Humanities (HUMA)

HUMA 107 - GREEK CIVILIZATION AND ITS LEGACY

Short Title: GREEK CIVILIZATION & LEGACY

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Lower-Level

Description: An examination of the literary, artistic, and intellectual achievements of classical Greek civilization from Homer through the golden age of classical Athens to the spread of Greek culture in the Hellenistic world. The influence of ancient Greece on Western culture will be a focus. Case studies in the later reception of classical Greek literature (e.g., tragedy), philosophy (e.g., Socrates), history (e.g., democracy), and art (e.g., The Parthenon) will be examined. Cross-list: CLAS 107.

HUMA 111 - ROMAN CIVILIZATION AND ITS LEGACY

Short Title: ROMAN CIVILIZATION &ITS LEGACY

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Lower-Level

Description: This course will investigate central aspects of Roman civilization: politics, religion, law, oratory, private life, public entertainment, literature, and visual art and architecture. We will also examine the place of ancient Rome in the western imagination, and the influence of ancient Rome on later politics, literature, and art. Cross-list: CLAS 108.

HUMA 120 - WHERE IS UTOPIA? A BIG QUESTIONS COURSE

Short Title: WHERE IS UTOPIA?

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Lower-Level

Description: Where is utopia? Thomas More’s original coinage, suggesting both “good place” and “no place,” might give little cause for hope, but that hasn’t stopped visionaries, scientists, artists and scholars from seeking it out over the years. It might be in our past, or just ahead. We might be there now, if only we knew how to look: under the pavement, we might find the beach. Or utopia might be off our planet entirely. Ideals shape societies; scientific research, architecture, city planning and cultural production all attest to the hopes and values that spawned them. But as we consider the fallout of past utopian efforts, corollary questions present themselves: do we even want to find utopia? Does every “perfect” society imply a dystopian counterpart? Who is utopia for, and who is excluded? This course will explore utopia through the work of scientists, architects, artists and art movements. Classes will fall into three categories: lectures and reading discussions; field trips; and group art projects. These latter Learning Lab projects will encourage students to work together and apply the readings, discussions and artistic precedents towards their own visions of utopia.

HUMA 121 - IS ALL THE WORLD A STAGE? A BIG QUESTIONS COURSE

Short Title: IS ALL THE WORLD A STAGE?

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Lower-Level

Description: We seem to find or make theater wherever we look. In halls and on stages, but also in Senate chambers and check-out lines - not to mention online. In the small rooms of houses and on small screens of reality television programming. Whether streaming or tweeting, drama is everywhere. What is drama such that it enjoys such intensity and ubiquity? Is it an overflow of energy that creates authenticity? An artificially heightened state (as in “too much drama”)? A carefully crafted manipulation (as in “political drama”)? A way of being in space? A cultural habit? This course considers why theater is so central to our idioms and cultural practices even for people who have never seen, much less set foot on, a proscenium stage. We’ll explore the many senses of drama central to social behavior by witnessing the long transit of theater from the classical amphitheater to just about anywhere. The course is designed to offer an introduction to the history and conventions of theatrical practice, from the ancient theater to 21st-century immersive and site-specific performance, which will offer a lens for understanding the drama of human interaction that spills out everywhere. Class sessions will include: 1) lecture/discussions about the histories of theater and languages of performance; 2) Learning Lab sessions that allow students to create their own personal theatrical experience with a combination of acting and directing exercises, live performance experiences, and conversations with theater professionals; and 3) theater of the everyday exercises inviting students to look at the world from the point of view of theatrical experience. No previous theater experience or training required.

HUMA 122 - WHO SHOULD VOTE? A BIG QUESTIONS COURSE

Short Title: WHO SHOULD VOTE?

Department: History

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Lower-Level

Description: Questions surrounding the ballot box are as contested today as they have ever been in the history of our democracy. Using methods from multiple humanities disciplines, in this course we will explore questions such as: Should voting be required? Should the voting age be changed? Should felons forfeit their ability to vote, or do even prisoners have a right to participate in elections? Should voting be easier to do, or do more requirements protect the integrity of the ballot? Should non-citizens also be able to vote, at least some of the time? Should the Electoral College be reformed? Can the study of the past help us think about big questions in the present?

