Freshman Seminars and General Education Electives

Faculty of the Committee on Freshman Seminars

Georgene B. Herschbach, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Academic Programs (Chair)
Julie A. Buckler, Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures (on leave 2006-07)
Joyce E. Chaplin, Professor of History (on leave 2006-07)
Gerard F. Denault, Associate Director of the Freshman Seminar Program (ex officio)
Virginie Greene, Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures
J. Woodland Hastings, Paul C. Mangelsdorf Professor of Natural Sciences
John W. Hutchinson, Abbott and James Lawrence Professor of Engineering and Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Mechanics
David I. Laibson, Professor of Economics (on leave fall term)
Lisa L. Martin, Clarence Dillon Professor of International Affairs
Sandra Naddaff, Senior Lecturer on Literature and on Comparative Literature (Director of the Freshman Seminar Program, ex officio)
Jeffrey Wolcowitz, Senior Lecturer on Economics and Associate Dean of Harvard College (spring term only)

Other Faculty Offering Instruction in General Education Electives and House Seminars

Humanities

Ali S. Asani, Professor of the Practice of Indo-Muslim Languages and Cultures
Homi K. Bhabha, Anne F. Rothenberg Professor of the Humanities
Julie A. Buckler, Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures (on leave 2006-07)
Verena A. Conley,
James Engell, Gurney Professor of English Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature
Marjorie Garber, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of English and American Literature and Language and of Visual and Environmental Studies
Stephen J. Greenblatt, Cogan University Professor
Christopher D. Johnson, Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature
Sean D. Kelly, Professor of Philosophy
Thomas A. Lewis
Louis Menand, Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of English and American Literature and Language
Stephen A. Mitchell, Professor of Scandinavian and Folklore
Michael J. Puett, Professor of Chinese History
Elaine Scarry, Walter M. Cabot Professor of Aesthetics and the General Theory of Value
Diana Sorensen, James F. Rothenberg Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures, Professor of Comparative Literature, and Dean for the Humanities
Maria Tatar, John L. Loeb Professor of Germanic Languages and Literatures (on leave 2006-07)
Roberto Mangabeira Unger, Roscoe Pound Professor of Law (Law School)

Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Other General Education Electives

Donald M. Berwick, Associate Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management (Public Health) and Clinical Professor of Pediatrics and Health Care Policy (Medical School)
David Blumenthal, Samuel O. Thier Professor of Medicine and Professor of Health Care Policy (Medical School)
Richard G. Frank, Margaret T. Morris Professor of Health Economics (Medical School)
Howard H. Hiatt, Professor of Social Medicine and of Medicine (Medical School) and Professor of Medicine (Public Health)
Joseph P. Kalt, Ford Foundation Professor of International Political Economy (Kennedy School)
Anthony G. Oettinger, Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Mathematics and Professor of Information Resources Policy
Warner V. Slack, Professor of Medicine (Medical School)

House Seminars

Shahram Khoshbin, Associate Professor of Neurology (Medical School)
Clifford Lo, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (Medical School) and Assistant Professor of Nutrition (Public Health)
Roger B. Porter, IBM Professor of Business and Government (Kennedy School)
James R. Russell, Mashtots Professor of Armenian Studies

Other Faculty Offering Instruction in the Freshman Seminar Program

Donald G. M. Anderson, Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Mathematics
Arthur I. Applbaum, Professor of Ethics and Public Policy (Kennedy School)
Ali S. Asani, Professor of the Practice of Indo-Muslim Languages and Cultures
Paul G. Bamberg, Senior Lecturer on Mathematics
Paul J. Barreira, Associate Professor of Psychiatry (Medical School)
Sadhana Bery
Suzanne P. Blier, Allen Whitehill Clowes Professor of Fine Arts and Professor of African and African American Studies
Edyta M. Bojanowska, Lecturer on Slavic Languages and Literatures
Jonathan H. Bolton, Assistant Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures
Allan M. Brandt, Professor of the History of Science (FAS) and Amalie Moses Kass Professor of the History of Medicine (Medical School)
Lawrence Buell, Powell M. Cabot Professor of American Literature
Michael R. Canfield
Davíd L. Carrasco, Neil L. Rudenstine Professor for the Study of Latin America (FAS, Divinity School)
Lizabeth Cohen, Howard Mumford Jones Professor of American Studies
Shaye J.D. Cohen, Nathan Littauer Professor of Hebrew Literature and Philosophy, Director of the Center for Jewish Studies
Richard N. Cooper, Maurits C. Boas Professor of International Economics
S. Allen Counter, Associate Professor of Neurology (Medical School)
Edwin A. Cranston, Professor of Japanese Literature
Cole M. Crittenden,
Noah I. Dauber
Kimberly C. Davis, Lecturer on History and Literature
Kathleen Donohue, Associate Professor of Biology
Marla D. Eby, Assistant Professor of Psychology (Medical School)
Catherine Z. Elgin, Professor of Education (School of Education)
Noam D. Elkies, Professor of Mathematics
Jacob M. Emery,
Myron E. Essex, John Laporte Given Professor of Infectious Diseases (Public Health)
Gary J. Feldman, Frank B. Baird, Jr. Professor of Science
Philip J. Fisher, Harvard College Professor and Felice Crowl Reid Professor of English and American Literature
Rena Fonseca,
David R. Foster, Senior Lecturer on Biology
Robert France, Adjunct Associate Professor of Landscape Ecology (Design School)
Donald B. Giddon, Clinical Professor of Growth and Development (Medical School)
Roy J. Glauber, Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics
Donald A. Goldmann, Professor of Pediatrics (Medical School) and Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases (Public Health)
Jene A. Golovchenko, Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Physics and Professor of Physics
George G. Grabowicz, Dmytro Cyzevs’kyj Professor of Ukrainian Literature
Stephen J. Greenblatt, Cogan University Professor
Jerome Elliot Groopman, Dina and Raphael Recanati Professor of Medicine (Medical School)
Benedict H. Gross, George Vasmer Leverett Professor of Mathematics and Dean of Harvard College
Karl S. Guthke, Kuno Francke Professor of German Art and Culture (on leave spring term)
Alfred F. Guzzetti, Osgood Hooker Professor of Visual Arts (on leave spring term)
Peter Dobkin Hall, Lecturer on History
Evelynn M. Hammonds, Professor of the History of Science and of African and African American Studies
James Hanken, Professor of Biology and Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology (on leave fall term)
Mark G. Hanna
Jay M. Harris, Harry Austryn Wolfson Professor of Jewish Studies
Lori B. Harrison-Kahan, Lecturer on History and Literature
J. Woodland Hastings, Paul C. Mangelsdorf Professor of Natural Sciences
Anna A. Henchman,
Dudley R. Herschbach,
Barbara L. Hillers, Assistant Professor of Celtic Languages and Literatures
David H. Hubel, Research Professor of Neurobiology (Medical School)
John P. Huchra, Robert O. and Holly Thomis Doyle Professor of Cosmology
John Huehnergard, Professor of Semitic Philology
Francis Abiola Irele, Visiting Professor of African and African American Studies and of Romance Languages and Literatures
Maxine Isaacs
Jay Jasanoff, Diebold Professor of Indo-European Linguistics and Philology
Laura K. Johnson,
Robert J. Kiely, Donald P. and Katherine B. Loker Professor of English, Emeritus
Amy M. Kittelstrom, Lecturer on History and Literature
William Klemperer, Erving Research Professor of Chemistry
Jeremy R. Knowles, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor, Amory Houghton Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Interim Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Roberto G. Kolter, Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics (Medical School)
Ellen Condliffe Lagemann, Charles Warren Professor of the History of American Education (Education School)
Elisabeth L. Laskin,
Jennifer Leaning, Professor of International Health (Public Health)
Myron Lecar, Lecturer on Astronomy
Tun-Hou Lee, Professor of Virology (Public Health)
Patti T. Lenard
Jonathan Ian Levy, Assistant Professor of Environmental Health and Risk Assessment (Public Health)
Malinda Maynor Lowery, Assistant Professor of History
Theodore MacDonald, Contin Ed/Spec Prog Instructor
Roderick MacFarquhar, Leroy B. Williams Professor of History and Political Science (on leave spring term)
James N. Mancall, Lecturer on History and Literature, Assistant Dean of Freshmen
Ernest R. May, Charles Warren Professor of American History
David McCann, Korea Foundation Professor of Korean Literature
Timothy J. McCarthy
Melissa M. McCormick, Associate Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations
John C. McMillian, Lecturer on History and Literature
Louis Menand, Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of English and American Literature and Language
Karin B. Michels, Associate Professor of Epidemiology (Public Health) and Associate Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Biology (Medical School)
Ralph Mitchell, Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Biology
Charles A. Nelson, Professor of Pediatrics (Medical School)
Carol J. Oja, William Powell Mason Professor of Music
John G. Palfrey
Judith Palfrey, T. Berry Brazelton Professor of Pediatrics (Medical School)
David C. Parkes, John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Natural Sciences
David Pilbeam, Henry Ford II Professor of Human Evolution
Mylène Priam, Assistant Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures
Lisa Randall, Professor of Physics
Nancy Rappaport, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry (Medical School)
Michael Robin Reich, Taro Takemi Professor of International Health Policy (Public Health)
Louise M. Richardson
Amelie Rorty (Yale University)
James R. Russell, Mashtots Professor of Armenian Studies
Robert J. Sampson, Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences (on leave spring term)
Stephanie Sandler, Ernest E. Monrad Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures
Elaine Scarry, Walter M. Cabot Professor of Aesthetics and the General Theory of Value
Fred C. Schaffer
Ronald Schouten, Associate Professor of Psychiatry (Medical School)
Sharmila Sen, Assistant Professor of English and American Literature and Language
Steven Shapin, Franklin L. Ford Professor of the History of Science
Kay Kaufman Shelemay, G. Gordon Watts Professor of Music and Professor of African and African American Studies
Anne C. Shreffler, James Edward Ditson Professor of Music
P. Oktor Skjaervo, Aga Khan Professor of Iranian
Christine Smith, Robert C. and Marian K. Weinberg Professor of Architectural History (Design School)
Rachel St. John, Assistant Professor of History
Jessica E. Stern, Lecturer on Government (spring term only)
Sarah Stewart-Mukhopadhyay, Assistant Professor of Planetary Science
Christopher Stubbs, Professor of Physics and of Astronomy
John Summers
Lisa Szefel, Lecturer on History and Literature
Rabun Taylor, Associate Professor of History of Art and Architecture
Xiaofei Tian, Associate Professor of Chinese Literature
Michael Tinkham, Rumford Research Professor of Physics and Gordon McKay Research Professor of Applied Physics
Helen Vendler, Arthur Kingsley Porter University Professor
Adam Webb
Daniel I. Wikler, Professor of Population and International Health (Public Health)
Richard Wilson, Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics, Emeritus
Jeffrey Wolcowitz, Senior Lecturer on Economics and Associate Dean of Harvard College
Henri Zerner, Professor of History of Art and Architecture (on leave 2006-07)

General Education Electives


The Faculty of Arts and Sciences has been involved in a process of curricular renewal for the past three years. As a direct result of these curricular discussions, the following courses in Humanities, Life Sciences, and Physical Sciences have emerged from different parts of the faculty as portals or gateways into broad areas of knowledge. They are listed in this section of the catalog for the 06-07 academic year only in order to serve as a signpost to help students navigate the curriculum as it is in a state of transition. Once final determinations are made about the structure of new or revised general education requirements, these and other related courses will be reviewed and located in the appropriate and relevant sections of the catalog.

