Interdisciplinary Studies

Elements of understanding, speaking, reading, and writing Arabic.

This course is a continuation of work begun in Arabic 101. It aims at developing and advancing four language skills: Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing.

This course introduces students to data science and research design. This course is divided into two parts. During the first half of the semester, students will be introduced to theories of science and how systematic and falsifiable analysis applies to a wide variety of fields of study. During the second half of the semester, students will be introduced to data management, statistical and computer programming software, and econometrics.

Exploration of some of the major works, both literary and philosophical, that have shaped the evolution of European and American thought, from ancient Greece through the 19th century. Authors and texts may include Homer, Sophocles, Plato, the Bible, St. Augustine, Dante, Rabelais, Shakespeare, Descartes, Milton, Locke, Voltaire, Shelley, Melville, and others. Through reading, writing, and discussion of complete works, the student is introduced to those humanistic skills and critical methods that have traditionally distinguished the liberally education person.

Multidisciplinary survey of issues, concepts, and approaches to peace and justice at individual, social, and cultural levels. Topics include models of peace, the nature and causes of conflict, theory and practice of nonviolence, arms and disarmament, international peace-keeping strategies, and the relationship between peace, human rights, and social justice. This course may contain a service learning and/or internship component.

This course will examine the nature of philosophy (‘the love of wisdom’) through a particular question: what is the meaning of love? Love is arguably one of the most basic, most universal, most natural things that human beings do, and yet it is also one of the most complex and paradoxical; and many of our most basic intuitions about love are irreconcilable. We believe that love should be passionate, and yet that it should transcend bodily desires. We believe that love is the fusion of two incomplete selves, and yet, we also believe that love should be grounded
in one’s own emotional and moral strength. We believe in ‘soul mates,’ while also holding that ‘there are a lot of fish in the sea.’ We believe that love makes us stronger, and that ‘love hurts.’ We see it as both a basic biological impulse, and as a reflection of the divine in humanity. In this course we shall examine the nature of this complex phenomenon through the lenses of religious thought, film, and philosophy.

An exploration of Jewish responses to the holocaust, looking at Jewish religious, literary, ethical, and philosophical responses to the Holocaust. The theme of the course will be how the Holocaust threatens traditional understandings of Judaism, and monotheism, social ethics, spirituality, and community.

Practice in oral and written expression, grammar review, readings, and discussions of writing in Arabic. Prerequisite: Arabic 102 or its equivalent.

Continuation of practice in oral and written expression, grammar review, readings, and discussions of writing in Arabic. Prerequisite: Arabic 201

Interdisciplinary introduction to the Civil War Era (roughly 1848-1877) in American history. Student is introduced to the basic history of the Civil War, with an emphasis on the fundamental causes of the war, the war years themselves, both at home and on the battlefield, and Reconstruction period. Assigned readings include a mix of primary sources and a basic survey text. History majors may count CWES 205 as a major course.

This course has two objectives: firstly, to conduct an interdisciplinary investigation of the various ways that the medical profession, patients, and the state narrate illness; secondly to chart the history of medicine and public health, paying particular attention to the changing roles of doctors, the history of disease causation, and how these two phenomena overlap especially in the mid to late nineteenth century. While this course covers a broad chronology, it focuses on the Civil War era, which gave rise to sanitary principles and provided the foundation for the bacteriological revolution at the end of the nineteenth century. CWES 212 and HIST 212 are cross-listed.

This course introduces students to the study of warfare from an interdisciplinary context. Students will approach the subject of war through five distinct perspectives: the philosophy of war; the history of war; the experience of war; war, culture, and society; and the memory of war. The overall goal of the class for students to develop a sophisticated approach to the study of war through an interdisciplinary way of analyzing conflicts both in the past, but also, in our present. By the end of the semester, students will endeavor to answer the following questions: what is war; how does war affect participants/victims; how do societies remember war?

This course examines American visual culture in the Civil War period, encompassing painting, sculpture, prints, and photography. It treats works that directly depict aspects of the conflict, and those that address how everyday life and perceptions of what it meant to be American were shaped by the war and its aftermath. We examine how the making and circulation of images shifted during this pivotal period. ARTH 226 and CWES 226 are cross-listed.

