COLA 1500 Classes

What are COLA Classes?

COLA 1500 courses are one-credit, graded seminars open to all new first-year students in the College of A&S; they are taught in the fall term only. Approximately 80% of the content will be as described below with 20% of the course devoted to group advising issues. The instructors of the following courses will be the advisor for the students in the class until such time that they declare a major. Click here to read some COLA testimonials.

UVA has been awarded a three-year, $5 million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to build equity-minded, anti-racist, place-based educational and post-doctoral programs. One component includes eight COLA classes for incoming undergraduate students. The COLA classes marked as RPE below are part if this initiative and meet the goal of introducing places, their histories, and their legacies that have shaped Charlottesville and central Virginia while also teaching the fundamentals of place-based and community-based learning.

The Souder Family COLA Classes

With extreme gratitude to the Souder Family for funding the following COLA classes.

2021 Are We Alone in the Universe? Edward Murphy
2021 Edgar Allen Poe Greg Hays
2020 Hidden Histories of UVA Kirt von Daacke
2020 Edgar Allen Poe Greg Hays
2019 Hidden Histories of UVA Kirt von Daacke
2019 Early 19th Century & George Washington William Ferraro
2018 Hidden Histories of UVA Kirt von Daacke
2018 Early 19th Century & George Washington William Ferraro
2017 Hidden Histories of UVA Kirt von Daacke
2017 Early 19th Century & George Washington
William Ferraro
2016 Awakening Creative Potential Gweneth West
2016 The Culture of College and the Structure of UVA Richard Handler
2015 Slavery, Jefferson and UVA Kirt von Daacke and Maurie McInnis
2015 The 21st Century Labor Market President Teresa Sullivan
2014   Discovering Jefferson's Academical Village      Kirt von Daacke and Maurie McInnis
2013 Hidden Histories of UVA Phyllis Leffler

Read about the COLA experience here.

Fall 2023 COLA Class Descriptions

How to UVA (Charles Mathewes)
Section 001 | 10601 | Monday | 12:30PM - 1:45PM

Welcome to UVA and Charlottesville! There's a lot you don't know about the University and the town. This COLA seminar will introduce you to various things about both, with help from a few people who’ve been where you are now, namely, first years at UVA. Some are currently students, some were students in the past, all have helpful things to say. We will meet in a classroom but maybe wander around Grounds a bit too, to find places you may not know about. There may even be a scavenger hunt.

Exercises in Creativity (Keith Driver)
Section 002 | 13096 | Monday | 02:00PM-03:15PM

Does creativity result from freedom or constraint? From chance or design? From conscious choice or subconscious intuition? In this Cola section we will explore these questions by looking at the work and theories of 20th century artist groups like OuLiPo, the Surrealists, and Dada. We’ll test their theories with regular exercises as we attempt to use art to make meaning out of experience. 

Religion in Reality (Kevin Rose)
Section 003 | 10602 | Tuesday | 04:00PM-05:15PM

Is religion still relevant in today’s pop culture? We’ll look at popular reality TV shows like Real Housewives, Keeping up with the Kardashians, and 90 Day Fiancé to think about ways that religion shows up in the media we consume. As you make your transition to college, this will also be a chance to reflect on the way that things we learn in the classroom can help us gain a deeper understanding and think more critically about the stuff we encounter in everyday life.

Are We Alone in the Universe? (Edward Murphy)
Section 004 | 10603 | Tuesday | 09:30AM-10:45AM

Our galaxy contains hundreds of billions of stars. If only a tiny fraction of those stars have intelligent life, there could be millions of intelligent civilizations in the galaxy. Given that our galaxy is 13 billion years old, some of these civilizations should have been able to fully colonize the galaxy long ago. And yet, we have no evidence that they are visiting, or have ever visited, Earth. In fact, we have no evidence of any extraterrestrial life. All the evidence points to the fact that we are the first, and possibly the only, intelligent civilization in the galaxy. In this course, we will address the Fermi paradox, the belief that intelligent life is common, that they should have colonized our solar system long ago, and yet we see no evidence that they exist. This topic is multidisciplinary and will include topics from astronomy, biology (evolution of intelligence), chemistry (origin of life), engineering (spaceflight and the difficulty of traveling between the stars), and sociology (do technological civilizations destroy themselves).

