HPSS Courses
HPSS S271-101
QUEER AND FEMINIST FUTURES
SECTION DESCRIPTION
Queer + Feminist Futures explores critical questions about power, knowledge, body, identity, community, and social change through collective immersion into the intertwined sites of feminist/queer theory and feminist/queer world-making practices. Drawing on the inter/anti-disciplinary methods of gender and sexuality studies, we will ask what feminist and queer futures look like and what histories and legacies (personal, political, ecological) we must reckon with in order to co-create those futures. Our approach will take up the critical tools of reflective writing and creative expression to explore key queer/feminist texts and examine archival and popular sources from art, music, film, social media, and more. By interrogating the past/future binary, Queer + Feminist Futures proposes a non-binary method of thought and action that reflects the nuance and vitality queer/feminist life.
Elective
HPSS S439-01
POLITICAL ECONOMY OF GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAINS
SECTION DESCRIPTION
How do goods/products get from producers to consumers? Global supply chains are involved in the global system of organizations, people, processes, and resources that transform raw materials into finished products. Additionally, these complex processes and networks are responsible for delivering finished products to consumers. In this course, we will first lay a foundation for understanding global supply chains, drawing from political science, economics, and management. Next, we will engage in critical analysis of the process and network with respect to issues that include human rights, gender, the environment, and labor standards. We will correspondingly examine the roles of actors such as governments, firms, consumers, international organizations, and non-governmental organizations involved in global supply chains. This course adopts the flipped classroom approach, requiring students to spend one class session a week preparing for active learning activities in the second class session of the week.
Prerequisite: HPSS-S101 for Undergraduate Students
Elective
HPSS S439-02
POLITICAL ECONOMY OF GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAINS
SECTION DESCRIPTION
How do goods/products get from producers to consumers? Global supply chains are involved in the global system of organizations, people, processes, and resources that transform raw materials into finished products. Additionally, these complex processes and networks are responsible for delivering finished products to consumers. In this course, we will first lay a foundation for understanding global supply chains, drawing from political science, economics, and management. Next, we will engage in critical analysis of the process and network with respect to issues that include human rights, gender, the environment, and labor standards. We will correspondingly examine the roles of actors such as governments, firms, consumers, international organizations, and non-governmental organizations involved in global supply chains. This course adopts the flipped classroom approach, requiring students to spend one class session a week preparing for active learning activities in the second class session of the week.
Prerequisite: HPSS-S101 for Undergraduate Students
Elective
HPSS S443-01
DISEASE IN HISTORY
SECTION DESCRIPTION
Through a survey of history's great pandemics this course addresses, from an historical perspective, humanity's response to the appearance and spread of epidemic diseases. While the biological aspects surrounding the contraction and spread of epidemic diseases will be discussed, this course will concern itself primarily with the transnational, environmental, and technological factors that have promoted and sustained regional or world-wide outbreaks of epidemic disease. Specific topics addressed in this course include: the connection between climatic or environmental conditions and the spread of disease; displacement, migration, and disease; and the development and evolution of medical institutions, quarantines, and public health systems.
Prerequisite: HPSS-S101 for Undergraduate Students
Elective
HPSS S450-01
MATRIX OF WISDOM: PHILOSOPHY & SCI-FI
SECTION DESCRIPTION
Philosophy, the quest for wisdom, seeks answers to life's deepest and most enduring questions. How should we live? What is the truth? What is real? What and who are we in a universe of things unlike ourselves? At its core, philosophy is a discursive, argumentative probing that pokes at our fundamental assumptions about the world. The philosophical mind, of course, welcomes the challenge. In addition to philosophers raising these questions, fiction has been a vehicle for raising these issues and challenging the status quo mindset of its readers. Science fiction in particular, has long been occupied with questions regarding man's place in the universe and the limits and potentials of science. While such philosophical probity rarely makes for great television viewing, there are a few shows, such as Star Trek, The X-Files and others, that are distinguished by their consistent philosophical texts in conjunction with the study and discussion of selected episodes from these extraordinary television series. Participation, several short papers and group presentations are required.
