In Search of the Perfect Elective

There are hundreds of courses in the catalog and only six days to shop. We've whittled the field down to 11 delectable electives.

Swing Into Class

Literature and Arts B-80: "The Swing Era" entices students with jazz, dance and merriment.

Swing Into Class

"People will leave the course being seriously addicted to this stuff," says Robert D. Levin, the course's instructor and Robinson professor of the humanities. "They will have a sense of when jazz advanced from something at research centers and became the national popular music."

The course will study the history of American jazz since the 1930s. Levin says he plans to discuss the presence of improvisation and the relationship of society and music that developed as a result of jazz--and the historical context of the jazz movement.

The course begins by answering the somewhat philosophical question: What is swing?

Levin will then lecture on instruments and style. The course will also focus on the differences between the "great black bands" like those of Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington as well as comparison with "the white bands," including Glenn Miller and Artie Shaw.

Levin says that the goal of the course is to give people an appreciation for the unique nature of jazz music.

"The sense of the brashness created the sense of excitement," Levin says. "The astonishing virtuosity that the musicians brought to what they did is amazing. The point is to give people a sense of what these elements are. There were really marvelous musicians in this era."

Levin, who has in past years taught the course "Chamber Music," says that the course will begin in Sanders Theatre and may change locations depending on enrollment, which he anticipates will be high.

And as for swing dancing, Levin says that he has not ruled out the possibility of just such an activity to spice up the course. Lectures will also include listening and watching movies.

Our Bodies, Our Selves

Anthropology 138: "The Behavioral Biology of Women" focuses on the ecological and evolutionary processes which made women, women.

Our Bodies, Our Selves

"The course focuses on differences in sex, sex roles and reproduction," says assistant professor of anthropology Cheryl D. Knott. "But we also talk about men's sex roles."

The course analyzes the way that females act female--in terms of evolution by natural selection and the "physiological, ecological and social aspects of women's development from puberty, through reproductive processes such as pregnancy, birth, lactation, to menopause and aging."

Knott says that the goal of the course is to try to explain the life cycle of the female and the aging process as a result of biological maturation.

She says that the other schools have offered similar courses and that Harvard did not have a course about female reproduction.

"The first part sets up evolutionary theory," Knott says. "The middle part goes through sexuality, lactation and parenting, and the end deals with menopause and aging."

Knott says that the course is not a new concept, though she hopes to reach a wider audience with issues that she feels are important to both men and women.

"In a given lecture, I'll talk about what's going on physiologically and then about the evolution and the fact that humans are primates and how they developed," she says. "In every lecture, I talk about both the behavioral and cultural aspects of development."

Knott says that for part of the course she lectures on issues that are pertinent to college students.

"At the end we talk about more current issues, like birth control, stress, female body image issues and eating disorders," she says.

Early Modern Theories of Everything

Literature and Arts A-72: "The Enlightenment Invention of the Modern Self" studies texts from the 18th century, with the aim of tracing the development of the "self" through traditional philosophy and religion.

For those whose telos for an education includes the Great Books, this class is a dream come true.

Mme. de Lafayette, Boswell, Voltaire, Gibbon, Diderot, Rousseau, Laclos, Goethe, Wollstonecraft and Blake are all part of the program, according to the syllabus.

"I have taught various seminar versions of the class over the years," says Bernbaum Professor of English Leo Damrosch. "But the majority of them were for graduate students."

Damrosch says that he has always wanted to teach the course as a larger lecture. The Core was willing to oblige.

"It was a successful seminar, and I taught it last summer in the summer school as a trial run," Damrosch says. "It seemed that there was a general interest in the subject."

The weighty subject--the self--means students will be asked to scrutinize the assigned texts. No breezy scans permitted.

The coursework turns from the early-modern to the modern when Damrosch discusses the work of philosopher Charles Taylor, who writes about "the senses of inwardness, freedom, individuality and being embedded in nature which are at home in the modern West."

Damrosch says he will present the idea that the "self" is conditioned as a product of society, so true freedom of action isn't much of a reality.

Sounds a bit trendy. But Damrosch says he'll make sure the class sticks to its traditional English roots.