Despite the ratification of Constitutional amendments after the Civil War, which provided Black people with both citizenship and voting rights, there has been both legal and customary efforts to block Black people from gaining access to these rights. This course examines those prohibitions but it also centers how Black people have responded; and in so doing it charts the rise of Black protest from the Reconstruction period to Black Lives Matter.

Exploring the diverse, complex, and coercive forms of enslavement from European contact to the beginning of the American Civil War---This is the line of inquiry that runs through this course. Recovering the experiences of the enslaved offers students an opportunity to see how systems of oppression did not mute black voices. Primary sources, especially memoirs, are essential to this class. Material and visual culture of enslaved people also figures prominently in class research projects. Racial theory provides students a chance to see how ideologies of oppression arise out of specific, but changing historical circumstances, a critical learning goal of this course. CWES 240 and AFS 240 are cross-listed.

Drawing on a range of interdisciplinary sources—government documents, newspapers, medical and archeological records, slave narratives, film, art, theater productions, and music—this course interrogates how ideas about race and slavery were at the center of Northern culture. The course explores a range of topics from the Constitution and the Fugitive Slave Act to the first ever prison for profit in Auburn, NY and slave narratives to minstrel shows performed by working-class white immigrants and the rise of white nativism. CWES 242 and HIST 242 are cross-listed.

Study of the role of Civil War history and mythology in America's self-understanding and its continuing problem of race. Integrating Civil War Era Studies, Literature, Film Studies, and Political Science, the class seeks to understand the Jim Crow Era, the Civil Rights Movement, and the elections of 2008 and 2016. The class centers on the book and movie, Gone With The Wind, but will view other significant films pertaining to "race and reunion."

An exploration of Abraham Lincoln’s life as a way to understand the many facets of the Civil War era. Students will examine Lincoln’s formative years in Kentucky and Indiana, his political and legal maneuverings in Illinois, and his presidency in Washington. How Americans have remembered Lincoln, and the ways in which his image has served a wide variety of political agendas will receive attention. Reading Lincoln’s own words will also be a major component of the class. CWES 246 and HIST 246 are cross-listed.

Topics course in Civil War Era Studies

Using artifacts associated with the American Civil War as a lens for exploring museum collections, this course will introduce students to the history, methods, and practices of interpreting and preserving Civil War collections across a spectrum of disciplines (including art, history, archaeology, and ethnography). It will also explore the methods used to understand the significance of objects and collections, the techniques used to bring them to light in the exhibit environment, and the principles and practices that ensure their longevity for future visitors and scholars. CWES 285 and IDS 285 are cross-listed.

Critical survey of emerging digital tools, techniques, and theories for analyzing, interpreting, and visualizing texts and networks as data. This course explores a broad toolkit of computational and quantitative methods—word frequency and usage, sentiment analysis, topic modeling, and social network analysis—and considers how cultural and theoretical constructs like authorship, gender, race, sociality, and influence can be applied at very large scale. Labs introduce use of open-source software for statistical analysis and data visualization. Prerequisite:
Any 100-level course in SOC or CIMS; MUS_CLAS-213; OR any 200-level course in ENG or foreign languages and literatures; OR any gateway course for area, ethnic, group, or global studies majors (e.g. LAS 145).

Examination of the use of visual dimensions and materials we produce as data for analysis through a sociological lens. The goal of the course is to allow students to understand how visual materials carry powerful messages that explicitly or implicitly reflect societal attitudes, norms and values. The course teaches students how to collect visual materials, thematically code them, quantify these codes, and conduct statistical analysis. The course discusses research ethics in Visual Studies. Prerequisite: SOC 101, SOC 102, or SOC 103.

Data scientists apply methods from statistics, data analysis, computer science, and machine learning in order to gain insight from data. In Data Science Programming, we focus on developing the programming and machine learning skills necessary to gain such insight. Through experiential learning, we equip students with the fundamental computer problem-solving skills and tools to clean raw data, engineer data features, build statistical and machine learning models, predict unknown values and/or discern patterns, and present data insights.

Massive data collection and sophisticated “Big Data” methods are used in marketing and recruiting, teacher evaluation, criminal justice, national security, and many other fields. These methods have potential to improve social outcomes, but can also perpetuate historical socioeconomic injustices, reinforce biases, and paint a veneer of rational objectivity over erroneous assumptions. This course introduces relevant statistical and computational concepts through lab activities, while also reflecting critically on these methods’ limitations and ethical implications through discussion of specific case studies. Prerequisite: Previous credit or concurrent registration in one of: CS 107 or 111; OR Math 107 or equivalent; OR DS 256.