General Education Courses: Humanities

*Humanities 10. An Introductory Humanities Colloquium
Catalog Number: 3983 Enrollment: Limited to 36.
Stephen J. Greenblatt and Louis Menand
Half course (fall term). Tu., 10–11:30, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 12, 13
The course is designed for students interested in concentrating in a Humanities discipline. We cover major works of literature and ideas from Homer, Plato, and Aristotle to Nietzsche, Freud, and Joyce. Many of the texts have thematic connections; we hope that all of them will stimulate interest in the kinds of issues addressed in humanistic studies.
Note: Ninety-minute lecture-discussion, plus one-hour section led by the instructors.

Humanities 11. Self, Serenity, and Vulnerability: East and West
Catalog Number: 2401
Michael J. Puett and Roberto Mangabeira Unger (Law School)
Half course (spring term). W., 4:45–6:45. EXAM GROUP: 9
A comparative inquiry into forms of moral consciousness and their metaphysical assumptions in the high cultures of the East and West. Background concern: divergent ways in which philosophy, religion, and art in the East and West have dealt with the fear that our lives and the world itself may be meaningless. Foreground theme: contrast between two existential attitudes-staying out of trouble and looking for trouble. Texts include Chinese, Indian, ancient Greek, and modern European philosophy.

Humanities 12. “Strange Mutations”: Classical and Renaissance Representations of the Human Condition
Catalog Number: 9725
Christopher D. Johnson
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., at 11, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 13
The course examines how foundational Western literary and philosophic texts represent the nature, meaning, and limits of human existence. Focuses on diverse ways becoming and being human are represented in antiquity and then considers how these representations are transformed and combined in the Renaissance. Authors include Sappho, Homer, Plato, Ovid, Montaigne, Shakespeare, Cervantes, and Descartes. Close attention given to the literary and rhetorical aspects of the course readings.

Humanities 14. Existentialism in Literature and Film
Catalog Number: 3524
Sean D. Kelly
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., at 12. EXAM GROUP: 14
What is it to be a human being? How can human beings live meaningful lives? These questions guide our discussion of theistic and atheistic existentialism and their manifestations in literature and film. Material includes philosophical texts from Pascal, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Sartre; literature from Dostoevsky, Kafka, Beckett; films from Jean-Luc Godard, Alain Resnais, Carol Reed.

Humanities 15. On Being Human: Religious and Philosophical Conceptions of the Self
Catalog Number: 5438
Thomas A. Lewis
Half course (spring term). Tu., Th., at 10, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 12
An examination of classic and contemporary views on the nature of human existence. Central themes include the relation between reason and emotion, the nature of human freedom, and the significance of personal history and memory. We also ask how conceptions of who we are shape views about how we should live. Sources include religious and philosophical texts (such as those of Aristotle, Augustine, Kierkegaard, and Charles Taylor) as well as recent films.

Humanities 16. From Saint Augustine to Jean-Paul Sartre and Beyond
Catalog Number: 3016 Enrollment: Limited to 20.
Verena A. Conley
Half course (fall term). Hours to be arranged.
This course examines problems of existence in relation to self and other in the world from the early Christian era to our days. It shows how existence preoccupies major writers who have approached its implications (and the dilemmas it inspires) in different ways. At stake are the redemptive powers of religion, thoughts about the death of God, the limits of atheism, and philosophies of becoming.

[Humanities 18 (formerly Religion 1801). For the Love of God and His Prophet: Religion, Literature, and the Arts in Muslim Cultures]
Catalog Number: 0110
Ali S. Asani
Half course (fall term). Hours to be arranged.
The course surveys the literary and artistic dimensions of the devotional life of the world’s Muslim communities, focusing on the role of literature and the arts (poetry, music, architecture, calligraphy, etc.) as expressions of piety and socio-political critique. An important aim of the course is to explore the relationships between religion, literature, and the arts in a variety of historical and cultural contexts in the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and the West.
Note: Expected to be given in 2007–08. No prior knowledge of Islam required. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 3627.

[Humanities 20. Folklore, Nation-Building, and Nationalism]
Catalog Number: 4188
Stephen A. Mitchell and members of the Committee on Degrees in Folklore and Mythology
Half course (spring term). Hours to be arranged.
Explores the role folk tradition plays in shaping national, and nationalist, discourses in such colonial and post-colonial situations as Norway, Ireland, Greece, and sub-Saharan Africa. The course examines learned society’s valorization of folk traditions in elite cultural monuments (e.g., Peer Gynt, Ballet Folklorico) and in public display venues (e.g., Olympic ceremonies, Old Sturbridge Village, Rumsiskes). Also considered: political manipulation of folklore under National Socialism and Communism, culture and tourism, authenticity, and intellectual property.
Note: Expected to be given in 2007–08.

[Humanities 21 (formerly Spanish 155). The Making of Cultural and Political Myths in Latin America]
Catalog Number: 7904
Diana Sorensen
Half course (spring term). Hours to be arranged.
How have certain historical figures been transformed into mythical forces? How have they been made to articulate culture and politics? We study the ways in which Eva Perón, Che Guevara, Simón Bolívar, and La Malinche have been turned into veritable systems of communication in varied historical moments, according to debates located in their political and ideological contexts. Our approach is interdisciplinary: we study literary texts, politics, history, gender theory, films, photography, and journalism.
Note: Expected to be given in 2007–08.

[Humanities 22. Global Pathways]
Catalog Number: 2938
Homi K. Bhabha
Half course (fall term). Hours to be arranged.
A critical interpretation of literature combining an interdisciplinary approach with a global (or transnational) perspective in an effort to better understand the relationship between them. Examines such terms as internationalism, cosmopolitanism, colonialism, imperialism, and globalization in a literary context and looks at geographically diverse literary genres in the context of identity, landscape and the depiction of nature, civil states and colonial societies, cities and citizens, religion and morality, and the quest for security and prosperity.
Note: Expected to be given in 2007–08.

[Humanities 24. Cult of Childhood and Its History, Philosophy, and Literature]
Catalog Number: 4852 Enrollment: Limited to 40.
Maria Tatar
Half course (spring term). Hours to be arranged.
With the so-called discovery or invention of childhood in the 16th and 17th centuries came a newfound emotional attachment, imaginative investment, and philosophical interest in the child. We explore literature for the child (Alice in Wonderland) as well as literature about the child (Lolita) and investigate how childhood has been constructed, investigated, and represented. Analysis of works by Locke, Rousseau, and Freud, as well as Dickens, J. M. Barrie, Henry James, and Roald Dahl.
Note: Expected to be given in 2007–08.

[Humanities 25. Literature and Human Suffering]
Catalog Number: 6766
James Engell
Half course (spring term). Hours to be arranged.
How does literature represent life visited by loss, pain, disappointment, and even death? Grouped around such themes as sorrow and love; racial oppression, genocide, and slavery; individual, family, state-crime and justice; war and duty; anguish of existence and belief, the course pursues aesthetic and ethical issues. Discussion of literary genres (epic, novel, drama, memoir). Works by Shakespeare, Goethe, Tolstoy, Anne Frank, Primo Levi, Melville, Douglass, Athol Fugard, Sophocles, Dostoevsky, Solzhenitsyn, Homer, Camus, Hardy.
Note: Expected to be given in 2007–08. Works not in English read in translation.

[Humanities 26. Arts and Minds]
Catalog Number: 9471
Julie A. Buckler and Marjorie Garber
Half course (spring term). Hours to be arranged.
Combined lecture and seminar bridging humanities and creative/performing arts to foster a broadly synthetic mode of inquiry. How can we understand the relationship between intellectual and artistic work across diverse periods and cultures, from ancient Greece to the digital age?What kind of interdisciplinary theory and practice best serves this project? How do specific texts, images, and performance-works assert the interconnection of arts and minds? How might our individual and collaborative work for this course do the same?
Note: Expected to be given in 2007–08.

[Humanities 28 (formerly English 190x). Philosophy and Literature: The Problem of Consent]
Catalog Number: 0561
Elaine Scarry
Half course (spring term). Hours to be arranged.
“Consent” in literature, medicine, political philosophy, and law. Four major topics are freedom of movement (Locke’s Second Treatise, Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities, DeQuincey’s English Mail-Coach, Harlan’s dissent in Plessy v. Ferguson), constitution and contract-making (European city contracts, Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Federalist Papers), the grounding of consent in the body (Plato’s Crito, Euripides’ Hecabe, Donne’s poetry, Rousseau’s Social Contract, contemporary medical case law), and decision making in war (Homer’s Iliad, Sophocles’ Philoctetes).
Note: Expected to be given in 2007–08.

General Education Courses: Life Sciences

Life Sciences 1a. An Integrated Introduction to the Life Sciences: Chemistry, Molecular Biology, and Cell Biology
Catalog Number: 2137
Erin K. O’Shea, Daniel E. Kahne, David R. Liu, Robert A. Lue, and Andrew W. Murray
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., 10-11:30, and three hours of laboratory/discussion weekly. EXAM GROUP: 12, 13
What are the fundamental features of living systems? What are the molecules that impart these features, and how do their chemical properties explain their biological roles? The answers to these questions form the basis for an understanding of the molecules of life, the cell, diseases, and medicines. In contrast with a traditional presentation of relevant scientific disciplines in separate courses, the above concepts are examined through an integrated presentation of chemistry, molecular biology, biochemistry, and cell biology framed within central problems such as the biology of HIV and cancer.
Note: This course, in combination with Life Sciences 1b, constitutes an integrated introduction to the Life Sciences. When taken for a letter grade, Life Sciences 1a meets the Core area requirement for Science A.

Life Sciences 1b. An Integrated Introduction to the Life Sciences: Genetics, Genomics, and Evolution
Catalog Number: 2159
Daniel L. Hartl, Craig P. Hunter, Maryellen Ruvolo, and John R. Wakeley
Half course (spring term). Tu., Th., 10-11:30, and three hours of laboratory/discussion weekly. EXAM GROUP: 12, 13
Why is there so much variation among individuals? Why are species so different? Biological variation reflects differences among genes and genomes: how genetic information is transmitted, how it functions, how it mutates from one form to another, how it interacts with the environment, and how it changes through time. These and related issues are examined in depth with special emphasis on complex traits whose expression is determined by a complex interplay between genes and environment.
Note: May not be taken for credit if Biological Sciences 50 has already been taken. This course, in combination with LS 1a, constitutes an integrated introduction to the Life Sciences. When taken for a letter grade, LS 1b meets the Core area requirement for Science B.