"Modern theorists have much to tell us about this subject," he writes in the syllabus, "but rather than permit the interpretation of texts to be controlled by recent theoretical paradigms, the course will go back behind them to consider the seedbed from which modern concepts originally grew."

Papa. Puh-pah. Pappy.

Linguistics 80: "Dialects of English" studies all varieties of English spoken in the world today, both American and international.

"I decided to develop the class four years ago, when it became clear to me that there was a lot of interest among the undergraduate population as a whole in language and the study of language," says Bert R. Vaux, an assistant professor of linguistics. "But we were not addressing this interest in our departmental course offerings."

The course will study dialects such as "Boston," "New York," "Southern" and "Valley Girl." As if!

But English has always been an international language. Dialects in Australia, Singapore and India will also be studied, Vaux says. Native speakers will demonstrate the various dialects in class.

Vaux says that he felt that Harvard needed courses that examine an area that he thinks all students find interesting.

Without being overly formal, he says, the course will study "proper" versus "improper" speech, the changing of language and how it is processed by the brain. The course will also study how language is used differently by men and women.

Vaux says that though the course has had an enrollment of almost 300 in the past, he has managed to integrate interaction with students into the lecture environment.

He says his favorite part of the course is bringing in native speakers of the various dialects.

"I try to bring in a native speaker of every variety of English we cover, which is what I find most enjoyable about the course."

An Artsy Elective

Economics and entertainment are not often mentioned in the same sentence, but Richard E. Caves, Popes professor of political economy, aims to explore the connection in Economics 1630: "Economics and the Arts."

An Artsy Elective

Students will study the structure of deals and contract theory by analyzing the combination of acting, writing and contractual forces in the performing arts.

Additional lectures will focus on public policy issues, including whether the performing arts should be subsidized and if foreign countries should promote native works by discouraging the importation of American works.

"It deals with some questions about economics that are just not touched anywhere else," Caves says. "Normally we worry about the GNP or about the Internet or about respectable industries like pharmaceuticals... It's an application of economics to a corner that doesn't usually see much economics."

What IS he wearing?

Sociology 150: "The Social Underpinnings of Taste" investigates the way in which our tastes are influenced by social factors, such as class, politics, age and education.

What IS he wearing?

Lowell Professor of Sociology Stanley Lieberson says that although he began his career as a specialist in race relations, he gradually became interested in the concept of names and the social factors that influence their selection.

"For most of my career I worked on race and ethnic relations," he says. "I then became interested in the topic of first names. It hit me as an interesting social phenomenon."

The class begins with an overview of why people's tastes change over time and then moves on to theories of taste and of fashion.

Lieberson will move on to a discussion of long-term influences on taste through a study of sociological theory.

The second part of the course involves applications of the theories into other areas of life. The physical appearance of women and ideals of feminine beauty are studied, along with conceptions of music, advertising and media and their influences on society.

Lieberson says that "Underpinnings" originated as a conference course and gradually evolved into a lecture that is quite popular among students, according to the CUE guide.

He likes to add a personal element to the class by encouraging discussion and student participation.

"I do like to have discussion in the lecture course, and I find that to be a valuable thing for both the class and myself," Lieberson says. "A lot of what we learn, we learn from interaction. By discussing it, I think students see things better that they wouldn't really understand otherwise."

Minding Others' Business

People who avoid the library were not necessarily born bad students, according to Professor Ellen J. Langer. Their poor study habits are merely the product of a negative environment.

Minding Others' Business

At least, that's the idea behind Psychology 15: "Social Psychology."

"Most people think what they do is a function of who they are, whereas a large part [of what we do] is where we find ourselves," she says. "The real or imagined presence of other people influences our behavior."

The course has a broad scope, explaining topics like obedience to authority, decision-making and social awareness.

"Mindfulness," Langer's specialty, is her favorite lecture because it shows students how to increase awareness.

"Much of the time people aren't thinking and are mindless," she says.

Because the topic is so applicable to a range of careers, from law to education, she says she hopes students will apply what they learn to other subjects and encourages non-psychology concentrators in the course.

"Math majors are sometimes more appealing because of the different perspective they bring to section," Langer adds.

Langer says she welcomes participation, with Tuesdays scheduled for lectures and Thursdays divided between lecture and discussion.

