abnormalities, psychiatric disorders, psychological health, eating disorders, nutrition, obesity, myopia, emotional disorders, touch therapy and massage will be examined.
3.000 Credit HoursArt History
ARHI 20500 - Introduction to Art and Catholicism
This undergraduate lecture/discussion course will give students the opportunity to analyze and discuss the history of Catholic doctrine as it pertains to the visual arts. From the Council of Elvira in AD 306 to John Paul II's Letter to Artists of 1999, Catholicism has engaged with and debated the role of the arts as a legitimate vehicle for spiritual experience and theological knowledge. In this course, we will examine the changing, complex, and various ideas that have been brought to the question of the function of art in the Church. It will become clear that Catholic attitudes to the arts have been subject to a range of influences that have helped shape a still fluid and potential relationship between Catholicism and art. Among other topics we will examine the accommodation of traditional pagan practices in Late Antiquity; the impact of Byzantine and Carolingian theological discourse on the arts; Mendicant thought and practice regarding the arts; lay piety in the Later Middle Ages; issues raised by the Reformation; the Council of Trent, and the Counter-Reformation; the implications of Modernism; neo-Thomist aesthetics; and the aftermath of Vatican II. In all instances, the course will be shaped by the discussions of primary readings (in translation when necessary) that will set these texts in a context that is social, intellectual, theological, and cultural. Each reading will then lead to an examination of the artistic environment that preceded and succeeded the ideas shaped by these texts. It is expected that students will leave this course with a rich knowledge of the central ideas and works of art that have come to shape the continuing dialogue between Catholicism and art.
3.000 Credit HoursARHI 30202 - The Contest of Word and Image in Early Medieval Art
This course will introduce students to the architecture of the Middle Ages (ca. 300-1400). This introductory course will begin with early Christian architecture and culminates in the great Gothic Cathedrals of northern Europe. Students will not only be invited to consider the development of the architectural forms of the church building, but will also be able to consider the degree to which the changing nature of the church building reflects broader issues in the history of Christianity in the Middle Ages.
3.000 Credit HoursARHI 30210 - The Formation of Christian Art
Art in late antiquity has traditionally been characterized as an art in decline, but this judgment is relative, relying on standards formulated for art of other periods. Challenging this assumption, we will examine the distinct and powerful transformations within the visual culture of the period between the third and the eighth centuries AD. This period witnesses the mutation of the institutions of the Roman Empire into those of the Christian Byzantine Empire. The fundamental change in religious identity that was the basis for this development had a direct impact upon the visual material that survives from this period, such that the eighth century witnesses extensive and elaborate debates about the status and value of religious art in Jewish, Moslem, Byzantine, and Carolingian society. This course will examine the underlying conditions that made images so central to cultural identity at this period.
3.000 Credit HoursARHI 30213 - Art into History: Byzantine
Byzantine art has often been opposed to the traditions of Western naturalism, and as such has been an undervalued or little known adjunct to the story of Medieval art. In order to develop a more sophisticated understanding of this material, we will examine the art produced in Byzantium in the period from the ninth to the 12th century, a period that marks the high point of Byzantine artistic production and influence. Stress will be places upon the function of this art within the broader setting of this society. Art theory, the notions of empire and holiness, the burdens of the past, and the realities of contemporary praxis will be brought to bear upon our various analyses of material from all media. How we, as art historians can write the history of this rich culture will be a central issue in this course.
3.000 Credit HoursARHI 30340 - Survey of Baroque Art
This course will examine the art of Europe during the 17th century. The first third of the semester will be devoted to the work of Counter-Reformation Italy and the work of individual artists such as Caravaggio and Gian Lorenzo Bernini. The second third of the term will focus on Spanish painting, particularly the work of Francisco Zurbaran and Diego Velazquez. The final section of the course will consider painting in the Low Countries looking at the art of Rubens, Rembrandt, Vermeer, and others. Among the issues that will be addressed are art and spirituality, shifting modes of patronage, art and politics, and definitions of gender.
