Red Dragon Seminars

This course will explore the many different genres, eras, and types of music, and how we as humans can individually and collaboratively apply them with purpose into our everyday lives though expression of the self, our cultures, our ethnicities, religion, etc. Using excerpts from the OER text Resonances: Engaging Music in its Cultural Context and other select sources, students will explore music, a universal language, and how it has been used in different cultures and societies throughout and between the Global North and Global South. The students will carry a semester-long goal of individually asking themselves, How can I individually and purposefully apply music into my everyday life? Following the study of how music has been used in different societies, the second portion of the course will heavily focus on each student's unique relationship with music and how they plan to incorporate it into different aspects of their lives. The course has a multidisciplinary approach in which we will discuss the intersection of music and the construction of the self through cultural studies, religion, and ethnicity and how it can be used pedagogically through teaching strategies, mindfulness, and in the managing of special needs, including learning disabilities and neurodiversity.

The need and desire for the pursuit of entrepreneurial ventures by graduates is growing in today's competitive work force. The opportunities and tools to facilitate these pursuits are more abundant today than ever before. This course teaches students how to cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset. This course focuses on teaching students the theory of sustainable entrepreneurship and the application of entrepreneurial principles to develop and maintain small businesses through experiential learning, via a simulation game called Startup Wars. In addition, students will engage with local, national, and international Entrepreneurs, who will provide students with their unique perspectives and expertise.

The purpose of this course is to explore the relationship between arts and society. Students will read and discuss philosophical and social scientific frameworks that help understand what artworks inform us about our society and, in turn, in what way a society defines and shapes arts. The course will explore different forms of arts such as paintings, literature, architecture, food, movies etc. as a medium to learn about different societies and their issues in the world. Guest speakers from different disciplines will be invited to the course.

This seminar uses geography, biology, history, art, anthropology, and archaeology to examine what it means to become and be human. We will use studies in anthropology to trace our human past from the emergence of human beings to the rise of ancient states and empires, with special attention to the emergence of art, farming, and social complexity. Emphasis is placed on archaeology as anthropology and the relevance of archaeology to modern human society and politics. By the conclusion of the course, students will experience an extensive view of world prehistory and the key debates and theories about the past.

In this seminar we will discuss the biology and evolution of sexual reproduction across the diverse evolutionary lineages that exhibit it, including humans. Students will gain a first-hand understanding of how scientific research is conducted and communicated, to help them become more sophisticated consumers of scientific claims in the popular media. They will also broaden their understanding of what kinds of sex are natural (in that they occur in nature) and learn to critically evaluate arguments that conflate what sexual behaviors in humans are natural with what sexual behaviors are morally acceptable.

This seminar investigates the planet from an oceanic perspective. Oceans are flows of energy, water, and life. Our lives, our planet are the way they are because of these flows. Through the interdisciplinary study of global oceans and their flows, students will acquire a fundamentally different perspective on themselves and their world.

Planetary space is marked with borders, walls, and fences created to keep outsiders out and make insiders feel safe within their nations, regions, and neighborhoods. These barriers often come equipped with checkpoints, designed to limit who may come and go. Through an exploration of movies, music, literature, graffiti, digital culture, and current events, this seminar prompts students to think about the ways that the flows of people, goods, and ideas are regulated by different forms of exclusion and separation on a global scale. Students will explore the role that imagination plays in building and challenging walls and borders, and develop an understanding of the ways that immigrants, refugees, and stateless people are immobilized. Attention will also be paid to the effects of militarized borders and barriers on the environment.

Taylor Swift, who is set to become a billionaire by the end of her current world tour, has come to represent and benefit from a feminism-forward capitalist economy. Much research has been conducted on the economic impact of bringing The Eras Tour to various urban spaces, as well as its theatrical release, and projections show that these effects will extend beyond the United States to communities in Europe, Asia, and the Global South, ultimately allowing students to understand the true impact of capitalism (Taylor's Version).

