Honors College
Honors Seminars
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Climate Change
Professor Diana Bernstein
HON 303 H005 TR 9:30 – 10:45
The climate is changing. What will the impacts of climate change be? How different is the current climate from past climates? Under the “business as usual” climate scenario, how will life look by the end of this century? In this seminar, we will explore the basic concepts and theories of past, present and future climates. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, we will learn not just the science of climate change, but also the impacts and constraints posed by economics, politics, culture, and public health, among other considerations. Students will have the opportunity to conduct collaborative and independent research projects, and we will work together to identify feasible solutions and evaluate possible outcomes for the planet, all the while deepening our understanding of its systems.
Decisions, Decisions…
Professor Annabelle Frazier
HON 303 H006 TR 1:00 – 2:15
Every aspect of our lives is shaped by the decisions we make. From our everyday lunch food choices (and their effect on our waistlines), to the decision to commit a crime (or worse, confess to a crime you didn’t commit), each decision has the potential to affect our futures. Yet decision making research from fields as diverse as public health, criminal justice, and economics highlights a fundamental human problem: our decisions are often irrational, contrary to our own self-interest, or driven by flawed assumptions, impulses, and mental shortcuts. Scientists in the interdisciplinary field of decision making continue to investigate the causes and potential solutions to this problem.
In this honors seminar, we will explore the major areas of scientific study examining judgment and decision-making processes. We’ll uncover key phenomena, theories, and concepts involved in decisions in different contexts, and experience the basics of experimental research methodology by replicating famous decision-making experiments. Using examples from films, media, and personal reflection, you will learn to detect and ‘diagnose’ common decision-making problems, as well as use science-based strategies to improve decision-making processes in your own life. Likewise, you will learn about interventions that have been designed to improve decision-making in a variety of fields and consider the philosophical and ethical questions raised by organizational and governmental efforts to broadly influence people’s choices. The course will culminate in an opportunity to bring new decision-making insights to your own field of interest, by developing a project that tests a decision-making theory, problem, or intervention.
The Evolution of Music by Blacks in America and Elsewhere
Professor Kimberley Davis
HON 303 H008 TR 2:30 – 3:45
Have you ever wondered where Stevie Wonder or Aretha Franklin got their groove? What about Earth, Wind, and Fire and their unique “sound?” We can’t leave out Whitney Houston or Beyoncé, Sam Cooke and Mahalia Jackson, or Sweet Honey in The Rock! And then there are the popular mediums of Rhythm and Blues, Jazz, Rap, and Hip-Hop, and let’s not forget about Detroit Techno and the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company. How have these artists and genres affected society, culture, politics, and education?
With important creations, developments, discoveries, and inventions, music by Blacks in America and elsewhere has influenced many other cultures and developments in music around the globe. However, in many instances, this has sadly gone unrecognized and unexplored. This seminar will involve an exploration of primary genres of music by Blacks from slavery to the present through an interdisciplinary lens. Students will have the opportunity to consider Black musical contributions through the social and health sciences, the humanities, the arts, and even the “hard” sciences.
Students will review artists from various periods, styles, and genres, analyze their musical performances, and then create—or attempt to create—their own performances or creative statements. We will work to establish the relationship between music and culture by examining music by Blacks as a translation of the values, traditions, world views, and life experiences of Black Americans and Blacks of other cultures. Research projects will culminate in digital essays on our shared website.
The Identity Crisis
Professor Timothy Gutman
HON 303 H002 MW 1:00 – 2:15
Who are we? How do identity labels affect our understandings of ourselves and others? What does it mean to feel like we belong in our various communities? This seminar will take a deep look at the concept of “identit(ies)” as well as historic and modern conversations that influence our understanding of what it means to claim or reject these notions.
It is not surprising that questions of identity politics have proven to be some of the most divisive and controversial. From immigration policies to LGBTQ+ rights, this class will consider issues that animate the headlines, as well as the ways presumed identities underlie the debates themselves. Focused on the intersection of cultural change, economic transformation, and media, topics of discussion will encompass personal identit(ies), the post-2020 “racial reckoning,” the rise of national populism, and European, Indian, and American politics. We will also think about the long-term rise in economic inequality and its relationship to culture wars, and how contemporary debates continue to be shaped by nineteenth-century questions and ideals. Together, we will craft interdisciplinary research projects that can help make sense of the world around us, respect our differences, and learn more about how we might mitigate and better understand the significance of identit(ies).
A Place Called School
Professor Tom O’Brien
HON 303 H001 MW 9:30 – 10:45
Ask anyone over the age of two to describe a “school,” and you will get a quick, confident answer: “It’s a place where people go to learn, to get educated.” But is that all school is? What other roles do schools play in our culture? As authentic places for growth, why do they provoke so much scrutiny? Endure perpetual cycles of reform? Why do they figure so prominently in the culture wars? Why do schools serve as lighting-rods for countless controversies, including disputes over human origins, prayer, free speech, standardized testing, college admissions, racial and gender equity, charter and voucher schools, school funding, gun control, parental control, student and LGBTQ rights, and environmental justice?
This course will examine school as a construct in U.S. politics and culture. We will explore schools as sites of contestation, where Americans go to promote and defend their disparate values, to fight for social justice, or to battle for a return to the past. We will also consider the conflicting goals we hold for schools and why some abandon schools altogether. Ultimately, we will seek to recognize the school in its complexities, as a modern human invention. Students will have opportunities to visit and study schools from multiple viewpoints, and practice various methods of research as they develop research projects pertinent to their own interests in how we are all being educated.
A Multi-Disciplinary Inquiry: Survey Design and Sampling for IDEA Solutions
Professor Joanne Tran
HON 303 H004 MW 11:00 – 12:15
When was the last time you were asked to respond to a survey? Customer satisfaction surveys, alumni surveys, consumer product evaluations, health surveys, and public opinion polls represent just a few of the surveys most of us routinely encounter. But how can you trust these results? Are they affected by poor survey design and methods? Is the survey sensitive to the unique needs and experiences of all participants?
In this seminar, students will be empowered to ask and find answers to questions within their respective fields related to Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA) and learn how to navigate the complexities of sampling to avoid biases and promote inclusivity in data collection. Questions such as representation of underrepresented groups evolved in STEM fields, factors contributing to gender-based perceptions in the workplace, disparities with healthcare access, cultural diversity portrayed in media, or technology made more accessible to individuals with disabilities are just a few examples.
Students will have the opportunity to examine their fields of study closely to discover strengths and areas for potential growth. The class will feature a variety of experiential learning and a wide range of reading materials drawn from survey methodologies, psychometrics, and IDEA literature. Through hands-on research using Qualtrics and SPSS, this seminar will equip students with the skills to conduct impactful research and contribute to positive change in their fields of study and prospective careers.
*A laptop is required for this course as students will need to register for Qualtrics and SPSS (both free for students) to design surveys and collect/analyze data, respectively.
Seeing Society through University Forum
Professor John Winters
HON 303 H007 TR 11:00 – 12:15
Fall 2024 is the fiftieth anniversary of University Forum, and since 1974, Forum has invited a vast array of speakers who are leading figures in science, humanities, politics, philosophy, entertainment, and other fields to Southern Miss. In this seminar, we will focus on how these speakers and their ideas reveal important aspects of the social, political, intellectual, and cultural world and the time in which they spoke. We will spend the semester exploring that history in the university archives, and students will be encouraged to pursue their own interests through deeper analyses and reflections on the speakers, history, and organization of Forum.
The research projects students might pursue are many. For example, say a rocket scientist was invited to speak on campus in 1980 to talk about advances in nuclear energy. One might ask: how has technology changed since then? How does their work reflect the state of the “space race” and/or the “arms race” between the Soviet Union and the United States during the Cold War? To what extent was the state of Mississippi, or the Gulf South more broadly, a manufacturing hub of nuclear or military technology or research, and how would this speech have connected to that?
Alternatively, students might consider patterns in Forum speakers and ask questions about why specific speakers were invited in any particular year and what these patterns reveal about that cultural moment, the University, or even the Forum Directors at the time. This class is an opportunity to explore the rich history of University Forum; after studying the Forum collection in the USM archives, the final project will involve publishing student research in the USM History Project, an online museum exhibition that catalogues USM’s history.
The Disney Dilemma
Professor Joyce Inman
HON 303 H003 TR 2:30-3:45
This Honors Seminar will focus on the stories and rhetoric of Disney and their far-reaching, and often surprising, influences in contemporary culture. Disney is a cultural icon with a global presence, and, together, we will explore and analyze what this means as we contemplate the values and ideals promoted by Disney through films, theme parks, and advertising, as well as education, business, and community housing models. In what ways, and to what ends, has Disney shaped our ideas about identity politics, place, community, education, and business? What might we learn about ourselves and our world by exploring the ways canonical fairytales have evolved and changed once they have been “Disneyfied?”
Beginning with these questions, we will work to develop a more sophisticated rhetorical awareness, a deeper understanding of academic, professional, and public genres, a multifaceted understanding of research methods and approaches, and a refined sense of craft. In addition, it is my hope that we each walk away with a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of the public weight and power of Disney.
