Accy 420 Section 1, Independent Study (Alternative Thesis Track)
ACCY 420 is a two-course sequence which serves as an alternative to the traditional honors thesis for accountancy majors. The class will be an evening class meeting one day per week (3 credit hours for each semester) that will meet throughout the fall and spring semesters of the junior year. Case Studies: Every other week, the students will work through a research case that utilizes the professional literature. The topics will begin with what students are concurrently learning in the Intermediate Accounting series, but will expand beyond the mechanics and disclosure requirements to cover the gray areas that require professional judgment. They will alternatively play the roles of management and the auditor/tax professional to utilize either the Codification or the IRS Code to solve and prepare a written brief on each week’s case. The cases studies will take place throughout the year. Professional Speakers: In the alternative weeks throughout the year, representatives from the accounting profession will speak to the class. The topics will be regarding current topics in the profession. We encourage the professionals to engage the students in active discussion. Case Competitions: This part of the course will be focused on developing presentation and communication skills through preparation and participation in case competitions. Each fall, Patterson School of Accountancy hosts two professional case competitions, in which the student will participate: 1) PwC Challenge and 2) KPMG International Case Competition. Final Thesis Document: The final thesis work will include the many case briefs worked on over the course of the year in addition to the case competition materials.
Astr 104 Section 8, Astronomy II
This is a laboratory-based course in introductory astronomy, with special emphasis on stars, galaxies and the universe. The two weekly lectures are common with the non-honors sections; they are full of pretty pictures, and with a minimal preparation for tests and regular attendance should not represent any sort of difficulty for honors students. The honors content is entirely contained in the laboratory. Whenever it is possible, observations are held in Kennon Observatory or simply outside. We learn the constellations, look at the craters of the Moon, at the planets, and explore star clusters and galaxies in the telescopes. Honors students have a chance to use the most powerful telescopes and watch objects that we usually cannot offer in regular classes. Many of the regular laboratories are badly simplified (against our own best judgement) to make sure that they are not over the head of many students. We do not make this undue simplification in honors labs, so the material is intellectually more rewarding and interesting. The level in the honors section is still kept accessible for anyone who has a good grip on at least up to 8th grade math and science – not too hard for honors students. The laboratory includes a systematic image taking project, which occupies 1/3 of the total time. Students are requested to do individual work (only directed by faculty), which involves one full night of image taking. Due to the unpredictability of the weather in Oxford, flexibility is needed (on short notice) in picking that night. To compensate for the 10 – 20 hours of total out-of-class work, three laboratories are cancelled, and no homework is assigned in the class. The laboratory instructor and the project manager are the two best performing teachers of all.
Bisc 165 Section 2, Honors Recitation II
This is a discussion-based course that is intended to provide a broad overview of current research topics in the biological sciences. The goal of the course is to familiarize students with current research trends in order to gain a greater understanding and appreciation for major biological principles. Students will read, summarize, and discuss overviews of topics from the popular literature. Topics to be covered will broadly fall under the realm of evolutionary biology and will include major recent discoveries and advances in animal behavior, neurobiology, endocrinology, paleontology, genetics and ecology.
Bisc 165 Section 4, Honors Recitation II
This is a reading and discussion course, focused on the book, Mycophilia, by Eugenia Bone, which deals with the fascinating hobby and sub-culture of mushroom-hunting. The course is NOT meant to directly aid students in preparation or review for Bisc 160-163. Rather, it is designed to provide inspiration about how fascinating biology can be, to provide a broader perspective on biological science not provided by the lecture and lab portions of the course, and especially to help students develop communication and critical thinking skills related to biological science. The participatory nature of this course is intended to provide for a deeper level of intellectual engagement and growth beyond what is possible with lecture and lab. Upon completion of this course, students will have a deeper understanding of the ecology, evolution, edibility, and medicinal benefits of fungi, as well as how to discuss and critically think about biological science.
Danc 200 Section 1, Dance Appreciation
Dance Appreciation is a one-semester course, which investigates dance in relationship to culture, as it correlates to ritual, religion, courtship and the performing arts. The main content areas include: Dance as Ritual; Dance and Courtship/Sexuality; The function of Art and Theatrical Dance in contemporary society; Dance as an Art Form, The Creative Process; and The History & Aesthetics of the major dance genres (ballet, modern, jazz/tap).
