Honors Courses Spring 2026

First-Year Seminars

Cosmopolitanism (CIV)

M/W 2:00pm-3:40pm

Dr. Ketevan Kupatadze

At Elon we capitalize on our desire to educate what we call “global citizens,” yet we have not considered using the phrase “cosmopolitans.” Why? Taking this question as a point of departure, this course invites students to explore the intellectual history of cosmopolitanism and the similarities and differences between being ‘global’ as opposed to ‘cosmopolitan.’ The term comes from Diogenes, the Greek philosopher, who when asked where he came from, replied: “I am a citizen of the world” [kosmopolitês]. The response was intended to mean that he was not bound to the laws of the metropolis to which he had arrived. The course, therefore, will focus on one of the most basic questions with which cosmopolitan discourse has always challenged us: why do we attach ourselves to local and/or national identities? And, based on this attachment, claim or strip away one’s rights, privileges and authority? In this context, the history and the tradition of cosmopolitanism in Latin America will prove to be illuminating, as it is a compilation of cultures highly influenced by Western socio-political, philosophical and literary discourses, but at the same time one that has always had to negotiate its peripheral place vis-à-vis the European center while searching for its own coherent identity.

Spy Stories: Narrative as an Instrument of Surveillance (EXP-Lit)
M/W 2:00pm-3:40pm
Dr. Megan Isaac

This course will examine children’s and young adult literature as a pivot point for cultural, political, and historical identity in the United States. Children and the issues related to them are often the focus of cultural conflicts in the U.S. Members of the class will explore these overt and covert conflicts as they appear in children’s literature. We will investigate how books for children and young readers help shape the values that provide us with a cultural identity and a sense of community. Simultaneously, we will examine the complicated or contentious ideas embedded in books for children and young adults. Beginning with authors from the late 19th century and working our way forward, we will explore ideas of intellectual freedom and censorship, nostalgia and innovation, didacticism and entertainment, and the constant tension between conservative and subversive trends in books for young readers. Our study will center on books (both textual and visual elements) but include a consideration of production, distribution, and merchandizing methods as well. Ultimately, we will work to understand the ways ideas about childhood, story, books, and U.S. cultural identity are produced and contested.

Scientific communication in a post-truth society (non-lab SCI )
T/TH 10:30am-12:10pm
Dr. Jen Uno

Science as a discipline is based on fact but it can also be considered a method for analyzing and collecting data to accept or reject those very facts. Equally important, is the idea that science does not happen in isolation. It is affected by the social and cultural context of researchers and in turn has an impact on society and culture. This course will cover four major scientific topics (vaccines, climate change, evolution, and community dynamics) that are often misunderstood, over simplified and debated. We will explore the history behind each issue and the original scientific theories, ideas and primary literature involved with each topic. Following a careful examination of the science, we will then turn to how society has interpreted and influenced each topic and take a closer look at exactly how, when and why misconceptions developed. We will debate and discuss all sides of the issue and together learn how to use the scientific method as a tool make informed decisions.

 

Sophomore Seminars

Making the Grade: Teaching and Learning from Antiquity to Today (CIV)

T/Th 10:30-12:10

Dr. Kristina Meinking

What does learning look like? How do we know that we’ve learned? How do politics, economics, psychology, and other factors influence our understanding of learning? Why and how might these matter? And what do grades have to do with learning? Drawing on the diverse experience and expertise of students, this course seeks to explore these and other questions by examining the history of education, deconstructing the relationship between grades and learning, and inviting students to create meaningful alternative models for articulating and demonstrating their learning.

