Curriculum Updates

PSYC 3770W-002: (Current Topics in Social Psychology) Psychology of the Arts

[UConn Storrs]

Instructor: Blair T. Johnson

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007, 1010, 1011, or 2011 and instructor consent. The catalog-level prerequisite of PSYC 2700 is recommended but will not be required.

Psychology of the arts is far more vast than any individual course can possibly cover, ranging from the written word, to song, to music, to visual arts, performance art, and more. Thus, this course is an introduction to the subject. As a psychological topic, a strong focus of the course is emotions and judgments and their underlying experiential and functional bases; a related focus revolves around the functional purposes of consuming and making art (e.g., self-expression, social justice activity, therapy), along with understanding the motives of people who make art and what might make their art more powerful—or even fail. As a writing seminar, this course will focus on contemporary and classic scholarship as well as the students’ own essays on these subjects.

W.

ENGL Honors classes, Fall 2022

All of these courses carry the pre-requisite of first-year writing (ENGL 1007, 1010, 1011, or 2011).

ENGL 2405-001: Drama

[UConn Storrs]

Instructor: Sarah Winter

This course will provide an introduction to the history, theory, and performance of drama. We will study major plays, dramatic genres, and changing theatrical conventions from classical Greek drama to the present. Assignments will include: a presentation on the staging and performance of a play, with a short paper; a longer comparative paper on tragedy or comedy; take-home midterm; final exam; class discussion participation; and a review of a performance at the Connecticut Repertory Theatre.

CA 1.

ENGL 2413-001: The Graphic Novel

[UConn Storrs]

Instructor: Katherine Capshaw

This course explores the history and theory of the graphic novel. We will explore a variety of approaches to the genre, from superhero narratives to graphic memoir, from manga to contemporary experimental texts. While no single course can offer a comprehensive summation of such a vast and various body of work, our class will address the field’s major generic threads. We will also develop an understanding of the ‘grammar’ involved in reading a panel, page, and entire comics sequence. Alongside the narratives we will read secondary sources that explore aesthetic and theoretical debates within the field. One of our objectives is to support each other as we engage the critical discourse around comics and graphic novels: we will share sources and insights and offer constructive feedback as we work together to produce informed and incisive term papers.

CA 1.

ENGL 2701-004: Creative Writing I

[UConn Storrs]

Instructor: Sean Forbes

Finding Your Artistic Voice Through Creative Writing Prompts

In this introduction to creative writing class, we will examine the different approaches that a writer can take when trying to establish a speaker in a poem or short story. We will look at exemplary works of poetry and fiction from writers like David Dominguez, Allison Joseph, Richard Blanco, and Justin Torres. Students will produce a final portfolio of their original work. Class participation is an essential component to this largely workshop-based course along with weekly writing prompts such as writing in iambic pentameter and challenging prose sketches.

ENGL Honors classes, Spring 2022

All of these courses carry the pre-requisite of first-year writing (ENGL 1007, 1010, 1011, or 2011).

ENGL 2101-Z81: British Literature II

[UConn Stamford]

Instrutor: Frederick Roden

British Literature II examines a broad variety of genres (poetry, non-fiction prose, and novel/short story) in three historical periods, from 1800 to roughly 1950: Romanticism, Victorianism, and Modernism. We will pay particular attention to works and movements on the margins of these categorical terms. This era was one of tremendous change with respect to definitions of identity: race, class, gender, sexual orientation, national and ethnic self-understanding, and religion — just to name a few. Honors students will select to focus on clusters of historical documents concerning some of these themes and will develop their formal course writing around those texts.  Professor Roden will mentor these projects individually, and we will meet as an Honors group to workshop this independent study.   Collectively as a full class, we will analyze the literature in the context of the politics of identity and the idea of “subjectivity”: the speaking self.

CA 1.