General Education Courses: Physical Sciences

General Education Courses: Other Electives

*General Education 157. Intelligence, Command, and Control: Conference Course
Catalog Number: 9630 Enrollment: Limited to 15.
Anthony G. Oettinger
Half course (spring term). Th., 2–4. EXAM GROUP: 16, 17
Examines evolution of the missions, tools, structure, and performance of US intelligence agencies from the National Security Act (1947) to the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act (2004). Impact of shifting perceptions of threats to the US on the categorization of activities as intelligence v. law enforcement, civilian v. military, strategic v. tactical, local v. state v. national, or governmental v. private.
Note: Students with political, legal, economic, civilian, military, technical, or other backgrounds welcome. Term paper in lieu of final examination; extensive research expected of graduate students. Cross-registration by Law, Business, or Kennedy School students encouraged.

General Education 175. Native Americans in the 21st Century: Nation-Building I
Catalog Number: 5587
Joseph P. Kalt (Kennedy School) and guest lecturers
Half course (fall term). Hours to be arranged.
Uses a hands-on, interdisciplinary approach to examine major issues faced by today’s Native American bands, tribes, and nations. Includes: sovereignty, economic development, constitutional reform, cultural and language continuity, land and water rights, religious freedom, health and social welfare, and education. Concepts of “nation-building,” identity, and leadership, taken from tribal viewpoints, form central themes of the course. All aspects of course placed in a cross-cultural context. Guest presentations are made by Native American students, visiting scholars, and Native American leaders.
Note: Offered jointly with the Kennedy School as PED-501 and with the Graduate School of Education as A-101.

General Education 186. Introduction to Health Care Policy
Catalog Number: 4045
Richard G. Frank (Medical School)
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., 1–2:30; and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 15, 16
Provides overview of US health care delivery system, components, and policy challenges. The health care system is considered from different "stake holder" perspectives: analyses roles of patients, patients, providers, health plans, and payers. Considers objectives, constraints, incentives, knowledge, and conduct. Evaluates problems faced by each actor in the system. What makes health care so hard to reform? Can we count on consumerism to improve quality? Reading includes selections from medical sociology, economics, politics, and ethics.
Note: Offered jointly with the Kennedy School as HCP-100. Meets at the Kennedy School.

*General Education 187. The Quality of Health Care in America
Catalog Number: 4832 Enrollment: Limited to 35.
Donald M. Berwick (Public Health, Medical School), David Blumenthal (Medical School), Howard H. Hiatt (Medical School, Public Health), and Warner V. Slack (Medical School)
Half course (fall term). Hours to be arranged.
Offers information and experiences regarding the most important issues and challenges in health care quality. Overview of the dimensions of quality of care, including outcomes, overuse, underuse, variation in practice patterns, errors and threats to patient safety, service flaws, and forms of waste. Each session focuses on one specific issue, exploring patterns of performance, data sources, costs, causes, and remedies. Explores desirable properties of health care systems that perform at high levels in many dimensions of quality.

House Seminars

Primarily for Undergraduates

All House Seminars are offered for degree credit. House Seminars are normally graded with letter grades; as with other letter-graded courses students may, with the instructor’s permission, take House Seminars pass/fail. All House Seminars require the permission of the instructor (*). Information concerning enrollment in House Seminars should be sought from the appropriate House Office. House Seminars are frequently not repeated from year to year.

Currier

*Currier 79. Medicine, Law, and Ethics: An Introduction
Catalog Number: 9614 Enrollment: Limited to 20.
Shahram Khoshbin (Medical School)
Half course (spring term). M., 7–9 pm. EXAM GROUP: 9
Explores medical, legal, and ethical aspects of medical care, with particular attention to medical decision-making at the beginning and end of life, participants in research on human subjects, human reproductive technologies, mental illness, and experimentation on animals. Historical background of present-day medical practices and relevant law to be discussed.
Note: All students are welcome, but this seminar is particularly geared to pre-medical and pre-law students.

Dunster

*Dunster 71. Histories of Dunster House, 1930–2005
Catalog Number: 1611 Enrollment: Limited to 20.
Roger B. Porter (Kennedy School)
Half course (spring term). Hours to be arranged.
Students will explore the historical development of Dunster House as a residential community within the broader Harvard house system through diverse sources, ranging from documentary records to oral interviews. This research seminar will encourage students to reflect upon methods and purposes in local and institutional histories. Students will devise independent research topics under the guidance of the instructors. Assessment will be based on these research papers, presentations, and class participation.

Eliot

*Eliot 79. Nutrition and Public Health
Catalog Number: 1497 Enrollment: Limited to 20.
Clifford Lo
Half course (spring term). Hours to be arranged.
Introduction to the critical reading of technical nutrition and medical literature; surveys current issues in public health and public policy relating to nutrition. Critical analysis of different types of medical literature: historical monographs, metabolic laboratory observations, clinical case reports, epidemiological surveys, prospective randomized controlled trials, metaanalyses, and literature reviews. Prepares science and non-science concentrators to examine critically current controversies for themselves; requires active participation and presentation by students.
Note: Clinical rounds with Nutrition Support Services at Children’s Hospital are optional.

Mather

*Mather 78. Four Alienated Literary Visionaries
Catalog Number: 6152 Enrollment: Limited to 20.
James R. Russell
Half course (spring term). W., 7–10 pm. EXAM GROUP: 9
Considers issues of literature, culture, and politics in the life and work of four 20th-century American writers living in Cambridge. Each interpreted a remote culture and set of problems to contemporaries, in attempting to resolve personal and social alienation: T. S. Eliot, Delmore Schwartz, Vladimir Nabokov, and William S. Burroughs. They enriched an American literature that is still in formation; and the four writers, spanning the modernist and post-modern epochs, are now in its mainstream.

Freshman Seminars


Students entering Harvard College with freshman standing may apply for a freshman seminar during the first two terms of residence. Freshman Seminars may not be audited. For a complete description of the Freshman Seminar Program and 2006-07 offerings, please consult the current Freshman Seminar catalog. Catalogs may be obtained from the Freshman Seminar Office, 6 Prescott Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (telephone: 617-495-1523; email: seminars@fas.harvard.edu). Additional information can be obtained from the Freshman Seminar website: www.fas.harvard.edu/~seminars.

Freshman Seminars 2006-07

*Freshman Seminar 21i. Fourier’s Series
Catalog Number: 4711 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Donald G. M. Anderson
Half course (spring term). M., 3–5.
Fourier series provided a major impetus for the development of significant portions of classical analysis during the 19th century. Looks at central topics in classical analysis, focusing on the sequence of hard won conceptual advances involved rather than the modern synthesis thereof. Informed by historical evolution of the underlying ideas. The emphasis here is on learning how to approach the questions raised, carefully and productively, not on finding the most elegant or definitive answers thereto.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.
Prerequisite: Introductory differential and integral calculus, and high school physics.

*Freshman Seminar 21j. Human Evolution
Catalog Number: 0746 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
David Pilbeam
Half course (fall term). Tu., 1–3.
Explores major transitions in human biological history: divergence of human lineage from that of chimpanzees about seven million years ago; diversification of bipedal apes early in period; emergence of our genus around two million years ago; and final appearance, very late in evolutionary story, of our species. Investigates what happened and why. The "what happened" involves review of evolutionary relationships; the "why" explores more general aspects of evolutionary biology and the causes of evolutionary change.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 21l. Left and Right in Nature: From the Asymmetry of Molecules to Human Handedness
Catalog Number: 9174 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Jeremy R. Knowles
Half course (fall term). Th., 2–4.
Explores molecular asymmetry, and how this relates to the asymmetry of whole organisms (like us). Interesting questions: Do animals know their left from their right? Is human handedness genetically determined? Can a left-handed helical snail mate with a right-handed one? How determining is our right-handed world (from scissors and egg-beaters, to violins and corkscrews)? How do bacteria swim? Why are there more left-handed architects and baseball pitchers? Do left-handers die young?
Note: Open to Freshmen only. Prerequisites: High school chemistry and biology.

*Freshman Seminar 21m. Evolution on the Wing: The Butterflies and Moths
Catalog Number: 6077 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Michael R. Canfield
Half course (fall term). Th., 1–3.
Explores evolutionary biology using examples from 180,000 species of butterflies and moths. How species demonstrate evolution of plant-pollinator interactions, aposematism, herbivory, parasitism, morphological adaptation, phenotypic plasticity. Why are there so many species of butterflies and moths but so few mammal species? How have interactions with plants affected evolution of this group? Why have some species become pests while others are flagships for conservation? Why are butterflies pretty while most moths are dull?
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 21o. The Neurophysiology of Visual Perception
Catalog Number: 7584 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
David H. Hubel (Medical School)
Half course (fall term). Tu., 1:30–3:30.
How do the eyes and brain of higher mammals (including humans) deal with visual information originating in the outside world? Starts with brief survey of mammalian brain neuroanatomy and cell-level neurophysiology (nerve conduction, synapses). Covers neurophysiology of visual path from retina to cortex, with emphasis on transformations in information that occur at each successive level. Studies main components of visual perception: form, color, movement, and depth, and considers the bearing of these on art.
Note: Open to Freshmen only. Meets at the Medical School.

*Freshman Seminar 21q. Nature and Imposters: Mimicry and Crypsis
Catalog Number: 8762 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Michael R. Canfield
Half course (spring term). Th., 1–3.
Mimicry is the process by which biological organisms imitate one another and their surroundings, whereas crypsis is a special type of mimicry in which plants and animals use that deception to escape notice. Explores the evolution of mimicry using case studies that reveal the range of visual, behavioral, acoustical, and chemical means by which this deception is accomplished. Why have they evolved in certain species and not others?
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 21s. Germs
Catalog Number: 2067 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Ralph Mitchell
Half course (fall term). W., 1–4.
Germs are responsible for the disruption of whole civilizations and for the maintenance of ecological balance on planet. Explores importance of germs as causative agents of disease in humans, animals, and plants and investigates why epidemics occur and the role of germs in the control of the ecological balance on Earth -- how microbes affect the cycling of elements essential for climate control and agricultural productivity. Are there dangers to inserting microbial genes into crops?
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 21u. Calculating Pi
Catalog Number: 4737 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Paul G. Bamberg
Half course (fall term). W., 3–6.
Focuses on mathematical, computational, and historical aspects of calculating pi. Many great mathematicians, including Archimedes, Newton, Gauss, and Euler, worked on the problem. Explores a wide variety of methods for computing pi and their implementation in C++ and Mathematica on a personal computer. Geometry and calculus used to prove the correctness of these methods and assess their accuracy, and then methods used to calculate pi to a large number of decimal places.
Note: Open to Freshmen only. Prerequisite: Calculus

