BENJAMIN
FRANKLIN{BF}
Benjamin
Franklin Seminars are topical seminar courses. Since
not all topics are known at press time the listing
below should be considered representative only. A complete
list of BF courses is available from the Center for
Undergraduate Research and Fellowships: BFS Program,
The ARCH, 3601 Locust Walk or http://www.upenn.edu/curf/scholars/scholars_bfscourses.htm
Benjamin Franklin Seminars are open both to students
in the Benjamin Franklin Scholars program and to other
undergraduates eager to take on an academic challenge. BF
Seminars may be used as distributional, sector, or
general requirements in all four undergraduate schools. They
will not auto assign on a student’s worksheet. Please
see the BFS course homepage and school advisor for
specific information.
Anthropology
(AS)
{ANTH}
BF
234. Pharmaceuticals and Global Health. Petryna
In some
parts of the world spending on pharmaceuticals is astronomical.
In others people do not have access to basic or life-saving
drugs. Individuals struggle to afford medications;
whole populations are neglected, considered too poor
to constitute profitable markets for the development
and distribution of necessary drugs. This seminar analyzes
the dynamics of the burgeoning international pharmaceutical
trade and the global inequalities that emerge from
and are reinforced by market-driven medicine. Questions
about who will be treated and who will not filter through
every phase of pharmaceutical production -- from preclinical
research to human testing, marketing, distribution,
prescription, and consumption.
Whether
considering how the pharmaceutical industry shapes
popular understandings of mental illness in North America
and Great Britain, how Brazil has created a model HIV/AIDS
prevention and treatment program, or how the urban
poor in Delhi understand and access healthcare, the
seminar draws on anthropological case studies to illuminate
the roles of corporations, governments, non-governmental
organizations, and individuals in relation to global
pharmaceuticals. As we analyze each case and gain familiarity
with ethnographic methods, we will ask how individual
and group health is shaped by new medical technologies
and their evolving regulatory regimes and markets.
The course familiarizes students with critical debates
on globalization and with local responses to globalizing
processes; and it contributes to ethical and political
debates on the development and access to new medical
technologies.
BF
347. Anthropology of Corporations
Modern
business corporations can be characterized as having
their own internal cultures, more or less distinct
from one another. They also exist within encompassing
cultures and cultural flows. At the same time, corporations
are producers and disseminators of culture, and thus
have effects on their surrounding environments, effects
that extend from the local to the global. This course
examines modern corporations from these three perspectives
through theoretical and ethnographic readings, guest
speakers from the corporate world, and independent
research conducted by the students. Course requirements
include student presentations of their research and
readings, one or more take-home exams, and a final
research paper.
Architecture
(FA)
{ARCH}
BF
311. Architecture and the Institutions of Public
Life. Leatherbarrow
The stories
of our lives are recorded in the spaces of our lives.
In much the same way that literacy is both cultivated
and preserved in books, cultural memory obtains legible
shape in buildings. This course will study how architectural
settings accommodate and express the events of our
lives; particularly those events that occur in cities
and their institutions, for cities have always been
and remain culture's most efficient and eloquent articulation.
We will
study buildings and cities from a wide range of regions
and periods; roughly speaking, from antiquity to the
present, in the Americas and Europe. Readings for the
course will come from architect authors, as well as
other writers who describe buildings and cities: poets,
philosophers and historians. Students will analyze
and discuss built works in four ways: weekly readings
and written summaries, a preparatory tutorial with
the professor, a class presentation, and a final interpretative
essay. Because we will examine buildings, paintings
and texts, the course will involve spatial, pictorial
and verbal understanding.
Art
History
(AS)
{ARTH}
BF
424. ( AAMW423, CLST424) Greek Vase-Painting. Brownlee
Painted
vases constitute the most important and comprehensive
collection of visual evidence that survives from ancient
Greece. In this course, we will examine the development
of Greek vase-painting from the 10th to the 4th century
BC, with particular emphasis on the pottery of the
Archaic and Classical periods produced in the cities
of Athens and Corinth. We will look at the vases as
objects--and the extensive collection of Greek vases
in the University of Pennsylvania Museum will be an
important resource for this course--but we will also
consider them as they relate to broader cultural issues.
Some background in art history or classical studies
is helpful but not required.
Benjamin
Franklin Seminars
(AS)
{BENF}
BENF
courses are multi-disciplinary seminars taught by visiting
scholars or emeritus professors. These scholars
bring their areas of special expertise to Penn undergraduates. The
courses are often one-time seminars, not repeated in
subsequent semesters.
BF
099. Independent Study (C). Prerequisite: Permission of the
department. May be taken for multiple credits.
Specific
studies under the direction of a faculty member. See
website,
http://www.upenn.edu/curf/scholars/scholars_bfs_current.htm
for proposal form and due dates.
BF
219. Judges and Judging (M). Bermant
Not for
first-year students. Judges in law courts are bound
to decide facts according to law and to find law in
keeping with precedent, statutes, and the Constitution.
How do judges shoulder this great responsibility when
the cases before them involve highly politicized, morally
charged, socially divisive issues about which the judge
may have formed a strong personal opinion? The course
will address this question through a reading of cases
and commentary.
