Preceptorial

PREC 100 -199 First-Year Preceptorial

First-Year Preceptorial introduces students to liberal learning by teaching them the skills of intellectual synthesis, academic honesty, and resourcefulness -- skills necessary for creative thinking, responsible choice, and problem solving. Each year, entering students can choose from a selection of ever-evolving topics, such as "Cinematic Visions", "Creating Monsters", "Love", "The American Dream", and "Human Rights". (The current set of courses can be found at: http://www.knox.edu/academics/distinctive-programs/first-year-preceptorial.html). Students examine issues through reading, writing, critical analysis and, most importantly, class discussion. Preceptorial teaches students how to analyze objectively and to discuss competing explanations and contradictory beliefs, how to question or affirm a viewpoint, when to be persuaded by a new idea, and how to interact in good faith with those whose opinions differ from their own. The course meets MWF in individual sections for discussion; Tuesday afternoons are set aside for films, one-on-one writing conferences, and writing workshops. Staff

PREC 104 Social Justice and Social Media

What is social justice and how does one defend it? Why do some people identify as advocates for social justice while others, even those with the same values and strategies, disavow that identity? In this course, we will read theories of and criticism about issues of social justice. We will pay particular attention to how they play out on Tumblr, Twitter, and other examples of social media. For example, we will follow accounts that belong to self-proclaimed social justice advocates as well as accounts that attack them. Ultimately, we will hope to complicate and perhaps even answer the questions above. Staff

PREC 105 The Challenge of Sustainability

All human societies live in relationship with their surrounding natural environments. They draw on them for resources and in doing so inevitably change them. Today, as human populations have grown and modern societies have become more materially productive and interconnected, our impact on the global environment has increased dramatically. What does it mean for a society to be in a sustainable relationship with its environment? What can we learn from past societies? What are the challenges to sustainability at local, national and global levels? What changes might sustainability entail? Staff

PREC 106 Cinematic Visions

In this course we will use films to explore a variety of questions: What does it mean to be human? Who are we, and how do we know? What do we want out of life, and how should we go about getting it? What are our responsibilities to others? What does it mean to live "the good life?" We consider the ways in which film addresses these questions. Does film reflect the answers, or does it create them? In addition to film, we will use works from psychology, philosophy, and film studies to explore these issues. Staff

PREC 107 Creating Monsters

One becomes a monster either by committing some "monstrous" act or by possessing some properties that designate them as essentially "other." This course examines and evaluates the psychological, sociopolitical, and ethical processes through which this occurs and will attempt to answer the question: What does the status of monsters tell us about what it is to be human? To do so, we will look at Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, William Shakespeare's Othello, and a number of shorter readings and films. Staff

PREC 108 Creativity input -- innovation output

"Creativity input - innovation output." This course will explore the phenomenon of creativity as an aspect of human behavior and culture across a wide range of professional and academic fields, including the arts, social sciences, sciences, and the humanities, as well as an occurrence within nature. It will study creative thinking in relationship to critical thinking, both in theoretical and practical terms, and will investigate contemporary neuroscience findings that illuminate how the brain functions in relationship to the creative process. It will engage questions about imagination, intuition, insight, inspiration, improvisation, empathy, creative problem solving, innovation, invention, and entrepreneurship. Staff

PREC 109 Dying and Death

"Men fear death," says Sir Francis Bacon, "as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other." People have always tried to cast a little light into this darkness, but death has remained mysterious and impenetrable. The course offers an opportunity to take death "out of the closet" and examine it from many perspectives. Does death deprive life of all meaning, or is it a necessary condition of meaning? To what extent is our culture based on a denial of death, and to what extent are our conceptions of death shaped by our culture? What happens to us physically when we die, and what happens to us psychologically when others die? This course will raise questions about the path ahead and help inform us about how to think about and begin a search for answers to those questions. Staff

PREC 110 The Art of Listening

Are you a good listener? How does listening differ from hearing? In what ways do culture and society encourage or inhibit our ability to listen? How does living in a digital world challenge our social interactions and shape our experiences with communication and listening? This course will focus on examining the surprising depth of the act of listening effectively. We will discuss various factors that influence our ability to listen including: culture, technology, physiology, conflict, politics, religion, social status, power, gender, and interpersonal engagement. We will also explore ways in which truly listening can foster more effective political discourse, conflict resolution, and personal relationships. The course will rely on discussion and listening, reflective writing, activities and experiences as well as analytical assignments and experiments. Staff

