Self and Society

Students must complete two sections of HONR 2047 between their second and fourth years. In HONR 2047, students choose from a selection of social science introductory courses that provide a foundation in the language, perspectives, methods, and research approaches of a specific social science discipline.

Cross-listed Honors courses

NOTE: Students must be registered in the HONR section in order to receive UHP credit. For courses that are cross-listed with another department, the UHP can add "credit" for a course to the student's DegreeMAP within the major and/or minor's requirements block. Students must have officially declared the major or minor with their respective school, and it must be reflected on their DegreeMAP at the time of the request. Students may also petition their school/major to accept HONR courses they find are relevant to their curriculum requirements. For any questions, please see a UHP Program Manager.

A cross-listed course is a course that is shared with another department, please pay careful attention to the GPAC attributes associated with each cross-listed course.

Holocaust Memory
Humanitarianism
Media, Power, and Society
Race, American Medicine, & Public Health
Equality & the Law

Upper-Level Course Substitution Option

On occasion, a UHP student may have a particular interest in a certain course or topic outside of their major which we are not able to offer formally through the UHP but which may nonetheless conform to some or all of the ideals of an Honors course. If a UHP student can demonstrate that they will benefit personally and intellectually from that course, they may be granted an exception to count one non-UHP course toward the UHP upper-level course requirements. Please review the upper-level course substitution option webpage for more information.

Politics and Culture

Professor Harvey Feigenbaum

HONR 2047:13 - 3 Credits

CRN: 35774

T 12:45PM - 3:15PM

Fulfills:

GPAC Critical Thinking in the Social Sciences

Course Description: This is a course that examines a number of the ways that issues of culture and politics intersect. While the subject is vast, and could hardly be exhausted by a single course, the purpose of this seminar is to give the student an idea as to some of the ways in which culture affects politics and in which politics affects culture. As always in a proseminar, there will be no lectures. Rather, we will discuss the readings assigned each week. Topics will include the political and cultural dimensions of the film industry, nationalism, fascism and foreign policy...among others topics.

Bio: Dr. Feigenbaum is a Professor of Political Science and International Affairs. He is an expert on the political economy of Western Europe and is currently writing a book on the political economy of the entertainment industry, focusing on the United States, France, and Britain.

Applied Health Equity

Professor Maranda Ward

HONR 2047:14 - 3 Credits

CRN: 35775

M 6:10PM - 8:40PM

Fulfills:

GPAC Critical Thinking in the Social Sciences

Course Description: Achieving health equity is among the nation’s health goals outlined in Healthy People 2020. The concept of health equity moves public health conversations, interventions, policies, and research beyond the individual unit of analysis to emphasize the social, legal, political, and cultural systems in which people are embedded. Where people live, work, study, play, and age- or the social determinants of health- are at the crux of understanding and assessing health equity. This course is designed around the three recommendations offered by the World Health Organization’s Commission on the Social Determinants of Health (2008) to close the gaps in health outcomes: 1) improve daily living conditions, 2) tackle inequitable distribution of power, money, and resources; and 3) measure and understand problems and assess impact of action. Students will apply their understanding of these recommendations to the work of a local community-based organization that serves Black residents who live in a Washington, DC neighborhood East of the Anacostia River. Localized understanding of global health equity concepts will allow students to practice and/or strengthen public health competencies to address structural inequities that allow health disparities to persist for vulnerable populations.

Bio: Dr. Ward is an Assistant Professor and Director of Equity in the Department of Clinical Research and Leadership in the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences. Her research focuses on diversity, equity, inclusion, justice and antiracism educational interventions as well as stakeholder-engaged community-focused studies on HIV, Black women's health, and youth identity. She is a recipient of GW's 2021 Morton A. Bender Teaching award.

Justice and the Legal System I

Professor Jill Kasle

HONR 2047:16 - 3 Credits

CRN: 37698

T 3:30PM - 6:00PM

Fulfills:

GPAC Critical Thinking in the Social Sciences

Course Description: Justice and the Legal System is a law school course in constitutional law that has been modified (but not dumbed down) for undergraduates.