As Greta Thunberg says: The world has a fever. This Red Dragon Seminar will examine the causes, impacts and future of Earth's changing climate. We will look at how climate scientists know that climate is changing, hazards and disasters that are attributed to climate change, what is currently being done to address the climate crisis, and what will need to be done to avert the worst climate impacts. We will dispel persistent myths about the causes of climate change and identify areas where we have justifiable hope for change.

This course is designed to master memory and comprehension techniques necessary to succeed at SUNY Oneonta. This course will help manage stress and mental health along with your course work, encouraging students to find a balance between the two. Finally, there will be a critical view of how educational systems vary worldwide, so that students can learn and appreciate how other cultures approach education.

This course invites you to examine two small islands which have had oversized impacts on the world. Both islands were subject to British colonialism and imperialism and had crucial struggles for national liberation. Both islands are recognized for their national pride, rich cultures and extensive migration networks. The course will use literature, film and historical texts to look at the similarities and differences between Jamaica and Ireland. There are numerous shared themes which include: Colonization, Slavery, Discrimination, Resistance, Exploitation, Migration and National Liberation. This course will have significant (and lively!) class discussions and will improve your writing and research skills.

This Dragon seminar explores the connections between decolonization and social justice, examining how colonial histories shaped contemporary inequalities and resistance. Students will engage with key theories of colonialism, race, and power while analyzing movements for land rights, reparations, and environmental justice. Centering Indigenous, Black, and Global South perspectives, the course challenges conventional justice frameworks and explores decolonial activism. Through interdisciplinary readings and case studies, students will critically assess historical and ongoing struggles for equity. Through project-based, problem based learning, and critical literacies, this course targets the three core competencies of a Dragon Academy Seminar: Critical Thinking, Information Literacy, and Global Literacy. "

This Dragon Academy Seminar will explore the healthcare system in the United States from both the social and political perspective, as well as from the practical perspective. The healthcare system will be analyzed in the context of social justice, equality, and the role of politics. The healthcare system will also compared to other systems in the Global North and the Global South. This seminar will also involve laboratory exercises typically carried out in a doctor's office. You will gain understanding on how and what they are measuring and learn to interpret the physiological data."

The Seminar will center on three cases of mis/disinformation: the QAnon conspiracy theory, propaganda and public relations initiatives favoring government deregulations in favor of the free market, and antivaccination/vaccine hesitancy. Classroom discussions and homework assignments will require students to analyze and reflect on specific case studies taken as examples from the public sphere. The seminar will examine the claims themselves and the social, cultural, and political conditions underlying these claims and their rapid dissemination. These claims will be analyzed for their validity through reflection on scientific data -or the lack thereof. Students will be challenged to establish the validity and reliability of the sources of these claims.

This course examines the human ecology of imperialism since the late eighteenth century. Students will learn about the ways in which commodity economies in Europe's colonies shaped environments, the development of environmentalism on the frontiers of empire, and how the legacies of empire continue to shape the challenges of sustainability today.

Consider the ingredients you associate with typical Italian or Mexican food whether you cook it yourself or eat out. The peppers and tomatoes in Italian cooking and the lettuce, onions, and flour tacos in Mexican cooking are only typical now. But, prior to colonialization, Italians did not have access to peppers or tomatoes, for these are native to S. America. And prior to colonization, there was no wheat, onions, or lettuce in S. America. We will explore the history of some common agricultural plants through readings and activities.

A study of how thematic globalization issues create diverse family experiences and outcomes. The interdependency of global south and north will be used to interrogate the conditions of diverse family functions as captured in culture, economics and sustainability.

Did you know what you eat directly influences your mood and mental health? Through this class we will explore the diet-mental health relationship; how nutrition influences the way we think, feel, behave, sense, and experience; and how, in most cases, the things we eat are interfering with our health and wellbeing. More than just eating certain foods, it's also about the way we look at food, the choices we make, and being stalwart stewards of our microbiomes. We will also investigate how this information links to sustainability, food insecurity, and other questions of social justice within our global food systems.

