MCWP 125 COURSE DESCRIPTIONS - SPRING & SUMMER 2008

• All students with more than 90 cumulative units need to obtain departmental authorization from the Muir Writing office before enrolling in MCWP courses.
• IMPORTANT NOTE: Students on the waitlist who do not attend the first class meeting of Muir Writing will be considered NOT ELIGIBLE TO ENROLL in the course. Enrolled students who miss the first two class sessions will be asked to drop the course. Responsibility for dropping the class from the Registrar’s records belongs solely to the student.
  
  The reading and writing requirements are the same for all sections. Books for each section will be available at Groundwork Books (858-452-9625) in the Old Student Center. Course readers will be sold at the UCSD Bookstore, located in the Price Center.

-SUMMER 2008-

Expressionism: Subversive Art

While Expressionism in art and literature lasted a mere decade, from 1910 to 1920, its social implications and its effect on consecutive art movements is still the subject of current debates. However, scholarly work, ranging from Lotte Eisner to Barry Salt, has articulated wide-ranging differences in terms of its definition of Expressionism. In this class we will consider the question of what exactly constitutes the idea and practices of Expressionism in literature and art. Is the way in which the Expressionists imagined their art different from the way in which scholars retroactively perceived it? We will, in addition, examine the cultural and artistic influences, in particular primitivism, that led Expressionist artists to adopt specific strategies and themes. While Expressionism intended to be subversive, it was later systematically integrated as “high art”. This radical change in the public reception of Expressionism will lead us to analyze the social and political changes that influenced society to adopt those ideologies that were meant to undermine their very existence. The course texts will, in addition, serve as models for a research paper that contributes to the academic discussion.

Texts:
Text TBA; The Craft of Research by Booth, et al; and a photocopied reader

-SPRING 2008-

Our Food:
Sources, Safety, Sustainability

Most of us tend to take our food for granted, whether we’re in a restaurant or buying food in a supermarket. But what is really behind the food that we eat? Do we know if it has been grown locally or has traveled thousands of miles to get here? Has it been grown using chemicals and pesticides or grown organically, and does it really matter? Can genetically modified corn, rice, or potatoes save millions of people from starvation or are there problems inherent in the technology? Is the fish farm-raised or wild? If one eats meat or eggs, how are these animals being raised, and what hormones or antibiotics are they being fed? Are our farming methods sufficiently sustainable so that we will not create another dust bowl? Do our eating habits have a global effect? These are some of the questions we will try to answer in this class, using Michael Pollan’s text, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and reading essays by botanists, farmers, and environmentalists collected in the class reader. Your research paper will investigate one of these important concerns to answer a question that you have about the food on your table.

Texts:
The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan; The Craft of Research, 2nd Edition by Booth, et al; and a photocopied reader

Issues in Higher Education

Education – it’s the reason you’re here, yet it’s the subject you’re least likely to discuss in the midst of studying for exams and preparing for life after college. What sort of factors affect and shape your education? In this course, we will examine articles and essays focusing on topics related to higher education, from financial aid and the college ranking system to the increased corporatization of the university and the application of newer technologies to the classroom. Our readings and our discussions of these different topics will lead to a 12-14-page final research paper focusing on an original argument about some aspect of the higher education system and its impact upon the value and meaning of your time here at UCSD.

Text:
The Craft of Research, 2nd Edition by Booth, et al; and a photocopied reader

Energy: Traditional, Alternative, and Sustainable

“Sustainability” is a buzz word used by politicians, policy makers, scientists, researchers, environmentalists, and others. But how is the term understood and deployed in an era of concerns about energy costs and climate changes? In this course, we will examine current and long-standing issues about the possible effects of fossil fuels and carbon emissions on the environment as well as the viability of alternate energy sources. Many scientists, environmentalists, conservationists, and others have expressed varying perspectives about the need to address and regulate the use of traditional and alternative forms of energy. You will be asked to examine these written arguments in order to understand how arguments are constructed. Then, you will introduce and support your own informed research-based argument on an issue relevant to the larger course topic.

Text:
Oil on the Brain: Petroleum's Long, Strange Trip to Your Tank by Lisa Margonelli; The Craft of Research, 2nd Edition by Booth, et al; and a photocopied reader