Benjamin
Franklin – Law
(AS)
{BFLW}
BFLW 064. Topics in Law (M). Undergraduate Seniority Preference
Topics
vary from year to year.
Benjamin
Franklin - Medicine
(AS)
{BFMD}
BFMD
073. Infectious Diseases (C).
Open to Juniors and Seniors only. Davies
This
course will examine the interactions between human
beings, their organs and cells, and various infectious
agents such as bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites.
The biological, societal and historical factors influencing
these interactions will be analyzed and emerging infectious
diseases will be particularly studied. Important infectious
pathogenic agents will be surveyed in terms of their
physiological functions, properties that permit them
to be pathogens, pathogenesis of infections, clinical
pictures of the disease states, therapeutic agents,
and methods of prevention of infection. Each student
will choose an infectious disease, and make an oral
and written presentation on it and in this way will
learn how to keep up with the topic of infectious diseases.
Bioengineering
(EG)
{BE}
BF 225.
Technology and Engineering in Medicine (C). Winkelstein
This
course will provide an in-depth examination of technology
and its impact on medicine, with an emphasis on the
intersection of engineering with medicine and health.
Basic foundations of historical perspective, constraints
on technological development, and the promise and peril
of technological impact on medicine will be discussed.
Modules will also focus on specific technological advances
which have had significant impact on the field of medicine.
These include: imaging and diagnosis of disease, genetic
therapy and pharmacology, and rehabilitative devices,
assistive devices and transplantation. The course is
geared to all students interested in aspects of medicine
and engineering and applied science. Reading will integrate
topics of the impact of technology on medicine with
specific major technologies, as well as examine societal
issues related to effects on human nature and the future
of biotechnology. The course will be discussion-based
and structured around readings of primary sources,
commentaries, and publications in the literature. Discussions
will be augmented by guest lecturers in the fields
of medicine and engineering, as well as those from
technology driven research sectors. Throughout the
term, students will be expected to select a specific
technology to follow in the medical, scientific and
engineering, as well as popular and lay literature
and discuss its applications and impact.
Business
and Public Policy
(WH)
{BPUB}
BF
201. (BPUB 770) The Political Economy of Social Policy. Prerequisites:
ECON 001 or equivalent. Staff
This
course uses microeconomics to evaluate public policy.
The course has two aims. The first aim is to provide
a microeconomic toolkit that we will use to identify
failures of the competitive market; the circumstances
in which government intervention can improve economic
efficiency; and alternatives to government intervention.
The second aim of the course is to apply this toolkit
to current policy issues, including environmental regulation,
tax policy, health care reform and the problem of the
uninsured; education policy; social security reform
and the costs and benefits of private accounts; antitrust
policy, and policy to promote research and development.
Biology
(AS)
{BIOL}
BF
011. Humans in a Microbial World. Sherwood
A continuation
of the summer Pre-Freshman course for PFP students
taking BIOL 101 in the fall. This course is similar
to the group discussions that already exist for introductory
biology, except it will be led by a PFP instructor. Each
week students will be required to prepare answers for
a set of relevant questions derived mainly from previous
exams, but also including other questions to reinforce
and assess understanding of the material learned that
week in BIOL 101. Discussion of these questions
would be a major part of each weekly 1.5-hour session.
Cinema
and Photography
(AS)
{CINE}
BF
392. (ARTH489, ENGL392) Cinema and Photography. Corrigan
This
course will focus on the complex relationship between
film and photography. As we consider these two hybrid
media in relation to each other, we will focus on questions
of temporality, indexicality, truth, narrative, memory,
movement and history. As we read histories and theories
of the two media from the 19th century through to the
present day, and examine specific still images and
films, we will pay particular attention to the question
of why and when filmmakers choose to allow the stasis
of the photograph to disrupt cinema's illusion of movement.
Weekly film screenings will include works by Chris
Marker, Michelangelo Antonioni, Michael Snow, Hou Hsiao-hsien,
Dariusz Jablonski and Rebecca Baron. Requirements:
attendance at screenings, student presentations, class
participation, and periodic short writing assignments
in preparation for a final research paper.
Classical
Studies
(AS)
{CLST}
BF
310. Ancient and Modern Constitution Making
(C). Mulhern
What
actually was it that the Greeks were thinking of when
they used the expression politeiaóan expression
that we often translate by “constitution”? What
do their thoughts suggest about prospects for constitution
making today? This course builds on contemporary
scholarship to reconstruct what we may call the
constitutional tradition as it develops in the main
ancient texts, which are read in English translations. The
ancient texts are taken from Herodotus, Xenophon, the
Pseudo-Xenophon, Thucydides, Plato, the author of the
Aristotelian Athenian Constitution, Aristotle himself,
Polybius, Cicero, Augustine, and the codifiers of Roman
law. The course traces this tradition through
the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and the great thinkers
of the Seventeenth Century, following linguistic and
other clues that carry one up to Madison and put the
work of the U.S. Constitutional Convention in a somewhat
new light; and it continues through Nineteenth Century
and Twentieth Century constitution making into today’s
constitution making efforts in Eastern Europe.
