Spring 2021 Course Offerings

Belmont Global Honors

Signature Courses

HON 1120: Engaging the Bible and Culture (3 hours): 

Honors 1120: Engaging the Bible & Culture

Engaging the Bible and Culture Seminar is a survey of the Judeo-Christian canon of scripture from the history of the Hebrew people through the growth of the New Testament church movement. The primary goal of this course is to increase a student's understanding of the Bible's relationship to culture through the exploration of patterns and themes within the biblical material. 

Through the use of reading, discussion, research, and on-campus events, Engaging the Bible and Culture will ask questions about faith, reason and culture. 

Foundations Courses

HON 1130: Honors Oral Communication Seminar (3 hours):

HON 1130: Honors Oral Communication Seminar
Communicating for Impact
Joel Hester

Honors introduction to the fundamentals of speech communication including how to research, organize, prepare and deliver effective oral presentations in a one-to-many communication setting. Key Belmont goals are that students become excellent thinkers, writers and speakers. In HON 1130, students exercise these skills through both written and oral communication. Students will practice communicating for impact by crafting thoughtful messages that matter to the audience, by demonstrating mastery of subject matter and by delivering polished presentations designed to achieve a clearly stated purpose (e.g. to inform, to persuade, to entertain, to motivate or inspire, etc.).

HON 1140: Honors Social Science Seminar (3 hours):  (CHOOSE ONLY ONE COURSE OFFERED)

Dr. Daniel SchaferHonors 1140: Honors Social Science Seminar
Muslims & the Modern World
Dr. Daniel Schafer

This course explores the cultural and religious diversity of the Muslim world, its linkages to the rest of the world, and Muslim encounters with modernity. Topics will include traditional Islamic religion, Sufism and mysticism, Shi’ism and Sunnism, liberal and reformist movements, colonialism, nationalism, fundamentalism and Jihadism, women and Islam, religious minorities (Jews and Christians), Muslim migration and diasporas, Islamophobia, secularism, and the ex-Muslim movement. Students will read and write about a variety of texts, including memoirs, religious tracts, works of journalism, historical studies, and/or fiction. Students will research and present on a problem facing Muslims in a specific part of the world today, providing historical background, exploring the complexity of the issue, and using primary sources.

Dr. Mary Ellen PethelHonors 1140: Honors Social Science Seminar
The Human Story, A Documentary Project
Dr. Mary Ellen Pethel

This course will collaborate with MDS4130 to discover, examine, document, and preserve elements of the human story. These stories will be digitally recorded and archived and used to write, edit, and produce a short documentary film. The Media Studies class is composed of advanced students in film and motion pictures, and Honors students will work on content creation as part of the documentary crew. The HON1140 class will also learn skills related to archival research and methods as located within the field of Digital Humanities (DH). The HON1140 will collaborate and coordinate with MDS4139 through asynchronous communication channels as well as scheduled regular meetings. HON1140 will assist in conducting, documenting, and archiving pre-interviews and interviews. In addition, HON1140 students will serve as content editors as MDS4139 produces, films, and edits the documentary. All archival source material and documentation will be transferred to the Belmont University Special Collections.

Dr. Mary Ellen PethelHonors 1140: Honors Social Science Seminar
Imagining the Metropolis: American Cities in Culture and History
Dr. Mary Ellen Pethel

In this course we'll think about the ways people imagined the American city from the dawn of last century to the present day, especially in books, photographs, and film. We'll consider how cities were and are: 1) meeting spaces for diverse people and cultures across time; 2) places where dark, disturbing, or dystopian ideas of society have lived; or 3) imaginaries where people think about the future or about utopias. After considering a few cities in historical context, we'll take a close look at our own city of Nashville, considering where it is now, and imagining what it might be in the future.

HON 1150: Honors Wellness Seminar (3 hours): 

Honors 1150: Honors Wellness SeminarDr. Nick Bacon
Daily Practices: A Guide for Healthy and Holistic Living

Dr. Nick Bacon

This course will focus on living in a way that integrates daily practices of well-being from multiple dimensions of wellness. We will learn to identify the interrelated dimensions of wellness in ourselves and our communities, recognize disparities among populations, modify environments to enhance behaviors, and evaluate local and global practices of well being. In addition, we will learn to lead others in a way that reflects daily healthy choices.

 

HON 2120: Honors Humanities Seminar (3 hours): (CHOOSE ONLY ONE COURSE OFFERED)

Dr. Heather FinchHonors 2120: Honors Humanities Seminar
Freedom and Justice For All: African-American Perspectives
on Social Justice
Dr. Heather Finch

This interdisciplinary course will explore African-American literature and culture to critically engage with topics surrounding slavery, civil rights, protest and imprisonment. The central question for this course will be: What does "freedom and justice for all" mean when we consider African-American experiences? This will challenge our course community to think critically about what we know about freedom and justice in America through African-American experiences with the past, present and future in mind.

Stewart LewisHonors 2120: Honors Humanities Seminar
Coming of Age: Then and Now
Professor Stewart Lewis

This writing-intensive course will draw from non-fictional narratives, young adult fiction, music, and films that explore the theme of coming of age within the last century to present day. What does it mean to come of age? How does the meaning differ based on gender, culture, and/or era? How do we document this human experience? In addition to studying critical theory, students will give voice to their own narratives on the subject, in the form of personal essays, literary journalism, story treatments, and poetry.

