Academics

Fall Term Schedule

Fall 2024

Number	Title	Instructor	Time
EHUM 103-1 Moral Problems William FitzPatrick TR 9:40AM - 10:55AM
An introduction to moral philosophy as applied to current topics. Some questions to be explored: What sorts of socioeconomic principles are morally justifiable? Does the history of racial injustice in the U.S. create a moral demand for reparations, and if so, what is the best argument for this? What is the relation, if any, between morality and religion? Do animals have moral rights? How should we understand the meaning and value of human life and death? Can abortion sometimes be justified, and if so, how? Is it okay to destroy embryos for stem cell research? Is active euthanasia ever permissible? Is capital punishment justifiable in principle? In practice? Is torture morally permissible in the fight against terrorism? How far does our moral duty to aid distant strangers extend? We will also explore related general questions: Is it always possible for a good enough end to justify bad means? Are there objective facts about right or wrong, or is morality ultimately relative to cultures or times? Are there situations in which every available action is wrong? Can we be morally assessed even for some things that are largely a matter of luck? Location Dewey Room 2162 (TR 9:40AM - 10:55AM)
EHUM 125-1 Dust to Dust: Introduction to Eco-critical Perspectives on the Ground – MW 10:25AM - 11:40AM
This course will explore an array of perspectives implied by the term “ground” and how these perspectives define the human relationship to the world. The ground offers a complicated and sometimes controversial focal point for a consideration of human activity. Many possible correlates of “ground” in German—the terms “Grund,” “Boden,” and “Erde,” for example—include semantic fields that extend to reason, basis, territory, soil, earth, and world. Through the examination of perspectives ranging from metaphorical, to philosophical, to material, we will investigate how the ground functions in diverse contexts, forming at times the basis for human exceptionality, becoming the great unifier of organic and inorganic matter, and finally setting the scene for a decentering of an anthropocentric understanding of the world. In order to consider each of these perspectives in detail, readings for this course are grouped into five sections. These five sections follow the human/ground interaction in different configurations. Beginning with the initial differentiation of human from ground, readings progress from more philosophical, metaphorical, and individualizing perspectives on the ground, through to more material and dispersed understandings of the ground. In these sections, students will engage in close reading of a variety of texts (poems, short stories, films, and musical works), with special emphasis on the function of various “grounds” within these texts. Location Todd Union Room 202 (MW 10:25AM - 11:40AM)
EHUM 245-01 Race, Colonialism, and Nature Leila Nadir MW 12:30PM - 1:45PM
EHUM 245: Race Colonialism Nature In this course we will read famous novels by American Black and indigenous writers Toni Morrison, Jamaica Kincaid, Linda Hogan, Leslie Marmon Silko, and Jesmyn Ward, studying the role of story and literature in understanding the psychic, soul, and spiritual impacts of colonialism. Interconnected topics we will likely cover include memory, trauma, family, folklore, ancestors, justice, wilderness, slavery, occupation, addiction, eco-tourism, flying, civil rights, reproductive rights, health care, magical realism, climate change, hurricanes, mining, the Great Migration, the body, sustainability, animals, capitalism, extraction, war, violence, survival, and healing. INSTRUCTOR PERMISSION REQUIRED. Location Lechase Room 124 (MW 12:30PM - 1:45PM)
EHUM 268-1 Decolonizing Food & Plantation Ecologies Leila Nadir MW 3:25PM - 4:40PM
This course studies the cultural, economic, and ecological structures of the industrial food system–from its origins in the slave economies of sugar plantations in the colonial era to current-day monocultures of corn, soy, and palm oil spanning the globe. Using the lens of the Plantation, we will connect contemporary social and environmental problems like climate change, racial injustice, Big Ag, and global inequality to the colonization of people, animals, plants, and the planet, to the turning of biodiverse cultures and ecosystems into cash-crop factories, animals into raw materials, and people into displaced workers. In the process, we will cover many well-known but little-understood topics, including biotech, chemical inputs, fast/processed food, and GMOs, as well as critical theories that illuminate the cultural frameworks that shape perceptions of food, including modernization, decolonization, animal rights, and neoliberalism. INSTRUCTOR PERMISSION REQUIRED. Location Lechase Room 160 (MW 3:25PM - 4:40PM)
EHUM 284-1 Civil Disobedience John Downey T 2:00PM - 4:40PM
his course will examine the varieties of thought about, and practice of, civil disobedience within social movements, with an emphasis on contemporary activism. When, why, and how do communities choose to push back against structures of violence and injustice? Throughout the semester, we will study canonical texts of modern resistance history speeches, writing, direct action protests, art and will consider the role of this form of counter-conduct within larger campaign strategies to build power from below and get free. Location Meliora Room 224 (T 2:00PM - 4:40PM)
EHUM 391-1 Independent Study Leila Nadir 7:00PM - 7:00PM
Registration for Independent Study courses needs to be completed thru the instructions for online independent study registration. Location ( 7:00PM - 7:00PM)

