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.

Leading Authentically
Holocaust Memory
Media, Power, and Society
Equality & the Law
Epidemics in American History

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.

Ambitious Multilateralism: Global Social Movements

Professor Laura Engel

HONR 2047:10 - 3 Credits

CRN: 23630

TR 11:10AM - 12:25PM

Fulfills:

GPAC Critical Thinking in the Social Sciences

Course Description: It has been said that the challenges of our global interconnected and interdependent world require “an ambitious multilateralism” (Bautista, 2024). Different from the past, individuals around the world are encouraged to step outside of their local and/or national interests to explore, take part, and embody a shared agenda or set of activities with others; to champion a global vision of shared humanity; to tackle problems of a global scale. The 2030 Agenda, marked by 17 global goals, is one such global effort and movement aimed at sustainable development and the pursuit of peaceful, inclusive, just, and sustainable societies. The Sustainable Development Goals, comprised of 17 distinct, yet interrelated goals, offer the world a roadmap. The SDGs are not just a list of goals with targets and indicators, but can also be understood as a global social movement, defined as networks of key actors that pursue and shape an agenda across national borders, are impactful on global governance, as well as national and local political agendas around the world. Unique amongst these movements is their global orientation, fueled in part by social media and other digital tools that allow for the rapid spread of information. Envisioned in the 2030 Agenda is multisectoral and multi-disciplinary approaches to global challenges. Yet, critiques abound – from the lofty nature of the goals to the agenda being driven only by select groups, classes, or global regions, undermining their mission of representative democracy and global Equity.

This class will provide an opportunity to delve more deeply into multilateralism, global governance, the United Nations system, and global social movements from an interdisciplinary and international orientation. It will focus on concepts like the transnational civil society, cross-border activism, global civil society, and grassroots globalization, and engage students in:

(1) the study of the SDGs as a global movement;

(2) a student-led project on how the SDGs are taking shape across different case studies and country systems;

(3) whether and to what extent to which education systems worldwide are equipping young people with the tools to engage in understanding and taking part in different movements;

(4) understanding the role that digital technologies and platforms have played in fueling the mobilization of the SDGs;

(5) examining how multi-lateral organizations, such as UNESCO, are working to reimagine education systems toward global, digital citizenship;

(6) debating whether the SDGs are additive to democracy in a global arena or leading toward democratic delay due to their own politics and purported lack of global representation.

Bio: Dr. Laura Engel is a Professor of International Education and International Affairs with GW's Graduate School of Education and Human Development. A recipient of GW's 2022 Morton A. Bender Teaching award, Dr. Engel's research interests focus on the influence of global education policy trends in national and regional systems.

Understanding Israel and Palestine

Professor Nathan Brown

HONR 2047:16 - 3 Credits

CRN: 24991

MW 12:45PM - 2:00PM

Fulfills:

GPAC Critical Thinking in the Social Sciences

Course Description: This course is designed to familiarize students with Israeli and Palestinian societies--their politics, their histories, and the way the two interact. The course will not be oriented around "the" history or "the" conflict since those things are viewed so very differently by many of those most deeply concerned. Instead, the focus will be understanding how and why various groups of Israelis and Palestinians have experienced and understood matters they way that they have--and how this informs the actions of those groups. There is no academic prerequisite for the course but there will be a strong expectation that those enrolling in the class come prepared to treat respectfully--and even with curiosity--views very different from their own. Students with a strong background (and personal connection or commitment) are very much welcome and those who have little background knowledge (and no commitments at all) are very welcome as well. In addition to academic writings on history, society, and politics, the course will incorporate cultural materials and guest speakers and experts.

This course will allow students to explore a series of questions: How do key groups in Israeli and Palestinian societies understand history? What are the most important political actors and how have they evolved? How do they experience the present with its harsh political realities? What hopes and expectations do they have for the future?"

Bio: Dr. Nathan Brown is a Professor of Political Science and International Affairs. A recipeint of GW's Oscar and Shoshana Trachtenberg Award for Scholarship in 2015, his current work focuses on religion, law, and politics in the Arab world.

Leading Authentically

Professor Gelaye Debebe

HONR 2047:12 - 3 Credits

CRN: 24397

W 3:30PM - 6:00PM

Fulfills:

This course has no GPAC designations
ESIA: International Development (EFCE) course for declared major/minors
ESIA: International Politics: (EFCH) course for declared major/minors

***Note that UHP students will only receive Self & Society credit if they are enrolled in the HONR 2047 section (CRN: 24397)***

Course cross listed with IAFF 2040.80 (CRN: 28394)

Course Description: Leadership ability is in high demand in all professions and at all levels. This course is a semester-long exploration of leadership within a dynamic and supportive learning community. The course seeks to dispel myths of heroic leadership as well as common beliefs that conflate leadership with having a formal position of authority. Authentic leadership is a dynamic capability that is anchored in values, influenced by the social environment, and learned and honed with practice. Students will learn from seasoned leaders, formulate personal leadership development goals, experiment with new leadership behaviors and gain insights into their leadership strengths and weaknesses. These objectives will be accomplished through a variety of activities including results obtained through lectures, 360-degree feedback, peer leadership coaching, interviews with established leaders, film analysis, and presentations. After taking this course students will develop an understanding of leadership as an art and science. Each student will leave the course with a conceptual grasp of leadership, leadership practice, leadership effectiveness, ethical leadership, and the role of social identity in leadership. Equally important, by the end of the course, each student will understand their leadership strengths and areas for development and will have a clear understanding of what they can do to continue to grow and develop as leaders.

Bio: Gelaye Debebe, PhD, is Associate Professor of Organizational Sciences and director of the graduate program in Organizational Science. She is passionate about teaching and researching leadership—check out her book: Women’s Leadership Development: Caring Environments & Paths to Transformation (Routledge).

Holocaust Memory

Professor Walter Reich

HONR 2047:83 - 3 Credits

CRN: 24993

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: 24993)***

Course cross listed with IAFF 3205.80 (CRN: 26980) and JSTD 2002.82 (CRN: 26317)

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.

Media, Power, and Society

Professor Steven Livingson

HONR 2047:84 - 3 Credits

CRN: 27280

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 (CRN:27280)***

Course cross listed with SMPA 3194.85 (CRN: 27273)

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.

Equality & the Law: Introduction to Legal Research and Writing

Professor Zachary Wolfe

HONR 2047W:80 - 3 Credits

CRN: 28232

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 2047 section (CRN: 28232)***

Course cross listed with UW 2031W.10 (CRN: 24411)

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.

Epidemics in American History

Professor Vanessa Northington Gamble

HONR 2047W:82 - 3 Credits

CRN: 28733

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 2047 section (CRN: 28232)***

Course cross listed with AMST 4701W.80 (CRN: 28739) and HIST 3301W.80 (CRN: 28737).

Course Description: This course surveys the history of epidemics in the United States from the late nineteenth century to today. It examines the development of the medical and public health responses to epidemics and the social, political, cultural,and economic impact of epidemics on American history and culture.This semester we will focus on the 1918 influenza epidemic; race, ethnicity, and epidemic disease; polio; and the tensions between public health and civil liberties, including the development of anti-vaccination sentiments. We will use primary documents, historical accounts, museum visits, and films to understand the history of these diseases and topics. Of course, we will conduct our study of the history of epidemics in the shadow of the contemporary COVID-19 pandemic. However, we will not focus on COVID-19 in this class.

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.