Eng 223 Section 13, Survey of American Literature to the Civil War
The history of English-speaking people in the New World has been a history of storytellers. Living in a newly colonized hemisphere produced a wide variety of new literary forms, templates which still define American culture to this day. English adventurers, Puritan settlers on the Massachusetts frontier, New England preachers, French expatriates, and eighteenth-century printer’s apprentices all created new kinds of texts examining new notions of American identity and society. We will read, examine, discuss, and write about the colonial accounts, Native American captivity narratives, Jeremiads, devotional poetry, sermons, autobiographies, and short stories that they produced, re-evaluating the expressive texts of our shared American pasts and presents. This course aims to be a more discussion-based, writing-intensive, creative, and rigorous alternative to the super-sized American literature lectures.
Eng 224 Section 1, American Literature since the Civil War
In ENG 224 H we will read a variety of American novels and short stories from 1865 to the present, and watch several film versions of the fiction. The honors section emphasizes discussion. Grades will be based on attendance and participation, several 4-5 page papers, and a final examination.
Eng 224 Section 2, American Literature since the Civil War
We will explore the literary and cultural trends and issues through the theme of Americans “on the road.” The journey of discovery has been a key element of myths and classical literature that seek to define a nation and/or to discover an individual’s place in his or her community. With this in mind, we will examine the American journey in diverse works such as Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself, Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land, Ernest Hemingway’s The Snows of Kilimanjaro, John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping, Sherman Alexie’s Smoke Signals, and Jesmyn Ward’s Sing, Unburied, Sing.
Eng 225 Sections 21 and 22, Survey of British Literature to 18th Century
This course provides a historical survey of English literature, from the Middle Ages to the late eighteenth century. We will examine the relationship between literature and society, focusing particularly on satire and parody, and more generally on the role writing plays in upholding and challenging dominant values and institutions. Satire—literature that uses humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize immorality or foolishness—comes in many forms. By its very definition, so does parody: the comic imitation of a style, genre, or author. In our survey of 300 years of writing, we will examine poetry, drama, narrative fiction, and essays as well as a variety of literary modes, including romance, epic, and comedy. Only this course never plays it straight. We will study the funniest, angriest, most outraged and most outrageous authors in the English literary canon: men and women who have exposed religious hypocrisy, political corruption, and social injustice; those who fought social change, and those who zealously defended the status quo. Our aim is to better understand literature and the part it has played in historical struggles.
Hon 392 Section 8, Honors Conversations (Labor & Freedom)
Do you work part-time? Ever had a boss? Plan to get a job one day? You need this class! Learn about the history of the labor movement and understand how workers have banded together and won victories — from the weekend to child labor laws to health and safety precautions — that benefit all of us today. We’ll read original documents, debate tactics and schools of thought, listen to labor music, hear from workers who have fought to unionize their own workplaces, and even get an inside look into an anti-union campaign.
Hon 399 Section 1, Film and Social Problems
This is a course that probes that role Hollywood, independent, and international feature films have played in exploring as well as bringing light to social problems and issues, whether in the stories of individuals or groups caught the mesh of those issues or through dramatic events those issues helped create. Film will be discussed against the backdrop of how other art forms—music, literature, painting—have addressed these issues. The so-called “Hollywood Social Problem” film has been defined as one that “combines social analysis and dramatic conflict within a coherent narrative structure.” (Roffman and Purdy) This course includes such films but also reaches beyond to German Expressionist film of the 1920s and Film Noir where an underlying truth or hard-boiled reality is often offered in place of a happy ending.
Hon 420 Section 1, Fake News: How to Live with It, and Fight It
This course, taught by Greg Brock, a former senior editor of the New York Times and now a senior fellow at The Overby Center, will examine the clash between journalism and misinformation in an era of social media and entrenched political partisanship. The course will survey the origins of fake news and the spread and life span of such articles online. Through readings and exercises the course will explore such topics as the psychology of belief and bias, information networks and how news reaches consumers–all with an eye toward understanding how the news industry will evolve and what challenges await the next generation of journalists. Given that fake news is certain to be developing 24/7, students will interact with career journalists and fact-checkers and undertake real-time fact-checking projects.
