In the Beginning: Reading the
Book of Genesis
Carol Bakhos, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures
In this seminar, we will read the major stories of the first book of the Bible, the Book of Genesis, and focus on
literary, theological and historical issues. We will pay special attention to the creation story, Adam and Eve, the
call of Abraham, the binding of Isaac, the expulsion of Ishmael, the live of Jacob and the Joseph cycle. Topics
include the role of women, the idea of covenant, and the characterization of God. We will also examine the role
these stories play in Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
Carol Bakhos is Assistant Professor of Late Antique Judaism and Jewish Studies in the Department of Near Eastern
Languages and Cultures. Her research interests are comparative ancient biblical interpretation and late antique
Judaism.
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Reading William Hogarth's Art
Charles Lynn Batten, English
"I have endeavoured," wrote William Hogarth, "to treat my subjects as a dramatic writer: my picture is my stage, and
men and women my players." The most important engraver in England's eighteenth century, Hogarth uses his visual art
to tell stories--similar to plays and novels--that convey moral, social, and political lessons. His satiric views
continue to have relevance in the modern world. While this seminar will primarily focus on "reading" Hogarth's most
famous visual narrative sequences--"The Harlot's Progress," "The Rake's Progress," "Marriage a la Mode," and "Industry
and Idleness"--it will also examine individual plates like "Credulity, Superstition, and Fanaticism." The class meets
every other week for two hours, beginning Second Week. The five meeting dates are: January 13, January 27, February
10, February 24, and March 10.
Professor Batten is currently Vice Chair for Undergraduate Studies in the English Department. He has written on eighteenth-century travel literature and is currently attempting to complete a book on the literary and cultural importance of deism. He has won the campus Distinguished Teaching Award.
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Ghost Stories and the Rise
of Experimental Psychology
Frederick Burwick, English
Once considered spirits trapped in afterlife by a curse, ghosts were redefined in the late 18th and early 19th
centuries as hallucinations. This seminar will examine "ghost stories" in relation to the emerging science of
mental pathology.
Frederick Burwick, Distinguished Scholar of the British Academy (1992) and of the Keat-Shelley Association (1998). His
Poetic Madness and the Romantic Imagination (1996) received the Outstanding Book of the Year Award presented
by the American Conference on Romanticism.
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Politics and Literature
Georgiana Galateanu, Slavic Languages and Literature
This seminar explores the impact that politics has on literature - on form, content, literary techniques. Short stories
from East-European countries and the Middle East are analyzed. Students are encouraged to share their thoughts and
their own experiences of politics affecting everyday life and culture.
Georgiana Galateanu has a Ph.D. from the University of Bucharest, Romania (1984), and for the last twelve years has
taught Romanian language, culture, and literature at UCLA. Besides Politics and Literature, Dr Galateanu is also
interested in Women and Literature in Eastern Europe, and has taught this class in the Women's Studies Program. Dr.
Galateanu has translated Romanian short prose and poetry into English and has co-authored a variety of language
textbooks.
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Anti-Semitism: Old, New, and Right this Minute
Eric Gans, French and Francophone Studies
Americans, familiar with white-on-black racism, have difficulty understanding the durability and virulence of anti-Semitism. This seminar will explore the three stages of anti-Semitism: medieval, 19th-20th century, and contemporary.
Professor Gans has taught at UCLA since 1969. He offered a course on anti-Semitism & homosexuality in the European Studies program several years ago.
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Representing Cleopatra: History, Drama and Film
Robert Gurval, Classics
This seminar will explore the literary and cultural representations of Cleopatra from classical antiquity to the
modern era. The course will have three goals: (1) to identify the historical evidence that documents Cleopatra's
rise to power and political associations with Rome; (2) to trace the emergence of Cleopatra as a figure of seduction
and exoticism in the Middle Ages and Renaissance; (3) to analyze the enduring legend of Cleopatra in popular culture.
Robert Gurval (Ph.D. in Classics, the University of California, Berkeley and B.A. in Classics, Brown University) is
Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Classics at UCLA. His research focuses on Roman politics, literature
and culture in the periods of the late Republic and early Empire. He is the author of Actium and Augustus: The
Politics and Emotions of Civil War. His current book project, Tokens of Authority: Politics, Culture and
Ideology on the Coins of Augustus, examines the political imagery of coinage in the first century BCE.
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Cinema and Conscience: Italian Neorealism
Thomas Harrison, Italian and Comparative Literature
A study of one of the most striking bodies of European film, and generally considered the highpoint of Italian cinema,
which arose as a reaction to Mussolini's dictatorship and the catastrophe of World War II. We will study a handful of
films by Rossellini, Visconti, and De Sica in the context of social and film theory of the age (the 1940s).
