Seminars

Seminar Descriptions

• HON 119 — Haunted Past/Monstrous Future
  • Dr. Tracie Church Guzzio     
  • M, W from 2 – 3:15 p.m.   
  • 3 credits

  In this seminar we will examine the historical roots of the gothic in American culture, and its continuing appearance and transformation in the contemporary world. This course examines significant works of American culture and literature that are considered “gothic.” How do gothic texts transcend history? How do they represent our cultural anxieties about our character and society?  What do these texts reveal about what haunts us about the past and our fears for the future? How does the gothic express our human psyche and reflect sin, guilt, and violence, both as individuals and as Americans?  As Leslie Fiedler points out, this is a “Literature of darkness and the grotesque in the land of light and affirmation.”  We will consider gothic in the Puritan beginnings of America; in European first contact with the wilderness; in the haunted landscape of Southern slave plantations; in our suburbs; in our current racial conflicts; in our definitions of our own humanity; and in our environmental disasters. 

  We will also focus on American literature and popular culture’s unique contribution to this narrative: the domestic gothic, female gothic, racial gothic, suburban gothic, apocalyptic gothic, and eco-gothic. Our goal, as a class, will be to contextualize our cultural responses to gothic and horror within a historical framework and to articulate what both delights and disturbs us about the gothic. We will trace this narrative from the Salem Witch trials, Edgar Allen Poe, and The Haunting of Hill House to contemporary works like the film, Get Out, and the novel, Devolution.

  Students will be asked to write two-three papers and give a final presentation.

  This seminar satisfies the Individual Expression component of the Cardinal Core Curriculum and the Humanities component of the Plattsburgh General Education program.

• HON 124 — Women of Myth & Marvel
  • Lecturer Stanley Sabin    
  • T, Th from 12:30 – 1:45 p.m.       
  • 3 credits

  This seminar will examine the social construction and depiction of “the Goddess” archetype in the rich mythologies of antiquity, including ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome.  We will seek to understand how and why the earliest representations of women transformed from powerful and activated agents in their myths cycles to disempowered, often marginalized, and passive figures over time.   What were the earliest origin myths in human civilization and what pivotal roles did women play in creation stories and as guardians of the divine?  How and why have these roles and contributions been diminished in importance or deliberately obscured?    

  Our investigation will trace the connections between contemporary portrayals of the female hero to ancient myth.   Women with great power were and are routinely relegated to antagonist depictions and characterized as evil, corruptible, or distrustful.  The popular culture messages of the twentieth century became increasingly amplified with the advent of technology that delivered controlling images with such abundance that role learning, and identity for girls and women have been irreparably impacted.  In our post-feminist reality, is the female protagonist being represented with more frequency?  How have the representations evolved?  Is the female protagonist being as equally embraced as her male counterparts?  Is the exposure to more powerful female hero archetypes affecting social learning and are women able to leverage the inspiration experienced into transformative realities of increased equality, acceptance, and self-determination?  

  Required Course Texts: 

  Stone Merlin, (1976). When God Was a Woman. Quartet Books Limited.  ISBN-978-0-15-696158-5  

  Wilkinson, Philip (2019). Myths and Legends, An Illustrated Guide to their Origins and Meanings. Penguin Random House.  ISBN-978-0-75566-4309-6

  This seminar satisfies the U.S. Identities component of the Cardinal Core Curriculum and the U.S. Civilization component of the Plattsburgh General Education program.

• HON 176 — Extreme Weather & Mass Extinction
  • Dr. Mark Lesser
  • T, Th 11 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
  • 3 credits

  Western North America is on fire, the southeast is flooding, and species are going extinct at alarming rates around the world. These are just a few of the impacts of ongoing climate change. Left unchecked, current rates of climate change will lead to not just higher temperatures, but sea level rise, and unprecedented extreme weather events in terms of scale, location, and frequency. In this class we will not only explore what the impacts of climate change are, but also delve into the underlying science of climate and the interrelated factors that exacerbate the impacts of climate change (e.g., population and infrastructure growth, habitat loss, invasive species). We will also explore the social justice aspects of climate change – who is responsible and who is bearing the brunt of these impacts. Finally, we will look for solutions and a path forward to tackle this most pressing issue of our times.