Hon 420 Section 2, Affordable Housing in Oxford, MS
For the majority of low-income American families, housing is their biggest expense, and often their biggest stressor. Research is clear that the dynamics of housing exert an enormous influence on one’s health, job stability, educational success, and other matters we deem important to well being. Debates about how to provide affordable and secure housing for all are widespread, and heated. This course examines these issues first-hand through the collection and analysis of original data in the L-O-U community.
Hon 420 Section 3, Drinking Water Quality in Mississippi
Students will receive quality instruction in aspects of public and population health and conduct comprehensive risk factor analysis to identify the potential contribution of drinking water to elevated blood lead levels and other health issues in select counties throughout the state. The students will undertake a variety of activities to help communities identify and address drinking water concerns, including analyzing PWS monitoring and testing data available through state and federal databases; assessing vulnerabilities of the piping systems and the effectiveness of drinking water treatment plants; organizing workshops and collection events to sample water from homes on PWSs and private wells, as well as from schools and day care centers; outreach to private well owners and collection and screening of private well water samples; preparing reports for municipalities, community partners, and other stakeholders regarding findings; and conducting outreach to raise awareness of common contaminants, regulation of drinking water supply, and measures to reduce exposure.
Hon 551 Section 7, Criminal Procedure I: Investigation
This course focuses primarily on the constitutional issues confronting law enforcement and suspects during a criminal investigation as a result of the Fourth, Fifth , Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the US Constitution. Specifically, we will cover the law of search and seizure, self-incrimination and the right to counsel as defined by the US Supreme Court. We will also discuss important selected procedural issues that arise during the prosecution of a criminal case including double jeopardy, discovery, pretrial hearings, jury selection, confrontation and the ethical responsibilities of a prosecutor. Students will learn the black-letter law concerning constitutional issues that arise during the investigation of a crime. They will also learn to brief a court’s written opinion and discuss/debate the legal principles involved and their applicability to different facts. This will assist them to think, speak, and act like an attorney.
Hon 551 Section 8, Entertainment Law
This course seeks to examine the contracts, intellectual property, employment, free speech, and antitrust issues associated with entertainment industries like music, movies, television, theater, books, videogames, and visual art. The course examines current cases to teach the law and provides ample opportunity for discussion on how new and emerging technologies affect the creative industries. If you’ve ever wanted to debate Beyonce songs and comic books, this is the class for you.
Hst 490 Section 2, Slavery, Race, and Freedom in America
In August of 1619, some 20 persons referred to as Africans stepped onto the shores of Jamestown, Virginia; brought to the colony by English privateers. 2019 marks the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first recorded persons of African descent in British North America. As part of the University of Mississippi’s recognition during the 2018-2019 academic year of this seminal event in American history, this course will trace the origins of racial slavery in what became the United States, examine how slavery became a central institution in American life, and explore the legacies of human bondage in the present day. Some of the semester’s major themes will be the emergence of and contest over ideas of race, the battles between slavery’s defenders and opponents, and how slavery has informed ideas of American freedom and citizenship. Were American forms of slavery and concepts of race similar to or different from other slave societies in the rest of the world? How has slavery and race influenced the American experience? Course objectives will include gaining comprehensive knowledge of the history of American slavery and race, learning to read closely and critically primary and secondary sources, and developing analytical writing skills.
Hst 492 Section 1, History in Video Games
Over the past three decades, videogames have evolved from a technological oddity to an omnipresent form of mass media, raising in the process fundamental questions about issues that range from the possibilities of non-linear narratives to the nature of a reality that is not “virtual”. Although it remains largely ignored by academic historians, this phenomenon also includes a large number of games with increasing pretensions to offer an “accurate” representation of history, either using it as a storytelling context or claiming to dissect the very principles that guide history’s flow. This seminar will examine the representations of history in a variety of videogame genres not only to evaluate their accuracy against the standards of academic history, but also to investigate the assumptions that guide such representation and even to determine whether the media of history-themed videogames can bring new questions and perspectives to academic history. In the first half of the semester, three games will be examined in relation to scholarly works taken from a particular field of historiography, over a period of two weeks for each one of them. In the second half of the semester, students will produce and present research papers on the representation of a historical phenomenon, event or character in a given video game, and its relation to research performed and published by professional historians.