*Freshman Seminar 21v. The Weirdness of Quantum Mechanics
Catalog Number: 0050 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Gary J. Feldman
Half course (spring term). Hours to be arranged.
Quantum mechanics is a great triumph of 20th-century physics. There is no question that it provides a correct description of nature at its smallest scales. Yet it is weird in two distinct ways. First, it simply makes no sense; its classical interpretation is self-contradictory. Second, it allows phenomena that are otherwise impossible. These phenomena are the closest thing to magic that we have in science. Nonetheless, these phenomena have been experimentally verified
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 21w. Research at the Harvard Forest
Catalog Number: 0060 Enrollment: Limited to 11.
David R. Foster
Half course (spring term). Four weekends at the Harvard Forest in Petersham, MA.
Acquaints students with the biology of forests in central New England and with the research activities at the Harvard Forest in Petersham, Massachusetts. Weekends will be devoted to the following subjects: history of forest vegetation, human land use practices, plant identification, plant morphology and architecture, forestry practices, plant phenology, wildlife biology, and forest soils. Instruction will be through field excursions, laboratory experience, and readings of primary literature.
Note: Open to Freshmen only. Four weekends at the Harvard Forest in Petersham, MA: (Fri, 3pm–Sun, late afternoon) TBD in Feb, Mar, Apr

*Freshman Seminar 21x. Galaxies and the Universe
Catalog Number: 4075 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
John P. Huchra
Half course (fall term). Hours to be arranged.
Explores the basic observations that lend support to the current cosmological model, the inflationary hot Big Bang, and we shall discuss the recent observations that indicate that the Universe might even be speeding up. Topics covered include the internal structure and dynamics of galaxies, cosmological models, the determination of the cosmic distance scale, observations of large-scale structure in the universe, quasars, galaxy formation, and the age, size, and fate of the universe.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 22e. Molecular Motors: Wizards of the Nanoworld
Catalog Number: 6565 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Dudley R. Herschbach
Half course (spring term). Th., 2–4.
Molecular motors function on principles very different from macroscopic machinery; recent research is beginning to elucidate these principles. Molecular motors achieve high efficiency, not by trying to overcome random noise, but by exploiting it. Focuses on prototypical experiments and basic theoretical ideas, stemming chiefly from thermodynamics and elementary probability theory. Devises games or computer simulations to illustrate key notions.
Note: Open to Freshmen only. Prerequisite: High school science and algebra.

*Freshman Seminar 22j. Seeing by Spectroscopy
Catalog Number: 4039 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
William Klemperer
Half course (spring term). W., 2–4.
Explores diverse topics and areas of science in which spectroscopy-the observation of energy emitted from a radiant source-plays a leading role. Concentrates on selected topics from chemistry, physics, astronomy, and atmospheric science. Emphasizes spectroscopy as the basis for remote sensing, choosing the grand topic of looking out-astronomical observations and seeing what is in the universe. Participants also will study (Nuclear) Magnetic Resonance Imaging as a model for looking in.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 22x. Bioluminescence
Catalog Number: 9569 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
J. Woodland Hastings
Half course (fall term). M., 5–7:30 pm.
Explores bioluminescence through research, literature, specimens, cultures, and in nature; number of luminous species is relatively small and the mechanisms responsible for the light they emit are very different. Its functions may be classed as defense, offense, and communication. Bioluminescence is also a unique molecular marker for investigating and understanding different basic physiological processes, both cellular and organismic--to answer questions ranging from gene expression and its regulation to enzymology, bioenergetics, physiology, function, ecology, evolution.
Note: Open to Freshmen only. Participants are expected to have a standard high school background in biology, chemistry, and physics.

*Freshman Seminar 22z. Quantitative Methods in Public Policy Decisions
Catalog Number: 8839 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Richard Wilson
Half course (fall term). W., 2–5.
Applies scientifically quantitative methods to understanding problems of general public concern; scientists’ role in understanding diverse problems of the environment, pollution, and public health. The issues studied comprise general area called "Risk Assessment", being made increasingly relevant by presidential orders and agency actions. Prepares a report to real or imagined decision maker. Intended primarily for students in sciences who want to apply their scientific and numerical abilities to the quantitative understanding of environmental issues.
Note: Open to Freshmen only. Visits to outside facilities may be arranged if they appear to be helpful.

*Freshman Seminar 23g. Darwin’s Finches
Catalog Number: 1902 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Kathleen Donohue
Half course (spring term). W., 2–5.
The seminar explores evolutionary theory through Darwin’s finches. Students study why finches were so important to development of evolutionary theory and how they are still being used to test fundamental hypotheses of evolutionary biology today. The finches provide a unique opportunity to study diverse evolutionary questions and techniques within single, fascinating natural-history framework. Readings will include original material from Darwin, Melville, Lack, and the Grants and supplementary background reading from current sources.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 23j. Chess and Mathematics
Catalog Number: 5445 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Noam D. Elkies
Half course (spring term). Hours to be arranged.
How many knight’s tours of the chessboard are there? What does a "strong move" or "slight advantage" mean in a game that must end with a win, loss, or draw? Explores interface between chess problems and puzzles on the one hand, and mathematical theory and computation on the other. Uses chess puzzles to illustrate mathematical concepts and mathematics to understand issues arising from the game and the problem literature of chess.
Note: Open to Freshmen only. Prerequisite: basic competence in the rules of chess, in high-school mathematics, and in the notions of algorithms and computer programming; and each student should have a more advanced background in at least one of these three spheres.
Prerequisite: Basic competence in the rules of chess, in high-school mathematics, and in the notions of algorithms and computer programming; and each student should have a more advanced background in at least one of these three spheres.

*Freshman Seminar 23k. Insights from Narratives of Illness
Catalog Number: 1904 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Jerome Elliot Groopman (Medical School)
Half course (spring term). Th., 1–3.
A physician occupies a unique perch, regularly witnessing life’s great mysteries; it is no wonder that narratives of illness have been of interest to both physician and non-physician writers. Examines and interrogates literary and journalistic dimensions of medical writing from Tolstoy to Anne Fadiman as well as newspapers and periodicals. Studies mainstream medical journalists and also so called alternative medical writers such as Andrew Weil. Work with different forms of medical writing.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 23z. A Short History of DNA
Catalog Number: 6423 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Roberto G. Kolter (Medical School)
Half course (fall term). Hours to be arranged.
Discoveries surrounding the structure and function of DNA have revolutionized the life sciences in the 20th century. Reads and discusses key writings that present and analyze the developments that led from the first indications that DNA was the genetic material, to the elucidation of the structure of DNA, to the sequencing of complete genomes. Discusses not only the scientific advances but also the personalities involved and how they influenced the development of this new knowledge.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 24e. The Physics and Applied Physics Freshman Research Laboratory
Catalog Number: 3573 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Jene A. Golovchenko
Half course (fall term). Hours to be arranged.
Exposes students considering careers in science or engineering to environment of modern research laboratory. Research teams construct, perform, analyze, and report on cutting-edge experiments in physical, engineering, and biological sciences. Projects provide insight into the mathematical, mechanical, electronic, chemical, computational, and organizational tools and skills that characterize modern experimental science. Past projects focused on atomic, nuclear, and solid state physics, materials science, dynamical systems and biophysical science. Projects highlight both team and individual effort.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 24j. Planets Around Other Stars
Catalog Number: 2697 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Myron Lecar
Half course (spring term). Tu., 4:30–6:30.
Our solar system has four rocky planets, two gas giants and two ice giants. One of the rocky planets has life. More than 160 planets, mostly gas giants, have been discovered orbiting other stars. Current thinking suggests that they should be accompanied by rocky planets, too small to be detected by current techniques. This seminar explores the physics of the formation of rocky planets, and reviews current speculations on the origin of life.
Note: Open to Freshmen only. Prerequisites: AP high-school Physics and Calculus.

*Freshman Seminar 24n. Child Health in America
Catalog Number: 6367 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Judith Palfrey (Medical School)
Half course (fall term). M., 4–6.
Reviews history of children’s health care in the United States; explores impact of geography, environment, nutrition, clean water, as well as scientific discoveries of late 19th and early 20th centuries and emergence of high technology care in middle and late 20th century. Does America provide children the best possible health care available? Compares United States epidemiology with that of other developed and developing nations. Explores how child health delivery is financed.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 24q. Ought: The Nature of Our Moral Judgments
Catalog Number: 2561 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Marc D. Hauser
Half course (spring term). Hours to be arranged.
How do we judge what is right or wrong? This age-old philosophical question has recently been studied by the sciences, with data streaming in from psychology, neurophysiology, evolutionary biology, developmental biology, anthropology, and economics. This empirical deluge has created a split between those who think our judgments derive from a process of cool and collected reasoning and those who think it percolates up from unconscious intuitions. Readings from humanities, social sciences, life sciences.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 24t. Water on Mars
Catalog Number: 6360 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Sarah Stewart-Mukhopadhyay
Half course (spring term). Hours to be arranged.
Investigates geologic history of Mars through study of spacecraft data. Using global topography and imagery data, examines and characterizes ancient oceans, valley networks, impact craters, young gullies, seasonal snow, and the polar ice caps in order to test hypotheses about the evolution of Mars. Introduces the major concepts of how water modifies a landscape and how the global hydrological cycle has changed over time.
Note: Open to Freshmen only. Prerequisite: Designed for prospective concentrators in the physical sciences. A solid grounding in high school physics and pre-calculus mathematics is expected.