God and Nature in America (Heather Warren)
Section 005 | 10604 | Tuesday | 03:30PM-04:45PM

This course examines how Americans have viewed the relation between God, nature, and themselves since the founding of the United States. We will examine what selected outdoorsmen and women considered to be “divine,” “holy,” or “sacred” and why they believed the way they did, among them John Muir and Annie Dillard. Our class will involve some outdoors time, a few short, two-page papers, discussion, and guests from such offices as Career Services, the Writing Center, and the Center for Undergraduate Research.

[RPE COLA] My Story, Everyone’s Story (Stella Mattioli)
Section 007 | 11952 | Tuesday | 11:00AM-12:15PM

In this class students will read & learn about histories of immigrants in VA, & will work on a project about their own family history. The goal of the class is to give students a better sense of how the personal history of every individual & every family shape the history of a place & of a bigger community. This will help students to embrace more easily the prospect of equity & anti-racism, for which a shift in perspective is often needed.

The Art of Listening (Justin Mueller)
Section 008 | 11953 | Tuesday | 09:30AM - 10:45AM

How does our understanding change when we stop to consider what things sound like? You listen to music, but what else do you hear in your day-to-day life? This course will help you think about what it means to listen. Some of the topics we will consider this semester include: the impact of various recording technologies and the ethics of music streaming; attentive listening strategies for class lectures; architecture meant to aid the deaf and hard of hearing; the problematics of cultural appropriation in musical theatre; what UVA sounded like when Thomas Jefferson was alive; the soundscapes of places near and far, natural and man-made; and how best to hear, understand, and help advocate for those less fortunate than we are. In short, it seeks to help you become more receptive and responsive to the world all around you.

The Complexities of Jefferson (Christa Acampora and Louis Nelson)
Section 009 | 11954 | Monday | 05:00PM-06:15PM

Thomas Jefferson was an extraordinary thinker living in a moment of monumental significance. This course will explore a series of topics drawn from Jefferson’s writings and lived practices where his views are complicated, nuanced, and (often) shift over time. These will include his views on education, government, slavery, aesthetics, and natural history (science), among others. The course will include a range of expert guest discussants from across the university and beyond.

Why Haven’t We Cured Cancer? (David Kittlesen)
Section 010 | 11153 | Tuesday | 12:30PM-01:45PM

Nearly half a century ago President Nixon signed the National Cancer Act of 1971 into law, an event generally considered a “declaration of war” on cancer. Yet, as every one of us knows, this war is far from over. Is it “winnable”? What, if any, battles have we won? Which are we still fighting? What have we learned over the past decades about the enemy? One objective of this course is for students to acquire a deeper understanding of the characteristics, the biology (cellular/molecular defects), the causes, the treatments, and the prevention of cancer. Crucially related are the human aspects of this disease, including ethical issues associated with clinical trials. Another objective of this course is to promote the development of critical thinking skills. Being a COLA seminar, a significant emphasis will also be placed on advising issues related to all four years of the college experience. Neither an advanced background in biology, nor an intent to major in biology, is required. An interest in the topic and the desire to learn more are the only prerequisites.

Great Speeches (James Ryan, Margaret Grundy & Matthew Weber)
Section 011 | 11402 | Tuesday | 04:00PM-05:15PM

What is the finest speech you’ve ever heard? Why was it memorable and what made it essential or inspiring? This course will examine the impact and art of a well-constructed and delivered speech. Surveying the gamut of speeches throughout history, this class will seek to provide a deeper understanding into this time-honored craft and the historical context in which they were delivered. Incorporating guest visits from former presidential speechwriters and politicians to poets and communications professionals, President Ryan will lead this exploration into the power of speeches, drawing from his own personal experiences as both UVA President and former dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Assignments will involve active learning, the development of the tools and skills to deliver a great speech, and include the presentation of a fully constructed speech and critiques of pre-existing works. (Note: Each instructor will serve as the advisor for 5 students in the class.)

