2016-2017 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
Courses
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SOC 033 - Who Rules America?
G. William Domhoff’s Who Rules America? (2014), originally published in 1967 and now in its seventh edition, uses empirical data to document its controversial assertions about the centralization of power in the hands of a “corporate community” in the United States. While enormous amounts of data are available on many of the topics that Domhoff addresses, he is only able to summarize the most basic data on any given topic. This presents us with a tremendous opportunity: the ability to incorporate empirical research projects that expand upon Domhoff’s analyses in this class. In his early chapters, Domhoff uses data to document the existence of a corporate community. Later he spends considerable time documenting a variety of ways that this elite group uses its economic power to gain political power. Specifically, he discusses (1) a policy planning network, comprised of corporate-funded foundations and think tanks, that tries to shape national policy-making to serve corporate interests; (2) the corporate funding of political action committees, designed to support the election/reelection of pro-corporate legislators; and (3) corporate lobbying expenditures, designed to encourage elected officials to support legislation of interest to the corporate community. We will do original “power structure research” on all of these aspects of Domhoff’s argument
Program of Liberal Studies (PLS) Designation: FA
Anticipated Terms Offered: annually
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SOC 107 - Classical Sociological Theory
A critical and comparative survey of the major theorists of early sociology. This course emphasizes the first generation of sociologists, who sought to understand what we have come to call modernity. Beyond this central canon – represented by selected works of Marx, Durkheim, and Weber – the course introduces key theoretical perspectives and related analytical concepts that continue to inform many aspects of social life. Fulfills the social theory requirement for majors.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every semester
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SOC 110 - Sociology of Gender
Focuses on sociological, historical, psychological, and economic dimensions of gender. This course examines the ways in which social institutions create, maintain, and reproduce gender. The course emphasizes the processes through which gender categories are constructed and represented, as well as the consequences of these categories for the lives of individuals.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered periodically
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SOC 125 - Cities and Suburbs
Introduces urban sociology. Examines the historical structure and development of American metropolitan areas and community power, with special attention to changing functions of cities and suburbs. Examines different ways of life in cities and suburbs. Globalization and international comparative perspectives are also examined. (Formerly SOC 247)
Program of Liberal Studies (PLS) Designation: GP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every year
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SOC 130 - Genocide
Provides students with a comparative perspective that highlights theory and concrete examples of genocide. After surveying legal and social scientific definitions of genocide, we explore four cases of genocide that took place over the course of centuries and across several continents. The course ends with discussion of the prevention of genocide.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every year
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SOC 160 - Global Cultures and Identities
Explores the impact of local, national, and international forces in the formation of cultural identities at a time of rapid social changes. Focuses on contemporary cultures to examine local and national identities as they are globally determined. Emphasizes the elastic and the plastic nature of cultures and the importance of time, place, and space to understand the emergence of new culturally diverse settings. Examines the nature of social and cultural change in local, national, and global economic and political spaces.
Program of Liberal Studies (PLS) Designation: GP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every year
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SOC 167 - Problems of Globalization
This course will help students to understand and evaluate the challenges of globalization at the beginning of the 21st century. Students will become familiar with the economic, social, political, and cultural dimensions of the process. They will be exposed to arguments for and against globalization and possible solutions to problems. The course is the sequel to Global Society (IDND 066 ), which lays the theoretical foundation.
Program of Liberal Studies (PLS) Designation: GP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every year
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SOC 175 - The Sociology of Families
Examines the assumed decline of “the” American family and the recent changes in family formations. Also considers challenges to the new family, such as dual-career couples and the resulting division of labor in the home as well as divorce. Working-class, African-American and homeless families are also discussed.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every year
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SOC 180 - Aging and Society
This course challenges stereotypes about the elderly and aging as a “problem” for society. Focuses on the diversity of the aged and the experience of aging in the United States.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every other year
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SOC 200 - Class, Status and Power
Analyzes the nature, dynamics and historical development of social inequality. The economic and political power of the upper class, social mobility, the process of deindustrialization, feminization of poverty and the intersection of race and class are studied. Required for the major.
Prerequisites: SOC 107 is a prerequisite.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every semester
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SOC 202 - Social Research Process
General introduction to logic, techniques, and ethics of social science inquiry. Reviews qualitative and quantitative methods, as well as sampling. Fulfills the method requirement for majors. Not open to seniors.
Program of Liberal Studies (PLS) Designation: FA
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every year
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SOC 203 - American Jewish Life
Provides an introduction to the sociological study of American Jewry by surveying a broad range of topics such as immigration, economic mobility, religious and secular bases of Jewish identity, gender, and intermarriage. In order to identify what is Jewish and what is American about Americans Jews, we will systematically compare Jews with other ethnic groups.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every other year
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SOC 204 - Doing Qualitative Research
Provides background and experience in the systematic collection and analysis of qualitative data. Covering multiple sources of data – observations, interviews, and documents – this course provides an analytic vocabulary for critiquing qualitative inquiry and practice toward developing research skills. Fulfills one of the methods requirements for majors. (Fomerly SOC 138)
Prerequisites: At least one Sociology course
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered Every Year
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SOC 205 - Sociology of the Environment
Introduction to environmental sociology, a newly emerging area of interest. Focuses on the reciprocal relationships between society and the environment. The theoretical perspectives of human ecology and political economy are used to illuminate topics such as population, technology and environmental degradation, the environmental movement, north-south environmental conflicts, and food and hunger.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every year
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SOC 206 - Doing Quantitative Research
Much of the research done by sociologists involves quantitative analysis. This course focuses on the design and execution of quantitative studies. While we do learn to use/interpret some complex statistics (e.g., correlation and regression analysis), this is not a statistics course. PRIOR KNOWLEDGE OF STATISTICS IS NOT REQUIRED. Our primary focus will be on research design, that is, how to properly construct a study. In the process, we will develop an intuitive understanding of the sorts of data analyses conducted by sociologists. This will enable us to read, interpret, and understand the tables and graphs produced by sociologists. These skills will enable us to engage the core of the course: the use of two data sets, each of which has yielded multiple publications. Initially, we review a number of published studies with an eye to learning how to best design a quantitative study. Subsequently, we will design original research projects using each data set. Finally, we will conduct the research and analyze our findings.
