Captivity Narratives Captivity narratives—first-person accounts of people's experiences of being forcibly taken and held against their will by an "other"—were immensely popular and important in early America; the captivity motif has been perpetuated and transformed throughout later American literature and film. In this course we will explore what these types of tales reveal about how Americans have handled the issues of race and racism, religion, gender, violence and sexuality that experiences of captivity entail.  Beginning with classic Puritan narratives (Mary Rowlandson) and moving forward through the 19th and 20th centuries, we will consider the ways that novels (The Last of the Mohicans), autobiographies (Patty Hearst, Iraqi captivity of Pvt. Jessica Lynch) and films (The Searchers, Little Big Man, Dances with Wolves) do cultural work in shaping and challenging images of American national identity.

See the U.S.A.: The History of Tourism in American Culture In this course, we will explore the history and evolution of American tourism, beginning in the 1820s, when middle-class tourists first journeyed up the Hudson River valley, and ending with our contemporary and continuing obsession with iconic destinations such as Graceland, Gettysburg, and the Grand Canyon. We will explore how the growth of national transportation systems, the development of advertising, and the rise of a middle class with money and time to spend on leisure shaped the evolution of tourism.  Along the way, we will study various types of tourism (such as historical, cultural, ethnic, eco-, and 'disaster' tourism) and look at the creative processes by which places are transformed into 'destinations'.  Our texts will come from visual art, travel literature, material culture, and film and television.  We will consider their cultural meaning and reflect on our own motivations and responses as tourists, and by so doing contemplate why tourism was-and still is-such an important part of American life.

Sophomore Seminar in the Liberal Arts The current pandemic, and all the questions it brings to the fore about what we value in a college experience, make this an ideal moment to consider the meaning and purpose of your liberal arts education. At the heart of this exploration will be a question posed by physicist Arthur Zajonc: “How do we find our own authentic way to an undivided life where meaning and purpose are tightly interwoven with intellect and action, where compassion and care are infused with insight and knowledge?” We will examine how, at this pivotal moment of decision making, you can understand your college career as an act of “cultivating humanity” and how you can meaningfully challenge yourself to take ownership of your intellectual and personal development. Through interdisciplinary and multicultural exploration, drawing from education studies and philosophical, religious, and literary texts, we will engage our course questions by way of student-led discussion, written reflection, and personal, experiential learning practices. In this way we will examine how a liberal arts education might foster the cultivation of an ‘undivided’ life, “the good life”, a life well-lived.

Constructing Memory: American Monuments and Memorials “Democracy has no monuments,” John Quincy Adams once famously argued.   “It strikes no medals; it bears the head of no man upon its coin; its very essence is iconoclastic.”  Yet nearly 250 years after America’s founding, monuments and memorials surround us. In this course we will explore the memorializing impulse; the complexity and depth of emotion evoked by memorial acts; and the oftentimes heated controversies about modes, placement, and subject of representation.  We will consider how and why America chooses to memorialize certain people and events, and what is gained—and sometimes erased—in the process.  By choosing among a broad range of traditional and non-traditional modes of representation, we will consider how public memorials both reflect and shape Americans’ shared cultural values.  The course will include site visits to local monuments and projects in which we propose designs or redesigns of memorials for a 21st century audience.

American Revolutions: Reacting to the Past In this course we will be examining three moments of intellectual and cultural conflict in the United States, which will likely include 1) The Revolution in NYC, 1775-76, 2) Greenwich Village, 1913 (Suffrage, Labor and the New Woman) and, 3) Chicago, 1968. We will dive deep into these revolutionary moments via Reacting to the Past games, in which you will present  the perspectives of historical characters—sometimes with values quite different than your own--in lively debate. These games do not have a fixed script: you’ll find yourself researching historic documents, collaborating, making public speeches, plotting—and in the end, perhaps even rewriting history.

Childhood in America In this course we will explore “childhood” as an evolving social and cultural construct.  Beginning by acknowledging great diversity in the lived experience of childhood (shaped by race, gender, geography, religion, ability/disability), we will examine representations of childhood and experiences of children from the early nineteenth century to the present.  Together we will explore classic works of literature such as Alcott’s Little Women, Twain’s Huck Finn, and Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, in conversation with historical documents and visual and material artifacts (illustrations, painting, toys, and films).  Throughout, we will consider how understanding conceptions of childhood illuminate American social and cultural history more broadly.

Liberal Learning in a Time of Challenge In this course, we will explore how an education in the liberal arts and sciences may help one face -our complicated times with added resilience, compassion and curiosity.  Our guiding question:  how can your education help you live fully in this moment and cultivate a life of the mind—and spirit—that helps you address the challenges in the world around us?  We’ll explore this question by way of discussion, written reflection and mindfulness practices and consider texts such as: Frankl, The Search for Meaning; Coates, Between the World and Me, Mandel, Station Eleven, Kalanithi, When Breath Becomes Air, and Martel, The Life of Pi.

Portraits of the Lady: The New Woman in American Literature & Culture At the end of the 19th century, women fought against restrictions limiting their sphere of influence. As they sought to exercise more control over their lives personally, socially, and economically, this “New Woman,”  and the way she was changing the face of society, became a popular subject in literature and art.  In this course we will consider portraits of women by well-known American authors (such as James, Chopin, Wharton, Sui Sin Far, Cather, Larsen, Hurston) alongside those by prominent painters, sculptors, photographers, illustrators, and filmmakers.  We will consider how representations of women through the early twentieth century embodied the values of the nation and codified both the fears and aspirations of its citizens.

Deb Evans

Reviews and ratings for Deb Evans at Middlebury College.Deb Evans teaches Captivity Narratives, Tourism in American Culture, Sophomore Seminar/Liberal Arts and more.  Explore top rated instructors and find the best for you.Is Deb Evans good ? Find out on MiddCourses.

This was my first discussion based class and has definitely made me want to take more classes like it. Prof Evans is great, she is super kind and encourages students to think deeply about the content they are reading, the meaning to it, and how they can apply this to their own life.

I love Deb and she is always very nice and accommodating. I took this course mainly to fill my schedule but it also sounded interesting, and it was fairly easy. We had quick in-class writing assignments on the readings, but you only need to read a few pages to be able to answer the question. The papers were not typical essays and were more creative/personal, and the presentations were in groups. One thing that was weird was figuring out the standards for assessment, because for many assignments I would meet all the requirements and put effort in, but then get a little marked down based on somewhat arbitrary or vague criticisms.

Pretty slow-paced, much more of an English class than American studies. Readings included a lot of short-stories, poems, etc, and writing was minimal and pretty easy, but more on the creative than analytical side. Moderately interesting, seemed like more of a passion project by the professor. 