Dr. Charmion GustkeHonors 2120: Honors Humanities Seminar
The Art of Interpretation
Dr. Charmion Gustke

There is an art to interpretation, requiring the interpreter to employ their whole self – mind, body, and soul – into the practice of analysis and understanding. This course, which begins with an introduction to key cultural theory concepts, explores the way critics, theorists, scholars, artists, and public intellectuals find meaning and significance. Focusing on theory and practice, students will gain access to an ever-expanding toolkit of interpretation as they develop a framework through which to assess, analyze, and investigate the world around them. While students will engage in projects that deepen their understanding of the critical approaches of their specific field, they will also dive into projects that move beyond the confines of their discipline, discovering a wide range of interpretive strategies. There will be dancing.

Dr. Douglas MurrayHonors 2120: Honors Humanities Seminar
Literature of the English Country House
Dr. Douglas Murray

Travelers in the British countryside always note the impressive Country Houses or Manors—those residences which anchor communities and estates.  During the past 1200 years, poets, novelists and essayists have celebrated and critiqued these places, their owners, and the ways of life they represent. Writing about the Country House became a way of discussing economics, class, social cohesion and social inequality. In this class, we will follow this millennium-long conversation through poetry (portions of Beowulf, Chaucer, Ben Jonson, Andrew Marvell, Mary Leapor, Felicia Hemans, Robert Browning and Noel Coward), fiction (Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw), film (Hitchcock/du Maurier Rebecca) and TV (Downton Abbey). After interrogating the English Country house ideal and practice, we will conclude by investigating our local center of a landed estate, the Belmont Mansion. Through concentrating on the story of the English Manor, we will investigate British social, architectural and literary history. 

HON 2130: Honors Fine Arts Seminar (3 hours): (CHOOSE ONLY ONE COURSE OFFERED)

Dr. Meaghan Brady NelsonHonors 2130: Honors Fine Arts Seminar
Contemporary Art: A Mirror of Today's Society
Dr. Meaghan Brady Nelson

Art reminds us, that even in uncertain times, we each have the opportunity to make a positive impact within our own communities. As Chicago based artist and community arts activist Theaster Gates (2016) states, “When art is present, things are better - even in the toughest circumstances."

Participants of this Honors Fine Arts Seminar will be introduced to reflexive thinking practices that address the pressing social, cultural, and political issues of our time. Together we will explore:
- How contemporary art mirrors culture and society and is a is a rich resource through which to consider current ideas and rethink the familiar.
- How contemporary artists use their skills, knowledge, experiences and creative talents to make a positive impact on society.
- How art can create situations that help us to better understand our other(s).
- How art creates spaces where humanity and empathy for difference can grow.
- How we can gain a deepening attitude of racialized awareness and affective solidarity with others through critical visual literary.
- How the arts offer the potential to think through the connection between social consciousness, affective solidarity and ultimately social responsivity. 


Through reflexive discourse, and participatory arts & community-based research, participants will be introduced to artist exemplars who use strategies of social transformation within the contemporary art world.  Participants will leave this course with experientially-informed strategies for developing socially relevant practices for themselves in both their personal lives and future careers, as well as encouraging further research that engages the social contexts in arts education.

Dr. Judy BullingtonHonors 2130: Honors Fine Arts Seminar
African American Art
Dr. Judy Bullington

In The Souls of Black Folk (1903), sociologist W.E.B. DuBois urged his fellow African-American to be a “co-worker in the kingdom of culture.” According to DuBois, artistic activity was as critical to racial equality as was institutional change. Throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, many artists have heeded the thinker’s call, but so, too, did many artists working in the 18th and 19th centuries anticipate it. This course examines how and why black artists have used painting, sculpture, photography, print, mixed media and material culture to assert and question personal, racial, and national identity. Spanning the 18th century through the present, topics addressed include quilts by Harriet Powers and Faith Ringgold, portraits commissioned by Frederick Douglass and photographs executed by Lorna Simpson, the sculptures of Edmonia Lewis and David Hammons, the collage aesthetic deployed by Jacob Lawrence and Romare Bearden, and installations by Kara Walker and Fred Wilson. This course also explores the modes of representation of African-Americans in imagery. Emphasis will be placed--through lecture, conversation, and assignments--upon developing critical perspectives regarding modes of representation used to depict African-American subjects, particularly during the Colonial and Antebellum period. 

Dr. Michelle CorvetteHonors 2130: Honors Fine Arts Seminar
Transformations of Color: Psychogeography and Urban Paradoxes
Dr. Michelle Corvette

A course focused on psychogeography, color, and diversity, specifically the ways in which the use of color has influenced societies connecting back historically to chromophobia emerging with St. Bernard and links to contemporary color architecture and art, even in Nashville with the new 909 Flats and the Library Garage Expansion building. Focusing on our psychological experiences of a city, how does psychogeography and color reveal or illuminate forgotten, discarded, or marginalized aspects of the urban environment? By examining texts such as Yi-Fu Tuan's Space and Place as well as Siobhan Lyons, Psychogeography: A Way to Delve into the Soul of a City, we will unpack and explore the modalities of spatial thinking that shape us today.