HUMA 123 - WHO WHAT WHY IS DISNEY? A BIG QUESTIONS COURSE

Short Title: WHO WHAT WHY IS DISNEY?

Department: *Visual and Dramatic Arts*

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Lower-Level

Description: This course will engage students with three questions: WHO is Disney (as an artist and as an entrepreneur and creator of iconic figures and films)? WHAT is the Disney Corporation and how has it grown and evolved?WHY does the current configuration of Disney as global culture giant exist and why does it matter (in the lives of those it touches across the world, but also especially with regard to Disney's patents, copyrights and trademarks)?The course will cover the formation of Disney and its use of fairy tales and folk culture to build its narratives. It will cover the building of Disneyland and its utopian project of transforming theme parks and building a world around storytelling. It will cover the movement of Disney in the forefront of film production in the 1980s through its Touchstone imprint and through the utilization of digital animation technology. Finally, the course will discuss the current triumphal corporate world of Disney Plus, and the ownership of an immense set of copyrights, patents, and trademarks. Our current world is a triumphant one for Disney and our students will live in a culture dominated by a single corporation for the foreseeable future.

HUMA 124 - IS THIS THE END? A BIG QUESTIONS COURSE

Short Title: IS THIS THE END?

Department: Modrn & Classicl Lit & Culture

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Lower-Level

Description: Is this the end? The end of our planet, truth, certainty? This course explores this question via contemporary writing across the world. Taught from a global perspective, the course will examine writers’ responses to major topics of our age, among others, truth, climate change, and borders.

HUMA 125 - WHAT IS THE ETHICAL THING TO DO? A BIG QUESTIONS COURSE

Short Title: WHAT IS ETHICAL: BIG QUESTIONS

Department: Philosophy

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Lower-Level

Description: “What is the ethical thing to do?” can be interpreted in various ways. What rules do ethical theories prescribe? What reasons can be given for and against different ethical theories? How have different ethical theories been developed – where do they come from? What binding force, if any, do ethical theories have? And, most importantly, how should we live? What does ethical reflection about our lives and our practices reveal? Students will be introduced to theoretical ethics and practical ethics. In Part One, roughly the first 8-9 weeks of the course, they will study classic works in philosophical ethics – and contemporary responses to them. They will learn philosophical arguments for and against these ethical theories. Guest lecturers will shed light on historical circumstances that led to their formation and on cross-cultural comparisons. In Part Two, roughly the last 6-7 weeks of the course, they will work through two topics in practical ethics: the treatment of animals and reparations for slavery. The course will conclude with an Ethics Lab, in which students work in small groups to gather information on a chosen topic in practical ethics and analyze it from the perspective of different ethical theories.

HUMA 126 - WHAT IS THE MEANING OF DEATH? A BIG QUESTIONS COURSE

Short Title: WHAT IS THE MEANING OF DEATH?

Department: Philosophy

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Lower-Level

Description: This course will ask students to learn and reflect on theoretical positions on death from historical and contemporary philosophers, but will also place a heavy emphasis on developing a student’s own attitude toward death as not just a topic for theoretical and abstract discussion, but a phenomenon that they must inevitably encounter in their own lives. Thus, the philosophical material will be supplemented with poetry, film, literature, and personal essays from non-philosophers: material that will enrich their own thoughts as they try to determine the respect in which they agree or disagree with the philosophical perspectives on offer. One goal is to have the students recognize the extent to which philosophical reflection, and engaging with the humanities, can influence and deepen their perception and understanding of their lives.

HUMA 127 - WHAT IS HATE? A BIG QUESTIONS COURSE

Short Title: WHAT IS HATE?

Department: Modrn & Classicl Lit & Culture

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Lower-Level

Description: What is Hate?. Hate can be an emotion, an action, a belief, an ideology. It can manifest itself with great passion, or become normalized so that it isn’t even recognized as such –perhaps seen, instead, as an expression of “how things are.” This course gathers strands from diverse disciplines, in order to present a cohesive examination of “hate as a system” undermining civic life, and even the cultural and intellectual vitality of society. We will examine the unsettling question of “hatred” through scholarly works, literary expressions, and visual culture dealing with prejudice, discrimination, extreme nationalistic movements, racism, and genocide. Along with these academic and artistic explorations, we will advance into the realm of engaged humanities and activism, through a series of presentations by scholars and advocates. The class will benefit from presentations by faculty and guest speakers from our university (the Boniuk Institute for Religious Tolerance, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion), and the larger Houston community (Houston Coalition Against Hate, Anti-Defamation League, ACLU, etc.).

