GREEK AND ROMAN EPICS / CLAS 301 / MARY JAEGER
The main project of this class is to survey the three greatest surviving epics of classical antiquity. Gaining familiarity with these texts contributes to any student’s store of cultural knowledge. They are fundamental to understanding almost any part of the culture of the Greco-Roman world and provide a valuable background for the study of art and literature from antiquity to the present day. Reading and rereading them will inform you and help you become observant; discussing and writing about them will help you become more articulate.
SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH METHODS AND THEORY / ANTH 406 / DIANE BAXTER
Doing research is fundamental to the production of knowledge. There are many types of research and different methods for conducting it. One division in research methods is between qualitative and quantitative approaches. In quantitative approaches, data/events are counted and measured and often hypotheses are tested. Qualitative research is more subjective: researchers are interested in understanding the meaning people have constructed, that is, how people make sense of their world and the experiences they have in it. Qualitative research methods include participant observation, interviews, case studies as well as the utilization of secondary sources (what other people have written about the subject of interest) which result in a narrative, descriptive account of a setting, practice, and/or lived experiences and realities of a person or a group of people. Qualitative research is a situated activity that locates the observer/the researcher in the world. It consists of a set of interpretive practices that makes the world visible in particular ways. They turn the world into a series of representations, including field notes, interviews, conversations, photographs, recordings, and memos to the self. At this level, qualitative research involves an interpretive, naturalistic approach to the world. This means that qualitative researchers study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of, or to interpret, phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them.
SEMINAR NARRATIVES IN INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE / CAS 407 / SHAUL COHEN
This course is focused upon writing as a change agent in personal, institutional, and greater societal settings. We will be reading articles and book chapters written by and about various people and groups and the change that has been been brought about due to this writing. Students will critically examine these works by experts in the field and will also present some of their own writing as part of the coursework. In the process of this course, students will gain an understanding of how writing can be used to explore and potentially change the world around us.