Burning at the Stake: Superstition in the Western World (CIV)

T/Th 12:30-2:10

Dr. Mina Garcia

This course asks how belief in supernatural causes shapes societies, relates to religion and idolatry and changes depending on the context. Studying what constitutes superstition from Apuleius to the Virgin of Guadalupe, from Inquisitorial Spain to the Salem Witch Trials, can expose the complexities of a particular society and how racial, gender, class and territorial conflicts can be disguised as manifestation of a spell. Students will develop a critical understanding of the malleability of the concept, focusing in its role in Early Modern Spain the newly discovered Americas and the contemporary world. Course assignments, focused reaction papers, a poster session and a semester-long project are designed to prepare students to meet the complex questions of the term in the most engaging way.

International Cool (SOC)

T/TH 2:30-4:10

Dr. Douglas Cass

The term “cool” appeared in the Dutch language over 600 years ago. Cool has been traced to beliefs of the African Yoruba tribe, and to concepts in ancient Chinese writings in the Tao Te Ching from 400 B.C. Today, “cool” might be the most casually spoken word in the English language. Yet few are aware that its modern-day usage is rooted in response to racism in America, where it miraculously fused two completely contradictory meanings: to remain calm in the face of tensions and hostilities, and to stand out with an expression of exceptional individuality and style. What is the root of this contradiction that still exists today? How do these two contradictory ideas co-exist and why? Globally speaking, one of America’s largest exports is its “cool,” from music to movies to clothing and sports. At the same time, cool has taken on its own dimensions in an array of nations and cultures around the world. How do cultures exchange ideas on an equal footing that does not have its basis in colonialism or a fascination with “the other?” Cool permeates every aspect of our lives, from what we wear and eat to what we hear and watch, to our own sense of self and self-confidence. Beginning with American jazz and Hollywood Film Noir movies, then branching out into a global context, students will use a variety of readings, media, group projects, and multi-modal writing to research and explore this multi-faceted concept, with an ultimate eye toward how one sees society both locally and globally, and how one sees oneself.

 

Honors Courses Fall 2025

Sophomore Seminars

Class, Status, and Power: Perspectives on Wealth, Poverty, and Inequality in the United States (SOC)

T/TH 2:30pm-4:10pm

Dr. Joel Shelton

This course investigates the interplay of wealth, power, and social status in the United States, with a focus on the concept of class as it has been theorized and studied in the social sciences and humanities. Students are first introduced to understandings of class and class relations that featured in the Greco-Roman world of antiquity. From there, the course examines modern ideas and arguments about class, status, and power that emerged in the context of debates about capitalism, democracy, and freedom in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The work of contemporary theorists that position class dynamics in relation to race and gender is also considered. From this theoretical foundation, students examine current research on class, power, and inequality in the United States.

War and Conflict in Asian/Asian American Literature and Cinema (EXP-Lit)

T/TH 10:30am-12:10pm

Dr. Dinidu Karunanayake

This course examines sites of war and conflict in Asia through imaginative maps provided by Asian/Asian American writers and filmmakers. Through a study of literary and cultural work, it investigates the intersections of European colonialism, decolonization, and aberrations of new nation formations, and shows how writers and artists make legible experiences that have been rendered illegitimate by imperial and nationalist discourses. The course extends Cathy J. Schlund-Vials’s observation about how writers and artists “reimagine alternative nonhegemonic sites for justice by way of heterotopic negotiations.

The Culture of Food

M/W 2:00pm-3:40pm (CIV or EXP) $40 Course Materials Fee

Dr. Kevin Bourque and Dr. Nina Namaste

At first glance, the meaning of “food” seems self-apparent. “Food” is a monosyllable, something we’re familiar with from birth; even a baby knows what food is. Look more carefully, however, and the definition becomes more complex: what is the dividing line between a food and a medicine? Are genetically modified or highly-processed substances – say, “imitation cheese product” or Go-Gurt – still foods? How might one culture’s food be another’s taboo? This course spans human expression – including literature, the visual arts, the history of science and the history of ideas – to explore and evaluate the meaning of food. In turn, students will examine and articulate their own relationships with food, through both individual research projects and in-class tastings and activities. How might thoughtful engagement with food – and learning to taste critically – make us better eaters, thinkers and global citizens?