Program of Liberal Studies (PLS) Designation: FA
Anticipated Terms Offered: Periodically
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SOC 210 - Social Problems: Claims and Media
Why do certain problems become matters of public concern while others do not? How do advocates and activists frame issues to capture public attention and promote change? How do institutional actors, with different resources, establish claims that move their interests forward? This course addresses these questions by analyzing the process of constructing social problems in both historical and contemporary contexts. Rather than a “laundry list” of specific problems, the course provides an introduction to social problems theory. Its emphasis is the process through which problems are defined and mediated and on the cultural dynamics and media practices that contribute to the credibility of claims.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Periodically
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SOC 225 - Religion and Society
This course introduces students to key theoretical and empirical works in the sociology of religion. We apply major theoretical perspectives to contemporary religious life. We ask how individuals find meaning in and are shaped by their experience of religion. Special consideration is given to how gender, sexuality, race, and ethnicity influence religious life. We explore the rise of new religious movements (historical and contemporary), the relationship between religion and modernity, and between religious fundamentalism and conservatism.
Anticipated Terms Offered: occasionally
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SOC 226 - Sport and Society
Sport and Society will look at the world of sport as an institutional structure that operates autonomously with its own rules, regulation, and authority, yet is inextricably linked to other structures. We will study the significance of sport as a cultural product; the dynamic ways in which it challenges and reenforces our understanding of race, gender, social class, and sexuality, and the ways in which globalization has [re]shaped sport in local and global contexts.
Anticipated Terms Offered: bi-annually
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SOC 241 - Sociology of Medicine
Examines the role of health-care professionals in the United States, as well as health and illness as social phenomena. The course also addresses problems in the health-care system at the national level and reviews potential solutions to the mounting crisis in the provision of health services. Not open to first year students.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every year
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SOC 245 - Sex and the Global City
In the age of neoliberal globalization, sexualities have become more and more visible in the landscape of international tourism and the market economy. At the same time, global cities as centers of the global economy have also become increasingly important spaces to understand sexualities. Focusing on relationships between sexuality and urban space, this class examines three interrelated themes. It begins with a short overview of the history of homosexuality in both American and European cities dating back to the nineteenth century continuing to the twenty first century. The relationship between capitalism and sexualities will be explored. The second theme covers current sex trafficking through examining the lives of Filipino hostesses in Tokyo. We will pay attention to the gender relationship between male Japanese customers and female hostesses including transgender women. The third theme is about how cultural tradition and social policies shape urban experiences of sexualities in different parts of the world. Thus, this class will move our gaze beyond sexuality as sexual behavior, sexual orientation and sexual identity. Instead, this class allows students to link this topic to urban planning, social policy, economics, culture, and social change at both national and global levels.
Program of Liberal Studies (PLS) Designation: GP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Periodically
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SOC 248 - Issues in Sexuality
This course introduces you to the sociological study of sexuality. We start with the assumption that humans are sexual beings and that our histories, cultures, genders, races, classes, and other social factors shape our sexualities. Our broad goal is to understand how social factors influence the ways we think about and experience sexual desire, behaviors, and identities. We will investigate how norms regarding sexuality are rooted in structures of power and how power is negotiated within the realm of sexuality. The course is divided into four sections, each of which is grounded in systematic empirical studies and examples. First, we ask what sexuality is and how it is studied and measured by social scientists. Second, we consider the ways social ideologies and social structures shape our ideas about sex, sexuality, and sexual bodies. Third, we explore how people develop senses of themselves sexually as individuals and in communities. Finally, we examine sexuality in the broader context of social institutions, including education, law and social policy, medicine, and the media.
Prerequisites: SOC 010 OR SOC 012 OR WGS 110
Anticipated Terms Offered: Bi-Annually
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SOC 250 - Community and Health: Non-Profit Grant Writing
Students will focus on medically underserved communities by gaining skills in grant writing and grant making that will further their understanding of strategic giving for social change. The goals of the course are: 1) to develop a community-based research experience that will strengthen students’ substantive understanding of community health and the organizations that serve their populations; 2) to offer students the opportunity to hone their social science research skills; 3) to strengthen students’ communication skills by offering them an alternative venue and audience for their writing; and 4) to foster collaboration among students on a project of consequence
Prerequisites: SOC 202 OR SOC 204 OR SOC 206 OR PERM
Anticipated Terms Offered: periodically
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SOC 252 - Race and American Society
Focuses on the political, economic and social lives of Native Americans, Latinos, African-Americans, Asian-Americans, and whites. The course begins with an exploration of the social construction of race followed by discussion of racism, protest movements, and the intersection of race, class, and gender. A central assumption of this course is that we must turn to history to understand contemporary race relations.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every other year
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SOC 255 - The Creation of Nationalism, Nationalist Cultures and Symbols
At a time of rapid global changes and globalization, nationalisms and nationalist cultures have grown dramatically. This course explores how nationalist identities and resistance are determined by culture and the cultural symbols, such as key consumer commodities, cultural symbols, gender, language, and dress codes.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every other year
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SOC 258 - Women in Jewish Culture
Uncovers the experiences of Jewish women and uses gender analysis as a means to enrich our understanding of Jewish life. The course begins with images of women in the Hebrew Bible followed by discussion of Rabbinic Judaism. A central focus will be Jewish women’s encounters with modernity in a variety of contexts: Western and Eastern Europe, United States, and Israel.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every other year
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SOC 260 - Roots and Routes: Immigrants, Diasporas and Travel
Examines immigrants and the cultures they create through movement and settlement and through the many borders they cross. Also covered are the diasporas immigrants create through the travel they undertake both voluntarily and, in some cases, through forced migration. How do borders, journeys, and migration shape the identities of individuals, groups, cultural objects, and commodities?