BF
352. Teaching Plato's Republic (A).
Rosen
Plato's "Republic"
begins as a casual conversation among Socrates and his
friends about morality and justice, and ends up constructing
an elaborate utopian city which would promote justice
and happiness among all its citizens. It is no surprise
that this monumental project has engaged readers
so intensely since antiquity, for it manages to address
so many of the perennial questions of human existence:
what, for example, constitutes the "good life"?
How do we balance the demands of the state and those
of the individual? On what criteria can a society
base its ethical system? Beyond such grandiose questions
other very practical ones are discussed, such as
what kinds of art should be allowed in the ideal
city, whether women are fit for military service,
or how children should be educated. This seminar
sets out to accomplish two intersecting goals: the
first is to allow students to savor the full text
of the Republic, and its relation to other Platonic
works, through close, detailed reading over an entire
semester; second, it will approach Plato's work as
a dynamic and vibrant pedagogical text that can inspire
even young students to reflect on the most urgent,
if often puzzling, questions of life.
BF
370. (GAFL570) Classics and American Government. Mulhern
For over
two centuries, the government of the United States
has been distinguished by its stability even during
episodes of extreme internal and external stress which
might have toppled other governmental systems. If this
stability can be traced at least in part to the foresight
of the founders, their foresight can be traced in part
as well to their educational formation, the core of
which was their study of Greek and Latin political
classics in which stability and instability were paramount
issues. How might a reading of the classics have been
absorbed into the mentality of the founding fathers?
Are there elements in the classical tradition that
can shed light on the reasons for American stability
and, perhaps, on the prospects for American government
in the future?
This
course focuses first on the education of the Father
of the Constitution, James Madison. It begins with
a review of the classical works that Madison actually
read, drawing on what we know of his early education
at the Robertson School in Virginia and of his collegiate
education at Princeton, so that students have an opportunity
to relive Madison's classical educational experience.
These works will be read in translation. It goes on
to trace the influence of this education on his conception
of the history of government and his understanding
of the American situation before, during, and after
the adoption of the U.S. Constitution. It then addresses
recent scholarship on the influence of classical education
on others of the American founders, especially Jefferson's
conception of Solon's place in the history of the Athenians
and of its parallel in the American situation.
While
the curriculum differed from one institution to another,
during their school days the founders might read works
or parts of works of Cicero, Virgil, Nepos, Horace,
the codifiers of Roman law commissioned by Justinian,
Ovid, Terence, Sallust, Xenophon, Demosthenes, and
Homer. In college, they might read Horace, Cicero's
Catilinarians, the Greek New Testament, Lucian's Dialogues,
Xenophon's Cyropaedia, Longinus on the Sublime, Demosthenes'
Philippics, Livy, Aristotle, Thucydides, Plutarch,
and Tacitus. The readings for the course are selected
from these authors and works.
The course
is conducted as a group tutorial. In individual tutorials,
where the instruction is one on one, the tutor typically
assigns a paper to a student each week, and the student
reads it the next week and takes questions from the
tutor. In this group tutorial, the professor offers
a pre-lecture to the students in each session on the
text that they will read next to help them understand
its historical, literary, and political context. In
the next class, the students read short papers on the
text, and these papers are discussed by other students
and by the professor. The professor then provides a
summary lecture on the text just completed and a pre-lecture
on the reading set for the next class. At the end of
the course, the students should have appropriated the
classical sources that Madison and his contemporaries
shared.
BF
396. (COML383, ENGL394) History Literary Criticism (M).
Staff
Approaching
literature from its cultural or political context,
this course includes sections such as
"American Political Fiction," "Literature and Medicine," or
"Literature of the Holocaust," focusing on novels, short stories,
drama, and poetry reacting to the horror of modern genocide.
Computer
Science and Engineering
(EN)
{CIS}
BF 261.
Discrete Probability, Stochastic Processes, and Statistical
Inference (B). Prerequisite: CSE 260 or equivalent.
Mintz
This
course tightly integrates the theory and applications
of discrete probability, discrete stochastic processes,
and discrete statistical inference in the study of
computer science. The course will introduce the
Minimum Description Length Paradigm to unite basic
ideas about randomness, inference, and computation. Students
will be expected to use the Maple programming, environment
in homework exercises which will include numerical
and symbolic, computations, simulations, and graphical
displays.
BF
398. Quantum Computer and Information Science (A).
Prerequisite(s): CSE 260, CSE 262, and Math 240.
Mintz
The purpose
of this course is to introduce undergraduate students
in computer science and engineering to quantum computers
(QC) and quantum information science (QIS). This
course is meant primarily for juniors and seniors in
CSE. No prior knowledge of quantum mechanics (QM)
is assumed. Enrollment is by permission of the
instructor.
