Baseball, Society, and US History In this course we will use baseball as our lens to examine a broad range of issues in U.S. history from the Civil War to the 20th Century. Baseball’s past will allow us to understand social and cultural change by delving into topics such as capitalism, class, gender, identity, immigration, labor rights, and race. We will read autobiographies, box scores, newspaper accounts, and scholarly monographs that trace the evolution of America’s pastime from a leisurely activity to a multimillion-dollar industry. Class activities will allow students to develop reading, writing, and presentation skills, receiving feedback on their progress throughout the term. This course is part of the Public Humanities Labs Initiative administered by the Axinn Center for the Humanities.*

Writing Women's Religious Worlds In this course we will examine how we can understand and recognize what “counts” as religion—perhaps in new ways—by focusing on the religious lives of women. Our primary texts will be ethnographic studies of women in various religious traditions around the world, including Hindu women in North India, Muslim women in Egypt, and a Vodou priestess in New York. We will examine how women construct their religious identities and negotiate religious authority as public leaders, ritual experts, and healers, and consider how what women say about their own lives and practices may challenge our assumptions of what religion “is” or “does.” We will also consider the ethics of ethnographic approaches to studying religion, particularly in terms of the “self” and “other,” as students develop their own ethnographic practices and writing.

Meaningful Writing What makes writing meaningful (to audience as well as authors)? In this course we will explore meaningful writing through literary analysis, educational research, and personal engagement. We will read personally revelatory texts written by authors like Eula Biss, Alison Bechdel, and Oliver Sacks, we will learn about educational research from the Meaningful Writers Project, and we will define meaningful writing for ourselves through exploring our positionality as writers (not just as readers). To do this, we will both read and write about topics and genres beyond the academy including writing over a lifetime, medical narratives, journalism, and community writing. This course is part of the Public Humanities Labs Initiative administered by the Axinn Center for the Humanities.*

Migrations: Politics, Ethics, Literature In this class we will learn about the political and ethical issues of migration. What are the rights of those who migrate and how can we hear and make space for their voices? How can we study and talk about migration in ways that are respectful to everyone? To answer these and other questions, we will analyze different texts (literary, journalistic, essays), learn how to assess their reliability, and apply them to our understanding of migration. We will consider migration in its local and global aspects with a focus on Italy and Europe compared with what happens in other parts of the world (eg. U.S. and Syria), through group and individual research that we will present in oral and written form.

Marvel Comics & Society Comic books and graphic novels are a powerful storytelling medium that often connects to both contemporary cultural issues and human emotions. Marvel Comics has long used their pages to tackle issues of race, poverty, gender, identity, science, and justice, either indirectly or head-on. In this course we will analyze both the source material and scholarship related to Marvel comics, as well as learn to communicate our own analysis and stories in both written and oral forms. Note: This course will focus on the comics, not any of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films. Enrolled students must purchase a subscription to Marvel Unlimited (https://www.marvel.com/unlimited) for the duration of the term.

Abolitionism(s): Then and Now In this course, we will explore the intersections between historical campaigns to abolish the transatlantic slave trade and chattel slavery throughout the British empire and contemporary American movements to abolish policing and prisons. We’ll pay particular attention to the roles that literary and artistic representations, political speech, and activist organizing play in these processes, and consider how they complement or clash with on-the-ground resistance. We’ll ask: what does the history of abolitionism tell us about the horizons of an abolitionist future? Our guides will range from Olaudah Equiano and Mary Prince to Mariame Kaba, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, and Olúf?mi Táíwò.

Arabian Oral Poetry The Arabian Peninsula enjoys a rich legacy of oral poetry and written poetry with oral roots.  In this seminar, we will explore how the oral poetic traditions of the Arabian Peninsula have evolved over time, starting with pre-Islamic odes from the 6th century CE and ending with contemporary poetry circulated on social media.  In addition to reading, analyzing, and enjoying individual poetic texts and performances, we will consider how the concept of oral literature emerged with Milman Parry’s Oral Formulaic thesis, giving rise to new ways of reading historical texts, understanding the art of performance, and reckoning with the cultural implications of literacy.

Seeing and Being Photography has evolved rapidly and is now pervasive in our daily lives. How do photographs influence our experience of time, space, ourselves, and each other? This course focuses on these four areas central to understanding its incredible impact. Studying fine art and vernacular usage, students will discover how art, science, media, and personal histories are shaped by photography. By learning how to read images of their own and of others, students will develop the critical skills necessary to interpret images and their use. In addition to producing their own visual projects, students will read, research, analyze and write about photographs.