3.000 Credit HoursARHI 30350 - Survey of Italian Baroque Art: From Caravaggio to Tiepolo
This course surveys Italian painting, sculpture, and architecture of the 17th and 18th centuries, a period that also witnessed the foundation and suppression of the Jesuit Order, the Counter-Reformation, absolute monarchy, and democratic nations. Thus, the course begins with the "new Rome" of Pope Sixtus V, which attracted pilgrims and artists from all over Europe, and ends with the early years of Enlightenment. From Northern Italy came Caravaggio and the Carracci, artists who were responsible for creating a new style based upon High Renaissance principles and a new kind of naturalism derived from the study of life. There was Bernini, whose architectural and sculptural monuments almost single-handedly gave Rome its Baroque character. Other artists and architects of this era under discussion include such diverse personalities as Borromini, Guarini, Algardi, Artemisia Gentileschi, and the great ceiling painters Pietro da Cortona, Baciccio, Pozzo, and Tiepolo.
3.000 Credit HoursARHI 30501 - Modeling Sanctity: The Saint in Image and Text
In this course, we will examine the lives and legacy of selected saints with a view to defining the ideal qualities and criteria by which sainthood is made known. Incorporating visual as well as textual materials, hagiographies, theological writings, and written testimonies, the course will consider the varieties of evidence that testify to sanctity. An important part of this course will be a discussion of how different kinds of evidence must be evaluated according to their medium and audience: for example, how visual portrayals--whether portrait, narrative cycle, or manuscript representations--can be compared to written ones, and differentiated from textual sources not only in iconographic terms but also as unique and forceful forms of knowledge in their own right.
3.000 Credit HoursARHI 30540 - Rome: A Journey in Art and History
This class is an exploration of the history and culture of Rome from late medieval times through the 20th century, with an emphasis on art and architecture. We will examine the urban panorama of the Eternal City through a series of layered investigations of its major sites and monuments, such as the Capitoline Hill, St. Peter's and the Vatican complex, the Lateran, and Santa Maria Maggiore. We will read travelers' descriptions and literary evocations of the city with a view to reliving the enchantment of Rome, and the "idea" of Rome, through the ages. In addition to our readings and lectures, members of the class will have an opportunity to develop projects on objects, structures, or works of art of their own choosing.
3.000 Credit HoursARHI 34502 - Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Art
The art and archaeology of the three cultures that determined the national character of Spain today are studied in and around Toledo.
3.000 Credit HoursARHI 34523 - Archaeological Ethics and Law
This class explores the ethical, legal, and practical dimensions of modern archaeology through a consideration of the following topics: archaeology as a profession; archaeological ethics; the relationship between archaeology and others (the public, ethnic groups, avocational archaeologists, collectors, etc.); international and national approaches to archaeological heritage management; the antiquities market; maritime law, underwater archaeology, and treasure hunting; cultural resource management in the United States; and archaeological education. Guest lectures and visits to archaeological sites, national heritage sites, museums, and art and antiquities sale rooms are regular features.
3.000 Credit HoursARHI 40210 - Late Antique and Early Christian Art
Art in late antiquity has traditionally been characterized as an art in decline, but this judgment is relative, relying on standards formulated for art of other periods. Challenging this assumption, we will examine the distinct and powerful transformations within the visual culture of the period between the third and the eighth centuries AD This period witnesses the mutation of the institutions of the Roman Empire into those of the Christian Byzantine Empire. The fundamental change in religious identity that was the basis for this development had a direct impact upon the visual material that survives from this period, such that the eighth century witnesses extensive and elaborate debates about the status and value of religious art in Jewish, Moslem, Byzantine, and Carolingian society. This course will examine the underlying conditions that made images so central to cultural identity at this period.
3.000 Credit HoursARHI 40212 - Byzantine Art
Open to all students. Byzantine art has often been opposed to the traditions of Western naturalism, and as such has been an undervalued or little known adjunct to the story of medieval art. In order to develop a more sophisticated understanding of this material we will examine the art produced in Byzantium in the period from the ninth to the twelfth century, a period which marks the high point of Byzantine artistic production and influence. Stress will be placed upon the function of this art within the broader setting of this society. Art theory, the notions of empire and holiness, the burdens of the past and the realities of contemporary praxis will be brought to bear upon our various analyses of material from all media. How we, as art historians, can write the history of this rich culture will be a central issue of this course.