HUMA 128 - WHY DID SO MANY DIE? THE U.S. RESPONSE TO COVID-19

Short Title: WHY DID SO MANY DIE?

Department: Philosophy

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Lower-Level

Description: The U.S. response to the pandemic has been a disaster, and will end (if it ends!) with hundreds of thousands dead and tens of millions infected. How did this happen, and who is to blame? The main facts are now largely clear. But how to interpret them is another matter. Is this a story about how China blew up the whole world by being unwilling to admit it was facing a scary epidemic back in December and January? Is it a story about how the White House allowed Americans to die in the name of “saving the economy”? Is it a story about how selfish individuals went to the beach rather than suffer for the collective good, or a story about institutions that worked poorly? Is it all these things? We need to look back and make sense of this calamity.

HUMA 129 - WHO IS A TERRORIST? A BIG QUESTIONS COURSE

Short Title: WHO IS A TERRORIST?

Department: History

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Lower-Level

Description: Who is a terrorist? Does it depend on the religion of the perpetrator? Why are some killings of innocent people widely discussed as terrorism while others are not? What is the relationship between the discourse of terrorism and the actual objective history of violence that the term obscures?

HUMA 130 - WHAT IS A CLASSIC? A BIG QUESTIONS COURSE

Short Title: WHAT IS A CLASSIC?

Department: English

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Lower-Level

Description: "Outmoded works by dead, white European males” would be one answer. “Living, multi-racial, global, and genderqueer” would be another. This course explores the classic as a protean thing, made and remade by an enormous range of creative and critical responses that reshape both it and the cultures in which those responses arise.

Course URL: humanities.rice.edu

HUMA 131 - WHAT IS AN (AB)NORMAL BODY?

Short Title: WHAT IS AN (AB)NORMAL BODY?

Department: History

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Lower-Level

Description: This course introduces the history of science and medicine through disabilities studies literature. The course centers around the guiding question, “What is an (ab)normal body?” Students will better articulate the body as a social, political, and corporeal construct by engaging with this question. This guiding question also encompasses within it additional historical questions such as “Who is a freak?” and, further, “How is the historical category of “freak” conflated with “super” abilities in fictional characters?”

HUMA 134 - WHAT IS LOVE? A BIG QUESTIONS COURSE WITH AN INTERDISCIPLINARY EXPLORATION

Short Title: WHAT IS LOVE?

Department: Asian Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Lower-Level

Description: This course asks what love is, closely inquiring into the meaning and practices of love in diverse cultures across history. The course utilizes materials from both the humanities and the social sciences, introducing students to the multi- and interdisciplinary approach. The goal of this course is to enable students to critically question our current understanding of love.

HUMA 135 - WHAT IS CAPITALISM?

Short Title: WHAT IS CAPITALISM?

Department: History

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Lower-Level

Description: The question of what capitalism is, and why we have it, is on the global political agenda. Debate is driven by concerns about greed, efficiency, inequality, freedom, and the environment. But what is capitalism? When did it start? How does it work? Does it foster oppressions such as racisms and patriarchies, or undermine them? Are there alternatives to capitalism? This course explores these questions.

HUMA 137 - WHAT IS DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA?

Short Title: WHAT IS DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA?

Department: History

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Lower-Level

Description: This course explores the arguments over whether or to what degree the United States has been a democratic society from the era of the American Revolution to the age of Black Lives Matter. This course will count towards the Core Requirements (United States Courses) for the HIST major and towards the requirements (United States Courses) for the HISM minor.

HUMA 201 - PUBLIC SPEAKING

Short Title: PUBLIC SPEAKING

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Lower-Level

Description: This course is designed to give the student exposure to and experience using basic principles and skills of oral communication in the public context. Emphasis will be on the development of speech organization, support, and delivery. Informative and persuasive speeches will be practiced. An important outcome of the course is that the student better understand and appreciate the important role public speaking plays in modern society.

