The material on this page is from the 2000-01 catalog and may be out of date. Please check the current year's catalog for current information.

Ecuador Professor Haines (Bates, Mathematics); Assistant Professor Anderson (Colby, Anthropology) During fall semester 2000, Bates students may join students from Bowdoin and Colby colleges in the study of Latin American history and culture, Spanish language, and mathematical modeling in Ecuador. The program is headquartered in Quito at the Andean Center for Latin American Studies. Ecuador is an eloquent example of a Latin American country re-creating its national identity as it straddles the forces of tradition and modernity, unity and diversity. In recent years the monolithic concept of Ecuador has been challenged by notions of multiculturalism and a "plurinational" Ecuador, where indigenous peoples and Afro-Ecuadorians have the same rights as Euro-Ecuadorians. The CBB Off-Campus Study Program in Ecuador offers students an opportunity for advanced preparation toward a major in Spanish or Latin American studies, though students with other academic interests are also encouraged to participate. Courses 004. Independent Research. Students undertake an independent research project of their own design. Projects may include internships, fieldwork, or pre-thesis research. Possible research topics include an examination of the structure and history of the Abya-Yala Cultural Center in Quito; the study of a contemporary writer, artist, or musician; or a review of the impact of ecotourism in Río Blanco in Eastern Ecuador. Prerequisite(s): four semesters of college-level Spanish or the equivalent. J. Anderson. 005. Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples of the Americas. The course offers an overview of conceptual issues in anthropology surrounding human rights and a survey of the contemporary state and activities of various indigenous peoples from South, Central, and North America. Particular focus is on Ecuadorean indigenous peoples' enduring, recent, and emerging issues, strategies, successes, and challenges for gaining recognition of their rights. Students are guided in research on Ecuadorean indigenous peoples, organizations, and movements; local anthropological perspectives; roles of nongovernmental human rights organizations; policy and implementation by the national government; and the place of the United Nations in the contemporary indigenous rights movement. J. Anderson. 006. Mathematical Modeling. Building quantitative models is an important part of many sciences, usually beginning within a specific field, such as geology or biology, then turning to mathematics to determine what model-building tools are available. This course approaches modeling differently. Students first gain an overview of what it means to build and test a model, then learn various specific approaches to modeling a system. The techniques may use calculus, but in many cases require only high school mathematics. D. Haines. 007. Mathmatical Modeling in Practice. Modeling presents opportunities both to use mathematical reasoning in the real world and to experience the challenges of problem solving. Students work as a team to formulate modeling projects that relate to their academic interests and can be carried out in Ecuador. These may involve gathering data in the field, studying previous models, or working with local scientists or officials. Modeling topics may include vechicle traffic in Quito, acoustics of rainforest bird vocalizations, volcanic activity, employment patterns, bird or insect population studies, or re-examinations of early models, such as Charles-Marre de La Condamine's expedition to Ecuador to model the shape of the earth. The result of the project is a paper and a seminar presentation of the model. In some cases the work may be a starting point for mathematics thesis research during the senior year. D. Haines. 008. Spanish Language Study. This course is conducted by faculty of the Andean Center for Latin American Study (ACLAS), the host institution. Students are tested and placed in a Spanish-language course of appropriate level. Staff. South Africa Associate Professors Besteman (Colby, Anthropology) and Stakeman (Bowdoin, History and Africana Studies) During the fall semester 2000, Bates students may join students from Bowdoin and Colby colleges in the study of politics, economics, and culture of South Africa at the Colby-Bates-Bowdoin Cape Town Center. During winter semester 2001, courses are planned in politics, culture, and the psychology of violence. In addition to the courses taught by CBB faculty listed below, students select two additional courses from among the wide range of offerings of the University of Cape Town. Fall 2000 Courses 001. Living Cape Town History. A "hands-on" introduction to the political and economic processes that have shaped black/white relations in South Africa and continue to affect the development of a successful multiracial society, economic development, and political stability. The course looks at the organization of political structures and political groups, economic infrastructures and economic relations among different racial groups, and the historical events that have shaped all South Africans. Students develop multimedia projects to teach South African history. R. Stakeman. 