Introduction to Native American culture, history, and identity with an interdisciplinary approach and attention to the on-going indigenous struggles since European colonization. Students consider issues of Native perspectives on the people-land relationship, religion, and contemporary cultural expression and politics.

Interdisciplinary exploration of the history, cultural meanings, and contemporary practices of team sports and individual athletes of Indigenous nations of the Americas before and after European contact. The course examines the historic disruptions of these practices by European colonization and how Native Americans respond(ed) to those intrusions. Issues of Indigenous sports mascots, colonial narratives of Native peoples in relation to their physicality and identities, the role of sports at Indian boarding schools, the prevalence of Euro-formed historic narratives of Natives in media today, and critical Indigenous actors in the world of sports are discussed.

Introduction to linguistics and language pedagogy. The main goal of this course
is to learn ways of looking at languages to gain perspectives that are necessary in teaching languages as second, foreign, or heritage languages. Students learn about the nature of human language and become familiar with subfields of formal and functional linguistics, first and second language acquisition, bilingualism and heritage languages, and language pedagogy.

Course focuses on strains of Christian thought from the 19th and 20th centuries that defy “one size fits all” notions of faith, favoring instead understandings of God that enable concrete engagement in the world. That is to say, for these thinkers, Christianity is an inherently world-oriented way of life, one that is profoundly on the side of the excluded, the marginalized, and the oppressed. It is, simply put, a pluralistic philosophy of spiritual and political liberation. We shall be exploring this thread through various lenses—existentialist theology, weak theology, death of God theology, black liberation theology, feminist Christianity, and process theology, among others.

Overview of ancient and contemporary Jewish belief and practice through an examination of sacred texts, theology, and history. Special attention is given to Jewish theology, holidays, and life-cycle.

Graphic novels and their film adaptations examination. Graphic Novels to Film investigates the linkage between graphic literature, especially in its comic narrative form, and cinema. Through readings and screenings, the course seeks to compare and contrast the storytelling techniques unique to graphic novels with cinematic language systems.

This course introduces students to the study of warfare from an interdisciplinary context. Students will approach the subject of war through five distinct perspectives: the philosophy of war; the history of war; the experience of war; war, culture, and society; and the memory of war. The overall goal of the class for students to develop a sophisticated approach to the study of war through an interdisciplinary way of analyzing conflicts both in the past, but also, in our present. By the end of the semester, students will endeavor to answer the following questions: what is war; how does war affect participants/victims; how do societies remember war?

An examination of how the Civil War has been presented by various American filmmakers from the silent era to the present. Students are asked to consider the various themes common to Civil War films: violence, race, politics, and iconography, among others. The class serves as an introduction to cinematic language systems while using Hollywood images of the Civil War as its central documents for analysis. Course not offered every year. IDS 217 and CIMS 217 are cross-listed.

Consideration of the current state of international media, combining theoretical approaches to globalization with case studies of films, websites and broadcasting systems. Lecture and discussion is complemented by live interactions (either in person or online via skype) with media producers from across the world. The course emphasizes the development of students’ abilities to merge theoretical insights with empirical data, allowing class participants to engage in original analyses of specific aspects of the rapidly growing world of international media.

Global overview of media industries in the world today. With a primary focus on cinema and TV, this course interrogates the political economy of the globalized media industries through economic, political, legal, and aesthetic analysis. Topics include the rise of multimedia, multinational conglomerates, followed by the impact of new technologies creating media convergence, and ending with sections on key global players in Europe and outside of the west. Course cross-listed as CIMS/IDS/PP 219.

This course is an introduction to capitalist & Marxist philosophy, with some emphasis on its underlying philosophical assumptions and arguments. Over the course of the semester we will come to understand how the philosophies of capitalism & Marxism involve philosophical anthropological historical theories that inform our understanding of societies organization and social economic classes. Unfolding from this, the course demands student reflection on the role these two economic philosophies play in the construction of the students’ own socio-econ/philosophical/political orientation. In doing this, the course will also focus on the methodological commitments of the theorists we read.