Thomas Harrison is a scholar of 20th century Italian and Comparative Literature as well as cinema. He teaches the
annual GE course called "Sex and Politics in Italian Cinema" (Italian 46).
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"Literature and Violence"
Eric Jager, English
Woody Allen once famously warned, "Never take a course in which they make you read Beowulf." But he was wrong. On the one hand, the world of this poem seems alien to us, with its remote Scandinavian tribes, their bizarre customs, and their gloomy legends about monsters, heroes, and violent death. On the other hand, what could be more familiar than such perennial themes as loyalty, betrayal, revenge, courage, and friendship? The poem deals with all of these things (and more), which are very much part of the human scene today. In keeping with the post-9/11 theme, we will focus especially on the poem's central theme of violence and its social, political, and psychological consequences,
including for both men and women in their distinct social roles. Requirements: A one-hour weekly discussion, and five pages of writing--either a one-page (250-word) essay every two weeks, or a five-page essay at the end (student's choice). The class will meet in the Residence Hall --Delta Terrace Lounge, B-4.
Professor Jager taught at Columbia University for nine years before joining UCLA's Department of English in 1996. He
teaches courses on classical literature, Old English poetry, and Chaucer, as well as the department's survey of
Medieval and Renaissance literature (English 10A). He has published two books, most recently "The Book of the Heart"
(Chicago, 2000), and is currently at work on a third, a true crime story about trial by combat in the Middle Ages.
He has lectured at many universities around North America and has been interviewed on medieval topics by the Los
Angeles Times, ABC News, and Minnesota Public Radio, among others.
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City Tragedy: Los Angeles, New York
and Their Predecessors
Sharon King, Comparative Literature
Civil unrest from within marked and marred the city of Los Angeles ten years ago. Last year New York and Washington,
D. C. were devastated by attacks from without that have forever altered our images of those cities. Yet these patterns
of civic discord and city tragedy have been repeated and represented in Western culture for hundreds, if not thousands,
of years. This course will examine several Renaissance texts (all in English or in translation) that deal with the
tragic fall of a city, focusing on issues such as the root causes, the blame assigned, and the ways such falls are
manifested and perceived. We will then use the texts as a springboard to discuss modern conflicts with cities at
their center. The class meets every other week for two hours, beginning First Week. The five meeting dates are:
January 10, January 24, February 7, February 21, and March 7.
Sharon King has her doctorate in Comparative Literature and is currently an Associate at the Center for Medieval and
Renaissance Studies at UCLA. She has numerous studies on the intersections of theatre and war, both in comedy and
tragedy, among which is her book City Tragedy on the Renaissance Stage in France, Spain and England, due out in
2003. Her numerous translations include Clever and Pleasant Inventions by J. Prevost, the first book on
sleight-of-hand magic in the French language, as well as many late medieval plays which she has performed in the U.S.
and in Europe.
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Historical Violence and Literature
Robert M. Maniquis, English
Real and legendary moments of violence in history have always called forth major literary reactions. From the violence
of the St. Barthomew's Day Massacre or of the Conquistadores in America (the so-called Black Legend), the days of
Terror in the French Revolution, World War I and II, Nazi genocide, the dropping of the Atomic Bomb, to mention just a
few. This seminar will look at short stories and novellas that represent the effect on the individual and the
community of such violent historical moments. The seminar will be devoted to discussion of texts and the viewing and
discussion of one film. Seminar participants will be provided with a bibliography and brief study guide for future
reading and thought. The class meets every other week for two hours, beginning Second Week. The five meeting dates
are: January 14, January 28, February 11, February 25, and March 11. This course will be held in Professor Maniquis's
apartment in Canyon Point, AF301.
Robert M. Maniquis teaches in the English Department. His specialty is late eighteenth and nineteenth-century
literature in English, French, and German, but he also teaches the Bible as Literature and a wide variety of courses
in critical theory. He has written books and articles on the confluence of history and literature.
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"The Biography of Mexican Painting": A Mural by Raul Anguiano
Carol Petersen, Writing Programs
We'll study the mural that Maestro Raul Anguiano recently completed at East Los Angeles College. It depicts the
story of Mexican art from the Mayan period to the present, showing how Anguiano's life and artistic development have
intersected with the lives and work of other major Mexican painters. The class will meet every other week for two
hours, beginning First Week. The five meeting dates are: January 7, January 21, February 4, February 18, and March 4.