*Freshman Seminar 24z. The Hidden Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and Extra Dimensions
Catalog Number: 9264 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Christopher Stubbs
Half course (spring term). W., 3–5.
Explores three areas: the nature and distribution of the "dark matter"; recent observation that the expansion rate of the cosmos seems to be increasing; finally, the physics community has recently engaged in serious speculation about the dimensionality of space, and many consider it likely there are "hidden dimensions". Investigates the more exotic (and in some cases, speculative) aspects of the Universe we inhabit.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 25g. The Impact of Infectious Diseases on History and Society
Catalog Number: 8075 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Donald A. Goldmann (Medical School, Public Health)
Half course (fall term). Tu., 7–9 pm.
Studies specific, selected infectious diseases, including plague, syphilis, smallpox, tuberculosis, cholera, yellow fever, and influenza. Investigates how the epidemiology of these diseases, and society’s response to them, inform recent experience with epidemic infection; Assesses the potential impact of future threats. Diseases have led to stigmatization, prejudice, quarantine, and restricted freedom. But diseases have also spurred discovery, elucidation of their properties, development of vaccines and antimicrobial agents, and advancements in public health methods and infrastructure.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 25k. You Are What You Eat
Catalog Number: 3913 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Karin B. Michels (Public Health, Medical School)
Half course (fall term). M., 4–6.
What does food do to bodies? What does a healthy diet entails? What is known about the role of nutrition in preventing or curing disease? Explores and critically evaluates diet recommendations, current knowledge about the role of diet in maintaining health, and use of nutrition to treat disease. Discusses how studies are conducted to understand the impact of nutrition. Explores different diets and the obesity epidemic, its causes and its implications for the next decade.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 25n. Understanding Psychological Development, Disorder and Treatment: Learning through Literature and Research
Catalog Number: 9589 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Nancy Rappaport (Medical School)
Half course (fall term). Th., 3–5.
Understanding Psychological Development, Disorder and Treatment: Learning through Literature and Research
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 25p. Neurotoxicology: Biological Effects of Environmental Poisons
Catalog Number: 1838 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
S. Allen Counter (Medical School)
Half course (fall term). Hours to be arranged.
Explores wide range of environmental neurotoxic substances and effects on human and animal populations. Attention to pediatric exposure to neurotoxic agents and associated neurodevelopmental disabilities, as well as neurobehavioral and immunological changes. Examines impact of lead, mercury poisoning, PCBs. Investigates neurophysiology and neurochemistry of a number of other neurotoxins, including nerve gas, tetrodotoxin, saxitoxin, botulinum, and curare. What dangers do we face at home and at work? What can or should be done about these?
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 25t. AIDS in Africa
Catalog Number: 0024 Enrollment: Limited to 14.
Myron E. Essex (Public Health) and Tun-Hou Lee (Public Health)
Half course (spring term). Tu., 2–4.
HIV/AIDS has now infected or killed more than sixty million people, about two-thirds of current infections are in sub-Saharan Africa. African infection rates remain very high and few patients receive life-saving treatment. Explores dimensions of AIDS in Africa ranging from evolution of HIV and pathobiology of AIDS to epidemiology of HIV and options for prevention of infection and treatment of disease. Encourages multidisciplinary approach to problem, country-specific examples to illustrate successful interventions.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 25u. The Atomic Nucleus on the World Stage
Catalog Number: 0027 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Roy J. Glauber
Half course (fall term). Tu., 2–4.
In 1939 realization that atomic nuclei can undergo fission arrived as a surprise. Traces some of the history leading to discovery of nucleus and determination of nuclear constituents. Studies wartime project that developed both nuclear power sources and weapons; readings supplemented by instructor’s own recollections of this project. Investigates formidable problems posed by control of nuclear weapons, development of nuclear reactors, and hope that thermonuclear reactions may provide an abundant source of clean energy.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 25v. Avian Influenza: Emerging Infectious Disease
Catalog Number: 4807 Enrollment: Limited to 14.
Tun-Hou Lee (Public Health) and Myron E. Essex (Public Health)
Half course (spring term). Hours to be arranged.
Even though the number of people infected by avian flu is still small, the high mortality rate observed has raised the prospect that millions of people may die if avian flu ever becomes a global pandemic. Explores how avian influenza viruses gain their ability to infect different hosts and investigates the strategies needed to deal with an avian flu pandemic. Readings will include texts and journal literature.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 25w. Responsibility, the Brain, and Behavior
Catalog Number: 0049 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Ronald Schouten (Medical School)
Half course (fall term). Tu., 7–9 pm.
Explores philosophical and legal bases of the concept of individual responsibility as applied in criminal justice system. Examines how forensic mental health professionals assess an individual’s mental state at time of an alleged criminal act, the legal standards applied, and the social and political forces that help shape the legal decision. Considers the insanity defense; examines modern concepts of the biological basis of behavioral disorders and their relationship to existing standards of criminal responsibility.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 25z. Stress and Disease (Biobehavioral Aspects of Health and Disease)
Catalog Number: 1691 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Donald B. Giddon (Medical School)
Half course (fall term). W., 2–4.
Psychological, social, and economic factors play important role in cause, prevention, and access to care for illness. Studies interaction of host, agent, or disease vector and the physical and social environment in disease process and biobehavioral bases of health and disease. What psychological, social, and economic factors influence cognitive, affective/physiological, and behavioral responses to disease? What factors are stressful for given individuals? Why is a particular body organ or system the target of stress?
Note: Open to Freshmen only. May meet at the Medical School.

*Freshman Seminar 26j. The Universe’s Hidden Dimensions
Catalog Number: 7529 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Lisa Randall
Half course (fall term). Hours to be arranged.
Based loosely on book, Warped Passages, considers revolutionary developments in Physics in early 20th century: quantum mechanics and general relativity; investigates key concepts which separated these developments from the physical theories which previously existed. Topics: particle physics, supersymmetry, string theory, and theories of extra dimensions of space. We will consider the motivations underlying these theories, their current status, and how we might hope to test some of the underlying ideas in the near future.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 26k. Euclidean Lattices and Sphere Packings
Catalog Number: 4047 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Benedict H. Gross
Half course (spring term). M., 2–4.
Explores the problem of placing spheres of the same radius in a regular way in Euclidean space of dimension n. What is the largest amount of space that can be packed inside the spheres? In applications, the cases n=2, 3 are the most important. For mathematicians, the really interesting sphere packings occur in dimensions n= 4, 8, 12, 16, and 24. Tours Euclidean space of higher dimensions, computes the volume of an n-ball of radius 1, and discusses the theory of lattices.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.
Prerequisite: Strong high school background in mathematics (including calculus).

*Freshman Seminar 26m. Human Development: Early Experience and Developmental Programming
Catalog Number: 7084 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Charles A. Nelson (Medical School)
Half course (spring term). W., 1–3.
Explores developmental programming and early experience as causative mechanisms in the course of human development, with a particular focus on neurological and psychological health. Introduces general topic and develops a list of possible areas of investigation. Participants then will be responsible for preparing and leading discussion on a particular question or issue, primarily by reading in a given area and perhaps even interviewing relevant experts on campus. Reviews current knowledge; discusses desirable research.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 26n. Electronic Transactions: Better Decisions through Economic and Computational Thinking
Catalog Number: 6884 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
David C. Parkes
Half course (fall term). Th., 1–4.
A transaction is an agreement. Electronic transactions can promote efficient systems and efficient markets. Studies interplay between economic thinking and computational thinking as it relates to the design of infrastructure to promote better decisions. Economics provides means to reason about the incentives of stakeholders and participants. Computer science provides means to reason about the practicalities of representing, communicating and processing information. Topics include electronic auctions, automated negotiation, information markets and spam e-mail.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 26o. Superconductivity
Catalog Number: 9301 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Michael Tinkham
Half course (spring term). Hours to be arranged.
Follows historical approach extending from original discovery of superconductivity to the present time, illuminating the growing understanding and applications of the phenomenon. Presents superconductivity as a macroscopic quantum state of "Cooper pairs." Why do only certain metals superconduct and at what temperature? How can the limiting current and magnetic field values be increased? Discusses successive developments, both of scientific concepts and of practical applications such as MRI magnets for medical diagnosis and ultrasensitive quantum detectors.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.
Prerequisite: Advanced Placement in Mathematics and Physics or the equivalent.

*Freshman Seminar 26p. The Scientific Study of Consciousness
Catalog Number: 8925 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Ken Nakayama
Half course (spring term). Hours to be arranged.
What is consciousness? What is its function in biological organisms? What are the neural correlates of consciousness? In the discussion of these questions, topics related to the anatomical and physiological substrates of visual perception will be emphasized since it is in these that the sought-after connection between awareness and neural activity has been the most vigorously pursued. Reading will include historical material, textbook chapters and contemporary articles in neuroscience and psychology.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 30e. Transgressions of Identity
Catalog Number: 0057 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Lori B. Harrison-Kahan
Half course (spring term). Tu., 1–4.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 30i. The Tale of Genji in Word and Image
Catalog Number: 3920 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Melissa M. McCormick
Half course (spring term). Th., 2–4.
Provides thorough introduction in translation, undertaking close readings in tandem with analyses of plot, characterization, and modes of narration. The Tale of Genji evokes pageantry and complex interpersonal dynamics of court culture in 10th-century Japan and is part of history’s greatest tradition of women’s literature. Examines Genji’s afterlife in Japanese cultural history, special emphasis on pictorialization in hand scrolls and painting albums. Introduces disciplines of literature, East Asian studies, art history.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 30j. The Place of African Literature
Catalog Number: 0092 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Zahr S. Stauffer
Half course (fall term). W., 3–5.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 30o. What is College and What is It For?
Catalog Number: 1897 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Paul J. Barreira (Medical School) and James N. Mancall
Half course (spring term). W., 3–5.
Asks students to think and write critically about American higher education--its history, purpose and ongoing challenges. Considers "the uses of the university" from a variety of perspectives: historical, sociological, economic, and developmental. Addresses questions: What constitutes a liberal arts education? What are its goals? How should students be assessed? What role do extracurricular activities play in a college education? Does bachelor’s degree certify a vocational education, a cultural one, or a moral one?
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 30p. The Literatures of War
Catalog Number: 9426 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
David McCann
Half course (spring term). W., 3–5.
Studies essays, poems, and prose narrative works from World War I, Spanish Civil War, World War II, and Korean War. Horror of modern, mechanized warfare was accompanied by appearance of ironic voice as defining feature of 20th-century literature. Studies literature connected to Spanish Civil War, World War II, and Korean War. How have more recent wars been described in literature or been reported? What insights does the study of the literatures of war provide?
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 30z. From Russia with Love
Catalog Number: 8535 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Cole M. Crittenden
Half course (fall term). W., 2–4.
Discusses how love stories fit into a Russian prose tradition known for long, serious, ideological novels. Explores literature from the late 18th century, when secular prose became a major cultural force, to the early 20th century, when political changes dramatically altered the development of Russian literature. Focuses on short stories and novellas by major Russian writers who take up the theme of romantic love. These writers include Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Tolstoy, Chekhov, and Bunin.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 31e. Chronicles of the Tyrants: The Dictator and the Novel
Catalog Number: 7543 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Jonathan H. Bolton
Half course (spring term). Tu., 2–4.
Representations of absolute power and those who wield it, from Greek and Roman philosophy through 20th century dictator novels of Latin America and Central Europe. What can literature teach us about tyranny and the loathing and loyalty it inspires? How do narrative treatments of power undermine it—or reinforce it—sometimes against the author’s will? Readings from Orwell, Nabokov, Garcia Marquez, Vargas Llosa, Julian Barnes, and theories of narrative and power (Plato, Foucault, Bakhtin).
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 31g. The Pleasures of Japanese Poetry: Reading, Writing, and Translation
Catalog Number: 1645 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Edwin A. Cranston
Half course (fall term). W., 2–5.
Reads classical waka, its modern descendant the tanka, examples of linked verse (renga) and modern poems in free and prose-poem forms. (And haiku too!) Focuses on themes such as desire, renunciation, time, memory, war, death, sorrow, and receptivity. Students keep a diary of their encounters with the new poetry, practice the art of sequencing, and make their own translations based on literal renderings and explanations of Japanese originals. All readings will be in English.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 31j. Skepticism and Knowledge
Catalog Number: 9760 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Catherine Z. Elgin (School of Education)
Half course (fall term). Tu., 1–3.
What can we know; how can we know it? Can I know that I am not a brain in a vat being manipulated into thinking that I have a body? Can I know that the Louisiana Purchase occurred in 1803, that E=MC2, that Hamlet is better than Harry Potter, or that the sun will rise tomorrow? This seminar will study skeptical arguments and responses to skepticism to explore the nature and scope of knowledge.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 31k. The Study of a Neighborhood
Catalog Number: 3559 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Alfred F. Guzzetti
Half course (fall term). Hours to be arranged.
Documents life and history of small neighborhood using video, stillphotography, audio recording. Members of seminar will photographpeople, houses, and public spaces, record conversations with residents about their life histories, and make short video documentaries on institutions such as schools, public facilities, and churches. The result will takeform either of DVD or exhibition -- perhaps in the neighborhood itself. Studies films and books as models for the project and sources of critical reflection.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.
Prerequisite: Prior experience with photography, audio, and video desirable but not essential.