3.000 Credit HoursARHI 40220 - Early Medieval Art
This course will investigate the art produced in Western Europe between the seventh and 11th centuries. Often characterized as a Dark Age, this period in fact demonstrates a fertile, fluid, and inventive response to the legacy of Late Antique Christianity. The course will focus on the production and reception of illuminated manuscripts, using facsimiles of these works as a basis for teaching. Students will become familiar with art-historical methods for the examination of such works, and will be invited to contemplate the interplay of word and image that these books propose. Categories of material discussed include: Insular art, the Carolingian scriptoria, Ottonian imperial image making, Anglo Saxon art, Spanish Apocalypses, and Italian Exultets.
3.000 Credit HoursARHI 40311 - Fifteenth-Century Italian Art
Open to all students. This course investigates the century most fully identified with the Early Renaissance in Italy. Individual works by artists such as Brunelleschi, Donatello, Ghiberti, Botticelli, and Alberti are set into their social, political, and religious context. Special attention is paid to topics such as the origins of art theory, art and audience, Medician patronage, and art for the Renaissance courts of northern Italy and Naples.
3.000 Credit HoursARHI 40312 - Venetian and Northern Italian Renaissance Art
This course focuses on significant artistic developments of the 16th century in Venice with brief excursions to Lombardy and Piedmont. Giorgione, Titian, and Palladio, the formulators of the High Renaissance style in Venice, and subsequent artists such as Tintoretto and Veronese are examined. An investigation of the art produced in important provincial and urban centers such as Brescia, Cremona, Milan, Parma, Varallo, and Vercilli also provide insight into the traditions of the local schools and their patronage.
3.000 Credit HoursARHI 40580 - History of Design: Form, Values, and Technology
This course will provide a historical perspective on the development of industrial, product, and graphic design in the 19th and 20th centuries. More than the aesthetic styling of products, design mediates the intersection of technology and cultural values in the modern era. The role of the modern designer as both a facilitator and a critic of industrial technology will be examined.
3.000 Credit HoursCatholic Social Tradition
CST 20209 - Political Theology
In this course we will examine the major themes of the relationship between Christianity and politics by way of the careful examination of major works of political philosophy and political theology, from the Bible and Plato to early American political thought and beyond (including: Aristophanes, Augustine, Aquinas, Dante, Marsilius of Padua, Luther, Calvin, Machiavelli, Spinoza, Locke, Madison, Jefferson, Tocqueville, Hegel, and Nietzsche). Major themes include: reason and revelation, the idea of a Christian polity and Christian citizenship (i.e., City of God vs. City of Man); rights, duties, original sin, limitations of government, rebellion, revolution, virtues, humility, magnanimity, friendship, family, prudence, power, justice, war, religion, toleration, truth, theocracy, democracy, liberalism, civil religion, and liberty, among others.
3.000 Credit HoursCST 20259 - From Rome to Wall Street: The Church and Economic Life
The primary purpose of this course is to develop a critical understanding, via engagement with key texts and writings in the Christian tradition, of theological interpretations of the relationship between the church and the economic order. Texts from the Roman Catholic social tradition to be studied include RERUM NOVARUM and ECONOMIC JUSTICE FOR ALL (the US Bishops' Letter on the US Economy). Broad theological and ethical questions to be considered include: How have fundamental Christian understandings of Creation--including teachings regarding human dignity and stewardship--shaped theological interpretations of the relationship between Church and economy? What is the appropriate role of the church and individual Christians in the economic order? Is economic justice a proper concern for the church? If so, how ought the church and individual Christians work to achieve economic justice? Particular questions include attention to the tension between the ideal of poverty and the acquisition of property by the church and its members and the role of women in economic life. Course requirements include significant participation in class discussion and group work, a community-based learning project, a mid-semester paper, and a final exam. The instructor will work with gender studies and Catholic social tradition students to enhance the gender and CST content of the course through discussion and written assignments.
3.000 Credit HoursCST 20302 - War, Law, and Ethics
This course is designed to explore the ethical and legal considerations related to war and the use of force. Beginning with a historical overview of Christian thinking on war and peace, we will develop an account of various ethical positions on the use of force, including views rooted in the just war tradition and in pacifism. We will also consider the ethical implications of contemporary issues related to the use of force, e.g., sanctions, war crimes, humanitarian intervention, and terrorism. In collaboration with the Center for Social Concerns and La Casa de Amistad, students will have the opportunity to engage in service learning by working with students from Washington High School to collect stories from local war veterans as part of the Library of Congress, "Veterans History Project."