HUMA 202 - CULTURE, ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT: AN INTRODUCTION TO ENERGY HUMANITIES

Short Title: CULTURE ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Lower-Level

Description: Humanity faces extraordinary challenges in an era of climate change and energy transition. These challenges are not only technological but also questions of value, power, behavior, and understanding. This course draws upon new research across the arts, humanities and social sciences to help students better understand the cultural and social dimensions of our current patterns of energy use, their environmental impacts, and the possibility of new energy futures. Intended for both STEM majors and humanities and social science students. Cross-list: ENST 202.

HUMA 210 - FORENSICS PRACTICUM

Short Title: FORENSICS PRACTICUM

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Internship/Practicum

Credit Hour: 1

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Lower-Level

Description: This course will focus on junior varsity intercollegiate speech and debate competition. Students will be required to prepare speeches and debate material for local, regional and possibly national competitions. Participation in intercollegiate competition is mandatory. Instructor Permission Required. Repeatable for Credit.

HUMA 217 - BUSINESS WORKSHOP FOR HUMANITIES STUDENTS

Short Title: BUSINESS WRKSHP F HUM STUDENTS

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hour: 1

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Lower-Level

Description: Companies are looking for candidates with the skills that Humanities students develop at Rice. This workshop provides an overview of how businesses work, which career prospects provide the most opportunity, and how to interview successfully. Due to limitations of the scheduling software, declared Humanities minors, Humanities Division students and graduate students wishing to enroll in this course should contact the instructor for an override.

HUMA 238 - SPECIAL TOPICS

Short Title: SPECIAL TOPICS

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Internship/Practicum, Laboratory, Lecture, Lecture/Laboratory, Seminar, Independent Study

Credit Hours: 1-4

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Lower-Level

Description: Topics and credit hours may vary each semester. Contact department for current semester’s topic(s). Repeatable for Credit.

HUMA 240 - THE BRIDGE PROJECT: DESIGNING THE PERFECT HOME WITH DO HO SUH

Short Title: DO HO SUH’S BRIDGE PROJECT

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 1-3

Restrictions: Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students may not enroll.

Course Level: Undergraduate Lower-Level

Description: The Bridge Project: Designing the Perfect Home for Do Ho Suh is a course where students will explore global perspectives on political, architectural, engineering, and sociological issues through the lens of artist Do Ho Suh’s Bridge Project. The artist's ambitious thought experiment envisions building a bridge spanning from his current home in London across the Arctic to his childhood home in Korea. This one credit course consists of semi-weekly lectures by prominent experts in a range of topics and key disciplines who will consider the Bridge Project seriously and weigh in on the various factors that would be necessary to make this bridge a reality. Seminars are open and available to all students, Rice community, and the general public. Students may add two additional credits to work on an individual or team-based project related to the Bridge Project, supported by the making staff at the Moody Center.

HUMA 250 - RACE AND MEDIA

Short Title: RACE AND MEDIA

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Lower-Level

Description: This course offers a survey of media communication about race. We will examine media communication theories of identity formation, symbol creation, and influence. What media factors determine the discourse on race? The purpose of this course is to understand how notions of race have been defined and shaped in and through mass-mediated forms. Students will formulate informed recommendations on what could be done to promote greater cultural sensitivity and diversity in the media industry. Previously offered as HUMA 238 (Summer 2019). Repeatable for Credit.

HUMA 302 - THEORIES OF RHETORICAL COMMUNICATION

Short Title: RHETORICAL THEORY

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: This course will survey major theorists of speech and public communication ranging from classical to contemporary thinkers. Emphasis will be on understanding speech and public communication from consumer and scholarly perspectives. Students are expected to read and discuss material with the goals of gaining basic understanding of major rhetorical theorists specifically engage a particular topic in rhetorical theory. Our central questions involve the nature of and relationship between speaker, text, and audience.

