Doctor of Liberal Arts

U96 DLA 600 Independent Work in DLA

Requires signed proposal, approved by program coordinator and dean in University College.

Credit variable, maximum 4 units.

U96 DLA 6012 Family and Community Ties

This course examines documentary and imaginary accounts of family and community, to consider how individuals shape their support systems in a changing society. We will explore how ideas about family and community differ according to economic, racial, ethnic, educational, and personal experience. Materials include memoirs such as Jesmyn Ward, The Men We Reaped, and Alexandra Styron, All the Finest Girls; testimonials from the StoryCorps project, Ties That Bind; fictive journalism in Paula Hawkins, The Girl on the Train and in Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Chronicle of a Death Foretold; Lauren Acampora's stories, The Wonder Garden; the novels, Matt Johnson, Loving Day, selections from Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections, and Carolyn Chute, Treat Us Like Dogs and We Will Become Wolves.
Same as U98 MLA 5012

Credit 3 units.

U96 DLA 603 Food Cultural Studies: Theories, Methods, and Public Writing

Over the past few years, the study of food and gastronomy from the perspective of cultural studies and the humanities has been on the rise. This course introduces students to the interdisciplinary field of food cultural studies and to its theories, methods and practices. The course also uses the topics of food studies to train students into different forms of public writing, including reviews, longform magazine essays, blogs and others. The course will discuss the ways in which different disciplines focus on the study of food (including history, anthropology, philosophy and others), basic elements of global food history (the medieval spice trade, the Columbian Exchange, the role of colonialism and empire, and so on), case studies around different cuisines (including but not limited to Mexican, Italian, and Chinese), and the work of some of the major food writers of our time (e.g., Samin Nosrat, Michael Pollan).

Credit 3 units.

U96 DLA 604 Contemporary Latin American Female Writers

This course examines the newest and most cutting-edge novels and short story collections by women writers in Latin America. We will develop a set of tools for literary analysis in order to examine these works from the point of view of style and literary expression, but we will also examine how these young authors engage with the issues facing women in the region today, including politically and sexually motivated violence, collective memory, gender and race, and citizenship. We will also address what it means to be a Latin American woman author in the 21st century, and we will look at issues including structural barriers in the industry, institutional erasure, sexism and the literary canon. Evaluation will be based on writing assignments and on a multimedia portfolio addressing a writer of the student's choice, which they will present to the instructor and the class at the end of the semester.

Credit 3 units.

U96 DLA 605 DLA Interdisciplinary Proseminar

This gateway course to the DLA program provides training in analytic thinking and writing through critical examination, discussion, research, and progressive writing on interdisciplinary topics such as historical narrative, text and image, the life of the mind, the creative impulse, the good life, and other major themes that have guided scholarly investigation and research in many fields. Students will analyze works from at least four disciplines (e.g., literature, art history, film, history, philosophy, women and gender studies, religion, political science, anthropology, history of science) and write a progressive research paper, submitted and reviewed incrementally, that demonstrates comparative, analytic, and critical thinking. Course topic changes each semester.

Credit 3 units.

U96 DLA 606 Darwin, Marx, and Wagner

This seminar studies three works completed in 1859 that profoundly influenced all western thought to the present day: Karl Marx's Treatise on Political Economy, Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, and Richard Wagner's Tristan and Isolde. We will explore how these three works share remarkable and intriguing parallels: an inherent belief in evolution; materialism permeated with romanticism; faith in progress; and a similar ("dialectical") approach to understanding the dynamics of change, the application of change in all aspects of the natural and social the world. These three works will enable the class to consider aspects of 19th-century intellectual, economic, and social sociopolitical history. No special knowledge of biology, political science, or music is required.
Same as U98 MLA 505

Credit 3 units.

