Classes

A list of classes I’ll be taking.


Global Studies (required)

Objectives:
1) To provide basic information about: the physical and cultural geography and the environmental issues; Key historical events; The current religious, social, economic and political situations of each country visited. (65%)

2) To present regional and global issues which in various ways affect the countries on our itinerary. Examples include ethnic relations, population, poverty, ethnic/religious conflicts, technology, status of women, human rights, environment and globalization. (25%)

3) To emphasize the similarities and differences in the variety of human experiences and to assist students in developing the observational and analytical skills needed to draw cross-cultural comparisons. (10%)

Development Economics

Course Description:


Why are some countries rich and others poor? What can be done to stimulate growth? Is globalization good or bad? There are central inquiries around which the field of Development Economics is organized. Unfortunately, economists do not have clear, precise answers to these core questions. We can identify different measures of development, but there are alternative views of key driving forces. Unlike the usual course with a textbook, this could will be organized around three books: Guns, Germs, and Steel; The Wealth and Poverty of Nations; and the Elusive Quest for Growth. We will augment our reading with the incredible opportunity we will have to see the social, political, and economic situation of a variety of countries.

Expository Writing: Awareness of Self and Others Through Writing

Course Description:


This course provides daily practice in writing and understanding English prose: description, narration and persuasion. We employ the portfolio method, writing approximately a page a day in response to daily assignments and accumulating these short tasks into longer coherent portfolio of work for submission to the professor when completed and for presentation orally before the entire class in the concluding sessions. Many students will find the portfolio tracing their experiences in this semester is a valuable keepsake and will want to preserve it neatly and safely in a loose leaf binder of similar folder. Assigned work intertwines with the first-hand experiences of students in cultures we visit so that regular participation in approved practica in port is a necessary part of the course.


We will systematically apply Aristotle’s four modes of knowing (Analysis, Classification and Differentiation, tracing Effects, and exploring how things develop Organically) to experiences lived during the voyage to prompts supplied in class. Analysis demands, “What are the parts and how do they fit together?” Classification asks, “To what set does it belong and how is it unlike other members of that set?” A search for Effects explores, “What does it do?” An Organic explanation inquires, “Where did it all come from and how did it grow and develop?”

Documentary Theater

The course is designed to provide students with the following:

1) An introduction to documentary theatre as a significant form which dates back to the early twentieth century and which has flourished around the world in the pas decade;


2) An understanding of the potential of theatre to act as a platform to discuss social, cultural, and political issues, in order to gain public awareness and help to effect change; and as a means of staging voices and experiences often overlooked, as well as making connections among diverse groups;


3) An exposure to the specific issues presented by documentary writers in the plays studied in the course;


4) An opportunity to work with a group on a documentary project: Doing research; Learning about interviewing techniques, including preparing questions, listening, and recording material; Collating material and shaping it into a workable text; Finding theatrical and performative means to present the subject to an audience


5) An in-depth awareness of the documentary topic chosen, related to the Semester at Sea voyage


6) An experience of completion by having the documentary project presented to the shipboard community