UNDERGRADUATE
Capstone and Diversity Course Descriptions
Department of English
Spring 2011

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223.001  (Diversity)
Themes of Literature
2:30-3:45 MW
Lock

An Introduction to the Literature of India From 1000 B.C. To The Present

Are you a lover of cultures, languages, foreign traditions and literatures?  Then welcome to this course that takes you back in time to well over 1000 B.C., and
gives you a peek into an old and ancient culture, preserved in probably one of the oldest documents in the world (The Rig Veda) and written in the oldest
of the Indo-European languages – Sanskrit.  Then chronologically step into golden ages as we travel with Chinese and Arabic travelers – Fah-sien and Ibn Battuta
and their recorded travels on the subcontinent.  Or dabble in some of the earliest known folk tales and fables (The Panchatantra), or a famous play of ancient
times - the romance of Shakuntala - the best in Sanskrit drama and poetry.  Or, if your palate desires something of a modern turn, then heed the wisdom of Gandhi,
or enjoy the poetry of the first Asian Nobel Laureate - Tagore.  Or, if you just like a good story, and a historical one at that, then you’re in good company as you
listen to a Maharani (queen) relive the glory of Princely India before Indian Independence, or hear an angry brigadier’s account and analysis of the disastrous Indo-Chinese
War of 1962.  In other words, welcome to a taste of India – not only the narrow sliver of E.M.Forster’s tales, but the India behind the name, the history, the diversity,
and the cultures. 

In this class we will make a survey of a few principal works of the literature of India, beginning with The Rig Veda of 1000 B.C. and beyond, and ending in a
biographical story of India which was published in Ireland in December 2009.  We will be mainly studying excerpts from translations, and a few original works in
English that belong to the 20^th and 21^st centuries, in order to understand and truly appreciate the peoples and cultures of an emerging giant – India - and the role
that it plays in our world.

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345.001 (Capstone & Diversity) 
Literature of Ethnic Minorities in the U.S.
2:30-3:45 MW
Calabrese

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413C.001 - (Diversity)
Topics in Linguistics
4:00-5:15 TR
Lillehaugen

Linguistic Perspectives on Indigenous Languages of the Americas

Iroquois, Navaho, Zapotec, Washoe, Pirahã, and more!  In this class we investigate the indigenous languages of the Americas, focusing on their structure,
classification, and social and historical contexts.  Special consideration is given to languages indigenous to the Reno area.  We discuss issues of language
endangerment and language revitalization programs.  Students learn to work hands-on with primary language data and do a project on an indigenous language
of the Americas of their choice.  No previous knowledge of linguistics or indigenous languages and cultures is required.  No prerequisites for this class will be enforced.* 

*The "prerequisites" that are listed in the catalog for this course may prevent you from enrolling via DARS.  Be assured that we will sign the appropriate
paperwork to have the prerequisite waived.  Just identify yourself if this applies to you asap.

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427A.001 (Capstone & Diversity)
Women and Literature
4:00-5:15 MW
Pahmeier

In good literature, questions are raised and values examined.  In this section, we’ll confront and discuss various issues through the study of contemporary
autobiographical  works by  women which address, in some way, the oft-asked question: “What do women want?”

To come to some sort of answer to this question, we’ll look at texts that examine or illuminate journeys toward identity, texts that also pay homage to a classic theme
in literature--the search or quest for “home,” for a place to belong in which one feels “safe.” We’ll also note how authors/characters ultimately achieve (or don’t) a sense
of self-identity through their ability to survive what they face, and how they accomplish this through compassion, hope, acute attention to desire, awareness of community
support and hindrances,  and perhaps, a little bit of magic.

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427A.002 (Capstone & Diversity)
Women and Literature
2:30-3:45 TR
Urie

In this class, we will focus on the contributions women writers--often rebellious and long-neglected--have made to the traditional (male) canon.  We will also
watch the evolution of a female literary tradition as we read works from the early 1800s to the late twentieth century.  Writers include Austen, Rossetti, Chopin,
Woolf, Hurston, Plath, Morrison, Kingsolver, Tan, and Cisneros.