ENGL 2301W-003: Anglophone Literatures

[UConn Storrs]

Instructor: Patrick Hogan

The obvious feature that connects Anglophone literatures is the colonial history (partially) shared by their countries of origin. Why would we otherwise link such different nations as Nigeria, India, Canada, and Australia? This course will, therefore, stress colonialism and the ways in which these diverse literatures emerged from colonial conditions. Of course, the diversity of these literatures is as consequential as the similarity. In connection with this, it is important to distinguish various kinds of colonialism. Colonialism in Nigeria is not the same as colonialism in Canada, for example. As this is a literature course, we also need to be aware of the various literary approaches to “emplotting” colonialism, which is to say, creating stories that address the colonial condition. We will begin the semester by considering just what constitutes colonialism (e.g., how we might define “colonialism”). From there we will turn to the chief varieties of colonialism and some of the recurring structures—particularly story genres—taken up by authors in examining colonialism. In connection with these theoretical topics, we will read and discuss some theoretical work—Kwame Anthony Appiah’s The Lies that Bind: Rethinking Identity< and perhaps Dane Kennedy’s Decolonization. (This further engagement with theoretical writing is the main difference between the Honors and non-Honors versions of the course.)

After a few weeks on these theoretical topics, we will turn to literary works. In the course of the semester, we will consider narratives from different types of colony. For example, we will examine a work from Canada (Margaret Atwood’s Surfacing) and one from Australia (Nugi Garimara’s Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence), works from India (including some poetry and visual art from Kashmir), and works from the very different African colonies of Kenya (Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s A Grain of Wheat) and South Africa (J. M. Coezee’s Waiting for the Barbarians and Athol Fugard’s Statements After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act), as well as a selection of stories from across the continent–Ama Ata Aidoo’s African Love Stories. As the title of Aidoo’s collection suggests, we will pay particular attention to the ways in which authors take up the love story genre to address colonialism, though we will touch on other recurring genres as well.

Coursework will include short responses to readings, one or two group presentations, and general class participation, one 6-page essay explicating part of one of the literary works or rewriting it creatively (in line with themes explored in the course), and one 10-page essay involving cultural or historical research integrated with explication of part of one of the literary works, as well as outlines and drafts of the two essays. (Though the course is primarily in person, a limited number of lectures will be recorded and made available on HuskyCT instead.)

CA 4-Int, W.

ENGL 2701-003: Creative Writing I

[UConn Storrs]

Instructor: Sean Forbes

Finding Your Artistic Voice Through Creative Writing Prompts

In this introduction to creative writing class we will examine the different approaches that a writer can take when trying to establish a speaker in a poem or short story. We will look at exemplary works of poetry and fiction from writers like David Dominguez, Allison Joseph, Richard Blanco, and Justin Torres. Students will produce a final portfolio of their original work. Class participation is an essential component to this largely workshop-based course along with weekly writing prompts such as writing in iambic pentameter and challenging prose sketches.

ENGL 3640-001: British Film

[UConn Storrs]

Instructor: Gregory Semenza

In this course, we will trace the long and colorful history of British film since the invention of the cinema around 1895 until the present day.  One of the original powers of the global film industry—along with the US, Germany, France, and Italy—the British cinema experienced serious decline in the early years of World War I.  Although, according to some (especially British) film historians, it has never fully recovered, the British filmmaking industry has been at the forefront of numerous historical innovations and developments, serving important roles in the rise of documentary film, wartime propaganda film, cinematic realism, and the evolution of the horror film, heritage film, franchise film, and especially film adaptations of literature—to mention only a few key examples.  Through all these changes, the British film industry has always been linked closely to Hollywood, serving not only a training ground for directorial and acting talent (from Charlie Chaplin to Alfred Hitchcock to Ridley Scott to Emma Thompson), but also as an important site and collaborator in an increasingly multinational film industry (from The Bridge on the River Kwai to Star Wars to Harry Potter).

The course will consider all of these contributions within the context of questions about Britishness itself.  Given the violent forces that forged the British union since the Middle Ages, ideas of Britishness have always had an intensely constructed, political quality which certain powerful interests wished to portray as permanent and consensual.  But from the vantage point of 2021, the artificial nature of this project is much more apparent and seems on the verge of flying apart. The recent Scottish vote for independence was the logical extension of the politics of devolution dating back at least to 1920, when Home Rule in Northern Ireland was implemented and a parliament was established there a year later.  The politics of devolution are at this moment putting “English” identity under extreme pressure—as are changes ushered in by the ongoing reconfiguration of traditional geographical, racial, ethnic, class, and sexual hierarchies.  In this course, we will need to think, therefore, much about ever-changing definitions of what constitutes “British” in order to truly understand the history and culture of British film.