3.000 Credit HoursCST 20303 - Catholic Radicalism
This course will examine the tradition of Catholic radicalism, including the thought of Paul Hanley Murphy, Dorothy Day, Peter Maurin, and others.
3.000 Credit HoursCST 20304 - Vocation and Leadership in Catholic School Tradition
This course will invite students to consider the meaning of vocation in relation to the social mission of the church. Beginning with a theological understanding of the significance of vocation and charisms, this course will provide a narrative-based exploration of the vocational journey of prominent figures in the Catholic social tradition such as Francis of Assisi, Dorothy Day, Cesar Chavez, and Oscar Romero. The emergent understanding of vocation will be held in conversation with the witness given by leaders from other religious traditions, e.g., Badshah Khan, Gandhi, and Thich Nhat Hanh. Using the method of service-learning, this course will invite students to develop an awareness of their social justice commitments in light of their own sense of vocation. PERMISSION IS REQUIRED. More information about the course format is explained in the Learning Agreement and Application Form, available at the Center for Social Concerns.
3.000 Credit HoursCST 30308 - War, Peace and Conscience
The Catholic tradition affirms that there are two key traditions to responding to the question of peace and war: the just war tradition and pacifism. Engaging either of these traditions, however, requires the exercise of an informed conscience. This course examines the issue of the formation of conscience against the backdrop of the many questions that arise when a country goes to war.
1.000 Credit HoursCST 30309 - Migration and Catholicism
This course examines the international phenomenon of migration, the factors that give rise to it, and its effects on people. We will examine the Catholic documents that address the issue of migration.
1.000 Credit HoursCST 33001 - Catholic Social Teaching
This seminar will introduce students to the key texts that make up Catholic social teaching. Students will read one document each week and ask how the document's ideas relate to our own present lives and planned futures. The course concludes with asking what would our anticipated professional vocations look like if informed by Catholic social teaching. For instance, what would a law firm or health clinic look like if they were formed by ideas such as the common good and the option for the poor.
3.000 Credit HoursCST 33100 - Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker Movement
This course examines the life and writings of Dorothy Day, the co-founder and spiritual guide of the Catholic Worker Movement. The course is seminar in style. Readings will include Day's autobiography, THE LONG LONELINESS, and selections from her other writings.
1.000 Credit HoursCenter for Social Concerns
CSC 20629 - War, Law, and Ethics
This course is designed to explore the ethical and legal considerations related to war and the use of force. Beginning with a historical overview of Christian thinking on war and peace, we will develop an account of various ethical positions on the use of force, including views rooted in the just war tradition and in pacifism. We will also consider the ethical implications of contemporary issues related to the use of force, e.g., sanctions, war crimes, humanitarian intervention, and terrorism. In collaboration with the Center for Social Concerns and La Casa de Amistad, students will have the opportunity to engage in service-learning by working with students from Washington High School to collect stories from local war veterans as part of the Library of Congress, "Veterans History Project."
3.000 Credit HoursCSC 23090 - Social Concerns Seminar: Children and Poverty
This seminar focuses on concerns that affect the youth of our nation, especially poverty and violence, and examines efforts to foster positive youth development. Immersion in New York City. Participants read Catholic social teaching focused on youth/family issues.
1.000 Credit HoursCSC 33952 - Social Concerns Seminar: Contemporary Issues
This seminar allows students to participate in an experiential opportunity designed to examine contemporary social problems. Emphasis will be placed on understanding issues/conflicts from the perspective of the various participants. Preparation and follow-up sessions are tailored to the specific opportunity.
1.000 Credit HoursCSC 33953 - Social Concerns Seminar: Contemporary Issues
This seminar allows students to participate in an experiential opportunity designed to examine contemporary social problems. Emphasis will be placed on understanding issues/conflicts from the perspective of the various participants. Preparation and follow-up sessions are tailored to the specific opportunity.
1.000 Credit HoursCSC 33954 - Social Concerns Seminar: Leadership Issues
This course is open to student leaders of various campus organizations focused on community service and social action (e.g., student groups affiliated with the Center for Social Concerns, social concerns commissioners of dorms, etc.). This seminar will examine leadership and empowerment issues from a multi-disciplinary perspective, focusing on the role of the leader within organizations promoting community service, social awareness, and action for justice and peace. The course will provide students with an opportunity to examine and develop their personal leadership styles and potentials through a variety of experientially based learning experiences.
