i was thinking of writing a frustrated post, but then went to the gym. and that helps. it doesnt help the continual feeling of wtf, but whatever.
its hot out, supposed to be 88 degrees. i have so much work to do, half my friends finish project on wednesday, and then next weekend is spring fling, which by no means can suck and must inherently be awesome and epic. that gives me less than a week to get my shit together and get stuff done. monday and tuesday this week are no classes. my writing class is cancelled. next week, after spring fling, is boards week, in which social studies classes are cancelled, and of course bio will still be in session, with lab report after lab report due. this gives me two weeks to write rough drafts of my anthropology and my history papers, because after that ill have biology exam, a GIS take home. blah. also, no job during commencement. dont know where ill stay. oh well. doesnt really matter. ill figure it out, as usual-thats the fun of it anyway.
other than that there isnt much to say. for bio we went down to tivoli bays and the waterfall to do some sampling. walking around in the water is always fun. went out on the roof yesterday and did some (some) work. sat in the conference room in robbins and did homework. went to smog, it sucked. bought a pizza. ate it. played video games. another boring friday night. room draw # 203. .. or is it 230? dont remember, its not that bad. maybe ill live in new robbins. or just stay here in my room i have now. i like the set-up.
god this is boring and pointless.
the summer needs to come around, soon. classes feel mundane as they have the whole semester. i guess im excited about the "course" im trying to put together for the summer. i am. im ready to get into something where respect and participation are involved. bard gets old.
this is just rediculous. im tired of plans and rules and scheming. the whole constraining thing just isnt ringing with me. this time last semester i wanted to honestly just do whatever. go with where life takes me. its something inescapable i know, its just the way things are nowadays right? i look at graduate school programs and get the feeling that i need to map everything out, plan plan plan. and planning is important, it helps you get to where you need to go. but it also constrains and makes me claustrophobic. and i have the tendency, or did, to plan, and try and make everything make sense in my head before it goes into action. think and write before i speak. wouldnt want to feel stupid, after all. but i believe that its the spontenous things that we learn the very most from. and since i love to learn, i should just be spontaneous and do things. which i did last semester, because i felt the environment and culture to welcome it instead of dismiss it as something childish, as seems the case here. i dont really want to know what im doing or where im going. truth reveals itself along the path. i dont feel like outlining for my paper. cant i just do it? i dont feel like outlining my future 5 years, cant i just do it? gah.
its why i just need to get away, a fullbright would be great but lets be serious here, its doubtful. i mean i would love to spend the next year of my life post college on a boat learning about riverside health or something. maybe it wouldnt be "anthropological enough", but thats getting old too. ive been a while since ive got to just let it out and rant. what is superstructure...who cares?
working out helps. i dont know where the spontenous people in my life have gone. i think my friends think im actually crazy. but nobody really does anything here. and im not quite crazy enough to be that person who initiates the weird stuff...well, sometimes. everyone feels so lifeless all the time, and im guilty of that as well. but its 88 degrees out and i want to go to blithwood and do homework. i want to go run around in the woods. i want to go fishing. i want to do cartwheels. i really dont care. just anything that makes the daily grind less boring. driving to dunkin donuts or hannafords or the case station doesnt really cut it. Brazil was so spontaneous and fun! there were so many "seriously guys what the fuck is going on" moments. and thats what i miss. so dont sit and tell me im nostagic. nostalgia implies some longing for stable place, security. there was nothing secure and stable about Brazil, only the opposite, nothing ever made sense. and it was great, liberating. all i want here, and i know college isnt quite made for that. experimental learning is more my thing. not lectures and discussions. let me do something, and ill learn that way. ill get dirty and hurt, and it will be awesome.
and thats what i miss and thats what ive always missed and thats what ive always wanted, and want now more than ever. almost in a painful way. just so you know.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
i made it down the coast in seventeen hours...
good music. turned in my fellowship application. handed in rough draft of my final History essay. working on bio lab assignment.
