Chaos

How does change occur? How does the new come into being? The Chaos thread explores how innovation happens in the arts, in the sciences, and in social institutions, as well as in nations, communities, and individuals. The courses in the thread will look at how existing practices, beliefs, systems, and narratives come under critique, and how their assumptions are challenged; how alternatives to these practices, beliefs, systems, and narratives emerge, and how these alternatives engage the status quo; and how that engagement can lead, or fail to lead, to transformation.

Students in the Chaos thread will learn about the evaluative and critical tools that have in the past been and are in the present being used, in a wide range of political and cultural contexts, to critique existing practices, beliefs, systems, and narratives. Students will be encouraged not only to be open to the new and unfamiliar, but also to recognize the integrity of the otherness of the new and unfamiliar, resisting the urge to re-model it in the image of the already-known with which they are comfortable. The ultimate goal is to enlarge the student’s pictures of the world.

This thread is 9 hours.

Select 9 Hours
ART 3000 Art Theory and Critism	3 hours
COMM 3800 Communication Through Dialogue	4 hours
ENG 2240 Topics in World Literature: Revolution and Radical Change	4 hours
ENG 3020 Studies in Writing	4 hours
ENG 3240 Literature of the 1920s I	2 hours
ENG 3250 Postmodernism	2 hours
ENG 3280 Literature of the 1920s II	2 hours
GEND 2850/MUSIC 2850 Sex and the Arts	3 hours
HIST 3700/HIST 4700 Revolutions in Latin America	4 hours
IDS 3200 Experiential Learning - Chaos Thread	1 hour
MUSIC 2630 Theory IV	3 hours
PHIL 1100 Introduction to Philosophy	3 hours
PHIL 1100FYW Introduction to Philosophy First Year Writing	4 hours
RELIG 2800 Apolcalyptic Imagination in America	3 hours
THTRE 2210 Avant-Garde and Art Film	3 hours

ART 3000 Art Theory and Critism (3 hours)

In a seminar format, this course will survey different methodological and theoretical approaches to the art criticism and art production of the twentieth century.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor.

COMM 3800 Communication Through Dialogue (4 hours)

This course is designed to help students develop theoretical and practical understandings of dialogic communication. Students will develop the skills necessary to effectively participate in and facilitate transformational dialogue. In addition to developing a comprehensive understanding of current dialogic research, students will have several opportunities to practice their facilitating skills by helping NWU and Lincoln community groups engage impasse throught dialogue.
Prerequisite(s): Sophomore standing and permission of the instructor.

ENG 2240 Topics in World Literature: Revolution and Radical Change (4 hours)

Each course in the Topics in World Literature group will study a selection of literary works that engage the chosen topic--texts of different genres, from historical eras, and from different cultural traditions. The selected readings will present both abstract principles involved in the topic and its immediate, lived realities.
Prerequisite(s): Any First Year Writing course.

ENG 3020 Studies in Writing (4 hours)

The focus of this course is on the writing process and its product, as applied to a particular genre (risk fiction, scriptwriting, creative nonfiction, the essay, biography), which will vary from semester to semester. The course is conducted as a workshop in which students read their own compositions to the class and respond to the compositions of their classmates. Students may request Chair approval to repeat this course for credit with a different genre.
Prerequisite(s): First Year Writing.

ENG 3240 Literature of the 1920s I (2 hours)

A course devoted to literary modernism in English-- the revolutions in poetry and fiction undertaken on both sides of the Atlantic after World War I. William Butler Yeats, Jeams Joyce, and Virginia Woolf will be among the writers studied in the first course, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and William Faulkner among those studied in the second. This course is designed in two linked but free-standing two-credit, eight-week courses.
Prerequisite(s): ENG 2000 Introduction to Textual Studies and junior standing or permission of the instructor.

ENG 3250 Postmodernism (2 hours)

This course will examine the influential artistic and philosophical movement known as postmodernism. Although the main focus will be on literary postmodernism, students will be encouraged to explore the application of postmodern theory to consumer culture, architecture, film, music, and other fields.
Prerequisite(s): First Year Writing and Junior standing or permission of the instructor.