1.000 Credit HoursCSC 33961 - Social Concerns Seminar: Discernment
This seminar focuses on senior students discerning and envisioning the integration of faith/theology and social concerns into their lives beyond Notre Dame. The objective is to provide students the opportunity to integrate their experience with the insights of speakers and authors, emphasizing the Catholic Social Tradition, in written and oral expression. The seminar will meet for six Wednesdays from 5:00-7:00 p.m. at the Center for Social Concern.
1.000 Credit HoursCSC 33962 - Social Concerns Seminar: Gospel of Life
The Gospel of Life Seminar provides opportunities to read, reflect and be of service on a variety of life issues through service and experiential learning. Exploration begins in orientation classes where students will become familiar with the issues through reading Church documents such as THE GOSPEL OF LIFE and through meeting people of the South Bend and Notre Dame communities that work on pro-life issues. During the week of service and experiential learning in Washington D.C. over Fall break, the seminar participants will learn from Church and government leaders, various agencies, and individuals. The follow-up classes facilitate analysis and synthesis of insights gained during the week in Washington, D.C.
1.000 Credit HoursCSC 43705 - Addiction, Science, and Values
Students will be introduced to topics in the ethics of care for the indigent; to alternative therapies for recovery and maintenance; and to current brain models of addiction. They will be placed as volunteers (for 14 weeks) with institutions serving indigent recovering addicts in St. Joseph and Elkhart counties.
3.000 Credit HoursCSC 45836 - Applied Anthropology: Immigrant Labor Rights
In conjunction with local organizations and social science researchers, students will work within Elkhart, collecting ethnographic data from immigrant community members. They will also learn how to apply the data they have collected to models for serving the community to find ways to better serve the local community and meet its needs.
4.000 Credit HoursClassics
CLAS 30225 - Romans and Christians
The early development of the Christian religion in its historical Roman context. The course surveys the political, social, and administrative structures of the Roman Empire, examines the complexity of Rome's religious life, and analyzes the rise of the Jesus movement and Rome's reaction to it. Particular topics studied include pagan and Christian magic and miracle-working, the sectarian and subversive character of early Christianity, martyrdom and persecution, and Constantine's emergence as Rome's first Christian emperor.
3.000 Credit HoursComputer Applications
CAPP 40120 - Computer Ethics and Public Policy (STV)
The profound impact computer technology has on society is difficult to overstate: it has changed the nature of our interactions in the social, economic, and political realms, and will continue to do so. These changes often raise important ethical questions about personal and professional responsibility, intellectual property, personal privacy, crime, and security. They also raise questions about the changing relationships between individuals and institutions (i.e., private sector corporations and public sector agencies). This course examines these trends and changing relationships, and the ethical issues that are faced by computer professionals, policy makers, and computer users in trying to grapple with them.
3.000 Credit HoursCAPP 40130 - Ethics Practicum
This course is for students who have difficulty fitting the 471 Computer Ethics or 475 Current Trends course into their schedules. This one-credit-hour self-directed readings course requires that students read material and write a 15-to-20-page paper dealing with an agreed-upon topic that deals with ethics in technology use.
1.000 Credit HoursCAPP 40135 - Ethics Practicum
This course is for students who have difficulty fitting the 471 Computer Ethics or 475 Current Trends course into their schedules. This one-credit-hour self-directed readings course requires that students read material and write a 15-to-20-page paper dealing with an agreed-upon topic that deals with ethics in technology use.
1.000 Credit HoursCAPP 40140 - Computer Ethics
The course concentrates on the theory and practice of computer ethics. To facilitate this study, students will first learn several UNIX utilities and such Internet applications as e-mail and listserv. Methodologies used in the course include in-class case analysis, in-class discussions, and examinations.