Environmental Intimacies, Injustice and the Politics of Care Pleasure activism is a framework for social and environmental change. It is an invitation to better know ourselves and see how embracing what brings us joy is central to dismantling sexist, racist and homophobic structures of oppression. This course explores how self-love, healing and harm reduction are necessary for our liberation and survival on an unjust and warming planet. This course asks what it takes to move from a place of despair to action, and how might new avenues of connection and consent be forged across social and geographic difference? We will read Adrienne Maree Brown’s Pleasure Activism, Sarah Jaquette Ray’s A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety, and a suite of other scholars and activists focused on related work including climate justice, queer ecology, ecosexuality, solidarity work, feminist ethics of care, and re-imagining human-nature relations.

Fascinating Rhythm: Rhythmic Analysis Swing, groove, pocket, grid…these and many other terms like them are used to describe the musical element known as rhythm. Though often deemphasized in musical criticism and analysis in relation to pitch/melody, rhythm is inextricable from the musical experience. In this course we will discuss the underrated but undeniable importance of rhythm in the music to which we love to dance, study, or exercise. Through journaling, analysis, performance, and listening, students will develop tools to describe rhythm with greater nuance and depth. Though music from all cultures will be welcomed, the primary focus will be music influenced by the African Diaspora. Open to all musicians and enthusiasts alike.

Life is Short: Introduction to the Russian Short Story Russian literature may be best known in the West for producing big lumbering novels, novels thicker than bricks—think War & Peace, Brothers Karamazov, or Gulag Archipelago—but from the beginning of the nineteenth century on, many of its greatest prose masterpieces emerge from a seemingly lesser, though nimbler genre—the short story. In this course we will read classic short works by Pushkin, Gogol, Tolstoy, Chekhov, Nabokov and others, and learn to analyze them in a sophisticated way; we will also learn about Russian culture, and, more broadly, what makes literature what it is. All readings in English.

Teaching ‘The 1619 Project’: Battling Miseducation, Engaging Freedom Dreaming, and Regaining Hope In August of 2019 The New York Times launched the 1619 Project, created by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Nikole Hannah-Jones, explores the history of slavery in the United States.  In this course we will explore various ways to approach teaching The 1619 Project and examine how the project pushes against miseducation within the U.S. education system.  We will also delve into various states' bans against teaching the 1619 Project and scrutinize how Critical Race Theory became wrapped in these bans.

College Life Through Literature (in Spanish) In this seminar students will read fiction and nonfiction related to university life, including topics such as attending college in a rural area, studying abroad, equity and inclusion in higher education, and the first-generation experience. Our focus will be on the literary representation of university life. We will examine these narratives through theories and perspectives such as the (post) pandemic scenario, critical race theory, critical pedagogy, the #MeToo movement, etc. Readings may include Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner, On Beauty by Zadie Smith, Todas las Almas by Javier Marias, and Historia de Una Maestra by Josefina Aldecoa. Texts will be in English and Spanish. This seminar will be taught in Spanish (appropriate for native speakers, bilingual speakers, or through placement test equivalent to SPAN 0300).

Watching the Wire: Urban America and Serial Television Frequently hailed as one of television’s great masterpieces, The Wire shines a light on urban decay in 21st-century America, creating a dramatic portrait of Baltimore’s police, drug trade, and other institutions over five serialized seasons. In this course we will watch and discuss this remarkable—and remarkably entertaining—series twenty years after its debut, placing it within the dual contexts of urban American society and television storytelling. This is a time-intensive course (60 hours of TV!), focused on close viewing, critical analysis of race and policing, and research into The Wire’s social contexts, aesthetic practices, and politics of representation.

Introduction to Black Epistemologies In this class we will explore the rich traditions of black thought and aesthetics in the post-colonial Atlantic world. Using Stuart Hall’s views on diaspora, we will survey various black ontologies from the Haitian Revolution to Black Lives Matter, from jazz and candomblé to junkanoo. We will study different strategies that African descendants such as Claude McKay, Arturo Schomburg, Zora Neal Hurston, Abdias do Nascimento, and Manuel Mendive utilized to document black struggle, solidarity, justice and beauty. Steve McQueen, Francoise Ega, Sidney Poitier, Audre Lorde, Maryse Condé and Solange will provide insights on black emancipation and joy. We will necessarily consider the tensions between creolization and decolonization to gain an appreciation of embodied black knowledge sui generis.

Politics and Delusion in Francophone Literature How does politics shape identity? What roles have politics played in shaping the French Caribbean culture and imagination, and how have they impacted people and landscapes? Are these policies challenged? By whom? In this seminar we’ll explore such questions by reading, writing about, and discussing several francophone novels. We will focus on the significance of historical experiences such as colonization, departmentalization, and dictatorship through themes of alienation, assimilation, and emancipation. The analysis of these imagined or experienced accounts by Césaire, Chamoiseau, Chauvet and Juminer will help us further understand notions of power, privilege, and justice. No knowledge of French is required.

