Rules
of Nature, Rules of Life
Group Contract
Nalini Nadkarni, TBA
48 students
Fall Quarter, 2003
Rules can be tricky, sometimes confusing, often important. Our point
of entry and exit will be: what are the rules by which we live, individually
and collectively? Are they prescriptive or arbitrary, universal or contextual?
What happens when one breaks the rules? Who or what has authority to
decide the consequences?
Rules guide numerous aspects of our lives, but we will focus on an eclectic
subset of disciplines and subjects within art, the social sciences,
the humanities, and natural science. We base our choices on the experience
and interests of the faculty: poetry, natural history and ecological
science, religion, ethnicity, emotions, incarceration, and sports. We
will study and observe, read and enjoy texts, images, film, and music.
Seminar books will include authors such as, Leo Tolstoy, Arudhati Roy,
Basho, Berger, and John Luoma.
Students will participate in weekly seminars, and will be asked to respond
to our search for meaning and relationship though a variety of writing--critical
essays, journal work, and creative pieces. We will present students
with a variety of experiences designed to highlight the prevalence,
arbitrariness, and commonality of rules in our lives. Such exercises
will include visiting two or more religious activities (church, synagogue,
or temple service) to explore common ground and differences in spiritual
beliefs and practices in our society. We will attend several sports
events and discuss the relative roles of rules that apply. We will take
on the mantle of becoming differently abled by "hobbling" ourselves
in some way - blindfold ourselves, or take on crutches - to understand
how physical limitations place a different set of rules upon us. We
will also find ways to place ourselves in the minority, either by race
or gender, to intentionally upend the rules we normally face in subsets
of society. Each of these experiences will constitute the kernel of
a written essay that will be exchanged amongst seminar groups and discussed.
One major natural history project will be presented as class work. This
will involve the collection, analysis, and storage of data from field
sites on campus that will help us quantify and understand forest structure
and dynamics. Students will learn the rules of gathering, working with,
and presenting data in a rigorous scientific manner, in both oral and
written forms.
Students will also work in small groups to carry out an in-depth study
of a single object, a tree, a library book, a penal institution, or
a piece of visual art, for example, and decide what rules apply to it.
Group projects will be presented as a formal written paper. We will
also require students to find expression in some aspect of the creative
arts - drawing, painting, photography, film, dance, or music. Students
will design and offer a final presentation based on their understanding
of the particular set of rules that affect their chosen object through
these creative modes.
At the beginning and at the end of the program, we will ask students
to "map out" and describe the rules by which he or she lives - and differentiate
between the rules that are imposed from outside, and the rules that
propel one's life from within. An analysis of the differences and similarities
between these two "maps" (first day's vs. last day's writing) will reveal
a good deal about the change in awareness that we hope to raise about
rules during our program.
One rule we will try to follow comes from The Talmud: "Every blade of
grass has its Angel that bends over it and whispers, 'Grow, Grow.'"
Credit awarded in Integral Study, writing, natural science, and art*.
Total: 16 credits.
Program is preparatory for careers and future studies in the liberal
arts, arts, natural science, writing, and especially law.
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