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every year
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SOC 262 - Law and Society
Examines the relationship between law and other aspects of social life. Relying on case studies and other empirical studies of the legal system, particular attention is paid to the following topics: law and justice, crime and social control, law and social change, civil justice and legality, and everyday life.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every year
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SOC 263 - Deviance
Why are some behaviors, differences, and people stigmatized and considered deviant? This course examines theories of social deviance that offer answers to this and related questions. How and why are behaviors designated as deviant? How do individuals enter and exit a deviant lifestyle? And how do various social statuses, such as race and gender, affect the incidence, type, and responses to deviant acts?
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every year
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SOC 265 - Social Movements: Quest for Justice
Modern American movements (labor, civil rights, new left, global justice) are used as examples for discussion of social movements. Problems of framing, resources, and identity are analyzed. The form of the course depends on the number of students registering.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered periodically
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SOC 267 - Poverty and Social Policy in Comparative Perspective
The course compares the U.S., Canadian and (Western) European social policy regimes. It includes an introduction to how poverty is defined in the US and internationally, and the strengths and weaknesses of these measurements and shows students how to use online sources to find local and national data about poverty and low income. Social insurance and income supports, labor relations and health policies are among the topics explored in the relevance for the working poor.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered periodically
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SOC 271 - Family Diversity
The family is considered to be one of the most private and pervasive social institutions in society. All of us have had contact with at least one family and many of us will be involved in several different families during our lifetime. Families today are more diverse, they include a complex array of household arrangements, and they are more easily fractured. Throughout the course we will look at how social structures shape and restructure the family. The course will provide an overview of the various family forms giving emphasis to working class families, gay and lesbian families, families of different racial/ethnic backgrounds, singlehood and cohabiting families in the United States. We will also explore research and public policy questions about families from a sociological perspective.
Prerequisites: SOC 200 - Class, Status and Power and SOC 175 - Sociology of Family or by permission
Anticipated Terms Offered: Annually
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SOC 272 - Punishment, Politics and Culture
In the past forty years the purposes and practices of punishment in the U.S. have changed dramatically, becoming increasingly harsh (death penalty, three strikes, supermax prisons)and retributive (abandonment of all rehabilitation efforts)and far reaching (over 2 million Americans are in prison or jail). These changes represent a near-complete and rapid reversal of fairly long-term trends in penal justice in the U.S. This course will explore what factors-political, cultural, demographic, technological - changed crime from a remote possibility in the minds of most Americans to a defining concern of Americans. Why, despite similar experiences of modernity, are European democracies characterized by such different cultures of control? In what ways, do our penal practices reflect and reinforce major social divisions - of race, ethnicity, gender, and class? What are the effects of such a transformation on the economy, the family, community, schools, and our ideals of justice? In short, what do our penal practices reveal about late twentieth century American culture, social structure and politics?
Prerequisites: (Prerequisites: SOC 262 or SOC 263 , Permission only
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered periodically
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SOC 276 - Environment and Inequality
A capstone seminar that focuses on the relationship between social inequality and environmental problems, especially the connections between the unequal distribution of wealth and power and the causes and consequences of environmental degradation. All students conduct empirical research using data sets provided by the instructor.
Prerequisites: SOC 200 . or SOC 205
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered periodically
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SOC 297 - Senior Honors
For information about honors in Sociology, please see the “Senior Honors Thesis” section in the Sociology Student Handbook.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offer every year
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SOC 298 - Internship
Academic experience taking place in the field with an opportunity to earn credit.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every semester
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SOC 299 - Directed Study
Readings and projects in Sociology.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every semester
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SOC 1010 - Introduction to Sociology
Introduces the basic concepts in the field of sociology with emphasis upon the application of these concepts to the understanding of the American institutions of politics, economics, religion, education, marriage and family.
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SOC 1140 - Health, Culture and Illness
Examines the importance of social and cultural factors in the field of medicine. It focuses on: provider self-awareness of health, illness, familiar folk remedies, traditional health beliefs and practices. Also investigated are the relationships between health care professionals, health institutions, patients, the organization and utilization of health services; the comparative examination of health systems from the cross-cultural perspective and the exception of healthcare illness as a social and cultural phenomena.
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SOC 1180 - Our Aging Society
In the United States today there are more older people in the population than ever before. Many issues offer new challenges as one enters middle and later life but is there a way “successful aging” can be accomplished? With all of these challenges can one truly grow old gracefully? Topics such as diet, exercise, pensions, family life, and housing will be explored. Theories of the aging process will be discussed as we review the study of aging: past, present and future.
Program of Liberal Studies (PLS) Designation: VP (summer only)
Anticipated Terms Offered: -
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SOC 1600 - Drugs and Alcohol
Students are asked to explore drug use and abuse in American society, the socio-historical origins of drug and alcohol use from a cross-cultural perspective, the effects of formal organizational studies on the drug rehabilitation users, and independent variables such as family, work and income on chemical dependency. Students investigate society’s use of legal as well as illegal drugs, and medical vs. recreational use of psychoactive substances.