Food Rules
Professor Angela Ball
HON 303 H001 TR 2:30-3:45
This course will explore food, glorious food: as generator and preserver of culture; as expression of identity, as beleaguered victim of big money, as expression of ethical values, as ritual and celebration. Readings will be wide ranging, as will possible topics for research and writing. For example, we will encounter April Lindner’s poem, “Full Moon with Snow,” along with her recipe for “Full Moon Soup.” Courtesy of Michael Paterniti, we will inhabit a picturesque village in Spain and contemplate the meaning of what may have been the world’s greatest piece of cheese. With Wendell Berry, we will explore the past and future of working the land. We will explore the foodways of Hattiesburg, visiting the Farmer’s Market and grocery stores, coffee shops and restaurants; and our own food ways by keeping food journals. When possible, we will sample foods from the poems, essays, and stories we are reading. We will build techniques for researching and writing substantial essays analyzing some aspect of food, thereby becoming part of the wider conversation. We will employ both senses and intellect, think both subjectively and objectively, and examine attitudes and customs current, longstanding, and vanished. Our explorations will be both traditional and experimental, employing both archives and direct experience. We will learn firsthand, with Marion Nestle, that “the joy of learning is like eating, and words are dishes to be savored.”
Minds, Morals, and Machines
Professor Kayla Stan
HON 303 H002 TR 9:30-10:45
“You will be baked and then there will be cake” – Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System (Portal I)
From Skynet and Hal in the movies to GLaDOS in the Portal video games, murderous Artificial Intelligences have graced our books, movies, television, and computer screens for years. With the explosion of so many publicly accessible AI’s now, we are forced to grapple with this technology not just as a fantasy on our screens, but in our everyday lives. There are strikes in Los Angeles, laws being made in the EU, courses being pushed out at rapid rates, and a news article every other week talking about how AI will replace all our jobs.
In this course, we will tackle the very real ethical concerns being raised around AI usage and potential dangers. Explored through books, news, games, videos, and conversations with AI itself we will discover how perceptions on AI have changed through time and across the world to reflect core concerns of societies and humanity. We will also look at how, often, the best inventions and intentions have unintended consequences. Through this discovery we will be forced to look at our own core morality and what it means to work with technology, instead of against it. Our research will ultimately lead to a collaborative project with artificial intelligence, and maybe, just maybe, we can use that towards something good. No coding experience required – only a healthy fascination with seeing how far you can push AI. And don’t worry – there will be cake (baking sold separately).
Let’s Get Weird: Adventures in the Early 20th Century Avant-Garde
Professor David Coley
HON 303 H003 TR 11-12:15
Are you tired of movies, books, plays, and music that mirror reality? Has it been too long since you were utterly baffled by a work of art? Are you ready to take a journey into the strangest, boldest, and most exciting compositions the 20th century has to offer? If so, this seminar is for you. In an age of realism and technological advancement, the writers and artists of the early 20th century avant-garde dared to dream of provocative new ways of thinking. From expressionism and symbolist art to Dada, futurism, and surrealism, the cutting edge of art before World War 2 continues to leave its impact on our culture today. We will examine the manifestos, artifacts, and works of those artists while also looking at their historical context, including the advancements in psychology, physics, and politics that made their work possible. Students will encounter a wide range of stories, poems, artworks, films, and musical compositions as we discuss one of the most significant explosions of style ever seen in human history. Students will also research the contemporary impact of those movements and will have the chance to develop their own avant-garde philosophies and compositions.
Sport Media & Society
Professor Mary Sheffer
HON 303 H004 MW 1-2:15
American sports are more than mere games of athletic ability. In fact, mediated sports (the media’s representation of a sport event) have helped form public opinion, contributed to the public’s acceptance and use of new technologies, and influenced American culture through the years. Some examples of this influence include the public’s adoption of high definition/4K television, racial integration through college football (especially in the South), and moral issues like supporting the individuals considered less affluent in today’s society. In this seminar, we’ll explore the role of sport media in American culture including the relationship between sport media and issue such as race, gender, sexuality, nationalism, capitalism, violence, and civic life. Issues in relation to ethics and the production of sport media also will be examined as students complete research projects designed to help them ask questions about the role of sport media in our everyday lives.
Virtue or Vengeance: Ethical Dimensions of Criminal Punishment and the Death Penalty
Professors Sam Bruton and Alan Thompson
HON 303 H005 MW 2:30 – 3:45
Why and how should crimes be punished by the state? Should the state execute persons guilty of the most serious crimes? Did you know that Mississippi now leads the world in mass incarceration? In this Honors Seminar, we will explore these and other issues regarding the ethical, historical, political and empirical dimensions of the criminal justice system in Mississippi and the U.S. We will examine the evolution of criminal punishment in the U.S., the effectiveness and discriminatory impact of mass incarceration, the personal and political effects of wrongful convictions and ongoing controversies regarding the death penalty. The class will feature a variety of distinguished guest speakers and a wide range of reading materials drawn from philosophy, criminal justice, history, and sociology. Students will participate in an empirical research project on contemporary attitudes towards the death penalty and a new digital humanities project on Mississippi’s death row.
The History and Politics of American Hip Hop
Professor Melody Causby
HON 303 H007 M-S 9:30-12:15 (Intersession)
Hip-hop is a uniquely American art form that has both shaped and been shaped by history and politics. This seminar will introduce you to the development of American hip-hop music and culture from the 1970s to today. We will study the musical qualities of hip-hop, as well as the cultural and societal forces that have influenced the development of the form. We will grapple with questions such as: What musical elements are crucial components of hip-hop? How does this genre fit into the music industry, and how has the music industry affected hip-hop? How do history and hip-hop connect? In what ways is hip-hop political, and how do hip-hop artists express their politics? How have technological advancements altered hip-hop? How has hip-hop impacted pop culture? No prior musical experience or knowledge is necessary. Students will conduct focused research about the culture of American hip-hop and complete projects that encourage them to explore hip-hop through various disciplinary perspectives.
Understanding Germany: Then and Now
Professors Andrew Haley, Sabine Heinhorst, and Joyce Inman
HON 303ca H001: Honors Abroad (Intersession)
This Honors 303 Seminar explores the ways Germany presents itself to the world, and the ways that world sees Germany. Germany has been labeled “the land of thinkers and poets,” the country of fairytales, a country at the forefront of trade and technology, and a welcoming country that many associate with tolerance and hope; Germany may also, however, be forever labeled by the horrors of its past. In this two-week exploration of Germany, we will learn about the history of Germany and the thinkers, trades, culture, and heritage to which many of us have never been exposed; then we will look at the ways Germany has confronted the darkest moments in its past and evolved since WWII and the Cold War.
We will begin in Lubeck, a picturesque town that was once the epicenter of Europe’s most powerful trade network, and then travel to Hamburg for New Year’s Eve, where we will spend a week exploring its world-renowned museums, bustling modern port, and the way the city grapples with its World War II history. We will then travel to Berlin, where Germany’s past meets its present. During a week in Berlin, we will consider the ways Germany has recognized and memorialized its past, visit the remains of the Berlin Wall, and explore the communities, restaurants, and markets that make Berlin one of Europe’s most global and diverse cities. Day trips will include visits the Baltic Sea and to the “Versailles of Germany.” Together, we will explore the many facets of German life that have made modern Germany.
After returning to the States, students will prepare a travel guide—a film, podcast, brochure, website, or other project—that incorporates our experiences in Germany and background research to provide insights into specific aspects of German life and culture.
Real Housewives of Heian Japan
Professor Kenneth Swope
ENG 303 H001 MW 9:30-10:45
This honors seminar introduces students to the rich and varied culture and society of the Japanese Heian period (794-1185) via examination of primary source texts such as Murasaki Shikibu’s The Tale of Genji (widely considered the world’s first novel); the Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon; and selections from Buddhist monks, poets, and warriors, among others. Notably, many of the works we’ll be reading were written by women. Reading these texts provides insights into many aspects of traditional Japanese and East Asian societies including their views on gender and sexuality, aesthetics, philosophies, religious beliefs, art, architecture, science and the environment, the supernatural, and cultural values. Furthermore, many of these works continue to influence modern Japanese society and culture and are celebrated in modern media such as manga and video games. Thus, we’ll also be reading commentaries on these texts and examining how they continue to exert an influence in both popular culture and Japanese society. Students will also immerse themselves in traditional Japanese culture via activities such as poetry parties and (hopefully) field trips.
Brave New Worlds: What Does Science Fiction Tell Us About Humanity?
Professor Don Yee
ENG 303 H002 MW 2:30-3:45
Going to the movies is often thought of as a diversion from our mundane lives and a chance to relax, zone-out, and be entertained. However, great movies often challenge us to come to grips with deep philosophical questions and uncomfortable ideas; they not only transport us to new places and times but also make us rethink everything we thought we knew. This course will emphasize how science fiction cinema has been used to explore a variety of broad questions about humans and the universe. These include our relationship to alien life, what it means to be human, mankind and machines, science as a process, and science and religion. In addition to exploring these themes in films, we will complete readings that will assist us in analyzing and contextualizing specific films and or the topics they broach. Our research will culminate in student-produced short films.
