Colloquia at BHSU
Each semester, the BHSU Honors Program offers its students the unique opportunity to take a custom-made colloquium on a particular topic that is relevant to today. This course is chosen by a number of the university's top professors and focuses on a subject that students in the program have expressed their desire to learn more about. Every semester, two professors are chosen to teach this course based on their respective expertise in the field and construct a one-of-a-kind curriculum to stimulate and challenge the students taking the class. The result is an engaging course that provokes thought through open discussion, extensive research and the experiences of the professors teaching the course. Taking a colloquium at BHSU is a great chance for students to learn a great deal about a unique topic while honing their skills in scholarship and getting to know their fellow classmates and professors.
Honors Students went to London on Spring Break as part of the Sex and Violence in Victorian England colloquium course.
Fall 2008
Political Doublespeak: From Washington to Moscow
Taught by Andrey Reznikov
“Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them” –George Orwell (1984)
This course offers students a chance to analyze political propaganda and the techniques political leaders use to sell their agenda to the general public. The emphasis of the course is on allowing the students to discover these “language games” on their own, with the help and guidance of the instructor. Thus, the students will achieve a completely new understanding of modern political realities and will be much better equipped to get through the political doublespeak of today’s leaders.
One of the surprises of the course for the students will be the similarity of doublespeak used in Washington and in Moscow, irrespective of the political regime, country, and language. Students will be even more surprised to learn that all these “language games” were predicted in minute details by George Orwell in his Newspeak model (1984).
The classic situation, and the one where doublespeak is used to the full, is, of course, the time of war and the time of elections. Thus, the students will be analyzing everyday publications in US press and on TV news programs related to the war in Iraq, and the Russian publications (with my help) on the war in Chechnya, as well as materials devoted to presidential elections both in the United States and in the Russian Federation.
Proposed List of Readings:
- Doublespeak and the War on Terror by Timothy Lynch
- The New Doublespeak: Why No One Knows What Anyone’s Saying Anymore by William Lutz
- Doublespeak Defined by William Lutz
- 1984 by George Orwell
- A Collection of Essays by George Orwell
- George Orwell’s Theory of Language by Andrey Reznikov
- The Power of Words by Andrey Reznikov
- Weasel Words: The Dictionary of American Doublespeak by Paul Wasserman and Don Hausrath
Spring 2009
China’s Balancing Act: Ancient Philosophy and Modern Economy
中國的平衡操作：傳統哲學和現代經濟
Taught by Chen Wu, Sheng Yang and Deaver Traywick
“Lead the people with governmental measures and regulate them by law (fă) and punishment, and they will avoid wrongdoing but will have no sense of honor and shame. Lead them with virtue and regulate them by the rules of propriety (lĭ), and they will have a sense of shame and, moreover, set themselves right” –Confucius (Analects).
As the global economy of the 21st century develops, it becomes increasing clear that the fates of the United States and China are bound together. China’s economy is now the third largest in the world and China is America’s second largest trading partner. (Taken as a whole, the Chinese Diaspora—including mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore—accounts for nearly 50% of U.S. foreign trade.) Chinese investment in the U.S. has exploded in the past 20 years, and the inexpensive goods manufactured in China influence every aspect of the U.S. economy, from the cost of consumer products to the availability of jobs. If our students are to understand and succeed in this increasingly globalized world, it is imperative that they accrue greater knowledge and experience in Chinese studies.
Students in this course will study the influence of three native Chinese philosophies (Daoism, Confucianism, and Legalism) both on historic economic and political systems and on China’s modern economic development. The Chinese civilization has a long and rich history of native philosophical thought dating to the 6th century B.C.E., and this traditional thought undergirds nearly every aspect of Chinese society. As Confucius once said, “Lead the people with governmental measures and regulate them by law (fă) and punishment, and they will avoid wrongdoing but will have no sense of honor and shame. Lead them with virtue and regulate them by the rules of propriety (lĭ), and they will have a sense of shame and, moreover, set themselves right” (Analects). To the degree that Daoism, Confucianism, and Legalism remain vibrant elements of contemporary Chinese economic systems and decisions, they provide a relevant and focused framework for making sense of China’s rapidly changing economy.
Readings for this course will come from the following:
- China, the United States, and the Global Economy by Shuxun Chen
- Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy by Philip Ivanhoe and Bryan van Norden
- China Shakes the World: A Titan’s Rise and Troubled Future—and the Challenge for America by James Kynge
- The Economy of China: The History and Culture of China by Shu Shin Luh
- China: Its History and Culture by Scott Morton and Charlton Lewis
- Understanding China: A Guide to China’s Economy, History, and Political Culture by John Bryan Starr