HSOC-215: The Dream

Explore the science of sleep and dreaming, the structure of a dream, and the way "dream logic" informs the work of writers, artists, and filmmakers. In this multidisciplinary course you will learn about the physiology of sleep and sleep disorders and the neurology and phenomenology of dream content. We will also discuss earlier ways of analyzing content (Freud), as well the contemporary scientific understanding of the narrative structure of dreams. Dreams create a sense of experience of meaning: how artists translate these experiences into artistic expressions will be a continuing theme throughout the course. We will also discuss how artistic works can be accessed through the same methods used in making meaning in dreams.