The course approaches the Constitution as both the blueprint of government (the Articles) and a list of rights (the Amendments). The readings in the course are Supreme Court opinions. Students will have the opportunity to develop their ability to write in a brief and clear style. Law school teaching methods are used. The best description of the course was written a few years ago by a student. “This course is the law school you go to before you go to law school.”

Bio: Prof. Kasle is both a lawyer and Associate Professor of Public Policy and Public Administration. She has extensive experience in telecommunication policy, has served on the Board of Advisors for GW's Undergraduate Law Review Journal, and was GW's university marshal for over two decades!

Ethics and World Politics

Professor Martha Finnemore

HONR 2047:17 - 3 Credits

CRN: 37869

R 12:45PM - 3:15PM

Fulfills:

GPAC Critical Thinking in the Social Sciences
CCAS: 2000-level Political Science course elective

Course Description: What makes a war “just”? Are people entitled to their wealth? Are there moral duties to help people in other countries? Do we have obligations to future generations and if so why and what are they? These are old questions with new relevance in today’s politics. In this class we will use classic arguments about these issues to explore contemporary ethical challenges of war, poverty, genocide, immigration, human rights, gender issues, and climate justice. Our goal will be to learn from the past to think about politically possible routes to ethically better futures.

Course readings will include excerpts from significant texts in the field including Hannah Arendt’s Eichmann in Jerusalem (1977), Michael Walzer’s Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument with Historical Illustrations (1992), Peter Singer’s The Life You Can Save (2010), and Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl Wu Dunn’s Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide (2009). Course assessment will be based on written essays.

Bio: Dr. Finnemore is the University Professor of Political Science and International Affairs. Her research focuses on global governance, international organizations, ethics, and social theory. In 2023, she was awarded the Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science, widely regarded as the most esteemed honor in the field and often referred to as the “Nobel Prize of Political Science.”

Global Progress

Professor Michael Barnett

HONR 2047:18 - 3 Credits

CRN: 37870

T 12:45PM - 3:15PM

Fulfills:

GPAC Critical Thinking in the Social Sciences
CCAS: 2000-level Political Science course elective

Course Description: Most of our narratives of international affairs contain strong elements of progress. The world is and should be getting better. But the expectation of progress seems to be increasingly tattered in the face of high rates of inequality, growing prospects of nuclear war, pandemics, climate change, and the rise of authoritarianism. This course will address three themes in the study of progress in world affairs. One is: What is progress? What is the best case for the existence of progress in world affairs? What are the different ways to conceptualize it? Do you think that the world is getting better and heading in the right direction? Based on what? Second, What are the causes of progress? Several hundreds of years ago the presumption was that it was directed by the heavens, but since then we have tended to give credit to humans, science and technology, and reason. But to what extent is suffering a cause of progress? Third, What happens when our belief in progress is shattered? There have been many extraordinary moments in world affairs that have challenged our belief in progress, including World Wars One and Two, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and genocides in Rwanda and Bosnia. How do we make sense of the presence of evil in a story of progress? How does the world respond?

Bio: Dr. Barnett is the University Professor of International Affairs and Political Science. His research interests span the Middle East, humanitarianism, global governance, global ethics, and the United Nations. His most recent books include Global Governance; Israel and the One State Reality; The Star and the Stripes: A History of the Foreign Policies of the American Jews; Paternalism Beyond Borders; and the edited collection Humanitarianism and Human Rights: Worlds of Differences?

Holocaust Memory

Professor Walter Reich

HONR 2047:81 - 3 Credits

CRN: 35128

W 3:30PM - 6:00PM

Fulfills:

This course has no GPAC designations
CCAS: Upper-level History European Regional requirement
ESIA: Comparative, Political, Economic, Social Systems, Conflict Resolution, Contemporary Cultures and Societies, Europe and Eurasia, International Politics, and Security Policy concentrations

***Note that UHP students will only receive Self & Society credit if they are enrolled in the HONR 2047 section (CRN: 35128)***

Course cross listed with IAFF 3205.80 (CRN: 36481) and JSTD 2002.86 (CRN: 38123)