002. From Jazz to Black Power: The African American Impact on South Africa. Rightly or wrongly the African American experience has been compared to that of the nonwhite peoples of South Africa. Models for segregation, education, urban culture, and finally liberation have been drawn from America and have found new meanings and permutations in the South African context. This course examines the validity of the comparisons and the effects of the cross-cultural application of those ideas by looking at urban migration, urban cultures, segregation systems, and the rhetoric of liberation. R. Stakeman. Winter 2000 Courses 003. Politics and Culture in Contemporary South Africa. Politics is expressed culturally, aesthetically, and silently everywhere in the world. In this course, students explore how South Africans have expressed political views and political activism in aesthetic and expressive ways over the past couple of decades. Through reading ethnographies, novels, plays, short stories, and poetry and by visiting museums students work toward an anthropological understanding of the poetics of political/cultural expression. C. Besteman. 004. Violence, Memory, and Reconciliation. How do people in societies that have experienced civil war, terror, and violence survive and cope with the continual fear and uncertainty of war? How do people make moral judgments, act, talk, meet their basic daily needs, love, and dream in conditions of violence and terror? Through reading in-depth local ethnographies this course addresses some broader questions of memory and reconciliation. Students examine ethnographic descriptions of people's lives in Argentina, Guatemala, El Salvador, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Bosnia, Mozambique, and South Africa during the civil wars in those countries. In each case, they study how people in these countries remember the years of violence, and how they negotiate the politics and emotions of reconciliation. The focus is on how popular memory is shaped, individual and collective forgiveness constructed, and national healing envisioned at the popular level. C. Besteman. United Kingdom Professors Champlin (Colby, Biosciences), Jones (Bates, History), and Morrione (Colby, Sociology); Associate Professors Franco (Bowdoin, Government) and Malcolmson (Bates, English) During fall semester 2000, Bates students may join students from Bowdoin and Colby colleges in the study of government, biology, history, British art, performing arts, and literature in London at the Colby-Bates-Bowdoin London Centre. During winter semester 2001, courses are planned in the performing arts, sociology, literature, and European economics. Students register for three courses from one of two programs of concentration, as well as a fourth from among those offered outside the area of concentration. Fall 2000 Courses Government Concentration: 020. British Philosophy from Hobbes to Burke. 021. Democracy, Liberty, and Culture in Nineteenth-Century British Political Thought. 022. Contemporary British Politics. Biology Concentration: 023. Human Genetics and Reproductive Technology. Courses offered at the University of East London in immunology, toxicology, medical parasitology, infectious disease process, or pharmacology. History Concentration: 024. The Archeology of Roman Britain. 025. Celt and Saxon: Britain in the Early Middle Ages. 026. History of the City of London. Electives: 007. Performing Arts: Text and Performance. 008. The History of London through Literature. 017. Art and Architecure of London. Winter 2001 Courses English Literature Concentration: 028. Shakespeare in the Theater. 029. England from the Margins. 030. Contemporary British Drama. Performing Arts Concentration: 010. Acting. 011. Voice and Movement. 030. Contemporary British Drama. Sociology Concentration: 031. Theories of Social Change: Focus on Great Britian. 032. Images of Self and Collective Identity in "Devolutionary" Britain. 033. Homelessness in Britain. Electives: 007. Performing Arts: Text and Performance. 008. History of London through Literature. Courses 007. Performing Arts: Text and Performance. A course designed to make students into informed theater-goers. Through attendance at twelve major professional productions and the reading of the texts upon which they are based, this course gives students an overview of London's current theater season as well as an introduction to various types of theater. Enrollment limited to 15. Staff. 008. The History of London through Literature. This course explores the history of London through its literature and art. It looks at the ways in which writers over the last three hundred years have responded to the city, and at the contemporary novelists who are turning to its past in order to understand the cultural and political challenges of modern London. Staff. 010. Acting. The course introduces students to basic or advanced techniques of acting, depending on previous experience. Advanced students may study auditioning as well. Staff. 011. Voice and Movement. Advanced study of voice and movement for the stage, under the direction of professional coaches. Staff. 017. Art and Architecture of London. Students who have never studied art, as well as students who have a background in the subject, examine the evolution of architecture in the city as well as the development of art styles, through frequent walking tours and visits to museums and galleries. Staff. 020. British Political Philosophy from Hobbes to Burke. A foundational course in political philosophy, focusing on the seminal figures of Hobbes, Locke, Hume, Burke, and possibly Adam Smith. Significant attention is paid to the historical-political contexts in the seventeenth century, and the development of parliamentary politics, the emergence of parties, and the rise of commerce in the eighteenth. Topics include liberty, equality, natural rights, the social contract, sovereign authority, property, commerce, religion, revolution, custom, tradition, liberalism, and conservation. P. Franco. 