Criminology
(AS)
{CRIM}
BF
410. (CRIM 610, SOCI 410) Research Seminar in
Restorative Justice and the Life Course (C). Prerequisite: CRIM 100, SOCI 233, any statistics
or research methods courses leading to knowledge
of SPSS. Strang
This
seminar focuses on the ongoing data collection of Penn's
Jerry Lee Program of Randomized Controlled Trials in
Restorative Justice, the largest program of field experiments
in the history of criminology. Since 1995, this
research program has randomly assigned over 3400 victims
and offenders to either conventional justice or restorative
conferences of victims, offenders and their families,
in Canberra (Australia), London, Northumbria and Thames
Valley (all in England). The offenders have all
been willing to acknowledge their guilt to their victims
(or the community), and to try to repair the harm they
have caused. Key questions to be answered by the
research program include the effects of restorative
conferences on the future crime rates of offenders
and victims, on the mental health and medical condition
of both, and on the changes over time in these dimensions
of the life course of both victims and offenders.
East
Asian Languages and Cultures
(AS)
{EALC}
BF
072.Warring States Japan (M). Hurst
Japan's 16th century was a time of widespread destruction. It
was "a world without a center." Both Emperor
and Shogun were challenged by regional warlords. Warfare
was endemic; social upheaval was rampant: farmers sought
to become samurai, and samurai aspired to be warlords. Yet
amidst the turbulence, new political institutions were
forged that would bring unprecedented peace to the
subsequent Tokugawa era.
BF
154. (EALC554) The Tale of Genji: Loyal Royals in
Japanese Literature (C). Chance
"Crowning
masterpiece of Japanese literature," "the
world's first novel,"
"fountainhead of Japanese literary and aesthetic culture," "a
great soap opera in the vein of Jacqueline Susann." Readers over the centuries
have praised the Tale of Genji, the monumental prose tale finished just after
the year 1000, in a variety of ways. In this course we will read the latest
English translation
of Murasaki
Shikibu's work. We will watch as Genji loses his
mother at a tender age, is cast out of the royal family,
and begins a quest to fill the void she left. Along
the way, Genji's loyalty to all the women he encounters
forges his reputation as the ideal lover. We will
consider gender issues in the female author's portrayal
of this rake, and question the changing audience, from
bored court women to censorious monks, from adoring
nationalists to comic book adaptors. Study of
the tale requires consideration of poetry, imagery,
costume, music, history, religion, theater, political
and material culture, all of which will be components
of the course. We will also trace the effect of
the tale's many motifs, from flora and fauna to murderously
jealous spirits, on later literature and conceptions
of human emotions. All material is in English
translation. There are no prerequisites.
BF
254. (EALC654) The Tale of the Heike (C).
Distributional course in Arts and Letters, Class
of 2009 and prior. Chance
Our subject
is Tale of the Heike, a multifaceted narrative of the
twelfth-century battles that brought the Taira clan
down and led to the establishment of Japan's first
military government. We will read the Heike tales
with an eye toward how they fictionalize history and
idealize certain types, most notably loyal women and
warriors; the development of the warrior tale genre;
central aspects of the Japanese ethos; and later works
of literature based on episodes and characters from
the Tale of the Heike. All material is in English
translation. (Students of Japanese language may learn
to read a famous section in the original.) There are
no pre-requisites.
BF
255. (COML385, EALC655, FOL 485, THAR485) Japanese
Theater.
(C). Distributional course in Arts & Letters,
Class of 2009 and prior. Prerequisite(s): Reading
knowledge of Japanese and/or previous coursework
in literature/theater will be helpful, but not required.
Kano
Japan has one of the richest and most varied theatrical traditions
in the world. In this course, we will examine
Japanese theater in historical and comparative contexts. The
readings and discussions will cover all areas of the
theatrical experience (script, acting, stage design,
costumes, music, and audience). Audio-visual material
will be used whenever appropriate and possible. The
class will be conducted in English, with all English
materials.
Economics
(AS)
{ECON}
BF
212. Game Theory. (C). Arts and Letters, Class of 2009 and prior, Prerequisite(s):
Econ 001, Econ 002, Math 104-114 or 115, and Econ
101. Permission needed from department. Matthews
An introduction
to game theory and its applications to Economic analysis.
The course will provide a theoretical overview of modern
game theory, emphasizing common themes in the analysis
of strategic behavior in different social science contexts.
The economic applications will be drawn from different
areas including trade, corporate strategy and public
policy.
English
(AS)
{ENGL}
BF
016 (THAR076, AFRC016, CINE016, GSOC016, LALS016)
Theater in Philadelphia. Freshman Seminar. Distributional
course in Arts and Letters, Class of 2009 and prior. Staff
Freshman
Seminars under the title "Topics in Literature" will
afford entering students who are considering literary
study as their major the opportunity to explore a particular
and limited subject with a professor whose current
work lies in that area. Topics may range from
the lyric poems of Shakespeare's period to the ethnic
fiction of contemporary America. Small class-size
will insure all students the opportunity to participate
in lively discussions. Students may expect frequent
and extensive writing assignments, but these seminars
are not writing courses; rather, they are intensive
introductions to the serious study of literature. One
of them may be counted toward the English major and
may be applied to a period, genre, or thematic requirement
within the major.
BF
318. Topics in Old English. (M).
Distributional course in Arts & Letters, Class
of 2009 and Prior.