HUMA 308 - BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL SPEAKING

Short Title: BUSINESS&PROFESSIONAL SPEAKING

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: Practical application of communication theory with emphasis on oral presentations, interviewing and small group dynamics. The course will consider many aspects of the business and professional sphere as they pertain to public speaking and public discourse. Through a series of four or more in-class speeches, in-class group exercises, outside speaker presentations, reading, and writing, the course will serve as basis of instruction to ready the student for the public or private sphere. Class will focus particularly on aspects of business and professional leadership communication, and business and office communications both written and oral, toward a greater mastery of authentic organizational, management, competitive, and community discourse.

HUMA 309 - ARGUMENTATION AND DEBATE

Short Title: ARGUMENTATION & DEBATE

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: Designed to help students develop communication, analysis, and research skills through the construction and presentation of arguments on questions of fact, value, and policy. Debate assignments will explore current issues. The course emphasizes argumentation exercises and in-class debates.

HUMA 310 - ADVANCED FORENSICS PRACTICUM

Short Title: ADVANCED FORENSICS PRACTICUM

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Internship/Practicum

Credit Hour: 1

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: This course will focus on varsity intercollegiate speech and debate competition. Students will be required to prepare speeches and debate material for local, regional, and possibly national competitions. Participation in intercollegiate competition is mandatory. Instructor Permission Required. Repeatable for Credit.

HUMA 314 - COMMUNICATION, TECHNOLOGY, AND CHANGE

Short Title: COMMUNICATION/TECHNOLOGY/CHANG

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: New communication technologies have profoundly altered daily life and challenge the definition of some of humanity's basic societal structures. This course explores interpretations of this transformation from many fields to better understand the change we are currently witnessing and to ask what the human experience is gaining and losing.

HUMA 315 - COMMUNICATION LAW

Short Title: COMMUNICATION LAW

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: This course will explore the historical development, contemporary state of and future direction of the relationship between law and communication. The central question is "What is the relation of the law to the human communication experience?"

HUMA 316 - RHETORIC OF POPULAR CULTURE

Short Title: RHETORIC OF POPULAR CULTURE

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: What really persuades people? Many scholars consider popular culture to be the most influential persuasive force in the everyday lives of contemporary humans. Music, television, social media, film, fashion, books, and other elements of popular culture comprise a tremendous amount of the universe of meaning in which the modern human resides. This course will explore these phenomena by looking at current and historical popular cultural artifacts and trends and various ways of understanding them from a variety of fields. Students will pursue an original study of a specific artifact or trend.

HUMA 317 - INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION

Short Title: INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: This course is a study of the historical and contemporary principles and theories of interdependent human communication. Communication skills which will increase interpersonal effectiveness will be studies, including verbal and nonverbal behavior, listening, assertiveness, and conflict resolution.

HUMA 318 - THE RHETORIC OF LEADERSHIP

Short Title: RHETORIC OF LEADERSHIP

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: This course will examine the relationship between leadership and communication within organizations and explore leadership as a communication phenomenon. Emphasis will be on leadership as a set of relationships that manifest themselves in practices that arise from the implementation of theory. Historical and contemporary leadership and communication theory will be surveyed and students will develop an increased understanding of the relationship between communication and leadership. Previously offered as HUMA 311/LEAD 320. Mutually exclusive; credit cannot be earned for HUMA 318 if the student has previously taken HUMA 311 or LEAD 320 Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for HUMA 318 if student has credit for HUMA 311/LEAD 320.

HUMA 321 - HISTORICAL AND INTELLECTUAL FOUNDATIONS OF LEADERSHIP

Short Title: FOUNDATIONS OF LEADERSHIP

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: The focus of this course is to construct a historically informed philosophy of leadership that encompasses not just what leadership is but why it is valued, when it is legitimate, what its moral purpose is, and how it both shapes and reflects societal norms. Formerly offered as HUMA 312/LEAD 301. Mutually exclusive; credit cannot be earned for HUMA 321 if previously taken HUMA 312 or LEAD 301. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for HUMA 321 if student has credit for HUMA 312/LEAD 301.

HUMA 322 - MARX, FREUD, EINSTEIN: FOREBEARERS OF MODERNITY

Short Title: MARX, FREUD, EINSTEIN

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: Like no others, these three thinkers of the 19th and 20th century have influenced the intellectual, historical, social, and cultural development not only of Germany, but of the entire world. The course examines the works of these authors in the context of their own time as well as their continued importance in the present. Works by Brecht, Christa Wolf, Schnitzler, Kafka will also be considered. Taught in English. Cross-list: GERM 322.