Course Description: The sources, construction, development, nature, uses and misuses of the memory, or public consciousness, of the Holocaust. How do different publics in different countries, cultures and societies know, or think they know, about the Holocaust from diaries, memoirs, testimonies, fiction, documentaries, television, commercial films, memorials, museums, the Internet, social media, educational programs and the statements of world leaders—some of them historically accurate and some of them highly distorted, often for political and national reasons. The challenge of representing the Holocaust with fidelity and memorializing its victims with dignity and authenticity. The impact of Holocaust memory on contemporary responses to other genocides and crimes against humanity. The increasing efforts to use, misuse, abuse, minimize, deny or attack the Holocaust for political, diplomatic, strategic, ideological, antisemitic, anti-Zionist, or other purposes, including the growing efforts to create false or distorted narratives of the Holocaust in the service of nationalist, political or ideological ends. The effectiveness—or lack of effectiveness--of Holocaust memory in teaching the Holocaust’s contemporary “lessons,” especially the vow of “Never again!” The roles of Holocaust memory, and of Holocaust denial or minimization, in international affairs, including in the Middle East in general and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in particular. The psychological, national and diplomatic role of Holocaust memory in Israeli consciousness and behavior. The effects on Holocaust memory of the passage of time since the event. This course uses a cross-disciplinary approach, drawing on the fields of politics, society, ethics, literature, history, cinema, individual testimony, group psychology, social psychology, individual psychology and international affairs.

Bio: Dr. Reich is the Yitzhak Rabin Memorial Professor of International Affairs, Ethics and Human Behavior and Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. He formerly served as a Director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Humanitarianism

Professor Michael Barnett

HONR 2047:82 - 3 Credits

CRN: 36938

TR 11:10AM - 12:25PM

Fulfills:

This course has no GPAC designations
CCAS: 2000-level Political Science course elective

***Note that UHP students will only receive Self & Society credit if they are enrolled in the HONR 2047 section 82 (CRN: 36938)***

Course cross listed with IAFF 2190.81 (CRN: 38097) and PSC 2454.10 (CRN: 37813)

Course Description: This class focuses on humanitarianism – the attempt to provide life-saving relief during moments of urgency to distant strangers. Because humanitarianism is so closely identified with humanity, acts of compassion and benevolence, and people sacrificing to help strangers, it is often treated as the posterchild of what is good in the world. But nothing is pure and this course takes a sober look at the blends. This course is divided into three sections. Section I considers the “humanity” in humanitarianism. What does it mean to act in the name of humanity? Who is supposed to act? When? For what purpose? Is humanitarianism a Trojan horse for imperialism? Do acts of relief and care bring out the best in us, or are they a mixture of care and power? Section II provides an overview of the history of humanitarianism. It begins by exploring the theory and practice of humanitarianism, and then turns to its history. A key point is that there are several humanitarianisms, and global politics deeply influences their life and times. It ends by looking at the current state of the humanitarian architecture. Section III examines some of the dilemmas of humanitarianism. Doing good is far more morally treacherous than it appears. Trade-offs have to be made. Some lives saved and others sacrificed. All too often attempts to do good only create more harm. What are humanitarians to do?

Bio: Dr. Barnett is the University Professor of International Affairs and Political Science. His research interests span the Middle East, humanitarianism, global governance, global ethics, and the United Nations. His most recent books include Global Governance; Israel and the One State Reality; The Star and the Stripes: A History of the Foreign Policies of the American Jews; Paternalism Beyond Borders; and the edited collection Humanitarianism and Human Rights: Worlds of Differences?

Media, Power, and Society

Professor Steven Livingston

HONR 2047:84 - 3 Credits

CRN: 37000

TR 12:45PM - 2:20PM

Fulfills:

This course has no GPAC designations

***Note that UHP students will only receive Self & Society credit if they are enrolled in the HONR 2047 section 84 (CRN:37000)***

Course cross listed with SMPA 3195.85 (CRN: 37831)

Course Description: This seminar considers democracy in the United States through the lens of social and economic power structures. Drawing on sociological and historical accounts, discussions are organized around a core hypothesis: Democratic decay is the consequence of endemic power disparities along class and racial lines. The seminar is also informed by the instructor's fieldwork in Michigan during the 2024 elections.