The Feminine Heroic In this class we will explore the hero’s journey in literature as it relates to women and the natural world: who gets to go on the adventure, and who arrives home, transformed? How do race and gender complicate the traditional man-versus-nature narrative? We will discuss character agency, narrative authority, and structure — and look at texts where women undertake the journey, including work by Annie Dillard, Camille Dungy, Rachel Carson, Anne LeBastille, Rahawa Haile, and Pam Houston. We will work on reading critically, editing, and practicing the art of giving and receiving feedback. This class will provide students with opportunities to create both critical and creative work.

Ancient Women on Stage: Tragic and Comic As soon as theater was born in Ancient Greece around 500 BCE, it embarked on a radical examination of social institutions and cultural values. By adapting myths and rituals for the stage, tragic and comic playwrights invited their audiences to reflect critically on their own communities. In this seminar we will meet some of the women they put on stage to challenge traditional gender roles and push the boundaries of acceptable thought and behavior. Employing modern theoretical approaches and close reading, we will study tragedies by Sophocles (Antigone) and Euripides (Medea, Hecuba, Helen) and comedies by Aristophanes (Lysistrata, Assemblywomen) to explore what the prominence of female characters means for Athenian society but also for the art of theater.

Town-Gown Lands of Middlebury In this course we mix methods to investigate lands that connect Middlebury College and Vermont towns. We will study the natural and human histories of land and investigate relationships between Middlebury College and local human and natural communities. We ground these themes at field sites along a transect from the Champlain Valley to the Green Mountains where college and non-college communities overlap in space and time. Students explore questions from multi-disciplinary perspectives, learn to interpret and integrate different kinds of evidence, including texts, images, maps, and direct observations, share their work with peers to help contextualize field excursions, and produce a short research article linked to a web map of Middlebury town-gown lands.

Love and Death in Western Europe, 1300-1900 History is not just names and dates; it also encompasses how ordinary people lived and  felt.  Emotions have a history because they have changed over time.  This seminar deals with aspects of the history of desire and fear in Western Europe from the Middle Ages to the industrial era.  Topics will include sex, marriage, child-rearing, disease, suicide, and the belief in immortality.  In addition to works of historical analysis, we will read literary and theoretical sources, including Dante, Goethe, and Freud.  Our aim is to understand how common emotions have been altered by social and cultural circumstances.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: Gods, Goddesses, and Demons in Indian Art Indian mythology and epic literature abound with stories of conflicts between the forces of good and evil. There are multiple forms of Hindu gods and goddesses who battle an array of evil and colorful demonic foes, and each cosmic battle embodies a profound philosophical lesson about relative values and complex moral choices. We will explore the meanings and myriad creative expressions of this rich terrain through a lively variety of artistic depictions—in mythological literature, painting, sculpture, drama, dance, television, film, graphic novels, and contemporary arts.3 hr sem.

Shakespeare's Rome Throughout his career, William Shakespeare wrote several plays set in ancient Rome. Why did he and his contemporaries find the dramatization of events from Roman history so appealing? Why do we continue to do so today? In order to address these questions, we will read Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, and Coriolanus. We will also consider Shakespeare’s ancient sources, such as Senecan drama and Plutarch’s biographies, as well as contemporary stage and film adaptations. In addition to exploring the complex ways in which Rome has served as a mirror for later cultures, we will pay close attention to the relationship between republic and autocracy, public and private life, and drama and history.

Herodotus and the Writing of History Dubbed ‘the Father of History’ by Cicero, Herodotus saw himself as presenting the results of an investigation in order to preserve human achievements, grant them renown, and above all to explain why the Greeks and Persians came to fight one another.  We will read the whole of Herodotus’ Histories, considering the place of story-telling, ethnography, and divine intervention in explaining the past, and exploring how Herodotus’ inquiry spawned historical writing.  Ancient and modern discussions about historical writing will supplement the central text.

Worldbuilding In this seminar we will critically examine fictional worlds in literature, cinema, and games. Worldbuilding synthesizes and transforms our understanding of reality into fantastic settings such as Middle-Earth, Star Wars, or even colonial exploration narratives. We will critically examine the multidisciplinary use of origin stories, symbols and myths, invented histories, and imagined geographies in constructing new universes. Among the questions we will consider are: How do we conceive of coherent places and times? What real world consequences do fictional worlds have on popular beliefs and practices? Students will design their own well-researched and richly detailed worlds during the semester.

Questions of Evidence: Historical, Legal, and Psychotherapeutic How do historians marshal evidence and to what ends? How does this intersect with psychotherapeutic and legal approaches? In this seminar we will ask “questions of evidence.” What is evidence? How do we find it? How do we decide to believe it? In the first half of the course we will examine the role of social and institutional power in shaping what we understand to be evidence. In the second half of the course, we will explore a recent historical controversy or a single historical study for its argument and presentation of evidence. Readings include works by historians, philosophers, legal scholars, psychotherapists, journalists, and activists.