Carol Petersen is UCLA's Director of Academic Affirmative Action. She has taught writing courses and team-taught
courses in diversity, conflict, and conflict resolution; the history and politics of affirmative action. As a
photographer, she has exhibited work in the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, the Harriet and Charles Luckman
Fine Arts Gallery, and the Skirball Cultural Center and published photos in Racial and Ethnic Relations in America
(McLemore, Romo, and Baker, eds.), the Los Angeles Times, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution..
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Chinese Strategies
David Schaberg, East Asian Languages and Cultures
A reading of the early Chinese military classic, Sunzi's work on the art of war, with discussions of its place in
philosophy and its relation to the martial arts novel, the gangster movie, and modern images of Asian masculinity.
David Schaberg (A.B. Stanford 1986, Ph.D. Harvard 1996) is Associate Professor in East Asian Languages & Cultures at
UCLA. He has published articles on early Chinese literature, historiography, and philosophy as well as Greek/Chinese
comparative issues in Early China, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, and Comparative Literature. He is author of
A Patterned Past: Form and Thought in Early Chinese Historiography, Harvard East Asian Monographs 205.
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Urban Legends: The Politics of Narrative
Timothy Tangherlini, Scandinavian
Ghosts, UFOs, psychopaths, evil corporations, Satanists, serial killers, wild conspiracy theories, unlikely ways to
be killed, and even more unusual ways to survive. These are but some of the topics that come up time and again in
"Urban legends." But the stories are not only told to entertain. In this course we explore the ideological positions
endorsed by such narratives, and see how these narratives have been deployed in popular film. The goal is to develop
an understanding of how narratives can be used for political (local or global) ends.
Timothy Tangherlini is a folklorist whose work includes studies of storytelling among paramedics, the political uses
of storytelling in 19th century Denmark, and the uses of storytelling in the aftermath of the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
He is an Associate Professor in the Scandinavian Section and the Dept. of East Asian Languages and Cultures.
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From Colonial Power to Exotic Land: The Change of Spanish Identity in the 18th and 19th Centuries
Jesús Torrecilla, Spanish and Portuguese
(Knowledge of Spanish language required. Readings and discussions will primarily be in Spanish.)
"Spanish character," that during the Golden Age was perceived as imbued with pride and gravity, self-control, reserve,
and cunningness, started being associated in the 18th and 19th centuries with fiestas and siestas, lack of control,
inefficiency, passionate lovers, flamenco dancing, gypsies, and bullfighting. The goal of the Seminar is to prove
that the concept of national character is not based in natural features but in historical circumstances.
Jesús Torrecilla is Professor of 18th- and 19th-centuries Spanish literature in the Department of Spanish of
Portuguese. He has published several studies on how power relations among societies affect literary discourse.
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Language and Ethnicity
Edward F. Tuttle, Italian
Well before the arrival of Europeans, California was the most multilingual area of America. Again today, with its
vast and growing multilingualism, California will stand as an example to the nation and to other nations. Yet Old
Europe can still, with its past strife and its present strivings to balance integration with cultural diversity,
offer young Californians enhanced understanding of the symbolisms and the deeper attitudes encoded in language.
Only sensitized, educated new leaders will balance small identities with mass culture.
Historical linguist focussed on Romance Languages, especially the non-standard Romance dialects and, still more
narrowly, the dialects of Italy. Raised in L. A. Ph.D. Berkeley. Professor Tuttle has been at UCLA for 30 years.
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The Public Huck Finn: Why We Misread Mark Twain
Thomas Wortham, English
We will examine some of the many "adaptations" of Samuel Clemens's great novel (in print as well as other forms of
visual and material culture) during the last century, asking how and why popular "American culture" has represented
this work in ways that often have very little relation to Clemens's text and imaginative vision. The class will meet
every other week for two hours, beginning First Week. The five meeting dates are: January 7, January 21, February 4,
February 18, and March 4.
Arriving in Westwood in 1970, it has never occurred to Professor Wortham to leave UCLA. He is Professor and Chair in
the Department of English, and his research is in the areas nineteenth-century American literary studies and textual
scholarship. Reading and thinking about Mark Twain are for him just a way of staying sane.
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The Language of Advertising
Olga T. Yokoyama, Slavic
We are surrounded by ads and their effect is not limited to explicit information about the products they advertise.
Ads are also a powerful subliminal tool that affects how we view life and people. We will investigate how advertising
in personal ads, on billboards, and on TV use language to address men and women, how their interests are targeted,
and what gender stereotypes are implied and perpetuated. The emphasis will be on advertising language that tends to
be associated with either men or women in our society - vocabulary, intonation, phrasing, allusions, and ambiguities.
