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GEN*E299*30
Beginning Sign Language
Amy Mathison
Prerequisites:
None
Open To:
All Students
Grading System: Letter
Max. Enrollment: 20
Meeting Times:
M Tu W 10:00am-2:00pm
e purpose of the project is to enable students to begin to acquire proficiency
in American Sign Language through a linguistic, communicative, and cultural
approach. Emphasis will be placed on the development of receptive and
expressive signing skills and on the acquisition of the fundamentals of applied
grammar. ASL will include basic grammar, vocabulary, fingerspelling, numbers,
and cultural information related to the deaf and hard of hearing. An exposure to
the deaf and hard of hearing culture will be presented, and students are expected
to participate in deaf classrooms and deaf community groups via field trips.
ASL is a visual language, and therefore regular attendance and participation are
mandatory to adequately acquire the understanding of the language.
GEN*E299*31
Digital Detox: Mindfulness Meditation in the Modern World
Joseph F. Chandler
Prerequisites:
None
Open To:
All Students
Grading System: S/U
Max. Enrollment: 10
Meeting Times:
M Tu W9:30am-12:30pm
is class will explore the theory and application of practical contemplative
meditation in the modern world. Students will study the neuroscience underlying
self-control, digital addiction, and the myth of multi-tasking from primary,
peer-reviewed sources. Students will simultaneously apply these concepts
through the development of a personal contemplative practice, including digital
blackout periods, mindful eating, mindful studying, mindful hiking, and other
accessible disciplines that take meditation out of the mystical and into everyday
life. Long-term physical, social, and emotional outcomes of mindfulness will be
discussed. Class meetings will center on practical, participatory demonstrations
of meditative techniques, discussion of primary source material, and depictions
of meditation in modern culture. At least two local field trips are planned for the
term: one to the botanical gardens in Birmingham for meditation on beauty, and
one to Ruffner Mountain for a contemplative hike. Students will complete daily
reading, writing, and application exercises outside of class as well, averaging 3
to 4 hours of individual work per class meeting. ese will be graded on a weekly
basis. e entire class will be framed by the unique challenges faced by the wired
generation when seeking a sense of personal peace in the digital world.
Estimated Student Expenses: In addition to the cost of books, there may be
marginal travel costs associated with field trips, such as gas costs driving to
contemplative hikes at Ruffner Mountain Nature Center and the Birmingham
Botanical Gardens.
GENERAL STUDIES
GEN*E299*28
Anti-Modern Moderns in America
Joseph Stitt
Prerequisites:
EH 102 or 208
Open To:
All Students
Grading System: Letter
Max. Enrollment: 16
Meeting Times:
M Tu9:00am-12:00pm
e project will examine various negative reactions—some hostile,
some skeptical, some merely anxious—to late nineteenth-century
and early twentieth-century modernity. Taking Jackson Lears’s
No
Place of Grace
as a touchstone, we will investigate thinkers, artists,
and cultural phenomena as diverse as Henry Adams, T. S. Eliot, Grant
Wood, William James, Robert Frost, George Santayana, F. Scott
Fitzgerald, E. E. Cummings, the Arts and Crafts movement, and neo-
omism to discover the different ways people objected to modernity
as it manifested itself in capitalism, liberalism, bureaucracy, statism,
atomized individualism, positivism, relativism, and technological
progress. Comprising skills frommultiple disciplines, our investigation
will entail examining philosophical concepts, analyzing images and
literary texts, and asking relevant questions about historical causality. A
substantial amount of reading will be required. Evaluation will be based
on quizzes, a short essay (4-6 pages), a research paper (12+ pages), and
a comprehensive final exam.
GEN*E299*29
Arabic Poetry of Resistance
Lamia Benyoussef
Prerequisites:
None
Open To:
All Students
Grading System: S/U or Letter
Max. Enrollment: 15
Meeting Times:
M Tu9:00am-12:00pm
In Western countries, the Arabic word “Islam” is often translated as
“submission,” or at best, “peace.” Arabic poetry originating from the
Muslimworld, however, displays a long history of non-submission
to religious orthodoxy, secular and theocratic dictatorships, Western
imperialism, and Eastern and Western patriarchy. is project covers
the history of Arabic poetry of resistance from the medieval Syrian
poet Abu Alaa al Ma’arri (974-1057) to the Tunisian poet Sghaier
Ouled Ahmed (1955-2016), the muse of the Arab Spring. A special
focus will be given on the performativity of these poems in relation to
music, politics, and memorialization. Class format: Book discussion,
videos, documentaries, and cyber culture. Evaluation will be based on
students’ participation and discussion; a mid-term essay-style exam;
an interview about Arabic poetry with a native Arabic speaker; one
final 8-10-page research paper, and the oral presentation of the final
research project.