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SOC 2630 - Deviant Behavior
What is deviance and how is it “constructed” within society? While some experts on deviance take a decidedly objective approach to deviance-the idea that all cultures recognize certain behaviors as deviant and unacceptable, this course will focus on the ways in which deviance is socially constructed-the idea that behaviors are deemed “deviant” based on societal definitions and are therefore not static but subject to change. Viewing deviance through a subjective (rather than objective) lens requires that we pay close attention to the dialogue that takes place between individuals and society over time, as it is this dialogue that will help us to determine what is and what is not acceptable within society. This course uses cultural, social, political, and even religious cues as clues to uncover deviance within society in all of its forms and functions.
Anticipated Terms Offered: varies
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SPAN 011 - Fast-Track Spanish
This course aims to provide students with the opportunity to learn the foundational skills of Spanish in reading, writing, speaking, and listening as well as knowledge of aspects of culture of the Spanish-speaking world. Students completing this intensive one-semester course will be prepared to enter the intermediate sequence, thus reaching a higher-level of Spanish more rapidly than through a year-long SPAN101-102. This will increase their opportunities to develop their linguistic skills and cultural knowledge through more advanced classes at Clark or in study-abroad programs
Program of Liberal Studies (PLS) Designation: LP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Every Year
Placement Guidelines
Please visit the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures for the language placement guidelines.
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SPAN 103 - Elementary Spanish: Intensive
An accelerated elementary course, intended for students who have had no more than two years of Spanish. Three hours per week, plus a discussion section.
Program of Liberal Studies (PLS) Designation: LP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every year
Placement Guidelines
Please visit the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures for the language placement guidelines.
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SPAN 105 - Intermediate Spanish I
An intermediate course intended for students with no more than three years of Spanish. Integrates the essential aspects of Spanish in a structured manner, while at the same time reviewing grammar and enhancing skills in reading, writing and conversation. Also develops awareness and appreciation of Hispanic cultures.
Prerequisites: Successful completion of SPAN011, SPAN 103 or the equivalent. Discussion session required.
Program of Liberal Studies (PLS) Designation: LP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every semester.
Placement Guidelines
Please visit the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures for the language placement guidelines.
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SPAN 106 - Intermediate Spanish II
Normally taken after SPAN 105 , SPAN 106 further strengthens skills in the language through grammar reviews, readings on Hispanic themes and class discussions. Emphasis is on activities in reading, writing, speaking and conversational understanding as a preparation for more advanced work. Prerequisite: successful completion of SPAN 105 or the equivalent. Discussion session required.
Program of Liberal Studies (PLS) Designation: LP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every semester
Placement Guidelines
Please visit the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures for the language placement guidelines.
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SPAN 117 - Field Work in the Latino Community
Offers an opportunity to work in an agency or project serving the Latino community in Worcester (the bilingual school program, Casa de la Comunidad, Worcester Legal Services, etc.). Advisers supervise the student work. Students keep a journal on the experience in which they examine language, culture and related problems of the bilingual community. Students read works of Latino literature and write short papers in Spanish. Weekly meetings with instructor.
Prerequisites: Proficiency in Spanish; successful completion of course work in the field or fields related to the specific project area; seniors only/permission of instructor. Offered for credit, but is not graded.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every year.
Placement Guidelines
Please visit the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures for the language placement guidelines.
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SPAN 127 - Practice in Oral and Written Spanish
A transitional course between intermediate Spanish and the upper-level offerings for students with a strong background in Spanish (4-5 years of Spanish. Develops fluency and sophistication in spoken and written Spanish. Emphasizes practice in conversation, composition and selected grammar review. Discussion section required.
Prerequisites: SPAN 106 or the equivalent, or above
Program of Liberal Studies (PLS) Designation: LP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every semester
Placement Guidelines
Please visit the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures for the language placement guidelines.
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SPAN 131 - Readings in Hispanic Literatures
Introduces modern Hispanic narrative, lyric, and dramatic literature. Studies authors of Spain and Latin America and their literary, social, cultural and political context. Readings illuminate such themes as genre, cultural continuity and modernity, notions of norm and deviance in the Hispanic community and national identity. Since course content is variable, students may request permission to take the class twice. Conducted in Spanish.
Prerequisites: SPAN 127 . Required for majors.
Program of Liberal Studies (PLS) Designation: LP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every semester
Placement Guidelines
Please visit the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures for the language placement guidelines.
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SPAN 133 - Hispanic Cultures
Focus changes with each offering, depending on faculty interest.
Fall 2016 Topic: Drama in Contemporary Spain Seminar
Over the course of the XX and XXI century, Spanish theater has reflected Spain’s tumultuous history. It has challenged the status quo by staging many controversial topics: domestic violence, dictatorship, war, terrorism, immigration and alterity. These stories are often told through myth, through other works of art and literature and finally through historical parallels. This course seeks to combine the study of theater as literary text and theater as performance, therefore, students will not only read, watch and analyze dramatic texts but will also perform dramatized readings. The texts to be studied include plays by contemporary Spain’s most famous playwrights: Federico García Lorca, Antonio Buero Vallejo, Jerónimo López Mozo, Concha Romero, Paloma Pedrero, Diana M. de Paco Serrano, Gracia Morales, Itziar Pascual and Juana Escabias.
May be repeated for credit (maximum of 2 units)
Prerequisites: SPAN 131 or permission by instructor. Recommended for majors.