U96 DLA 607 Humanizing Technology

In order to explore the ways that technology had changed the way we read and write, this course examines the myriad ways that technology and the humanities interact in shaping culture and identity in contemporary society. We will study the interactions between the internet and literature, examining the ways that short stories by Jorge Luis Borges and novels like Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson have first shaped the ways that we use and think about the internet. We will investigate new approaches to writing inspired by digital technology with the Bolivian novelist Edmundo Paz Soldán's novel Turing's Delirium. The class will consider the development of a technological posthuman identity in society, literature, and films through an analysis of Philip K. Dick's novel Ubik, the film The Matrix, along with the work of cultural theorists Donna Haraway ("A Cyborg Manifesto") and Katherine Hayles (How We Became Posthuman). To examine the development of digital humanities as a discipline, students will read selections from Jerome McGann, Radiant Textuality and Schreibman, Siemens, and Unsworth, A Companion to Digital Humanities.
Same as U98 MLA 5072

Credit 3 units.

U96 DLA 6117 Popular Culture in Latin America

This course examines popular culture in Latin America both as it thrives today and as it has developed historically since the 1800s, when countries achieved their independence. We will study different forms of cultural practice, analyzing how they become "popular" and how they involve connections between artistic expression, politics, economics, ethnicity, and race. The class will consider differences between "high culture" and popular culture; folklore traditions; the impact of modernization and the dream of "being modern"; the role of the media; and the growth of globalized popular culture. Our cultural geography will survey the gauchos (cowboys) of Argentina and Uruguay; national dances such as salsa and reggaeton in the Caribbean; forms of cultural resistance to military rule in Chile; and the pervasive economic, political, and emotional power of soccer (fútbol). Students will examine the best-selling novel The Gaucho Juan Moreira, the engaging political essay "The Open Veins of Latin America," stories of urban life, and contemporary texts that explore the rise of populism (elites vs. others), dictatorship and social revolution, and the immigrant experience. We will also consider examples of music; films including The Secret in Their Eyes and Paper in the Wind; and a pair of riveting television series (telenovelas) from Mexico and Argentina.
Same as U98 MLA 5117

Credit 3 units.

U96 DLA 620 DLA Counterpoints and Flashpoints: Topic for Spring 2019: The Experience of Modernity

This course explores what it means to be modern. Our expansive study will engage the concept of radical change as it affects a range of historical periods and geographical areas. Er will consider how modernity entails a break away from tradition; the development of new intellectual, scientific, and geographic frontiers; and the experimentation with new technologies and art forms as a way of creating new futures and ruptures with the past. Examining questions of time, space, innovation, and translation, we will study key literary and cultural works that express a groundbreaking sense of modernity and revolution in ways that highlight epistemological, political, and social tensions. Works studied include Cervantes's Don Quixote, Blake's poems, Wharton's Age of Innocence, Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway, Lorca's Poet in New York, Achebe's Things Fall Apart, and Lispector's Hour of the Star. We will also discuss Dalí's collaboration with Buñuel in their film An Andalusian Dog [Un Chien Andalou], along with Kurosawa's Rashomon and other visual works that capture the inventions, uncertainties, and energy of the modern experience.

Credit 3 units.

U96 DLA 621 Seminar: Literature and Religion

Same as L14 E Lit 521

Credit 3 units.

U96 DLA 6310 Mind-Brain and the Arts

This course considers ways that recent research in cognitive science might shed light on four traditional topics in the philosophy of the arts. Each topic will focus on a certain type of art (although not exclusively) and on one or more mental faculties: How do pictures represent? How do we understand stories and what roles do they play in the life of the mind? What do we like in the arts and why, according to psychological theories based on brain research? What is style in the arts and can there be a scientific explanation of its history? A parallel concern is with how distinctive features of the arts might shed special light on the nature of the mind. Readings will include essays by prominent art historians, philosophers, psychologists, and scientists.
Same as U98 MLA 5310

Credit 3 units.

U96 DLA 633 Against the Grain: Transgression and Controversy in Modern Art

This course will examine the public controversies that have surrounded the development of modern art over the last 150 years to probe the question of the social and political functions of transgressive art. After reviewing key theories of the avant-garde, we will analyze both the persona of the modern artist (Gauguin, Picasso, Pollock) and the place of women artists in the revolutions of modernism (Cassatt, Höch, Kahlo). A key issue to address is how modernism tests limits by asking what is (and what is not) art (Duchamp, Brancusi). Some of the most controversial exhibitions in this time frame, from the Salon des Refusés in 1863 to Mirroring Evil in 2002, highlight the challenges raised by modern artists' treatment of the body. Debates waged over public art in St. Louis and recent controversies over public funding of contemporary art will close the course. No prior knowledge of art history required.
Same as U98 MLA 5301

Credit 3 units.