all thats left:
1 20 pg anthropology paper on memory, activism, and Love Canal
1 8-10 pg History final on early germ theory and infection theories in 17th century London
several biology lab reports (2-3 pgs with figures)
1 biology final exam
1 GIS final take home exam
3-4 more short writing pieces
to be honest, it doesn't look too bad. next week we get monday and tuesday off. the following week is boards week so im sure most of my classes (maybe not biology) will be canceled. some of the history paper is already written. i have all (95%) of my anthropology research done, now i just need to organize it and start writing. come tomorrow im going to force myself to start it. but really, finals might not be as terrible as it usually is this semester. right now my priorities are biology and this anthropology paper. im pretty sure i can pull off an A in History, and if I do this paper right ill secure an A in Anthropology too. Im going to try hard to keep a B+ in biology, and then im sure ill keep the A for GIS and boost the B+ in writing to at least an A-.
not too bad. got into my ecology of infectious disease seminar. my independent study proposal is finished. i went out to the bar last night with some friends and got a free tab. not too bad. i give my friends (the 21 year old ones) a lot of credit for coming out with me last night-its not easy when you need to finish senior projects in a week. overall my birthday was good. i was a little suprised at some people who didnt say anything, but in general i had a relaxing day. sushi with maisha and katelyn was good-i got hot sake. hung out with julia and logan and rachel and patrick. played video games with doug today. this thursday my old residents and i might throw a party. this weekend the only work ill have is anthro paper and biology, really. and picking out courses.
but so far seems like
Biology of Infectious Disease
Ecology of Infectious Disease (2)
Contamporary Cultural Theory
Photography, History, and News
Senior Project
maybe ill audit Plague
looks good. although im tempted to take Research Methods for Social Scientists or Writing Science.
im a dork. ive come to accept it. today Peter Fry, this famous Brazilian anthropologist, gave a lecture on Brazil, race, sickle-cell anemia, and affirmitive action. i liked his approach to advocacy a lot. "strategic essentialism", yeah, that was the term he used. a lot of anthropology is about critique, such as critiquing essentialism, attributing certain characteristics to groups of people, which happens in biomedical research a lot. but in the Brazil case, black NGOs and activists have taken up this whole racial-there is only black/white race in Brazil-as a mobilizing tool, in which genetics takes a role. after all, you can't have a "black population" to mobilize without some construction of there being one singular "black population". interesting stuff.
i feel like to be honest ive gotten a lot more anti-social lately. or maybe i just dont mind being alone anymore. its a trade off. if you take more time to be alone, and dont have one key group of friends or a click or something, then you find yourself lonely at times, not always having a reliable close crowd. but if you only have one real group, you end up depending on each other all the time, getting sick of each other, etc, etc etc. sometimes i feel like i have a balance. ive never had one group of friends, its always just kind of the way ive been. one of my buddies in Brazil commented it about me. it makes sense. i dont love being alone, but i like the pravacy and independence. or even just space to breathe. should probably start going to the gym.
back to work.
good music. turned in my fellowship application. handed in rough draft of my final History essay. working on bio lab assignment.
all thats left:
1 20 pg anthropology paper on memory, activism, and Love Canal
1 8-10 pg History final on early germ theory and infection theories in 17th century London
several biology lab reports (2-3 pgs with figures)
1 biology final exam
1 GIS final take home exam
3-4 more short writing pieces
to be honest, it doesn't look too bad. next week we get monday and tuesday off. the following week is boards week so im sure most of my classes (maybe not biology) will be canceled. some of the history paper is already written. i have all (95%) of my anthropology research done, now i just need to organize it and start writing. come tomorrow im going to force myself to start it. but really, finals might not be as terrible as it usually is this semester. right now my priorities are biology and this anthropology paper. im pretty sure i can pull off an A in History, and if I do this paper right ill secure an A in Anthropology too. Im going to try hard to keep a B+ in biology, and then im sure ill keep the A for GIS and boost the B+ in writing to at least an A-.
