Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Arts and Humanities Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

Faust And The Faustian (Fall 2010), Robert D. Tobin Jan 2010

Faust And The Faustian (Fall 2010), Robert D. Tobin

Syllabi

Faust—the scholar who makes a deal with the devil in order to achieve knowledge, love and power—is one of the great myths of modernity. Faust makes his deal with the devil because he despairs of living in the ivory tower and wants to effect real, positive, change in the world. This course thus gives us a chance to think critically about their own desires to “challenge convention and change the world.” Clark University’s Motto, “Challenge Convention and Change the World,” comes directly out of the Faustian tradition, as does the very conception of a socially activist research university.

A photo …


The National Imagination (Spring 2010), Robert D. Tobin, Belen Atienza, Alice Valentine Jan 2010

The National Imagination (Spring 2010), Robert D. Tobin, Belen Atienza, Alice Valentine

Syllabi

What images make people think of the United States of America? Cowboys? The flag? And are there similar icons in other cultures that help define cultural identity? The National Imagination explores the concept of a national community as constructed and critiqued through literary and cinematic narratives, as well as other cultural texts.

Our underlying premise is that national languages and cultures promote the identity of particular communities. We are interested in examining those subjective expressions of culture—images, symbols, narratives—that lead people to feel that they are members of the communities we call nations. We are also interested in discovering points …