Multidisciplinary survey of issues, concepts, and approaches to peace and justice at individual, social, and cultural levels. Topics include models of peace, the nature and causes of conflict, theory and practice of nonviolence, arms and disarmament, international peace-keeping strategies, and the relationship between peace, human rights, and social justice. This course may contain a service learning and/or internship component.

Introduction to continuing debates about purposes and legitimacy of the corporation in American society. Three contrasting conceptions of the modern corporation are critically assessed through justice and historical inquiry. Contested meanings of the corporation are studied using a variety of texts, including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, autobiography, and social criticism. Course is designed as a cluster-friendly opportunity for students to fulfill the Integrative Thinking goal in the Gettysburg Curriculum.

Investigation of the major theories that guide the study of media texts and systems. This course aims to enhance the student’s ability to analyze film, radio, television, the Internet and video games from a perspective that emphasizes the cultural significance of these media. Through an overview of thinkers from traditions including structuralism, Marxism and British Cultural Studies, students will learn to write about specific texts in a manner that engages deeply with broader traditions of social thought.

Explores instrumental Western Philosophers’ discussions of the definitions and characteristics of God, the interrelationship between faith, reason, revelation, the meaning of morality in religious thought and subsequent existential concerns.

Once considered dormant in the United States, political movements and individual actors espousing antisemitism have made headlines here in the past two years, most notably after the October 27, 2018 shooting attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, which claimed the lives of eleven people. The perpetrator had made Jewhating statements on social media before the attack. (Many of us in Jewish Studies no longer use the word antisemitism, but Jew-hatred. The word ‘anti-Semitism’ was coined by a Jew hating man named Wilhelm Mahr in 29th century Germany. We thus now identify antisemitism for what it is, hatred of Jews.) Globally, some commentators have observed a resurgence of Jew-hatred over the past two decades. Attempts by policy-makers and activists to identify and combat Jew-hatred, whether on the streets of urban centers, across social media spaces, or in college dormitories, are often hobbled by a lack of knowledge about the history of the phenomenon. Academic scholarship, on the other hand, sometimes suffers from a lack of attention to its contemporary manifestations.

Literature, Language, and Life explores the unique ways in which literature enables human beings to make meaning – philosophical, religious, cultural, etc. – out of their lives. It does so through three distinct pedagogical avenues: (1) works of philosophy and literary criticism dedicated to the question of the meaning of literature itself; (2) readings of key novels from the last three centuries; (3) writings in the areas of philosophy, religion, and psychoanalysis, that are either contextually important background texts for the works in question, or works of analysis on said fiction works. In addition, the course will address some of the major characteristics of the dominant artistic and cultural periods, such as Romanticism, Surrealism, Modernism, Postmodernism, and Metamodernism.

An exploration of how 20th century Jewish thinkers critically address many of the religious, spiritual, existential, social and ethical issues that face contemporary, Western society. Their insights are used to help us understand the world in which we live. Discussion is an important part of this course.

Religion and Politics in the Middle East is a course designed to introduce students to the variety of ways that Muslims, Christians and Jews in the contemporary Middle East have struggled to define their religious traditions and national aspirations in light of the changes brought about by modernity. The course will specifically look at the role of religion in the political sphere of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Exploration of the evolution of modern Irish theatre within the matrix of the esthetic and political revolutions that occurred, and continue to occur, in twentieth-century Ireland. Irish dramatists have produced a body of literature remarkable for both its unparalleled artistic achievement and its acute political and social responsiveness. Major emphasis is accorded W. B. Yeats, Lady Augusta Gregory, John M. Synge, Sean O'Casey, Samuel Beckett, and Brian Friel. Course not offered every year.

The famous inscription Woody Guthrie placed on his guitar in 1943 says something profound about how many artists and musicians view their work: while art entertains us, it also can enlighten and liberate us as well. Unfortunately, the history of America often taught in schools focuses largely on names, dates, and other facts pieced together in an effort to tell a particular kind of story about America—one that does little to help us appreciate the struggle that runs like a swift current just beneath the surface of daily life. In this hybrid/online seminar we will revisit some of that history, focusing specifically on the way musical artists have attempted to right wrongs, educate sensibilities, and awaken the consciences of people in an effort to make America a place that lives up to its promise.