not too bad. got into my ecology of infectious disease seminar. my independent study proposal is finished. i went out to the bar last night with some friends and got a free tab. not too bad. i give my friends (the 21 year old ones) a lot of credit for coming out with me last night-its not easy when you need to finish senior projects in a week. overall my birthday was good. i was a little suprised at some people who didnt say anything, but in general i had a relaxing day. sushi with maisha and katelyn was good-i got hot sake. hung out with julia and logan and rachel and patrick. played video games with doug today. this thursday my old residents and i might throw a party. this weekend the only work ill have is anthro paper and biology, really. and picking out courses.
but so far seems like
Biology of Infectious Disease
Ecology of Infectious Disease (2)
Contamporary Cultural Theory
Photography, History, and News
Senior Project
maybe ill audit Plague
looks good. although im tempted to take Research Methods for Social Scientists or Writing Science.
im a dork. ive come to accept it. today Peter Fry, this famous Brazilian anthropologist, gave a lecture on Brazil, race, sickle-cell anemia, and affirmitive action. i liked his approach to advocacy a lot. "strategic essentialism", yeah, that was the term he used. a lot of anthropology is about critique, such as critiquing essentialism, attributing certain characteristics to groups of people, which happens in biomedical research a lot. but in the Brazil case, black NGOs and activists have taken up this whole racial-there is only black/white race in Brazil-as a mobilizing tool, in which genetics takes a role. after all, you can't have a "black population" to mobilize without some construction of there being one singular "black population". interesting stuff.
i feel like to be honest ive gotten a lot more anti-social lately. or maybe i just dont mind being alone anymore. its a trade off. if you take more time to be alone, and dont have one key group of friends or a click or something, then you find yourself lonely at times, not always having a reliable close crowd. but if you only have one real group, you end up depending on each other all the time, getting sick of each other, etc, etc etc. sometimes i feel like i have a balance. ive never had one group of friends, its always just kind of the way ive been. one of my buddies in Brazil commented it about me. it makes sense. i dont love being alone, but i like the pravacy and independence. or even just space to breathe. should probably start going to the gym.
back to work.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
just breathe in. close your eyes. let it out. smile at the sunset.
the waterfall crashes nearby. fish in the distance sing amongst rocks.
population biology depends on models. competition models depend on extinction. two species cannot occupy the same niche. if you freeze time and stop growth, you can make a graph. in one possibility, one species drives the other to death. in another, the two can live side by side, but only temporarily.
a man and his dog run by along the rocky trail. the dog is slightly ahead. the man is old, and looks tired. they brush ahead out of sight. bark in the distance.
the waterfall crashes nearby. fish in the distance sing amongst rocks.
population biology depends on models. competition models depend on extinction. two species cannot occupy the same niche. if you freeze time and stop growth, you can make a graph. in one possibility, one species drives the other to death. in another, the two can live side by side, but only temporarily.
a man and his dog run by along the rocky trail. the dog is slightly ahead. the man is old, and looks tired. they brush ahead out of sight. bark in the distance.
Summer:
Environmental Expertise, Participatory Democracy, and Emerging Threats to Life
Fall:
Contemporary Cultural Theory
Photography, History, and News
Biology of Infectious Disease (2)
Ecology of Infectious Disease (2)
Senior Project
Spring:
Biostatistics
Topics in Infrastructure History
Writing Ethnographic Short Stories/Novels
Senior Project
human.political ecology of disease. community/collaboration. mutualism. reciprocity. ethics. documentation. ecosystem approaches. science and society. making people their own experts. empoderamento. juntos.
