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SUMMER 2013 MAP-UA 209 Natural Science I: Quarks to Cosmos
Summer Session I: May 28 – July 6, 2013
Prof. Budick (Physics)
Modern science has provided us with some understanding of age-old fundamental questions, while at the same time opening up many new areas of investigation. How old is the Universe? How did galaxies, stars, and planets form? What are the fundamental constituents of matter and how do they combine to form the contents of the Universe? The course will cover measurements and chains of scientific reasoning that have allowed us to reconstruct the Big Bang by measuring little wisps of light reaching the Earth, to learn about sub-atomic particles by use of many-mile long machines, and to combine the two to understand the Universe as a whole from the sub-atomic particles of which it is composed.
SUMMER 2013 MAP-UA 510 Cultures and Contexts: Russia—between East and West
Summer Session I: May 28 – July 6, 2013
Prof. Kotsonis (History)
Focuses on distinctive historical and geographical dichotomies and issues in Russian culture. Emphasis is on primary documents, including literary works, travel notes, works of art, and political statements from all periods, chosen to establish the particular matrix of competing positions that make up the Russian national and cultural identity.
SUMMER 2013 MAP-UA 710.001 Expressive Culture: Words
Summer Session I: May 28 – July 6, 2013
Summer Session II: July 8 - August 17, 2013
Prof. Borenstein (Russian & Slavic Studies)
What is literature or the literary? Is there a literary language that works differently from ordinary language? What is literary style and form? What does it mean to tell a story, and how is it different from telling a lie? What kinds of stories do we tell about our lives? Paying particular attention to questions of manipulation and emotion, we examine the status of fiction and representation through short stories, novels, and graphic novels by a range of authors, including Barth, Borges, Gogol, Melville, Roth, Tolstoy.
SUMMER 2013 MAP-UA.710.002 Expressive Culture: Words
Summer Session I: May 28 – July 6, 2013
Prof. Borenstein (Russian & Slavic Studies)
Fantasy, Science Fiction, Reality. All fiction allows authors to create their own worlds; science fiction and fantasy bring this element of the creative process to the forefront. We look at science fiction and fantasy as literary genres, examining their rules, the ways in which these rules are broken, and the genres' strengths and potential. What do science fiction and fantasy do that mainstream fiction does not? What is the connection between narrative form and the representation of reality? Authors include Asimov, Delany, Dick, Heinlein, Le Guin, Lem.
SUMMER 2013 MAP-UA 711 Expressive Culture: The Graphic Novel
Summer Session II: July 8 - August 17, 2013
Prof. Borenstein (Russian & Slavic Studies)
Examines the interplay between words and images in the graphic novel, a hybrid medium with a system of communication reminiscent of prose fiction, animation, and film. What is the connection between text and art? How are internal psychology, time, and action conveyed in a static series of words and pictures? What can the graphic novel convey that other media cannot? Authors include Alan Moore, Art Spiegelman, Peter Milligan, Charles Burns, Carla Speed McNeil.
SUMMER 2013 MAP-UA 9554 Cultures and Contexts: Italy
Second Six-Week Summer Session, June 30-August 9, 2013
Prof. Palmer (NYU-Florence)
Through the study of primary texts, we examine how Italians registered their own similarities and differences within a national context, and how they regarded the tourists, students, soldiers, and immigrants who have come in increasing numbers to Italy. We also consider the accounts of foreign visitors to Italy from the eighteenth-century until today, both from the perspective of western tourists seeking “culture” and through the eyes of immigrants from Eastern Europe, North Africa, and beyond. The Italian city, and in particular Florence, will serve as our primary unit of measurement for investigating Italy. To this end, we visit a number of sites in Florence and in Tuscany in order to conduct fieldwork to structure and inform our scholarly conversations and written work.