Prerequisite: HPSS-S101 for Undergraduate Students
Elective
HPSS S462-01
QUEER OF COLOR CRITIQUE
SECTION DESCRIPTION
This seminar examines the theoretical framework of Queer of Color Critique (QoCC). QoCC is a mode of analysis grounded in the lived experiences of queer, trans, people of color. It has been used to interrogate the intersections of race, gender, class, nation, and diaspora as a response to the inherent whiteness in queer theory and the persistent heterosexism in ethnic/race studies. Students will learn the foundational theory of QoCC. Students will assess various forms of media using a QoCC lens. This course will include short and long form writing assignments as well as in depth class discussions.
Prerequisite: HPSS-S101 for Undergraduate Students
Elective
HPSS S464-01
RESEARCH SEMINAR
SECTION DESCRIPTION
This experimental course offers students the opportunity to seriously explore some topic or question in history, philosophy, or one of the social sciences, which has a bearing on their degree project. Students will be guided through the process of formulating a research project, identifying the relevant literature, critically reading that literature, and working out how the HPSS material (content and/or methodology) can deepen and enrich their studio practice. We'll look at some artists and designers who have made these sorts of connections and but spend most of the time in discussion of student work. Coursework will be tailored to the needs of individual participants. To obtain permission to register for the course, send an email to the instructor with the following information: your name, major, year in school (junior, senior, graduate student), and a description of (a) your studio degree project, as you currently conceive of it, and (b) the area, topic, or question in history, philosophy, or the social sciences that you want to explore.
Prerequisite: HPSS-S101 for Undergraduate Students.
Elective
HPSS S486-01
MULTICULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY
SECTION DESCRIPTION
Multicultural Psychology is more than just understanding and appreciating diversity, it's about the influence that a multicultural world has on individuals and social systems that exist within it. Together we will explore the social constructs of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, class, and ability through readings, videos, in-class activities, and class discussion. Informed by psychological theory and research, we will examine the impact that these labels have on a person's identity development, societal positioning, and mental and physical health and well-being. By the end of the class, students will be able to explain the advantages and challenges that individuals and societies face as we become more interconnected in a diverse world.
HPSS-S101 is a prerequisite for undergraduates.
Elective
HPSS S494-01
BUYING THE AMERICAN DREAM: AMERICAN CONSUMER CULTURE
SECTION DESCRIPTION
The health of the American economy and, at times, the strength of our spirit as a people are measured by how much we spend on consumer goods. Both individually and collectively, we are defined not only by what we purchase, but by the act of shopping itself. How did we become a nation of citizen consumers? What drives consumer demand? Already in the late 19th century, middle-class values were shifting from thrift to indulgence, though we remained a producer nation for much of the 20th century. Nonetheless, the steady decline of manufacturing in the United States and the outsourcing of production in an increasingly globalized context have done little to cool our love affair with consumer goods. Using an interdisciplinary American Studies approach that explores the intersections of history, politics, material culture, gender and sexuality, class, race, religion, immigration and ethnicity, and the built environment, this course examines the nature and expansion of mass consumption, the democratization of desire, the meanings attached to consumer goods and the act of spending, the role of technology and advertising, and the impact of mass consumption upon the built environment. We will investigate consumption patterns over time among women, people of color, immigrants and their descendants, sexual minorities, and youth. Studies of consumption within ethnic communities, in particular, suggest the creation of transnational identities. As a result, we will also explore globalized consumer products and patterns. Finally, the course will look at the various kinds of controls to which American consumerism has been subjected.
Prerequisite: HPSS-S101 for Undergraduate Students
Elective
HPSS S518-01
SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
SECTION DESCRIPTION
Have you ever wondered how social situations guide how we think about and act toward others, what determines who we love and who we hate, how we form attitudes about our own and others behavior, what determines whether we will help or hurt others, or how we construct knowledge about the self? If so, social psychology addresses these questions and many more. Social psychology is the science of how others influence the way people think, feel, and act. The aim of this course is to familiarize you with current and classic research and theory in social psychology, help you to develop critical thinking skills about social-psychological phenomena, and stimulate you to think about the implications of social-psychological research for everyday living. For this course, students will complete readings from a textbook and articles. There be will be four quizzes and a final project applying one concept within social psychology to everyday life.