HUMA 323 - THE RHETORIC OF FOOD

Short Title: RHETORIC OF FOOD

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: Food has historically been deeply symbolic. This course explores historical and current cases of food as persuasion. How are food choices ethically implicated and how are those implications addressed persuasively? Surveying readings that analyze these phenomena and also readings that exemplify them, the class will address the rhetorical construction and use of food.

HUMA 324 - BERLIN, RESIDENCE, METROPOLIS, CAPITAL

Short Title: BERLIN:RESIDENCE,METRO,CAPITAL

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: The course offers an introduction to German history, politics, and culture as mirrored in the history of the old and new German capital. Berlin has always been a city of contradictions: from imperial glamour to proletarian slums, from the Roaring Twenties to Hitler's seizure of power. Emerging from the ruins of WWII Berlin became both the capital of Socialism and the display window of the Free World. After the fall of the wall, Berlin is still looking for its role in the center of a reshaped Europe. Readings and discussions encompass fine arts and literature from the 18th century to the present, including film. Taught in English. Cross-list: GERM 324.

HUMA 325 - MODERN GERMAN WRITERS: KAFKA

Short Title: MODERN GERMAN WRITERS: KAFKA

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: Goethe's vision of "world-literature" came true in the twentieth century. German authors, among them Kafka, transcended the confines of national traditions and redefined the concepts of literature and authorship in view of a modern globally dispersed audience. Topics may vary. Taught in English. Cross-list: GERM 325. Repeatable for Credit.

HUMA 329 - LITERATURE OF THE HOLOCAUST AND EXILE

Short Title: LIT OF HOLOCAUST & EXILE

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: Most of the authors from Germany and Austria, who were persecuted and fled into exile, used literature to search for meaning in life that apparently had been stripped of all meaning. Among these authors are the most distinguished writers of time, i.e. Th. and H. Mann, Brecht, Benjamin, Werfel, Doblin, J. Roth, S. Zweig, N. Sachs, Celan, Auslander. Taught in English. Cross-list: GERM 329.

HUMA 340 - WALTER BENJAMIN: AESTHETICS, HISTORY AND POLITICS

Short Title: WALTER BENJAMIN

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: Benjamin has been celebrated as a revolutionary Marxist, a theologian of Jewish Messianism, and as an essayist and literary critic. The course offers an introduction to his writings by way of situating them in the historical background of the Weimar Republic and the crises of European society on the eve of WWII. Taught in English. Cross-list: GERM 340.

HUMA 341 - PUBLIC HUMANITIES MASTERCLASS

Short Title: PUBLIC HUMANITIES MASTERCLASS

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hour: 1

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: The course explores the place of humanities in the public sphere, presenting tools for critical assessment. Undergraduate and graduate students from across campus form research cohorts with Rice faculty, outside scholars, and members of local institutions. Graduate students serve as mentors for undergraduates and will be assessed on papers and the class sessions they design and lead. Previously offered as HURC 311/HURC 511. The total number of completions allowed is four, whether taken as HURC 311/511 or HUMA 341/511 Instructor Permission Required. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: HUMA 511. Repeatable for Credit.

HUMA 372 - THE GERMAN FAIRY TALE: OLD AND NEW

Short Title: GERMAN FAIRY TALE: OLD & NEW

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: Discussion of several prototypes from the fairy-tale collection of the Brothers Grimm and the subsequent development of the "literary" fairy tale from Goethe and the Romantics to the 20th century. Taught in English. Cross-list: GERM 326.

HUMA 373 - NEW GERMAN FILM: HITLER'S CINEMATIC CHILDREN

Short Title: NEW GERM FILM: HITLER'S CINEMA

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: From the 1960 to 2000, Germany has developed a very distinct auteur cinema with independent filmmakers such as Fassbinder, Herzog, Wenders, Adlon, Trotta, Sander, Brueckner, Doerrie, Garnier, Tykwer, and others. The first 20 years of German film were oriented on coming to terms with the fascist past; the second 20 years focused on more contemporary issues. Film, critical reading and class discussion in English. All films are subtitled in English and will be assessed with podium technology. Taught in English. Cross-list: GERM 338, SWGS 361.