Environmental Expertise, Participatory Democracy, and Emerging Threats to Life
Fall:
Contemporary Cultural Theory
Photography, History, and News
Biology of Infectious Disease (2)
Ecology of Infectious Disease (2)
Senior Project
Spring:
Biostatistics
Topics in Infrastructure History
Writing Ethnographic Short Stories/Novels
Senior Project
human.political ecology of disease. community/collaboration. mutualism. reciprocity. ethics. documentation. ecosystem approaches. science and society. making people their own experts. empoderamento. juntos.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
brilliant idea time
ANTH T300: Environmental Expertise, Participatory Democracy, and Threats to Life
An Independent Study Project by Dan Becker,
2 Credits
10 week Science and Technical Research Internship @ CHEJ
I will do responses to reading cluster every two weeks and email them to my advisor
This will compliment the community based environmental health worlk and capacity building internship with sound theory.
· gift theory, reciprocity, and ethics of collaboration (2 weeks)
o Peter Kropoptkin: Mutual Aid, a Factor in Evolution
o The Logic of the Gift
o Marcel Mauss: The Gift
o David Graeber: Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology
o Vimukt Shiksha: Reclaiming the Gift Culture
· participatory democracy (2 weeks)
o Paulo Freire: Pedagogy of the Oppressed
o Carole Pateman: Participation and Democratic Theory / Chris Spannos: Real Utopia
o Michael Albert: Liberating Theory
o
o Citizen Participation and Environmental Risk: A Survey of Institutional Mechanisms Author(s): Daniel J. Fiorino Source: Science, Technology, & Human Values, Vol. 15, No. 2 (Spring, 1990), pp. 226-243
o Community Struggles and the Shaping of Democratic Consciousness Author(s): Celene Krauss Source: Sociological Forum, Vol. 4, No. 2 (Jun., 1989), pp. 227-239
· popular epidemiology, environment, and justice (2 weeks)
o Frank Fischer: Citizens, Experts, and the Environment
o Kim Fortun: Advocacy After
o David Harvey: Justice, Nature, and the Geography of Difference
o Popular Epidemiology and Toxic Waste Contamination: Lay and
o Farmworkers and Pesticides: Community-Based Research Author(s): Thomas A. Arcury, Sara A. Quandt, Linda McCauley Source: Environmental Health Perspectives, Vol. 108, No. 8 (Aug., 2000), pp. 787-792
o Qualitative Methods in Environmental Health Research Author(s): Phil Brown Source: Environmental Health Perspectives, Vol. 111, No. 14 (Nov., 2003), pp. 1789-1798
o Combining Community-Based Research and Local Knowledge to Confront Asthma and Subsistence-Fishing Hazards in Greenpoint/Williamsburg,
o Applying Anthropology to the Epidemiology of Cancer Author(s): Annie Hubert Source: Anthropology Today, Vol. 6, No. 5 (Oct., 1990), pp. 16-18
· anthropological perspectives on emerging infectious disease and public health (2 weeks)
o Medical Anthropology in Ecological Perspective 5th Addition
o Health: An Ecosystem Approach
o Paul Farmer: Infections and Inequalities
o Medical Anthropology and Epidemiology Author(s): James A. Trostle and Johannes Sommerfeld Source: Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol. 25 (1996), pp. 253-274
o Can There Be a "Cultural Epidemiology"? Author(s): Susan M. DiGiacomo Source: Medical Anthropology Quarterly, New Series, Vol. 13, No. 4 (Dec., 1999), pp. 436-457
o Anthropology and the Control of Tropical Disease Author(s): Carol MacCormack Source: Anthropology Today, Vol. 1, No. 3 (Jun., 1985), pp. 14-16
o Beyond the Ivory Tower: Critical Praxis in Medical Anthropology Author(s): Merrill Singer Source: Medical Anthropology Quarterly, New Series, Vol. 9, No. 1 (Mar., 1995), pp. 80-106
o Security, Disease, Commerce: Ideologies of Postcolonial Global Health Author(s): Nicholas B. King Source: Social Studies of Science, Vol. 32, No. 5/6 (Oct. - Dec., 2002), pp. 763-789
o The Anthropology of Infectious Disease Author(s): Marcia C. Inhorn and Peter J. Brown Source: Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol. 19 (1990), pp. 89-117
o Emerging and Re-Emerging Infectious Diseases: The Third Epidemiologic Transition Author(s): Ronald Barrett, Christopher W. Kuzawa, Thomas McDade, George J. Armelagos Source: Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol. 27 (1998), pp. 247-271
o Disasters, Donors, Magical Agencies Author(s): Jonathan Benthall Source:Anthropology Today, Vol. 7, No. 5 (Oct., 1991), p. 3
o Waltner-Toews, David. “An ecosystem approach to health and its applications to tropical and emerging diseases.” Cad. Saúde Pública, Rio de Janeiro 17 (2001): 7-36.
