Week 1 (Aug 30-Sep 1)	Week 2 (Sep. 4-8)	Week 3 (Sep. 11-15)	Week 4 (Sep. 18-22)
Week 5 (Sep. 25-29)	Week 6 (Oct. 2-6)	Week 7 (Oct. 9-13)	Week 8 (Oct. 16-20)
Week 9 (Oct. 23-27)	Week 10 (Oct 30-Nov 3)	Week 11 (Nov. 6-10)	Week 12 (Nov. 13-17)
Thanksgiving holidays	Week 13 (Nov 27-Dec 1)	Week 14 (Dec. 4-8)	Week 15 (Dec. 11)
Procedures, Requirements, and Grading Policy

 

Student Projects

An Epistemological Case Study: On Causality and Criminology by Snehal Patel and Samar Sharma. This site is a fictional account of a criminal investigation, based on Philip Kerr's book. It was composed by two students in English 273, a class on Genetics and Literature, in Fall, 2000.

The Modern Ideals of Eugenics by Trevor Landry and Renae Virata. This site is a fictional debate about the pros and cons of engaging in eugenics in the year 2000.

 

Wednesday - Introduction

Friday - Cultural Representations of the Gene

View the National Geographic website devoted to its special issue on "Secrets of the Gene" (October 1999), which features an interview with the photographer who shot the story. Also watch Agilent Technologies' new commercials at its website.

Write a 1-2 page paper on an aspect of the National Geographic story or one of the Agilent's ads, analyzing the way in which these images present the relationship between technology and society.

 

Monday - Genetic Testing

Gattaca (1997), Andrew Niccol, dir.

Wednesday - The Basics of Genetics

Eric S. Lander and Robert Weinberg, "Genomics: Journey to the Center of Biology," Science 287 (10 March 2000): 1777-82 (Reserve)

"Assembling Your Genes," from The Complete Idiot's Guide to Decoding Your Genes (Reserve)

Friday - Back to the (Genetic) Future

"The Behavior of the Hawkweeds" and "Rare Birds" from Andrea Barrett, Ship Fever

 

Monday - Back to the (Genetic) Future (cont.)

"Soroche" and "Birds with No Feet" from Andrea Barrett, Ship Fever

Wednesday - Archeology, Race, and DNA evidence

Greg Bear, Darwin's Radio

Related controversies:

Tyrolean Iceman - 5,000-year-old skeleton found in 1991 in the Italian Alps

Ancient DNA, American Scientist web page

Ancient Acupuncture

Kennewick Man - 9600 year-old skeleton found in 1996 on a bank of the Columbia River near Kennewick, Washington

Symposium at Burke Museum, University of Washington

National Park Service reports

Repatriation and Reburial Issues, by Larry Zimmerman, University of Iowa.

Tri-City Herald, Kennewick Man Virtual Interpretive Center

Eliava Institute, Georgian Republic

 

Friday - (no class)

Monday - Speciation

Greg Bear, Darwin's Radio

Wednesday - New Age Evolution

Greg Bear, Darwin's Radio

Friday - Fictions of Evolution

Roger McDonald, Mr. Darwin's Shooter

 

Monday -

Roger McDonald, Mr. Darwin's Shooter

Wednesday - Fictions of Evolution (cont.)

Roger McDonald, Mr. Darwin's Shooter

Friday - Fictions of Evolution (cont.)

Roger McDonald, Mr. Darwin's Shooter

Genetics in the News: "Do Races Differ? Not Really, DNA Shows," New York Times (August 22, 2000). You will have to sign on to the New York Times website by choosing a username and password. This service, however, is free.

 

Monday - Evolution in Tennessee

View Inherit the Wind (1960), Stanley Kramer, dir.

For more information about the Scopes trial, visit Douglas Linder's valuable site chronicling "Famous Trials in American History."

Read the first half of James D. Watson, The Double Helix

Wednesday - Autobiography of a Geneticist

James D. Watson, The Double Helix

Friday -

No class.

Monday -

Richard Powers, The Gold Bug Variations

Wednesday -

Richard Powers, The Gold Bug Variations

Edgar Allen Poe, "The Gold Bug" (Reserve)

Recommended: Attend the lecture by Jon Franklin on "Science Writing and the Coming Literary Gold Rush," 3:10 p.m., Benson 200.

Thursday

Attend the lecture by Robert Plomin, a behavioral geneticist. Room 241, Mental Retardation Lab, Peadbody Campus. 4:00.

Friday -

Class canceled so that students may attend Plomin lecture.

Monday -

Richard Powers, The Gold Bug Variations

Write a 1-2 page paper on one of the following aspects of Powers's novel and be prepared to present your findings to the class:

Bach's Goldberg Variations

Herri met de Bles, a 16th century Flemish/Dutch painter

Emergent or self-organizing systems

Fractals

Glenn Gould

Godel's Incompleteness Theorem

Gerard Manley Hopkins's "Spring and Fall: To a Young Child" (cf. Powers pp. 176, 182)

Marshall Warren Nirenberg

The Perpetual Calendar

Wednesday -

Richard Powers, The Gold Bug Variations

Friday -

Ellen Wright Clayton visits class. Discussion of her manuscript, "Through the Lens of the Sequence."

Continue reading Richard Powers, The Gold Bug Variations

 

Monday -

Richard Powers, The Gold Bug Variations

Wednesday - The Social Implications of Cloning

From Nussbaum and Sunstein, Clones and Clones, read:

Stephen Jay Gould, "Dolly's Fashion and Louis's Passion"

Jean Bethke Elshtain, "To Clone or Not to Clone"

Cass R. Sunstein, "The Constitution and the Clone"

Friday - The Social Implications of Cloning

 

 

Monday - Clones in Hollywood

Jurassic Park (1993), Steven Spielberg, dir.

Nussbaum and Sunstein, Clones and Clones, read:

Laurence Tribe, "On Not Banning Cloning for the Wrong Reasons"

Martha Nussbaum, "Little C"

Wednesday - Clones in the Nineteenth Century

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

Friday - Clones in the Nineteenth Century (cont.)

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

 

Monday - Clones in the Nineteenth Century (cont.)

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

Wednesday - Clones in the Nineteenth Century (cont.)

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

Friday - Clones in the Future

Blade Runner (1982), Ridley Scott, dir.

Monday - Cyborgs

Donna Haraway, "A Cyborg Manifesto" (Read the first section, "An Ironic Dream of a Common Language for Women in the Integrated Circuit," pp. 149-55. This site contains the complete text of "A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century," from Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature (New York; Routledge, 1991), pp.149-181.)

Wednesday - Old Visions of the Future

Aldous Huxley, Brave New World

Friday -

Aldous Huxley, Brave New World

Monday - Forensic Genetics

Philip Kerr, A Philosophical Investigation

Wednesday - Forensic Genetics

Philip Kerr, A Philosophical Investigation

Friday - Forensic Genetics

Philip Kerr, A Philosophical Investigation

Monday - Group Projects

Wednesday - Group Projects

Friday - Group Projects

 

Monday - Group Projects and Conclusion

 

• Short papers (1-2 pages) and 5-minute presentations based on these papers will be assigned five times during the course of the semester. These projects, along with daily class participation, will constitute 20% of the grade.
• Individuals and/or small groups will give a 20 minute oral report on a topic of their own choice. This report, which may serve as preparation for the final research paper, will count for 20% of the semester's grade.
• Research paper (10-20 pages) will count for 60% of the semester's grade.

Jay Clayton

Vanderbilt University

Vanderbilt English