Race, Gender, and Issues of Equity in American Musical Theater
Professor Ian Cicco
HON 303 H003 TR 1:00-2:15
This seminar will examine issues related to race, gender, and sexual equity in American musical theater. Beginning with an overview of the Golden Age of Broadway, including shows such as Showboat, Oklahoma and The Music Man, students will examine how this earlier age influenced musicals throughout the 20th and 21st century, musicals such as Gypsy, Company, Les Miserables, Chicago, The Phantom of the Opera, Ragtime, Rent, Wicked, Avenue Q, Hamilton, and Six. Course activities will include readings and discussions, presentations from working professionals on Broadway, and student-led learning on specific topics (e.g., LGBTQIA2S+ issues, transphobia, and xenophobia). Additionally, students will work towards a culminating scholarly research project involving specific musicals, roles, and songs representing equity issues important to them.
Persuasion
Professor Marek Steedman
HON 303 H004 MW 11-12:15
“Mr. Elliot [thought Anne] was rational, discreet, polished, but he was not open. There was never any burst of feeling, any warmth of indignation or delight, at the evil or good of others. This, to Anne, was a decided imperfection.”
This familiar passage from Jane Austen’s novel Persuasion, highlights a distrust (though not rejection) of “reason” in writing by women in the late 18th and early 19th century. In this class we will explore the relation between “feeling” and “reason” as means to persuade, and be persuaded by, others. Who and what should we be persuaded by? Should we be wary of trying to influence others? Readings will include Isabelle de Charrièr, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Jane Austen, but we will supplement these with articles on the art of persuasion, drawn from contemporary psychology and political science.
The Disability Movement through Modern Times
Professor Jerry Alliston
HON 303 H005 TR 9:30-10:45
Did you know that the disability community is the largest minority in existence—and that anyone can become a member of that community at any time? Did you know that one out of every four Mississippians—indeed, one out of every four Americans—has a disability? Despite its prevalence, however, the disability community is often misunderstood and misrepresented in our society. In this course, we will enhance our understanding of this community and learn about the history of the disability movement, especially the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act as told by Judith Heumann, American Disability Rights Activist. Guest speakers, including local/state/national self-advocates, will share their personal stories related to the disability movement, their perspectives on the disability community, and their recommendations for future professionals. Students will have ample opportunities to share their views through class discussion and assignments. In addition, students will have opportunities to participate in community-based disability activities such as Inclusive Quidditch, Inclusive Gaming, and Special Olympic College events.
Aesthetics, Film, and the Paradox of Good-Bad Art
Professor Ian Dunkle
HON 303 H006 TR 4:00-5:15
I appreciate bad movies—there I said it. I love watching Point Break 1991, Troll 2 1990, anything by Ed Wood. I’m still rewatching old Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes. And I’m not alone. A recent group of philosophers of art have come out in defense of (some) bad movies. But this appreciation poses a philosophical puzzle: If, ordinarily, one appreciates films for their positive aesthetic qualities, how is it possible to appreciate bad movies—movies that lack those positive aesthetic qualities. This puzzle goes deeper when you consider that these bad movies are often appreciated for their bad aesthetic qualities: some movies (not all) are so bad, they’re good! How can this be? What does it mean to appreciate what have come to be called good-bad movies?
In this course we will watch movies, read philosophical, aesthetic and film-critical works, and have aesthetic discussions to explore this puzzle and questions surrounding it. Those questions will include the following: how to distinguish artistic and aesthetic value; what artistic value consists in, and how it relates to artistic success, achievement, and virtue; what it means to appreciate art in general; how Good-Bad art differs from failed art, Camp, Kitsch, and film maudit; whether ridicule can sometimes enhance our appreciation of art; and what role art-appreciation has in the life well-lived.
Religion and Empire
Professors Joseph Peterson and Michael Aderibigbe
HON 303 H007 TR 11:00-12:15
As the proverb goes, “When the missionaries came to Africa, they had the Bible and we had the land. And then they said, 'Let us pray'. But when the prayer was over, and we opened our eyes, we found that we had the Bible and they had the land!” Indeed, religion has often been used as a tool of imperialists, to stigmatize or erase native cultures, and to justify colonial expansion. But religion has also at times been a weapon of anti-colonial resistance and emancipation, as colonized peoples have found hope and activism in their religious values and institutions. And religions have also been adapted and transformed by contact with other cultures.
In this seminar, we will consider past and present-day moments where religions have been used, abused, or transformed by imperial contact: from the first Jesuit missionaries in Southeast Asia, to US residential schools that attempted to extinguish American Indian cultures; from European imperialists who portrayed Islam as a patriarchal and sexist religion, to modern-day aggressors who still justify invasions of Muslim countries as “saving brown women from brown men”; from the history of humanitarian charities, mission trips, and the international Praise and Worship industry; to the history of gay rights in colonial and postcolonial contexts. Through readings, discussion, and research, we will learn to think critically about religion’s relationship with race, power, gender and sexuality, and more.
Games for Change
Professor Craig Carey
HON 303 H001 TR 2:30-3:45
In this seminar, we’ll explore independent and experimental videogames as a tool for creative expression, conceptual thinking, and social and cultural change. We’ll investigate how digital games are used by artists, designers, scholars, and students to examine cultural representations and to work through social issues involving race, class, gender, sexuality, mental health, and the environment. As we consider these “games for change,” we’ll analyze how games blend the affordances of science, technology, aesthetics, and the humanities to create new pathways for collaborative and interdisciplinary learning. The course will be open and accessible to all kinds of players, from the experienced or casual to those without any prior gaming experience. The only prerequisite is a healthy desire to play games, analyze games, and even design a game of your own.
Examining the Gender Gap in Computing
Professor Sarah Lee
HON 303 H002 TR 9:30-10:45
Once considered feminized clerical labor, computer programmers were at one time referred to as “computer girls” in mainstream media. However, a shift in societal view throughout the 1960s and 1970s resulted in women no longer dominating computing, and they continue to be significantly underrepresented in these higher-wage jobs. This course will explore reasons that women continue to be underrepresented in computing education and career pathways. Together, we will contemplate the history of computer science as a discipline and career, the presentation of the field to young people, the lack of representation for women in computing, the impact of gender bias in the development of artificial intelligence, and current efforts to broaden participation among women in engineering, technology, and computer science.
Music, Propaganda, and Resistance
Professor Ed Hafer
HON 303 H003 TR 11:00-12:15
In this seminar, we will examine case studies drawn from various historical and cultural contexts in order to consider music’s ability to persuade, comfort, unite, and divide. We will begin by studying music’s role in World War II from the perspectives of the governments of Germany, the Soviet Union, and the United States, as well as from prisoners in Nazi concentration camps. We will also explore the music of and musical responses to important moments in American history: the American Civil Rights Era, the attacks of 9/11, and more recent instances of perceived police brutality and the Black Lives Matter movement. Music plays an often unexplored role in persuading, motivating, and resisting moments in our shared histories, and students will investigate and write about music used as propaganda and/or resistance in a context of their choosing.
Duped: Untruth and the Making of America
Professor Andrew Haley
HON 303 H004 MW 2:30-3:45
“Duped” examines how untruths have played a central role in the creation of America. Through historical case studies, we will consider why Americans are so easily seduced by hoaxes and conspiracy theories. The class will explore four case studies. We will start with the “The Great Moon Hoax” of 1835, famous for fooling thousands into believing there were man-bats on the moon. We will then look at how the Lost Cause, the South’s rewriting of the history of slavery and the Civil War, gained wide acceptance in the late nineteenth century. Next, we will consider how political conspiracies in the twentieth century, from false claims that World War I was started by bankers to the JFK assassination, created the modern politics of paranoia. And finally, we will consider the roots of America’s growing suspicion of science, paying special attention to the Pascagoula UFO abduction of 1973 and the contemporary flat-earth movement.
Why does the truth matter? How do we know what is true? With an eye to bridging the past and the future, we will investigate why Americans have been so willing to believe the unbelievable and consider whether two hundred and fifty years of gullibility has left America ill equipped to face what lies ahead.
Digital Storytelling
Professor Shane Wood
HON 303 H005 MW 9:30-10:45
Digital tools and mediums have created new opportunities for people to share their stories. These narratives circulate to wide audiences given the affordances of technology. For example, according to the Pew Research Center, in 2020, there were almost 14 million weekly unique users who downloaded NPR podcasts. Podcasts are one form of digital storytelling. Online blogs, which became popular at the turn of the 21st century, are another. Meanwhile, YouTube helped establish a new wave of storytelling through vlogs. And platforms like Twitch have helped create live online streaming communities. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok are interactive social media platforms that have amplified voices, perspectives, and communities as well. This class will research and explore the different shapes digital storytelling takes, and we’ll create narratives and stories through technologies, too.