Program of Liberal Studies (PLS) Designation: LP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered periodically
Placement Guidelines
Please visit the Department of Languages, Literatures and Culture for the language placement guidelines.
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SPAN 136 - Women in Hispanic Literature & Art
We will discuss writings, movies and paintings by artists from Spain and Latin America. Examples include Frida Kahlo, Pedro Almodóvar, Julia de Burgos, Jaime Gil de Biedma, Sor Juana Inés, Paloma Pedrero and others. Topics to be considered include: self-representation, identity formation, autobiography, motherhood, sexuality, education, and family structure.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered periodically.
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SPAN 140 - Spanish Dramatic Expression
Acquaints students with the rhythms, intonations and gestures typical of contemporary spoken Spanish. Through study and presentation of two or more contemporary dramatic works, students gain practical experience in linguistic and cultural skills. Although some consideration is given to the texts as literature, the course is primarily a workshop in advanced oral Spanish.
Prerequisites: SPAN 127 .
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered periodically
Placement Guidelines
Please visit the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures for the language placement guidelines.
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SPAN 141 - Spanish Translation Workshop
Introduces students to the basic issues involved in translation including considerations of cultural difference, language equivalencies, translation loss and ways to approach the source text. Among the texts translated are fragments of prose fiction, songs, social media, magazine ads, product instructions, editorials, and movie dialogue (subtitles).
Prerequisites: SPAN 131 or permission.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered periodically
Placement Guidelines
Please visit the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures for the language placement guidelines.
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SPAN 155 - Contemporary Cultural Issues in Latin America: Film and Essay
SPAN155 is an analytical and creative course focusing on three expressions of creativity within media: Latin American films, essays and the films of the students. We examine essential questions within the context of the unique perspectives of the essayists and directors. The essays and films illuminate contemporary reality and make the viewer or reader confront the moral and ethical dilemmas of Latin American society.
Prerequisites: SPAN 127
Program of Liberal Studies (PLS) Designation: LP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Annually, Either Fall or Spring
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SPAN 237 - Advanced Spanish Grammar
An advanced language course offering a sophisticated review of grammar. Areas covered are: written composition, reading comprehension, vocabulary expansion, and oral skills, such as debates and interviews. Conducted in Spanish.
Prerequisites: By permission only. Required for majors.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every other year
Placement Guidelines
Please visit the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures for the language placement guidelines.
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SPAN 238 - Hispanic Literature of Political Commitment
Studies the creative writer’s position amidst 20th-century revolutionary change. Writers discussed include Pablo Neruda, César Vallejo, Ernesto Cardenal, Francisco Ayala and Miguel Hernández; Cuban writers and poets in their sometimes ambiguous relationship to their country’s revolution; the writers of the Chicano movement and the dream of Aztlán; and Puerto Rican authors, both on the mainland and on their native island. Conducted in Spanish.
Prerequisites: SPAN 131
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered periodically
Placement Guidelines
Please visit the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures for the language placement guidelines.
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SPAN 246 - Studies in Spanish Cinema
“Film and Society in Contemporary Spain”
Surveys principal Spanish films and filmmakers of the past 25 years in the context of political and social change in Spain. Considers formulation of cultural ideologies and identities through topics such as Immigration, LGTBQ, New Technologies and “Nacionalismos”. Topics vary each time the course is offered. Conducted in Spanish.
Program of Liberal Studies (PLS) Designation: AP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered periodically
Placement Guidelines
Please visit the Department of Language Literature and Culture for the language placement guidelines.
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SPAN 296 - Advanced Topics
Close readings and discussion of representative works by major Hispanic writers. Research project required. A required capstone course for senior majors. Variable topics. Conducted in Spanish.
Spring 2016 Topic:
Technologies of the body in Latin American Literature and Culture
This course explores the representation (in literature, film and popular culture) of processes and practices of body modification in Latin America, challenging the notion that “the body” is simply an organic, pre-technological entity.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every year
Placement Guidelines
Please visit the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures for the language placement guidelines.
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SPAN 299 - Directed Study
Undergraduates, typically juniors and seniors, construct an independent study course on a topic approved and directed by a faculty member. Offered for variable credit. May be repeatable for credit.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Every Semester
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STAT 5910 - Directed Research
For a directed research course, a student and professor design a self-study course based around a common research interest shared by both. A directed research must be approved by the professor and the Associate Dean of GSOM. It can be designed as either a 0.5 unit or 1 unit course. The Directed Research Course Request Form should be completed and submitted to Associate Dean Andrea Aiello (aaiello@clarku.edu). For questions or additional information, contact your academic advisor. This directed research is done in the subject area of statistics.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Every Semester
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TA 012 - How to Act Right-On/Off the Stage FYI
How to Act Right is primarily a basic acting course but with an added research component. The content of the course is presented and explored through lectures and exercises. The students take their newly informed grasp of the art of acting and working from their experience with dramatic structure, character development and improvisation they break into research teams and explore acting throughout their everyday life and culture. Some possible topics would include acting and Presidential politics, the acting process in undercover work, acting and role playing in Psychology, and acting as metaphor in Literature, Philosophy and Spiritual Traditions. The training approach in the course is integral. Because acting demands that its practitioners utilize all aspects of their beings, students will work to develop their many levels of simultaneously, i.e. physically, emotionally, cognitively and spiritually.
