Winter 2022 Humanities Expanded Course Descriptions
- For day, time, room, and TA information, see our PDF schedule or the course search tool https://registrar-apps.ucdavis.edu/courses/search/index.cfm.
- For all courses not listed below, please refer to the General Catalog course descriptions: https://catalog.ucdavis.edu/courses-subject-code/hum/
HUM 002A / Sec 001 Motherhood in Western Culture and History
Professor Jenny Kaminer / CRN 28778
How has the “good” or “bad” mother been defined in Western cultures? How has this definition evolved as a result of historical, religious, scientific, and cultural shifts? This course will explore the answers to these questions in works of both nonfiction and fiction by scholars, writers, filmmakers and mothers themselves. We will chart the development of Western maternal mythology and discuss how it continues to inform our perceptions of motherhood in the contemporary era. During the first half of the course, readings will center on the history of motherhood in the West, from the era B.C. to the twenty-first century. In the second half of the course, our attention will turn to the contemporary experience of motherhood, as relayed in works of fiction, nonfiction, and film. Next, we will examine one of the most enduring maternal myths, that of Medea (the paradigmatic "bad" mother). How does contemporary society continue to imagine the malevolent mother? Finally, using Russia as an example, we will consider the relationship between motherhood and the state. We will analyze how the maternal figure—which occupied a unique and hallowed position in Russian culture—was co-opted by the Soviet government. In our reading and discussion during the second half of the course, we will continue to reflect upon how centuries-old maternal myths still influence cultural representations of motherhood.
HUM 002A / Sec 002 International Crime Fiction
Professor Carlee Arnett / CRN 28779
Do you like to read mysteries? This course on contemporary crime fiction will introduce you to the genre’s newest and most exciting detectives! Smilla Japersen of Denmark investigates the death of a Greenlandic boy, while fighting her own demons and feelings about her Greenlandic heritage. In Palestine, Rania Bakara struggles to solve a murder on the Israeli border as the only female detective on the West Bank. Meanwhile in North Korea, Inspector O fights against political forces to solve a murder in a prominent park while wishing he could calm his mind with his beloved polished pieces of wood. In South Africa in the 1950’s, English speaking Detective Emmanuel Cooper navigates between the English and Afrikaner settlers and the local native tribes to stop crime on the border with Madagascar. Written by authors who have lived in the countries portrayed, we will explore how these mysteries add to the Noir genre that was reborn in the past 20 years in Scandinavia. This course is worldwide Noir!
- No prerequisites