PREC 111 The 21st Century

What defines our young century? And what in it defines us? "That things 'just keep on going' is the catastrophe," Walter Benjamin noted in the 1930s, but he could have been speaking about our urgent now. In this course, we will trace how the last two decades reconfigured our emotional and intellectual landscapes, memory and perception, by considering how we inherit events, their repercussions, joys and burdens. We will explore literature, art, and scholarshi--from September 11 to the current momen--that covers the period of your lives, and that asks intimate, difficult questions of our intimate, difficult times. Staff

PREC 113 Love

It may be true that "all you need is love," but why do we feel that need to love and be loved? This course explores four types of love (Affection, Friendship, Romance, and Unconditional Love) as they are expressed in both the arts and sciences, including literary/artistic and critical/theoretical perspectives, clinical research findings and movies and songs and whatever else students bring to the course via individual projects and presentations. Staff

PREC 114 Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

Exploration, colonization, and cultural domination are common themes in human history. This course uses the setting of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) to investigate the enterprising tendency of human nature. Initially removed from the influence of neighboring societies and cloaked with mystery, especially with the creation of the large "Moai" statues, its isolated history will be examined. Rapa Nui also provides a remarkably contained setting in which to observe and question human exploration, as well as to understand the development of societies -- and their collapse. Staff

PREC 115 Science Fiction and Human Identity

Do humans differ in a fundamental way from thinking machines? What is the relationship of the body to our conception of the human, and how might it change with the advent of genetic or cybernetic augmentation? What is the likely endpoint or destiny of humankind? Science fiction stories can be read as thought experiments designed to explore deep questions about what it means to be human. Drawing on a variety of readings and films, our goal in this course will be to explore the issue of human identity as seen through the lens of science fiction. DV; Staff

PREC 116 The Social Life of Food

Eating is an ordinary activity with profound social implications. Our modern food system has utterly transformed what and how we eat. This course examines food in a broad social context, exploring the modern revolution in eating but also the impact of this revolution on our attitudes and assumptions about what food is and how we consume it. In addition to analyzing food science and food fads over time, we will consider the politics, ethics, and ecological impact of our contemporary food culture. Staff

PREC 118 War

War has been part of human experience since the dawn of history. It is an instrument wielded by states and revolutionaries, combining brutal violence and high strategy, condemned and justified by theologians and philosophers. Today, as populations grow, resources diminish and its destructive power expands, war seems more omnipresent and threatening than ever. We will draw on insights from the natural sciences, anthropology, history, literature, philosophy, psychology, political theory and the fine arts to explore this central human phenomenon. Staff

PREC 120 Monuments: Memory and Aspiration

The course begins with a detailed examination of a number of monuments, including the St Louis Arch, the Vietnam Memorial, the Martin Luther King Memorial and the Berlin Holocaust Memorial. Each example will be contextualized through readings, visual analysis, historical and cultural frames of reference, and in one case, a site visit. The course culminates with students, researching, conceiving, and finally designing memorials to a contemporary person or event. Our goal is to achieve a complex appreciation of memorials as they shape new meanings that link past to future, the civic to the personal, the sacred to the secular, and document to poetry. Staff

PREC 121 Diversity and the Millennial Generation

What does it mean to live in a diverse and inclusive society? What conditions allow for an informed analysis of power and privilege in America? Our course analyzes a multiplicity of concepts: the uses of "colorism" in various communities, genderqueer citizenship, feminism, masculinities, marriage equality, new biracial identities, and the need for multicultural literacy in the new century. The goals are to develop the conceptual tools that help us see the cultural limitations of our own perspectives: to explore the power relations inside and outside our own groups, and to develop skills to interact effectively with people different than ourselves. DV; Staff

PREC 122 Gender on Film: Reality and Representation

How do we act out our gender roles in the real world? In what ways are they reproduced or exploited in art? This class looks at the presentation of gender in film and investigates what it can tell us about the way we act out our own gender roles. The overarching discussion analyzes aspects of gender that are accepted as natural, as well as those that seem to be constructed by society. The class will use the ideas found in our films and discussions to study the trajectory of changing notions of gender in society from the past into today. Staff