Sport Media & Society
Professor Mary Sheffer
HON 303 H006 MW 1:00 – 2:15
American sports are more than mere games of athletic ability. In fact, mediated sports (the media’s representation of a sporting events) has helped form public opinion, contributed to the public’s acceptance and use of new technologies, and has influenced American culture through the years. Some examples of its influence include the public’s adoption of high-definition television, racial integration through college football (especially in the South), and moral issues like supporting the poor. In this seminar, we’ll explore the role of sport media in American culture including the influence of/relationship between sport media and issue such as race, gender, sexuality, nationalism, capitalism/consumerism, violence and civic life. Issues in relation to journalism ethics and the production of sport media also will be examined.
SPRING INTERSESSION CLASSES
Francophone Cinema
HON 303 H007
Professor Joanne Burnett
This course will introduce students to the world of Francophone cinema. “Francophone Cinema” refers to cinema that is produced, directed, and acted by French speakers whose origins reside outside of France, primarily from former French colonies of north, west, and central Africa, but also from North America, Polynesia, the Caribbean, and Europe. The sights, sounds, and people of these cinematic stories are blended with many other cultures and languages besides French such as Arabic, Bambara, Wolof, Flemish, and others. They tell unique stories that, while not centered on France, are nonetheless often influenced by colonial or neocolonial structures embedded in the current societal structure.
The award-winning films, chosen for the class, tell universal, sometimes tragic tales of fathers and sons; armed rebellion and occupation; perils of immigration and integration; and of “end-times” preppers. These stories form the many diverse and unique societies of the Francophone world today and help us confront issues facing our global neighbors. While French language experience is not necessary for this course, a high school or university basic language background in French may aid in enjoyment of the films. Films will be subtitled in English, and presentations and readings will be in English. In addition to watching the films, we will read articles and chapters that offer both analysis and context to better understand the production and direction of each film. Our research will help us better understand Francophone cultures and histories, media studies, identity politics, and the exciting discipline of global cinema.
Understanding Germany: Then and Now
HON 303ca H001
Professors Sabine Heinhorst, Joyce Inman, and Andrew Haley
This Honors 303 Seminar explores the ways Germany presents itself to the world, and the ways that world sees Germany. Germany has been labeled “the land of thinkers and poets,” the country of fairytales, a country at the forefront of trade and technology, and a welcoming country that many associate with tolerance and hope; Germany may also, however, be forever labeled by the horrors of its past. In this two-week exploration of Germany, we will learn about the history of Germany and the thinkers, trades, culture, and heritage to which many of us have never been exposed; then we will look at the ways Germany has confronted the darkest moments in its past and evolved since WW II and the Cold War.
We will spend one week in Hamburg, Germany, and surrounding towns exploring the historic Hanseatic League, Hamburg’s world-renowned museums, Christmas markets, and literary figures. We will then travel to Berlin, where Germany’s past meets its present. During a week in Berlin, we will consider the ways Germany has recognized and memorialized its past, visit the remains of the Berlin Wall, and explore the communities, restaurants, and markets that make Berlin one of Europe’s most global and diverse cities. Day trips will include visits to Lubeck and the Baltic Sea and to the “Versailles of Germany.” Together, we will explore the many facets of German life that have shaped the Germany we know today.
Climate Change
Professor Diana Bernstein
HON 303 H001 TR 9:30-10:45
The climate is changing. What will the impacts of climate change be? How different is the current climate from past climates? Under the “business as usual” climate scenario, how will life look by the end of this century? In this class, we will explore the basic concepts and theories of past, present and future climates. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, we will learn not just the science of climate change, but also the impacts and constraints posed by economics, politics, culture, and public health, among other considerations. We will work together to identify feasible solutions and evaluate possible outcomes for the planet, all the while deepening our understanding of its systems.
The Disability Movement through Modern Times
Professor Jerry Alliston
HON 303 H002 MW 2:30-3:45
Did you know that the disability community is the largest minority in existence—and that anyone can become a member of that community at any time? Did you know that one out of every four Mississippians—indeed, one out of every four Americans—has a disability? Despite its prevalence, however, the disability community is often misunderstood and misrepresented in our society. In this course, we will enhance our understanding of this community, learn about the history of the disability movement, and review current trends in services, practices, and resources. Guest speakers, including local/state/national self-advocates, will share their personal stories related to the disability movement, their perspectives on the disability community and their recommendations for future professionals. Students will have ample opportunities to share their views through class discussion and assignments. In addition, students will have opportunities to participate in community-based disability activities such as Inclusive Quidditch, Inclusive Gaming, and Special Olympic College events.
The History and Politics of American Hip-Hop
Professor Melody Causby
HON 303 H003 TR 1:00-2:15
Hip-hop is a uniquely American art form that has both shaped and been shaped by history and politics. This seminar will introduce you to the development of American hip-hop music and culture from the 1970s to today. We will study the musical qualities of hip-hop, as well as the cultural and societal forces that have influenced the development of the form. We will grapple with questions such as: What musical elements are crucial components of hip-hop? How does this genre fit into the music industry, and how has the music industry affected hip-hop? How do history and hip-hop connect? In what ways is hip-hop political, and how do hip-hop artists express their politics? How have technological advancements altered hip-hop? How has hip-hop impacted pop culture?
Persuasion
Professor Marek Steedman
HON 303 H004 MW 11:00-12:15
“Mr. Elliot [thought Anne] was rational, discreet, polished, but he was not open. There was never any burst of feeling, any warmth of indignation or delight, at the evil or good of others. This, to Anne, was a decided imperfection.”
This familiar passage from Jane Austen’s novel Persuasion, highlights a distrust (though not rejection) of “reason” in writing by women in the late 18th and early 19th century. In this class we will explore the relation between “feeling” and “reason” as means to persuade, and be persuaded by, others. Who and what should we be persuaded by? Should we be wary of trying to influence others? Readings will include Isabelle de Charrièr, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Jane Austen, but we will supplement these with articles on the art of persuasion, drawn from contemporary psychology and political science.
Slavery: History and Memory
Professor Max Grivno
HON 303 H005 MW 9:30-10:45
With the publication of the 1619 Project by the New York Times, the history and memory of American slavery entered public discourse in new and unsettling ways. As they dovetailed with the Movement for Black Lives, the 2020 Presidential Campaign and the controversies over the teaching of Critical Race Theory, these discussions exposed deep fissures in how Americans understood the role slavery played in shaping our nation’s economic, political, and social histories. Was the enslavement of Africans and African Americans a passing shadow in a larger history of expanding freedom and opportunity, or did it leave an indelible mark our nation? This course uses the controversies that have swirled around the 1619 Project as a touchstone for larger discussions of how Americans have constructed public memories of slavery since the 1800s. Through archival research, readings and classroom discussions, and visits to historical sites, we will examine the myriad ways that Americans have woven slavery into national narratives and consider how slavery continues to cast a shadow over race relations.
Digital Landscapes and Wild Spaces
Professor Kelli Sellers
HON 303 H006 MW 1:00-2:15
“What does it mean to construct digital worlds while the actual world is crumbling before our eyes?” - Jenny Odell
There is a tense and often opposing relationship between nature and technology. Many argue that digital worlds have disconnected us from nature and our endangered planet. At the same time, advances in technology and digital environments may provide the solutions to saving the planet. In this class, we will explore the complex relationship between nature and technology. We will examine a variety of media and genres (including fiction, memoir, music, poetry, movies, and virtual reality/gaming technologies and the metaverse) to gain a better understanding of the intersections between digital and natural spaces. Students will complete a final, interdisciplinary research project that allows them to investigate and propose new ways of navigating (or constructing) the many worlds in which we live.
Tolkien, Then and Now
Professors Jameela Lares and Leah Parker
Honors 303 H007 TR 11:00-12:15
J. R. R. Tolkien (1892–1973) has been lauded as the Author of the Twentieth Century, and this course proposes to evaluate that claim in terms of how Tolkien’s work reflects a deep understanding of past history, language, and culture and also how his influence continues. Students will explore, among other topics, historical linguistics (for instance, Old English and other premodern languages in which Tolkien was an expert); the question of how a single scholar can shift academic thinking (as with Tolkien’s treatment of Beowulf); issues of fan culture (such as Tolkien tourism in New Zealand and fiction-based religions); issues of marketing taste, particularly Tolkien’s outsize role in popularizing fantasy books and games; and how medievalism and fantasy respond to such current issues as nuclear proliferation and ecological anxieties.
Einstein, Civil War Nutrition, and Cults? Exploring Archival Collections and Research
Professor Jennifer Brannock
HON 303 H008 TR 4:00-5:15
In a world where research is going online, archives and special collections collect and preserve the often-forgotten materials – physical books, paper correspondence, photographs, diaries, newspapers clippings, and other documents from previous eras. Through readings, we will explore the concepts of archival silence, ethics (how to deal with the papers of a serial killer), archives as legacy, materials as propaganda, and using archival materials in your research. More importantly, this class will meet regularly in the archives at Southern Miss where you can get your hands on original materials including early science books, letters from the Civil Rights Movement, 16th century illuminated manuscripts, early Mississippi cookbooks, and materials about the 1973 Pascagoula Alien Abduction. Students will have the opportunity to curate a small exhibit, dive deep into materials based on their interests and majors, and create an archival collection about their lives.
