General Education Electives

Faculty of the Committee on Non-Departmental Instruction

William Mills Todd III, Curt Hugo Reisinger Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures and Professor of Comparative Literature, and Dean for Undergraduate Education (Chair)
Peter K. Bol, Harvard College Professor and Professor of Chinese History (on leave spring term)
Daniel S. Fisher, Professor of Physics and Professor of Applied Physics
William E. Gienapp, Professor of History
Karl S. Guthke, Kuno Francke Professor of German Art and Culture (on leave fall term)
Christopher P. Jones, George Martin Lane Professor of the Classics and of History
Karel F. Liem, Henry Bryant Bigelow Professor of Ichthyology
Andrew Moravcsik, Professor of Government (on leave fall term)
Anthony G. Oettinger, Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Mathematics and Professor of Information Resources Policy

General Education Courses

General Education 105. The Literature of Social Reflection
Catalog Number: 0769
Robert Coles (Medical School)
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., at 10, with one ninety-minute section weekly. EXAM GROUP: 12
An examination of selected novels, essays, poems, and autobiographical statements which aim at social scrutiny or at a moral critique of a particular society. Lectures emphasize the distinctive approach of the literary mind to a variety of social problems: poverty, racial injustice, historical change, the various tensions of rural and urban life. Authors studied include George Eliot, Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Georges Bernanos, William Carlos Williams, James Agee, George Orwell, Ralph Ellison, Zora Neale Hurston, Tillie Olson, Flannery O’Connor, and Walker Percy.

General Education 156. The Information Age, Its Main Currents and Their Intermingling: Conference Course
Catalog Number: 3172 Enrollment: Limited to 25.
Anthony G. Oettinger
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., 2:30–4. EXAM GROUP: 16, 17
Dynamics of the worldwide shift toward information-intensive economies. The hype and the ripe in information infrastructures, networks, and multimedia. Transformations of information businesses: telecommunications; computers; broadcast, cable, satellite, and cassette TV; consumer electronics; books; newspapers; mail; toys. Antecedents in shifts from memorized to written records in 12th-century England and to steam printing presses in the 19th century. Each term paper traces the linkages between changing information suppliers and a student-picked sphere of information use — e.g., literacy and numeracy, personal communication, entertainment, political processes, international trade, capital and labor markets, military intelligence and command practices, or organizational structure and behavior.
Note: Term paper in lieu of final examination; extensive research expected of graduate students; counts as an elective for Applied Mathematics concentrators if the term paper includes appropriate mathematical content. Offered jointly with the Kennedy School of Government as BGP-586.
Prerequisite: Social Analysis 10 or elementary calculus or equivalent.

General Education 175 (formerly Anthropology 199a). Native Americans in the 21st Century: Nation-Building I
Catalog Number: 5587
Joseph P. Kalt (Kennedy School), Manley A. Begay, and guest lecturers
Half course (fall term). M., W., 1–2:30. EXAM GROUP: 6, 7
Uses a hands-on, interdisciplinary approach to examine some of the major issues Native American tribes and nations face as the 21st century approaches, including: sovereignty, economic development, constitutional reform, cultural and language preservation, land and water rights, religious freedom, health and social welfare, and education. Concepts of “Nation-building” and leadership, taken from tribal points of view, will be the central themes of the course. All aspects of the course will be placed in a cross-cultural context. Guest presentations will be made by Native American students, visiting scholars, and Native American leaders.
Note: Offered jointly with the Kennedy School of Government 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., 8:30–10, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 10, 11
Provides students with an overview of U. S. health care delivery system, its components, and policy challenges. Health care system considered from organizational perspective: analyzes roles of patients, providers (doctors and hospitals), health plans, and payers. Considers objectives, constraints, incentives, knowledge, and conduct of each component. Evaluates problems faced by each component using both “insider” and “outsider” perspectives. What are objectives and how can they be realized? What consensus exists, if any? Reading will include selections from medical sociology, economics, politics, anthropology, and ethics.

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.

Adams

*Adams 122. Printed Books as a Field of Study
Catalog Number: 6137 Enrollment: Limited to 6
Roger E. Stoddard
Half course (spring term). Tu., 2–4.
Introduces students to the appreciation of books as technical, commercial, and artistic products as well as intellectual ones. With due regard for text and picture, concentrates attention on the printed book in Europe and the Americas from the technical inventions of Gutenberg and other pioneers to the postmodern renovations of today. Books from Houghton Library collections are viewed and discussed in relation to their manufacture, distribution, and use. Much of the work is comparative. Vocations of book culture to be studied and illustrated are printer, book artisan, publisher, bookseller, collector, librarian, antiquarian bookseller, and bibliographer.
Note: Expected to be omitted in 2000–01.