[RPE] Charlottesville Forgotten—Civil War History (Brian Neumann)
Section 013 | 11265 | Monday | 11:00AM-12:15PM

For more than a century, the public memory of the Civil War in Albemarle County, Virginia, focused almost entirely on the area’s Confederate history. Local leaders unveiled towering Confederate monuments and claimed that the county had staunchly and overwhelmingly supported the Confederacy. This public memory, however, marginalized and excluded African Americans, who made up the majority of the county’s 19th-century population. This COLA course helps uncover their stories, shedding light on the 257 Black men from Albemarle County who served in the Union army. Building on the Nau Civil War Center’s Black Virginians in Blue digital project, this course uses these local stories to examine national themes. It underscores the tragedies of the domestic slave trade and the hardships of military service. It demonstrates African Americans’ determination to assert their freedom, serve their country, and demand justice and equality in the wake of war. And it highlights the fault lines within the Civil War South, and the centrality of Black Southern Unionists to the defeat of the Confederacy.

Visualizing Sports Data (Jeff Holt)
Section 014 | 11955 | Wednesday | 02:00PM-03:15PM

The world has been revolutionized by recent improvements in collecting, storing, and analyzing data. One powerful way to extract information from data and convey information to others is through visualizations. In this course we will focus on visualizations applied to sports data (widely used in sports analytics), but the visualization methods we will use are applicable to numerous other fields. The course will be hand-on and built around a sequence of visualization assignments. Included will be an introduction to the statistical software R, which will be used to prepare data and generate visualizations. Blended into the course will be presentations on topics such as study abroad programs, career services, course selection, and other academic advising.

One Great Book (Cristina Griffin)
Section 015 | 11956 | Thursday | 09:30AM-10:45AM

What makes something or someone “great”? In this course, we will explore the concept of greatness together by reading one recent novel that has been hailed as “great” or “the best.” We will read the novel slowly over the course of the semester, digesting the book in small manageable increments each week. As we read and discuss together, we will amass different conceptions of greatness and question what cultural values these definitions reveal. Who has the authority to declare something or someone great? How are these definitions useful and how are they harmful? How do these ideas of greatness create or resist social hierarchies? Along the way, we will also think self-reflectively about our own personal relationships to the idea of greatness. What does striving to be great look like in our own lives? President Ryan has said that he strives for the University of Virginia to be “both great and good”; as you begin your journey at UVA, how do you want to define being “both great and good” for yourself? (Also offered as Section 31)

Mindfulness: Awareness and Habit (Sandra Seidel)
Section 016 | 11957 | Wednesday | 03:30PM-04:45PM

Mindfulness practices have been demonstrated to help increase attention, reduce stress and develop self-awareness. Through formal and informal practices that bring curiosity to thoughts, feelings and emotions, students will develop the ability to pay attention to the present moment.  Mindful meditation, movement, walking and eating will be explored. Daily habits of mind and action will be cultivated that impact attitudes to foster academic success and personal happiness.

The Founding of the US as a Peace Project (Armin Mattes)
Section 017 | 11683 | Thursday | 03:30PM-04:45PM

This course offers an unusual view on the founding of the United States by looking at the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution of 1787/88 as experiments in international cooperation. The creation of the United States will thus be examined as both a theoretical contribution to the long tradition of European peace projects from Dante to Kant and an attempt to put such a plan into practice.

Genocide in the Modern World (Jeff Rossman)
Section 018 | 11266 | Wednesday | 02:00PM-03:15PM

One of the defining features of the twentieth century was the repeated use of genocide and other forms of one-sided mass violence by states against internal and external populations. In this course, we will explore these phenomena from theoretical and historical perspectives, with particular attention to the Armenian genocide, the Holocaust, the mass atrocities carried out by Communist regimes (e.g., Stalin’s USSR, Mao’s China, and Pol Pot’s Cambodia), and the “ethnic cleansings” and genocides of the post-Cold War era (e.g., in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda). While the experience of victims will be of central concern, we will also explore the experience and motivations of perpetrators, bystanders, and rescuers, the explicit and implicit goals of regimes that resort to one-sided mass violence, the international legal response to mass atrocity, and prospects for prevention and intervention. 

Moments that Changed Olympic History (Bonnie Hagerman)
Section 019 | 11187 | Tuesday | 02:00PM-03:15PM

Jesse Owens winning four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. Nadia Comaneci scoring the first perfect 10 at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. The 1980 American men’s ice hockey team defeating the Soviets at Lake Placid, New York in a miraculous performance. These iconic Olympic moments stunned audiences at the time and have continued to inspire generations of Olympic fans ever since. This course will look at these Olympic moments and others that had profound historical significance for the world of sport and beyond.