This interdisciplinary course examine how feminism as a social movement and cultural/political critique circulates in popular culture transnationally through various avenues: films, music, tv, celebrity, news, and social media, and more.

This course explores the intersection of environmental problems and human, political, and cultural factors. Covering both global north and south, students will study the science of environmental issues such as pollution, waste, and climate change, and examine the social and political dimensions of environmental injustice. Through discussion, case studies, and hands-on projects, students will gain a comprehensive understanding of the root causes and consequences of environmental injustice and develop solutions for a more just and sustainable future.

Ludology (the study of games) is highly interdisciplinary, touching on anthropology, psychology, sociology, mathematics, and many other areas. Students are able to view and explore the class from many different lenses.

Building on SUNY Oneonta's mission to grow intellectually, thrive socially, and live purposefully, this course will additionally consider what it means to die gracefully, asking the big question, How might dialoging about death affect the way you live your life? Utilizing a Death Cafe model to discuss death, dying, and grief, students will answer this question, engaging with critical, creative, contemplative, and collaborative exploration via arts-based learning to embody what it means to grow, thrive, live, and someday die.

At the juncture of language, culture, and the history of conflict resolution, this multidisciplinary offering will familiarize students with an array of approaches to the chronicles of the success and failure of consensus decision-making. The status of the other, the role of language, the weight of beliefs, will be discussed on ethics, law, and art considering desire and sacrifice. Making plans, sharing perspectives, changing attitudes, monitoring progress, students will come together to better understand conflict, focusing on clear paths towards mutual understanding. Texts to be discussed span from The Magna Carta (1215) to recent chapters on the Israel-Hamas Conflict (2024).

This class asks the question: what does the imaginary tell us about the real? It will be an inquiry into both the imagination and reality. Students will read speculative fictions from a variety of global cultures. Multiple disciplinary lenses will be employed including global philosophical as well as literary, anthropological, historical, psychological, sociological, and Darwinian.

This course will explore science fiction from around the world and in different time periods in order to grapple with questions such as how imagining the future can be a critique of the present or the past, why it seems unexpected that certain cultures or countries should produce science fiction, how superficial or profound are the intercultural elements in U.S. science fiction, is there any room for scifi in the world of professional science and engineering, and how to translate invented alien words or names.

Reproductive politics operate at multiple levels and are critical to our individual lives and national and transnational governance. Reproduction is central to narratives of nationalism, family, love and marriage, and social policies. This course examines these multivalent connections and explores issues that include reproductive health: birthing, sterilization, abortion; racialization: colonialism, slavery, immigration; eugenics; reproductive governance: population control, mortality, surrogacy; integrated reproduction: gender and sexual equality, housing, health care, and economic justice. Interdisciplinary course readings, including academic books and articles, newspaper and news magazine articles, and films, allow students to trace the issues that comprise reproductive politics from local to global.

A study of interactions between economic principles and sports, and of economic institutions which organize sports. In examples, economics is applied to gain insight for sports. In other examples, choices in sports are used to observe insights for economics. Review of the voluminous data available from sporting contests. Readings and film selected from football, cricket, baseball, and basketball. Application of a selection economic principles to sport choices in verbal and written discussion, compare and contrast organization of sport, including connections between the Global North and South.

Typically thought of as something evil, terrifying, the stuff of nightmares, monster also means something marvelous or exceptional. The monster is, therefore, something that we cannot look away from and yet fear to see. In this class, we will look at monsters in literature to see how they show us ourselves, illuminating issues of gender, sexuality, disability, empire, and the relationship of humans to nature.

This Red Dragon Seminar is focused on a single theme that is certainly one of the most pressing contemporary challenges of humanity: How do we provide affordable, clean energy to sustain a prosperous standard of living for all citizens of the globe.