Dunster

[*Dunster 119. Discovering Musical Language: Bringing Music to Life from the Perspectives of Composer/Improviser, Listener, Performer]
Catalog Number: 7233 Enrollment: Limited to 20.
Luise Vosgerchian
Half course (spring term). Hours to be arranged, with one 90-minute section weekly.
An applied course in music analysis for musicians and music lovers, covering a broad scope of repertoire from various genres, styles, and cultures. Participants engage on a practical basis with melody, harmony, text, breathing... from the perspective of rhythm as underlying generative force. Particular emphasis on the relationship of notation to musical reality (psychological, visceral, energetic) — embodied in performance. Although a large repertoire of world music is presented in weekly listening assignments, specific projects will be tailored to class members.
Note: Expected to be given in 2000–01. Participants who are performers will be expected to play/sing/conduct repertoire for class presentations, performances complementing written work; music lovers will be given special assignments in rhythm, phraseology,...(both written and actual). Additional section times may be scheduled.

Eliot

[*Eliot 122. Abraham Lincoln]
Catalog Number: 1179 Enrollment: Limited to 15
Alan Heimert
Half course (fall term). Hours to be arranged.
An effort to discern and assess the mind and character of Abraham Lincoln through reading and discussion of his writings. Focus on public utterances, from the Lyceum Address to the Second Inaugural, although letters and other brief materials are also included. The entire Lincoln-Douglas debate is studied as a contrast in arguments and rhetorical technique. The insights of previous Lincoln students are reviewed and critiqued.
Note: Expected to be given in 2000–01.

*Eliot 129. Nutrition and Public Health
Catalog Number: 1497 Enrollment: Limited to 20
Clifford Lo (Medical School)
Half course (spring term). M., 5:30–7:30 p.m.
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 the Nutrition Support Services at Children’s Hospital will be optional.

[*Eliot 132 (formerly Mather 117). Narratives of Motherhood]
Catalog Number: 3099 Enrollment: Limited to 20
Margaret Bruzelius
Half course (spring term). Hours to be arranged.
Maternity is a profoundly imaginary structure, described in wildly divergent metaphors as the conduit for atavism and as a civilizing force. We study discourses that claim to subdue the maternal body to paternal demands, contract laws, medical evidence, the writings of mothers themselves in order to analyze the metaphoric chains that underlie each view of maternity. How do the languages of maternity mediate between the mother as a work of nature and as the first instrument of culture? How is motherhood made and used?
Note: Expected to be given in 2000–01.

*Eliot 133. The Táin: The Medieval Irish Saga
Catalog Number: 2966 Enrollment: Limited to 12
Patrick K. Ford
Half course (fall term). W., 1–3. EXAM GROUP: 6, 7
Investigates the great medieval Irish saga, Táin Bó Cúailnge. The Táin is the centerpiece of the so-called Ulster Cycle of tales, a group centered on the court of King Conchobor at Emain Macha in 1st-century (CE) Ulster. Cycle focuses on heroic exploits of Cú Chulainn, the Hound of Cooley, and on ethos of a warrior aristocracy in heroic golden age. Of especial interest are roles played by women in the tales. Tensions between literacy and orality in the transmission of the tales and issues related to the translation of the tales into English in the modern period will be studied.

Leverett

*Leverett 104. Sigmund Freud and C. S. Lewis: Two Contrasting World Views
Catalog Number: 0773 Enrollment: Limited to 20
Armand M. Nicholi, II (Medical School)
Half course (spring term). Tu., 7–9 p.m.
Focuses on the “scientific” Weltanschauung (world view) of Sigmund Freud as a key to understanding his life and work. Students examine the world view Freud attacks by reading selected writings of C. S. Lewis and the letters between Freud and Oskar Pfister, the Swiss psychoanalyst and theologian. Considers the following themes: source of morality and ethics, definition and understanding of human sexuality, problem of pain and suffering, definition of happiness and reason that unhappiness prevails, role of different categories of love in human relationships, nature of human nature and the problem of “the painful riddle of death.” Selected expository works by Freud serve as a brief introduction to basic psychoanalytic concepts and to philosophical works that form the core of study.

Pforzheimer

*Pforzheimer 123. The Quality of Health Care in America
Catalog Number: 4587 Enrollment: Limited to 15
Donald M. Berwick (Medical School) and Howard H. Hiatt (Medical School)
Half course (spring term). Hours to be arranged.
Offers information and experiences regarding an array of the most important issues and challenges in health care quality. Includes 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 various forms of waste. Each session focuses in depth on one specific quality-of-care issue, exploring patterns of performance, data sources, costs, causes, and remedies. Explores international comparisons and systemic remedies: the desirable properties of health care systems that can perform at extremely high levels in many dimensions of quality.