Models, Contexts, and Afterlives of the Bayeux Tapestry In this course we will look closely at the late eleventh-century Bayeux Tapestry (also known as the Bayeux Embroidery), examining its historical and literary sources, the details of its creation, and its reverberations throughout the arts of the medieval and modern eras. We will also consider how this embroidered textile entangled its medieval and modern viewers in the stories it tells and those it avoids. We will discover that it can tell us much about attitudes toward gender and masculinity, the taming of the natural world, and the terrors of war. Hands-on assignments will familiarize us with some of the techniques and materials used to create this monument of medieval European Art History. This course is part of the Public Humanities Labs Initiative administered by the Axinn Center for the Humanities.*

Collaborating Across the Arts Collaborating Across the Arts invites students to playfully research and practice cooperative methodologies. This course centers on the idea that interdisciplinary dialog sparks original thinking and generates creative material. During the semester, we will participate in live interdisciplinary performance events through workshops, performance viewings, and reflective writing. The semester will culminate in a student performance. By studying and practicing cooperative tools for artistic creation, we engage a sense of enthusiasm and curiosity for what can be discovered when we collaborate. Both experienced artists and beginners are welcome.

Agatha Christie In this course we will explore the work and life of Agatha Christie, one of the world’s best mystery writers. We will read several of her novels published between the 1920s and 1950s, and place them in their social and political contexts. We will learn about prevailing class, race, and gender relations in Britain, imperial archaeology in the Middle East (Christie participated in, and wrote about, digs organized by her second husband), and the impacts of the two world wars. We will also explore the craft of mystery writing by presenting our own outline to a mystery.

On Time Time is at once familiar and confounding. After eighteen years (568 million seconds) of existence, you know it intimately. But what is time, really? The truth is, we don’t know. Time doesn’t even appear in the most fundamental laws of physics. In this course we explore the history of time-keeping from mechanical clocks to atomic clocks, human perceptions of time, Einstein’s theory of relativity, and present-day theories on time. Readings include Longitude (Dava Sobel), Simply Einstein (Richard Wolfson), The Order of Time (Carlo Rovelli) and selected articles from neuroscience. We will also look back in time using the College Observatory.

Mindfulness in Education: Radical, Holistic Models of Learning What is mindfulness? And how is it useful in reframing approaches to education for engaged, critical learning?  In this course we will explore the impact of contemplative practices in education, considering such questions as: what is learning and how does divergent or mindful thinking influence how we learn? For example, is there a connection between mindfulness and creativity, attention, memory? We will engage in contemplative practices to consider mindful learning from a personal perspective and review research in the fields of education and psychology that suggests a positive correlation between contemplative practices and the intellectual, emotional, and psychological growth of students.

Symmetry in the Physical World Beyond the familiar symmetry of human-made objects, there are fundamental symmetries that underlie the laws of nature. In this course we will explore how these symmetries impact the nature of matter and forces. We will investigate the life and ideas of Emmy Noether, the 20th century mathematician who formulated our modern understanding of symmetry in physics. Our discussions will touch on a wide range of physical concepts, including the principle of conservation of energy, the Big Bang, superconductivity, and the recently discovered Higgs particle. Our readings and discussions will be based on historical and scientific texts and popular science books.

Questioning Technology In this course, we will critically approach and think deeply about the ways in which we shape, and are shaped by digital technologies of the 21st century.  What does society give up for the benefits of a given technology? Who is harmed and who benefits from the technology? What are the unexpected impacts of the technology? Informed by texts such as Weapons of Math Destruction, Automating Inequality, and Race After Technology, we will explore contexts such as surveillance, privacy, exploitative tech, discriminatory design, and AI. We’ll also explore speculative futures as a framework for imagining a different future with technology.

Social Issues and Public Policy This course examines current social issues and potential public policy remedies. We will use the tools of economics to explore important social issues such as income inequality, poverty, welfare reform, access to food, health care, housing, and education, climate change, and crime. While the text and lectures will focus on social issues at the national level, students will have the opportunity to explore social issues in Vermont through a semester-long research project.

Myth and Cosmology The course will trace the early development of thought and meaning, introducing some of the fundamental concepts underlying ancient ways of approaching the world. We will approach the subject with a comparative view, studying, for example, the Chinese, Judeo-Christian, Hindu, Navaho and Maori creation traditions, Chinese cosmology, divination systems of East Asian and African nations, and the rich symbolism that emerged out of some of the major centers of ancient civilization. Through our reading of myths, scholarly writings, and literary works, we will explore the ways China and various other cultures understood and dealt with the world around them, from flood myths to astrology, from the Yijing to omens and geomancy. We will learn about the place of story in the formation of worldview, particularly in notions of the place of humans in the world.

Filling in the Blanks-Reading between Words Not only written words, but also the spaces that connect them, influence and determine literary readings. In this course we will analyze the cultural as well as the personal assumptions that enable us to create specific meanings in texts. Applying theoretical concepts to known works of literature, and reflecting on their own cultural and personal assumptions, students will gain an understanding of how culturally situated their readings are. Literary works by Shakespeare, Lessing, Choderlos de Laclos, Kafka, Walker, Tawada, and others create a canon to which we will apply various theoretical approaches.