PREC 124 Human Rights

While most people today profess support for "human rights," difficult questions emerge if we press deeper. What, exactly, are the rights that we all share? Are these rights universal or are they specific to certain cultural traditions? How should human rights violations be prevented? Once such violations have occurred, how should societies pursue justice and promote social reconciliation? We will examine these questions looking at specific human rights cases and drawing on readings from a wide variety of perspectives. Staff

PREC 125 Epidemics and Societies

Outbreaks of infectious diseases can have tremendous impact on human societies and the lives of individuals. This course explores the political, social, and scientific responses to various epidemics, and the substantial ethical questions that can arise. Topics include efforts to eradicate diseases, the emergence of HIV, and perceptions of epidemics and disease in the media. DV; Staff

PREC 127 Human-Animal Relationships

Animals have played important roles in the lives of humans from prehistoric times to the present day. They are our friends, our foes, and our food. This course will examine human-animal relationships from a variety of perspectives, including historical, biological, psychological, and cultural. We will study opposing views of how domestication evolved and will learn how domesticated animals influenced the histories of different human societies, providing food and transport on the one hand, but causing diseases on the other. We will consider how animals are portrayed in literature and film, asking: What is the purpose of anthropomorphism? We will also think about animals in the context of religion and slaughter, where one culture may revere a particular species, but another might eat it on a daily basis. An examination of such speciesism will lead to the ethical question: Is animal welfare sufficient, or should we have animal rights? Staff

PREC 129 The American Dream

The American Dream is an elusive idea that has been threaded into fabric of American political discourse and literature. Each generation has reinterpreted ideals, values, and material rewards associated with its pursuit. Equally important, each generation has redefined the requirements for membership in terms of who can pursue it. This course follows a chronology of American history through which we examine the various ways in which the American Dream has been articulated in political, historical, and literary texts. In doing so we consider the general expansion (as inconsistent and imperfect as it may be) of the American Dream to encompass the hopes and ideals of new populations of Americans. Among the themes we discuss are the rags to riches narrative, the promise of the West, the vision of the house with the white picket fence, and the fear that the American dream is dead. Staff

PREC 131 Heroism

What does it mean to be a hero? Is the concept of heroism determined by the dominant surrounding culture, or does it have universal aspects? What causes people to be heroes? Is there anyone today who can withstand the level of public scrutiny that now exists so as to be considered an enduring hero? Does it take more than heroic acts to be a hero? Why do we continue to be drawn to portrayals of heroes in film and literature? These and other questions are studied in this course using a variety of scholarly articles, literature, and films. With The Lord of the Rings as an anchoring text in which the stark portrayal of good and evil permits clear discernment of heroism (or does it?), we study changing perspectives on heroism with time and situation, the portrayal of heroes in literature, the psychological traits of heroes, the classic heroic journey, and the notions of heroic flaws and anti-heroes. Staff

PREC 134 Why Do We Laugh?

This course asks a question that no two people will answer the same. In pursuit of variable answers, we'll explore perspectives, cultural influences, and frames of reference that inform what we laugh at, who laughs and why. We will track the evolution (or devolution) of literary humor through the ages with readings that range in era from ancient (Aristophanes) to classic (Shakespeare, Wilde) to more modern and uniquely American (Twain, Rogers), even venturing into pop culture (Sedaris, Allen). Readings and discussions will investigate why humans possess the unique ability to process humor while working toward a broader understanding of the symbiotic relationship between humorist and audience. We will also endeavor to create humor by exploring its use in particular contexts such as political (satire/parody), within certain socio-economic strata (high brow, low humor, "red neck") or within a particular cultural setting (Woody Allen, Chris Rock). Course work will include two major analysis papers and one final project incorporating the analytic and the creative. Staff

PREC 135 Time

What is time? How do we experience it, reckon it, allocate it, spend it, waste it, invest it? Does time control human activity or are we in control of time? We will explore these questions and many more through reading, writing, discussion, active listening and, yes, time travel, as we engage a topic that has both haunted and inspired humans across times and places. To do so, we will draw on the insights of anthropology, sociology, history, arts, music, creative writing, physics, philosophy, and psychology as we better understand and engage the multidimensional phenomena of time in our lives. Staff

