Identity

This course serves as a required step in the Identity Thread of the Integrative Core. In the course, we will explore fundamental premises about human identity within different world cultures, and study ways in which the development of modernity has challenged and remolded those views. The ultimate aim of the course is to present major questions that the study of identity poses, and explore a variety of approaches to investigating these questions. The course will prepare students for other courses they will take within the thread. Credit may not be earned for more than one of the "Identity" courses of IDS 1200, IDS 1200FYW, or IDS 1210.

This course serves as the first step in the Identity thread of the Integrative Core. In the course we will explore fundamental premises about human identity within different world cultures, and study ways in which the development of modernity has challenged and remolded those views. We will use the lens of identity to explore a number of issues that are at the forefront of modern life. The ultimate aim of the course is to present major questions that the study of identity poses, and explore a variety of approaches to investigating these questions, using writing as a primary tool for this investigation. The course will develop student writing skills, and prepare students for other courses they will take within the thread.The course will prepare students for other courses they will take within the thread. Credit may not be earned for more than one of the "Identity" courses of IDS 1200, IDS 1200FYW, or IDS 1210.

This course serves as the core requirement in the Identity Thread of the Integrative Core.  In the course, we will explore fundamental premises about human identity within different world cultures, and study ways in which the development of modernity has challenged and remolded those views.  The ultimate aim of the course is to present major questions that the study of identity poses, and explore a variety of approaches to investigating these questions.  The course will prepare students for other courses they will take within the thread. Credit may not be earned for more than one of the "Identity" courses of IDS 1200, IDS 1200FYW, or IDS 1210.

This course examines the history of art through the lens of disability studies. Utilizing the social model of disability studies, which recognizes disability as a social construct, this course will explore how visual media propagates constructs of body image, mental health, and dis/ability identity. Examinations will futher trace intersections between the construct of disability and other idientity constructions such a sexuality and gender, race and ethnicity, and class. Discussion will center on visuals arts within the western world in the last three centuries, but conversations will often extend to include performance art forms as well as broader historical and global perspectives.

This course is designed to help students develop the skills necessary to effectively communicate in public, private and professional settings. The course will focus on a broad base of communication theory, concepts and skills and offer students the opportunity to apply those skills.  Students will explore several models of communication, including: invitational, persuasive, dialogic, conflict management, group and interpersonal. Students will explore the foundations of the communication discipline as well as the influence of communication scholars across public and private realms. Once they have developed an understanding of the theoretical underpinnings of effective communication; students will develop the skills necessary to overcome the barriers to effective communication.
(Normally offered each semester.)

Students in this composition course will develop their skill in academic writing as they explore the relationship between academic discourse and the evolution of identity.

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.

Each course in the Studies in Writing group focuses on the writing process and its product as applied to a particular genre (risk fiction, scriptwriting, hybrid genres, creative nonfiction, biography and memoir) or concept (writing the body), 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. Prerequisite: Completion of First Year Writing

A course in the historical and political contexts of modern Irish literature, including the work of William Butler Yeats, James Joyce, Seamus Heaney, and others.
Prerequisite(s): IDS 1200/IDS 1200FYW/IDS 1210 Identity: An Introductory Exploration or ENG 2000 Introduction to Textual Studies or junior standing or permission of the instructor.
(Normally offered alternate fall semesters.)

This course supplements the basic American survey course. Its aim is to acquaint students with representative autobiography, fiction, drama, poetry, literary criticism, and essays by African-American writers from Frederick Douglass to Toni Morrison.
Prerequisite(s): First Year Writing and Sophomore standing.
(Normally offered alternate spring semesters.)

An introduction to the culture and contemporary society of Mexico with an overview of the country's history, political system, art, festivals and religious celebrations, and cuisine. Students will read a recent novel and view a contemporary film in order to catch the full "flavor" of the vitality and richness of Mexican culture.

An introduction to the culture and contemporary society of Spain with an overview of language and communication, religion, tradition and celebration, art and architecture, film, literature, and government. The course is designed to highlight the strong sense of identity that contemporary Spaniards feel at being part of the "New Spain" and members of the European Community.