Sport Media & Society
Professor Mary Sheffer
HON 303 H006 | MW 1:00 – 2:15
American sports are more than mere games of athletic ability. In fact, mediated sports (the media’s representation of a sporting events) has helped form public opinion, contributed to the public’s acceptance and use of new technologies, and has influenced American culture through the years. Some examples of its influence include the public’s adoption of high-definition television, racial integration through college football (especially in the South), and moral issues like supporting the poor. In this seminar, we’ll explore the role of sport media in American culture including the influence of/relationship between sport media and issue such as race, gender, sexuality, nationalism, capitalism/consumerism, violence and civic life. Issues in relation to journalism ethics and the production of sport media also will be examined.
The Red Record: Lynching, Literature, and Black Flesh in the Press
Professor Sherita Johnson & Professor Cheryl Jenkins
HON 303 H001 | TR 2:30 – 3:15
This course will examine narratives of racial terrorism in African American literature and journalism from 1880-1910. We will focus on writings that address the problem of "race"—how ideologies of white supremacy threaten Black citizenship—and the rampant racial violence that targeted African Americans especially in the Deep South as meticulously covered in the pages of Black publications (as compared also to coverage in white publications). With emphasis on the life and legacy of Ida B. Wells-Barnett, we will study her anti-lynching campaign as promoted in her series of publications: Southern Horrors (1892), A Red Record (1895) and Mob Rule in New Orleans (1900). Students will also conduct archival research in newspaper databases to understand better the spectacle of public lynchings in America during the early days of Jim Crow segregation.
Sonic Rhetoric: Multimodal Listening and Writing with Sound
Professor Shane Wood
HON 303 H003 | MW 11:00-12:15
“There are domains beyond the reach of language, where it is insufficient, where semiotic-conceptual work has to be and is done by means of other modes” – Gunther Kress
This class will explore sound. Sound is a medium for making meaning, creating knowledge, and building communities. Sound is all around us. How does sound shape our attitudes? How does sound affect our thoughts and behaviors? How does sound manipulate our feelings? How does sound make us move or act? We’ll start by defining “sonic rhetoric” and by drawing on multidisciplinary perspectives: sound studies, digital rhetoric, art and design, communication, media studies, and rhetoric and composition. In class, we’ll engage in deep listening practices and approach sound as a multisensory, embodied experience. This class will also require you to learn basic digital platforms and audio tools. As a class, we’ll examine media, soundtracks, music, identity, culture, and performance, and we’ll produce sound projects together.
Latin America Today
Professor Leah Fonder-Solano
HON 303 H002 | TR 9:30-10:45
Latin America refers to the southern portion of the Western Hemisphere comprising countries originally founded as colonies of the French, Portuguese, and Spanish Empires. This heritage combined with many other cultures (existing indigenous communities; West African slaves and their descendants; and twentieth-century immigrants from Europe, the Middle East, and Asia) to form the many diverse and unique societies of Latin America today. This course will explore threads of historic commonality seen in different regions as well as local features that make these countries unique.
While World Language experience is not required for this course, a high school or university basic language background in Spanish, French or Portuguese will aid in research and/or comprehension of primary texts. All students will learn to use cognates and other reading strategies to glean the main idea from brief texts in Spanish, French, or Portuguese as well as to effectively use machine translation. Individual guided research projects will allow students to meaningfully explore each of the course's major topics with depth and nuance. The final research project will apply each student's own disciplinary focus to a Latin American context.
Modern Entertainment as High Culture
Professor Lindsey Maxwell
HON 303 H004 | MW 2:30 – 3:45
This course will focus on understanding new media, entertainment, and pop culture, and the ways that we perceive of culture and people through media. Topics like movies, binge-watching, fantasy sports, and video games are often associated with ideas like "guilty pleasure," but this course will seek to challenge the idea that entertainment consumption should be considered low-culture or should result in feelings of guilt. We will discuss why people make the media choices they make, and how these choices shape how media consumers interact with the world. Additionally, we will discuss how media theories and an understanding of media should evolve to take into account modern entertainment consumption. This course will also touch on the idea of hegemony as being reinforced through popular media.
Digital Media & Politics
Professor Laura Alberti
HON 303 H005 | MW 9:30 – 10:45
In this seminar, we will study how digital technologies and social media platforms are transforming the political system. Through an exploration of internet-based electoral campaigns, grassroots digital advocacy, and a focus on case studies, we will examine the roles, and implications, of digital media in the political process. The goal is to develop analytical tools and skills for understanding political communication and participation in the times of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and big data. The course will be a mix of theoretical exploration and practical analysis of key moments, movements, and places in the United States and around the world.
La Frontera / The Border
Professors Luis Iglesias and Matthew Casey
HON 303 H001 | MW 9:30 – 10:45
This class will explore how images of the Mexico/US border have been constructed and shaped over time. Even before the current border was negotiated in 1848 under the Tratado de/Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and amended in 1854 with the Venta de la Mesilla/Gadsden Purchase in 1854, writers, artists, and moviemakers have documented life, culture and events along the Mexico/US border. We will examine historical and modern representations of border life and events in various mediums to develop a better understanding of the complex, powerful, and often violent cultures reflected in a region where 12 million people live and tens of thousands more visit every day. We will explore images and documents from the Spanish colonial heritage and conflicts between Mexico and the US, including such items as a letter from a New Orleans man conscripted to fight for Texas and a documentary about Pancho Villa. We will also explore texts from the contemporary situation, such as Gloria Anzaldúa’s Borderlands/ La frontera, the graphic comic called The Scar, and border wall graffiti.
The (dis)Ability Movement in Modern Times
Professor Jerry Alliston
HON 303 H002 | MW 2:30 – 3:45
Did you know that the disability community is the largest minority in existence—and that anyone can become a member of that community at any time? Did you know that one out of every four Mississippians—indeed, one out of every four Americans--has a disability? Despite its prevalence, however, the disability community is often misunderstood and misrepresented in our society. In this course, we will enhance our understanding of this community and the evolution of thinking about (dis)Ability over time. We will review the history of the disability movement, disability across the life span (early childhood, transition years, adulthood, and the older generation) and current trends in services, practices and resources. Guest speakers will share their personal stories of accomplishments, needs and recommendations for future professionals across a variety of fields and expertise.
Games for Change: Videogames and Critical Play
Professor Craig Carey
HON 303 H003 | TR 1:00 – 2:15
Videogames are no longer just outlets for fun and entertainment. In this seminar, we’ll explore videogames as a means for creative expression, instruments for conceptual thinking, and tools for social and cultural change. We’ll investigate how games are being used by artists, designers, scholars, and students to examine cultural representations and work through social issues involving race, class, gender, sexuality, mental health, and the environment. As we consider these “games for change,” we’ll analyze how formal elements of design, narrative, and aesthetics play a critical role in creating new pathways for change and opening new opportunities for collaborative and interdisciplinary learning. The course will be open and accessible for all kinds of players, from the experienced or casual player to those without any prior gaming experience. The only prerequisite is an appetite for critical play, and a healthy desire to learn how experimental games can level up your studies and research in exciting new directions.
Climate Change
Professor Diana Bernstein
HON 303 H004 | TR 9:30 – 10:45
The climate is changing. What will the impacts of climate change be? How different is the current climate from past climates? Under the “business as usual” climate scenario, how will life look by the end of this century? In this class, we will explore the basic concepts and theories of past, present and future climates. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, we will learn not just the science of climate change, but also the impacts and constraints posed by economics, politics, culture, and public health, among other considerations. We will work together to identify feasible solutions and evaluate possible outcomes for the planet, all the while deepening our understanding of its systems.
The History & Politics of American Hip-Hop
Professor Melody Causby
HON 303 H005 | TR 2:30 – 3:45
Hip-hop is a uniquely American art form that has both shaped and been shaped by history and politics. This seminar will introduce you to the development of American hip-hop music and culture from the 1970s to today. We will study the musical qualities of hip-hop, as well as the cultural and societal forces that have influenced the development of the form. We will grapple with questions such as: What musical elements are crucial components of hip-hop? How does this genre fit into the music industry, and how has the music industry affected hip-hop? How do history and hip-hop connect? In what ways is hip-hop political, and how do hip-hop artists express their politics? How have technological advancements altered hip-hop? How has hip-hop impacted pop culture?
"Know Thyself": Learning How to Learn by Understanding Metacognition
Professor Masha Krsmanovic
HON 303 H006 | MW 1:00 – 2:15
Every day, college students are exposed to a vast amount of information that they must learn, critically examine, and apply to different spheres of their academic, professional, and personal lives. In this course, students will gain an increased understanding of their learning processes and of themselves as thinkers and learners. Through the exploration of different metacognitive practices, students will discover how to expand their current knowledge by debunking deeply rooted and ineffective learning habits. Ultimately, students will learn how to monitor their learning strategies and self-reflect on their readiness for particular academic tasks. This goal is achieved through the exploration of theoretical foundations of student learning and motivation, as well as the best practices in the domains critical to student success – motivation, self-regulation, critical thinking, decision-making, goal-setting, study skills, time-management, presentation strategies, test-taking, resilience, and self-efficacy.