*Freshman Seminar 31n. Beauty and Christianity
Catalog Number: 4682 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Robert J. Kiely
Half course (fall term). W., 2–4.
Jesus has inspired great works of art, literature, and music, but Christians have not always agreed on the function of beauty. This seminar will consider Christian aesthetics, art (Fra Angelico and Tintoretto), and music (Bach and spirituals), but the focus will be on literary works of St. Francis, Dante, Herbert, Hopkins, Melville, Eiot, and O’Connor. The abiding question will be: In what ways does aesthetic form-- beauty-- enhance, qualify, complicate, or obscure the gospel?
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 31o. Negotiating Identity in Postcolonial Francophone Africa and the Caribbean
Catalog Number: 6293 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Mylène Priam
Half course (spring term). Th., 1–3.
Explores the question of postcolonial identity through the trans-regional study of literature, poetry, cultural works, and critical theory from Africa and the Caribbean. Provides an overview of the major theoretical definitions of the postcolonial in an attempt to find formulations of postcolonial identity not only in terms of aesthetic, but also historical, geographical, linguistic, and institutional discourses. Reading will include "Diaspora.Texts" in French and English.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 31p. How to Look at Paintings
Catalog Number: 8207 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Amelie Rorty (Yale University)
Half course (spring term). Tu., 2–4.
How are ideas visually expressed? How do formal, technical, and symbolic aspects of paintings indicate interpretations of their content? How do they affect the responses of viewers? Using case studies from Giotto to Picasso, with historical and contemporary critical commentaries, we analyze the way painters enter into visual dialogues with their predecessors and contemporaries, forming and transforming the craft of painting as a mode of conveying meaning.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 31q. Nation, Empire, and Literature
Catalog Number: 2470 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Edyta M. Bojanowska
Half course (spring term). Tu., 2–4.
Examines the connection between nationalism and imperialism in 19th century British, Russian, and American fiction. Authors include Austen, Kipling, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Twain, and Cooper. How do these authors’ works construct identities and stereotypes, "imagined communities," and fictional geographies? How do they investigate the moral, political, and narrative implications of imperial encounters? How do they elaborate and question the ideologies of nationalism and imperialism?
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 32j. Who Is a Jew? Jewish Identity and Identifiability in the Modern World
Catalog Number: 6991 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Shaye J.D. Cohen
Half course (fall term). Th., 1–3.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 32k. The Poetry of Walt Whitman
Catalog Number: 2864 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Helen Vendler
Half course (fall term). M., 2–4.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 32m. Fantastic Families: Kinship and Science Fiction
Catalog Number: 6425 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Jacob M. Emery
Half course (spring term). Hours to be arranged.
Explores range of futuristic kinship systems from European and American fantastic literature. Poses basic questions about what families are and why literature is concerned with them through involved reading of texts that interrogate the definition of family and propose transformed versions of it. Throughout attention to connections between social forms, forms of the family, and literary form.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 32o. The Folklore of Ireland
Catalog Number: 5673 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Barbara L. Hillers
Half course (spring term). Hours to be arranged.
Explores Irish oral literature and its place in the community. In spite of the material hardship of their existence, the men and women farming the west of Ireland could tell wondertales of great beauty and magic, sing scores of songs, and had a proverb, anecdote, or repartee for every occasion. Introduces students to the most important genres of Irish folklore, and to the critical tools and interpretive methods available to discuss and understand oral literature.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 32q. Imagining the Classical and Modern Mediterranean
Catalog Number: 6552 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Panagiotis Roilos
Half course (spring term). Hours to be arranged.
Explores construction of the imaginary of Mediterranean culture and landscape in indigenous as well as in Western European and American cultural discourses. Literary perceptions and fictionalizations of the Mediterranean, especially Greece and Rome, as the idealized origin of Western culture are investigated. Emphasis on the Mediterranean as aesthetic or exotic topos of the classical past and on its contribution to the formation of aspects of European culture, especially from late 18th century to modernism.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

Freshman Seminar 32v. The Art of the Storytelling
Catalog Number: 7011 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Deborah D. Foster
Half course (spring term). Hours to be arranged.
Men and women tell stories to express the values found in experiences of everyday life. Based on storytelling traditions, each narrator shapes the story to reflect his or her own intentions, making it personally expressive as well as publicly meaningful to a particular audience. Examines the nature of storytelling, its enduring appeal, and its ability to adapt to multiple new technologies (print, film, internet). Participants will engage in the storytelling process itself.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 32y. Goethe’s Faust
Catalog Number: 0139 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Karl S. Guthke
Half course (fall term). M., 2–4.
Raises "universal issues" and problems of "perennial philosophy"; introduces question "What does it mean to be human?" Close reading and critical discussion of Faust in context of cultural and intellectual history, with attention to major interpretive controversies over such issues as the power of evil, the significance of human relationships, the pursuit of happiness, the cult of self-realization versus social altruism, the role of the transcendental, and ethics versus "beyond good and evil."
Note: Open to Freshmen only. All reading will be in English.

*Freshman Seminar 33k. Representing Whiteness: Ethnic American Writers Return the Gaze
Catalog Number: 5834 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Kimberly C. Davis
Half course (spring term). Th., 1–4.
Makes visible a racial category masked by a rhetoric of invisibility and "colorlessness" and sheds light on particularity of a racialized culture falsely perceived as universal. The social construction of whiteness is the focus of investigation; examined through literature and film written and produced by African-Americans, Native Americans, and Asian-Americans who depict whites as the "other" and the "stranger." To provide context, studies the formation of white identity in the United States.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 33x. Complexity in Works of Art: Ulysses and Hamlet
Catalog Number: 6673 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Philip J. Fisher
Half course (fall term). M., 2–4.
Do inherited forms found in literature permit only certain variations within experience to reach lucidity? Investigates literature’s limits in giving account of mind, everyday experience, thought, memory, full character, and situation in time. Studies Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Joyce’s Ulysses, a modern work of unusual complexity and resistance to both interpretation and to simple comfortable reading. Reading these two works suggests potential meanings for terms like complexity, resistance, openness of meaning, and experimentation within form.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 34q. Languages of the Body: Physiognomy, Phrenology, and Hysteria in Western History and Literature
Catalog Number: 5429 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Sharrona H. Pearl
Half course (spring term). Hours to be arranged.
Explores ways in which the invisible "internal" of personality and behavior has been seen to mark the body in historical, literary, and visual representations. Starts with the doctrine of maternal impressions; moves to doctrines of bodily marking in physiognomy, phrenology, and eugenics. Discusses relationship between the biologically-informed approach and the biographically-based theories of Sigmund Freud. Ends with a gendered analysis of hysteria and shell-shock in the First World War.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 34x. Language and Prehistory
Catalog Number: 9905 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Jay Jasanoff
Half course (fall term). M., 2–5.
Explores use and misuse of linguistic evidence. The 19th-century identification of the Indo-European language family misled some intellectuals to posit the now rejected idea of a genetically and culturally superior Aryan "race." Linguistic evidence still plays an important role in prehistoric studies. What does the relationship between two languages reveal about their speakers? How can genuine cases of linguistic borrowing or "influence" be distinguished from resemblances that come about through pure chance?
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 35k. Fiction and the Courtroom
Catalog Number: 7006 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Laura K. Johnson
Half course (fall term). W., 1–3.
Draws on a broad range of materials to situate complex exchanges between American literature and American law within their historical framework. Investigates four related areas of study: the trial as a literary device, the relationship between fictional trials and their social contexts, the use of fiction as evidence, and the role of narrative in the courtroom. Adultery and murder are recurring crimes in the body of literature studied, and they will provide our thematic foci.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 35s. Roman Art and Society
Catalog Number: 5198 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Rabun Taylor
Half course (spring term). F., 1–4.
To the aristocratic connoisseur just as to the slave serving him dinner, to the gladiator and to his patroness, Roman visual representation evoked a complex and vibrant society. This course addresses a diverse array of artworks on a number of major themes: politics and ideology, portraits and personal identity, death and commemoration, roles and status of women, sexuality and eroticism, life in private sphere, urban spectacle, religion, and public bathing.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 36i. First Encounters
Catalog Number: 3878 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Stephen J. Greenblatt
Half course (spring term). Hours to be arranged.
Studies encounters with radically new experiences and peoples. What rhetorical and conceptual means were developed to process, verify, and convey disturbingly unfamiliar and challenging perceptions? What happens when sharply different assumptions about the natural and social world come into conflict? What are the most successful--and the most disastrous--techniques for encountering otherness and negotiating the new? Includes attention to paintings, photographs, novels, and films, as well as the analysis of histories and eyewitness reports.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 36j. The Peasant in Literature
Catalog Number: 6749 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
George G. Grabowicz
Half course (fall term). Tu., 1–4.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 36l. A Cultural History of the Banana
Catalog Number: 1347 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Amy Spellacy, Lecturer on History and Literature
Half course (spring term). W., 3–5.
Considers how the banana industry has historically functioned as a site of U.S.-Latin American interaction that exposes tensions between the United States and its southern neighbors. Examines how the banana came to be a staple in America, investigates political and economic issues, analyzes the ways that bananas have shaped cultural texts in the United States and Latin America, focusing primarily on the twentieth century, using texts, films, and advertising.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 36m. American Gothic
Catalog Number: 3842 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Laura Thiemann Scales
Half course (fall term). Hours to be arranged.
Examines Gothic fiction as it emerges out of the British and European tradition and develops into a distinctly American form. American Gothic is also a distinctly regional form, and the texts on the syllabus travel through a range of Gothic landscapes: chill, rocky New England; the moss-draped, sweltering South; dim and grimy Gotham; the uncannily sunlit West. The conventions studied include ghosts, haunted houses, family secrets, doubles and doppelgangers, psychological and bodily trauma.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 36q. Art Worlds: Methods in Global Visual Study
Catalog Number: 4749 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Suzanne P. Blier
Half course (fall term). Hours to be arranged.
Investigates considerations that result from different approaches to art within art history and ethnography. How does each discipline address local perspectives on art? Approaches: historical, comparative museum study, market factors, differential journal analysis, web based study, global-local critique, mapping strategies. Provides basic understanding of global art forms under consideration, different disciplinary aspects of study, and of core questions important to understanding of cultures, societies, and their critical forms of visual engagement.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 36v. Boston: Stop, Look, and Listen!
Catalog Number: 9921 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Kay Kaufman Shelemay and Carol J. Oja
Half course (spring term). Hours to be arranged.
This seminar explores a cross-section of dynamic soundscapes in the diverse and distinctive communities of greater Boston, ranging from ethnic communities across the city to the worlds of classical and folk music. Designed to be hands-on and experiential, the seminar guides students in fusing archival and ethnographic research techniques to study both living traditions and historic musical institutions.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 36w. Tribal Memories: Myth, Epic, and History
Catalog Number: 7842 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
P. Oktor Skjaervo
Half course (spring term). Th., 3–5.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 36z. Utopia and Anti-Utopia
Catalog Number: 6375 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Francis Abiola Irele
Half course (fall term). Hours to be arranged.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 37e. Material and Method in Modern Art
Catalog Number: 3805 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Carol C. Mancusi-Ungaro
Half course (spring term). F., 1–3.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 37k. China’s Confucian Classics: A Close Reading of the Four Books
Catalog Number: 5310 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Wei-Ming Tu
Half course (spring term). Th., 4–6.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 37t. Poems, Films, States of Mind
Catalog Number: 3252 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Stephanie Sandler
Half course (fall term). Th., 1:30–4.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 37y. Muslim Voices in Contemporary World Literatures
Catalog Number: 8901 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Ali S. Asani
Half course (fall term). W., 4–6:30.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 37z. The Moral Virtues: Socrates and His Critics
Catalog Number: 1725 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Amelie Rorty (Yale University)
Half course (fall term). W., 1–3.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 38e. Madness and the Creative Imagination: Literary and Biomedical Perspectives
Catalog Number: 8981 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Deborah L. Blacker (Public Health, Medical School) and Alan Richardson (Boston College)
Half course (spring term). Tu., 2:30–4:30.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 38g. Lost Languages and Decipherment
Catalog Number: 2671 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
John Huehnergard
Half course (fall term). M., 3–5.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 38j. Medicine and Literature
Catalog Number: 0116 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Elaine Scarry
Half course (fall term). Tu., 2–4.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 38m. Meeting the Byzantines
Catalog Number: 0852 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
John Duffy
Half course (spring term). Tu., 2–4.
Byzantium remains for many an alien place, in some respects an imaginary world from a very distant past. The seminar focuses on bringing participants closer to the people of Byzantium, through representative groups and individuals, from emperors to monks, from soldiers to scholars. Who were the architects of St. Sophia? Who fought in the Byzantine armies? How did pagan Greek literature survive in a conservative Christian culture? Who took care of the recording of history?
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 38p. The Idea of a University
Catalog Number: 1291 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Jay M. Harris
Half course (fall term). M., 2–4.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 38s. What Are Poets For? Poetry and Its Function
Catalog Number: 8596 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Joanna Nizynska
Half course (spring term). W., 1–4.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 38t. Beethoven’s String Quartets
Catalog Number: 1651 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Anne C. Shreffler
Half course (fall term). W., 1–4.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 39g. The Book of Hours: Picturing Prayer in the Middle Ages
Catalog Number: 4824 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Jeffrey F. Hamburger
Half course (fall term). W., 1–3.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 39k. Literature Humanities: The Foundation Texts of the West
Catalog Number: 0796 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
James R. Russell
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., 3–5.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 39m. Diaspora
Catalog Number: 3040 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Sharmila Sen
Half course (fall term). Hours to be arranged.
How do scattered or dispersed populations envision their relationship to the homeland and to the host nation? Is the homeland, in fact, imaginatively recreated by diasporic societies? How do religion, language, nationalism, race, class, and gender affect the formation of diasporic identities? Focuses mainly on Asian and African diasporas. Explores classic theorizations of diaspora and specific diasporic sites using lens of literary and cultural studies: novels, poems, popular magazines, advertisements, immigrant newspapers, films, and music.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 39n. Literature Humanities: Medieval and Modern Classics
Catalog Number: 1329 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
James R. Russell
Half course (spring term). Tu., Th., 3–5.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 39o. Cylinder Seals in the Ancient Near East
Catalog Number: 9085 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Irene J. Winter
Half course (fall term). Tu., 1–3.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 39p. The Practice of Autobiography
Catalog Number: 3466 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Lawrence Buell
Half course (fall term). Tu., 1–4.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 39q. Time and Literature 1800-1930
Catalog Number: 9794 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Anna A. Henchman
Half course (fall term). W., 2–5.
Between 1800 and 1930, momentous changes in science and technology forced the re-conception of time in the popular imagination. These developments had contradictory implications for understanding time. What models of time do Victorian and Modernist writers draw on? What happens to the story of a human life in the context of Darwinian or Einsteinian time? Why does Woolf stretch out an ordinary moment for pages and shrink years into the space of a parenthesis?
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 39s. Arthurian Literature in Medieval Context
Catalog Number: 0563 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Virginie Greene
Half course (fall term). W., 1–3.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 39t. Culture and Its Wars
Catalog Number: 6540 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Louis Menand
Half course (fall term). Tu., 2–4.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 39u. Printmaking, Art, and Communication
Catalog Number: 7082 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Henri Zerner
Half course (fall term). Th., 3–5.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 39v. How to Read Chinese Poetry
Catalog Number: 9330 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Xiaofei Tian
Half course (spring term). Hours to be arranged.
What is the enduring charm of classical Chinese poems? How do we appreciate and understand them? Introduces classical Chinese poetry, its history, and some of its famous works; explores what it means to write poems in traditional forms today and cultural politics involved. Discusses ways of reading a couplet. Ends with examination of "modern classical poetry"--poetry written in traditional forms in modern times, politics of genre, and cultural meanings of Internet literary/poetic communities.
Note: Open to Freshmen only. No knowledge of Chinese or background in Chinese literature is required.