Program of Liberal Studies (PLS) Designation: AP
Anticipated Terms Offered: na
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TA 109 - Contemporary Women Playwrights
This course is designed to introduce the student to the works of major women playwrights of the past 100 years. While there is some focus on the early part of the 20th century, the primary study will be of plays written in the past 30 years. In studying the plays, a number of different points of view and reference will be considered including that of the playwright, actor, director, historian and dramaturge. The student is encouraged to formulate a personal opinion of these plays and dramatists.
Program of Liberal Studies (PLS) Designation: VE
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered biannually
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TA 111 - Voice and Diction
An intensified phonetic approach to articulation and voice production with some emphasis on speech for the stage and for public occasions. Several laboratory sessions will be provided for individual coaching by the instructor.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every year
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TA 112 - The Creative Actor
Through a series of workshops, the student becomes familiar with the basic tools necessary to the art of acting. The approach is based on the techniques of Stanislavski, Viola Spolin, Joseph Chaikin, Robert Cohen and original exercises, including an introduction to basic voice and movement for the actor.
Program of Liberal Studies (PLS) Designation: AP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every semester
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TA 120 - Technical Theater
Introduction to theatrical production. Techniques and organization involved in providing the stage with scenery, lights and properties. Introduces drafting, scaled ground plans, elements of design and styles of production. Makeup, lighting and set construction in applied lab/crew requirements.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every semester
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TA 126 - The Physical Theater/Environmental Studio
Study of designed environment and structure as it relates to performance and the physical theater as well as contemporary installation projects. Study of public spaces, theater architecture and site-specific work.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered periodically
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TA 129 - Scenic Design
Fundamentals of set design theory; basic mechanical and conceptual solutions for theatre; development of presentational and research skills. Development of digital drafting, hand drafting and modeling skills. Course will focus on practical projects and creation.
Program of Liberal Studies (PLS) Designation: AP
Anticipated Terms Offered: fall
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TA 133 - African Inspirations: A Dance Collaboration
“African Inspirations” uses the music-movement relationship to explore connections between traditional African dance and Western dance principles. Students will learn Pearl Primus’ interpretations of two African dances—”Fanga,” a dance of welcome, and “Bushasche,” a war dance for peace—and develop small group pieces based on this material, re-interpreted through their own bodies and new rhythmic “conversations.” Musicians—particularly percussionists and singers—are welcome to join the project, as the course is accessible to novice and experienced dancers alike. No prerequisites. Offered Bi-annually.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Spring 2014
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TA 144 - Drama of the Western Tradition
Surveys the traditional dramatic canon of the western tradition. Course readings will include plays by Sophocles, Euripides, Shakespeare, Jonson, Ibsen, Yeats, Synge, and Friel (among others).
Anticipated Terms Offered: varied
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TA 153 - Modern Drama
This is a course designed to introduce the student to the major dramatic writers from the 19th century to the present. In studying the plays, a number of different points of view and reference will be considered including that of the playwright, the actor, the director, the historian, the dramaturge. The student is encouraged to formulate a personal opinion of these plays and dramatists. The major focus of the course is the text and the student’s understanding and interpretation of the work. However, a strong emphasis will also be placed on the performance aspect of these plays. This can take many forms, including coordination of our efforts with theatre classes on campus, field trips to theatres nearby, use of video, and even staged readings of the scripts in class. Fulfills the Verbal Expression requirement. You must have been placed at the Verbal Expression level to choose this seminar.
Program of Liberal Studies (PLS) Designation: VE
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every year
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TA 201 - Seminar of Oscar Wild
This seminar outlines the life, trials, and work of Oscar Wilde, perhaps the most talented writer in the history of the English language. We will review not only the impressive canon of his plays but also his essays, children’s stories, and novels. Finally, the seminar will review the trial of Oscar Wilde, his role as a reluctant gay activist, and his influence on celebrity worship and the modern artist.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered periodically
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TA 203 - The Play and its Stages
A critical approach to the dramatic text based on historical and material conditions of performance. Considers the changing ways that meanings are made through styles and conventions of performance (including set, costume, mask and vocal delivery), which are specific to historical and cultural moments. Playwrights considered may include Sophocles, Shakespeare, Racine, Molière, Chekhov, Ibsen, Brecht, Genet and Beckett. Scene work.
Program of Liberal Studies (PLS) Designation: AP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered periodically
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TA 205 - The Political Play
This course explores plays and playwrights dealing with a wide range of political topics written within the past 30 years. The plays will be analyzed through both a dramaturgical and historical context. A number of issues will be considered including aids, race, war, the holocaust, the Middle East, sexuality, and illness. Above all, we will analyze and discuss what it is that makes a play political?
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered periodically.
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TA 206 - The Image and the Word
This is a 200 level studio class for advanced and intermediate playwrights and photographers. Through lectures, performances, and demonstrations, students will discover how photographers illustrate through images while also learning the way writers are influenced by what is visual. Students from these two different mediums will collaborate with one another in creating their respective works. The final project will be a gallery exhibit of concluding photographs and text shared with the Clark community.
Prerequisites: ARTS 120 or TA 230
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered periodically
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TA 211 - Performance Philosophy
This course will serve as an introduction to an exciting new academic field called Performance Philosophy. Performance Philosophy is an international network of performers and researchers exploring the relationship between Philosophy and Performance, and is represented with a steadily increasing number of publications, performances, conferences and websites.
Approaching the works as artists, we will consider, engage, and confront selected works of philosophers Nietzsche, Plato, Sophocles, Hamlet, Samuel Beckett, the authors of the Cloud of the Unknowing and the Tao Te Ching, Robert Sardello, John Cage, Jean Baudrillard, Gilles Deleuze and Allan Kaprow, not to write more discourse, but through this ‘contagion’ create vital new art works.