Survey of Irish literature since the 1940s. Course examines how poets, dramatists, and writers of fiction have responded to the problems of maintaining an Irish identity on a partitioned island and in the contemporary world. Special attention is given to the interrelationship of Catholic and Protestant and rural and urban traditions. Authors studied include dramatists such as Samuel Beckett, poets such as Seamus Heaney, and fiction writers such as Sean O'Faolain. Not offered every year.

Interdisciplinary analysis of one subject, topic, or discipline as viewed through distinct disciplinary methodologies or through the methods and inquiries of one discipline as viewed through the lens of another discipline. Course not offered every year.

This course will introduce the numerous ways in which Arab youth charted an alternative path towards social and political change in the Middle East through the use of new media and modern technologies. Discussions focus on the challenges Arab youth face in their 21st-century, globalized environments, and on their engagement with their regimes and societies, particularly in the context of the Arab Spring. Arab youth’s artistic and political expressions are discussed as a primary aspect for the transformation in the region. This course will place engagement in new media platforms within the broader context of the Arab media landscape and its history, as well as examine the socially constructed category of “youth" within a regional and historical context. Additionally, contemporary cultural and political events in the Arab world will be frequent sources of discussion. Readings for this course will be drawn from a variety of fields of scholarship, including sociology, anthropology, and media studies, among others.

Study of the effect of technology on the many issues related to nuclear weapons and the scientific principles associated with their production. Coverage includes nuclear weapons effects, strategic arsenals, past and current attempts at arms control, environmental impact of weapons production, testing and dismantlement the post cold war climate, and nuclear disarmament. Special emphasis is given toward understanding current nuclear non-proliferation efforts.

Exploration of antisemitic representations of Jews in European and American literature and film, as well as responses to specific works and figures by Jewish writers and filmmakers. Topics include Shylock; Fagin; Nazi propaganda; how names and surgery work to render someone Jewish or non-Jewish; the Jewish American Princess and Jewish Mother stereotypes; twenty-first-century stories; and the difference between antisemitism and anti-Zionism. Conducted in English. GER 265 and IDS 264 are cross-listed.

Explores the role of Enlightenment thinking in the context of Jewish intellectual history. While the Enlightenment marked a genuine revolution that affected every corner of the Western world, its radical impact is all the greater against the backdrop of Jewish intellectual life, as the cultural and intellectual space of Judaism itself within the history of the West has always been precarious and ill-defined. As a result, the collisions and renegotiations between Enlightenment thinking and Jewish thinking provide rich and fertile soil for intellectual exploration and innovations. This course will look at some of the key writings of Jewish thinkers who grappled with the implications of Enlightenment thinking, and who left a lasting impact on Jewish and Christian thinking, and on Western thought more broadly, exploring questions concerning the relation between revelation and reason, religion and the state, humanity, nature, and God.

In the span of a single century, and from completely different areas of study, these
four thinkers completely revolutionized the way that human beings understand themselves and their place in the cosmos. Displacing the Enlightenment notion of the self-interested, rational agent who reflects the image of God with an innate sense of the Good, these thinkers tore back the veils of all of our most cherished idols – God, language, justice, morality, rationality, market forces, and cosmic
order. Their works not only overturned millennia of cultural assumptions; they prophesied the horrors of the 20th century, and established the framework of critical suspicion thatinforms much of humanistic study to this day.

The technological advances of the last 100 years are nothing short of mind-boggling, both regarding what we have achieved and with how close we have brought our planet to the brink of destruction. Since 1925, we have gone from silent movies to Artificial Intelligence, and from biplanes to spaceships. At the same time: the more powerful our machines become, the less we can anticipate the effects of our usage of them.
How is all this reflected in culture? How has technology transformed our understanding of nature? What happens when industrial civilization creates behemoths who, literally and metaphorically, represent our anxieties about the other and on environmental destruction? How does devastated nature, e.g. the moonscapes that surface lignite mining leaves behind, become a cultural symbol of modernity's relationship to the natural world?
GER 271 and IDS 271 are cross-listed

This course will offer a general mosaic survey of the linguistic, geographical, historical, social, religious, cultural, and artistic aspects of the modern Arab world. Special attention will be given to the education, politics, family, gender relations, the Arab experience in the U.S., Arab American relations, the role of the past and of social change, and Arab art and music. The course also, analyzes and discusses Arab Spring and modern post-colonial concerns, problems and challenges. A good deal of the course is specifically intended to increase students' sensitivity to racial bias and sharpen awareness of multicultural issues.