HUMA 399 - DIRECTED RESEARCH AND CREATIVE WORK IN THE HUMANITIES

Short Title: HUMA DIRECTED RESEARCH

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Research

Credit Hours: 1-3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: Students pursuing majors, minors, or certificates in the School of Humanities will develop and follow an independent program of research or creative work that draws on and significantly expands course work already completed in one of the school’s departments, programs, or centers.Research typically takes place during the summer and must be approved by a faculty member from the school. Limited to Undergraduate students who have declared a humanities major or minor, or who are pursuing a certificate in the School of Humanities. Instructor Permission Required.

HUMA 401 - INDEPENDENT STUDY IN MEDICAL HUMANITIES RESEARCH

Short Title: IND STDY MEDICAL HUMA RESEARCH

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Research

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: Independent Study with a faculty member at the Texas Medical Center focusing on a medical humanities research topic. Students spend up to 10 hours/week at TMC and are graded on evaluations submitted by faculty supervisors. Instructor Permission Required. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for HUMA 401 if student has credit for PLST 402. Repeatable for Credit.

HUMA 406 - ARTS AND CULTURE INTERNSHIP

Short Title: ARTS AND CULTURE INTERNSHIP

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Internship/Practicum

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: The Office of the Dean of Humanities and relevant faculty match students individually with one of a variety of projects in the area of arts/museums/public culture. Students conduct research or related activities under guidance of on-site supervisor and the section instructor of record. Department Permission Required. Repeatable for Credit.

HUMA 407 - ARTS AND CULTURE INTERNSHIP 2

Short Title: ARTS AND CULTURE INTERNSHIP 2

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Internship/Practicum

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

HUMA 415 - DIACHRONIC MAPPING: THE RICE UNIVERSITY CAMPUS

Short Title: DIACHRONIC MAPPING

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory

Course Type: Lecture/Laboratory

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: The objective of this course is to collaboratively design a digital atlas of the Rice Campus where visual archives, locatable in time and space, can be embedded. The evolution of the campus will be presented by historians and training sessions in ArcGIS, Rhino, and Shared Shelf will be conducted by specialists. Formerly offered as HURC 405. The total number of times this course can be repeated is three, combined from HURC 405 and HUMA 415. Instructor Permission Required. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: HUMA 605. Repeatable for Credit.

HUMA 416 - MASTERCLASS IN PUBLISHING, EDITING, PRESENTING AND PUBLIC WRITING

Short Title: MASTERCLASS IN PUBLISHING

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hour: 1

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: Offers undergraduate and graduate students insight into the public life of writing with particular attention to academic and literary publishing, editing, and presenting. Sessions organized around topics in these areas and visits with experts (agents, editors, authors, presenters, etc.) with experience in publishing, and creating series, festivals, and other forms of presentation. Meets 3 times per semester, helps develop internship possibilities for participants, and develop strategies for increasing the presentation of public writing at Rice. Previously offered as HURC 406/HURC 606. Instructor Permission Required. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: HUMA 606. Repeatable for Credit.

HUMA 477 - SPECIAL TOPICS

Short Title: SPECIAL TOPICS

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Internship/Practicum, Lecture, Independent Study, Laboratory, Seminar, Lecture/Laboratory

Credit Hours: 1-4

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: Topics and credit hours may vary each semester. Contact department for current semester's topic(s). Repeatable for Credit.

HUMA 498 - INDEPENDENT STUDY

Short Title: INDEPENDENT STUDY

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Independent Study

Credit Hours: 1-3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: Independent Study. Instructor Permission Required. Repeatable for Credit.

HUMA 499 - RESEARCH IN THE HUMANITIES

Short Title: RESEARCH IN THE HUMANITIES

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Research

Credit Hours: 1-3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: For advanced independent research in a humanities subject. Student must arrange mentorship with a faculty member and seek permission from the Dean of Humanities office, then a section of this course can be opened for the fall, spring, or summer. Department Permission Required. Repeatable for Credit.