Students will observe and/or record ads weekly and bring them to class, where their linguistic analysis will be
performed together.
Professor Olga Yokoyama was trained at Harvard University (Ph.D. 1979). She has been teaching in the UCLA Slavic
Department since 1995 and in the Applied Linguistics and TESL Department since 2002. Her research interests are
in the areas of Slavic linguistics and pragmatics and include intonation, gender linguistics, the
linguistics-literature interface, folk language and folklore.
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"The Fellowship of the Ring": Tolkien's
View of Good and Evil in the Community
Jules Zentner, Scandinavian
The Fellowship of the Ring will be read and analyzed in terms of J.R.R. Tolkien's view of the battle between
Good & Evil in the world, the individual, and the community.
Jules Zentner received his doctorate from UC Berkeley after much of his preparation for it at the University of
Uppsala and the University of Stockholm in Sweden. His teaching has been at Berkeley, the University of Minnesota,
and UCLA.
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Honor & Shame in the Clash
of World Cultures & Religions
Scott S. Bartchy, History
Honor and shame are core cultural values for the vast majority of human beings, including most Muslims. Ignoring this
fact has led to serious (and avoidable) mistakes in USA's foreign policies, when based on the values of achievement
and guilt.
S. Scott Bartchy earned his Ph.D. in the Study of Religion from Harvard University and taught at the University of
Tuebingen, Germany, before coming to UCLA in the early '80s. He is especially interested in comparison of basic
cultural values and their impact on male and female socialization in various religious traditions. His current
research focuses on the relation of concepts of Ultimate Reality to social structures and problem solving.
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Legal Disputes and Arguments
David A. Binder, Law
This seminar explores the types of factual and legal arguments that lawyers make during criminal and civil trials.
The seminar addresses subjects such as:
- Is the jury system a good idea?
- Do juries decide both factual and legal questions?
- Why are litigants entitled to a jury made up of the cross section of the community but not a jury of their peers?
- Is the frequently heard statement, "It's only circumstantial evidence" ignorance or wisdom?
The class will meet every other week for two hours, beginning Second Week. The five meeting dates are: January 14,
January 28, February 11, February 25, and March 11.
Professor Binder has been a faculty member of the UCLA Law school since 1970. He received his LL.B. from Stanford in
1959. He currently teaches Civil Procedure and Depositions and Discovery in Complex Litigation. He is a recipient of
both the University's Distinguished Teaching Award and the School of Law's Rutter Award for Excellence in Teaching. He
has spent several summers teaching introductory courses on American law at various universities in China.
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Rethinking National Security
Albert Carnesale, Policy Studies
It has been over a year since the catastrophic terrorist attacks of 9/11 occurred on American soil. The war against terrorism continues to be waged (and possibly expanded) and national security remains at the top of the American political agenda. In a post-Cold War, post-9/11 environment, two fundamental questions regarding national security arise: (1) what are the near-term threats to the security of the U.S. and other nations?; and (2) how might those threats best be met? Topics include: national interests; organizing for national security; weapons of mass destruction; terrorist threats; and the tension between national security and civil liberties.
Albert Carnesale is Chancellor of UCLA. He holds faculty appointments in the School of Public Policy and Social Research and in the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science. An expert on foreign and defense policy, Dr. Carnesale has co-authored six books, and has authored or co-authored more than 50 articles. He has also consulted regularly for several U.S. Government agencies, and has led or participated in numerous high-level U.S. diplomatic delegations.
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Remembering through Landscape -
Place and Memory in Los Angeles
Denis Cosgrove, Geography
Debate over reconstructing the 9/11 attack site in New York has foregrounded the tensions between honoring memory
in place and continued everyday use of location. The seminar explores the relations between place and memory,
using a number of specific sites in Los Angeles. The seminar will meet every other week for two hours, beginning
Second Week. The five meeting dates are: January 16, January 30, February 13, February 27, and March 13, beginning
with a consideration of general questions in the first meeting, followed by three site visits to locations within 30
minutes drive from campus. The final class meeting will review the questions posed in Week One in the light of site
study.
Denis Cosgrove is Alexander von Humboldt Professor of Geography. His writings explore the making and meanings of
landscape and the ways that actual and imagined places express ideas, ideals and cultural values. He teaches the
introductory Cultural Geography 3 course at UCLA and Upper Division courses on Cultural Geography, and the history
of geographical maps and images. His latest book: Apollo's Eye (Johns Hopkins UP, 2001) explores the history and
meaning of 'seeing' the whole earth as a globe.