PREC 136 Travel

This course will investigate "travel" in its physical realities and concepts. Attention will be paid to intersections: the intersection of ideas, beliefs, cultures, economies, and identities. Texts will include modern/contemporary travel writing; classic travel writing; fiction; theory about tourism, translation, location of culture, and globalization; along with contemporary films. Staff

PREC 137 Language and the World Around Us

Language is an essential and defining aspect of being human. Language is impressive in its capacity to spawn ideas, mediate differences, and represent the world around us, but confounding in its deficiencies and frightful ability to subvert, oppress, and control. Language is the thread weaving through gender, sexuality, politics, power, and identity, and an understanding of how language functions is crucial to comprehending the fabric of humanity. This course explores language from several perspectives to answer the following: What is language? How does language affect reality, and vice versa? How do we use language, and how does language use us? Staff

PREC 138 Sexualities

How do we understand ourselves through sexuality? Do others understand us through our perceived sexuality? How does the evolution of media shape the ways sexuality is understood and discuussed? How do the links between sexuality, media, and culture work to affirm some sexual norms and moralities while challenging others? This course will explore these and other concepts through multiple forms of contemporary cultural and social media. We will consider how the history of sexuality has developed from philosophical, psychological, and cultural perspectives. Class discussion and writing, generated from these ideas, will help us begin to answer these questions for ourselves. Staff

PREC 139 Walking as a Way of Knowing

Walking upright is perhaps the definitive feature that distinguishes humans from other animals, yet we live in an increasingly sedentary world. In this class we will examine the origins of walking and many cultural traditions that have developed around walking including walking as transportation, travel, pilgrimage, romantic encounter with the landscape, wild adventure and urban excursion. Students will engage with the practice of walking and will keep a journal about their walks. Students will write papers which explore the literature of wlking, class discussions, and their own walks. Remember, "Not all who wander are lost." S. Allison

PREC 140 Great Oratory

Oratory can cause us to reconsider our beliefs, motives, and actions. While it is true that some of this effect is the time, place, and manner of delivery, much of the power of great oratory comes from the argument of the speaker. This course will examine great oratory from a variety of perspectives, seeking to improve upon our own skills of writing, argumentation, and oral presentation. We will do so by deconstructing great speeches and examining the relationship between thesis, evidence, logic, structure, and delivery in the use of words to evoke emotion, thought, and action. Staff

PREC 141 Archaeology's Dirty Secrets

From King Tut to Indiana Jones, from Pompeii to Machu Picchu, images of archaeology and archaeologists abound in popular culture. What these popular representations leave out are the many approaches employed by archaeologist to understand the human condition. In this course, we explore the myths and realities behind archaeological research and the big questions about the human condition. Where do we come from? What makes us human? How is human nature constructed in different times and in different cultures? How can the experience of past people help us make life better in the present? This class offers answers to these questions by exploring how archaeologists have approached them since the 18th century, and in the process, will expose Archaeology's Dirty Secrets. DV; Staff

PREC 143 Cities of the World

Throughout modern history, cities have been the heart of human interaction, and the nexus of commerce, recreation, and culture. They have spawned intellectual movements and their leaders, and they have been centers of revolutionary uprisings and nationalist consciousness. This course is an introduction to the historical origins and anthropological dynamics of cities throughout North America, Europe and Asia. In addition to directed readings on the city's function as the center of industrial capitalism and class conflicts in the modern era, we will also explore areas such as culture, gender, and sexuality. Staff

PREC 144 'Primitive' and 'Civilized'

Words have power. 'Primitive' and 'civilized' are terms that have been used for several centuries to describe various societies, groups, and types of behavior. This class explores how these terms have been used over time, how their meanings have changed, and how they are used today to distinguish peoples and groups from each other. Readings in history, anthropology, linguistics, literature, and political science help us explore how Euro-Americans have deployed these terms as part of a justification for their relationships to non-Western peoples, how non-Western peoples have viewed Euro-Americans using the same terms, and ways in which our own personal thinking continues to be shaped by unquestioned assumptions about the two terms. Staff