*Freshman Seminar 39w. The Myth of Love and Self-Discovery
Catalog Number: 4028 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Charles W. M. Henebry
Half course (fall term). W., 1–4.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 39x. How to Design a Communication System: Human, Animal, and Artificial Languages
Catalog Number: 0045 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Andrew Nevins
Half course (fall term). W., 3–5.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 39y. Poetry and the Ballad
Catalog Number: 0046 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Peter Sacks
Half course (spring term). Th., 1–3.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 39z. The Novel of Manners: Austen and Woolf
Catalog Number: 8542 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Debra L. Gettelman
Half course (spring term). M., 1–3.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 40g. 9/11–The Event and the 9/11 Commission Report
Catalog Number: 4343 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Ernest R. May
Half course (fall term). W., 4–6.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 40i. Defining Crime in the History and Literature of England, 1550–1900
Catalog Number: 8782 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Leigh A. Yetter
Half course (fall term). Hours to be arranged.
A vibrant collection of rogues and robbers, penitent sinners and resolute recidivists occupied the English popular imagination between 1550 and 1900. Surveys the various ways in which English people defined, experienced, and wrote about crime and criminality. Through original texts and scholarly studies, enlarges investigation to the study of notions of community, state authority, guilt, and gender as well as to the history of the development of genres of media and literary expression.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 40k. The Economics and History of World Migration
Catalog Number: 4269 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Jeffrey G. Williamson
Half course (fall term). Tu., 2–4.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 40m. The Age of Sail
Catalog Number: 1173 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Joyce E. Chaplin
Half course (fall term). W., 2–4.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 40n. Art, Knowledge, and Faith in Boston’s Copley Square, 1870-1900
Catalog Number: 7938 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Christine Smith (Design School)
Half course (fall term). M., 1–4.
Copley Square, Boston’s most important public space, took shape during the last quarter of 19th century. Explores what choice of architectural style in the buildings on Copley Square reveals about institutional and civic identity. Situates the Trinity Church and Boston Public Library projects in their particular historical circumstances, and then considers them within broader historical, intellectual, and artistic contexts. Consults maps, museum collections, contemporaneous accounts, and recent historical studies; also visits Copley Square.
Note: Open to Freshmen only

*Freshman Seminar 40p. Law of the Internet
Catalog Number: 4509 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
John G. Palfrey
Half course (fall term). W., 3–5.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.
Prerequisite: A willingness to experiment with new information technologies in a learning environment.

*Freshman Seminar 40s. Bodies and Boundaries
Catalog Number: 8756 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Katharine Park
Half course (fall term). M., 4–6.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 40w. War and American Culture since 1941
Catalog Number: 9356 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Andrew J. Huebner
Half course (spring term). Tu., 1–3.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 40x. Disco Decade: The 1970s in America
Catalog Number: 2008 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Lisa Szefel
Half course (spring term). M., 1–3.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 40y. Histories of the US-Mexico Border
Catalog Number: 0047 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Rachel St. John
Half course (fall term). M., 3–5.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 40z. Corruption
Catalog Number: 0054 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Raymond J. Fisman (Columbia University Business School)
Half course (fall term). M., 2–4:30.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 41e. The American Creed: Exceptionalism and Nationalism in Historical Perspective
Catalog Number: 0058 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Amy M. Kittelstrom
Half course (fall term). Th., 2–4:30.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 41g. The Faces of Human Rights in Latin America: Anthropological Perspectives
Catalog Number: 0088 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Theodore MacDonald
Half course (fall term). Th., 1–3.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 41k. Language and Politics
Catalog Number: 0091 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Fred C. Schaffer
Half course (spring term). Th., 4–6.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 41m. The Euclidean Revolution
Catalog Number: 0048 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Mark Schiefsky
Half course (fall term). W., 4–6.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 41n. Trust and Democratic Politics
Catalog Number: 0805 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Patti T. Lenard
Half course (fall term). Hours to be arranged.
Trust is reported to be on the decline across Western countries. Is trust really the panacea for the difficulties faced by contemporary democratic states? Possible roles of trust in politics, especially democratic politics. Examines how classical and modern philosophers have treated trust and related concepts. How can trust be measured? With these tools, investigates trust relations in both the United States and Europe. Sources of trust difficulties: inequality gaps, ethno-cultural diversity, and corruption.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 41o. Thinking Like an Economist
Catalog Number: 1964 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Rajeev H. Dehejia (Columbia University)
Half course (spring term). Tu., 4–6.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 41p. American Presidential Campaigns and Elections 1960–2004: Is the System Broken?
Catalog Number: 2004 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Maxine Isaacs
Half course (fall term). W., 3–5.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 41q. Medicine, Ethics, and Culture
Catalog Number: 8466 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Stefan Sperling, Lecturer on the History of Science
Half course (spring term). Tu., 1–4.
Investigates how bioethics is culturally and historically contingent, studies how moral and ethical judgments are arrived at communally, and explores sources and validity of moral ideas and convictions. Bioethics claims to speak for universal ethical norms and values; it operates with socially and culturally specific images of human nature, rational action, legal personhood, and the "good life." Explores how Western ideas of bioethics differ among themselves, and with other cultural traditions.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 41s. The Confederacy, 1860–1865
Catalog Number: 2015 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Elisabeth L. Laskin
Half course (spring term). Tu., 3–5.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 41t. Classical Political Economy
Catalog Number: 2077 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Robert H. Neugeboren
Half course (spring term). W., 1–3.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 41u. Museums
Catalog Number: 2910 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
James Hanken
Half course (spring term). Tu., 2–4.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 41w. Public Power, Private Lives: Writing 20th-Century US History as Biography
Catalog Number: 5932 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Lizabeth Cohen
Half course (fall term). W., 2–4.
Can biography contribute to serious historical inquiry? How can lives of influential Americans illuminate the 20th century, while still doing justice to the individual? How do literary devices interact with historical interpretation? Do some lives and times lend themselves better than others to this historical and literary challenge? Biographies of individuals ranging from presidents to social activists, scientists to rock and roll stars. Contrast biographies of the same individual, and autobiography to biography.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 41x. “This Land is Whose Land?”: Sacred Places and American Law
Catalog Number: 3891 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Malinda Maynor Lowery
Half course (fall term). Hours to be arranged.
Investigates American Indian sacred places--national parks, private monuments, shrines, burial grounds (sources of natural, economic, and spiritual power). American legal system sees sacred space in a building but not in nature. How should American Indian sacred places and religious freedom be protected? Roles played by places and law in forming personality and cultural assumptions. What are the ideas, lifeways, and cultures that are at stake in this question, for both Indians and non Indians?
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 41y. From Reform to Revolution: Youth Culture in the 1960s
Catalog Number: 8842 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
John C. McMillian
Half course (fall term). Hours to be arranged.
Examines the beliefs and practices of young people in the Vietnam Era who believed that their words and actions could change the world. Was American society was rotten at its core, but ready to be rebuilt anew? What were the intellectual and socio-cultural forces that account for the rapid rise, and precipitous decline, of youth culture activism? Explores a wide range of course materials, including primary source documents, memoirs, monographs, films, and a novel.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 43n. Sin and the City: Tales of Historic Kyoto
Catalog Number: 2120 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Mikael Adolphson
Half course (spring term). F., 1–4.
Note: Open to Freshmen only. The seminar does not require knowledge of Japanese. An optional field trip to Kyoto is possible if circumstances permit.