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The Origin of Modern Humans: Who Are We and Why Are We the Dominant Species on This Planet?
Gail Kennedy, Anthropology
This course will introduce students to some of the major questions, evidence and ideas concerning the origin of modern
humans. In particular, we will look at the competing theories which seek to explain the origin of modern humans, the
origins of human language and how the Upper Paleolithic "Revolution" set the stage for the development of
civilization. The class will use a tutorial format, presenting evidence from certain key archaeological sites and
then discussing what inferences may [or may not] be drawn from that evidence.
Gail Kennedy is Associate Professor of Anthropology at UCLA and has participated in excavations at early man sites in
Tanzania, Somalia and in the United States. Her current research is on the origin and evolution of the genus Homo
and her latest book, "Eve" Evolution of a Theory" examines the historical development of the "Out of Africa" or "Eve"
theory of modern human origins; it will be published later this year.
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Perceptions of America from Abroad: Discussions with Visiting Fulbright Scholars
Ann Kerr, Near Eastern Studies
In the aftermath of September 11, Americans have come to realize that we do not know enough about the rest of the
world. We know that the attacks on our country were the acts of sinister and fanatical extremists, but what
conditions in the world are they feeding off of - from what wellspring does their following come? We will have the
opportunity to hear a different Fulbright Scholar each session speaking briefly about his or her country with the
goal of helping us understand how Americans are perceived in their country.
Ann Zwicker Kerr, a native of Southern California, has spent a total of fifteen years living, studying, and teaching
in the Middle East. She was educated at Occidental College, the American University of Beirut, and the American
University of Cairo. She is currently at the University of California in Los Angeles where she coordinates the
Fulbright Visiting Scholar Enrichment Program for Southern California. Ann is the author of Come with Me from
Lebanon: An American Family Odyssey and the forthcoming book Painting the Middle East.
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Drugs, Drug Abuse, and Drug Policy
Mark Kleiman, Policy Studies
Can we really hope for either a drug-free society or an end to the "War on Drugs"? Or must we accept drug abuse, and
efforts to deal with it, as permanent features of the social landscape? What set of drug control policies would
minimize the total damage done, to drug users and others, by drug abuse, illegal drug dealing, and the drug control
effort itself? This course will apply the principles of public policy analysis to an especially tangled set of
issues.
Mark Kleiman is Professor of Policy Studies and Director of the UCLA Drug Policy Analysis Program. He is the editor
of the Drug Policy Analysis Bulletin and the author of Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results. Professor Kleiman
served as Director of Policy and Management Analysis for the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and
as Deputy Director for Management for the Office of Management and Budget for the City of Boston. He is active in
advising governments in the United States and abroad on drug policy.
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Knowledge and Its Categories:
Terrorism and Invisible Holocausts
in the Twenty-first Century
Vinay Lal, History
The 20th Century was most likely the most violent era in history; and yet, though this is much less noticed, at least
as many people died in the name of "development" as did in various wars and civil conflicts. Every set of statistics
points to widening inequalities, within nations and between nations; and a group of radical scholars and thinkers has
argued that violence in the twenty-first century will increasingly be exercised through the categories with which
social scientists work, including "development", "poverty", "human rights", "terrorism", and many others. The
holocausts of the future will be increasingly invisible, accomplished with the intention of eliminating poverty and
scarcity, increasing tolerance, and so on. This course will introduce students to these thinkers who have argued
that the social sciences will create new forms of oppression.
Vinay Lal obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, and is presently Associate Professor of History. He
writes on modern Indian history, the Indian diaspora, popular culture, colonialism, the politics of sexuality, and the
global politics of knowledge. His most recent works include The Empire of Knowledge: Culture and Plurality in the
Global Economy (London: Pluto Press, 2002) and (edited) Dissenting Knowledges, Open Futures (Delhi: Oxford,
2000).
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Creating Identity from Traditional Culture
Larry L. Loeher, Geography
Nation states in the South Pacific have struggled with issues of how to construct national identity after the end of
formal political colonization (mostly post-WWII.) "Traditional Culture" has been used to this end, sometimes at odds
with culture as practiced and experienced. External stereotypes of Pacific "Paradise", developed in part for the
tourism industry, further compound the effort towards self-definition. This seminar will look at how the concepts
of "traditional culture", especially of Polynesia, are defined, displayed, and exploited.
Larry Loeher is Associate Vice Provost for Instructional Development at UCLA. He received his PhD in Geography, and
has supported and led student field research efforts to Samoa, Australia, New Caledonia, the Cook Islands, and Wallis
and Futuna. His research interests include media documentation of cultural representation, as well as the impact of
the tourist industry on the environment and on local community culture.