IMC 455 Section 5, Integrated Marketing Communications
A comprehensive capstone course that requires students to work in agency teams to develop a professional quality integrated marketing communications campaign for a real client. The anticipated client for this section is Ethiopian Airlines, the flagship carrier of Ethiopia with service to five continents and a fleet of 108 Boeing and Airbus aircraft. This campaign will target the U.S. market. Development of the campaign will require students to apply the concepts and skills acquired in previous IMC and business courses. All prerequisites must be met before enrolling. Students are encouraged to study abroad in Ethiopia during wintersession by taking IMC 556 Multicultural Integrated Marketing Communications. This course will include tours of Ethiopian Airline facilities and meetings with key executives, which will enable students in IMC 455-5 to have a deeper understanding of the culture and the company.
ISS 125 Section 3, Introduction to Intelligence Studies
As U.S. foreign policy objectives around the globe become more complex, the importance of intelligence to U.S. policymakers and decision makers is increasing. And yet, the work of the Intelligence Community (IC) remains one of the United States Government’s most misunderstood functions among the American public. This course offers students an overview of the IC, including its purpose, history, capabilities, and limitations. Students will examine the organizational structure of the IC as well as the laws, guidelines, and ethics pertaining to collection and analysis. Finally, students will receive an introduction to best practices for writing analytic products for policymakers—a subject that is the focus of ISS-351 and ISS-352.
ISS 480 Section 1, National Security Issues of the 21st Century
This course builds upon the fundamentals of analytic tradecraft that are taught in ISS-351 and ISS-352 by introducing students to concepts and approaches that are specific to the Intelligence Community’s core disciplines of political, military, economic, and foreign policy analysis. Students will learn these tools by examining current threats to US interests, including five strategic threats—Iran, Russia, China, North Korea, and transnational terrorism—that are emphasized in the DNI’s 2018 Worldwide Threat Assessment. Students will have opportunities to engage in “analytic cross-training” by applying the critical thinking, writing, and briefing skills taught in ISS-351 and ISS-352 to national security stories as told by a political, military, economic, and foreign policy analyst.
Math 115 Section 1, Elementary Statistics
The course offers an introduction to statistics for students in any major. Basic concepts and techniques including descriptive statistics, random variables, probability distributions, sampling distributions, confidence intervals and hypothesis tests are covered. Critical statistical thinking is enhanced. Comparing with a regular section, an additional objective of the honors section is to learn statistical software R. At the end of the semester, a small R project will be assigned to implement the learned statistical methods.
Mgmt 371 Section 7, Principles of Management
This course introduces the student to the principles underlying the field of management. It focuses on the basic roles, skills, and functions of management, highlighting managerial responsibility for effective and efficient achievement of goals. Today’s companies are facing increasingly tough global competition, uncertain environments, cutbacks in personnel and resources, and worldwide economic, political, and social shifts. The growing diversity of the workforce brings new challenges–organizational structures are becoming flatter; firms are striving to find ways to reap the benefits of both large and small organizations, and organizations are faced with shifting strategic imperatives. Because of these changes, a revolution is taking place in the field of management. The revolution asks managers to do more with less, to engage whole employees, to see change rather than stability as the nature of things, and to create vision and cultural values that allow people to create a truly collaborative workplace. This course is a comprehensive study of the coordination of organizational resources for the purpose of achieving organizational goals. Student’s conceptual competencies will be enhanced by understanding the managerial processes of planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling organizational activities. Competency building exercises teach students how to apply knowledge and skills to implement creative and innovative solutions to organizational problems, as well as how to identify, analyze, and evaluate organizational opportunities. The material covered will be relevant to you, regardless of your career objectives. In all likelihood, you will either be a manager or work with one in any occupation you choose. In the final analysis, we are all managers of our own lives and can benefit by studying to be better managers.
Phil 103 Section 2, Logic: Critical Thinking
Students will develop the ability to uncover the logical structure of ordinary language; to recognize, represent, and assess everyday statements and arguments; and to work competently within formal logical systems. The material will be presented in three distinct sections, with an exam after each section. Section 1 is introductory. Topics include basic logical concepts, the informal analysis of statements, the nature and analysis of arguments, and fallacies (including statistical fallacies). Section 2 concerns categorical logic. Topics include categorical statements, the logical relationships amongst categorical propositions, and categorical syllogisms. Section 3 concerns propositional logic. Topics include the truth-functional operators, the use of truth tables to establish validity semantically, and a formal proof system to establish validity syntactically. If time permits, we will also cover basic probability theory and inductive logic. PAYOFF: This course will prove extremely helpful to those who anticipate taking any of the various graduate entrance examinations (LSAT, MCAT, GMAT), all of which have a section on logic.