The course meets all day Fridays, with a seminar in the morning and the studio for developing new work in the afternoon. Though this course is offered as an elective in Theatre, the course is open to V&PA majors and to all Philosophy majors who have enough experience in an artistic discipline to sustain a working project throughout the semester. Students will have an opportunity to develop independent projects or work collaboratively on a site-specific performance piece under the direction of the instructor. Admission by interview.
This course may be repeatable for credit.
Prerequisites: Permission required. Permission obtained through interview with professor.
Anticipated Terms Offered: periodically
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TA 212 - Actor as Thinker
A conceptual approach to acting theory and its application. Student develops a greater understanding of script analysis, characterization, style and the relationship of the actor to the audience. A basic course for all students who intend to continue in acting and directing, and a prerequisite for TA 213 - Studio and TA 219 - Directing Seminar . Limited to 15 students
Prerequisites: TA 112 .
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every year
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TA 214 - Shakespeare in Action
This acting course concentrates on the major works (Hamlet, Macbeth, Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet, etc.), giving the actor an introduction to Shakespeare. The actor is encouraged to maintain the same approach and techniques used in other scene work, while adding the challenge of verse and heightened language. The focus of the class is to take a Shakespearean play and create the illusion of the first-time performance.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered periodically
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TA 215 - Stage Combat
This class will offer an introduction to stage combat, a vocabulary, a process and a basis for safe exploration of violent action in theater. The first three weeks will be spent on hand-to-hand basics: shared weight improvisation, tumbling (the safe way to fall), learning moves, positions and reactions. The second three weeks will focus on learning the basics of weapons fighting. Using wooden dowels as weapons, we will cover the basics of footwork and hand positions in Staff fighting, Broadsword, Rapier and Dagger, and Small Sword. In latter classes, students will work on implementing techniques into a complete fight. Limited to 12 Theatre majors, non-majors require permission.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every year
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TA 216 - Stage Management
This course explores the many duties of a stage manager. Many different skill sets are presented and analyzed including managing rehearsals, working with actors, directors, and designers. Students also gain experience at managing the performances on stage while working box office and front of house staff. Students may be assigned work on a V&PA production.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered Periodically.
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TA 217 - Teaching Creativity: The Main South Workshop
A class where a small group of students will learn the basic skills of teaching theatre. Clark students will run a weekly session with 12-15 students from a Worcester high school creating a theatre workshop. The students will learn how to teach improvisation, acting, and playwriting. Clark students will be mentored in curriculum and instruction techniques. By Permission Only
Prerequisites: TA 112
Anticipated Terms Offered: fall & spring
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TA 219 - Directing Seminar
Introduces the principles of directing for the stage through theory, practical application and discussion. Students study problems of interpretation and concept; the role of the director as creative and interpretive artist; and relationship to designer, stage manager and actors. Additional lab time is required.
Prerequisites: TA 212 or instructor permission.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every year
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TA 220 - Film Study for Acting Training
This is an acting course that is not for actors. (Well, not just for actors.) Are you a Screen Studies major and writing about film performance? Would you like to understand the Acting process from an insider’s view? You will look at and understand film performance in a completely new way. Are you a liberal arts student that has taken Creative Actor? That’s great, but Improv is only half the story. You still have no knowledge or technique to approach a script. Are you a photography student that works with live models? How do you talk to them to get the look you are after? (Hint: just telling them what you are looking for will not do it.) Are you interested in Directing on stage or on any of the various screens? Good actors work from the inside out. You need to understand their process to work with them. Same is true if you are a writer and are thinking you might want to try your hand at a screenplay or a script for the theatre. In other words if you ever think you are going to get anywhere near actors or much less thinking about being one, you need this course. This is not a how to act on film course. This is a how to act period, course. It uses film to elucidate the acting process to achieve excellence in your performance and your understanding and ability to write and talk about it. You then can apply it to either stage, screen, image or article.
This is a performance class. You have to be there. Your attention and participation is mandatory. Getting the notes will never be sufficient. Besides approved religious observances, you will be allowed one absence. Missed classes after that will result in loss of a letter grade.
You will be asked to choose a role from a dramatic work to apply all in class acting exercises and out of class textual analysis. If you have not chosen a role by the second week, one will be assigned to you.
Grades will be determined by the student’s engagement with and discussion of the class material (lectures and exercises mostly based on material from the e-textbook FLIXACTING by Joe Olivieri and Catherine Telford and Respect for Acting by Uta Hagen) and the quality of their performance and supplemental written work. ‘A’ students will demonstrate excellence in all three areas. Excellence in two will result in a ‘B.’ Excellence in none will result in a ‘C’ or lower.
Students are also required to attend at least three cultural events on or off campus this semester. At the beginning of the semester, you will be given a list of possibilities highlighted from the Higgins School of Humanities Calendar of Events as well as other sources. You may be asked to write a paper or give a brief report/analysis on your experience.
Anticipated Terms Offered: annually
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TA 221 - Avanced Improvisation
An extension of Creative Actor, students are challenged to experience and experiment with different forms of Improvisation. Students will put on shows, watch professional improvisation, and synthesize this knowledge into their definition of improvisation for the stage. Creative Actor is a pre-requisite.
Prerequisites: TA 112
Anticipated Terms Offered: annually
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TA 225 - Advanced Theatrical Design Projects
Advanced-level projects in design. May be repeated for credit.
Spring 2016: Costume Design
This is a sewing fundamentals class in which you will learn how to hand sew, operate a sewing machine, prepare fabric for garment construction, read a pattern, identify various basic stitches, cut garments using patterns, and construct garments with both sewing machine and hand sewing techniques. The culmination of learning these skills will be making a sewing project (you will chose your pattern and fabric and the instructor will approve it or direct you to a more appropriate choice), during the class time with the assistance of the instructor.