ENG 3280 Literature of the 1920s II (2 hours)

A course devoted to literary modernism in English -- the revolutions in poetry and fiction undertaken on both sides of the Atlantic after World War I. William Butler Yeats, Jeams Joyce, and Virginia Woolf will be among the writers studied in the first course, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and William Faulkner are among those studied in the second. This course is designed in two linked but freestanding two-credit, eight-week courses.
Prerequisite(s): ENG 2000 Introduction to Textual Studies and junior standing or permission of the instructor.

GEND 2850 Sex and the Arts (3 hours)

Including films, music videos, and musicals this course examines varied depictions of sexualities in the arts (defined broadly), especially those that intersect with music. Students will also discuss the ways in which social constructs of gender have shaped those works and their reception. By analyzing specific pieces we will discuss systems of domination and subordination along with stereotyped and biased assumptions about women, men, and individuals across the gender spectrum.

MUSIC 2850 Sex and the Arts (3 hours)

HIST 3700 Revolutions in Latin America (4 hours)

Social revolutions constitute exceptional and dramatic events in human history. They bring about radical and sweeping transformations of the existing political, social, economic, and cultural order. The three most conspicuous Latin American revolutions of the 20th century (Mexico 1910, Cuba 1959, and Nicaragua 1979) have had a tremendous impact not just within those countries and the Latin American region, but on hemispheric relations and world politics as well, though the course will explore other revolutions. Using a comparative perspective, this course will discuss the causes, course, and outcome of Latin American revolutions, seeking to highlight their peculiarities, and paying close attention to the political, economic, social, and cultural dimensions of revolutionary transformation. In addition, we will also study unsuccessful revolutionary movements as well, in order to understand the reasons why they ultimately failed to accomplish their goals.

HIST 4700 Revolutions in Latin America (4 hours)

IDS 3200 Experiential Learning - Chaos Thread (1 hour)

See Department for Course Description.

MUSIC 2630 Theory IV (3 hours)

This course examines the development of new concepts and theories of music that led to significant departures from standard musical practices and ideals. Students will explore twentieth century pitch resources, and contrast late tonal techniques and styles of composers such as Debussy, Ives, Messiaen, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Webern and more. Analysis of specific works will promote discussions, tracing theoretical paths that led to the development of post tonal and avant-garde music. The content is designed to:

Widen your knowledge of, appreciation for, and ability to identify, describe, and critically assess musical works in light of the innovative ideas that led to their creation.
Give you a sophisticated understanding of the cultural, aesthetic, and stylistic revelence of these works in order to better comprehend the historical impact of radical departures from the norm.
To practically apply your knowledge of musical elements in order to create informed and appropriate musical interpretations within the body of music that forms your own repertoire.
To introduce you to the oral expression of your music in the style of a professional lecture presentation, so that you can improve your skills in verbally describing music and musical analysis.

Prerequisite(s): MUSIC 2610 Theory III

PHIL 1100 Introduction to Philosophy (3 hours)

An introduction to philosphical thinking by way of an examination of persistent philosophical questions raised by significant and representative voices in our (primarily Western) philosophical heritage. We will attempt to clarify the meanings of such concepts as good and evil, right and wrong, justice, virtue, the beautiful, and the ugly. We will attempt, further, to use this understanding to evaluate our own philosophical views and those of our society.

PHIL 1100FYW Introduction to Philosophy First Year Writing (4 hours)

RELIG 2800 Apolcalyptic Imagination in America (3 hours)

This course explores a religiously diverse range of end of time stories. Ancient and modern, oral and written, apocalypitc scenarios can function as ethical and political criticism of the status quo, a literature of, by, and for the marginalized, and offer alternative, cosmic justice or future renewal. All of the religions examined, which include tribal, world religions as well as movements that prioritize ethnicity, race, and anti-colonialism are international but will be examined in the context of their contemporary North American expressions.

THTRE 2210 Avant-Garde and Art Film (3 hours)

This course will explore films made by artists who experiment with the formal, perceptual and narrative elements of film. Students will watch a wide range of film media that challenge conventions to gain an appreciation for the Avant-Garde and art film/video. Selected films will be analyzed within historical and aesthetic contexts of their departures from norms and conventions. One way to define Avant-Garde is breaking new ground and experimenting with the possibilities of the medium: rather than entertain or generate profit through their films, artists may shock or challenge viewers and explore the limits of genre. Students will be challenged to go beyond preconceived notions of visual pleasure to think critically and creatively about how/why a work was created and what it communicates in that context.

Course Catalogs

Chaos