U96 DLA 643 Imagining Germany in the Long 19th Century

Between the start of the French Revolution (1789) and the outbreak of the First World War (1914), Germany was transformed from a patchwork of over 300 sovereign territories into a unified nation-state with immense political and economic power. This course examines the crucial role played by literature and the arts in creating a sense of a German national community during this period. Our materials will include national anthems, fairy tales, painting, public monumental art, opera, essays, propaganda, and popular culture, and we will investigate these materials with an eye toward the different and sometimes opposing visions of the nation and national character to which they give expression. Within this broader context, we will address the perceived contribution of men, women, and the family to the project of nation building; the role of language, of national heroes and legends, and of geography in creating a sense of unity; and the ways in which national identity is defined in opposition to a perceived Other (in this case, France). We will also consider Zionism as an offshoot of the European nationalisms and a response to anti-Semitism in Germany. Works studied include fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm; essays and poems by Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Heinrich von Kleist, and Berthold Auerbach; Germany, A Winter's Tale by Heinrich Heine; The Patrioteer by Heinrich Mann; and The Jewish State by Theodor Herzl.

Credit 3 units.

U96 DLA 645 Global Cinema: A Love Story

Focusing on the ubiquity of love stories in cinema, this seminar will explore connections between romance, anxieties, and aspirations in contemporary society. Studying celebrated films from the United States (When Harry Met Sally, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), Latin America (Love in the Time of Hysteria), Europe (Amelie, Café au Lait), South Asia (The Lunchbox), and East Asia (2046, Happy Together), among others, we will consider how love functions as a symptom of what ails society. The class will examine not only personal relationships but also social structures, economic systems, and political conflicts. Topics will cover issues of class, gender, and race; the construction of economic identities; and the formal structures and aesthetics of film. Students will be required to watch two films per week as well as to complete selected short readings.
Same as U98 MLA 5450

Credit 3 units.

U96 DLA 6464 Medicine and Morality in Global Perspective

What does it mean to be sick? What does it mean to be a patient, or a healer? Is it possible to imagine a universal morality in which our understanding of medical ethics is shared among peoples worldwide? What are some of the ethical dilemmas associated with genetic testing, organ transplants, and global disparities in health? Framed by these questions, our class will examine how culture shapes our concepts of disease and our expectations for treatment. Similarly, we will consider how social class, race, and ethnicity influence both health and access to health care worldwide. Our readings will focus on medical history and the evolution of diagnosis and treatment of disease; health disparities; the varying relations of patients and healers in different cultures; African health crises; public health controversies; folk illness in Latin America; medical technologies and ethical conflicts; and other issues of medical anthropology pertaining to the prevention and treatment of illness and the healing process around the globe. We will also discuss three documentaries: Frontline: Sickness Around the World; Donka: X-Ray of an African Hospital (Doctors Without Borders); and Dan Rather Reports: Kidney Pirates (with anthropologist Nancy Scheper-Hughes).
Same as U98 MLA 5454

Credit 3 units.

U96 DLA 6500 An Island with a View: Reimagining Cuba through Literature, Art, and Film

Credit 3 units.