3.000 Credit HoursCAPP 40150 - Current Trends
The Current Trends course allows the students to think about and discuss issues openly that pertain to computer ethics, business ethics, and some social ethical issues. We start out by having an understanding of the distinction between the terms Moral and Ethical. The class works through the generally accepted theories for resolving moral and ethical conflicts. These are egoism, natural law, utilitarianism, and respect for persons. We also discuss the reasons businesses exist and what they think their responsibility toward society is now and how it might change in the future. The students also debate several business ethical issues. In the area of information technology, there is discussion about what the student sees as right or wrong,ethical or not ethical in the many issues of discussion that are presented. Restriction: CAPP Seniors only
3.000 Credit HoursCAPP 40210 - The Internet and Society
This course will spend the semester studying the impact the World Wide Web has had on several key areas of our society, including communications, commerce, marketing, productivity, education, collaboration, and our sense of community. Through a combination of discussion, group presentation, guest lectures, and out of class research, students will be exposed to some of the profound effects this medium has had on our culture. In spite of the bursting of the dot come bubble, the Web has left all of the above mentioned areas substantially changed, many for the long term. The positive and negative forces brought on by this technology must be recognized, studied, and dealt with if we are to truly embrace the momentous opportunities brought about by the World Wide Web.
3.000 Credit HoursCAPP 40230 - Technology, Privacy, and Civil Liberties
This seminar will examine the many ways in that technology has had (and is having) an impact on civil liberties in the United States. It will also explore how technology affects privacy in the United States and other countries. We will explore various technologies and applications, such as information technology, genetic profiling, radio-frequency identification tags, data mining, thermal imaging, and bio-behavioral technologies (e.g., "functional MRI" of the brain). The course will also examine exactly what we mean by "civil liberties," by focusing on the U.S. Constitution and Supreme Court case law. We will also examine U.S. law and European Union directives on privacy, to compare and contrast the approaches each takes to protecting personal privacy vis a vis information technologies, in particular. The course will rely on the Constitution, case law, texts, and newspapers and magazines as its core reading material. Students will be evaluated on the basis of short written assignments, a midterm exam, participation in a "mock trial" or other major role-playing activity, and a research paper.
3.000 Credit HoursCAPP 40240 - Private/Public/Internet
This course is about the political and social implications of the Internet revolution. We will focus on the tension between private freedoms the Net avails and the broader public good it may serve. We will consider topics as wide ranging as the digital divide, counterterrorism, public morality, and political interest. In addition, the Net will serve as an important medium for both class exchanges and research. Because teams of students will design their own WWW pages, it would be nice if some students have Web design skills (but this is NOT a requirement).
3.000 Credit HoursEconomics
ECON 20502 - Poverty and the Bishop's Pastoral Letter
This class is designed to rewrite the poverty section of Chapter 3 in the Bishops' 1986 letter, "Economic Justice for All." There will be hearings with groups of economists, theologians, community activists, et al. The idea is to simulate the process the bishops went through in writing the original document and to update the material in light of changes in the economy over the past 19 years. Each student will prepare a paper (8-10pp.) that rewrites the poverty section.
1.000 Credit HoursECON 30240 - Economics of War and Peace
This course examines the consequences of wars, including international wars, civil wars and terrorism. It also examines approaches to peace building and post-war resconstruction. While it focuses mainly on economic factors at work and makes us use the tools of economic analysis, it adopts a broader political economy framework.
3.000 Credit HoursECON 30260 - Political Economy of Development
This course surveys broad-ranging developmental problems in the Third World from a political-economy perspective, focusing in particular on the currently debated policy issues along with the basic analytical frameworks useful for the understanding of these issues. Although the subject matters largely concern the economic aspects of development, the approach taken for this course is interdisciplinary, involving, inter alia, an ethical and normative dimension.
3.000 Credit HoursECON 30400 - Labor Economics
A survey course covering the economics of employment and unemployment; wages and income distribution; poverty, education and discrimination; unions and labor and industrial relations systems; and comparative labor systems.
3.000 Credit HoursECON 30500 - Economics of Poverty
An examination of the extent and causes of poverty in the United States. The current system of government programs to combat poverty is analyzed. Reforms of this system are also considered.
3.000 Credit HoursECON 30520 - Economics of Education
This course reviews economic literature addressing current educational issues in America, including the adequacy of our K-12 public school system, the effectiveness of maker-based reforms (vouchers and public schools) and administered forms of accountability (standardized testing). We also examine the rate of return of additional years of education (how much education should individuals undertake?), access to higher education, financial aid systems, and option to offset the rising cost of higher education.
3.000 Credit HoursECON 30530 - Environmental Economics
An analysis of the welfare economics of environmental problems, emphasizing market failures due to negative environmental externalities. Air, water, and land pollution are classic examples of these externalities, which occur when third parties bear costs resulting from the transactions of the two primary market participants. The theory and practice of environmental policy to promote efficiency at the US local, state, and federal levels and in other countries is explored. International problems such as transboundary pollution and global warming are also studied.