'Who are you?' This question confronts everyone at some point in life. How you answer it is culturally determined, based on how you perceive the connection between yourself and the world you inhabit. In this course we will investigate how the understanding of the self has developed in Western culture, beginning with Ancient Near Eastern religious traditions and the philosophical discourse of Ancient Greece, and looking at how this understanding has evolved and changed over time. Particular attention will be focused on the challenge to traditional notions of the self that emerged with the development with modern psychological and sociological models of the self. No P/F.

This course introduces students to major topics in the history of East Asia. Rather than a century-by-century narrative covering prehistory to the present, the course emphasizes the theme of inter-regional relations. Students learn about traditions such as Confucianism and Buddhism that provided a foundation for the development of centralized, Sinicized states in East Asia, as well as the cultural, economic, and political aspects of the tribute system that structured inter-regional relations throughout the pre-modern period. The second half of the semester picks up the theme of inter-regional relations in the modern period by examining the continuing impact of twentieth-century warfare on the Chinese, the Koreans, and the Japanese. Our sources include a combination of secondary scholarship by leading experts on East Asian history as well as primary historical and literary sources. This also counts as an elective for the Modern Language Studies major.
(Normally offered every other year.)

See HIST 4350 Nazi Germany.

An examination of Germany in the twentieth century focusing on the rise of Adolph Hitler, the weakness of the Weimar government, the institutions of the Nazi regime, and the events of World War II and the Holocaust. This also counts as an elective for the Modern Language Studies major.
HIST 4350 meets with HIST 3350. The requirements of the courses are the same EXCEPT that a research paper is required for students in 4350.
Prerequisite(s): HIST 1110 World Civilizations: A Survey of the Global Twentieth Century or HIST 2130 Western Civilization Through Literature or permission of the instructor.

See Thread Coordinator.

NWU Faculty from a variety of disciplines offer short-term international study trips that explore the essential questions of the Identity Thread in a unique setting. Credits available vary by program. Detailed information about current trips and credits is available through the Modern Language Department, the Identity Thread Coordinator, or the Office of Global Engagement. Prerequisite: Permission by Instructor of Thread Coordinator.

See MSPAN 4200 The Culture of Spain.

This dual-level course introduces students to the culture and contemporary society of Spain with an overview of language and communication, history, religion, tradition and celebration, art and architecture, film, literature, and government. MSPAN 4200 meets with MSPAN 3200, with differentiated assignment lengths and expectations by level.
Prerequisite(s): MSPAN 3100 Spanish Composition and six credits from "Core Skills" courses (MSPAN 3010 Spanish Conversation, MSPAN 3020 Introduction to Spanish Phonetics, MSPAN 3030 Reading Spanish, MSPAN 3040 Spanish Grammar Review, MSPAN 3050 Spanish Language and Writing, or MSPAN 3060 Spanish Reading/Grammar Review); or permission of the department chair.     

Key cultural concepts are used to explore music from selected global case studies. Social, cultural, and historical contexts are examined in relation to musical materials and their application in various traditions and repertoires. The fieldwork project (and experiential learning component) for this class requires some off-campus activities to be arranged by the student.
Prerequisite(s): Sophomore standing and permission from instructor.

The subfield of philosophy known as "metaphysics" can be described as a study of fundamental reality, whereas "epistemology" is just the study of knowledge - what it is, the possibility of having it, and how to get it if it is at all possible. In this course, students will learn analyze, and research some of the more popular problems and concepts within these subfields as they pertain to the nature of persons and their intellectual relationship with the world around them. This will be done largely through close readings of several historical and contemporary texts on these subjects.

This class explores the questions that arise when people cross borders, structured by conversations of citizenship. Who is considered to be a member of a particular country? Under what circumstances should we prohibit people from crossing a border? Should certain groups of people be afforded different types of rights? How should a country incorporate or assimilate immigrants into the nation? To explore these questions, this class examines how the United States has responded to these ethical, political, economic and social debates over citizenship. Specifically, we will study historical and contemporary motivations driving skilled, undocumented, asylum, refugee, and guest work immigration; if and how the US has regulated and enforced borders; the historical and normative evolution of patterns of assimilation, integration, and exclusion; regulation over pathways to citizenship; current political debates about immigration and how immigration matters in our local communities.