Various levels of sewing ability are able to be in this class from absolute beginner to amateur, since each project will be individually geared. The class is capped at 6 students due to sewing machine availability. This is a studio class, most class work will be done in class. Pre-requisite for this class is TA 225 Theatrical/Costume Design Projects or permission from the instructor.
Anticipated Terms Offered: periodically
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TA 226 - Advanced Production Projects
Introduces the business and practical execution of theater productions. Students learn techniques in organizing and managing different areas and departments. Requirements include participating in a supervisory position on a department show. Positions in outside theaters accepted for credit.
Spring 2016 Costume Design
This is a sewing fundamentals class in which you will learn how to hand sew, operate a sewing machine, prepare fabric for garment construction, read a pattern, identify various basic stitches, cut garments using patterns, and construct garments with both sewing machine and hand sewing techniques. The culmination of learning these skills will be making a sewing project (you will chose your pattern and fabric and the instructor will approve it or direct you to a more appropriate choice), during the class time with the assistance of the instructor.
Pre-requisite for this class is the costume design and history course or permission from the instructor. Various levels of sewing ability are able to be in this class from absolute beginner to amateur, since each project will be individually geared. The class is capped at 6 students because of sewing machine availability.
This is a studio class, most class work will be done in class.
Prerequisites: TA 125
Anticipated Terms Offered: periodically
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TA 230 - Playwriting
Students learn basic techniques of stagecraft including dialogue and character development, as well as dramatic structure and the technical elements of a play. Students will write every week and complete assignments to be read in class.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every year
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TA 236 - Playwriting II
This is a course for advanced playwrights who want to bring their work to a higher level. As a result, much is expected in terms of productivity and quality. Students will write a minimum of 10 new pages per week, in addition to rewrites that are suggested in and out of class. New pages will be read and critiqued in class each week. There will be an open discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the piece from the perspectives of both performer and writer. The goal is to strengthen this relationship through constant work and critique. Every month, students will give a public performance of some of the scenes written for class. By semester’s end, each student will have completed one full-length play and a complete act of another full length.
Prerequisites: Playwriting I is a prerequisite. Permission is also required.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered periodically
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TA 297 - Honors
Students receive variable credit for advanced research & readings in the honors program.
Fall 2013 Topic: Like Sisters Project
The Seminar
The Consciousness and the Arts Seminar will take an historical look at the evolution of consciousness and how it manifests in the ever changing forms of painting, music, theatre and literature. The books studied and the concepts learned will then form a common language and a pool of shared understanding that we will draw on in making artistic decisions while working on……like sisters. This course will also have an experiential component where we will study methods and learn techniques to develop attention and mindfulness. We will also look at how these form the foundation for the development of creativity.
The seminar will meet Fridays. The morning sessions will consist of lectures and discussion of that week’s assigned book, article, film, music or paintings. The class will be then invited to continue the discussion over lunch in a private room off the dining hall. The afternoon session will be reserved for practical work developing the …………….like sisters project. This will consist of rehearsal and/ or meeting in your production groups with your project mentor. The proposed groups:
1. Actors
2. Musician/composers
3. Design
4. Dancers/Improvisational actors
5. Research Group/dramaturgy film archival studies
6. Project documentarians
The Project
The …………like sisters project will be an original theatre piece based on the Three Sisters by Chekhov. The piece will consist of theatre, dance, music and film. A live collage examining the End of Empire in politics and consciousness. The context will be expanded beyond Chekhov and the end of Tsarist Russia to include fall of the Austro-Hungarian, British, and eventually American empires through the incorporating texts by Joseph Roth, Robert Musil and Richard Tarnas and Chalmers Johnson.
Anticipated Terms Offered: na
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UDSC 245 - Going Local: Community Development and Planning
The purpose of this seminar is to introduce students to theories, debates and practical strategies regarding the development of urban communities. Students gain an enhanced understanding of the complexities inherent to the concepts of community and participation. They critically analyze “community” as a set of social relations, as a local economy, as a built environment, and as a political organization. Students begin to recognize the importance of race, gender, age, class, identity, and culture in working with communities. Finally, they examine the roles and effectiveness of the methods, models and strategies used by informal neighborhood organizations, banks, private developers, local nonprofits, and government agencies in rebuilding communities and their economies. Case examples and articles from across the United States will be used. Worcester’s neighborhoods—which provide excellent examples of physical, social, and economic development strategies—will be highlighted throughout this course. Worcester’s Piedmont and Main South neighborhoods will be a particular focus throughout the semester.
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UDSC 299 - Directed Study
Undergraduates, typically juniors and seniors, construct an independent study course on a topic approved and directed by a faculty member. Offered for variable credit. May be repeatable for credit.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Every Semester
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WGS 110 - Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies
In this course we will explore the ways in which ideas about femininity and masculinity have shaped women’s lives–locally and globally, in the present and historically–and how some women have challenged, even transformed, those meanings and the social relationships that flow from those two potent ideas. Among the topics that may be considered are: beauty, war, sports, politics, women’s movements, sexuality, race, work, violence, fashion, family, globalization, feminism, creativity, religion, media and girlhood.
Note: WGS 110 is open to all students in all majors. The content varies by semester, reflecting the instructor’s individual field of study and expertise. As an introductory course, preference is given to incoming first-year students and students entering their sophomore year. Juniors and seniors may register only by permission of the instructor.
Program of Liberal Studies (PLS) Designation: GP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Fall and Spring
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