· gap between citizens & experts (2 weeks)
o Bruno Latour: Politics of Nature
o Ulrich Beck: Risk Society
o Local Actions, Global Visions: Remaking Environmental Expertise Author(s): Giovanna Di Chiro Source: Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, Vol. 18, No. 2, Intersections of Feminisms and Environmentalisms (1997), pp. 203- 231
o The Reality of Experts and the Imagined Lay Person Author(s): Alessandro Maranta, Michael Guggenheim, Priska Gisler, Christian Pohl Source: Acta Sociologica, Vol. 46, No. 2, The Knowledge Society (Jun., 2003), pp. 150-165
o (Re)Defining Reproductive Health with and for the Community: An Example of Participatory Research from Mali Author(s): Sarah Castle, Sidy Traore, Lalla Cisse Source: African Journal of Reproductive Health / La Revue Africaine de la Santé Reproductive, Vol. 6, No. 1 (Apr., 2002), pp. 20-31
o Haraway, Donna, "Situated Knowledges" Feminist Studies 14(3), 1988 : 575-599.
i was going to do this as a tutorial next semester. but i think credit wise with senior project it would be a lot of work. but if i make up a proposal to do it alongside my internship and get credit this summer, then i get the best of both world. and by doing the readings an responses over the summer, by the time the semester comes i will have a sound idea and base to start senior project.
Potential Courses
BIO 112 Biology of Infectious Disease
John Ferguson
. T . Th .
. T . . .
8:30 - 10:20 am
1:30 -4:30 pm
Cross-listed: GISP; STS Both morbidity and mortality due to infectious disease declined steadily during the 20th century in developed nations, but remain high in poorer nations. Students examine the reasons for this tenuous disparity as they study the agents of bacterial, viral, protozoan, and metazoan disease. Diseases covered include anthrax, typhoid fever, cholera, botulism, tetanus, bubonic plague, Lyme disease, leprosy, tuberculosis, influenza, smallpox, rabies, yellow fever, polio, AIDS, malaria, African sleeping sickness, and schistosomiasis, among others. Many of the readings are relatively nontechnical case histories, but the biology underlying each condition is thoroughly developed. This course is of interest to those aiming for a career in the health professions, but is also designed to provide liberal arts students with some degree of medical literacy in these health issues. The laboratory portion introduces students to bacteria and viruses that are relatively nonpathogenic for humans. Prerequisite: experience in high school biology and chemistry.
ANTH 350 Contemporary Cultural Theory
Laura Kunreuther
M . . . .
10:30 - 12:50 pm
OLIN 303
Cross-listed: Human Rights This course is intended as an introduction to advanced theories of culture in contemporary anthropology. Required of all anthropology majors, this course will also be of interest to students wishing to explore critical innovations in the study of local, national, and mass culture around the world. In contrast to early anthropological focus on seemingly isolated, holistic cultures, more recent studies have turned their attention to contest within societies and the intersection of local systems of meaning with global processes of politics, economics and history. The class will be designed around an influential social theorist, such as Bourdieu, Bakhtin, or Marx, and the application of their theories by anthropologists, such as Aihwa Ong, Judith Irvine, or Michael Taussig. The seminar will involve participation from all of the faculty in the anthropology department. It aims to inspire critical engagement with an eye towards developing theoretical tools and questions for a senior project that makes use of contemporary theories of culture. Required for all moderated Anthropology majors.
HIST 3112 PLAGUE!
Alice Stroup
M . . . .