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Student Activism and Social Change
in the Academy
Robert Rhoads, Education
This course explores the role college students have played in confronting larger social issues through direct action.
In particular, the course will focus on student contributions to social change from the 1960s to present. This
seminar will meet for 2 hours every other week beginning in Second Week. The class will meet in weeks: second, fourth,
sixth, eighth, and tenth.
Professor Robert Rhoads is an Associate Professor of Education specializing in social movements in higher
education.
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Utopias and Dystopias
in the Western Tradition
Teofilo F. Ruiz, History
This course will examine of how different thinkers (from Antiquity to the Present) have imagined a world in which
justice, equality, property, freedom, and gender-equality will be the norm. At the same time, the course looks at
dystopian works that imagine the future as a nightmare. Readings include Plato's Republic, Thomas More's
Utopia and Huxley's Brave New World.
A student of Joseph R. Strayer, Teo received his Ph.D. from Princeton in 1974 and has taught at Brooklyn College, the
CUNY Graduate Center, the University of Michigan, the Ecole des hautes Etudes en Sicences Sociales and Princeton - as
250th Anniversary Visiting Professor for Distinguished Teaching--before coming to UCLA in July 1998. A scholar of the
social and cultural (popular culture) of late medieval and early modern Castile, Teo Ruiz is now completing two books:
the first one, A Social History of Spain, 1400-1600, will be published by Longman. The second, From Heaven
to Earth: The Reordering of Castilian Society in the Late Middle Ages, is forthcoming from Princeton University
Press.
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LGBT is Not a Sandwich, or Straight Talk about Gay Issues in America
Ronni Sanlo, Education
The course explores the ways in which American culture is affected by sexual orientation and gender identity issues.
Topics include an overview of the historical perspective; legal and political issues specifically relating to
education; sexual identity develop; the impact of bullying and harassment in schools and colleges; the relationship
between sexual orientation discrimination and all other forms of discrimination; how to be an ally; and the impact of
sexual orientation issues on all people regardless of their sexual orientation.
Ronni Sanlo is the director of the UCLA LGBT Campus Resource Center and lecturer in the Graduate School of Education.
Her three books - Working with LGBT College Students: A Handbook for Faculty and Administrators; Unheard
Voices: The Effects of Silence on Lesbian and Gay Educators; and Our Place on Campus are published by
Greenwood Press. Ronni is the originator of the award-winning Lavender Graduation, an event that celebrates the lives
and achievements of LGBT students. Ronni lives on the campus of UCLA as a member of the Faculty-in-Residence program.
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Isaac Encounters Ishmael: On the Relationship between Islam and Judaism
Chaim Seidler-Feller, Sociology and Near Eastern Languages and Cultures
An analysis of Islamic teachings regarding Jews and Judaism and of the image of Ishmael and of Islam in Jewish
sources. Issues to be addressed include: the myth of a perpetual "Golden Age", holy war, commonalities and
divergences between the two religious traditions, the centrality of Jerusalem in both Islam and Judaism, Maimonodies'
unique perspective on Islam, and the fate of the Jews under Islamic rule as compared with their experience in
Christian Europe. Qur'anic, Biblical and historical source materials in translation will be utilized throughout.
Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller is in his twenty-seventh year at UCLA Hillel as director. He previously served as Hillel
Director at Ohio State and as Rabbi of Congregation Ahavat Achim, New Bedford, Massachusetts. He was ordained in
1971 at Yeshiva University where he also earned a Masters Degree in Rabbinic Literature. Rabbi Seidler-Feller is a
lecturer in the Departments of Sociology and Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at UCLA where he teaches courses on
the "Jewish Experience in Contemporary America", on the "Social, Cultural, and Religious Institutions of Judaism" and
on "Philosophers and Mystics.
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Conflict and International Peacekeeping
in the 1990s
William R. Summerhill, History
Seminar examines the post-cold war military interventions that were designed to create peace and stability in warring
regions. Special attention is given to the political context of intervention decisions, and to measures of success
that can be applied to evaluate each intervention.
William Summerhill is Associate Professor of History, and teaches courses on Latin America, Brazil, and economic
history. He received his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1995.
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American Rivers: History
of Environmental Change
Stanley W. Trimble, Geography
This course will seek to give a basic understanding of rivers and see how the agency of humans has changed them,
especially since European settlement.
Stanley W. Trimble is a hydrologist/fluvial geomorphologist/historical geographer who specializes in streams and
the historical American landscape. He has taught at UCLA (since 1975), Oxford, Vienna, and Chicago.