PREC 145 This American Life

This course will utilize radio programs and podcast--'This American Life', 'The Moth', 'StoryCorps--to investigate notions of identity, community, and creativity in America. What shapes a person's identity? How are communities formed? What is gained and lost in the process? At its heart, this is a course on the power of storytelling, and we will also explore how and why art of all kinds gets made, as well as the role of creativity in our everyday American lives. Supplemental texts will include short stories, poems, novels, and articles from various disciplines, as well as films. Staff

PREC 147

If we are the stories we tell, then what can we learn about women from around the world by reading their narratives? This course examines contemporary women's literature written in a variety of global cultures, exploring perspectives on current issues influencing women's sense of self, world views, opportunities, and challenges. We will investigate the ways writers use narrative to help readers understand their own lives and the lives of others, and help us consider possibilities for understanding cultural, political and social systems that define women in the world.

PREC 148 Magic(al) Realism

Where do the magical and the real meet? In the 1920s, magic realist art swung between "devotion to the world of dreams and adherence to the world of reality." Soon, though, Latin American writers began to create stories in which the magical/supernatural were not fantastical intrusions into "reality" but its traveling companions. This course will explore the varieties and hybrids of magic(al) realism in the arts, including painting, literature, music, and film. We'll explore the critical debates and create our own magic(al) realist works in an effort to join those who have happily gone through the looking-glass. Staff

PREC 149 Myth and Modern

Ancient Greek mythology, the product of an entirely foreign culture, still strikes modern readers as surprisingly relatable. This course focuses on how people today use Greek myths to better understand their own identities. Through readings and films, we will examine the ways in which ancient stories have influenced our world and how our experiences and perspectives can illuminate ancient texts: in other words, this course explores the complex interplay between ancient myth and modern identity. Staff

PREC 151 Ethical Questions in Science

Is it ok to do human experimentation without consent if it is definitely for the greater good? If it is hypothesized to be for the greater good? Is it really appropriate to destroy someone’s career just because they “fudged” a few data points in a paper? What if the consequences of that fudged data lead to the deaths of thousands of children? Research costs money. If the work is important, does it matter where the money comes from? Should the funders of research have control over the discoveries so that they might get a return on investment? Should they be able to suppress knowledge that is for the betterment of mankind but negatively impacts profit? Many of us are attracted to science because of the wonder of discovery and the (supposed) purity of the pursuit of knowledge. In this course we will wrestle with some of challenging questions that arise in the practice of science. Staff

PREC 152 Art Is

Art Is: document, record, witness, private, public, tradition, defiance, reckoning, celebration, mourning, aware, historical, political, social, active; memorial, intimate, trace, repair, a map, a rend, a fissure, a corrective, a call, a response, a counter narrative; questioning, demanding, protest, restorative, inclusive, innovative, imitative, and curious and —. When the poet Muriel Rukeyser wrote "Art is not a world, but a knowing of the world. Art prepares us," she wasn't kidding. In this class we will attend to art objects and engage in careful exploration of the confluences of art and our lives. We will begin to articulate how art prepares us, and for what, by considering expression that represents, distills, enacts, and speaks (to us, for us, with us), art that asks us to listen and teaches us how. Staff

PREC 153 Gen-Z: Critical Thinking for Tough Times

Critical thinking is at the heart of a liberal arts education. But what is critical thinking? And how is critical thinking useful in confronting the unique challenges of Generation Z? Join us, as we define and use critical thinking to examine issues like global economic collapse, the crisis of racial and economic democracy, and threats to worldwide health and environment. What are the prospects of Gen Z in creating a more democratic politics, socially just economic systems, and fostering cooperation on a global scale? Let's find out together. K. Hamilton; M. Roy-Fequiere; P. Schwartzman

PREC 154 The Creative Process

What is creativity? Are there particular creative 'types?' How do we measure creativity? Do definitions of what creativity is vary as a function of discipline? Can we learn to be more creative? Can we learn to think 'outside the box?' In this class, we will explore what creativity means, how it works, and why creative thinking is increasingly valued in the 21st-century work environment. R. Smith

PREC 155 BIPOC @ PWIs: Race, Ethnicity, and Higher Education in the U.S.

This course investigates the social, historical, and practical experiences of students of color at predominantly white institutions of higher learning in the U.S. We evaluate theories of race and institutional racism and consider the role of the academy in both advancing and resisting white supremacy. Analyzing social movement tactics, interpersonal strategies, student assets, and community resources, we move from theory to practice, developing an empirically-informed plan for success over the next four years. G. Raley; T. Cervantez

PREC 156 What is a Citizen?