This
seminar explores an aspect Anglo-Saxon culture intensively;
specific course topics will vary from year to year.
BF
321. Topics in Medieval Literature. (M).
Distributional course in Arts and Letters, Class
of 2009 and prior
This
seminar explores an aspect of medieval literature intensively;
specific course topics will vary from year to year.
Topics in the past have included the medieval performance,
medieval women, and medieval law and literature.
BF
322. Topics in Romance. (M). Distributional course in Arts and Letters,
Class of 2009 and prior
This
seminar explores an aspect of epic or romance intensively;
specific course topics will vary from year to year.
BF
325. Topics in Chaucer. (M). Distributional course in Arts and Letters,
Class of 2009 and prior
This
course explores an aspect of Chaucer's writings intensively;
specific course topics will vary from year to year.
BF
326. Topics in Early Drama. (M).
Distributional course in Arts and Letters, Class
of 2009 and prior.
This
course explores an aspect of drama before 1660 intensively;
specific course topics will vary from year to year.
BF
331. Topics in Renaissance Studies. (M).
Distributional course in Arts and Letters, Class
of 2009 and prior
This
course explores an aspect of renaissance literature
intensively; specific course topics will vary from
year to year.
BF
332. (COML 533, ITA L333) Topics in Renaissance Poetry. (M).
Distributional course in Arts and Letters, Class
of 2009 and prior.
The works
of poets of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,
such as John Donne, George Herbert, Henry Vaughan and
other, approached through a variety of topics; specific
course topics will vary from year to year.
BF
336. Stage-Centered Approaches to Renaissance Drama. (M).
Distributional course in Arts and Letters, Class
of 2009 and prior. Prerequisite(s): THAR 120 or 121
(or their equivalent).
Through
specialized readings, writing assignments, and in-class
acting exercises, the class will develop methods of
interpreting Shakespeare's plays through theatrical
practice. Topics include Shakespeare's use of soliloquy,
two and three person scenes, the dramatic presentation
of narrative source material, modes of defining and
presenting the "worlds" of the plays, and
the use of theatrical practice to establish authoritative
text.
BF
338. Topics in 17th-century Literature. (M).
Distributional course in Arts and Letters, Class
of 2009 and prior.
This
course explores an aspect of 17th-century literature
intensively; specific course topics will vary from
year to year.
BF
341. Topics in 18th-Century Literature. (M).
Distributional course in Arts and Letters, Class
of 2009 and prior.
This
course explores an aspect of 18th-century literature
intensively; specific course topics will vary from
year to year.
BF
342. Topics in 18th-Century Poetry. (M).
Distributional course in Arts and Letters, Class
of 2009 and prior.
This
course explores an aspect of 18th-century poetry intensively;
specific course topics will vary from year to year.
BF
343. Topics in Early American Literature. (M).
Distributional course in Arts and Letters, Class
of 2009 and prior
This
course explores an aspect of early American literature
intensively; specific course topics will vary from
year to year.
BF
345. (GSOC335) Topics in 18th Century Novel. (M).
Distributional course in Arts and Letters, Class
of 2009 and prior.
This
course explores an aspect of the 18th-century novel
intensively; specific course topics will vary from
year to year.
BF
348. Topics in Transatlantic Literature. (M).
Distributional course in Arts and Letters, Class
of 2009 and prior
This
course explores an aspect of transatlantic literature
intensively; specific course topics will vary from
year to year.
BF
350. Topics in Romanticism. (M).
Distributional course in Arts and Letters, Class
of 2009 and prior.
This
course explores an aspect of Romantic literature intensively;
specific course topics will vary from year to year.
BF
351. Topics in 19th-century British Literature.
(M). Distributional course in Arts and Letters, Class
of 2009 and prior.
This
course explores an aspect of 19th-century literature
intensively; specific course topics will vary from
year to year.
BF
352. Topics in 19th-century Poetry. (M).
Distributional course in Arts and Letters, Class
of 2009 and prior.
This
course explores an aspect of 19th-century poetry intensively;
specific course topics will vary from year to year.
BF
353. Topics in 19th-century American Literature. (M).
Distributional course in Arts and Letters, Class
of 2009 and prior.
This
course explores an aspect of 19th-century American
literature intensively; specific course topics will
vary from year to year.
BF
355. Topics in the 19th-century Novel. (M). Distributional
course in Arts and Letters, Class of 2009 and prior.
This
course explores an aspect of the 19th-century novel
intensively; specific course topics will vary from
year to year.
BF
356. Topics in Modern Drama. (M).
Distributional course in Arts and Letters, Class
of 2009 and prior.
This
course explores an aspect of Modern Drama intensively;
specific course topics will vary from year to year.
BF
359. (COML355) Topics in Modernism. (M).
Distributional course in Arts and Letters, Class
of 2009 and prior.
This
course explores an aspect of literary modernism intensively;
specific course topics will vary from year to year.
Past offerings have included seminars on the avant-garde,
on the politics of modernism, and on its role in shaping
poetry, music, and the visual arts.
BF
360. (COML360) Topics in the Novel. (M).
Distributional course in Arts and Letters, Class
of 2009 and prior.