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Cryptography Today
Don Blasius, Mathematics
Cryptography is the vital science that takes on the ever increasingly complex challenges of secure communication in a
world of fast computer networks and well-educated, resourceful enemies. Solutions too many problems are based upon
fundamental and beautiful structures of mathematics, especially those of algebra and number theory. In this seminar
we will learn about the basic real-world problems of cryptography and introduce the mathematics used to address them.
No mathematical background is presumed.
Professor Don Blasius is a mathematician whose research concerns the theory of numbers. He is well-known for theorems
relating number theory and geometry, in the setting of modular forms. He has taught at Columbia, Yale, and UCLA, and
is a regular speaker at international meetings. His most recent paper (2002) is entitled Elliptic Curves, Hilbert
Modular Forms, and the Hodge Conjecture.
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Severe Weather
Robert Fovell, Atmospheric Sciences
We shall examine severe weather phenomena such as thunderstorms, tornadoes and hurricanes, emphasizing cause and consequence. We'll see which atmospheric conditions are conducive to severe weather, where it occurs, why water vapor is the "fuel" of storms, why "squall lines" can persist so long, how "supercells" acquires rotation, how tornadoes may form, why downbursts are an aviation hazard, and what gives rise to hurricanes. Emphasis is placed on how severe weather is simulated as much of our current understanding has come from computer models.
Robert Fovell is Associate Professor of Atmospheric Sciences. His research involves numerical modeling of storms and related phenomena. He received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Illinois and joined the UCLA faculty in 1991. His hobbies include photography and hiking. He finds violent atmospheric motions exciting and crustal movements terrifying.
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Deadly Terror
Ralph R. Frerichs, Epidemiology
Smallpox and anthrax should have been long forgotten. Yet in recent years, both diseases have gripped the world stage as agents of bioterror. Different from biologic warfare which attempts to kill, bioterrorism thrives on public fear, potentially immobilizing or demoralizing a population. The seminar will focus on these two diseases, including the pathogens, impact on patients, and potential threat to the well-being of our society. The discussion will address ways to counter fears through public knowledge, and purposeful scientific and political action.
Following the devastation of September 11, 2001, and the ensuing anthrax outbreak, Professor Ralph R. Frerichs became acutely interested in bioterrorism, creating a special website on this topic. Frerichs has been teaching epidemiology at UCLA for nearly 25 years and was chair of the department for 13 years. During his long career he focused on a variety of health issues including cardiovascular diseases, epidemiologic computer applications, environmental problems, depression, HIV surveillance and testing, and health problems of developing countries.
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Does the Biosphere Have a Future?
If It Does Not, Do We?
Malcolm S. Gordon, Organismic Biology, Ecology, and Evolution
Physical destruction of the natural environment, spreading of exotic and invasive species, human-induced global
climate change - what can we do to avoid ecological catastrophe for the living world, including us?
Professor Gordon has been a birdwatcher and fishwatcher since he was a teenager. He has made his professional
career by doing both in organized and systematic ways. He has spent a great deal of time and effort, since he first
came to UCLA, on helping to make UCLA and our students more aware of and involved with environmental issues. This
course is another part of that effort. Help yourself, and the environment, by learning more about current issues
and problems.
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Shots for Tots: Science and Ethics of U.S. and Global Childhood Immunization Programs
Eric L. Hurwitz, Epidemiology
Vaccines prevent disease, yet opposition and safety concerns are rising. Personal values or perception of harm may
conflict with public-health goals. Scientific evidence of risk/benefit and ethical issues of vaccine policies will
be explored.
Eric Hurwitz is Assistant Professor In-Residence in the Department of Epidemiology. His research focuses on
psychosocial and behavioral factors in pain and depression, and the effects of immune stimulation on physical and
mental well-being.
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The Psychology of Eating
Traci Mann, Psychology
The Hua Tribe of Papua, New Guinea defines the word 'everything' as 'that which can be eaten, and that which cannot.'
And indeed, eating is as central to life as that definition suggests. In this seminar, we will explore the continuum
of human eating behavior, from hunger, starvation, and restraint, to binge eating and obesity. We will read selections
from Ancel Keys' classic book in which he "starved" healthy volunteers and then documented the long-term physical and
psychological consequences. We will also discuss models of obesity, consequences of chronic dieting, effects of stress
on eating, and cognitive and emotional aspects of eating. We will review the evidence on the effectiveness (or
ineffectiveness) of diets, and we will discuss developmental and sociocultural perspectives on how people choose which
foods to eat. Please note: This is not a nutrition or dieting seminar.
