Chaos

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.

This is a hybrid studio/seminar course that familiarizes course participants with the socio-political issues on the NWU campus as well as at the local, state and national level, then develop creative strategies for personal growth and community transformation. In a supportive environment, we will challenge ourselves to look deeply at our own biases regarding race, gender, sexuality, socioeconomic class and the natural environment. Each semester the course is offered, it will focus on a particular one of the areas mentioned above. We will investigate the issues through listening to guest speakers followed by
open dialogue among students and faculty. Students will become familiar with the intersections of art and activism through lectures and discussions as well as their own research, which they will present orally to the class. In the second half of the semester students will begin developing their own socially
engaged art projects with the support of the class feedback and from one of the class visitors. Initial projects will be on a small scale in a familiar environment. Subsequent projects will build on the knowledge and experience gained from the first projects. Teamwork and collaboration is encouraged.

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 through dialogue.
Prerequisite(s): Sophomore standing and permission of the instructor.

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.

The focus of this course is on the writing process and its product, as applied to a particular genre (scriptwriting, risk fiction, risk poetry, creative nonfiction, the essay, biography) 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. Students may request Chair approval to repeat this course for credit with a different genre.
Prerequisite(s): First Year Writing.
(Normally offered each spring semester.)

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, James 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.
(Normally offered spring of odd-numbered years.)

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.
(Normally offered fall of odd-numbered years.)

In this course, students will read a selection of plays by ancient Greek playrights: the comedies of Aristophanes and the tragedies of Aeschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles. For a semester project, students will work as a collaborative team to write and perform a dramatic work (along with related documents) to demonstrate their understanding of the genre, period, and culture.
Prerequisite(s): First Year Writing and Junior Standing.

See ENG 3260 Greek Drama.

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, James 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.
(Normally offered spring of odd-numbered years.)

See HIST 4030 Founding of the Americas.

A study of the “pioneers” of the Americas (e.g., indigenous, Spanish, French, and Russian) who all came to the continent to explore, negotiate the land and relationships with others they encountered. A mix of narrative and primary document history, the class will discover the true story of the settlement of the Americas.

See HIST 4700 Revolutions in Latin America.

A study of the causes, course, and outcomes of several 20th century social revolutions in Latin America. The course will use a comparative perspective, paying particular attention to the transformations that accompanied each stage of revolution. This also counts as an elective for the Modern Language Studies major.

See Thread Coordinator.

In this Creative and Performing Arts Elective course that is situated within the Chaos Thread, students will develop skills necessary to learn how to play an instrument or sing, and to create their own arrangements and compositions within small student-led groups. This course is designed for students with little to no formal musical training to learn how to create their own music using informal music learning methods – methods that are not always acknowledged as having merit both in process and in genre, especially within the area of academic music. The teacher will act as a facilitator of space and at times a coach, mentor, or apprentice as appropriate so that students drive the learning and the creating of their own music to the end of performing and/or recording it. The assigned readings, class discussion, and students’ musical creations will focus on the radical differences between the formal music learning practices done in classrooms and the informal music learning practices used by many musicians outside of the formal classroom setting. There are no pre-requisites to take this course. Students will be learning to play instruments and using electronic software; students can use their own instruments and electronics as appropriate to the course projects, but materials will be provided as needed.
(Normally offered each spring semester.)

Cuba is undergoing historical and rapid social change. This interdisciplinary sociology, music, and gender studies course explores contemporary Cuba through participant observation of youth music culture in the cities of Havana, Vinales, and Santa Clara. Students will receive academic instruction in historical and contemporary Cuba from both American and Cuban professors. Particular attention will be paid to the intersectionality of gender, sexuality, and race/ethnicity. Students will be exposed to ethnomusicology parameters of sound, setting, and significance. Students will use intersectionality analysis (informed by Launius and Hassel) and interdisciplinary feminist qualitative methods (informed primarily by Emerson, Fretz, and Shaw and Hesse-Biber). Students will be immersed in Cuban culture through casa particulares (homestays) and daily attendance at various musical events, clubs, and museums. Local guides, out-trips, academic lectures from Cuban Experts, instructor led reflections and facilitations, and student observations and reflections are all key components of this course.

See MUSIC 2600 Havana Nights:Cuban Youth Music Culture.

See MUSIC 2600 Havana Nights:Cuban Youth Music Culture.

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:

1. 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.
2. Give you a sophisticated understanding of the cultural, aesthetic, and stylistic relevence of these works in order to better comprehend the historical impact of radical departures from the norm.
3. 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.
4. 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 Music Theory III or permission of the instructor.

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.

See MUSIC 2850 Sex and the Arts.

An introduction to philosophical 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.

This course examines a variety of philosophies and practices types of philosophical writing. As part of the Archway Curriculum Chaos thread, this course asks about what is or was radical and transformative in the history of philosophy, and engages with what is - or could be - radical and transformative by today's standards.
(Normally offered each fall semester.)

Students will explore what is radical, revolutionary, experimental, avant-garde and learn to identify what places a person, idea, or movement outside the "norm." This includes addressing questions like: What influences or impacts a philosophically innovative idea? How do we distinguish what is radical or subversive in philosophy from what is merely repetitive or conservative? Importantly, what is the effect of a philosophy on its larger culture, and what role does experience play on the philosophers who live these ideas? The course may be taken more than once with departmental approval.

This course will examine the current state of politics in Europe. In particular, the course will focus on European integration and expansion, and questions of ethnicity and nationalism. The course will also examine European social policy.
Prerequisite or corequisite(s): POLSC 1100 Introduction to International Politics or approval of the instructor.

This class will explore the various ways that part of the class will examine the theory behind citizen-led uprisings: how do people decide to rebel? How do they mobilize? What is a collective action theory? What is the public sphere? We will end this section with a consideration of the revolutions of 1989 in Central and Eastern Europe. The second part of the course will examine various types of revolutionary activity, both violent and non-violent. What are mechanisms of change? How does the strategy of change relate to the demands of the protestors? The final part of the class will study how revolutions end. When do the people get their way? What does a 'successful' revolution look like?

What does it mean to be transgender?  What can transgender identities tell us about larger societal gender systems? This course is an interdisciplinary exploration of transgender issues in the United States.  Students will investigate the variety of transgender identities, the lived experiences of transgender people, and the differing perspectives surrounding transgender issues.  Topics will include explanations of gender diversity, discrimination, elements of gender transitions, medical and psychological treatment options, and gender privilege. 

See PSYCH 3300 Transgender Identities.

This course explores a religiously diverse range of end of time stories. Ancient and modern, oral and written, apocalyptic 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.
(Normally offered every year.)

This course explores a broad overview of big ideas about humans, society, change, stability, and chaos that have influenced sociology and other social sciences in the 19th to early 21st centuries. Broad perspectives examined include: Marxism, Functionalism, Weberian rationalization, Symbolic Interactionism, Feminisms, Queer Theory, Critical Theory, Critical Race Theory, Rational Choice, Postmodernism and Poststructuralism, and theories of globalization. This course builds critical thinking, analysis, application, and writing skills essential to majors, minors, and students interested in critically examining society.
Prerequisite(s): SOC 1110 Introduction to Sociology.
(Normally offered each fall semester.)

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.