HONR 300R - BioEthics
4 credits
Nelson
This seminar introduces students to basic concepts and contemporary discussions
in bioethics. Topics may include organ procurement, abortion, reproductive technologies,
euthanasia, use of human subjects in research, genetic engineering, cloning
and stem cell research, autonomy, consent, truth telling and deception, confidentiality,
access to health care, rationing, allocation of scarce resources, use of animals
in research, and environmental concerns.
Readings from a wide variety of disciplines
- medicine, law, economics, and literature as well as philosophical and religious
ethics. Oral presentations and papers will develop students’ ability to
identify moral issues, analyze moral arguments, and make and defend moral judgments.
WRITING INTENSIVE.
HONR 300S - Bosnia-Hercegovina: An Interdisciplinary Study
4 credits
Doubt
One over-looked causality of the recent war in Bosnia-Herzegovina is her society’s
collective commitment to a pluralistic, tolerant, integrated society. Unconscionable
violence and vicious propaganda were brought to bear against her heritage, cultural
convictions, social practices, and civic order--making it next to impossible
for Bosnia to sustain her multi-confessional and syncretistic-informed traditions.
Tone Bringa, author of Being Muslim the Bosnian Way, writes, "Neither Bosniak,
nor Croat, nor Serb identities can be fully understood with reference only to
Islam or Christianity respectively but have to be considered in a specific Bosnian
context that has resulted in a shared history and locality among Bosnians of
Islamic as well as Christian backgrounds."
When one carefully considers Bringa's
statement, one understands that multiculturalism is a misnomer for recounting
Bosnia's heritage, even if the term is frequently used. In Bosnia, there were
not multiple cultures co-residing in the same vicinity. Nor were there multiple
cultures simply co-existing independently. There was a singular, trans-ethnic
culture that encompassed each ethnicity and made different faiths, including
Christianity and Islam, synergistically interdependent.
This course is part of a project that initiates a shared curriculum through
a Fulbright Alumni Initiatives Award between Wittenberg University and University
of Sarajevo centered around a Web-based course. Drawing upon different disciplines
(anthropology, history, literary criticism, political science, and sociology),
the course examines Bosnia’s historical and cultural heritage. The goal
is to address what it is about the Jerusalem-like configuration of faiths in
Bosnia -- Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, and Islam -- that made her
so vulnerable to the nationalism of her neighbors.
Another goal is to understand what
is it about Bosnia's enigmatic mixture of epochs, including a distinctive medieval
period from the 13th to 15th centuries, the Ottoman Empire starting in the 15th
century, the Austro-Hungarian Empire during the 19th century, and communist
Yugoslavia during the 20th century, that made her defenseless in the face of
national-state building based on a monolithic ethnicity. When one recognizes
the principled, progressive character of Bosnia's tradition, recounted eloquently
in the leading scholarly works on Bosnia, one would predict that Bosnia would
be the last place where ethnic cleansing could have occurred with such viciousness
and sadism.
Examples of course readings are Tone Bringa's study, Being Muslim the Bosnian
Way, Noel Malcolm's Bosnia: A Short History, Ivo Andric's Bridge on the Drina,
and Mesa Selimovic's Death and the Dervish. Less well known works such as John
Fine's The Bosnian Church: A New Interpretation of the Bosnian Church and its
Place in State and Society from the 13th to 15th Centuries, Marian Wenzel's
"Bosnian and Herzegovinian Tombstones Who Made Them and Why," and
Tom Butler's "Literary Style and Poetic Function in Mesa Selimovic's The
Dervish and Death" will also be part of the curriculum. WRITING INTENSIVE.
HONR 300S - Architectural Geography
4 credits
Keiffer
This topic of this course is geography and landscape studies. It will focus
on how the influence of ethnic traditions and environmental factors shape what
we see on the visible landscape. Many of the cultural artifacts that we pass
on a daily basis have their roots in some type of symbolism that is derived
from various entities. The shape, style and materials of the buildings we use
can be traced back to the earliest civilizations. It can be argued that many
are simply modified versions of what was built, on a monumental scale 4000 years
ago.
As humans migrated, they took their
cultural practices with them and, along with changing environmental conditions,
shaped what we think of today as “modern”. The pure essence of architectural
design, its symbolism and its function, results in its form. This is contrary
to the usual dictum that ‘form follows function’. This class will
examine the geography of architecture, and compare basic architectural design
with what we see today in the cultural landscape. Is our landscape a newer version
of the modern, or an older version of the traditional? It is hoped students
will be able to answer this question as they learn to read the landscape and
“see” what they are “looking” at. WRITING INTENSIVE.
HONR 300S - Language Awareness
4 credits
Martin-Lozano
Language awareness is the understanding of the structure and properties of human
language in general and of specific languages in particular. In this class students
will research the impact of language awareness in the life of the individual
and of society. We will study the benefits of language awareness from cognitive,
aesthetic and social points of view. We will learn to approach language objectively
and to use the appropriate methodologies for its analysis. Students will do
original linguistic research as an important part of their course work. WRITING