This class will provide a perspective on the changes that take place during an individual's life from infancy to old age/death. Participants will study and describe the developing person at different periods in the lifespan. The processes of growth and change taking place in early, middle, and late adulthood will be considered as well as the more traditional concern with development in childhood.
Prerequisite(s): PSYCH 1010/PSYCH 1010FYW Introduction to Psychological Science.
(Normally offered each semester.)

A scientific study of the way in which thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by other people and situational factors. Topics include research methodology, conformity, social cognition, attitudes, persuasion, aggression, prejudice, and interpersonal attraction.
Prerequisite(s): PSYCH 1010/PSYCH 1010FYW Introduction to Psychological Science.
Recommended: PSYCH 2100 Psychological Statistics and PSYCH 2110 Research Methods in Psychology
(Normally offered each fall semester.)

This course will explore the history of cognitive psychology, current research, how the field changes over time, and what current cognitive psychologists define as the important issues in the study of  attention, perception, memory, language, problem solving, reasoning, and decision making.
Prerequisite(s): PSYCH 1010/PSYCH 1010FYW Introduction to Psychological Science.
(Normally offered each spring semester.)

This course considers historical, comparative, and methodological issues in the academic study of religion by focusing on the scriptures and history of two different religious traditions and how their theologies and ethical systems originated and developed. Designed as an inquiry into the meaning and function of religion, students will discuss how the different traditions understand the divine, worship, and scripture. Emphasis will be placed on the development of the students' own perspective on religion and the ability to express this perspective clearly and effectively.
(Normally offered each fall semester.)

This course considers historical, comparative, and methodological issues in the academic study of religion by focusing on the two different religious traditions that originated in the Middle East. Designed as an inquiry into the meaning and function of religion, students will discuss how the different traditions understand the divine, worship, and scripture. Emphasis will be placed on the development of the students' own perspective on religion and the ability to express this perspective clearly and effectively.
(Normally offered each spring semester.)

This course explores the formation, differences and conflicts among and between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam through comparative themes. Credit cannot be earned for RELIG 2350 and RELIG 1260 Christians and Muslims.

The course explores the modern construction of religion and religions as a legal, international, historical, and cultural category. We will investigate what definitions and assumptions are at work and who religious tradition is invented, maintained, or changed and for what ends. Classifications interrogated include religious, spiritual and secular, academic and folk. Materials and movements examined include intentionally provocative juxtapositions of ancient, new, tribal, world, localized and international. It is common in contemporary discourse to privilege individual freedom to choose or create a religious identity, therefore, this course will pay special attention to the ways in which spirituality obscures the extent to which individualistic ideology legitimates the creation of self-identity through consumer and lifestyle choices.

Since all social interaction takes place in groups, this course introduces students to the basic principles of small group structure and interaction. Students participate in group activities throughout the semester in order to study and reflect on the way groups function and influence individual behavior and identity. Topics such as goals, cohesiveness, communication, conflict, and leadership are investigated.
Prerequisite(s): SOC 1110 Introduction to Sociology.
(Normally offered every other year.)

The purpose of the course is to assist students in discovering and strengthening personal and professional identities around: shame and vulnerability; healthy relationships and boundary setting; wholehearted living including courage, compassion, and connection; loss and grief; mindfulness; exploring passion to help understand purpose; and joyful living.

This course focuses on the work of Dr. Brene Brown centered on courage, compassion, and connection; and how to be deliberate in thoughts and behaviors, how to be inspired to make new and different choices, and incorporating vulnerability into everyday living. It will also distinguish death from tangible and intangible losses, and define types of grief and how to move through toward healing. Conversations about healthy relationships and boundary setting will be included, while discussions of strengths, resiliency, and happiness will occur throughout the course. Finally, the work of Dr. Elisha Goldstein and his strategies to mindful moments and living will be addressed and implemented.

An introductory course in film study that is designed to provide students with a critical perspective of the general trends in cinema as well as initiate investigation of how identity is expressed through film and video. Students will become acquainted with the formal qualities of film, general film theory, hands-on video making and will acquire an active vocabulary of film terminology. A central goal is to help students develop a set of criteria for the critical evaluation of both professional and personal films. Throughout the semester, students will learn introductory video making vocabulary, principles and techniques and will make their own videos that communicate definitions, formations, and expressions of identity.
(Normally offered each fall semester.)