3.000 Credit HoursECON 30800 - Development Economics
The current problems of Third World countries are analyzed in a historical context, with attention given to competing theoretical explanations and policy prescriptions. The course will combine the study of the experiences of Latin American, African, and Asian countries with the use of the analytical tools of economics.
3.000 Credit HoursECON 32510 - Addressing US Poverty at the Local Level
This course focuses on four arenas where poverty manifests itself: homelessness, education, healthcare, and jobs. Writing-intensive.
3.000 Credit HoursECON 33240 - Economics of War and Peace
This course examines the consequences of wars, including international wars, civil wars and terrorism. It also examines approaches to peace buidling and post-war resconstruction. While it focuses mainly on economic factors at work and makes us use the tools fo economic analysis, it adopts a broader political economy framework.
3.000 Credit HoursECON 33250 - Justice Seminar
An examination of major theories of justice, both ancient and modern. Readings include representatives of liberal theorists of right, such as John Rawls, as well as perfectionist alternatives. The course also serves as the core seminar for the philosophy, politics, and economics concentration.
3.000 Credit HoursECON 33400 - Labor Economics
A survey course covering the economics of employment and unemployment; wages and income distribution; poverty, education and discrimination; unions and labor and industrial relations systems; and comparative labor systems.
3.000 Credit HoursECON 33500 - Economics of Poverty
An examination of the extent and causes of poverty in the United States. The current system of government programs to combat poverty is analyzed. Reforms of this system are also considered.
3.000 Credit HoursECON 33520 - Economics of Education
This course reviews economic literature addressing current educational issues in America, including the adequacy of our K-12 public school system, the effectiveness of market-based reforms (vouchers and charter schools) and administered forms of accountability (standardized testing). We also examine the rate of return to additional years of education (how much education should individuals undertake?), access to higher education, financial aid systems, and options to offset the rising cost of higher education.
3.000 Credit HoursECON 40447 - Seminar in Health Care Policy
The first segment of the course demonstrates how economics can be applied to the analysis of the health care sector. The second part focuses upon the pending policy debate of how we as a society will provide for the health care needs of the elderly.
3.000 Credit Hours
Social Science - Univ. Req.ECON 43280 - Consumption and Happiness
We live in an age in which consumption in many parts of the globe has increased to unprecedented levels and continues to rise. Many people take it for granted that this increase in consumption is a good thing because it increases human happiness. But others are more skeptical, arguing that increasing consumption has adverse consequences on the poor, the environment, and future growth; that it results in moral deprivation; and that it does not even make those who consume more any happier. This course critically examines this debate, which relates to all of us as consumers, using the tools of economic analysis.-Writing intensive.
3.000 Credit HoursGovernment
ESS 20203 - Social Problems
Analysis of selected problems in American society such as crime, narcotic addiction, alcoholism, delinquency, racial and ethnic conflict, prostitution, and others. Discussions, debates, films, tapes, and readings. This is an education-general course.
3.000 Credit HoursESS 20204 - Marriage and the Family
Changing family patterns, sex roles, sexuality, premarital relationships, marriage and divorce, parenthood, childhood, and family interaction are some of the topics. Singles, dual-career families, alternative marriage forms,and the future of marriage and family are also taken up. This is an education-general course.
3.000 Credit HoursESS 20442 - Peacemaking: Gandhi/Heschel/King
An examination of the philosophy and spirituality of three of the greatest peace educators of the 20th-century, M. Gandhi, who introduced Satyagraha into the fight for Indian independence; A. Heschel, scholar of the prophets and chief rabbi of the `60s Civil Rights Movement; and M.L. King, conscience of a nation that still fails to understand how radical his message was. This is an education-general course.