Required films will include, but not be limited to, the following: David Lean’s Brief Encounter (1945); Powell and Pressburger’s Black Narcissus (1947); Carol Reed’s The Third Man (1949); Tony Richardson’s A Taste of Honey (1961); Peter Watkins’ The War Game (1966); Robin Hardy’s The Wicker Man (1973); Franco Rosso’s Babylon (1980);  Bill Forsyth’s Local Hero (1983); James Ivory’s A Room with a View (1985); Stephen Frears’ My Beautiful Laundrette (1985); Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting (1996); Steve McQueen’s Hunger (2008); Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank (2009); Joe Cornish’s Attack the Block (2011); Sam Mendes’ Skyfall (2012); and Steve McQueen’s Small Axe (2020).

CA 1.

ENGL Honors classes, Spring 2023

Each of these courses carry the pre-requisite of first-year writing (ENGL 1007, 1010, 1011, or 2011).

ENGL 1103-Z82: Renaissance and Modern Western Literature

[UConn Stamford]

Instructor: Frederick Roden

What is the “modern”? Do we date that period to the “Renaissance” (literally the re-birth, of ancient “classical” learning), now called the “Early Modern period,” to the “renaissance of the twelfth century,” or to Modernity in art, music, and literature (the dawn of the 20th century)? In this course on literary history organized chronologically, we will examine representative texts of western literature (European and American, and their diasporas) to pose this question in doing the work of cultural studies. What constructed the “modern” world, and modern sensibilities/subjectivities of the individual? We will pay close attention to identities: gender, sexuality, race, religion, ethnicity, nationality, ableness and otherness, to name a few. Even as we read “canonical” writers at the center of western civilization, we will also interrogate margins.

Class time will focus on group discussion of the material studied for the given day. Each meeting will begin with a timed quiz that you will submit by the instructor’s deadline to “warm up.” You will develop two formal papers plus a brief response essay to an art, music, or drama field trip (substitution possible as necessary). You will write an in-class, cumulative final essay exam that will allow open-book and notebook access. We will read from an anthology of literature as our primary source. You must obtain a hard copy of the required course text in the given edition and have it available for reference during class time for page consultation, to follow discussion, and to maintain class participation. Any Center for Students with Disabilities accommodations must be documented and will impact course requirements accordingly.

The Honors section of this course will meet simultaneously with the standard version, whose description is above. In addition, Honors students will take part in six seminar meetings (one hour each) with the instructor at a mutually convenient time, to be determined. Honors students will read additional works of history and criticism and will deliver presentations on them in the seminar. Essays developed from this material may substitute for regular course papers.

CA 1.

ENGL 2701-004: Creative Writing I

[UConn Storrs]

Instructor: Sean Forbes

Finding Your Artistic Voice Through Creative Writing Prompts

In this introduction to creative writing class, we will examine the different approaches that a writer can take when trying to establish a speaker in a poem or short story. The first half of the course will be dedicated to writing narrative poetry and for the second half we will focus on short and long form fiction stories. We will look at exemplary works of poetry and fiction from writers like David Dominguez, Allison Joseph, Richard Blanco, and fiction stories from One Story and One Teen Story, print literary journals that publish only one story per month. Students will produce a final portfolio of their original work. Class participation is an essential component to this largely workshop-based course along with weekly writing prompts such as writing in iambic pentameter and challenging in class writing prose sketches.

SOCI 2260: Science, Medicine, and Race (Conversion Opportunity)

[UConn Storrs]

Instructor: Matthew Hughey

While this is not an Honors course, Prof. Hughey welcomes Honors students of all majors and would be happy to offer Honors conversions for interested students.

An introduction to science, medicine, and the construct of “race.” We will encounter the development of medical sciences, colonialism, eugenics, & Darwinism; modern notions of biology & species; the causes & consequences of health inequities across the color-line; genetic & genomic research; and DNA & ancestry testing.

A critical class for students interested in the role of race, truth, facts, methods, and inequality in the genetic age.

Questions? Contact the instructor:
Matthew W. Hughey, PhD
Professor of Sociology
matthew.hughey@uconn.edu

DMD/HRTS: Human Rights Archives I: Documenting & Curating Community Memory

[UConn Storrs]

HRTS 3540-002 (Topics in Human Rights Practice)
HRTS 5351-001 (Topics in Human Rights Practice)
DMD 3998-007 (Variable Topics)
DMD 5998-010 (Variable Topics)

Instructor: Catherine Masud

While the undergraduate courses (HRTS 3540, DMD 3998) are not Honors courses, Prof. Masud welcomes Honors students of all majors and would be happy to offer Honors conversions for interested students. Seniors may also choose to register for the graduate courses (HRTS 5351, DMD 5998), which act as Honors credit so long as you earn a grade of B- or higher.