Number	Title	Instructor	Time
Monday and Wednesday
EHUM 125-1 Dust to Dust: Introduction to Eco-critical Perspectives on the Ground –
This course will explore an array of perspectives implied by the term “ground” and how these perspectives define the human relationship to the world. The ground offers a complicated and sometimes controversial focal point for a consideration of human activity. Many possible correlates of “ground” in German—the terms “Grund,” “Boden,” and “Erde,” for example—include semantic fields that extend to reason, basis, territory, soil, earth, and world. Through the examination of perspectives ranging from metaphorical, to philosophical, to material, we will investigate how the ground functions in diverse contexts, forming at times the basis for human exceptionality, becoming the great unifier of organic and inorganic matter, and finally setting the scene for a decentering of an anthropocentric understanding of the world. In order to consider each of these perspectives in detail, readings for this course are grouped into five sections. These five sections follow the human/ground interaction in different configurations. Beginning with the initial differentiation of human from ground, readings progress from more philosophical, metaphorical, and individualizing perspectives on the ground, through to more material and dispersed understandings of the ground. In these sections, students will engage in close reading of a variety of texts (poems, short stories, films, and musical works), with special emphasis on the function of various “grounds” within these texts.
EHUM 245-01 Race, Colonialism, and Nature Leila Nadir
EHUM 245: Race Colonialism Nature In this course we will read famous novels by American Black and indigenous writers Toni Morrison, Jamaica Kincaid, Linda Hogan, Leslie Marmon Silko, and Jesmyn Ward, studying the role of story and literature in understanding the psychic, soul, and spiritual impacts of colonialism. Interconnected topics we will likely cover include memory, trauma, family, folklore, ancestors, justice, wilderness, slavery, occupation, addiction, eco-tourism, flying, civil rights, reproductive rights, health care, magical realism, climate change, hurricanes, mining, the Great Migration, the body, sustainability, animals, capitalism, extraction, war, violence, survival, and healing. INSTRUCTOR PERMISSION REQUIRED.
EHUM 268-1 Decolonizing Food & Plantation Ecologies Leila Nadir
This course studies the cultural, economic, and ecological structures of the industrial food system–from its origins in the slave economies of sugar plantations in the colonial era to current-day monocultures of corn, soy, and palm oil spanning the globe. Using the lens of the Plantation, we will connect contemporary social and environmental problems like climate change, racial injustice, Big Ag, and global inequality to the colonization of people, animals, plants, and the planet, to the turning of biodiverse cultures and ecosystems into cash-crop factories, animals into raw materials, and people into displaced workers. In the process, we will cover many well-known but little-understood topics, including biotech, chemical inputs, fast/processed food, and GMOs, as well as critical theories that illuminate the cultural frameworks that shape perceptions of food, including modernization, decolonization, animal rights, and neoliberalism. INSTRUCTOR PERMISSION REQUIRED.
Tuesday
EHUM 284-1 Civil Disobedience John Downey
his course will examine the varieties of thought about, and practice of, civil disobedience within social movements, with an emphasis on contemporary activism. When, why, and how do communities choose to push back against structures of violence and injustice? Throughout the semester, we will study canonical texts of modern resistance history speeches, writing, direct action protests, art and will consider the role of this form of counter-conduct within larger campaign strategies to build power from below and get free.
Tuesday and Thursday
EHUM 103-1 Moral Problems William FitzPatrick
An introduction to moral philosophy as applied to current topics. Some questions to be explored: What sorts of socioeconomic principles are morally justifiable? Does the history of racial injustice in the U.S. create a moral demand for reparations, and if so, what is the best argument for this? What is the relation, if any, between morality and religion? Do animals have moral rights? How should we understand the meaning and value of human life and death? Can abortion sometimes be justified, and if so, how? Is it okay to destroy embryos for stem cell research? Is active euthanasia ever permissible? Is capital punishment justifiable in principle? In practice? Is torture morally permissible in the fight against terrorism? How far does our moral duty to aid distant strangers extend? We will also explore related general questions: Is it always possible for a good enough end to justify bad means? Are there objective facts about right or wrong, or is morality ultimately relative to cultures or times? Are there situations in which every available action is wrong? Can we be morally assessed even for some things that are largely a matter of luck?