Summer 2012 Schedule

May 19-20
June 2-3
June 23-24
July 14-15
July 28-29
August 11-12

TRAVEL STUDY FOR SPRING/SUMMER 2012 CREDIT

HUM284CS or HUM268H: Splendors of Italy June 9-17, 2012 [J. Crawford] Contact JCrawford@msmc.la.edu for more information.

Travel to Italy and study the culture of the ancient Roman Empire! As we travel, we will visit key ancient sites and collections such as the Roman port of Ostia, Pompeii, and the museum of antiquities in Naples. In Florence and the Vatican we will study the ancient Greco-Roman inspiration for Renaissance art. We will also visit the Forum and the Coliseum. Join us for a trip through time!

SATURDAY

HUM202: The Philosophy of Dreams [J. Quick] Syllabus
The relationship between philosophy and dreams has always been uneasy, ever since first appearing together in the fragments of Heraclitus, through to the dawn of modern philosophy in Descartes’ Discourse on Method. Seeking to banish the uncertainty of dreams from philosophy for all time, curious textual and biographical forces in Descartes conspire to bind dream and philosophy even tighter. Nietzsche, too, on the verge of the twentieth century, attempts once more to dismiss dreams from the realm of philosophy, but in the end, is unsuccessful. With Freud, though, dreams suddenly cease to haunt philosophy and become the subject of psychoanalysis, although by the end of the last century, philosophy begins dreaming again in the works of Derrida, Lyotard, Lacan, and Deleuze.

HUM246CW: Playwriting [D. Brody] Syllabus
Unbeknownst to most, Los Angeles is one of the most dynamic and prolific cities in the world for producing new works for the theater. This graduate-level introduction to the craft of playwriting will explore one-act and multiple-act structures, premise, theme, character, setting, and dialogue. During each class, we will study some of the best and most interesting plays available; engage in writing exercises in character development, scene construction, dialogue, and description; and workshop scenes written by students in the class. By the end of the course, each of you will complete an entire one-act play. 

HUM257H: Critical Eras in European History - The Puritan Revolution [J. Crawford] Syllabus
Before the French and American Revolutions, there was the English or Puritan Revolution which “turned the world upside down.” The staid English fought a civil war, executed their king, replaced another one, and established a constitutional monarchy in the process. The US Bill of Rights? The original came from the Puritan Revolution. Power to the people? It all started in the English Revolution. This was a time of great spiritual and social turmoil with radical Diggers, Ranters, Muggletonians, and many more challenged mainstream society as did mystics such as the Behmists and Quakers. Join us for for a study of this first revolution for political liberties!

HUM289CS_W1: Architectural Imagination [M. Heim] Syllabus
Los Angeles architecture begins in 1910 Vienna where Rudolf Schindler apprenticed with the revolutionary designer Adolf Loos. The seminar traces Schindler's path from Michaeler Platz in Vienna to Los Angeles where, as Frank Lloyd Wright's employee, Schindler developed the "beach style" that connects light and space with Nature. The seminar's first tour is the Schindler House in Hollywood. The seminar then studies the Getty Center where Richard Meier and Robert Irwin added classical formalism to the Southern California "light & space" style. We look at the Arts & Crafts Movement's contribution to home design, and a third tour treats the postmodern nexus of downtown Los Angeles: Walt Disney Concert Hall (Frank Gehry), Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (Welton Becket), and the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels (Rafael Moneo). Three of the six seminar meetings will require travel to architectural sites. 

HUM298A: Introduction to Humanities [J. Smith] Syllabus
Introduction to Humanities is both a seminar and a workshop designed to offer new graduate students a solid foundation for their studies while at the Mount. On a practical level, it provides an introduction to graduate level research methods and academic writing. On a theoretical level, it explores the concept of the Humanities tradition from Classical Antiquity to the Modern Era. Students will learn how to plan for and write a seminar length research paper (15 pages), evaluate primary and secondary sources, navigate online research databases, and apply MLA and Chicago Style formatting to their papers. Students will also learn to conceptualize each of the research concentrations offered at the Mount (Cultural Studies, English, and History) within an interdisciplinary framework.

HUM298B: Advanced Research Methods for Humanities [J. Smith] Syllabus
This seminar/workshop is suggested for students working on their capstone projects.  It will emphasize skills that are relevant to handling large scale research projects. Students will learn how to manage a diverse body of resources from digital and print sources, manage time effectively for research and writing, revise for submission or publication, and present in a formal environment.