Psychological Diagnosis Psychological disorders do not typically manifest in the body and are not detectable through blood tests or biopsies the way many medical conditions are.  Rather, psychological disorders are expressed through patterns of behavior, mood, and interaction.  Diagnosing them therefore involves human clinicians making judgements about others’ behavior and well-being, and about what counts as normal or abnormal.  Is that as it should be?  Why are some behaviors considered just “unusual” while others are labelled “disordered,” and who gets to decide which is which?  Who benefits and who suffers from the biases inherent in clinicians’ diagnostic judgments?  We will consider these and related questions as we critically examine the process of psychological diagnosis.

"The Ancient Quarrel": Greek Philosophy, Tragedy, and Comedy In Plato's day there was a “quarrel” between philosophy and poetry, a rivalry for the ethical education of citizens. How do the tragedies of Aeschylus and Sophocles communicate ethical dilemmas? Does Aristophanes in The Clouds suggest a serious critique within his comic satire of Socrates? Why does Plato banish the poets from his ideal city in The Republic, but develop his own philosophical poetry? Why does Aristotle in the Poetics emphasize the catharsis of the tragic emotions? Finally, we will consider Nietzsche's interpretation in The Birth of Tragedy: Socratic rationalism deals the fatal blow to tragedy, yet Plato transforms Socrates into a tragic figure.

Democracy in America Reconsidered This seminar’s ultimate aim is for you to grasp the evolving relationship between the public controversies in American politics and theoretical writings on liberty and equality that have influenced the course of American political development. Special attention will be paid to the gaps between the principles and practices of American democracy. The course has no doctrine to advance.  It seeks to provide the materials and framework for lively and inclusive discussion about the challenges of institutionalizing freedom, democracy, and equality, ideals that inspire other governments around the world.

Earth Resources: Origin, Use, and Environmental Impacts The global economy world politics, and many aspects of our daily lives are dependent on the extraction and use of materials taken from the Earth.  Unfortunately, within our lifetimes, we will be faced with significant shortages of many of these resources.  In this course we will focus on how resources such as oil, coal, aluminum, and even gem minerals are generated by geological processes, how they are extracted and processed, and how these activities impact the environment.  Several field trips will allow us to view first-hand the impacts of resource extraction and use in the local area.

Euripides and Athens Was the tragic genius of Euripides (480?-406 BC) corrupted by the atheistic rationalism of the sophists and the philosophy of Socrates (470-399 BC), as their Athenian contemporary, the comic poet Aristophanes, alleged? Nietzsche makes that view the basis of his attack on Socrates in The Birth of Tragedy (1872). Or, was Euripides in fact "the most tragic of the poets," as Aristotle argued in his Poetics, written during the half century after Euripides' death in 406 BC? In this course we discuss twelve of Euripides' extant plays in the context of 5th c. BC Greek political and intellectual history, with the help of Thucydides, Aristophanes, Plato, Aristotle, Nietzsche, and some modern critics.

Shakespeare's Characters Shakespeare’s reputation owes much to his characters; yet well-known as they are, they remain mysterious. What did they mean in Shakespeare’s time? How do they still succeed as characters?  What explains idiotic Bottom’s charisma?  What does Henry V’s flirtation with Princess Katherine or Othello’s jealousy about Desdemona reveal about Elizabethan—and our own—understandings of gender and race?  Such questions will help us develop skills in speaking, writing, and critical inquiry.  Texts will include at most three plays from among the following: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, Merchant of Venice, Henry V, Measure for Measure, Hamlet, Othello, Lear, as well as contextual readings. We will also study a film of one of the plays.

The Journey Within: The Spiritual Pursuit in Literary and Mystical Traditions A fundamental teaching of the world’s religious and mystical traditions is that the source of love, the fulfillment of life, and the treasure of heaven are found within. With mystical and literary texts from antiquity to the present day as our guides, we shall explore themes such as the concept of the soul, the discovery of a deeper self, the spiritual awakening, and the nature of the mystical experience. Using both intellectual and experiential tools of inquiry, we shall consider questions related to religious and psychological experience such as: Where does the self reside? Why is it important to “know thyself”? What is the state of consciousness described as enlightenment? How does one rise above the sorrows and struggles of the world? Finally, we shall try to understand how ‘turning within’ may not mean fleeing away from the world; rather we shall explore the possibility that this direction might even mean engaging in the world around us in a more profound and meaningful way. Readings will include Plato, Marcus Aurelius, excerpts from the New Testament, Tolstoy, Emily Dickinson, Herman Hesse, J.D. Salinger, Martin Luther King Jr., and Mary Oliver.