  This seminar satisfies the Natural World component of the Cardinal Core Curriculum and the Natural Science component of the Plattsburgh General Education program.

• HON 183 — Witch Craze Early Modern Europe
  • Dr. Vincent Carey  
  • T, Th 2 – 3:15 p.m.
  • 3 credits

  Somewhere between 80-100,000, mostly women, were executed in Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries for the supposed crime of witchcraft. It is important to understand that all of these women were innocent of the charges for which they died. They did not fly on brooms, attend witches' Sabbaths, steal Christian babies, and copulate with the devil among other ludicrous charges. Yet European society by and large “bought” into this elite delusion. Our course will explore how and why a society undergoing change and feeling itself threatened came to believe in the existence of a plot by the devil and his “agents,” the supposed “witches." Fundamentally, it came to rest on fears for fertility and fear of the marginal. An historical experience that might give us pause to think about our own society today.

  It is very important to note that these women died because they were tortured; they were never demonic agents intent on undermining Christianity. The crimes for which they were accused were impossible. The evidence that brought them to their deaths was forced by a warped judicial process. One of the difficulties of the course for the student is the historian’s task to get into the heads of these men and of the women accusers, to understand their worldview.

  This seminar satisfies the World Cultures component of the Cardinal Core Curriculum and the Western Civilization component of the Plattsburgh General Education program.

• HON 317 — Selfhood in 19th Century American Literature
  • Dr. Scott Reznick
  • T, Th 11 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
  • 3 credits

  “I celebrate myself, and sing myself…” –Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself”

  The self is everywhere today — in routine appeals to “self-care” and being one’s “authentic self”; in the expanding ways that we think about human identity; and, of course, in the way “selfies” and social media saturate our daily lives (to name just a few examples). But where did such concern with selfhood come from? How did earlier thinkers, writers, and artists understand the self? And what light can they shed on our present moment?

  This course will examine how U.S. writers continuously interrogated the nature of selfhood as they grappled with a host of political, social, and cultural transformations in the nineteenth century. We will read poetry, fiction, essays, speeches, and autobiographical works to explore the impact that democratic culture, in particular, has on individuals and what kinds of habits and dispositions U.S. writers believed we must cultivate in response to those influences, both to protect selfhood and to prevent our concerns with it from devolving into its more negative forms (e.g. egoism, narcissism). Along the way, we will develop and hone the interpretive skills necessary for engaging with such a wide variety of literary texts.   

  This seminar satisfies the Individual Expression component of the Cardinal Core Curriculum and the Humanities component of the Plattsburgh General Education program.

• HON 332 — The Left in History
  • Dr. Richard Schaefer
  • T, Th 9:30 – 10:45 a.m.
  • 3 credits

  The ‘Left’ is not reducible to stock images of communist propaganda or a terror state enforcing political conformity. Indeed, if one takes the time to look past the caricatures and political rhetoric of the Cold War (and its aftermath), one discovers a rich tradition of Leftist thinking and politics that offered important and compelling alternatives to the status quo. This course invites student to examine the long and complex history of Leftist thinking, politics and culture from a global perspective. Some of the questions we will ask include: What is ‘the Left’ in political terms? What are its origins and aims? How has Leftist thinking and politics been interpreted in various times and places in the world? What is Leftist culture and how does it relate to politics? How has Leftist thinking and politics changed?

  This seminar satisfies the Human Communities component of the Cardinal Core Curriculum and the Social Science component of the Plattsburgh General Education program.