Winthrop

[*Winthrop 122. Four Alienated Literary Visionaries of Cambridge]
Catalog Number: 6607 Enrollment: Limited to 20
James R. Russell
Half course (spring term). Hours to be arranged.
Considers issues of literature, culture, and politics in the life and work of four great twentieth-century American writers who lived within walking distance of Winthrop. Each interpreted a remote culture and a set of problems to his contemporaries, in attempting to resolve his own personal and social alienation: T. S. Eliot, with the idea of the Eternal Return approached through Budhism and Upanishadic religion; Delmore Schwartz, with dream psychology and the Jewish immigrant experience; Vladimir Nabokov, with Russia and the dislocations of totalitarianism and exile; and William S. Burroughs, with Sufism, Ismailism, and techniques of ecstasy. These currents 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.
Note: Expected to be given in 2000–01.

Freshman Seminars

Faculty Offering Instruction in the Freshman Seminar Program

Caroline D. Alyea, Lecturer on History and Literature
Dorota Ewa Badowska, Lecturer on Literature
Laura Benedetti, John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Humanities
Anya Bernstein, Lecturer on Social Studies
Ann M. Blair, John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences
Clara (Pleun) Bouricius, Lecturer on History and Literature
Margaret Bruzelius, Lecturer on Literature
Julie A. Buckler, Assistant Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures
Alan Ralph Cooper, Lecturer on History and Literature
James Cuno, Professor of History of Art and Architecture and Elizabeth and John Moors Cabot Director of the Harvard University Art Museums
Leo Damrosch, Ernest Bernbaum Professor of Literature
Samba Diop, Assistant Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures
Francesco Duina, Lecturer on Social Studies
John Thomas Dunlop, Lamont University Professor, Emeritus
Rena Fonseca, Lecturer on Sanskrit and Indian Studies
David R. Foster, Senior Lecturer on Biology
Jene A. Golovchenko, Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Physics and Professor of Physics
William A. Graham, Jr., Professor of the History of Religion and Islamic Studies
Steven J. Holmes, Lecturer on History and Literature
Daniel Itzkovitz, Lecturer on History and Literature
Dirk Killen, Lecturer on History and Literature
Myron Lecar, Lecturer on Astronomy
Thomas Michael Malaby, Lecturer on Social Studies
Adam R. Nelson, Lecturer on History and Literature
John Timothy O’Keefe, Lecturer in History and Literature
Roberta L. Rudnick, Associate Professor of Geology
Shelley Salamensky, Lecturer on Literature
Nathaniel Taylor, Lecturer on History and Literature
P. Barry Tomlinson, Edward C. Jeffrey Professor of Biology
Nikolaas J. van der Merwe, Landon T. Clay Professor of Scientific Archaeology
Helen Vendler, Arthur Kingsley Porter University Professor
Celeste Wallander, Associate Professor of Government
Steven M. Young, Lecturer on Social Studies

Only students in Freshman standing at Harvard College may apply for a Freshman Seminar. Enrollment in Freshman Seminars is limited to 12. For a complete description of the Freshman Seminar Program and 1999–00 offerings, please consult the current Freshman Seminar catalog. Catalogs and application forms may be obtained from the Freshman Seminar Office, 6 Prescott Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (telephone: (617) 495-1523; email: seminars@fas.harvard.edu).

Freshman Seminars 1999–00

*Freshman Seminar 1. Dress and Identity in Britain, France, and the United States, 1750-1930
Catalog Number: 0001
Caroline D. Alyea
Half course (fall term). .

*Freshman Seminar 2. How Novels Work
Catalog Number: 0002
Dorota Ewa Badowska
Half course (fall term). .

*Freshman Seminar 3. Italian Literature and Cinema: Relationships
Catalog Number: 0003
Laura Benedetti
Half course (fall term). .

*Freshman Seminar 4. American Social Policy
Catalog Number: 0004
Anya Bernstein
Half course (fall term). .

*Freshman Seminar 5. The “Two Cultures”: Science and Humanities in Historical Perspective
Catalog Number: 0005
Ann M. Blair
Half course (spring term). Th., 1–4. EXAM GROUP: 15, 16, 17

*Freshman Seminar 6. 19th-Century American Cultural History and Self-Help Literature
Catalog Number: 0006
Clara (Pleun) Bouricius
Half course (fall term). .