SUNDAY

HUM230CW: Short Story [J. Johnson] Revised Syllabus 5.4.12
Unlike other literary endeavors, the short story is a quick shot of something stimulating and does not get a broken spine from resting overnight on the bedside table. But, by the end of this course, you could be happily addicted to writing some for yourself, and maybe even for the Paris Review. The components of the course are all in place to prepare you for writing for fun, and if you find your “voice” for others. This will be an exploration, a quest, a hopeful trip into your own consciousness where you may find something valuable to bring home. Writers have told us of finding: the ears of El Toro, the Golden Fleece, the Holy Grail, and morel. I will be happy if you find a love for writing and the short story in particular. This course is for beginners, old pros, and the simply curious. This will be a workshop class.

HUM249E_W1: Classical Rhetoric [J. Smith] Syllabus
This course examines the emergence of rhetoric, or oratory, from the Ancient Greeks to late Antiquity. It will cover the foundational theories behind argument in the Western tradition as well as provide practical guidance in the application of those rhetorical techniques in modern academic and professional contexts. Students will read, discuss, and present on selections of major canonical works by Plato,Aristotle, Cicero, and Augustine. In the process, students will examine why “rhetoric” is sometimes used as a bad word, what rhetoric has become in today’s classroom, and when and how best to apply different methods of argumentation. In the spirit of the rhetorical tradition, the course equips students to be capable and involved participants in the debates that animate public life.

HUM266H: Religion and History: Gods and Demons in 16^th Century Mexico [V. Gutierrez] Syllabus 
In this seminar-style course, we will examine the Golden Age of Evangelization in Mexico, studying first the culture and belief systems of pre-contact Mesoamerica and late medieval Castile before analyzing the Spanish Conquest from both a European and indigenous perspective. Once we understand the historical context, we will turn to the 1524 arrival of the first twelve Franciscans in Mexico, tracing the methods they, their fellow mendicants, and the secular clergy employed as they engaged in the Christianization of New Spain's native peoples during the first century of colonial rule. We will likewise consider indigenous responses, resistance, and adaptation in order to better understand what some scholars have dubbed “Nahua-Christianity.” We will enter into the rich history of this evangelization program – referenced by the friars as the Spiritual Conquest – through a series of lectures, primary source readings, discussions, images, and literature. By course's end, students will be able to identify the origins of Mexican Catholicism and trace the narrative arc of Mexico's transition from indigenous societies to early colonial societies. Students will be introduced to the historians’ craft through discussions of field work, archival research, source analysis, and paleography, via copies of colonial documents from the Archivo General de la Nación in Mexico City. Spanish-speaking students may choose to work with my sixteenth-century archival materials for their research projects. Course Readers will be available for purchase in the bookstore.

HUM289CS_W2: ThanaTourism [J. VanMeter] Syllabus
Using an interdisciplinary approach, we will focus on diverse travel narratives, literary works, and theoretical approaches to investigate the increasing allure of various tourist and historical sites that are associated with collective traumas, death, and disaster and that raise questions about memory, commemoration, and exploitation. Many of our materials will come from seminal works within John Lennon/Malcolm Foley's Dark Tourism: The Attraction of Death and Disaster and Richard Sharpley/Philip Stone's The Darker Side of Travel: The Theory and Practice of Dark Tourism.

ONE UNIT COURSES

HUM225_W1: The Quest for the Historical Jesus June 9-10 [D. VanDyke] Syllabus
In this course we will focus on Jesus before Christianity, the first attempt to identify the real Jesus as distinct from the Jesus of the Gospels, the earliest critics of the Gospel portraits of Jesus, the second so-called Jesus Quest, and the Jesus Seminar. We will discuss the differences between the Jesus of History and the Christ of Faith, the merits of the quest for the historical Jesus and its implications for Christian faith. We will pursue these goals by looking at the chief scholars and theologians who have contributed to the historical Jesus quest from the 17^th Century to the present day.

HUM249E_W2: History of the English Language June 9-10 [B. Ryan-Lopez] Syllabus

HUM296A: Capstone Project Proposal Workshop June 30 & August 18 [M. Kidd] Syllabus