This
course explores an aspect of the novel intensively,
asking how novels work and what they do to us and for
us. Specific course topics will vary from year to year.
BF
361. Topics in 20th-century British Literature. (M).
Distributional course in Arts and Letters, Class
of 2009 and prior.
This
course explores an aspect of 20th-century British literature
intensively; specific course topics will vary from
year to year.
BF
362. Topics in 20th-century Poetry. (M).
Distributional course in Arts and Letters, Class
of 2009 and prior.
This
course explores an aspect of 20th-century poetry intensively;
specific course topics will vary from year to year.
BF
363 Topics in 20th-century American Literature. (M).
Distributional course in Arts and Letters, Class
of 2009 and prior.
This
course explores an aspect of 20th-century American
literature intensively; specific course topics will
vary from year to year.
BF
364. Topics in Modern American Literature. (M).
Distributional course in Arts and Letters, Class
of 2009 and prior.
This
course explores an aspect of Native American literature
intensively; specific course topics will vary, and
have included "American Expatriotism," "The
1930s," and
"Intimacy and Distance: William Faulkner, Zora Neale Hurston, Eudora Welty,
and Richard Wright."
BF
365. Topics in the 20th-century Novel. (M).
Distributional course in Arts and Letters, Class
of 2009 and prior.
This
course explores an aspect of the 20th-century novel
intensively; specific course topics will vary from
year to year.
BF
366. Topics in Law and Literature. (M). Distributional
course in Arts and Letters, Class of 2009 and prior.This
course explores an aspect of literature and law intensively;
specific course topics will vary from year to year.
BF
369. Topics in Poetry and Poetics. (M).
Distributional course in Arts and Letters, Class
of 2009 and prior.
This
course explores an aspect of poetry and poetics intensively;
specific course topics will vary from year to year.
BF
370. Topics in Latina/o Literature. (M).
Distributional course in Arts and Letters, Class
of 2009 and prior.
This
course explores an aspect of Latina/o literature intensively;
specific course topics will vary from year to year.
BF
371. Topics in the Literature of Africa and the African
Diaspora. (M). Distributional course in Arts and Letters, Class
of 2009 and prior.
This
course explores an aspect of the literature of Africa
and the African Diaspora intensively; specific course
topics will vary from year to year.
BF
372. Topics in Asian American Literature. (M).
Distributional course in Arts and Letters, Class
of 2009 and prior.
This
seminar is an advanced-level topics-based version of
ENGL 072, Introduction to Asian American Literature. The
intended audience is junior and senior English majors
and advanced students in Asian studies, Asian American
studies, contemporary U.S. and world history, ethnic
studies, urban studies, etc. Typical versions
of this seminar will include representations and images
of Asians in contemporary U.S. novels and films; Asian
American literature by women; Asian American film narrative
and film aesthetics; studies in Asian American literature
and visual art; Asian American literature and immigration;
Asian American literature in the context of the literature
of exile and journey; Asian American literature 1929-1945;
Asian American literature, 1945 to the present; Anglophone/South
Asian literature in England, 1970 to the present; Southeast
Asia, Vietnam, and American literature, 1970-1990;
etc. Students will typically present research
projects and write several long essays.
BF
374. Topics in Contemporary American Literature.
(M). Distributional course in Arts and Letters, Class
of 2009 and prior.
This
course explores an aspect of Native American literature
intensively; specific course topics will vary, and
have included "The Literary History of The Cold
War, 1947-1957"
and the "Kelly House Fellows Seminar."
BF
376. (THAR290) Topics in Theatre History.
(M). Distributional course in Arts and Letters, Class
of 2009 and prior.
The purpose
of this course is to introduce students to the basic
materials and methods of theatre history and historigraphy,
as applied to a particular topic, organized around
a specific period, national group, or aesthetic issue.
This course is concerned with methodological questions:
how the history of theatre can be documented; how primary
documents, secondary accounts, and historical and critical
analyses can be synthesized; how the various components
of the theatrical event--acting, scenography, playhouse
architecture, audience composition, the financial and
structural organization of the theatre industry, etc.--relate
to one another; and how the theatre is socially and
culturally constructed as an art form in relation to
the politics and culture of a society in a particular
time and place.
BF
381. (AFRC381) Topics in African-American Literature. (M). Distributional course in Arts and Letters, Class
of 2009 and prior.
In this
advanced seminar, students will be introduced to a
variety of approaches to African American literatures,
and to a wide spectrum of methodologies and ideological
postures (for example, The Black Arts Movement). The
course will present an assortment of emphases, some
of them focused on geography (for example, the Harlem
Renaissance), others focused on genre (autobiography,
poetry or drama), the politics of gender and class,
or a particular grouping of authors. Previous versions
of this course have included "African American
Autobiography,"
"Backgrounds of African-American Literature," "The Black Narrative"
(beginning with eighteenth-century slave narratives and
working toward contemporary literature), as well as seminars
on urban spaces, jazz, migration, oral narratives, black
Christianity, and African-American music.
BF
382. Topics in Native American Literature. (M).
Distributional course in Arts and Letters, Class
of 2009 and prior.