U96 DLA 665 From Mikado to Makudo: A Literary View of Japan

This course will survey Japan's social and cultural history through selected literary works that span the seventh century (Mikado) to the present day (Makudo). Our readings — including fiction, poetry, drama, and personal writings — will serve as guides to key historical epochs: the aristocratic culture of the Heian era (Tale of Genji), the warrior society of the medieval era (Tale of the Heike), and the insular Tokugawa period (Basho's haiku). Novels by Soseki, Tanizaki, Mishima, and Oe will expose the complexities of modern Japan. Students will gain an appreciation of Japan's unique heritage, social complexity, and place in East Asia and the world today.
Same as U98 MLA 5565

Credit 3 units. UColl: CD

U96 DLA 667 Translating Worlds

This course studies different forms of cultural translation, that is, the communication of knowledge, behavior, and language from one culture to another. We will examine how an author reworks earlier and foreign traditions, adapting ideas and practices for which there may be no direct equivalent in the author's own culture. In the new cultural setting, do the roles of men and women shift? Do questions of ethnicity, class, religion, and sexuality become more pronounced, or do they fade away? These questions will frame our study of historic cultural encounters, colonialism, exile, and other processes that shape modernity. Students will explore two dramatic points of cultural intersection: Tolkien's modern reworking of Sir Orfeo, a medieval version of the classical myth of the musician Orpheus and his wife Eurydice; and Goethe's Italian Journey, the journal of the German writer's experiences with the people, art, and history that he encountered during his travels. We will see how diaspora and migration shape perceptions in works by Alejo Carpentier (The Kingdom of this World), Salman Rushdie (East/West), and Jhumpa Lahiri (Interpreter of Maladies). The class will also learn how different scholarly and artistic fields address the concept of cultural translation, including cultural anthropology (James Clifford), film adaptation (Louis Malle's Vanya on 42nd Street, inspired by Chekhov's play), and colonial history (Vicente Rafael). In addition, we will discuss how digital technology affects cultural translation today (Google Translate, and projects using geographic information system [GIS] technology). Students will consider challenges facing the humanities and the sciences as these technologies advance. Will it be possible to make all knowledge, and all culturally-specific information, universally accessible? No foreign language experience required.

Credit 3 units.

U96 DLA 675 From Buggy to Benz: Global Capitalism, Gender, and Race

In this course, students will examine global capitalism with particular attention to how it intersects with gender, race, and place in specific historical moments. Using critical, historical, and ethnographic perspectives, we will consider the emergence of and changes in capitalism and how it relies on and reproduces particular gender, racial/ethnic, and other hierarchies. Course materials will draw examples from around the world and will include novels, ethnographic and historical case studies, social theory, films, and articles from the popular media. Through written assignments, students will demonstrate the ability to examine the impact of capitalism on the environment, health, indigenous and marginalized groups, policy, and access to education, jobs, housing, and other resources.

Credit 3 units.

U96 DLA 676 Haunting the World: Refugees in Literature & Film

By 2019, 65.8 million people (or 1 in 113 individuals) will have been forcibly displaced within their own countries or across borders. In this course, we will study literary texts, film, and other forms of cultural production that will provide a window into the complex lives of displaced individuals from World War II to the present. In addition to contextualizing the historical and legal significance of such terms as refugee, asylum, sanctuary, non-refoulement, and forced displacement, our discussions will also allow us to engage with the broader meanings of concepts that include human rights, hospitality, identity, belonging, and citizenship. The course will move chronologically from the early 20th century to the present; the last part of the semester will focus specifically on new forms of storytelling that have emerged as a response to the current "crisis."

Credit 3 units.

U96 DLA 678 Representing Religion, Race, and Gender in Early Modern Latin America

This seminar explores the history of religion, gender, and empire in Latin America, focusing primarily on the colonial period (1492-1821) but including some precolonial materials. Through primary documents, secondary scholarship, and student-centered discussions, we will consider connections between religious beliefs, gender norms and relations, and the ways that race, class, and gender intersected with ideas about religion, empire, and power. We will study the clash of religions that occurred during the conquest and its terrible aftermath; the politics of evangelization; and how marginalized subjects such as women, African slaves, and Indigenous peoples navigated religious authoritarianism to develop their own spiritual beliefs and expressions. Finally, we will take a brief look at how some of these religious practices have persisted until the present day and what these legacies can tell us about questions of race and gender in a religious context in Latin America. This course will also introduce students to key research methods in the humanities and to the conventions of graduate-level writing necessary for completing the degree thesis.

Credit 3 units.

U96 DLA 884 Continuing Doctoral Research - DLA