Brooklyn’s In the House – Rhetorical Criticism of Jay-Z and the Notorious B.I.G. (Connie Chic Smith)
Section 020 | 11288 | Thursday | 11:00AM-12:15PM          

The course provides an examination of the rhetoric of two of the most celebrated Hip Hop artist who just happen to be from Brooklyn, NY. The musical work of Shawn Carter, aka, Jay-Z and the late Christopher Wallace, aka the Notorious B.I.G., will serve as the launching pad to discuss the messages in the music, the common themes in their music, and their perceptions of their beloved Brooklyn. Students participating in this course will learn (1) Hip Hop music’s connection to the oral tradition in African American rhetoric and culture, and (2) how to employ various qualitative research methods used in rhetorical criticism to unearth deep-seated and often subconscious meanings.(Also offered as Section 43)

[RPE] Back in the Picture: Enslaved Laborers and their Descendants at UVA (Lilian Feitosa)
Section 022 | 11403 | Monday | 03:30PM-04:45PM

In this course, we will collaborate with the Descendants of the Enslaved Communities and the Equity Center to learn about the role of slavery in the history of the University of Virginia, and recent efforts to document this history and bring its centrality into view. We will learn about enslavement in Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello and how it is represented in books for younger readers and history books. We will have a guided visit to UVA’s Memorial to Enslaved Laborers and do the UVA Walking Tour about Enslaved African Americans at the University. We will also read and discuss the report of the President’s Commission on Slavery and the University. There will be various field trip opportunities possibly to Monticello, Highlands, and Montpelier and we will have the chance to hear directly from various Descendants of the Enslaved Communities.

[RPE] Home Away from Home: The Narratives of African Refugees (Anne Rotich)
Section 023 | 12037 | Wednesday | 03:30PM-04:45PM

This course examines the experiences of African refugees through the lens of race, ethnicity, and migration. We discuss notions of displacement, genocide, ethnic and racial formation among other factors. Through an engagement with the International Rescue Committee in Charlottesville students will engage African refugees and immigrants in area as we address some key issues they face as they create new homes such as, cultural barriers, language barriers, racism, and other societal issues. Utilizing literary texts, we will examine the historical roots of ethnic and racial conflicts, causes of displacement, and what it means to be a ‘refugee’. It is expected that this experiential learning will help students understand notions of being an immigrant and a refugee away from home and develop mutually beneficial ways of engaging refugees. 3.Criteria: This course is intended to engage the African refugees in Charlottesville area. Because of my previous experience with the teaching a Community Engagement Course (CCE), I plan to introduce a similar experience to COLA students. I will bring in speakers from the community to the classroom in case of virtual learning and I will work with International Rescue Committee in Charlottesville to discuss opportunities that can be available for the COLA students to interact and engage our African community members. Some opportunities that am thinking of can be; students meeting the community members in the community gardens or local markets around Charlottesville organized by IRC; or spending a day volunteering at the IRC. Such meetings are intended to be interactive for the students while supporting local activities.

[RPE] Statistics Under a Qualitative Mental Model (Dan Spitzner)
Section 024 | 11286 | Wednesday | 03:30PM-04:45PM

This course explores the intersections of statistical practice with research modes that emphasize the social context of inquiry, and whose aims may derive from ethical rather than scientific criteria. It takes a student through survey-level discussions of non-traditional, socially-aware quantitative methodologies, some of which overlap with qualitative methodologies, arts-based inquiry, and community-based practices. It furthermore explores the involvement of the statistics discipline in unethical projects such as eugenics, and circumstances surrounding the reputation once earned by the University of Virginia as a “center of scientific racism.

Food and Culture (Lisa Shutt)
Section 026 |11287 | Friday | 11:00AM-12:15PM

Food is much more than a biological need for human beings. People are meaning-makers, inseparable from the cultural frameworks in which they find themselves enmeshed. What we eat, the way we eat, and whether or not we prepare or provide food for others is every bit as much symbolic as it is rooted in biological survival. We create self identity, claim ethnic and national affiliation and affirm our maleness and femaleness with the foods we purchase, prepare, select or order from a menu. This course will help students to investigate the way the foods people eat—or don’t eat—hold meaning for people within multiple cultural contexts. We will explore perspectives on food from a selection of disciplines represented in the College of Arts and Sciences, touching on the differences between the methodologies, research topics and histories of different disciplines. Finally, this course will also enter the practical arena, focusing on a number of topics related to advising and opportunities available to students in the College. These topics include advice on selecting and declaring a major, exploring the library system, critical thinking and writing, understanding undergraduate research opportunities, seeking out scholarships and grants, understanding the range of study abroad opportunities, and more.