3.000 Credit HoursESS 30206 - Sociology of Aging
With life expectancy increasing and birth rates declining, the populations of Western cultures have been rapidly aging. What are the implications of this aging process for social institutions (the family, economy, government) as well as for the individual well-being of the elderly? What does the future hold for those of us who will spend an increasing proportion of our lives past age 65? These and other questions are addressed in this course, which focuses on the social, economic, and personal challenges facing all of us in the latter half of the life cycle. The course will be divided into two roughly equal units: (1) the aging individual in social context, and (2) family relationships in later life. The first unit will cover such topics as images of aging, theoretical perspectives, social bonds of the elderly, caregiving for the oldest-old, work and leisure, finances and housing, mental and physical health, victimization, women and minorities, death and dying, and social policy. The second unit will focus on several familial units or situations, including marriage, single-hood, parents and their adult children, grandparenting, and sibling relations. Student performance will rely on a combination of the following activities: essay exams, research projects based on library work and/or fieldwork, and both general discussions and brief presentations made in class. This is an education-general course.
3.000 Credit HoursESS 30207 - Sociology of Education
This course focuses on the relationship between education and society. In the course, a variety of theoretical approaches and contemporary issues in the field of education will be discussed. Topics to be addressed include, but are not limited to, gender and race inequalities in education, the role of schools as agents of selection and socialization, and the nature of educational reform movements. Class participation and the experiences of students will be emphasized. This is an education-focused course.
3.000 Credit HoursESS 30208 - Poverty, Inequality, and Social Stratification
Social inequality is a prominent and persistent feature of modern society. Social stratification theory attempts to explain the causes of inequality and the reasons for its persistence. This course will address such questions as: Why are some people rich and some people poor? Why does inequality persist? Who gets ahead? Can men and women get the same jobs? Do different races have the same opportunities? Is inequality necessary? Potential topics include inner-city and rural poverty, welfare dependency, homelessness, status attainment and occupational mobility, racial and ethnic stratification, gender stratification and class theory. This is an education-general course.
3.000 Credit HoursESS 30471 - Schools and Democracy
Education sits high on the public policy agenda. We are living in an era of innovations in education policy, with heated discussion surrounding issues such as vouchers, charter schools, and the No Child Left Behind Act. This course introduces students to the arguments for and against these and other educational innovations, and does so through the lens of how schools affect the civic health of the nation. Often forgotten amidst debates over school choice and standardized testing is the fact that America's schools have a civic mandate to teach young people how to be engaged citizens. Students in this course will grapple with the civic implications of America's educational landscape, and have an opportunity to propose ways to improve the civic education provided to young people.
3.000 Credit HoursESS 30500 - Economics of Poverty
An examination of the extent and causes of poverty in the United States. The current system of government programs to combat poverty is analyzed. Reforms of this system are also considered. This is an education-general course.
3.000 Credit HoursESS 30501 - Addressing US Poverty at the Local Level
This course focuses on four arenas where poverty manifests itself: homelessness, education, healthcare, and jobs. This is an education-general course.
3.000 Credit HoursESS 30502 - Economics and Education
This course introduces students to the dynamics of the social and historical construction of race and ethnicity in American political life. The course explores the following core questions: What are race and ethnicity? What are the best ways to think about the impact of race and ethnicity on American citizens? What is the history of racial and ethnic formation in American political life? How do race and ethnicity link up with other identities animating political actions like gender and class? What roles do American political institutions--the Congress, presidency, judiciary, state and local governments, etc--play in constructing and maintaining these identity categories? Can these institutions ever be used to overcome the points of division in American society? This is an education-general course.
3.000 Credit HoursESS 33600 - Education, Schooling, and Society
The aim of the introductory course is to introduce some basic questions about the nature and goals of education, its history, and theoretical explanations of influences on learning, teaching, and schooling. We will incorporate both classic and current texts. The core course will incorporate several disciplinary perspectives.
3.000 Credit HoursESS 40213 - The Schooled Society
This seminar focuses on the structure and organization of schooling in American society, and the societal forces that influence decisions about schools and student learning. These forces include legislation governing schooling, and cultural and religious norms that impact schools. The course will cover the role of schools in society, the political, economic and social dimensions of schooling, education reform and its underpinnings, and the transformation of higher education. This is an education-focused course.
3.000 Credit HoursESS 40250 - Children and Poverty: Developmental Implications
Examines the impact of rising levels of child poverty and related concerns from the perspective of developmental and social psychology. This is an education-focused course.
3.000 Credit HoursESS 40255 - Moral Development and Character Education
We review research and theory on moral identity development and its implications for character development and education. Students will select an aspect of moral character to study, reporting on their findings and designing a research study. This is an education-focused course.
3.000 Credit HoursESS 40256 - Theories of Moral Development/Identity
Readings will cover diverse perspectiv