The Art of War
Professor Ken Swope
HON 303 H007 | TR 11:00 – 12:15
This honors seminar presents an overview and introduction to the rich and varied military thought and strategy texts from premodern China and Japan. Spanning from approximately 500 BC to the eighteenth century, we will be reading many of the most famous Asian strategic treatises ever written, including Sunzi’s Art of War, Sun Bin’s Military Methods, and Miyamoto Musashi’s Book of Five Rings. Reading these texts provides insights into many aspects of traditional East Asian societies including their philosophies, religious beliefs, and cultural values. Furthermore, many of these works have been applied to a huge variety of modern settings and contexts from business practices to dating and even child rearing! In addition to reading the texts themselves, we’ll also be reading commentaries on them and examining how they continue to exert an influence in both popular culture and military strategy down to the present.
Engaging the Arts in Humanitarian Service
Professor Candice Salyers
HON 303 H008 | MW 4:00-5:15
In its “Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” the United Nations states that all people have the right to “enjoy the arts.” But what exactly is the relationship between the arts and human rights? What role can artistic practices play in promoting dignity, peace building, environmental awareness, and social justice? Engaging both theory and practice, this course will consider the ways in which dance, theatre, visual art, music, and other forms of creative activity can become meaningful humanitarian interventions. We will explore case studies featuring artists and organizations around the world who engage what scholar John Paul Lederach calls “the moral imagination” to help transform experiences of human suffering into expressions of human potential. In the course of the semester, students will have the opportunity to gain real-world experience contributing their talents and ideas to benefit one such organization.
Tolkien: Then and Now
Professor Leah Parker and Professor Jameela Lares
T/Th 11-12:15, Hybrid
Class Section H002, Class Number 2811
J. R. R. Tolkien (1892–1973) has been lauded as the Author of the Twentieth Century and this course proposes to evaluate that claim in terms of how Tolkien’s work reflects a deep understanding of past history, language, and culture and also in terms of the many ways in which his influence pervades global society into the current century. Students will explore, among other topics:
- historical linguistics (including some exposure to Old English and other premodern languages in which Tolkien was an expert);
- how a single scholar can revolutionize academic thinking (as with Tolkien’s treatment of Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight);
- issues of internationalism (such as Tolkien tourism in New Zealand and the counter-cultural political stances of self-proclaimed hobbits); and
- how medievalism and fantasy respond to such current issues as nuclear proliferation and ecological anxieties.
- issues of marketing taste, particularly Tolkien’s outsize role in popularizing fantasy books and games; and
- how medievalism and fantasy respond to such current issues as nuclear proliferation and ecological anxieties.
Students will be encouraged to bring in their own disciplinary expertise; the final project will encourage students to apply course concepts to their own discipline. On a weekly basis, students will post positions and questions for consideration during class discussion; in addition, each week one student will facilitate a portion of the discussion. Students will also complete longer papers for both midterm and final assessment.
Cosmopolitan Crucibles: London and Paris in the Age of Migration
Professor Josh Hill and Professor Andrew Haley
January Intersession, CHAT (MTWRF, 2-4:45pm, via Zoom)
Class Section H001, Class Number 2810
In many ways, the modern world has gotten smaller. Digital communications have decreased the difficulty of reaching people a world away, and the internet has exposed us to cultures that have historically been relegated to the pages of National Geographic – and vice versa. Certain cities, however, have throughout their histories brought people of various cultures together in close proximity – not always with happy results. London and Paris are perhaps the paragons of these “Cosmopolitan Crucibles.” This course explores the idea of cosmopolitan cities through the migration and integration experiences of several distinct groups of people over the course of the 20th Century, examining the impacts they’ve had on politics, culture, and cuisine within Paris and London. Through virtual exploration, we will see how migrants have helped shape London and Paris into the cities we see today, how they continue to shape these cities, and how their experiences can help us understand the problems and possibilities the world faces in an age of mass migration.
The Economic History and Future of Hattiesburg
Professor Chad Miller
M/W 2:30-3:45, Hybrid
Class Section H004, Class Number 2813
Since its founding as a rail and timber center in the 1880s, Hattiesburg has evolved into an economy based on the three pillars of education, healthcare, and the military. Hattiesburg also has a complex and troubling economic history with regard to race—as William Sturkey, the author of Hattiesburg An American City in Black and White wrote, “If you really want to understand Jim Crow ―what it was and how African Americans rose up to defeat it― . . . you should start by visiting Hattiesburg, Mississippi.” Today, the City of Hattiesburg has the highest percentage of millennials (35%) compared to other major cities in the Gulf South and a Black population of 52%. Recently, city leaders have strived to improve the quality-of-place through urban planning, cultural amenities, and the arts. However, there is more work to be done. This course will both explore the economic history of Hattiesburg and examine its future from an economic development perspective. We will talk with community leaders and, if health and safety allow, conduct site visits to better understand our city.
Why News Matters: The Fourth Estate and its Role in Shaping History
Professor Maggie Williams
M/W 9:30-10:45, Hybrid
Class Section H006, Class Number 2815
In today’s world with its complex web of social and more traditional media, sorting through the information overload faced daily may seem daunting and lack appeal. This class will use news, current events and presentations from guest speakers to provide an understanding of why news matters and what news means to an individual and to society. We will use news events to take a look at bigger issues -- politics, racism, education, criminal justice and others -- to provide a framework for understanding the way news coverage can influence and establish a long-standing hot-button public issue. The class will also consider media theories that can shed light on how media intersects with society.
Conflict and Culture: The Interaction of Violence and Humanity in the Modern Age
Professor Andy Wiest
T/Th 9:30-10:45, Hybrid
Class Section H008, Class Number 9298
War is a staple of the modern age – a staple covered in nearly every textbook. But those books rarely go beneath the surface history of great leaders, titanic battles, and flawed peace treaties. War, though, is much deeper; much more visceral than that.
This class will certainly look at why and what modern (read Napoleon and beyond) wars were. But it will also look at the humanity of war, using tools like prose, poetry, letters, diaries, and veteran visits to the classroom. War is violence at its most horrific; humanity at its most barbaric. I want to investigate the question of how this barbarity and violence interacts with the souls and psyches of the young men and women sent to fight war and with the families that they left behind.
Media, Sports and Society
Professor Mary Sheffer
T/Th 1-2:15, Hybrid
Class Section H007, Class Number 9297
American sports are more than mere games of athletic ability. In fact, mediated sports (the media’s representation of a sport event) has helped form public opinion, contributed to the public’s acceptance and use of new technologies, and has influenced American culture through the years. Some examples of the influence of mediates sports include the public’s adoption of high definition television, racial integration through college football (especially in the South), and moral issues like supporting the poor. In this seminar, we’ll explore the role of sport media in American culture, including the influence of/relationship between sport media and issue such as race, gender, sexuality, nationalism, capitalism/consumerism, violence and civic life. Issues in relation to journalism ethics and the production of sport media also will be examined.
Deep Listening: Sonic Culture and Acoustic Ecology
Professor Jon Pluskota
M 6-9, Hybrid
Class Section H003, Class Number 2812
Listen. Close your eyes and just listen. What do you hear? Birds? Traffic? Conversation? Churchbells? Machines? These sounds make up our soundscapes and convey rich information about time, place, and culture. In this course, we will explore the power of sound and sonic culture through deep listening and analysis of humans and their environments. We will record, deconstruct, and critique sounds and soundscapes that encompass our daily lives using cultural, social, philosophical, and creative perspectives. You’ll learn about and apply concepts of acoustic ecology, aurality, silence, sonic art, noise, immersion, and more, through hands-on projects, evening soundwalks and reflections that will help us understand and better appreciate the hidden stories that sound conveys. Occasional soundwalks will take place during class time at locations to be determined (including at Lake Thoreau Environmental Center).
Food Rules
Professor Angela Ball
M/W 11-12:15, Hybrid
Class Section H005, Class Number 2814
This course will explore food, glorious food: as generator and preserver of culture; as expression of identity, as beleaguered victim of big money, as expression of ethical values, as ritual and celebration. Readings will be wide ranging, as will possible topics for writing. For example, we will encounter April Lindner’s poem, “Full Moon with Snow,” along with her recipe for “Full Moon Soup.” Courtesy of Michael Paterniti, we will ride cross-country with Einstein’s brain. With Wendell Berry, we will contemplate the past and future of working the land. If safety allows, we will sample foods from the poems, essays, and stories we are reading. In short, we will employ both senses and intellect, think both subjectively and objectively, and examine attitudes and customs current, longstanding, and vanished. Hattiesburg restaurateur and writer Robert St. John will talk to us about what food has meant to him as an enterprising restaurateur and writer. We will learn firsthand, with Marion Nestle, that “the joy of learning is like eating, and words are dishes to be savored.”