Bio: Dr. Steven Livingston is a Professor of Media and Public Affairs and International Affairs and is the Founding Director of the Institute for Data, Democracy, and Politics. Dr. Livingston studies the role of digital technology in governance and the provisioning of public goods, including human security and rights.

Race, American Medicine, & Public Health: The African American Experience

Professor Vanessa Northington Gamble

HONR 2047W:81 - 3 Credits

CRN: 33986

MW 12:45PM - 2:00PM

Fulfills:

WID Requirement
This course has no GPAC designations

***Note that UHP students will only receive Self & Society credit if they are enrolled in the HONR 2047W section 81 (CRN: 33986)***

Course cross listed with AMST 4702W.80 (CRN: 36983) and HIST 3001W.81 (CRN: 36431)

Course Description: This course examines the history of African Americans and medicine and public health from slavery to today. It will emphasize the importance of understanding the historical roots of contemporary dilemmas such as racial health inequities and the dearth of Black health professionals. The course will challenge you to synthesize materials from several disciplines to gain a broad understanding of the relationship between race, medicine, and public health in the United States. It will also provide a forum to discuss systemic racism in medicine and public health.

Among the questions that will be addressed are: How have race and racism influenced, and continue to influence, American medicine and public health? What is race and how has this concept evolved? What have been some of the historical vulnerabilities of African Americans within the medical system? How have medical thought and practices contributed to systemic racism? What are racial inequities in health and health care and what are their history? How have lay communities, medical and public health professionals, and governmental agencies addressed health inequities? What have been the experiences of African Americans as patients and health care providers?

Bio: Professor Northington Gamble is University Professor of Medical Humanities and Professor of American Studies. A physician, scholar, and activist, Dr. Gamble is an internationally recognized expert on the history of American medicine, racial and ethnic disparities in health and health care, public health ethics, and bioethics. She chaired the committee that took the lead role in the successful campaign to obtain an apology in 1997 from President Clinton for the United States Public Health Syphilis Study at Tuskegee.

Her many honors include appointment to the National Council on Humanities; election as a Fellow of the Hastings Center; membership on the Penn Med Board; an honorary degree from SUNY Upstate Medical University; and the Distinguished Graduate Award from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. A proud native of West Philadelphia, Dr. Gamble is an elected member of the prestigious National Academy of Medicine.

Equality & the Law: Introduction to Legal Research and Writing

Professor Zachary Wolfe

HONR 2047W:82 - 3 Credits

CRN: 36983

MW 4:45PM - 6:00PM

Fulfills:

WID Requirement
This course has no GPAC designations
CCAS: Law & Society minor requirement

***Note that UHP students will only receive Self & Society credit if they are enrolled in the HONR 2047W section 82 (CRN: 36983)***

Course cross listed with UW 2031W.80 (CRN: 33402)

Course Description: This course offers an introduction to how lawyers and legal scholars research and write about specific disputes that arise in the context of complex social issues. It is one of the required courses for the minor in law and society and satisfies a WID requirement.

Legal writing, like all forms of scholarly writing, is best understood in context and in practice. In this course, we have the opportunity to explore an ongoing challenge to our society in general and the legal system in particular: the promise of equality, and how government relates to it. We do so by examining judicial decisions, statutes, regulations, and law review articles concerning matters related to race, sexual orientation and gender, disability, and others issues that continue to advance major challenges to the system’s ability to realize legal and civil equality. That examination requires an understanding of legal audience expectations as well as the ability to use specialized research techniques and craft written analysis in particular forms, so students will learn about the nuances of argument in the interdisciplinary field of law and the unique requirements of legal research and writing.

Bio: Professor Wolfe teaches writing courses themed around law and social movements and an advanced Writing in the Disciplines course in legal writing. After obtaining his Juris Doctorate from The George Washington University Law School, he practiced public interest law for several years and eventually began teaching part-time. Although he's been a full-time professor for a number of years, he continues to practice law to a limited extent, mostly by consulting on cases and filing an occasional amicus brief. He is an active legal writer, including as the author of the fourth edition and quarterly updates to the seminal Farnsworth on Contracts and of annual editions of Hate Crimes Law. More info (and Supreme Court tips!) are on profzwolfe.com.