HUMA 500 - THE HUMANITIES BEYOND THE DISCIPLINES

Short Title: HUMANITIES BEYOND DISCIPLINES

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 2

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This is a seminar-style colloquium for all first-year doctoral students that will meet once a week. It is designed to introduce the School of Humanities as a whole and help create intellectual community across the disciplines. Students will discuss contemporary issues in the humanities, explore their own scholarly interests and assumptions, engage with materials from different humanities fields, learn about diverse career paths opened up by Ph.D. study, and meet students and faculty from across the School.

HUMA 501 - MELLON GRADUATE SEMINAR I

Short Title: MELLON GRADUATE SEMINAR I

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: Focusing on epistemologies of time and the problem of perceiving and capturing presence, the seminar will bring together theories and conceptions about time, temporalities, and temporal perception offered by quantum theories, psychoanalysis, and biology, engaging as well the myriad aspects of the multi-layered sensory, epistemological, psychological, and phenomenological registers through which humans perceive, remember, represent, and calculate time. Previously offered as HURC 501. The total number of completions for this course is two, whether taken as HURC 501 or HUMA 501. Instructor Permission Required. Repeatable for Credit.

HUMA 502 - MELLON GRADUATE SEMINAR II

Short Title: MELLON GRADUATE SEMINAR II

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: Mellon II, or the "Andrew W. Mellon Doctoral Research and Writing Seminar II" is a semester-long, three-credit workshop intended to guide and mentor graduate students who are launching or continuing the dissertation writing process. The goal of the seminar is for each participant to complete a full draft of a dissertation chapter, an outline of the remaining dissertation, and a conference or fellowship proposal. Instructor Permission Required. Repeatable for Credit.

HUMA 503 - MELLON GRADUATE SEMINAR III

Short Title: MELLON GRADUATE SEMINAR III

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hour: 1

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: The seminar will explore digital knowledge platforms (e-learning, publishing, crowd-sourced, etc.) that both disseminate knowledge and raise questions about what counts as expertise, who controls access to information, what power shifts from educational institutions to corporations, how quantification affects humanistic wisdom, and how academic autonomy and diversity are ultimately disrupted. Formerly offered as HURC 502. The total number of completions is five, whether taken as HURC 502 or HUMA 503. Instructor Permission Required. Repeatable for Credit.

HUMA 511 - PUBLIC HUMANITIES MASTERCLASS

Short Title: PUBLIC HUMANITIES MASTERCLASS

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hour: 1

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: The course explores the place of humanities in the public sphere, presenting tools for critical assessment. Undergraduate and graduate students from across campus form research cohorts with Rice faculty, outside scholars, and members of local institutions. Graduate students serve as mentors for undergraduates and will be assessed on papers and the class sessions they design and lead. Previously offered as HURC 311/HURC 511. The total number of completions allowed is four, whether taken as HURC 311/HURC 511 or HUMA 341/HUMA 511. Instructor Permission Required. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: HUMA 341. Repeatable for Credit.

HUMA 605 - DIACHRONIC MAPPING: THE RICE UNIVERSITY CAMPUS

Short Title: DIACHRONIC MAPPING

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory

Course Type: Lecture/Laboratory

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: The objective of this course is to collaboratively design a digital atlas of the Rice Campus where visual archives, locatable in time and space, can be embedded. The evolution of the campus will be presented by historians and training sessions in ArcGIS, Rhino, and Shared Shelf will be conducted by specialists. Formerly offered as HURC 605. The total number of times this course can be repeated is three from a combination of HURC 605 and HUMA 605. Instructor Permission Required. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: HUMA 415. Repeatable for Credit.

HUMA 606 - MASTERCLASS IN PUBLISHING, EDITING, PRESENTING AND PUBLIC WRITING

Short Title: MASTERCLASS IN PUBLISHING

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hour: 1

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

HUMA 677 - SPECIAL TOPICS

Short Title: SPECIAL TOPICS

Department: Humanities Division

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar, Lecture, Laboratory, Lecture/Laboratory, Internship/Practicum, Independent Study

Credit Hours: 1-4

Course Level: Graduate

Description: Topics and credit hours vary each semester. Contact department for current semester's topic(s). Repeatable for Credit.