This
course explores an aspect of Native American literature
intensively; specific course topics will vary.
BF
386. Topics in American Literature.
(M). Distributional course in Arts and Letters, Class
of 2009 and prior.
This
course explores an aspect of American literature intensively;
specific course topics will vary, and have included "American
Authors and the Imagined Past" and "American
Gothic."
BF
387. The 1930’s (B).
This
course explores an aspect of Jewish and/or Jewish-American
literature intensively; specific course topics will
vary.
BF
388. Topics in Modern American Poetry.
(M). Distributional course in Arts and Letters, Class
of 2009 and prior.
Sometimes
limiting itself to the works of one or two authors,
sometimes focusing on a particular theme such as "American
Poetry and Democratic Culture," this course devotes
itself to the study of twentieth-century American poetry.
BF
390. (CINE308, GSOC390) Gender and Sexuality Literature. (M).
Distributional course in Arts and Letters, Class
of 2009 and prior.
The advanced
women's studies course in the department, focusing
on a particular aspect of literature by and about women.
Topics might include: "Victorian Literary Women";
"Women, Politics, and Literature"; "Feminist Literary Theory";
and similar foci.
BF
391. Topics in Film History. (M).
Distributional course in Arts and Letters, Class
of 2009 and prior.
This
course explores an aspect of Film History intensively;
specific course topics will vary from year to year.
BF
392. (ARTH489, CINE392) Topics in Film Studies.
(M). Distributional course in Arts and Letters, Class
of 2009 and prior.
This
course explores an aspect of Film Studies intensively;
specific course topics will vary from year to year.
BF
393. (AFST393, COML392, GSOC393) Topics in Postcolonial
Literature. (M). Distributional course in Arts and Letters, Class of 2009 and prior.
This
course explores an aspect of postcolonial literature
intensively; specific course topics will vary from
year to year.
BF
394. (CLST396, COML360, COML383, ROML390) Topics
in Literary Theory. (M). Distributional course in
Arts and Letters, Class of 2009 and prior.
This
course explores an aspect of literary theory intensively;
specific course topics will vary from year to year.
BF
395. Topics in Cultural Studies. (M).
Distributional course in Arts and Letters, Class
of 2009 and prior.
This
course explores an aspect of cultural studies intensively;
specific course topics will vary from year to year.
BF
396. (CLST360, COML354) Classical Background. (M).
Distributional course in Arts and Letters, Class
of 2009 and prior.
This
course explores an aspect of gender, sexuality, or
feminist theory intensively; specific course topics
will vary from year to year.
BF
397. History of Books, 15C-18C. (M). Distributional
course in Arts and Letters, Class of 2009 and prior.
This
course explores an aspect of race and/or ethnicity
intensively; specific course topics will vary from
year to year.
Environmental
Studies
(AS)
{ENVS}
BF
404. (HSOC404) Urban Environment: West Philadelphia (B).
Pepino
Lead
poisoning can cause learning disabilities, impaired
hearing, behavioral ,problems, and at very high levels,
seizures, coma and even death. Children up, to the
age of six are especially at risk because of their
developing systems; they often ingest lead chips and
dust while playing in their home and yards.
BF
406. Community Based Environmental Health. (A).
Staff.
From
the fall of the Roman Empire to Love Canal to the epidemics
of asthma, ,childhood obesity and lead poisoning in
West Philadelphia, the impact of the ,environment on
health has been a continuous challenge to society. The
environment can affect people's health more strongly
than biological factors, medical care and lifestyle. The
water we drink, the food we eat, the air we, breathe,
and the neighborhood we live in are all components
of the environment that impact our health. Some
estimates, based on morbidity and mortality, statistics,
indicate that the impact of the environment on health
is as high, as 80%. These impacts are particularly
significant in urban areas like West Philadelphia. Over
the last 20 years, the field of environmental health
has matured and expanded to become one of the most
comprehensive and humanly relevant disciplines in science.
This
course will examine not only the toxicity of physical
agents, but also the effects on human health of lifestyle,
social and economic factors, and the built environment. Topics
include cancer clusters, water borne diseases, radon
and lung cancer, lead poisoning, environmental tobacco
smoke, respiratory diseases and obesity. Students
will research the health impacts of classic industrial
pollution case studies in the US. Class discussions
will also include risk communication, community outreach
and education, access to health care and impact on
vulnerable populations. Each student will have
the opportunity
to focus on Public Health, Environmental Protection,
Public Policy, and Environmental Education issues as
they discuss approaches to mitigating environmental
health risks.
BF
407. (HSOC407) Prevention of Tobacco Addiction among
Pre-Adolescent Children in Philadelphia.
(B). Pepino
In ENVS
407, Penn undergraduates learn about the short and
long term physiological consequences of smoking, social
influences and peer norms regarding tobacco use, the
effectiveness of cessation programs, tobacco advocacy
and the impact of the tobacco settlement. Penn
students will collaborate with teachers in West Philadelphia
to prepare and deliver lessons to middle school students. The
undergraduates will survey and evaluate middle school
and Penn student smoking. One of the course goals
is to raise awareness of the middle school children
to prevent addiction to tobacco smoke during adolescence. Collaboration
with the middle schools gives Penn students the opportunity
to apply their study of the prevention of tobacco smoking
to real world situations.