J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth In this course we will explore the philology, philosophy, ecology, and theology of J.R.R.Tolkien as expressed in his Middle-earth Legendarium.  We will begin with close readings of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion, looking at the literary aspects of the storytelling and exploring important sources and influences including Beowulf and Norse mythology. We will then turn to the specific tasks of exploring the four subjects mentioned above, making use of secondary scholarship such as: Shippey’s J.R.R.Tolkien Author of the Century and Kreeft’s The Philosophy of J.R.R.Tolkien. Some emphasis will be given to Tolkien’s environmental vision.

Space, Time, and Measurement The ability to precisely measure distance and time is essential to modern science and technology.  Improvements in the technology of measurement made possible scientific discoveries that then redefined our fundamental understanding of space, time and measurement themselves.  We’ll follow this process, from Galileo’s pendulum through Einstein’s theory of relativity to modern applications in quantum mechanics and cosmology, using historical and scientific texts, analytic writing, and a few hands-on activities to understand these ideas and their impact on science and society.   3 hr. sem.

Political Consumerism and the Consumerization of Politics In the United States, we fashion our identities through the purchases we make. We form communities based on shared loyalty to particular brands and consumer lifestyles. Political campaigns are commercialized and voters choose among prepackaged candidates. For many, the way to participate in social activism is to buy something. But can we solve problems such as globalization, environmental degradation, and excessive consumption through more or different consumption?  Our study of current issues in U.S. consumer culture will include culture jamming, boycotts, and the anti-sweatshop and Fair Trade movements, as well as greenwashing, cause branding, and other corporate practices.

The Malleable Human The human body is a remarkable product of evolution, but too often it fails to function as we might like. The genome is essential in determining the body’s characteristics, known as its phenotype, but its influence is not unalterable. In this course we will examine physical, chemical, and genetic modifications to the human body and genome and how they might influence our current perceptions of concepts such as therapy, enhancement, and even humanness itself. We will use non-fiction books, film, scientific literature, and essays to explore how the human genome intersects with external modification.

Cinema and Memory Depicting the experience of memory is a challenge filmmakers have returned to repeatedly throughout cinema’s history.  In this seminar we will screen films from around the world to explore the ways in which individual and cultural memory have found expression in cinema.  We will screen narrative features, documentaries, and experimental films as we compare the various aesthetic strategies filmmakers from different periods and cultures have used to portray the complex relationships between past and present, real and imagined.  Films screened will include After Life; The Bad and the Beautiful; The Long Day Closes; Hiroshima, mon amour; La Jetée; Shoah.

Everyday Life in South Africa, 1948-Present In this seminar we will explore some of the social worlds of South Africans amid the country's recent decades of turbulent and dramatic change.  We will look at how different groups within the nation's diverse population have understood and experienced the rise of the apartheid system, its demise, and its legacies in their "everyday" lives and interactions.  We will draw from various sources - non-fiction, fiction, film, music, and other forms of popular culture - to interpret these social dynamics and their ongoing significance in a post-apartheid society.

First Language Acquisition All human children have the potential to acquire any human language in the right environment, yet it is much more difficult for adults to achieve native proficiency in a second language. Why? In this course we will explore questions such as: How does first language acquisition happen? Is it effortless? Are humans “hardwired” with language? Is it true that after the “Critical Period,” i.e., the onset of puberty, humans have lost this capacity? We will also explore social and cultural constraints on language acquisition, and learn basic techniques for collecting and analyzing data in language acquisition research.

Cultural Formations of the 1980s In this course we will investigate cultural formations of the United States during the 1980s through a critical examination of fiction, music, television, art, advertising, and film. We will connect texts produced during and about the period with social, political, and economic transformations that began with the so-called “Reagan Revolution.” Social issues concerning race, class, gender, and sexuality will be analyzed through topics including the Culture Wars, globalization and outsourcing, the ascendance of Wall Street, the rise of AIDS, attacks on the welfare state, the emergence of hiphop, and the War on Drugs

Mountains of the Northeast The mountains of the northeastern U.S. are an integral part of the cultural and natural history of this region. In this seminar we will consider topics germane to northeastern mountains including the geologic origin of the northern Appalachians, characteristics of mountain environments, changing perceptions of northeastern mountains over time, mountains as resources for modern society, and challenges facing these environments today and in the future. Readings and discussion will be combined with field excursions to enhance our understanding of mountains from a variety of perspectives. 3 hrs sem.

Political Theory of the Black Diaspora In the 1900s, horrified by the expansion of European colonialism into Africa, a global network of Black intellectuals emerged to explain major developments in world politics. As they argued, the racial project of colonialism, which included replacing indigenous systems with European-style states, shaped the international political economy. We will read works by scholars including DuBois, Amilcar Cabral, and Walter Rodney, to address the following: How did racism shape capitalism? Can Black people find emancipation in imperial states? We will see how pan-African philosophy adapted to international events, such as the end of WWI, the establishment of the UN, and eventual independence from colonialism.