1:30 -3:50 pm
OLIN 308
HIST
Cross-listed: Human Rights; Medieval Studies The cry “Plague!” has struck fear among people around the world, from antiquity to the present. What is plague? How has it changed history? Starting with Camus’ metaphorical evocation of plague in a modern North African city, we will examine the historical impact of plague on society. Our focus will be bubonic plague, which was epidemic throughout the Mediterranean and European worlds for four hundred years, and which remains a risk in many parts of the world (including the southwestern United States) to this day. Topics include: a natural history of plague; impact of plague on mortality and socio-economic structures; effects on art and literature; early epidemiology and public health; explanations and cures; the contemporary presence of bubonic plague and fears about “new plagues.” Readings include: literary works by Camus, Boccaccio, Manzoni, and Defoe; historical and philosophical analyses by ancients Thucydides and Lucretius; contemporary literature on history, biology, and public health. Upper College Seminar: open to fifteen moderated students.
SOC 205 Intro to Research Methods
Yuval Elmelech
. T . Th .
1:00 -2:20 pm
OLIN 101 &
HDRANX 106
MATC
Cross-listed: Environ. Studies, GIS, Human Rights, Social Policy The aim of this course is to enable students to understand and use the various research methods developed in the social sciences, with an emphasis on quantitative methods. The course will be concerned with the theory and rationale upon which social research is based, as well as the practical aspects of research and the problems the researcher is likely to encounter. The course is divided into two parts. In the first, we will learn how to formulate research questions and hypotheses, how to choose the appropriate research method for the problem, and how to maximize chances for valid and reliable findings. In the second part, we will learn how to perform simple data analysis and how to interpret and present findings in a written report. For a final paper, students use survey data on topics such as attitudes toward abortion, sexual attitudes, affirmative action, racism, sex roles, religiosity, and political affiliation. By the end of the semester, students will have the necessary skills for designing and conducting independent research for term papers and senior projects, as well as for non-academic enterprises. Admission by permission of the instructor.
PHOT/ ARTH 328 Photography, History
And News
Luc Sante
. . . Th .
1:30 -3:50 pm
OLIN 304
AART
Ever since the Civil War, photography has been recording great events, and at least since the 1890s it has been chronicling those smaller events we call news. Arguably, everything that has passed before the lens since the beginning can qualify as history of some sort. This course will consider war photography, tabloid photography, disaster coverage, photojournalism, and propaganda, as well as the role of photography in preserving evidence of changes in daily life over the past two centuries. Special attention will be given to objectivity, rhetoric, chance, and the ambiguity of the photographer's position in a crisis. Participation in classroom discussion is mandatory, as are one research paper or audiovisual presentation, and a take-home exam at semester's end.
LIT 2182 Nonfiction Workshop:
Writing Science
Elizabeth Frank
. . W Th .
10:30 - 11:50 am
OLIN 303
PART
This is a course for both science and humanities students who share a fundamental belief in the importance of science literacy. To laypersons, contemporary science is often impenetrable. They need clear, informative, and engaging explanations of contemporary work in science, particularly as these affect ethical and political decisions at every level of society. Students in the class will write about science in a number of formats: for example, essays, editorials, feature articles and book reviews, all of varying length and complexity. We will try to solve the problems that must inevitably arise when the search for voice confronts subject matter that is hard to simplify or explain. Limited to 15 students who have each passed a lab and/or quantitative science course at Bard. (Applicants submit email indicating that they have passed a lab and/or quantitative science course.)
John Ferguson
. T . Th .
. T . . .