*Freshman Seminar 7. The Space of Adventure
Catalog Number: 0007
Margaret Bruzelius
Half course (fall term). .

*Freshman Seminar 8. Reading Tolstoy’s War and Peace
Catalog Number: 0008
Julie A. Buckler
Half course (fall term). .

*Freshman Seminar 11. Late Medieval England
Catalog Number: 0011
Alan Ralph Cooper
Half course (fall term). .

*Freshman Seminar 12. Considering the Works of Art in the Harvard Art Museums, from Antiquity to the Present
Catalog Number: 0012
James Cuno
Half course (fall term; repeated spring term). Fall: W., 1–3. EXAM GROUP: Fall: 6, 7

*Freshman Seminar 13. William Blake
Catalog Number: 0013
Leo Damrosch
Half course (fall term). .

*Freshman Seminar 14. Nation State and Global Economy
Catalog Number: 0014
Francesco Duina
Half course (fall term). .

*Freshman Seminar 16. The Workplace: The Roles of Business, Labor, and Government
Catalog Number: 0016
John Thomas Dunlop
Half course (spring term). M., 2–4:30. EXAM GROUP: 7, 8, 9

*Freshman Seminar 17. Africans and Blacks in France
Catalog Number: 0017
Samba Diop
Half course (fall term). .

*Freshman Seminar 19. Contemporary India: Fact and Fiction
Catalog Number: 0019
Rena Fonseca
Half course (fall term). .

*Freshman Seminar 20. Physicists and Scientific Problems
Catalog Number: 0020
Jene A. Golovchenko and Lene V. Hau
Half course (fall term). .

*Freshman Seminar 21. Journeys: Explorations in World Literature
Catalog Number: 0021
William A. Graham, Jr.
Half course (spring term). To Be Arranged.

*Freshman Seminar 28. American Environmental Biography
Catalog Number: 0028
Steven J. Holmes
Half course (fall term). .

*Freshman Seminar 30. Race, Modernism, and American Culture
Catalog Number: 0030
Daniel Itzkovitz
Half course (fall term). .

*Freshman Seminar 32. Literature of Irish America: 20th-Century Voices
Catalog Number: 0032
Dirk Killen
Half course (fall term). .

*Freshman Seminar 34. Large-Scale Structure in the Universe
Catalog Number: 0034
Myron Lecar
Half course (fall term). .

*Freshman Seminar 36. Serfdom and Slavery in Literature
Catalog Number: 0036
Anne Lynn Lounsbery
Half course (spring term). Tu., 1–4. EXAM GROUP: 15, 16, 17

*Freshman Seminar 37. The Meaning of the Modern Olympic Games
Catalog Number: 0037
Thomas Michael Malaby
Half course (spring term). M., 1–3. EXAM GROUP: 6, 7

*Freshman Seminar 38. The Contemporary Latin American Political and Economic Landscape
Catalog Number: 0038
Sylvia Maxfield
Half course (spring term). .

*Freshman Seminar 41. American Higher Education since the Civil War
Catalog Number: 0041
Adam R. Nelson
Half course (fall term). .

*Freshman Seminar 43. American Society and Culture in the 19th Century: the Beecher Family
Catalog Number: 0043
John Timothy O’Keefe
Half course (fall term). .

[*Freshman Seminar 45. Debates About International Justice]
Catalog Number: 0045
Jennifer Gaston Pitts
Half course (spring term). M., 2–5. EXAM GROUP: 7, 8, 9
Note: Expected to be given in 2000–01.

*Freshman Seminar 50. Planetary Geology
Catalog Number: 0050
Roberta L. Rudnick
Half course (fall term). .

*Freshman Seminar 59. The Medieval Cathedral
Catalog Number: 0059
Nathaniel Taylor
Half course (fall term). .

*Freshman Seminar 60. Research at the Harvard Forest
Catalog Number: 0060
P. Barry Tomlinson and David R. Foster
Half course (fall term). Four Weekends at the Harvard Forest in Petersham.

*Freshman Seminar 63. Scientific Analysis of Materials
Catalog Number: 0063
Nikolaas J. van der Merwe
Half course (fall term). .

*Freshman Seminar 64. The Poetry of John Keats
Catalog Number: 0064
Helen Vendler
Half course (fall term). .

*Freshman Seminar 65. Political Science Fiction
Catalog Number: 0065
Celeste Wallander
Half course (spring term). M., 2–4. EXAM GROUP: 7, 8

*Freshman Seminar 70. Civil Society and Democracy
Catalog Number: 0070
Steven M. Young
Half course (fall term). .