aCademiC Catalog 2013-2014 - Lorenzo de Medici

FLORENCE
School of Arts & Sciences
the Mother Goddess were supplanted by patriarchal traditions,
examined through Judaism and the Classical Greek world and
their ideas, texts, mythologies, and social strategies. Students
next explore the religious, social, and medical views of the first
millenium and a half of the CE. With the Renaissance arrive
new and better-documented perceptions by and of women.
Social policies and both high and popular culture reveal
persistent prejudices. The Early Modern era brings changes
in social position as women become agents in the arts and
sciences. Women’s Rights are inscribed upon wider social and
cultural struggles of the modern world. In conclusion, students
encounter constructions of women present in today’s culture
and media, and still unresolved issues.
Prerequisites: HIS 130 Western Civilization, or equivalent
Women’s Contemporary History
GND 255 F
Cr: 3; Contact hrs: 45
The aim of this course is to introduce students to the history of
women’s rights’ movements (educational, political, economic,
sexual and reproductive) around the world and for the past
century and a half. We will consider how “women’s issues”
have changed over time, how feminism and feminist questions
have arisen in very different contexts, and how movements for
women’s liberation have developed. We will analyze and discuss
a variety of primary sources (like historical documents, photos,
literary sources, movies and documentaries etc.), which should
provide students with a framework, chronological historical
overviews and resources for enriching their knowledge of this
complex set of cultural traditions. We will initially consider
some of the implications of the study of women’s history,
dealing with the broad themes necessary to understanding
women’s history around the world. During the first part of the
course we will examine issues that have shaped the history of
women in particular places and during particular eras, starting
with the European and American movements for human and
women’s emancipation in the mid-nineteenth century. Later,
in the second part of the course we will approach the subject
of global feminism as it has developed over the last decade,
discussing current trends in gender and women’s history from
a regional perspective.
Prerequisites: HIS 130 Western Civilization, or equivalent
Female Characters in Poetry and Literature
GND 265 F; Dual listed: LIT 265 F
Cr: 3; Contact hrs: 45
The course spans Dante Alighieri’s Beatrice to Madame Bovary.
Comparative analysis of Italian and European literature from
the Middle Ages to the Romantic period will be made, as well
as love and suffering in female destinies as imagined by male
authors. We will also study the literary roles of women of
different periods.
Prerequisites: LIT 150 Survey of Western Literature, or
equivalent
Love, Beauty and Natural Selection: the
Science and the Myths
GND 280 F; Dual listed: PSY 280 F
Cr: 3; Contact hrs: 45
Evolutionary psychologists claim that men and women differ
substantially in their attitudes and abilities; they theorize that
beauty and attractiveness are signals of good health, good
genes, or other qualities, and that all forms of human love are
unconscious strategies for passing on these qualities to the next
generation. These theories make excellent stories for popular
science writers, which will often present them as proven facts
that are very relevant to everyday life. However, this is far
from true. Even a shallow examination of the theories and the
data supporting them will demonstrate that, although entirely
plausible, many hypotheses made by evolutionary psychologists
are controversial, have very little empirical evidence supporting
them, and will usually have very little practical relevance to
people. Throughout the course we will learn the theoretical
bases of modern evolutionary biology, review the most popular
theories of evolutionary psychology (e.g. psychological gender
differences, sexual love, marriage, parental love, female beauty,
male beauty, sperm competition, female orgasm), observe the
way they are presented in the media, and critically examine the
science that supports them. The case studies we will encounter
will inspire a more general reflection on the potential limitations
of the scientific method, and on the potential flaws of modern
popular science communication.
Women of the Medici
GND 290 F; Dual listed: HIS 295 F
Cr: 3; Contact hrs: 45
This course is an introduction to the important women of the
house of the Medici (1368 - 1743). Particular emphasis will be
given to their biographies and their unique roles in history. The
Medici are the best-known and most prestigious Italian family,
their history developed over four centuries and embraced
thirteen generations. Their name is linked to the history of
Florence. From simple bankers and merchants they became
one of the most important families in Europe. In the story of
the Medici family only a few of the women lived and acted as
equals to men. Yet, some of these Medici women were more
intelligent, more open and more positive than many of their
masculine counterparts. We will explore four centuries of the
Medici family, its men, its children, its power and its role in
Florentine, Italian and European life, looking through the lens of
the Medici women’s lives.
Prerequisites: HIS 130 Western Civilization, or equivalent, or
sophomore standing
History of Prostitution
GND 295 F
Cr: 3; Contact hrs: 45
The course analyses the evolution of the concepts of sexuality
and the body in the Western tradition, especially focusing
on women’s social conditions and on the female archetypes.
Prostitution as a topic is the intersection point among gender
and class assumptions, sexual practices, religious and legal
systems, moral views and lifestyles, myth and history. Thus
studying prostitution will also mean touching upon all these
areas, and their development through the long rise of modern
Western society – from prehistoric cultures, through classical
Greek and Roman traditions, Christian Middle Ages, up to the
Italian Renaissance world.
Prerequisites: Junior standing
Women Characters in 20th Century Fiction
GND 303 F; Dual listed: LIT 303 F
Cr: 3; Contact hrs: 45
This course explores some of the most interesting and
important women characters in 20th-century European and
American fiction. Such characters will include those created by
male writers such as Molly in James Joyce’s Ulysses, Connie in
D. H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Sarah in John Fowles’
The French Lieutenant’s Woman, and Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita.
However, the course also seeks to compare and contrast such
creations with female characters emerging from fiction written
by women, for example Virginia Woolf’s Orlando, Anna in Doris
Lessing’s The Golden Notebook, Christa Wolf’s Cassandra, or
Villanelle in Jeanette Winterson’s The Passion. We will assume a
gendered perspective to compare men and women writers and
their different interpretations of womanhood; yet we shall also
try to overcome the enclosures of critical theories and show
how great literature can never be reduced to a mere system.
Our position as readers will be of the utmost importance: the
main focus of the course will be on reading and the pleasures
it might offer.
Geography and Environmental
Studies
Introduction to Environmental Issues
ENV 180 F
Cr: 3; Contact hrs: 45
It is important in our life to have more information to understand,
if possible, our mission on earth. Emphasis is placed on key
concepts and generalization of global environmental issues
within an earth-systems science framework including climate
change, air pollution, land and coastal degradation, water
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LdM Academic Catalog 2013-2014