First years across the University have the opportunity to take small courses designed to immerse them into higher education and various topics of interest, duly named “First-Year Seminars.”
The Daily Pennsylvanian compiled five first-year seminars coming up this spring.
"Penn’s First Moving Pictures" — CIMS 0101
In the late nineteenth century, Eadweard Muybridge — deemed the “Father of the Motion Picture” — photographed Penn students and faculty for his Animal Locomotion project. Working with the project’s original photographic plates and equipment housed in the Penn Archives, students in CIMS 0101 will learn about Muybridge’s practices and inventions throughout the course.
Students will then dig into the heritage of Muybridge — an acquitted murderer — and his lingering effects on film technology and pop culture, including everything from "Rick and Morty" to Thomas Edison.
"Penn’s First Moving Pictures" will be taught by professor Ian Fleishman, who also chairs the Cinema and Media Studies department. It can can count toward the “Arts & Letters” College sector and The Wharton School’s humanities credit.
"Anxious Times: Social Change and Fear" — SOCI 0006
In recent years, there has been a rise in physicians diagnosing and treating anxiety, with the disorder becoming one of the most common in the United States. In SOCI 0006, students will examine its societal and scientific perception over time.
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Using a sociological lens, social factors, public beliefs, and cultural significance will be analyzed to understand how anxiety has become a more common psychiatric disorder.
"Anxious Times" will be taught by sociology professor Hashim Bin Rashid, who also co-founded the Emancipatory Rural Politics Initiative South Asia Collective, a program designed to encourage dialogue between social movements and academic scholars. The class can count toward the “Society” College sector, “Cultural Diversity in the US” College foundation, Engineering’s social science credit, and/or Wharton’s social science credit.
"Distracted Listening: Theories of Music, Listening, and Capitalism" — MUSC 0161
In MUSC 0161, students will investigate the crossroads between music, capitalism, and history.
The class will discuss how society’s love for music coincides with transforming capitalist systems, privatization of healthcare, and increasing demand for productivity.
"Distracting Listening" will be taught by music professor Laurie Lee, who also works in the James Joo-Jin Kim Center for Korean Studies, and can count toward the “Arts & Letters” College sector.
"The Fantastic Voyage from Homer to Science Fiction" — COML/FREN 0090
Delving into the societal similarities between authors and their fictional tales, COML/FREN 0090 aims to show students the world of speculative fiction. Students will examine the real-world commentary offered by the novels — and even some films — ranging from classics to modern marvels.
In addition, students have the opportunity to examine literary works from the Mark B. Adams Science Fiction Collection at Penn’s Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books, and Manuscripts.
"The Fantastic Voyage from Homer to Science Fiction" will be taught by professor Scott Francis — the undergraduate chair of the Department of Francophone, Italian, and Germanic Studies — and can count toward the “Arts & Letters” College sector, “Cross Cultural Analysis” College foundation, Engineering’s humanities credit, or Wharton’s humanities and/or “CCP Non-US” credit.
"Anthropology of Health and Healing" — ANTH 0150
ANTH 0150 dives into the societal meanings of health and the idea of “returning to normal” after an illness. Expanding on the anthropologic ideas of social, political, and cultural context, the course aims to cover the outcomes and functions of mental health, disabilities, addiction, and more.
Students will learn about the intricacies of what it means to recover and how to view illness as a collective — rather than individual — issue.
"Anthropology of Health and Healing" will be taught by 2016 College graduate and current MD/Ph.D. student Ross Perfetti, who also is a Leonard Davis Institute for Health Economics associate fellow, and can count toward the “Humanities & Social Science” College sector.