Using artifacts associated with the American Civil War as a lens for exploring museum collections, this course will introduce students to the history, methods, and practices of interpreting and preserving Civil War collections across a spectrum of disciplines (including art, history, archaeology, and ethnography). It will also explore the methods used to understand the significance of objects and collections, the techniques used to bring them to light in the exhibit environment, and the principles and practices that ensure their longevity for future visitors and scholars. CWES 285 and IDS 285 are cross-listed.

Overview of the criminal justice system in the U.S. and the role of police, attorneys, judges, trials, and prisons. Primary goal is for students to gain an understanding of how the criminal justice system works in the U.S., both from a criminal justice studies and legal perspective. Major U.S. Supreme Court cases are read to illustrate the nature of legal reasoning and criminal justice problems, with each student having his or her own case to work on throughout the term. LAW 250 and PP 250 are cross-listed.

Introduction to the application of law and legal reasoning by analyzing films as stories to which the law is to be applied. Students are asked to analyze elements of films based on the actual statutes, rules of evidence, and/or attorney ethics rules in force at the time and place that is the film's setting. Traditional law-based films are not the primary subject of this course, although several will be used to help understand certain legal principles.

This course is designed to expose and introduce students to the theory and practicality of criminal trial advocacy in the American Judicial System (with an emphasis on the Pennsylvania system including the rules and laws). This will be done by way of reading, discussing and doing. In this class, students will take on the role of attorney and witness in a series of exercises including opening statements, witness examination, closing arguments and other things that occur during the course of a trial. Students will acquire a basic understanding of the Pa. Rules of Court/Rules of Evidence and the art of trial advocacy. If you are interested in or thinking about attending law school this class is for you.

Study of advanced level of Modern Standard Arabic with careful attention paid to all four language skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing in addition to culture. Significant stress will be placed on vocabulary expansion, particularly during the second half of the course. Acquisition of more advanced grammatical structures will take place primarily through directed in-class practice, coupled with an emphasis on the functional use of language through communication in context.

Study of advanced level of Modern Standard Arabic with careful attention paid to all four language skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing in addition to culture. Acquisition of more advanced grammatical structures will take place primarily through directed in-class practice, coupled with an emphasis on the functional use of language through communication in context.

his course examines how physicians throughout the British and American empires in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries depended upon populations of dispossessed people of color in Africa, the Caribbean, the American South, India, Latin America, and other parts of the world to advance new theories about the cause of disease transmission. CWES 305 and HIST 305 are cross-listed.

This is a course designed to give students and understanding of the nature of war on a global scale during the nineteenth century. Students will study the history of specific conflicts – their origins and nature – but also the ways in which war changed and transformed over the course of the ‘long’ nineteenth century. The hope for this course is that students who are interested in the American Civil War can gain further appreciation of the political and military changes associated with an age marked by conflicts of state formation and imperial expansion.

This is a course that will examine, primarily, two conflicts in modern history and their lasting representations in cultural history and literary memory. Wars have long cultural legacies. Both the American Civil War and First World War changed not only the ‘war generation’ of each conflict, but also, demonstrate case studies of the representation of war and the polemics of memory within nation states. In this class students will engage with the cultural and military histories of two different conflicts and compare their lasting impact in our contemporary perception of war and society. As such, the ‘experience of war’ will be our broad topic of consideration. We will access this theme by examining memory sources that detail and represent these experiences over time. The class’s methodological themes will address the following: conceptions of victory and defeat, the memory of participants and their representations of war, the writing of history and the mythologies created by conflicts and their chroniclers. By studying the cultural history of combat and its aftermath, students will learn something about the way history is written and historical events depicted over time. Through interdisciplinary representations of war in film and literature, it is hoped that students will gain an understanding of the changing perceptions of wars, within the conception of modern memory.

An exploration of the various aspects of Reconstruction, including political conflicts over how the defeated South would be treated, the struggle over civil rights for African Americans, an overview of Reconstruction historiography, the contested nature of Civil War memory, and the enduring legacy of this vital yet often overlooked period of our past.