In this seminar you will study the history of piracy in early America. You will study different types of pirates in different eras (ca. 1500-1750) and you will learn how the pirates were finally hunted down and destroyed. Other topics include exploration, trade, smuggling, empire, naval technology, and naval warfare.

This course explores the international politics of Africa's relationship with major powers in the contemporary era through an examination of key actors and processes. It focuses on the rationale, causes, and impact of the involvement of the US, China, and EU in African countries through the lens of neoliberalism and globalization.

This seminar course investigates the impacts of floods on communities and ways to build community resilience to flood risks. Students will learn how to accumulate knowledge about floods using library searches and artificial intelligence (AI) apps, including internet searches and the new large language model chatbots, and develop skills to critically evaluate information sources and AI summaries. Social and economic ramifications, Global North and South approaches and interactions, and societal attempts to mitigate and adapt to flood risks in the face of climate change will be woven into the course through case studies, readings, group discussions and a final project.

The human body, and the understanding of it, are central to both the biomedical sciences and the arts. But what does it mean to understand the body, and who has expertise over the body? How have these two ways of thinking about bodies shaped our own values and experiences? This course explores various historical, epistemic, cultural, and ethical issues involved in how artists, healthcare professionals, biomedical researchers, patients, and those affected by both the arts and the sciences attempt to study, conceptualize, represent, manipulate, and experience the human body.

Whether you actively use social media or fervently avoid it, there's no denying that selfies have become a dominant form of communication in the world today. But more than a trend, selfies tell a bigger story about human life and society, one that connects our identities to cultural contexts, visual technologies, and the struggle for authenticity. In this course, we will unpack what it means to live in “selfie society,” exploring how to communicate effectively and ethically as consumers and producers of mediated messages in the digital age.

This course will focus on how to use the pedagogy of using storytelling to create narratives for teaching about sustainability issues that focus on social, ecological, and economic justice. This seminar will frame aspects of storytelling for the purpose of developing narratives to teach broad audiences in terms of the three pillars of sustainability: social, ecological, and economic justice. The overarching goal for this course is to engage students in critical literacies where students compose and produce digital stories and exploratory video essays to begin assuaging the difficult problems our world faces.

The proposed course takes freshmen undergraduate students to dive into Colombia, virtually, and concentrate in a chosen UN-SDG. Internet research, movies, and readings are required. Evaluation consists of a final project to propose research field work by traveling to selected regions of Colombia to study living conditions through one or more interconnected SDG lens. The curriculum includes COIL (Collaborative Online International/ Intercultural Learning) with universities and people in Colombia. It promotes Spanish/English Bilingual competencies but does not require Spanish proficiency. This course has a sustainability/international education designation. The Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) consist of first, recognizing, identifying, and analyzing the language of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a departing point for action within their own communities and beyond. Second, reading and comprehending college-level text regarding biodiversity, energy, cities, violence, inequity, and exclusion in the Colombian context. Lastly, discussing and connecting interdisciplinary understanding about the main issues of sustainability, questioning social/environmental justice and human survival, between the Global North and South.

With growing populations worldwide in volcanically active areas, it is likely more people will be affected in the event of an eruption. Because of the complex and ever-changing dynamics of our society the challenge is how do we engage with vulnerable populations and precede with appropriate actions that consider societal concerns, such as socioeconomic, ethnic, and differences between the Global North and South. The course provides a background on volcanoes, volcanic hazards, and risks, and how to communicate information to a diverse society.

This Red Dragon Seminar explores the topic of walking, a seemingly mundane mobility that connects people to the social, cultural, and political realities in which they live. This course assumes that walking is not just a form of transportation but a mode of engaging with the world. Using Rebecca Solnitâ's book Wanderlust: A History of Walking as a core text, this course will bring students on an interdisciplinary journey across academic fields such as art, biology, fashion, geography, history, communication, philosophy, and urban policy.