*Freshman Seminar 43p. Media and the American Mind
Catalog Number: 0005 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Jason A. Kaufman
Half course (fall term). Th., 3:30–5:30.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 43q. Historian and the Genes-From Mendel to Human Clones
Catalog Number: 6220 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Everett I. Mendelsohn
Half course (spring term). Hours to be arranged.
Examines several sides of the history of genetics -- scientific, cultural, social, and political -- through the reading of original texts, through the study of their reception, rejection, or modification, through the analysis of their incorporation into fiction as well as social theory and practice, and through the exploration of their interaction with other sciences and with agricultural and medical practices.
Note: Open to Freshmen only. There will be one or two additional evening sessions to view films.

*Freshman Seminar 43w. History, Nationalism, and the World: the Case of Korea
Catalog Number: 4281 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Sun Joo Kim
Half course (fall term). W., 1–4.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 44g. Public Policy Approaches to Global Climate Change
Catalog Number: 1032 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Richard N. Cooper
Half course (fall term). W., 1:30–4.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 44i. The Golden Age of Piracy
Catalog Number: 7548 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Mark G. Hanna
Half course (fall term). Hours to be arranged.
Places pirates on center stage as a lens through which to study massive transformations of the late 16th to the 18th century that marked early phases of what is today called globalization. Explores topics including global economics, international law, imperial politics, gender, literary studies, social class, journalism, and religion. Studies construction of the concept of the Golden Age of Piracy in historical memory by James Fenimore Cooper, Edgar Allan Poe, and Robert Louis Stevenson.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 44j. The Aztecs and Maya
Catalog Number: 7826 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Davíd L. Carrasco (FAS, Divinity School) and William L. Fash
Half course (spring term). W., 1–4.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 44m. Harvard and the History of Higher Education in the U.S., 1636-2006
Catalog Number: 1474 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Ellen Condliffe Lagemann (Education School)
Half course (spring term). Hours to be arranged.
Studies history of Harvard as a force in shaping higher education in the US and around the world. Examines Harvard’s history as a college, its transformation into a university, and those policies and practices that have beeninfluential elsewhere, including selective admission, the case method in professional education, affirmative action, and the Core Curriculum. Matters pertaining to race, class, and gender have also been central in Harvard’s history.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 44o. China’s Red Guard Movement, 1966–1968
Catalog Number: 4134 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Andrew G. Walder (Stanford University)
Half course (fall term). W., 3–5.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 44p. Contemporary India: Fact and Fiction
Catalog Number: 0019 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Rena Fonseca
Half course (fall term). Tu., 1–3.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 44w. Health and Inequality
Catalog Number: 2973 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Jonathan Ian Levy (Public Health) and Daniel I. Wikler (Public Health)
Half course (spring term). W., 2–4.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 45k. The Female Body in Modern America
Catalog Number: 5464 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Karen P. Flood
Half course (fall term). M., 1–3.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 45m. The Concept of Race in Science and Medicine in the United States
Catalog Number: 7675 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Evelynn M. Hammonds
Half course (spring term). Tu., 2–4.
Studies how biologists, anthropologists, and physicians took up the questions of racial classifications, race differences, and race mixing. How did these ideas change as new tools such as genetics and evolutionary theory were developed? What is the relationship between scientific debates about race and other debates about identity and citizenship in the larger US context? How do new ideas about genetic variation among/between human groups enlist or resist concepts of race today?
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 45v. Cemetery as History: Jewish Burial Places and Their Christian Context in Europe and North America
Catalog Number: 4290 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Rachel Greenblatt
Half course (fall term). Hours to be arranged.
In cemeteries, living visitors remember and relate to dead family and friends, martyrs and heroes. These relationships and modes of memory vary from place to place and have changed over time. Examines medieval and modern Jewish cemeteries like the Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague and at Ouderkerk, just outside Amsterdam, first modern Christian cemeteries in France and Germany, and cemeteries in US. Visits to cemeteries and memorials on campus, in Cambridge, and in surrounding areas.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 46e. The Germans and Their History
Catalog Number: 7802 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Steven Ozment
Half course (fall term). W., 4–6.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 46j. Science, Technology, and the Good Society
Catalog Number: 7678 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Peter Buck
Half course (spring term). W., 2–4.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 46k. The Sacco and Vanzetti Case: Culture, Politics, and Memory
Catalog Number: 7863 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Lisa M. McGirr
Half course (spring term). M., 1–3.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 46m. Understanding Terrorism
Catalog Number: 4348 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Louise M. Richardson
Half course (fall term). Hours to be arranged.
Introduces study of terrorism, among the gravest threats facing the world today. Covers history and evolution of tactic, from the Zealots to al Qaeda. Assesses terrorists’ motivations and how they market causes to various publics. Uses case studies of variety of terrorist groups at different points in history to explore ethics both of terrorist behaviors and state responses and the rationality and psychology of terrorist operatives and their organizations. Examines dilemma faced by democratic states.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 46p. Human Rights
Catalog Number: 8408 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Jennifer Leaning (Public Health)
Half course (fall term). W., 3–5:30.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 46s. The Idea of Crime
Catalog Number: 5122 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Robert J. Sampson
Half course (fall term). M., 2–4.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 46v. Political Speech-Making and the Language of American Democracy
Catalog Number: 1928 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Timothy P. McCarthy
Half course (fall term). Hours to be arranged.
Examines rhetorical and artistic dimensions of some of the most memorable speeches delivered by American presidents, political figures, abolitionists and civil rights workers, feminists and labor activists. Presents an exciting hands-on tour of some of the most important milestones in U.S. political history as a way to inspire in students a more creative understanding of and engagement with American democracy. Not only explores use of language but historical themes and cultural contexts also.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 47e. The Politics of Love and Friendship: The Sources of Human Affiliation in the Family, Society, and the State
Catalog Number: 0557 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Oona Britt Ceder
Half course (spring term). Th., 1–4.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 47k. The Invention of Nature
Catalog Number: 6260 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Robert France (Design School)
Half course (fall term). W., 1–4.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 47m. Nationalism in Modern Western Europe
Catalog Number: 7343 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Nicolas Prevelakis, Lecturer on Social Studies
Half course (fall term). Hours to be arranged.
Investigates process through which nationalism emerged, first in Europe, then in the rest of the world. Impact on the economy, religion, and literature. Emphasis on differences between types of nationalism (ethnic/civic, individualistic/collectivistic) as well as on importance of national intellectuals, circulation of ideas and of their means of transmission (e.g. the mass media, the school system, the universities). Empirical evidence from history of Europe, United States, Japan, the Balkans, and Latin America.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 47t. Globalization: Opportunities and Challenges
Catalog Number: 1521 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Lawrence H. Summers
Half course (spring term). M., 7:30–9:30 pm.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 47u. Declarations of Independence: The Political Philosophy of the American Revolution
Catalog Number: 4718 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
David R. Armitage
Half course (fall term). M., 2–4.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 47y. Food, Eating, and Diet
Catalog Number: 1853 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Steven Shapin
Half course (spring term). M., 12–2.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 48k. Political Legitimacy and Resistance: What Happened in Montaigne’s Library on the Night of October 23, 1587, and Why Should Political Philosophers Care?
Catalog Number: 4798 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Arthur I. Applbaum (Kennedy School)
Half course (spring term). W., 2:30–5.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 48m. The Tobacco Pandemic: History, Culture, Science, and Policy
Catalog Number: 9368 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Allan M. Brandt
Half course (fall term). W., 2–4.
Examines cultural, scientific, political, and legal aspects of history of cigarette use, both in US and globally. Explores the relationships of cultural change to patterns of health and disease; of advertising and promotion to consumption; and of corporate interests to regulation. Relationship of risk, behavior, and responsibility for disease seen through tobacco issue. Should smokers be held responsible for their "voluntary" risks? Or should governments or corporations bear the responsibility for the harms of smoking?
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 48n. American Dreams
Catalog Number: 2426 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
James T. Kloppenberg
Half course (fall term). W., 12–2.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 48u. Race and Nation: The White Experience in Post-Apartheid South Africa
Catalog Number: 5119 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Sadhana Bery
Half course (fall term). W., 3–5.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 48x. Nationalism in Modern Western Europe
Catalog Number: 5377 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Jonathan R. Eastwood
Half course (fall term). W., 2–4.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 48z. Women on the Move: Migration within Asian and Beyond
Catalog Number: 7568 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Nicole D. Newendorp
Half course (fall term). M., 4–6.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 49e. Globalization: Critical Perspectives
Catalog Number: 5230 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Adam Webb
Half course (fall term). W., 3–5.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 49i. Understanding Ancient Politics in the Medieval World
Catalog Number: 8256 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Noah I. Dauber
Half course (fall term). Hours to be arranged.
What was the role of the Ancient World before the Renaissance? Explores selected themes in political literature of late Middle Ages, including democracy, value of the pastoral and agricultural life, friendship between lord and servant, and place of women and nature of the household. How did medieval authors read Aristotle and Roman historians in light of institutions of their own day? Investigates social and economic bases of politics, roots of community, liberty, and political participation.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 49j. Interpreting Chinese History
Catalog Number: 6664 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Endymion P. Wilkinson
Half course (fall term). Th., 1–3.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 49k. Wealth and Leadership: Two Centuries of Boston’s Philanthropy
Catalog Number: 5767 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Peter Dobkin Hall
Half course (fall term). Tu., 2–5.
Note: Open to Freshmen only.

*Freshman Seminar 49l. Cruelty and Modern Law: The Jurisprudence of Cruelty, Brutality, and Suffering
Catalog Number: 3720 Enrollment: Limited t