BF
408. (HSOC408) The Urban Asthma Epidemic. (B).
Staff
Asthma
as a chronic pediatric disease is undergoing a dramatic
and unexplained increase. It has become the #1 cause
of public-school absenteeism and now accounts for a
significant number of childhood deaths each year in
the USA. In ENVS 408, Penn undergraduates learn about
the epidemiology of urban asthma, the debate about
the probable cause (or causes) of the current asthma
crisis, and the nature and distribution of environmental
factors that modern medicine describes as potential
triggers of asthma episodes. Penn students then collaborate
with community-service home visitors employed in a
clinical research study at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
(CHOP). The Penn students accompany CHOP staff to the
homes of children undergoing outpatient treatment for
chronic asthma at CHOP. They instruct the families
of those children in strategies to establish and maintain
a trigger-free space within each child's home in which
he/she can sleep, play, and study. The Penn students
also conduct on-site ACLOTEST procedures in each home
to determine the concentration of dust-mite feces in
the rooms children will be using as safe sapces. They
will then summarize the results of their work in a
format appropriate to the assessment phase of the CHOP
clinical study.
Fine
Arts
(FA)
{FNAR}
BF
238. (FNAR538) Open Book: A Visual Exploration.
(A). Hyland
"Open
Book" will focus on visual communication of information. It
will address two methods of inquiry and the corresponding
means of visual representation: the objective, well
structured research of facts and images, and the creative
process of their subjective evaluation and restatement. Students
will propose a topic based on their area of interest
and engage in a focused, semester-long exploration,
which they will present in the form of a designed and
printed book. (Benjamin Franklin Scholar Seminar).
French
(AS)
{FREN}
BF
250. (COML272) French Literature in Translation. (M).
General Requirements in Arts and Letters. Staff
Freshman
Seminars.
(AS)
{FRSM}
Topics
will change from year to year. Recent courses have
included Topics in American Poetry; History and Memory
in American Culture and Politics of Crime and Punishment
Gender,
Culture, and Society
(AS)
{GSOC}
BF
318. (HSOC341, NURS318) Race, Gender, Class: History. (C).
Distributional course in History and Tradition, Class
of 2009 and prior. Fairman
This
multidisciplinary course surveys the history of American
health care through the multiple perspectives of race,
gender, and class, and grounds the discussions in contemporary
health issues. It emphasizes the links between
the past and present, using not only primary documents
but materials from disciplines such as literature,
art, sociology, and feminist studies that relate both
closely and tangentially to the health professions
and health care issues. Discussions will surround
gender, class-based, ethnic, and racial ideas about
the construction of disease, health and illness; the
development of health care institutions; the interplay
between religion and science; the experiences of patients
and providers; and the response to disasters and epidemics.
BF
338. (HSOC338, NURS338) Social Images and Issues
in our Aging Society. (B). Kagan
This
course is an intensive and focused introduction to
social gerontology as a trans-disciplinary lens through
which to examine aspects of social structure, actions,
and consequences in an aging society. A variety
of sources are employed to introduce students from
any field focused on human behavior and interaction
to classical notions of social gerontology and current
scholarly inquiry in gerontology. Field work in
the tradition of thick description creates a mechanism
to engage students in newly gerontological understandings
of their life worlds and daily interactions. Weekly
field work, observing aspects of age and representations
of aging and being old in every day experiences forms,
is juxtaposed against close critical readings of classical
works in social gerontology and current research literature
as well as viewings of film and readings of popular
literature as ,the basis for student analysis. Student
participation in the seminar demands ,careful scrutiny
and critical synthesis of disparate intellectual, cultural,
,and social perspectives using readings and field work
and creation of oral and ,written arguments that extend
understandings of the issues at hand in new and ,substantive
ways. Emphasis is placed on analysis of field
work and literature through a series of media reports
and a final term paper.
BF
339. (HSOC339, NURS339) Psychological Gerontology
in the 21st Century. (B). Kagan
This
honors course examines the psychological gerontology
of advancing age and identity in the 21st century. Examination
emphasizes gendered notions of beauty and sexuality
in ageing and the life span to foster discourse around
historical notions and images of beauty and ugliness
in late life in contrast to contemporary messages of
attractiveness and age represented by both women and
men. The course is designed to create intellectual
foundations as place from which to critique socially
mediated and personally conveyed images and messages
from a variety of media and their influence on intrapersonal
and interpersonal constructions and social processes. Contemporary
and historical ideas encompassing stereotypical and
idealized views of the older person are employed to
reflect dialogue around readings and field work.
BF
390 (ENGL390) Topics in Women and Literature: Friendship. (M).
Distributional course in Arts and Letters, Class
of 2009 and prior. Love
Attitudes
toward and visions of womanhood and manhood in fiction
of the last hundred years. Is a person's gender
the most important fact shaping her or his lifetime? Does
it have to be?
Geology
(AS)
{GEOL}