8:30 - 10:20 am
1:30 -4:30 pm
Cross-listed: GISP; STS Both morbidity and mortality due to infectious disease declined steadily during the 20th century in developed nations, but remain high in poorer nations. Students examine the reasons for this tenuous disparity as they study the agents of bacterial, viral, protozoan, and metazoan disease. Diseases covered include anthrax, typhoid fever, cholera, botulism, tetanus, bubonic plague, Lyme disease, leprosy, tuberculosis, influenza, smallpox, rabies, yellow fever, polio, AIDS, malaria, African sleeping sickness, and schistosomiasis, among others. Many of the readings are relatively nontechnical case histories, but the biology underlying each condition is thoroughly developed. This course is of interest to those aiming for a career in the health professions, but is also designed to provide liberal arts students with some degree of medical literacy in these health issues. The laboratory portion introduces students to bacteria and viruses that are relatively nonpathogenic for humans. Prerequisite: experience in high school biology and chemistry.
ANTH 350 Contemporary Cultural Theory
Laura Kunreuther
M . . . .
10:30 - 12:50 pm
OLIN 303
Cross-listed: Human Rights This course is intended as an introduction to advanced theories of culture in contemporary anthropology. Required of all anthropology majors, this course will also be of interest to students wishing to explore critical innovations in the study of local, national, and mass culture around the world. In contrast to early anthropological focus on seemingly isolated, holistic cultures, more recent studies have turned their attention to contest within societies and the intersection of local systems of meaning with global processes of politics, economics and history. The class will be designed around an influential social theorist, such as Bourdieu, Bakhtin, or Marx, and the application of their theories by anthropologists, such as Aihwa Ong, Judith Irvine, or Michael Taussig. The seminar will involve participation from all of the faculty in the anthropology department. It aims to inspire critical engagement with an eye towards developing theoretical tools and questions for a senior project that makes use of contemporary theories of culture. Required for all moderated Anthropology majors.
HIST 3112 PLAGUE!
Alice Stroup
M . . . .
1:30 -3:50 pm
OLIN 308
HIST
Cross-listed: Human Rights; Medieval Studies The cry “Plague!” has struck fear among people around the world, from antiquity to the present. What is plague? How has it changed history? Starting with Camus’ metaphorical evocation of plague in a modern North African city, we will examine the historical impact of plague on society. Our focus will be bubonic plague, which was epidemic throughout the Mediterranean and European worlds for four hundred years, and which remains a risk in many parts of the world (including the southwestern United States) to this day. Topics include: a natural history of plague; impact of plague on mortality and socio-economic structures; effects on art and literature; early epidemiology and public health; explanations and cures; the contemporary presence of bubonic plague and fears about “new plagues.” Readings include: literary works by Camus, Boccaccio, Manzoni, and Defoe; historical and philosophical analyses by ancients Thucydides and Lucretius; contemporary literature on history, biology, and public health. Upper College Seminar: open to fifteen moderated students.
SOC 205 Intro to Research Methods
Yuval Elmelech
. T . Th .
1:00 -2:20 pm
OLIN 101 &
HDRANX 106
MATC
Cross-listed: Environ. Studies, GIS, Human Rights, Social Policy The aim of this course is to enable students to understand and use the various research methods developed in the social sciences, with an emphasis on quantitative methods. The course will be concerned with the theory and rationale upon which social research is based, as well as the practical aspects of research and the problems the researcher is likely to encounter. The course is divided into two parts. In the first, we will learn how to formulate research questions and hypotheses, how to choose the appropriate research method for the problem, and how to maximize chances for valid and reliable findings. In the second part, we will learn how to perform simple data analysis and how to interpret and present findings in a written report. For a final paper, students use survey data on topics such as attitudes toward abortion, sexual attitudes, affirmative action, racism, sex roles, religiosity, and political affiliation. By the end of the semester, students will have the necessary skills for designing and conducting independent research for term papers and senior projects, as well as for non-academic enterprises. Admission by permission of the instructor.
PHOT/ ARTH 328 Photography, History
And News
Luc Sante
. . . Th .
1:30 -3:50 pm
OLIN 304
AART
Ever since the Civil War, photography has been recording great events, and at least since the 1890s it has been chronicling those smaller events we call news. Arguably, everything that has passed before the lens since the beginning can qualify as history of some sort. This course will consider war photography, tabloid photography, disaster coverage, photojournalism, and propaganda, as well as the role of photography in preserving evidence of changes in daily life over the past two centuries. Special attention will be given to objectivity, rhetoric, chance, and the ambiguity of the photographer's position in a crisis. Participation in classroom discussion is mandatory, as are one research paper or audiovisual presentation, and a take-home exam at semester's end.