Pol 398 Section 2, Politics in a Post-Truth Age
To a large degree, representative democracy is premised on the idea of a set of shared norms and values. While citizens may prioritize these values differently, there tends to be general agreement on what it means to be a democratic citizen. Much like our Honors citizen-scholars, democratic citizens are expected to develop at least a minimal understanding of pertinent issues so that we may engage in meaningful debate and cast thoughtful votes. All of this is based on a recognition not just of shared values, but of shared facts. That is, we are expected to engage the political process with different viewpoints and opinions, but not from fundamentally different political realities. In our present political environment, there are significant concerns about whether citizens and political institutions are living up to their part in our democratic experiment. What happens to our democracy if we continue to slide down the path of “post-truth,” and into believing whatever is convenient and comfortable? What happens when citizens and elected officials can no longer approach political debate from a common set of facts? In this course, we will examine the arguments and evidence for whether we are indeed in a post-truth age, and the implications this has for our understanding of politics and representative democracy. Class will be a seminar format, focusing on thoughtful discussion and critical thinking, and evaluation through written essays and research papers.
Psy 201 Sections 5 and 6, General Psychology
This course is an overview of the broad field of Psychology and is designed to introduce the student to the scientific study of behavior and the cognitive and physiological processes that underlie behavior. Topics include the historical development of psychology, research methodology, brain/behavior relationships, perception, variations in consciousness, learning and memory, cognition and intelligence, emotion, personality, and social behavior. Psychological disorders and their treatment will also be discussed. This course differs from the regular sections of PSY 201 in the written and oral assignments that are built into the course. Students are required to give a 10-15 minute presentation in class on a topic assigned by the instructor. The topic for the upcoming semester will be a commonly held “myth” related to psychology that has little or no scientific support. Due to the small class size, examinations involve identification and short essay questions in addition to multiple-choice questions.
Psy 430 Section 2, Positive Psychology
Positive psychology has become one of the most rapidly developing branches of psychology. It is the scientific study of the processes, conditions, or qualities that are related to optimal human functioning, thriving or flourishing, or aspects that make for a meaningful life. Positive psychology is interested in what makes for a good life, a good person, or the best in people. As stated by Peterson (2013): Positive psychology is the scientific study of what makes life most worth living (Peterson, 2006). It is a call for psychological science and practice to be as concerned with strength as with weakness; as interested in building the best things in life as in repairing the worst; and as concerned with making the lives of normal people fulfilling as with healing pathology (p. 3). Positive psychology is a place for researchers interested in rigorously studying such concepts as meaning in life, values, spirituality, mindfulness, character strengths, positive emotions, self-efficacy, empathy, optimism, gratitude, creativity, humor, goal setting and accomplishment, hope, forgiveness, flow, resilience, and posttraumatic growth. It is also a place for the dissemination and practical application of this knowledge in various settings. Over the last two decades, the field has become replete with books (encyclopedias and handbooks on many topics as well as specific books on particular topics), chapters, and data-driven, peer-reviewed research articles. There are graduate educational programs in positive psychology, research and professional networks, and practice tools for the professional. There are research and practical applications in such areas as daily life, work (at the individual level and also the organizational level), education, community, government and public policy, health and rehabilitation, aging, and clinical practice; its growth has been exponential, so much so that it is considered to be a truly multidisciplinary, international approach to science and practice. The purpose of this course is to provide students with key information about the role of psychologists, particularly clinical psychologists, in the field of positive psychology. The course is an introduction to positive psychology research and practice, and focuses on the kinds of topics described above.
Soc 433 Section 1, Theories of Gender and Sexuality
This course examines the power relations that structure sex, gender, and sexualities in contemporary societies. We will read new, cutting edge research that examines the intersection of race, class, gender, and sexuality from a feminist sociological perspective. Specific topics for discussion include men and masculinity, sexual assault and violence, dating and relationships, and LGBTQ movements and families. The first part of the course introduces students to a social constructionist account of sex and gender. The second part of the course surveys contemporary studies that consider how other social institutions such as the global economy, popular culture, communication technologies, and religion shape how we think about and experience sex, gender, and sexuality. This class is cross-listed with Gender Studies (GST 498), and can count as part of the Gender Studies minor. The Honors section of SOC 425/GST 425 introduces students to social research methods and requires students to collect original data on gender and sexuality and analyze these data in light of the theoretical frameworks covered in the course.