This is the first part of a two-semester practice-based unit. Designed to introduce students to the use of human rights archival materials in documentary storytelling, Human Rights Archives Part I will focus on methods and best practices of collecting and managing digital visual and audio-visual archival assets. Students will engage with existing human rights-related archival collections, both private and institutional, to develop an appreciation of the “living” archive and its importance both as a repository of witnessing and memory and as a vehicle for the continuous retelling of history in the present moment. A series of relevant readings, films, and short storytelling exercises will help to provide context and connections. Later in the semester, students will apply what they’ve learned about human rights archives, digital asset management, and storytelling by documenting and digitizing the family stories and artifacts of an immigrant community that bears the multi-generational scars of genocide and displacement, following some of the strategies of the History Harvest model. The assets collected through this collaborative community-centered project will form the basis of an important new collection that students will be involved in processing, organizing, and cataloguing. This collection will be a primary resource for the visual storytelling work in the second course of the unit. Part I, however, is not considered a prerequisite for Part II.

University Honors Laureate: This Variable Topics course will count toward the Arts & Humanities category.

UNIV 1995: Honors Human Flourishing (Special Topics)

[UConn Storrs]

Instructor: Sierra Trudel

1 credit course

Honors Human Flourishing is aimed to engage students in well-being research and how to then apply the research in a meaningful way to their own lives. Each course topic will include a week of analysis of pertinent research followed by a workshop style class to put the research into action. Students will learn meaningful strategies in the areas of meaning and purpose, relationships, character strengths, positive emotions, engagement, and achievement, to promote personal and professional development. Ultimately, the goal of the course is to provide students with the knowledge and skills to foster well-being to support them throughout their undergraduate academic journey.

Please email sierra.trudel@uconn.edu with any questions.

HIST 3510: Civil War America

[UConn Storrs]

Instructor: Prof. Christopher Clark

The Civil War (1861-65) was the direst crisis to face the United States since its founding in the American Revolution. The secession of eleven southern states to form the Confederate States of America would, if it had been sustained, have permanently divided the nation. As it was, it took a four-year-long war and the loss of probably more than 750,000 lives to bring the Confederacy to an end.

Using contemporary documents and recent historical works, we’ll explore the war’s origins, events, and outcomes; explain the creation and eventual defeat of the Confederacy, and why the war lasted so long; examine the abolition of slavery and the postwar legacies of Reconstruction, civil rights, and race-based repression; and look at how the war changed the course of U.S. history, affected Americans of all kinds, and has been marked ever since in national memory.

AMST 1700: Honors Core: American Landscapes – The Hudson Valley as Geo-Cultural Locale

[UConn Storrs]

This course will explore the layers of material, cultural, and historical fact and meaning centered on a single complex American site. Working from several disciplinary perspectives, we will study the Hudson Valley as a place notable for its extreme landforms, its importance to commercial and technological change, and its cultural, historical, and cross‑cultural significance.

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 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; (5) the class number from Student Admin; and (6) confirmation that there are seats available in the course.

ENGL 6750: Seminar in Language & Literature

Section 2: Labor, Utterance, & Meaning in the Maritime World

[UConn Storrs]

Graduate courses act as Honors credit, as long as you earn a grade of B- or higher.

Instructor: Mary K. Bercaw Edwards

For as long as history has been recorded, sailors have stepped on shore with a tale to tell. Until the laying of telegraph cables across oceans finally outpaced sailing ships in carrying messages in the 1850s, the sight of a sail on the horizon might be the first herald of news of many kinds: political, cultural, financial, or personal. The figure of the sailor as a storyteller stretches back beyond the earliest written records. The gulf of ocean between the sailor and the port and the events or circumstances that sailor described lent a paradoxical mix of authority and doubt regarding stories sailors told. The writers we will consider in this course inherited willingly or unwillingly the long heritage of these sailor storytellers. This course will examine the chronological development of a literature wherein the sea functions as physical, psychological, and philosophical setting. The course will begin by investigating early uses of the sea in literature and ways in which early works influenced later writings. It will continue with the use of the sea in contemporary literature and literature by writers of color. Through the use of literary theory and maritime history, the course will establish the context in which these works were produced as well as closely examining the works themselves. The requirements for the course will include presentations, several short papers, and a longer final essay.