The True Believer When he published The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, social thinker Eric Hoffer sought to explain exactly what inspires people to commit themselves passionately to causes defined by their unyielding belief. Like Hoffer, we will examine not only what has motivated individuals over time to join extremist social, political, and religious movements, but also the  psychologies of those who have led them throughout history. We will try to determine precisely who the true believer is, and whether true belief is generally of greater benefit or harm to the believer and to broader society.

The Philosophy of Human Rights What are human rights?  What duties, if any, flow from them, and who is morally obligated to bear those duties?  In this course, we will investigate the philosophical origins and development of the concept of human rights.  We will critically analyze both historical and contemporary moral perspectives on the existence and nature of human rights.  What does it mean to say that one possesses a human right?  In addition to examining the existence and nature of human rights, we will take a closer look at the issue of human rights related to world poverty and humanitarian intervention.

Anthropology and Climate Change Climate change has become one of the most pressing issues of the 21st century, and much of the discussion about its causes and consequences is based on the biophysical sciences and is strongly influenced by political and economic interests.  Anthropology offers a wider set of perspectives on climate change.  In this seminar we will examine cross-cultural case studies of past and present responses to climate change.  We will look at how technological, economic, social, political, and spiritual dynamics shape the way people understand and react to climate change.  Key themes will include gender and vulnerability, social-ecological resilience, climate ideologies, development policy, social scale, and ethnometeorology.

Reading Africa What do we know about Africa? In this seminar we will explore this vast continent through novels written about it. African and non-African writers will help us discover the continent’s geographies, histories, cultures, and politics. We will study particular phenomena affecting Africans over the centuries including colonialism, dictatorial rule, humanitarianism, the women’s rights movement, and racism. With the help of films and student presentations, we will focus on Algeria, Nigeria, Ghana, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kenya, Ethiopia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.

Disability, Difference, and Society In this course we explore the varied and evolving meanings of disability—as category, lived experience, and way of interpreting the world, as well as the contexts that shape these meanings. As a First Year Seminar, primary attention centers on critical reading, thinking, writing, and collaborative skills. Course materials and assignments offer different disciplinary approaches and writing styles, fostering both individual and collective work. Films, on-line exhibits, music, advertising, popular media, and the material world reflect the wide range of sources on which this course draws. Dominant issues, including representation, education, employment, bioethics, institutions, community, policies, access, and justice serve as touchstones for research, analysis, and learning. Sustained attention to interlocking identities, including disability, race, ethnicity, Indigeneity, socioeconomic class, gender, sexual orientation and identification, and age define the field of disability studies and this course. While the United States is highlighted in this class, transnational and global components figure into our work as well.

Immigrants and the U.S. Economy The demise of national origin quotas for U.S. immigration in 1965, and its replacement with an emphasis on family reunification, opened the gates to a large and increasing flow of immigrants  from the developing countries. Accordingly, this seminar will focus, within an interdisciplinary framework, on such currently pressing immigration issues as: are native-born low-skill workers displaced by recent immigrants? Is English language proficiency crucial for immigrant assimilation in the labor market? What is the role of close-knit communities in facilitating immigrant entrepreneurial activities? The mixture of perspectives should help shed light on diverse immigration policy options.

Virginia Woolf in Context In this seminar we will focus on the novels, essays, and short stories of Virginia Woolf, considering them in the light of her social, political, and artistic contexts and commitments.  We will explore in particular the tension in her work between Victorian values and aesthetics and the progressive goals of the modernist movement. Our readings will take us from the early novels (Voyage Out, Night and Day) to the later experimental works (To the Lighthouse, Orlando, The Waves). Some of the topics central to the seminar will be Woolf’s engagement with modernism and its key figures (such as James Joyce); her treatment of gender and sexuality in her essays and elsewhere; and her struggles with mental illness.  We will intersperse our reading of Woolf’s prose with consideration of some film versions of her work, and we will conclude the seminar with a reading of Michael Cunningham’s 1998 creative homage to Mrs. Dalloway: The Hours.

Art and the Environment “The land is not the setting for the work but a part of the work.” So did the artist Walter de Maria describe The Lightning Field (1980), a site-specific, environmental work of art built in an isolated part of western New Mexico. In this seminar we will discuss the different ways that recent artists have used, commented upon, and at times altered their surrounding environment. We will take an expansive view of the term "environmental" in our seminar as we explore natural, urban, media-based, and conceptual artistic environments.

Language and Social Justice In this seminar we will explore questions such as the following: What is the relationship between language and power? How does linguistic prejudice contribute to social inequality? Is language a human right, and if so, what are the implications? We will engage with scholarly, journalistic, and literary works, including writing by Julia Alvarez, James Baldwin, John Baugh, Lisa Delpit, Rosina Lippi-Green, Jamila Lyiscott, Richard Rodriguez, Debora Tannen, and others. Students will develop a range of reading, writing, and oral presentation skills, and will receive feedback on their work throughout the semester.

