Author: Jaclyn Chancey

POLS/WGSS 3247: Gender and War

Posted on by

War is studied in this course as a range of experiences with armed political violence in the international system. Men, women, and children experience war directly or indirectly through media representations of war, gender combat practices, the militarization of masculinity, terror wars and women suicide bombers, rape in war, use of child soldiers, refugee camps, and through the application of international laws governing gender relations in war and post-war situations. To illustrate these and other points we consider recent wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Nigeria (Boko Haram) as well as the Mexican drug war, cyberwar and prospects for nuclear war using a variety of resources including fiction, autobiography, and academic studies. Throughout the course, students work in groups on these wars and periodically present their research and updates to the class.

Note POLS 3247 is coded at the catalog level as “open to juniors or higher” but other Honors students may contact Prof. Sylvester for a permission number. In your email, confirm that you are a member of the Honors Program, provide your PeopleSoft number, and very briefly explain your interest in taking the course.

POLS/WGSS 3247: Gender and War

Posted on by

[UConn Storrs]

War is studied in this course as a range of gender-implicating experiences with armed political violence in the international system. People experience war directly or indirectly through media representations, military practices, militarized elements of civilian society, living in war zones and refugee camps, or contact with local militias, child soldiers, and militarized police. To illustrate these and other points we pull out gender elements of ongoing American wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as war-like actions in Nigeria (Boko Haram), the Mexican drug war, and possibilities of cyberwarfare using a variety of resources including fiction, memoir, and academic studies. Activities include class presentations, group discussions, and sessions with UConn people who have gender-related war experiences or relevant research to share.

Note POLS 3247 is coded at the catalog level as “open to juniors or higher” but other Honors students may contact Prof. Sylvester for a permission number. In your email, confirm that you are a member of the Honors Program, provide your PeopleSoft number, and very briefly explain your interest in taking the course.

POLS 3247: Gender and War

Posted on by

[UConn Storrs]

War is studied in this course as a range of gender-implicating experiences with armed political violence in the international system. People experience war directly or indirectly through media representations, military practices, militarized elements of civilian society, living in war zones and refugee camps, or contact with local militias, child soldiers, and militarized police. To illustrate these and other points we pull out gender elements of ongoing American wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as war-like actions in Nigeria (Boko Haram), the Mexican drug war, and possibilities of cyberwarfare using a variety of resources including fiction, memoir, and academic studies. Activities include class presentations, group discussions, and sessions with UConn people who have gender-related war experiences or relevant research to share.

Note POLS 3247 is coded at the catalog level as “open to juniors or higher” but other Honors students may contact Prof. Sylvester for a permission number. In your email, confirm that you are a member of the Honors Program, provide your PeopleSoft number, and very briefly explain your interest in taking the course.

POLS 2062W: Privacy in the Information Age

Posted on by

Requires ENGL 1010, 1011, or 2011.

Privacy is one of the most important concepts of our time, yet it is also one of the most puzzling. As technology makes information more accessible; academics, activists, policymakers, and citizens struggle to define (and redefine) the meaning of privacy. By providing a thematic overview of the topic of privacy from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, this course prepares Honors students for critical engagement with the many and diverse public policy, legal, and ethical debates that surround privacy.

The course focus will provide students with the opportunity to participate in weekly seminar discussions regarding the impact of technology on the ways in which privacy is conceptualized, valued, enacted, and protected.

Topics of analysis include, but are not limited to:

  • The history of privacy
  • Cultural variations of privacy
  • Philosophical definitions of privacy and debates about the moral/ethical status of privacy
  • Legal/constitutional interpretations of the right to privacy
  • The impact of technology on the meaning of privacy

POLS 2062: Privacy in the Information Age

Posted on by

[UConn Storrs]

Privacy is one of the most important concepts of our time, yet it is also one of the most puzzling. As technology makes information more accessible; academics, activists, policymakers, and citizens struggle to define (and redefine) the meaning of privacy. By providing a thematic overview of the topic of privacy from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, this course prepares Honors students for critical engagement with the many and diverse public policy, legal, and ethical debates that surround privacy.

The course focus will provide students with the opportunity to participate in weekly seminar discussions regarding the impact of technology on the ways in which privacy is conceptualized, valued, enacted, and protected.

Topics of analysis include, but are not limited to:

  • The history of privacy
  • Cultural variations of privacy
  • Philosophical definitions of privacy and debates about the moral/ethical status of privacy
  • Legal/constitutional interpretations of the right to privacy
  • The impact of technology on the meaning of privacy

PHIL 2410: Know Thyself

Posted on by

The Delphic Oracle is said to have had two premier injunctions: Nothing in excess, and Know thyself. This course will be an examination of the latter injunction. Our central questions fall into two categories. First, What is it? We shall inquire into just what self-knowledge is: Is it a form of inner perception, somewhat like proprioception, by virtue of which our minds (and hearts) have internal scanners of their own states? Or should we construe self-knowledge in a way not crucially relying on a perceptual model? In that case, what other model might we use? Second, Why is it such a big deal? We shall inquire into the question why self-knowledge should be thought so important. Just what, if anything, is missing from a person lacking in self-knowledge that makes her significantly less wise, virtuous, or able than others who have this capacity? Our exploration will take us into research in Western philosophy, psychoanalysis, current personality and social psychology, neuroscience, aesthetics, and Eastern, particularly Buddhist philosophy as well. In aid of these investigations we will become students of our own dreams, and cultivate some meditative practices. Course requirements are two papers, a midterm and final examination, and active participation in class discussion.

Trouble registering? This class has a catalog-level pre-requisite of PHIL 1101/1102/1103/1104/1105/1106/1107. We can override this pre-requisite. If you are an Honors student, you may register by emailing honors@uconn.edu and including (1) your name; (2) your 7-digit Student Admin number; (3) your registration “pick time”; (4) the course number and section (PHIL 2410-001); (5) the class number from Student Admin; and (6) confirmation that there are seats available in the course.