Ordinary to Extraordinary: How the Arts Transform Life (Ari Blatt)
Section 027 | 11296 | Monday | 11:00AM-12:15PM

Students in this comparative, interdisciplinary advising seminar will explore the myriad ways in which artists manage to find, and represent, beauty in the banal. While critical readings on the aesthetics of the everyday will inform our discussions of work from the modern and contemporary periods that testifies to the transformative power of art, a series of short assignments will encourage students to become more sensitive observers - and practitioners - of the quotidien. Topics may include, but are not limited to: urban poetics (Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Whitman, Beastie Boys); extraordinary edibles (Manet, Proust, asparagus); shocking Surrealist objects; how to make a good metaphor; photographers of everyday life (from Atget to Gursky); making something from “nothing” (Flaubert, Toussaint, Seinfeld).

Chemistry for Life (Jelena Samonina)
Section 028 |11303 | Friday | 12:30PM-01:45PM

The Chemistry for Life course will take you on a fascinating journey through introductory general, organic, and biological chemistry to help you understand how molecules are created, why they react, how they interact, and their roles in living organisms. We will focus on the oxygen atom by investigating and tracing oxygen (including molecules containing oxygen) in processes that occur in nature and the human body. The journey will take you from small to giant molecules such as DNA, RNA, proteins (natural polymers) and plastics (synthetic polymers) and their role in everyday life. Throughout the course you will discover how chemistry principles enable homeostasis, and how disruption of the chemical balance gives rise to genetic mutations, metabolic disorders, and diseases. You will find out how we use chemical principles to develop diagnostic tests and design drugs for the targeted therapies. No previous knowledge of chemistry is required.

[RPE] Performing Acts of Justice and Equity (Eric Ramirez-Weaver)
Section 030 | 11451 | Friday | 11:00AM-12:15PM

This COLA course will introduce students to the transformative possibilities of community-based theater and dance. Emphasizing the rich resources in central Virginia from Charlottesville to Richmond, we explore the local history of the Theater Owners Booking Association (TOBA), and the ways that vaudeville and tap dance have played a prominent role in defining social and cultural mores, or reflected the inequalities of the Jim Crow era. This course will explore twin dual trajectories. On the one hand, the life and legacy of Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, as cultivated through the enduring work of the Copasetics, supplies one personal connection to this material. The Copasetics through Charles “Honi” Coles and Brenda Bufalino trained my teachers at the American Tap Dance Foundation. On the other hand, students will learn through a series of public outreaches how to study performance historically, and how to use performance to tell the living history of great performers. The graded work for the course will result in a public performance of student composed, rehearsed and performed work, celebrating the legacy and contributions of African-American artists in our region of Virginia. Our community partners include: the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center, Paramount Theater, Live Arts, and Charlottesville Ballet.

One Great Book (Cristina Griffin)
Section 031 | 11956 | Tuesday | 02:00PM-03:15PM

What makes something or someone “great”? In this course, we will explore the concept of greatness together by reading one recent novel that has been hailed as “great” or “the best.” We will read the novel slowly over the course of the semester, digesting the book in small manageable increments each week. As we read and discuss together, we will amass different conceptions of greatness and question what cultural values these definitions reveal. Who has the authority to declare something or someone great? How are these definitions useful and how are they harmful? How do these ideas of greatness create or resist social hierarchies? Along the way, we will also think self-reflectively about our own personal relationships to the idea of greatness. What does striving to be great look like in our own lives? President Ryan has said that he strives for the University of Virginia to be “both great and good”; as you begin your journey at UVA, how do you want to define being “both great and good” for yourself? (Also offered as Section 15)

How to Read a Play (Marianne Kubik)
Section 032 | 11520 | Wednesday | 02:00PM-03:15PM

If a play is an artistic work performed for a live audience, how do we read a playscript for the source material it is? Like an orchestral score, a script is only the recipe, waiting for a creative team to combine its ingredients into a living, sensory experience. While traditional scripts clearly outline guides for production, guides by innovative storytellers might be buried, even elusive, on the page. We’ll compare some of these recent award-winning scripts to identify the textural complexities in language, action, rhythm and musicality for clues to understanding the playwright’s intentions, and we’ll set up our own creative teams to bring parts of these scripts to life. This course isn’t just for theatre geeks; it’s for anyone interested in discovering how a play can be appreciated as literature but is more deeply experienced collectively in performance.