Soldier in the Confederate Army, Connecticut Yankee, friend of U. S. Grant, favorite speaker at Grand Army of the Republic Reunions. Mark Twain called himself "not an American, but THE American." No American author wrote more incisively about race, war, reconstruction, and the American Way. Mr. Clemens fought his own personal civil war against Mark Twain, and lost.

Study of the experiences of women and men during the Civil War era (app. 1840-1870s), with particular attention given to the following questions: How did the public role of women evolve during these decades? How did the experiences of women and men vary according to race, class, condition of servitude and location? How did the war illuminate or challenge existing gender roles? How did the military experiences of the war shape notions of masculinity? Offered as staffing permits. CWES 352 and HIST 352 are cross-listed.

Increasingly, data influence our world; data inform business decisions, enable scientific discovery, shape policy, track our health, and sway public opinion. Effective visualizations summarize data as readily digestible charts and graphs, revealing patterns and trends. In this course, students think critically about how data are presented and learn to craft impactful data visualizations. Through a blend of theory and hands-on practice, students explore topics including graphic design, accessibility, interactivity, data storytelling, and the use of leading data visualization tools. Prerequisite: DS 256

Advanced treatment of data science concepts. Through a series of case studies, students explore datasets from a variety of domains and extract meaningful information and insights using mathematical, computational, and other scientific methods and algorithms. Topics include the fundamental algorithms of data science: regression, decision trees, support vector machines, clustering, and neural networks. Through a semester-long project, students demonstrate knowledge of fundamental data science concepts and ability to interpret and communicate effectively the results of the analysis.

Explores some of the major works of 20th century French thinker and cultural critic, Michel Foucault. Few thinkers of the 20th century had a greater or more lasting impact than Foucault. Giving a new meaning to the adage, ‘knowledge is power,’ Foucault’s work challenges accepted orthodoxies regarding the concept of ‘truth’ by examining fundamental questions of power and knowledge, demonstrating the ways in which they are intertwined, as well as how that ‘knowledge’ shapes our understanding of ourselves. Fueled by the turmoil of the 1960s, Foucault’s writing crosses traditional disciplinary boundaries, leaving an indelible mark in areas as diverse as philosophy of education, history, literary theory, sociology, aesthetics, health studies, epistemology, gender and sexuality studies, and prison reform.
IDS 305 and PP 304 are cross-listed.

Course will explore the figure of the Devil through various historical, religious, philosophical, literary, and cinematic lenses. He is known by a number of different names: Lucifer, Beelzebub, Mephistopheles, Satan, Prince of Darkness, Prince of this World, or Lord of the Flies; but all of these are proper names and titles for that elusive figure most prominently known as the embodiment of pure evil and rebellion in Christianity. Despite the fact that very little is said about this figure in the Bible, the Devil has, throughout history, served as an abstract canvas onto which human beings have projected their greatest fears and adversarial forces, be they political, natural, epidemiological, religious, or moral. As a result, an entire mythos has grown around this elusive figure, complete with the allure and romance that accompanies characters associated with rebellion and transgression.

Explores the economic-theoretical developments that have taken place in the Western world since the Great Depression, as well as the ethical and philosophical considerations that those developments entail. The three central tenets of neoliberal ideology are: (1) Deregulation; (2) Privatization; and (3) Free Trade. But as a holistic vision of the world, neoliberalism entails the commodification of every facet of our lives. Issues to be discussed in the course include: the relation between the state and the individual, the connections between social and economic conservatism, the responses (or lack thereof) to the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, globalization and its impacts, immigration and racism, “fake news”, and the extent to which economic encroachment may impede the egalitarian aims of democracy.
IDS 308 and PP 308 are cross-listed.

This is a course on war stories. It is based on a simple concept: that war has long been a muse for writers, artists, and filmmakers and that representations of war have a lasting cultural legacy. War stories profoundly influence our understanding of violence. They create myths – important social and political narratives on the past – that help us understand and justify violence in history. In this course, students will read a broad sampling of war literature and study thematically corresponding war films to learn how to conceptualize and contextualize war stories. More broadly, students will also learn how war stories are constructed as sources of memory and how they, in turn, become powerful memorial expressions for veterans, ones that influence the way that societies interpret violence over time.