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427A.003 (Capstone & Diversity)
Women and Literature
4:00-5:15 TR
Dupree

For details on this course, you may contact the instructor at melldupree@unr.edu or at 682-6366.

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492A.001
Language, Science and Society (Capstone)
1:00-2:15 MW
Slovic

The Literature of Sustainability

This experimental course, team-taught by literary critic Scott Slovic and environmental scientist John Sagebiel (UNR’s Environmental Affairs Manager), will
explore the “literature of sustainability,” examining how literary artists not only communicate information regarding such issues as extinction, pollution, climate
change, food sources, water usage, and energy resources, but seek through down-to-earth, emotionally provocative strategies to compel readers to re-think
their own daily habits. We will read eclectic journalistic and literary texts in this course, ranging from Ellen Meloy’s Raven’s Exile to David Quammen’s
The Song of the Dodo. In addition to reading literary texts, we’ll do background reading of technical and popular texts related to the subjects we study in
this class, both to provide a scientific foundation for our understanding of the literary works and to appreciate more effectively the differences between literary
and non-literary language in the context of contemporary environmental science.


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492B.001
Language, Literature and Culture (Capstone)
4:00-5:15 MW
Fenimore

The American Storytelling Revival

The rise of nationalistic and scholarly interest in folklore during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries led to the collection, transcription, and publication of
traditional oral narratives by such academic and creative intermediaries as the Grimm Brothers, Franz Boas, Joel Chandler Harris, Zora Neale Hurston, and Richard
Chase. We will look at some ways that textualization repurposes orality, focusing on Native American, African American, and Anglo-American storytelling cultures.
Then we try our hand at re-oralizing these stories in class, using as models many contemporary professional storytellers we’ll see at work in videos and live in the
classroom. With the help of time-tested rituals our classroom will turn into a tightly-knit and supportive storytelling community. We’ll read in some primary and
secondary sources, write a few papers, keep a storytelling journal, and have as much fun as you’re allowed in a university classroom. Extra credit for documented
storytelling in the community, at schools, libraries, senior centers, and so forth. This course is a major capstone with prerequisites including a declared English major
or minor and completion of foundational major requirements, but if you are not an English major and are interested in taking the course, contact the instructor
at fenimore@unr.edu

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493A.001
American Ideas (Capstone)
1:00-2:15 TR
Branch

Minding the Gap: American Science Writing

There has never been a greater need for writers who can interpret science for a wider public of readers who may have little training or even interest in the sciences.
In an American culture in which the gulf between highly specialized science and average Americans—people whose values, decisions, and behaviors have a
tremendous impact upon the environment—seems ever widening, the work of the science writer has become increasingly urgent. “Minding the Gap: American
Science Writing” examines the work of authors who employ a range of literary, rhetorical, and aesthetic techniques to write into the troubling “gap” between what
science knows and what general readers need to understand. How do these writers make science accessible and engaging to general readers? What approaches do
they use to teach and to delight—to entertain us into becoming more ecologically literate? We will read prominent examples of American science writing by major
figures, including (probably!) John Muir, Loren Eiseley, Rachel Carson, Stephen Jay Gould, Carl Sagan, E. O. Wilson, Sandra Steingraber, Chet Raymo, and
Michael Pollan. The course will also include several environmental films—including (probably!) Davis Guggenheim’s An Inconvenient Truth (2006) and Robert
Kenner’s Food, Inc. (2008)—that attempt, just as do the literary texts we’ll read, to convey scientific information in a clear and compelling way for the benefit of
a general public.

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493A.002
American Ideas (Capstone)
4:00-5:15 TR
Urie

This semester, American Ideas will focus on twentieth century African American Literature from the Harlem Renaissance to the Black Arts Movement.
Writers include Hughes, Johnson, Hurston, Wright, Ellison, Hansberry, Baldwin, Baraka, and Morrison.