LIT 2182 Nonfiction Workshop:
Writing Science
Elizabeth Frank
. . W Th .
10:30 - 11:50 am
OLIN 303
PART
This is a course for both science and humanities students who share a fundamental belief in the importance of science literacy. To laypersons, contemporary science is often impenetrable. They need clear, informative, and engaging explanations of contemporary work in science, particularly as these affect ethical and political decisions at every level of society. Students in the class will write about science in a number of formats: for example, essays, editorials, feature articles and book reviews, all of varying length and complexity. We will try to solve the problems that must inevitably arise when the search for voice confronts subject matter that is hard to simplify or explain. Limited to 15 students who have each passed a lab and/or quantitative science course at Bard. (Applicants submit email indicating that they have passed a lab and/or quantitative science course.)
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
American eels are born in the Sargasso Sea. In the mid-Atlantic Ocean, thousands or millions of eels convene and copulate, only here. It is impossible to raise eels in aquatic farms, the way we harvest some species of fish and shrimp. Each spring, the sea spawns thousands of tiny pseudo-transparent bodies, "glass eels." Clear with the exception of a black spine and black eyes, the form adapts to life and predation in the ocean. From the Sargasso Sea, the bodies ride the currents of the Gulf Stream up into freshwater tributaries, into the Hudson River, into Tivoli Bays.
Along the way, over time, the eels of glass grow to be several inches long-too small to be earthworms, too large to be parasites. In the freshwater rivers of the east coast, the eels begin to consume aquatic insects and dead organic matter, sacrificing the previous diet of plankton. Growing, no longer needing the same innate protection, the skin of the eels loses its clear pigment and takes on a brownish hue. Their name changes from glass to elvers.
Eel populations have been in decline over the years, and nobody knows why. Some say global climate change and shifting ocean patterns. Others say overfishing and dam construction. Some compromise and say both. Aiming to study eel migration patterns, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation has a collaborative study between scientists, students, and community volunteers to collect data on glass eels along the Hudson River tributaries. Along the way, the study gives its members experience in science, rivers, ecosystems. It is both research and pedagogy.
Today I caught seventeen glass eels. Our hands reached into the black and green fyke net to rummage for a glimpse of crystalline white. The mesh net is large, and was placed south of the small waterfall leading into the Bay. It captures the tiny bodies that attempt to swim upstream as they migrate. It is one o'clock in the afternoon and the tide is still low. Our hands are covered in invertebrates-they look like small alien shrimp. In the net are hundreds of them, crawling upon one another. As we reach in, they envelop our hands, scuttling in an attempt to move and escape. From the yellow-brown pulsing mass comes brief flashes of white amongst the bland color palette.
Amongst these masses, our hands grasp the minute eels between our fingers. A bucket filled with a few inches of bay-water becomes a temporary home for the seventeen. Our hands thrust down into the low-tide water of the Bay to wash of the excess bodies that stubbornly cling. The glass eels spasm amongst one another. I can't decide which is stranger, the feeling of a dozen invertebrates in one's hand, or a living squirming eel, nearly invisible.
Amongst these masses, our hands grasp the minute eels between our fingers. A bucket filled with a few inches of bay-water becomes a temporary home for the seventeen. Our hands thrust down into the low-tide water of the Bay to wash of the excess bodies that stubbornly cling. The glass eels spasm amongst one another. I can't decide which is stranger, the feeling of a dozen invertebrates in one's hand, or a living squirming eel, nearly invisible.
Throughout the day I feel the pinch and scuttle of invertebrates and eels. I am in class, typing in the lab, eating with a fork and knife. The creatures are not there anymore, now swimming upstream again along the waters of the Bay, visible in their absence.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)