Spring 2020 HNRS Courses

What is science? What do scientists do? Why does so much of science seem controversial these days? How much of your behavior is in your genes? (And what exactly is a gene?) Are there really genes for infidelity? aggression? novelty seeking? How do we choose our mates? Do human genes continue to... Read More...

Broad patterns of biodiversity (biomes), from rainforests to deserts to tundra, are products of geography, climate, and evolutionary history.  These properties affect each biome’s history of human exploitation and their threats in the 21st century.  We will explore Earth’s biomes and their threats, focusing on North America and the New... Read More...

The post-World War II period witnessed widespread anti-colonial agitations and calls for the end of European colonial rule in African societies. After a century of European imperial dominance, the decolonization of Africa became one of the turning points in the history of the post-war world. The struggle for political liberty... Read More...

NOTE: Enrollment in this course requires participation in the LSU/Honors Spring Break in Berlin excursion.

As part of the LSU/Honors Spring Break in Berlin program, this course will introduce students to the surveillance states of Germany during the National Socialist period as... Read More...

From the Golden Age of Queen Victoria’s reign to victory over Germany in 1918 and 1945, the British experienced periods of great success. They also experienced the devastation of war and the misery of the Great Depression.

Our discussions will range from the lifestyles of the aristocracy to working conditions... Read More...

NOTE: This course is reserved for students participating the LASAL Scholars Program.

The State of Louisiana is a foundation course for LASAL Scholars; it provides an introduction to the greatest challenges facing our state. Students will study the root causes of poverty in Louisiana, and the daily challenges that children who live in poverty... Read More...

This course looks at how social media, digital technology, a resurgent populism and severe polarization in American life have created an environment for manipulators to infiltrate the nation’s information flow and influence public opinion. 

During the semester we will examine government and media investigations begun in 2017 of the manipulation... Read More...

This course will critically examine historical and contemporary LGBTQ activism in the United States. We will study moments when LGBTQ-identified people banded together, challenged systems, and demanded change. There is no uniform approach or goal of LGBTQ organizing, and we will study the multiple ways that people have mobilized in... Read More...

Homelessness in the United States is a significant social problem, but there are ways we can understand the issue more deeply, and there are approaches that have worked and are working to get individuals and families into permanent housing. In this course, we will explore experiences and public perceptions of... Read More...

What do Harry Potter, sports fandom, mind-body medicine, taking college exams, prosperity gospel, Star Wars, New Age spirituality, Game of Thrones, and the ways in which we think about contemporary political figures have in common? They each represent major features in America's magical landscape, which extends into nearly every aspect... Read More...

This course explores the history of film music, beginning with music for silent films and concluding with a unit on current practices. Topics include film music during the “Golden Age” of Hollywood; music for cartoons and animated film; jazz, rock, and compilation scores; and modernist techniques.

No knowledge of music... Read More...

This colloquium gives students an opportunity to explore in-depth the life and work of Pablo Picasso, arguably the most important visual artist of the twentieth century. We will study Picasso in the broader framework of the evolution of modern art, and relate key events in his artistic career to currents... Read More...

This course explores the artistic traditions associated with the Buddhist faith from its origin in India to a global religion. Spanning from the beginning of Buddhism until the present, the course will examine representations of Buddhism in a variety of media from Asia to the United States. With emphases on... Read More...

An exploration of the many ways in which text and sound can combine to create music—songs, sonic art, romantic and modern balladry, poetry slams. We’ll study how language and music converge and diverge, unite and conflict. We’ll compose our own songs and hear them performed to foster an appreciation of... Read More...

Enjoy the many varieties of murder—political, personal, serial—in about two dozen of the greatest films by Sir Alfred Hitchcock, “the Shakespeare of cinema,” and the undisputed Master of Suspense. We will do close readings of such masterpieces as The 39 Steps, Rear Window, North by Northwest, and Psycho, and we’ll... Read More...

This course provides an in-depth look at art, literature, history, and visual culture in South Africa in the 20th and 21st centuries. Apartheid, Afrikaans for “separateness,” was an oppressive system of legalized segregation and racial discrimination that impacted everyday life in South Africa most directly from 1948 to 1994. Since... Read More...

Through lectures, readings, movies, and discussion, this course will explore how contrasting and contested memories of the Civil War emerged—among whites in the North, whites in the South, and African Americans. It will then explore manifestations of those memories in various novels and movies as well as in movements and... Read More...

Plays in which non-European characters figure prominently will be the focus of study and discussion in an exploration of Shakespeare’s dramatization of issues that today we call multicultural or multiethnic. What are the distinctive features of these plays? What theatrical contexts can we identify for the conflicts in which these... Read More...

Students will study the entirety of Dante’s Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatory, Paradise), a work of great scope that aims to provide a complete picture of the reality of the cosmos and of human virtues and vices.  One of the great masterpieces of world literature, Dante’s poem is a compendium of... Read More...

This course will explore the development of Christian beliefs through examining the process of debate and disagreement from the origins of the movement through the Reformation. We will consider the intertwined nature of heresy and orthodoxy, as well as the role of religious and secular authority. Questions we will keep... Read More...

In this course, we will read and analyze the work of seven African-American writers who redefined the canon of American Drama over the past 60 years. Special attention will be given to how these writers respond to the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements in the 60’s and 70’s, as... Read More...

Nothing is more precious in our democracy than the right to vote.  The ideal of one-person, one-vote is at the heart of our principles, but it never has been easy to achieve. We will study the struggle for voting rights in the 1960s & examine what happened in recent elections.... Read More...

Inequality is more important now than ever. Relentless inequality synchronizes with hyper globalization, a growing number of precarious workers, the creation of burnout society, the deepening of identity politics, the rise of demagogic nationalism, and democratic backsliding. The crux of what’s going on in the world today lies in global... Read More...

Populism is on the rise across the globe, including here in the United States. What explain this rise of populism? What are its consequences? What, if any, risk does it pose to the health of democracies?

In this course, we will examine past and present examples of populist leaders and... Read More...

How can we understand recent and future technological developments that promise to change the very nature of what it means to be human? As Arthur C. Clarke once wrote, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” With a special emphasis on Artificial Intelligence as a theme, this course will... Read More...

Exploring the themes of JOURNEY and RETURN in the ancient Greek and Roman worlds, HNRS 2402 will feature Homer’s Odyssey, the plays of Sophocles and Euripides, the histories of Herodotus and Thucydides, the philosophy of Plato, and Virgil’s Aeneid.

Exploring the themes of JOURNEY and RETURN in the ancient Greek and Roman worlds, HNRS 2402 will feature Homer’s Odyssey, the plays of Sophocles and Euripides, the histories of Herodotus and Thucydides, the philosophy of Plato, and Virgil’s Aeneid.

HNRS 2406 is an interdisciplinary course that explores European conceptions of the individual and the world during the eventful period between the Renaissance and the French Revolution. The course will expand and deepen the knowledge students have acquired in HNRS 2000, Critical Analysis, by uncovering the historical and philosophical “back... Read More...

A survey course of the current state of the art of personalized diagnostics and medicine with a focus on cancer biology, treatment, and progression. Students will be surveyed on numerous aspects of technology, biology, and human health related to biosensing, microtechnology, disease heterogeneity, and ethics. Students will also participate in... Read More...