Prerequisite: HPSS-S101 for Undergraduate Students
Elective
HPSS S526-01
SEM: PHILOSOPHY OF DEATH
SECTION DESCRIPTION
HPSS S528-01
REFUGEES, MIGRANTS, AND DISPLACED PEOPLE
SECTION DESCRIPTION
Millions of people around the world have been forced from their homes by interlinked factors including persecution, armed conflict and war, natural disasters, structural violence, and development projects. The seminar explores the “refugee” and “migrant” status and examines the refugee crisis and forced migration in a global perspective and through an interdisciplinary lens. It provides a historical background of the formation of the “refugee” concept going back to inter-war Europe and placing emphasis both on its construction in international law and on the precarious state that refugees and migrants face today globally through various case studies. The seminar also addresses the politics of humanitarianism, the role of international organizations, especially UNHCR, and the securitization of human rights as well as the ethnic, gendered, and religious identities being reshaped by forced displacement.
The course is organized both chronologically and thematically, to understand the ways in which global migration and contemporary refugee crises have changed over time, highlighting continuities and ruptures especially in the construction of the refugee and the migrant as the “other.” Lectures and readings provide a global perspective but focus on regional case studies, often using a comparative and transdisciplinary framework. Similarly, writing assignments, lectures, and class materials will draw upon international relations, anthropology, gender studies, sociology, and history, and examine different types of sources, including academic books and journal articles, first-person narratives, and visual resources.
Prerequisite: HPSS-S101 for Undergraduate Students
Elective
HPSS S539-01
BUDDHISM AND SOCIETY
SECTION DESCRIPTION
This course is an exploration of the ways in which Buddhist philosophy and religious practice, and the commercial works of Buddhist temples, shape societies both where Buddhists are a majority and minority. In this lecture-based course, we will explore the diverse manifestations of Buddhist doctrines, practices, and institutions across a wide array of socio-historical contexts. More specifically, we will learn about how Buddhist communities, artistic conventions, narrative traditions, and cosmological understandings have been influenced by, and exercise effects upon, distinct historical, economic, political, and cultural settings. Our functional premise is that religion is never divorced from its time and place, and also that Buddhist thought makes its way into countless objects, legends, and cultural productions even outside of Buddhist communities. Apart from reading texts from the disciplinary perspectives of religious studies, history, and anthropology, we will also engage with the impressive collection of Buddhist artefacts at the RISD museum and take part in field trips to interact with practitioners at two Buddhist centers in the Greater Providence Area. Evaluations will include (but are not limited to) regular written assignments, brief quizzes, and an end-of-term debate concerning a topic pertinent to the course’s themes.
Prerequisite: HPSS-S101 for Undergraduate Students.
Elective
HPSS S539-01
BUDDHISM AND SOCIETY
SECTION DESCRIPTION
This course is an exploration of the ways in which Buddhist philosophy and religious practice, and the commercial works of Buddhist temples, shape societies both where Buddhists are a majority and minority. In this lecture-based course, we will explore the diverse manifestations of Buddhist doctrines, practices, and institutions across a wide array of socio-historical contexts. More specifically, we will learn about how Buddhist communities, artistic conventions, narrative traditions, and cosmological understandings have been influenced by, and exercise effects upon, distinct historical, economic, political, and cultural settings. Our functional premise is that religion is never divorced from its time and place, and also that Buddhist thought makes its way into countless objects, legends, and cultural productions even outside of Buddhist communities. Apart from reading texts from the disciplinary perspectives of religious studies, history, and anthropology, we will also engage with the impressive collection of Buddhist artefacts at the RISD museum and take part in field trips to interact with practitioners at two Buddhist centers in the Greater Providence Area. Evaluations will include (but are not limited to) regular written assignments, brief quizzes, and an end-of-term debate concerning a topic pertinent to the course’s themes.
Prerequisite: HPSS-S101 for Undergraduates.
Elective
HPSS S656-01
INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY
SECTION DESCRIPTION
As the study of behavior and mental processes, psychology allows us to better understand how people think, feel and act. This introductory course provides a broad overview of the major content areas within the field of psychology (e.g., physiological, developmental, social and cognitive psychology) and will introduce you to the psychological theories and research used to understand human behavior. We will cover a wide variety of topics, including how people learn, process and store information, why people possess distinct personalities, how social situations and cultural norms affect our behavior, how we grow and develop throughout our lives, etc. Throughout the course we will critically evaluate the merit of classic psychological theory and research in understanding people's thoughts, feelings and actions in real world situations. This course will provide a broad knowledge base for those interested in taking upper level psychology classes.