What is a citizen, and how is one "made?" The term is used frequently in the media and in political discourse, but what does it mean? Using film, current events, curriculum materials, and readings, students in this course will dig into the meanings attributed to citizenship in the U.S. context, the role of schools in developing citizens, and the strategies applied by advocates of competing philosophies of citizenship. Under what conditions, if any, can a "good" citizen avoid paying taxes? Burn the U.S. flag? Protest racial inequity? S. DeWitt

PREC 157 Making Meaning/The Meaning of Making

The urge and ability to make things is fundamental to being human. This course will explore the role of the hand-made object in contemporary consumer society through readings, videos, and visits or interviews with artists and craftspeople. Our goal is to understand hand-making in relation to questions of technology, economics, class, environmental ethics, spirituality, personal meaning, and shared values. M. Holmes

PREC 158 Learning about Learning: Classrooms around the World in Film

By the time they get to Knox, students have spent most of their lives in school, but how much do they really know about what school is, why it exists, and how it works where they are, let alone across the globe? Using a comparative educational lens, we will critically examine international and domestic teaching and learning systems through film, memoir, poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. Staff

PREC 159 Antidotes for Apocalpyse

This course will explore the ways in which literature, art and film predict, measure and attempt to absorb the recurring end of the world. Texts will include novels by Ray Bradbury and Leslie Marmon Silko, poetry by Ilya Kaminsky and Ross Gay, essays by Edwidge Danticat, in addition to films 12 Monkeys and Beasts of the Southern Wild. N. Regiacorte

PREC 160 The Gothic Impulse in Film

Why do we enjoy being frightened at the movies? Why are anxiety and terror so pleasurable as we watch others suffer them? The Gothic, popular in literature for centuries, has found particularly inventive and disturbing opportunities in film. This course explores Gothic cinema's impulse to focus on those disturbances to our psyche: isolation, the uncanny and the grotesque, suspense and terror, the outcast, secrets, and the disorienting notion of the "double." We will also discuss how the Gothic contributes to an understanding of our fears and anxieties regarding strangers--the "other"--and the struggle for identity that can be seen as "wrong" or transgressive. P. Marasa

PREC 161 Tacky, Trashy, Campy, Kitsch

This course will explore what makes low culture "low" and why it's more than merely "okay" to prefer low culture items to their high culture counterparts: trashy movies instead of cinematic masterpieces; country music instead of opera; cheesy puns instead of charming witticisms; Cheesy Gordita Crunches instead of haute cuisine; and the like. In doing so, we will also consider whether you should ever feel guilt about your "guilty pleasures," whether liking something "ironically" actually involves liking it, and whether snobbery is ever okay. B. Polite

PREC 162 Performance Studies

In this class we will be introduced to Performance Studies, a field that holds that all human behavior can be viewed as performance, from brushing your teeth to flirting to performing a violin solo. We will examine and analyze various types of performance, while answering such questions as: What does it mean to "perform" oneself? How do we shape others' visions of us through our social media activities? What do we mean when we say that someone is a "performative" activist? What rituals do we perform, on a daily basis and on special occasions, and what purpose do they serve? D. Nichols

PREC 163 Trees

Trees are generous, specific, and tangible--involved in what we know and how we know it. Their branching structure is present in knowledge, decisions, families, bodies, and social networks. Is there not a tree outside your window right now, whether you are in a city, on a farm, or near a strip mall? In this course, we consider trees from the perspectives of sociology, racial and ethnic studies, biology, anthropology, and art. Through readings, discussions, intergroup dialogues, and hands-on activities, we aim to deepen our understanding of trees in all their forms. No outdoor experience is necessary or desirable; this course is for everyone. G. Raley

PREC 164 Adulting

In this course, we will explore the definition of what makes one an adult. What are "adult" tasks? What is "adulting"? In addition to discussing the difference between adolescence and adulthood, we will also question whether "emerging adulthood" should be considered a separate phase of life and its implications if so. What does it mean to contribute to society as an adult? Finally, we will also explore the question of what makes a life a good life to have lived. P. Xi; T. Bell