PHIL 2410: Know Thyself

Posted on by

Here are two platitudes about self-knowledge. First: it is easier to know things about yourself than to know things about others. If I want to learn about your likes and dislikes, your beliefs and commitments, your skills and shortcomings, then I might need to do some investigative work. If I want to learn about my own likes, beliefs, and commitments – well, it seems like that’s the kind of thing that I would just know! Second: knowing yourself is distinctively valuable. As we have learned from the self-help industry, it is important to ‘get to know the real you’, to try and ‘find yourself’, to undertake journeys of ‘personal discovery’. In this course, our aim will be to investigate both these platitudes. We will ask what self-knowledge is, how we get it, and why it matters. We will also consider the tension between these platitudes – since, on reflection, we might well wonder why self-knowledge would take on such importance if it really was so easy to come across. A significant portion of the course will therefore be spent looking at the personal and societal barriers to self-knowledge. Our approach to these questions will be mainly philosophical, but we will likely also draw upon resources from sociology and psychology.

Trouble registering? This class has a catalog-level pre-requisite of PHIL 1101/1102/1103/1104/1105/1106/1107. We can override this pre-requisite. If you are an Honors student, you may register by emailing honors@uconn.edu and including (1) your name; (2) your 7-digit Student Admin number; (3) your registration “pick time”; (4) the course number and section (PHIL 2410-001); (5) the class number from Student Admin; and (6) confirmation that there are seats available in the course.

PHIL 2410: Know Thyself

Posted on by

[UConn Storrs]

We normally take ourselves to be in a privileged position to tell what state of mind we are at any given moment – whether we feel tired, have a headache, want a cup of tea, are nervous about tonight’s date, or are thinking about tomorrow’s exam; and so on. This kind of basic self-knowledge seems effortless by comparison to the knowledge we have of others’ mental states. It also seems much easier by comparison to the ‘lofty’ self-knowledge we may aspire to achieve through deep self-examination, or therapy. In our own case, we don’t appear to have any need to consult evidence, observe our own behavior, or engage in interpretation or analysis. At the same time, basic self-knowledge seems more secure than knowledge of others’ minds. When you say how you feel or what you’re thinking, you seem to be both more certain and much less open to challenge or correction than when you pronounce on the mental states of others. But why is that?

The effortless yet secure character of basic self-knowledge seems especially puzzling if we embrace the contemporary scientific perspective on ourselves. According to that perspective, human minds are an integral part of the natural world, nothing more than brains and central nervous systems, which appears to imply that the commonsense idea that we have privileged knowledge of our own states of mind is due to some kind of an illusion. After all, we are not presumed to be in a special position to know things about chemical processes in our stomachs; why should we be in such a position with respect to neural processes in our brains? Our aim in this course will be to understand the character of basic self-knowledge and the source of its privileged status from both a philosophical and a scientific point of view. We will first consider philosophical problems associated with self-knowledge, and then examine some answers proposed by both philosophers and scientists, assessing their merits and weaknesses.

Note This class has a catalog-level pre-requisite of PHIL 1101/1102/1103/1104/1105/1106/1107. We can override this pre-requisite. If you are an Honors student, you may request enrollment by emailing honors@uconn.edu and including (1) your name; (2) your 7-digit Student Admin number; (3) your registration “pick time”; (4) the course number and section; (5) the class number from Student Admin; and (6) confirmation that there are seats available in the course.

MCB 2612: Honors Core: Microbe Hunters – Crowdsourcing Antibiotic Discovery

Posted on by

[UConn Storrs]

The purpose of this course is to provide underclassmen and non-science majors with an opportunity to undertake real-world scientific research in a fun, supportive, and immersive environment. As part of the Small World Initiative, you will join with college students around the globe to crowdsource antibiotic drug discovery. Your guided independent research projects will involve taking soil samples, isolating bacteria within them, and testing them for antibiotic activity, and there is the opportunity for further pursuit of any promising findings. We have access to the database generated by students at other Small World sites, allowing us to explore issues of biodiversity, effective use of large data sets in the sciences, and the effectiveness of crowdsourcing for scientific research. At the end of the semester, your results will join that database.

As part of the Honors Core, UConn’s Small World course adds an interdisciplinary emphasis on the social aspects of disease: its definition, what it means to be “diseased,” how those definitions have changed over time, and the pivotal role of antibiotics in the evolution of those definitions. We will use both fiction and non-fiction in this exploration, and we will end up in the modern era to consider antibiotic-resistant microorganisms and the ethical, philosophical, and policy issues we may face if antibiotics cease to be effective in treating many common diseases.

MCB 1405: Honors Core: The Genetics Revolution in Contemporary Culture

Posted on by

[UConn Storrs]

This course introduces students to genetics and genetic technologies. Various forms of popular culture—news clips, movies, books, and art—are used to provide a framework for the syllabus and to introduce students to different genetics and technology topics. A textbook introduces the scientific material, which is discussed in the context of the interpretation of science in modern society. Students study the scientific principles of genetics and genetic technology as well as the impact these topics have had on our culture, attitudes towards science, domestic and foreign policy, medical practice, and law.

Note This class is defined in the catalog as open to freshmen and sophomores in the Honors Program. If you are an Honors student who will have 54 or more credits when this course is offered, you may request help registering by emailing honors@uconn.edu and including (1) your name; (2) your 7-digit Student Admin number; (3) your registration “pick time”; (4) the course number and section (MCB 1405-001D or MCB 1405-002D); (5) the class number from Student Admin; and (6) confirmation that there are seats available in the course.