By the end of the semester, Langer hopes students will understand that social situations control behavior.

But just don't try using a negative environment as an excuse for slacking off in her course.

Don't Be a Menace

No other course description includes the words, "aesthetic du cool of Quentin Tarantino." And no other course has Shaft and She's Gotta Have It on the required viewing list.

Don't Be a Menace

One of the few film courses not in the VES department, Visiting Lecturer Isaac Julien's class Afro-American Studies 187y: "Black Cinema as Genre--From Blaxploitation to Quentin Tarantino" takes on Hollywood to explore how black people have appeared in movies.

"It focuses on the use of stereotypes and hyperbole in the genre of Blaxploitation cinema in the 1970s and explores how this genre has been appropriated by 1990s directors...and critiqued by others," according to the syllabus.

Gender, sexism and homophobia are themes of the class, which compares works ranging from Sweet Sweetback's "Baadassss Song" to Menace II Society.

The week after each screening, students must hand in an analysis of the film at section. And there is some required reading as well--cinematic titles like Framing Blackness: The African American Image in Film and Quentin Tarantino/Interviews.

Julien has had an accomplished career in cinema himself, with work displayed at numerous museums and film festivals.

Maybe lecture will be no day at the movies, but it could come pretty close.

A Man's World

Kenan Professor of Government Harvey C. Mansfield '53 (everyone's favorite buff conservative) is once again offering up his graduate seminar on the gender with the Y chromosome.

"As things are now, we're almost removing manliness from our vocabulary," Mansfield says. "Is this good or not?"

Government 2080: "Topics in Political Philosophy: Manliness" will focus primarily on the Victorian era and today.

"Before we had the rough life of Teddy Roosevelt. Now we've got the sensitive male of Bill Clinton," he says.

A philosophy-phile, Mansfield promises a survey of theory classics, like Plato and de Tocqueville, but the syllabus calls for other works as well.

Readings will range from feminist theory to Don Quixote.

Mansfield says students will be required to give reports on films like Fargo, Raging Bull and "anything with John Wayne."

He also hopes to have speakers visit the class to discuss a number of topics.

"I'm trying to get Miss Manners to come in and talk about the revolution of manners," he says. "Also Tom Wolfe and a couple of people who are just professors."

Mansfield hopes to instill in his students the ability to read a Platonic dialogue and figure out the answer to "Why are men the way they are?"

Although it is a graduate seminar, he welcomes undergraduates, except for first-years. As for the breakdown of the class, Mansfield says he predicts an equal number of men and women.

Superstars of Intellectual Wrestling

Stephen J. Gould. Harvey G. Cox. Alan M. Dershowitz. Sounds like Geraldo's dream line-up.

But these eminent progressive thinkers, the evolutionary biologist, the theologian and the lawyer, will perform this semester in front of an even more demanding host--Harvard undergrads. Jointly, the three super-profs are offering Religion 1045: "Thinking About Thinking." The course description promises an interdisciplinary examination of the way thinking about science, law and religion differ--and don't. The professors promise to try to explain big problems like free will, behavior and race relations.

A few drawbacks: the course is offered on Thursday evenings from 4:10 to 6:10. And it's limited to 30 undergraduates.

Gould, Dershowitz and Cox were not available for comment. They were, presumably, thinking.

Getting With the Program

The idea of waking up for a 9 a.m. quantitative reasoning elective three times a week may seem scary, but Arnold Professor of Science William H. Bossert isn't worried about turnout for his class Quantitative Reasoning 20: "Algorithms and Data Structures."

Getting With the Program

Bossert is limiting enrollment to 60 students for his course, an interactive approach to teaching computer programming.

Bossert, who describes his class as "a programming course for non-specialists," says it will fill a gap in Harvard's curriculum, providing a concurrent alternative to the oft-dreaded Computer Science 50.

"A lot of people who don't need to learn to know how to program really want to learn to program, learn about the hardware and learn a modern programming language," Bossert says. "I think in the future it will be a wonderful course and a popular elective."

This year, he says, his concern is helping first-year students meet the quantitative reasoning requirement.

Knowledge of computers will spill into real-world uses and job applications.

Take heart: the syllabus description claims students who complete the course with a B or better will be employable as applications programmers.