Soc 451 Section 1, The Color Line in the 21st Century
In his 1903 Souls of Black Folk, the sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois famously opined that the problem of the twentieth century was the problem of the color line: the creation and maintenance of racial order by law and cake of custom. For more than a century since, scholars across the social and humanist sciences have documented the degree to which his prediction would hold true. Now, nearly two decades into the twenty-first century, it is past time to take stock. The course is divided into four parts. Part I examines the intellectual and political history of the race concept: from early medieval prototypes grounded in religious difference, to regional and global formations that parallel European imperialism and colonialism. Part II examines the material consequences of imperialism and colonialism, with particular emphases on the consequences for newly formed racial groups. Part III turns the focus toward people’s everyday experiences with race and the color-caste system in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Finally, Part IV summarizes the primary sites for theoretical and empirical investigations of race’s continued significance in the twenty-first century. Learning Objectives for Course: Develop an interdisciplinary perspective on the race concept and its continued significance in social, political, and economic life; Enhance research skills through the collecting, analyzing, and interpreting of a wide range of data, including original data collection; Better understand the relationship between empirical research and social theory; and Develop a more global framework through which to consider ‘the problem of race’.
Span 111 Section 3, Intensive Elementary Spanish
Spanish 111 is an introduction to the language and culture of the Spanish-speaking world. Spanish 111 is designed for students to learn the skills to communicate effectively in Spanish and to develop a knowledge and appreciation for Hispanic cultures. By the end of this class, students should be able to complete basic communicative tasks in Spanish using newly-acquired communication strategies, grammar and vocabulary, and to be able to understand and speak about the diversity of the Spanish-speaking world. Students in this Spanish 111 Honors section will be exposed to authentic material (news articles, literature, movie clips, etc.) and will engage the reading and writing strategies they have learned in regular college classes when producing speech and writing in Spanish. Because the Honors College and Croft also offer a Spanish 211 section, we will prepare all students to excel in that class. In sum, Spanish 111 contributes to the Honors College curriculum not only in fulfilling language requirements but also in emphasizing critical thinking and writing by engaging original source materials, and by contributing to an interdisciplinary approach to learning.
Span 211 Sections 4 and 10, Intensive Intermediate Spanish
Spanish 211, Intermediate Spanish, is a continuation of Spanish 111, Elementary Spanish, and is therefore, designed to continue the study of the language and culture in the Spanish-speaking world. By the end of this class, students should be able to complete intermediate-level communicative tasks in Spanish using the communication strategies, grammar structures and vocabulary acquired during the semester, and to understand and be able to talk about the diversity of the Spanish-speaking world. The goals of this course are based on the Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century. Students in the Honors section will have the opportunity to work with authentic material (news articles, literature, etc.) and will engage reading and writing strategies they have learned in regular classes in the production of class work and homework in Spanish. Because this Honors section will also include Croft students, who will necessarily continue to Spanish 303 and 305, we will spend more time in preparing all the students for excellence in those courses. In sum, Spanish 211 contributes to the Honors College curriculum not only by fulfilling the language requirement but also by emphasizing critical thinking and writing by using original source material, and by contributing to an interdisciplinary approach to learning.
S St 102 Section 2, Intro to Southern Studies II
This course will study works of Southern literature through the lens of faith and belief. Flannery O’Connor believed the religious aspect in a work of fiction is “a dimension added,” not one taken away. O’Connor also believed the American South was a landscape dominated by religion: “I think it is safe to say that while the South is hardly Christ-centered, it is most certainly Christ-haunted. The Southerner, who isn’t convinced of it, is very much afraid that he may have been formed in the image and likeness of God.” Through novels, memoirs, and short stories rooted in an array of religious traditions—from Catholicism to snake handling—we will examine the ways literature offers multiple perspectives on Southern Culture’s connection with both faith and doubt. Although this course will focus on twentieth-century texts rooted in specific faith traditions, those texts will also be contrasted with works of contemporary fiction to explore the question of whether or not there is a growing chasm between faith and art in the American South and beyond.