021. Democracy, Liberty, and Culture in Nineteenth-Century British Political Thought. This course focuses on the development of democracy in nineteenth-century Britain and the concerns — political, moral, economic, and cultural — that it raised; also on the concomitant decline of religious faith and its consequences for politics. The course is interdisciplinary, drawing on history, literature, religion, art, and architecture, as well as philosophy. Authors include Bentham, Coleridge, Carlyle, John Stuart Mill, James Fitzjames Stephen, Matthew Arnold, John Ruskin, Richard Morris, George Eliot, T.H. Green, and Henry Maine. P. Franco. 022. Contemporary British Politics. A comparative politics course examining the British system of government and the most important issues and developments in British politics since 1945. Topics include parliamentary government, the evolving party system, electoral behavior, the rise and fall of the welfare state, Thatcher's economic revolution, race relations, the break-up of the Empire, NATO, the European Union, Welsh and Scottish devolution, and Northern Ireland. Staff. 023. Human Genetics and Reproductive Technology. A study of the mechanisms of inherited diseases and the techniques used for assisted reproduction in humans. London is a center of excellence in both areas; class work is supplemented by guest speakers and by field trips. A. Champlin. 024. The Archeology of Roman Britain. This course takes advantage of its location in Britain to combine archeological theory, history, and field studies of landscapes, archeological sites, and museum collections. The combination of theory, landscape, and "ruins" is an evocative way of knowing about Romans and natives in Britain and the grand Roman historical themes of colonialism, empire, assimilation, acculturation, and resistance. M. Jones. 025. Celt and Saxon: Britain in the Early Middle Ages. This course is an interdisciplinary study of Britain in the period 400–1000 C.E. Students examine the spiritual world of pagan and early Christian Britain as well as the social, political, and economic structures of the neighboring cultures of the British Celts and Anglo-Saxons. M. Jones. 026. History of the City of London. A history of London with emphasis on the evolution of the city. This course includes numerous walking tours of London. Staff. 028. Shakespeare in the Theater. A study of stage production and the interpretive nature of performance in the context of the urban environment. As well as attending several Shakespeare plays in London and Stratford, students visit relevant historic sites in order to consider their implications for Shakespeare's biography, the shape of the city in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and the cultural meaning of the theater for urban audiences. The course aims to give students a fresh sense of the significance of Shakespeare's language and drama in his time, a more vivid understanding of the context of his plays, and an ability to consider production possibilities on the Elizabethan as well as the modern stage. C. Malcolmson. 029. England from the Margins. This course considers the literary representations of the English nation by writers from other countries, the English colonies, or those who have been labeled or who identify themselves as cultural outsiders. Attention is given to how race and ethnicity is positioned in relation to ideas of nationhood, the intersection of race and gender differences, and what makes an outsider become an insider. Writers include Olaudah Equiano, Oscar Wilde, Henry James, Jean Rhys, Hanif Kureishi, Kazuo Ishiguro, Cornershop, and Stuart Hall. C. Malcolmson. 030. Contemporary British Drama. This course enables students to take advantage of the modern offerings on the London stage and to consider contrasts between early modern and twentieth-century theater. Students attend productions both in the West End and in fringe theaters; they read texts and discuss the performances of these texts; they write about the texts and productions they see. Staff. 031. Theories of Social Change: Focus on Great Britain. With emphasis on modern Britain, this course introduces students to classic sociological theories of social change, from Auguste Comte and Herbert Spencer, Karl Marx, Max Weber, Vilfredo Pareto, George Herbert Mead, and Emile Durkheim, to modern and postmodern social theorists. The course focuses on questions associated with recent and ongoing changes in the United Kingdom and the country's relationship to Europe. Questions such as the social and cultural ramifications of the Euro or metrification, as well as the changing ethnic and racial composition of urban London, are considered. T. Morrione. 032. Images of Self and Collective Identity in "Devolutionary" Britain. Major questions considered in this course, in addition to fundamental ones such as the meaning of personal and collective identity, consider the personal, interpersonal, communal, and national consequences of rapid, pervasive, and large-scale social change. Particular emphasis is placed on the nature of identity as it relates to urban life. T. Morrione. 033. Homelessness in Britain. Through participation in community service or a community study project relating to homelessness, students examine social policies affecting people in need of social welfare support. Work, family, governmental policy, social inequality, and crime are among topics considered. Comparisons between the United Kingdom and the United States are made throughout the course. Staff.