This is a course that will examine, primarily, two conflicts in modern history and their lasting representations in cultural history and literary memory. Wars have long cultural legacies. Both the American Civil War and First World War changed not only the ‘war generation’ of each conflict, but also, demonstrate case studies of the representation of war and the polemics of memory within nation states. In this class students will engage with the cultural and military histories of two different conflicts and compare their lasting impact in our contemporary perception of war and society. As such, the ‘experience of war’ will be our broad topic of consideration. We will access this theme by examining memory sources that detail and represent these experiences over time. The class’s methodological themes will address the following: conceptions of victory and defeat, the memory of participants and their representations of war, the writing of history and the mythologies created by conflicts and their chroniclers. By studying the cultural history of combat and its aftermath, students will learn something about the way history is written and historical events depicted over time. Through interdisciplinary representations of war in film and literature, it is hoped that students will gain an understanding of the changing perceptions of wars, within the conception of modern memory.

An interdisciplinary course taught in England by a Gettysburg College faculty member during the one-month presession to the Gettysburg in England program at Lancaster University. Topics and instructors vary annually.

Interdisciplinary analysis of one subject, topic, or discipline as viewed through distinct disciplinary methodologies or through the methods and inquiries of one discipline as viewed through the lens of another discipline. Course not offered every year.

An examination of law as a tool of oppression, beginning with the Code of Hammurabi, with its detailed class-specific codes, and working up through the various slave codes of the enlightenment era to modern times. Recent U.S. laws have attempted to rectify some of the oppression caused by US law in the past, and this course asks is it working or is it just another way to keep people down by law.

Course asks students to apply comparative law theory to the worlds represented in the modern fictional settings of superheroes and science fiction. While comparative law generally involves the consideration of theory as applied to EU countries, “Intergalactic Super Law” takes the Marvel and DC universes and the worlds in Star Wars and Star Trek as case studies to cogently argue that Gotham has a Continental as opposed to an Anglo-American System, or that the Empire under Palpatine followed Hindu law closely, drawing on real world global examples to sustain their arguments.

Individualized tutorial counting toward the minimum requirements in a major or minor, graded A-F

Individualized tutorial not counting toward minimum requirements in a major or minor, graded A-F

Individualized tutorial not counting in the minimum requirements in a major or minor, graded S/U

Individualized tutorial counting toward the minimum requirements in a major or minor, graded A-F.

Individualized research counting toward the minimum requirements in a major or minor, graded A-F.

Internship counting toward the minimum requirements in a major or minor, graded A-F.

Summer Internship graded S/U, counting in the minimum requirements for a major or minor only with written permission filed in the Registrar's Office.

Half credit internship, graded S/U.

Seminar for selected senior students addressing an important contemporary issue affecting the future of humanity. Approach to this issue is multidisciplinary. Authorities of national stature are invited to serve as resource persons, and seminar participants present a final report on the topics discussed. Course not offered every year.

Individualized tutorial counting toward the minimum requirements in a major or minor, graded A-F

Individualized tutorial counting toward the minimum requirements in a major or minor, graded S/U

Individualized tutorial not counting in the minimum requirements in a major or minor, graded A-F

Individualized tutorial not counting in the minimum requirements in a major or minor, graded S/U

Individualized research counting toward the minimum requirements in a major or minor, graded A-F

Individualized research counting toward the minimum requirements in a major or minor, graded S/U

Individualized research not counting in the minimum requirements in a major or minor, graded A-F

Individualized research not counting in the minimum requirements in a major or minor graded S/U

Required Capstone Thesis or Research for the Special Major

Internship counting toward the minimum requirements in a major or minor, graded A-F

Internship counting toward the minimum requirements in a major or minor, graded S/U

Internship not counting in the minimum requirements in a major or minor, graded A-F

Internship not counting in the minimum requirements in a major or minor, graded S/U

Summer Internship graded A-F, counting in the minimum requirements for a major or minor only with written permission filed in the Registrar's Office.

Summer Internship graded S/U, counting in the minimum requirements for a major or minor only with written permission filed in the Registrar's Office.

Half credit internship, graded S/U.

Half credit internship, graded S/U.

Individualized research not counting in the minimum requirements in a major or minor, graded A-F.