Traci Mann is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology. She is a social psychologist with a focus on
health. Her research examines the self-control of eating and other behaviors, the prevention of eating disorders,
and the promotion of body image acceptance.
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Storefront Genome
Edward R.B. McCabe, Departments of Pediatrics and Human Genetics of the David Geffen School of Medicine.
Discussion of the issues raised by commercial interests offering to sequence your entire genome for $1,000. The
current price is $500,000, but technology development will reduce this significantly in the near future. Students
will attend a day-long seminar by international experts on Sunday, January 26, attend one of two workshops on Monday,
January 27, and participate in online case-based discussion of these issues. A mandatory 2-hour preparatory meeting
is scheduled Wednesday, January 15th, 5:00-7:00 p.m., and a mandatory 2- hour concluding meeting is scheduled
Wednesday, February 12th, 5:00 - 7:00 p.m., 4303 Gonda Center.
Dr. McCabe is Professor in the Departments of Pediatrics and Human Genetics of the David Geffen School of Medicine.
He is the Director, of the UCLA Center for Society, the Individual and Genetics. He is a Member of the Institute of
Medicine. He serves as the President of the American College of Medical Genetics and the President of the Western
Society for Pediatric Research. He is board-certified in Pediatrics, Clinical Genetics and Biochemical Genetics.
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Language, Community, and Thought
Michel Melkanoff, Engineering and Applied Science
Language is unique to the human species. In this seminar we shall examine basic functions of language in human
society. We shall also consider how language is acquired (not learned). On the topic of language acquisition we
shall consider aspects of the "window" of language learning during our early years (birth to puberty), the
implication of speaking "like a native" (i.e. proper accent and inflection), and the challenges of living in a
foreign environment. We will discuss the experiences of bilingual or multilingual students, as well as cases of
feral children like Genie (studied at UCLA by Prof Curtiss). Further we will consider the relations between thought
and language, with attention to the possibilities of thinking without language, the range and limits of non-verbal
thought processes (i.e. imagistic or visual thinking, numerical or quantitative thinking, musical thinking).
Professor Melkanoff holds a BS in Aeronautical Engineering and a PhD in theoretical nuclear phusics. He has been in
computers since the early 1950's. He founded the UCLA computer Science Department and was its first chairman. He
developed and taught most of its software courses. He also developed the robotics, CAD-CAM and NC machine
laboratories. He retired in 1991, but came back to teach at UCLA in 1999. His latest interests include human
languages and the philosophy of science.
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Animal Adaptations to Deserts
Kenneth A. Nagy, Organismic Biology, Ecology, and Evolution
Understanding the challenges to survival in extreme environments, and how desert animals live in their stressful
habitat, is one of our goals. A second is to look at the health of deserts in California, and to consider
conservation strategies.
Ken Nagy is a Professor in the Department of Organismic Biology, Ecology and Evolution where he teaches animal
physiology. He does research on the physiology, behavior and ecology of desert animals, mainly reptiles, birds
and mammals living in the Mojave Desert of California and Nevada.
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Darwinian Medicine: How Natural Selection Helps Us Understand Why We Get Sick
Peter Nonacs, Organismic Biology, Ecology, and Evolution
Why do we grow old and die? Why do our own cells sometimes become cancers that grow wildly until they kill themselves
and us? Why does the incidence of birth defects rise so rapidly for women over 35 years old (and it is not because
their eggs are defective)? Questions like these have long puzzled medical science. An exciting new approach to these
"why" questions involves the application of evolutionary principles. In this course we will look at disease and
illness not as constant phenomena, but as having evolved and continuing to evolve through Natural Selection. Evolution
is the fundamental concept that unifies all of modern biology and, perhaps very soon, modern medicine as well.
Peter Nonacs is an Associate Professor in the Department of Organismic Biology, Ecology and Evolution. His main
research interests are in Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. Ongoing research in his lab involves work with
ants, wasps, stream insects, fish, and birds.
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The Psychology of Loneliness and Love
Anne Peplau, Psychology
The pain of loneliness and the joy of love are two sides of the basic human need for social connection. This course
examines how psychologists study loneliness and love. We will discuss basic theories and research findings about each
of these powerful experiences. We will also consider how close relationships affect our physical health and happiness.
Anne Peplau is a professor of social psychology. Her research concerns dating, friendship, marriage and other close
relationships. She is particularly interested in the many ways that gender and culture on contemporary relationships.
She has also studied loneliness among UCLA undergraduates.
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Arts & Humanities