Climate Change
HON 303 H001 #3261 (T/Th 11-12:15)
Professor Diana Bernstein
The climate is changing. What will the impacts of climate change be? How different is the current climate from past climates? Under the “business as usual” climate scenario, how will life look by the end of this century? In this class, we will explore the basic concepts and theories of past, present and future climates. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, we will learn not just the science of climate change, but also the impacts and constraints posed by economics, politics, culture, and public health, among other considerations. We will work together to identify feasible solutions and evaluate possible outcomes for the planet, all the while deepening our understanding of its systems.
HON 303 H002 #3262 (M/W 1-2:15)
Professor Jerry Alliston
The (dis)Ability Movement in Modern Times
Did you know that the disability community is the largest minority in existence—and that anyone can become a member of that community at any time? Did you know that one out of every four Mississippians—indeed, one out of every four Americans--has a disability? Despite its prevalence, however, the disability community is often misunderstood and misrepresented in our society. In this course, we will enhance our understanding of this community and the evolution of thinking about (dis)Ability over time. We will review the history of the disability movement, disability across the life span (early childhood, transition years, adulthood, and the older generation) and current trends in services, practices and resources. Guest speakers will share their personal stories of accomplishments, needs and recommendations for future professionals across a variety of fields and expertise.
HON 303 H003 #3263 (T/Th 9:30-10:45)
Professor David Cochran and Professor Nicolle Jordan
There’s No Place Like Home
What is home and why is it so important to us? What role do place, community, and landscape play in making homes? In this seminar, we will study stories, histories, and archival materials that touch on the idea of home. By examining such themes as public/private life, property ownership, social status, and social justice, we’ll gain insight into how people turn the places where they live into havens of safety and comfort, even in the most adverse situations. In particular, we’ll study three historical episodes of adversity. First, we’ll look at the 18th and 19th centuries, when countless British immigrants sought better lives in the US. Next, we’ll explore the meaning of home in the American South during the Great Migration and the Civil Rights era of the 20th century. Finally, we’ll consider how home and community endured--or collapsed under--the adversity of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.
HON 303 H004 #3264 (M/W 2:30-3:45)
Professor Holly Foster
Health and Wellness in Higher Education
Research suggests that health is an urgent issue on college campuses today. We know that health is a key factor in student success and retention and that the stress and lifestyle changes that come with university life affect both physical and mental wellbeing. Yet, college students often forget to focus on health, and in a recent survey, just 36% of students rated their overall health as very good. In this class, we will explore the issue of health and wellness in higher education, with particular attention to topics such as stress management, physical health, mental health, relationships, and substance abuse. We will also examine how colleges and universities address health and wellness among students and the costs and benefits of the services they provide. We will ask, and attempt to answer, some questions such as:
- What health issues most affect college students? How do those health issues impact academic performance and student success?
- What particular health issues are college student facing today? How do college students cope with those issues?
- What obligations do institutions of higher education have to provide health and wellness services to students? What are the implications of providing those services?
HON 303 - H005 #3265 (M/W 1-2:15)
Professor Maria Wallace
Feminist Science Studies
Feminist Science Studies (FSS) is a growing international field of study. Students curious about feminist studies, access and marginalization in STEM disciplines, and questions about scientific knowledge-making will find this course of interest.
Drawing from multiple disciplines (e.g., feminist studies, philosophy, sociology, education, and anthropology to name a few), this course will explore the social, political, and cultural dynamics of scientific inquiry. We will ask, and attempt to answer, such questions as:
- What does scientific inquiry make un/intelligible?
- How does scientific inquiry shape conceptions of sex, gender, race, and knowledge?
- What can we learn from the stories, voices, and traditions of those marginalized within (and by) the field science?
- How do feminist modes of inquiry render new modes of thinking, knowing, and being “scientific” possible?
- What is at stake in such taken-for-granted binaries as (a) objectivity/subjectivity; (b) sex/gender; and (d) true/false?
In the course of the semester, students will be invited to reflect on, develop, and enact their own feminist interventions into the field of science.
HON 303 H006 #3266 (T/Th 2:30-3:45)
Professor Kathryn New and Professor Hali Black
Fake News and Misinformation in Today’s Digital Information Age
What does it mean to be an information consumer? How do you typically choose to consume information? Do you rely on social media platforms or other online sources for your news? In our current reality, information is often manipulated, and false information is produced without easy detection. Mobile access to information decreases the need for users to seek information, as they are already increasingly over-exposed to information from multiple sources in a variety of formats. Because of this over-exposure to information and the increasing amount of misinformation being circulated, it is now more important than ever for information consumers to understand the nature of information and to be able to evaluate the authority of information sources in order to become experienced information consumers in today’s digital information age. This course will explore the nature of information, including recent fake news and misinformation trends, methods for evaluating authority, and approaches to distinguishing the credibility of information sources. In our exploration of these issues, we will make use of a variety of texts, including but not limited to speeches, newspaper articles, scholarly works, websites, audio and visual media, advertisements, political campaigns, and (of course) social media platforms.
HON 303 H007 #3267 (T/Th 1-2:15)
Professor Donald Sacco
Evolutionary Psychology
Human beings are a profoundly complex species, and the complexity of the human experience over the lifespan is a diverse web of interactions with the environment, interactions with other people and species, and a search for meaning through it all. Understanding the diversity of human experience has often been the work of philosophers, social scientists, religious thinkers, and anthropologists. This course will attempt to understand the human experience from an evolutionary scientific perspective. We will explore how basic, evolutionary motives ranging from survival to sexuality have profoundly influenced human creative expression, technological development, consumer behavior, pet ownership, and addiction, just to name a few. We will explore how an understanding of evolutionary processes contributes to treating illness, improving human rights and improving well-being. The engine of evolutionary processes is diversity; variability ensures survival over time in ever-changing environments. Thus, appreciating the relationship between the human condition and evolutionary processes may instill a sense of compassion for all kinds of people, thus serving as a catalyst for positive social change. Finally, we will explore how humans navigate one of the most daunting features of existence, the knowledge that we will die and how social and religious institutions evolved not only for social organization, but also potentially as a means of deriving comfort from awareness of our mortality.
HON 303 H008 #3269 (M/W 9:30-10:45)
Professor Craig Carey
The Art of Video Games
No longer mere toys and child’s play, video games are radically transforming how we interact with art and culture. In this seminar, we’ll explore the contemporary world of video games—primarily indie games and art games—in the broader context of the humanities. What does it mean to study video games as legitimate forms of artistic and cultural expression? What is art? What is a game? How do we parse the changing lines between art, entertainment, culture, and play? In what ways do video games build on formal elements found in painting, music, dance, theater, literature, film, architecture, mathematics, graphic design, and other media?
This seminar provides an introduction to these questions by surveying the diverse contexts in which games are developed and studied as works of art. Designed for gamers and non-games alike, the course will teach students how to read games, write about games, discuss games, and even make a game of their own. No gaming experience is required—just a desire to learn more about how video games are expanding the possibilities for creative expression.
HON 303 H001 #2875
The Times They are A-Changin’: America and the 1960s
Dr. Maureen Ryan
M/W, 9:30-10:45
The iconic Sixties: Mini-skirts and draft dodgers; the Beatles and burning crosses; assassinations and demonstrations. No single decade in America's recent past looms larger in contemporary America’s cultural memory—or is so misunderstood—as the 1960s. As SDS member and 60s scholar Todd Gitlin notes, “perhaps no decade has suffered” the inevitable and unfortunate reductionism that simplistically labels all historical periods “more than ‘the Sixties,’ which in popular parlance has come to stand for a single seamless whole.”
Complicating and expanding the arbitrary periodization of the 1960s, recent scholars suggest that it is really the "long 1960s”—that is, the late 1950s through the early 1970s—that created contemporary America: the Cold War and anti-communism; the Vietnam War; the social protest movements of the 1960s and '70s (anti-war, Civil Rights, women's rights). The dramatic social changes that resulted from this tumultuous period redefined American life, and they account for the political and cultural conservatism that prevails in the U.S. today.
This course will examine perceptions and misperceptions about the Sixties, and the broader concept of the long 1960s, through cultural texts (journalism, film, literature, etc.) of the era.
HON 303 H002 #2876
Food Rules
Dr. Angela Ball
M/W, 11-12:15
This course will explore food, glorious food: as generator and preserver of culture; as expression of identity, as beleaguered victim of big money, as expression of ethical values, as ritual and celebration. Readings will be wide ranging, as will possible topics for writing. For example, we will encounter April Lindner’s poem, “Full Moon with Snow,” along with her recipe for “Full Moon Soup.” Courtesy of Michael Paterniti, we will ride cross-country with Einstein’s brain. With Wendell Berry, we will contemplate the past and future of working the land. When possible, we will sample foods from the poems, essays, and stories we are reading. In short, we will employ both senses and intellect, think both subjectively and objectively, and examine attitudes and customs current, longstanding, and vanished. Hattiesburg restaurateur and writer Robert St. John will talk to us about what food has meant to him as an enterprising restaurateur and writer. We will learn firsthand, with Marion Nestle, that “the joy of learning is like eating, and words are dishes to be savored.”