Examines U.S. history of cannabis prohibition and the social and economic impacts of these polices. Explores public opinion and interest group advocacy for cannabis legalization and commercial sale, and engages students as analysts and participants in policy debates. Considers how legalization is changing personal liberties, group interactions in civil society, and state and local politics across the United States. Includes a policy project to analyze opportunities and challenges for state and local governments as they implement cannabis laws. Global dimensions and equity issues of cannabis production and distribution will be introduced.

This course introduces students to the major theoretical approaches used to study ethnicity, race, nationalism, and citizenship, and to the ways in which these concepts relate to each other in specific political and social contexts. For each concept we will focus on both dominant and state-based constructions as well as popular forms and responses to these dominant constructions. Throughout the course we will focus on both the politics of ascription, categorization, appropriation, exclusion, and subordination as well as the politics of collective meaning creation and resistance. Students will read theoretical readings, comparative analyses, and ethnographies from various disciplines such as Anthropology, Political Science, Sociology, and History. We will address the following questions: What have been some of the major debates and questions that have shaped the scholarly literature and informed political practices? How might different approaches to these concepts lead to different conclusions or outcomes in different countries and world regions? Finally, how do certain contemporary processes such as immigration, transnationalism, globalization, and regionalism unsettle or alter the ways in which we may think about these concepts?

Forensic science is an interdisciplinary field that uses expertise from scientific fields to examine evidence of a crime scene. An appreciation of forensic science is developed through exposure to these various fields and their role in criminal investigations. Read and evaluate case studies through the eyes of a forensic anthropologist, criminologist, or a forensic veterinarian. Compare the application of forensic science in different regions of the world. Gain hands-on experience in forensic geology on required a field trip outside of class time to collect data and operate a ground-penetrating radar. Use new skills to evaluate a mock crime scene.

This interdisciplinary course delves into the complex, universal emotions of anxiety and hope, what they are and are not, and explores the various ways in which they manifest themselves in people's lives around the world. Through an examination of various theoretical frameworks from psychology, philosophy, nursing, anthropology, sociology, and other fields, students will gain insight and deepened understanding into these emotional constructs. Students will engage in research, read and evaluate relevant articles, participate in meaningful discussions, and explore practical strategies on ways to address anxiety and cultivate hope.

UndocuQueer: Immigration, Art and Activism introduces students to Latin American immigration history to the U.S., Queer studies, and the relationship between art and activism. The course examines activism through art created by undocumented and queer immigrants. We will also consider what specific challenges undocuqueer immigrants face and evaluate how to what extent does artivism help raise awareness about these issues. Finally, students will research and develop a project based on an organization dedicated to addressing these issues.

In this course, students will critically examine the evidence surrounding climate and environmental change in both prehistory and history and its impacts on complex societies to guide their understanding of the risks facing modern societies. This course will illustrate to students that complexity is not unique to the Global North, that collapse following climate or environmental change is not an inevitability, and how the complex interconnectedness of culture and geography shapes societal outcomes.

This course focuses on themes of sustainability as well as environmental and cultural resource preservation. With new and ever-increasing threats such as climate change, deforestation, habitat degradation, and conflict, it has become increasingly important to preserve these resources.

This class will explore the dynamic relationships between food cultures and media in the realm of human communication. Topics will include food and/as communication, mediated representations of gender, class, race, and colonialism; urban food cultures as communication; and immigrant food cultures and transnational dialogues in the diaspora, and more.

Did you know that there is no basic right to water in the United States? The UN recognizes access to water as a basic human right, but the US doesn't. Together we will investigate how water is regulated in the US, how Native Americans in Ontario and New York are affected by aquatic pollution, and why research has shown that people of color are more likely to be exposed to aquatic toxins than other groups of people. We'll also visit some aquatic habitats so you can see where your water comes from and how it can get polluted.