Stories Beyond the Wall (Melissa Frost)
Section 034 | 11521 | Monday | 3:30PM - 4:45PM

This course considers the social, political, and cultural space of the southern border based on representations in art (including literature, fine art, performance, and music) and reflects on how media (both traditional and social) shapes our perspective of the border, the topic of immigration, and the many Spanish-speaking communities that live in the United States. Students will develop a more nuanced understanding of the many historical factors that have contributed to the current popular discourse surrounding these topics while they work towards a final project aimed at shedding light on a lesser-known cultural or social aspect of the southern border.

The Good Friend (Cliff Maxwell)
Section 035 |11534 | Tuesday | 09:30AM-10:45AM

In the context of college life and beyond, what does it mean to have and be a good friend? What is the nature of friendship, and how can it be integral to a successful and happy college experience? We will explore the qualities needed to be a good friend in Eastern and Western philosophical contexts, and how developing those qualities can lead to wisdom and compassion—skills that can assist us in our interactions with others, to all become “better” human beings.

US Intelligence Community (Jeb Livingood)
Section 038 | 11604 | Wednesday | 11:00AM-12:15PM

This course briefly examines some of the U.S. intelligence community’s greatest failures—such as failing to adequately warn of the attacks on 9/11 and incorrectly assessing Saddam Hussein’s Weapons of Mass Destruction program—as well as some of its successes, like locating Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011. Students will examine some of the common analytical biases and blind spots that have led to national intelligence failures, as well as learn some of the structured analytical techniques that help reduce bias. While this course cannot promise to train its students for the next “Mission Impossible,” it might help them understand how their thinking can become impaired—and be improved upon—no matter what major they eventually choose.

From Digital Typography to Blockchain and Cryptography: Transnational Aspects of Information Technology (Zvi Gilboa)
Section 039 | 11684 | Tuesday | 05:00PM-06:15PM

Since the early days of the web and with the advent of search engines, social media, data mining and deep learning, as well as hardware affordability and increasingly faster network connections, the notion of a “global village“ had not only dominated contemporary discourse, but had also been widely considered a done deal and a fact, and thus a reality which should no longer be questioned. To that effect, the idea that “we all live in a global village” had been coupled by a view of the nation-state as an anachronistic entity of the past, and similarly the belief that at its very core and by its very nature, technology is not only culturally blind and culturally neutral, but also possesses egalitarian powers.

COLLEGE! (Bo Odom)
Section 042 | 12026 | Thursday | 03:30PM-04:45PM

What is College? Is it a system? A people? A network? A tribe? It’s certainly an institution, but is it an effective one? An efficient one? What happens in College? What is it supposed to do? What are you supposed to do? Will it change you? Will it form you? Will you be different at all after College? How? Why? This class will consider the contemporary university through a number of lenses based primarily in the social sciences. We will study various “student impact models” to gauge the influence of an undergraduate degree on economic, psychological, and sociological outcomes ranging from the pecuniary benefits of a degree to the cognitive and non-cognitive benefits of four years at a residential research university like UVA. We will ask if higher education plays a meaningful role in our futures after controlling for sociocultural factors such as gender, race, and class (among others). We’ll learn both through quantitative (statistical) inquiry and qualitative experience. At the heart of our inquiry will lie a seemingly simple yet complex question: will your next four years be consequential?

Brooklyn’s In the House – Rhetorical Criticism of Jay-Z and the Notorious B.I.G. (Connie Chic Smith)
Section 043 | 12028 | Thursday | 12:30PM-1:45PM

The course provides an examination of the rhetoric of two of the most celebrated Hip Hop artist who just happen to be from Brooklyn, NY. The musical work of Shawn Carter, aka, Jay-Z and the late Christopher Wallace, aka the Notorious B.I.G., will serve as the launching pad to discuss the messages in the music, the common themes in their music, and their perceptions of their beloved Brooklyn. Students participating in this course will learn (1) Hip Hop music’s connection to the oral tradition in African American rhetoric and culture, and (2) how to employ various qualitative research methods used in rhetorical criticism to unearth deep-seated and often subconscious meanings. (Also offered as Section 20)