HON 303 H003 #2877
Race, Gender, and American Citizenship from 1900 to Today
Dr. Rebecca Tuuri
M/W, 1-2:15
What does it mean to be an American citizen? Who has the right to claim that title? Why? This course will explore the raced and gendered nuances of citizenship in the twentieth- and twenty-first-century United States. We will begin by studying women’s fight for suffrage in the context of both World War I and Jim Crow, exploring how the struggle for citizenship has often been built on the backs of others. We will then shift to consider how the mid-century Civil Rights Movement both incorporated and silenced the concerns of diverse racial groups and women. Finally, we will end by examining citizenship debates around voter-id reform, incarceration, and immigration over the last forty years. In our exploration, we will make use of a variety of texts, from speeches, newspaper articles, and scholarly works to photographs, advertisements, poetry, music, and visual art.
HON 303 H004 #2878
Exploring Al-andalus: A Celebration of the Arts and Sciences in Medieval Spain
Dr. Jeanne Gillespie
T/Th, 1-2:15
This course will examine important discoveries, cultural practices, and artistic endeavors that emerged during the florescence of Moorish Spain (700-900 CE). This was a time when people of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim faiths lived and worked together in relative harmony. Al-Andalus was the place that celebrated rhyming poetry, indoor plumbing, algebra, ceramic technology, dessert, pillows, agricultural advances and many other important aspects of "modernity." In this course, we will investigate how these practices and technologies have impacted our own lives and lifestyles.
HON 303 H005 #2879
Living Green: Local to Global Sustainability Practices
Dr. Erich Connell and Dr. Mark Puckett
T/Th 2:30-3:45
Living Green will explore the many perspectives of sustainability, from the food we eat to the air we breathe to the materials we make—and the relationship between all of these. We will ask and attempt to answer such questions as: How do Americans measure up in relation to the rest of the world in terms of our global footprint? Why does that matter? How does eating at McDonald's shift the CO2 index in Malawi? And what does it really mean to live “sustainably”? We will explore these and many other ideas in an effort understand how we can make a positive difference in our environment. Biology, nutrition, technology: it all matters when you’re Living Green!
HON 303 H006 #2880
Shaping the Future and Becoming a Change Agent
Dr. Joyce Inman
T/Th 9:30-10:45
I hope you learn to make it on your own
And if you love yourself just know you'll never be alone...
And when you get it all just remember one thing
Remember one thing: That one man could change the world.
– Big Sean
Artists from Big Sean and Christina Aguilera to Michael Jackson and Sam Cooke have written songs about the power of young people to change the world. Like these artists, the “Global Shapers Survey” recognizes that youth have the power to make change. Offered every two years, this survey asks both “how young people see the world” and “what they want to do about it.” Beginning from the premise that “with the largest youth population in history, there is an unprecedented opportunity for young people to take an active role in shaping our future,” The “Global Shapers Survey” digs into “how young people see the world” and “what they want to do about it.” In this class, we will explore those same ideas: what are the issues that concern you—and what do you want to do about them? After investigating the idea of change itself and examining the data and information provided in the Global Shapers Survey, our class is going to be based almost exclusively on your concerns about the world around us. We will determine what topics we want to investigate and the tools we need to investigate them; from there, we will work—collectively and individually—to create projects that we think can be starting points for real change.
HON 303 H001 #2993
Al Dente: Food, Culture, and Identity at Home and Abroad
Andrew P. Haley
Wednesdays 3:00-6:15pm
What do the foods you eat tell others about who you are? In this seminar, we will look at how food has contributed to creating national identities, global migrations, economic inequalities, and international conflicts.
We will start abroad and then return home. In the first part of the course, we will look at case studies from four regions of the globe where food has united and divided: East Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. We will explore these distant lands through nonfiction as well as fiction, the food itself (yes, there will be tastings), and popular culture. Then we will return to the United States and use food to think about our own identities.
Through ethnographic studies of contemporary Mississippi foodways or historical studies of community cookbooks housed in the Culinary Collection at Southern Miss, we will consider how what we eat makes us who we are.
HON 303 H002 #2994
A History of Weird Music
Ed Hafer
T/Th 3:00 to 4:30pm
A work composed for tape recorder? A piece written for amplified cactus? A piano composition that doesn’t require a piano? A string quartet performed by four players in four helicopters? Music whose score is a comic strip? These are but a few examples of twentieth-century compositions that defy conventions and place unprecedented demands on their audiences. Where do such works come from? What were the composers thinking? What is the role of the audience in these performances?
This seminar will attempt to determine what led musicians to reject tradition in favor of such “weird” approaches to musical composition. In our investigations, we will also examine parallel developments in the visual arts, dance, architecture, and experimental film. We will also look at audience responses to weird music, from indifference to eager enthusiasm to full-blown riots. No musical background is required.
HON 303 H003 #2995
Conflict and Culture: The Interaction of Violence and Humanity in the Modern Age
Andy Wiest
T/TH 8:00-9:30am
War is a staple of the modern age – a staple covered in nearly every textbook. But those books rarely go beneath the surface history of great leaders, titanic battles, and flawed peace treaties. War, though, is much deeper; much more visceral than that.
This class will certainly look at why and what modern (read Napoleon and beyond) wars were. But it will also look at the humanity of war, using tools like prose, poetry, letters, diaries, and veteran visits to the classroom. War is violence at its most horrific; humanity at its most barbaric. I want to investigate the question of how this barbarity and violence interacts with the souls and psyches of the young men and women sent to fight war and with the families that they left behind.
HON 303 H004 #2996
Public Art – Murals, Graffiti and Sculpture: Its Place in our Past, Present and Future
Traci Stover
T/TH 9:45-11:15am
From the pyramids of Giza to the rural highways of North America, usually outdoors and always for the many rather than the few, public art ranges from government funded monuments to urban underpass graffiti. Whether voicing support of power, criticizing the status quo or celebrating its local community, public art is meant to be experienced by the public.
In this class we will look at murals, sculpture, train tagging, and more. We will compare the imagery of the past to contemporary public art and ask: What are the motivations behind these artworks and what messages are they are trying to convey? Is the art acceptable to those who view it or is it confrontational? How does funding, or lack thereof affect the outcome of the artworks? Can civic monuments re-define communities? We will go out into our community and take note of the public art we encounter. We will become active participants in the communication that is public art.
HON 303 H005 #2997
The Science of Happiness
Randy Arnau
M/W 8:00-9:30am
Many of us believe that we will eventually be happy once we achieve our goals and get what we want—a college degree, the right job, the right income—not realizing that the happiness that results from getting what we want quickly fades, and that happiness is actually a skill that can be cultivated.
In this course, we will engage in a scientific and practical exploration of happiness, including factors that contribute to happiness, including character strengths, positive emotions, motivation, relationships, positive mental health, and physical health. We will explore theories of happiness and positive emotions, as well as what the research says about character strengths that are associated with happiness and well-being, such as gratitude, sense of humor, optimism, and perseverance.
You will learn what your own character strengths are and how to use that knowledge to capitalize on those strengths. We will learn about scientifically supported methods for increasing happiness, and you will be applying these interventions on yourself, so that you can learn skills to help you become the best version of yourself.
HON 303 H006 #2998
Feeding the Body and the Soul
Holly Huye and Jennifer Regan
M/W 9:45-11:15am
What we eat means so much more to us than just the nutrients that our physical body needs. In this seminar we will explore the myths, history, and physiology of food and nutrition, highlighting some interesting food trends and themes along the way. This interactive class will use the sciences, the arts, and the literature to learn more about how the foods we love to eat affect our mind, body, and emotions and conversely, how our culture affects the foods we eat. We will read Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach for an informative and entertaining digestive journey.
This seminar will surely whet your appetite and take you into the world of food and nutrition that travels beyond our kitchen table!
HON 303 H007 #2999
1913 and the Birth of Modern Culture
Jonathan Barron
M/W 1:15-2:45pm
In this class, we will look at a single year that changed everything people thought about art, culture, and the political order: 1913.
In the domain of politics, the rise of nationalism would begin the lead-up to WWI and the end of the Austro-Hungarian, Russian, and Ottoman empires, while agitation by workers—including the famous Patterson Silk Strike—led to changing labor laws and debates about capitalism across the globe.
In culture, Igor Stravinsky’s controversial ballet, “Rite of Spring,” with Vaslav Nijinsky as the lead dancer, provoked a riot on its debut in Paris; back in the United States, the famous Armory Show shocked the public with new abstract art from Cubists, Futurists, and others. Literary modernism was born in the Poetry Bookshop in London and in the works of such writers as TS Eliot, Robert Frost, and Willa Cather.
Reading, studying, listening, and analyzing, we will examine these and other happenings in Europe and the United States as a means of understanding how the modern world was borne from them, and how they presaged the global crisis that would become World War I.