• HON 335 — Humans & Plants in History
  • Dr. Gillian Crane-Kramer
  • M, W 3:30 – 4:45 p.m.
  • 3 credits

  Throughout our evolution, humans have lived in intimate association with other animals, plants, fungi and microorganisms. The activities of these organisms over past periods of time have created the environment in which our ancestors evolved. In turn, we have depended upon these other species and properties to support our lives. A great shift in the nature of this relationship occurred roughly 10,500 years ago with the Neolithic revolution and rise of agriculture. The period when crops and domestic animals supplied most of our food spans only roughly 400 human generations; a short span of time, but one in which humans have experienced tremendous social, political, economic dietary and ritual change. This course focuses upon this period of transformation, moving chronologically from the Origins of Agriculture (per-history- 1450 A.D.) through the periods of Discovery (1450-1650), Exploration (1650-1770 A.D.), Enlightenment (1770-1840), Empire (1840-1900) and Science (1900 to the present). In each section, we will focus on specific plants that had an important role in the transformation of human society. Assignments include exercises, presentations, and a final paper. 

  This seminar satisfies the Human Communities component of the Cardinal Core Curriculum and the Social Science component of the Plattsburgh General Education program.

• HON 341 — Modeling Dynamic Systems
  • Dr. Kevin O’Neill
  • T, Th 12:30 – 1:45 p.m.
  • 3 credits

  This course introduces you to system dynamics modeling and systems thinking applied to the analysis of global complexities. You will learn to visualize the environmental, social, economic, physical, and biological policy arenas in terms of the structures that create dynamics and regulate performance. 

  Accelerating economic, technological, social, and environmental change requires policy makers to adapt. Increasingly, we must learn how to manage complex systems with multiple feedback effects, long time delays, and nonlinear responses to our decisions. Yet learning in such environments is difficult precisely because we never confront many of the consequences of our most important decisions. You can probably think of a host of examples illustrating this point from the Covid pandemic to global climate change. Effective learning in such environments requires methods to develop systems thinking, to represent and assess such dynamic complexity—and tools that can be used to accelerate learning by policy makers. 

  System dynamics allows us to create “micro-worlds,” manage flight simulators where space and time can be compressed, slowed, and stopped to assess the long-term side effects of decisions. We can also explore new strategies and develop better understandings of systems. In this class we will use role playing games, simulation models, case studies, and policy flight simulators to develop principles of policy design for the complexities we now face. 

  This course will help you understand the dynamic, simultaneous, and inter-relational nature of intra and extra systems activity through causal loop making and system dynamic simulations. Students will create models that represent complex, non-linear feedback systems of personal or professional interests to them. Some of the simulations we will explore include global concerns such as population growth, epidemics, economic, environmental, and social change, among other policy arenas. 

  Students will keep a weekly journal and participate in a group project formulating, designing, and simulating a systems project that is interesting to you and your team. You will also complete other assignments focused on individual modeling and problem-solving homework.

  This seminar satisfies the Quantitative Reasoning component of the Cardinal Core Curriculum and the Mathematics component of the Plattsburgh General Education program.

• HON 364 — Contemporary Women Playwrights
  • Dr. Shawna Mefferd-Kelty
  • T, Th 2 – 3:15 a.m.
  • 3 credits

  This seminar is an in-depth examination of the artists giving voice to the marginalized experiences of contemporary society. We will divide our time across contemporary plays from women playwrights; focusing in particular on 21st century artists (aiming for inclusivity across countries and cultures), but also giving space to historical contexts: founding, feminist mothers and their lineages. We will examine and trouble issues of equity and access, explore dramaturgies of disruption and decolonization, as well as indigenous, non-binary, and transnational/transcultural futures within the framework of the course.

  Some of the themes we’ll address include gender inequality in general and in the arts and how to address it; the ways in which gender always intersects with race, class, and sexuality identities; how space and venues influence work by women (its form and content); various forms and formats used by women artists to different effect; audiences; training/access; popular theatre; experimental theatre; and activism.

  Students will engage with the plays through close readings, discuss social and ethical issues found in the texts and performance conditions, and pursue creative research projects. Assignments in the course include written responses to required readings (and reading aloud in class), class presentations and performances, and a creative research project. We will read plays, watch clips, read articles, listen to podcasts, digging into theatre reviews and journal articles, and attend theatre.

  This seminar satisfies the World Cultures component of the Cardinal Core Curriculum and the Other World Civ/World Systems component of the Plattsburgh General Education program.