Prerequisite: HPSS-S101 for Undergraduate Students
Elective
HPSS S731-01
SOCIOLOGY & POLICITAL ECONOMY OF DESIGN & ARCHITECTURE
SECTION DESCRIPTION
Designers and architects are constantly making objects, systems, services, infrastructures but they are also involved in dream making, desire shaping and negotiating power relations. The aim of this class is to introduce students in an accessible way to the wide-ranging insights that a sociology of design and architecture offers for understanding and evaluating the contours of our current designed economies and possible future designed worlds. We will explore design and architecture as forms of classed, raced and gendered labor and look at the tensions that have long existed between professional designers and publics. We will consider the ways in which the mainstream design industry is shaped by and a shaper of politics and culture and consider how it is embedded within and maintains markets, fossil capitalism, consumer culture and colonialism. We will appraise what sociologists and design theorists have to say about possible future design economies and societies based on digital surveillance, automation/robotics, and bio/geo-engineering. Finally, we will critically examine at a range of critical design social movements: from design justice to decolonial designers, feminist designers to designs for decarbonization and sustainable transitions which argue more just and ecological design worlds are still possible.
Prerequisite: HPSS-S101 for Undergraduate Students
Elective
HPSS S731-02
SOCIOLOGY & POLICITAL ECONOMY OF DESIGN & ARCHITECTURE
SECTION DESCRIPTION
Designers and architects are constantly making objects, systems, services, infrastructures but they are also involved in dream making, desire shaping and negotiating power relations. The aim of this class is to introduce students in an accessible way to the wide-ranging insights that a sociology of design and architecture offers for understanding and evaluating the contours of our current designed economies and possible future designed worlds. We will explore design and architecture as forms of classed, raced and gendered labor and look at the tensions that have long existed between professional designers and publics. We will consider the ways in which the mainstream design industry is shaped by and a shaper of politics and culture and consider how it is embedded within and maintains markets, fossil capitalism, consumer culture and colonialism. We will appraise what sociologists and design theorists have to say about possible future design economies and societies based on digital surveillance, automation/robotics, and bio/geo-engineering. Finally, we will critically examine at a range of critical design social movements: from design justice to decolonial designers, feminist designers to designs for decarbonization and sustainable transitions which argue more just and ecological design worlds are still possible.
Prerequisite: HPSS-S101 for Undergraduate Students
Elective
HPSS S732-01
WITNESS TREE PROJECT
SECTION DESCRIPTION
Witness trees, as designated by the National Park Service, are long-standing trees that have witnessed key events, trends, and people in history. In this joint studio/liberal arts course, students have the unique opportunity to study and work with a fallen witness tree, shipped to RISD from a national historic site. The course will involve three components:
1) a field trip to the tree's site at the beginning of the semester
2) classroom-based exploration of American history, memory, landscape, and material culture
3) studio-based building of a series of objects from the tree's wood, in response to both the site and students' classroom study
Overall, the course will explore both how material artifacts shape historical understanding and how historical knowledge can create meaningful design.
This is a co-requisite course. Students must register for HPSS-S732 and FD-2451.
Open to Sophomore, Junior, Senior or Graduate Students.
Elective
HPSS W156-101
THE MEANING OF LIFE
SECTION DESCRIPTION
The question, What is the meaning of life? is unclear in large measure because the word "meaning" is ambiguous. The various ways "meaning" can be construed, both objectively and subjectively, in everyday life and in the philosophical arena will be explored. Literature, film, and philosophical texts will be used as vehicles to illuminate how reflection, experience, and transitions through life's stages influence assignment of value to one's existence.
Electi
HPSS W157-101
YOU MUST BE JOKING! THE PHILOSOPHY OF LAUGHTER
SECTION DESCRIPTION
Explain a joke; kill it? We'll keep it alive on life support in this short philosophical survey of what's funny. We will consider a range of theories of laughter and humor, from both analytic and practical perspective. To evaluate these theories, we will apply them to various types of humor, such as comedies, jokes, and especially in visual illustration such as cartoons, and the like. The serious business of analysis will share the stage with our engagement with funny business as well as creating our own. Throughout, we will consider the ethical issues of humor and laughter as they arise in the theories and the practices of humor. Course requires a sense of humor and will involve active participation, even performing humor. Several papers and a project of either analyzing something comedic or developing your own.
Elective