Civil War & Civil Rights In a time of national emergency, the rules governing everyday life often get suspended to meet a more pressing need. What rights of citizens remain protected in these circumstances, and what liberties are vulnerable to erosion? Where are the boundaries of reasonable sacrifice?  While these questions are applicable to every era, we will focus on the years of the American Civil War (the 1860s) to explore them most fully.  We will use the thoughts of 19th-century Americans and Confederates and the arguments of historians as our guide towards deep thinking and discussion about rights, liberties, individual responsibility, and community cohesion.

Sexuality and Power on Stage: Female Trouble, Closet Homos, and Shameless Queers What do Sophie Treadwell's Machinal, Martin Sherman's Bent, and Tony Kushner’s Angels in America teach us about the history of sexual marginalization? In this seminar we will study a selection of US American plays in which gender, desire, and sexuality constitute a problem for society and the state. Students will learn how to analyze dramatic texts from the director’s and the actor’s perspectives with a focus on action, structure, characterization, and space in addition to genre and larger themes. Cinematic renderings of the plays and in-class staging exercises will help us engage the embodied dimension of performance

Fifty Shades of Italy: an Exploration of Contemporary Italian History, Culture and Society Italy is the land of a seductive culture that for centuries has inspired undeniable romanticism and continues to capture the imagination of many. But there is more to Italy than beautiful landscapes and world famous cuisine. From the darkness of fascism and terrorism, to the sophisticated colors of Italian fashion and design, to the dramatic tones of illegal immigration, we will explore, discover, or critically revisit the many shades that together compose the complexity of the Italian mosaic.  Our interdisciplinary approach will include short stories, essays, newspaper articles, films, music, and images.

Karma Why do things happen to us as they do? For many throughout Asia, the answer has been or is karma, the ancient Indian notion that over multiple lifetimes individuals reap the effects of past actions. We will examine this powerful idea of moral causality in depth, considering striking variations in classical Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism, and compare it to other theories of causation, both religious and scientific. We will also study the wealth of practices believed to improve future lives (and ultimately lead to liberation) and investigate diverse, surprising consequences of karma in some Asian societies, including justification of social hierarchy, mistreatment of some groups, and vegetarianism.

Pyramid Schemes, Bubbles, and Crashes In this seminar we will study the anthropology of exchange, then use it to analyze ethnographies of financial speculators, labor migrants, microcredit borrowers, and other agents and victims of global capitalism.  We will focus on conflicting obligations to kin and to creditors, on how people in different cultures and social classes juggle these obligations, and how the growth of financial debt can turn social relationships into commodities.  Studying debt and how it is leveraged in different societies and historical eras will show why capitalism is so vulnerable to speculative booms, swindles, and collapses.

Film Form, Film Meaning: Fellini and the Art of Cinema In this seminar we will discover the hidden art of cinematic form.  How do movies construct meaning?  Why are they often so emotionally engaging?  How is cinema related to the other arts (literature, painting, photography, music)?  In the first half of the seminar we will analyze six films by Federico Fellini—one of Europe’s most famous auteur directors (La strada, La dolce vita, 8 1/2, among others).  In the second half of the seminar, students will analyze films of their choosing (any film by any European director).  Armed with the critical skills gained through analyzing Fellini, groups of students will then screen their films to the entire class, complete a major classroom presentation, and engage in original research.

The Empire Writes Back: Politics and Literature from Postcolonial Africa, the Caribbean, and South Asia A hundred years ago, Britain ruled about a quarter of the world’s population, and the British Empire covered approximately a quarter of the earth’s land surface.  Though most of the colonies have won formal independence, the effects of global imperialism continue to be felt, and arguably Empire has taken on other forms.  In this seminar we will discuss fiction, poetry, and drama by postcolonial writers such as J. M. Coetzee, Derek Walcott, Daljit Nagra, Wole Soyinka, Mahashweta Devi, Jean Rhys, Arundhati Roy, Edward Said, and Frantz Fanon, addressing questions about the nature and effects of colonization, anti-colonial resistance, representation, agency, and power.

Poetry and Poetics This seminar is an introduction to the formal and generic aspects of lyric poetry in English.  We will work to develop sensitivity to the various strategies of meaning available to poets—meter, rhyme, sound, diction, imagery—in order to read poems more closely, thoughtfully, and with pleasure. We will also attend to the historical, cultural, and biographical contexts of poems and poets, but our emphasis will be on lyric poems by a variety of poets from a range of periods and traditions. This is a literature, rather than a creative writing, course; but student poets are welcome to join.

Shakespeare's 'Nasty' Sonnets Of the love triangle that structures William Shakespeare’s enigmatic series of sonnets, Stephen Booth has quipped: “Shakespeare was almost certainly homosexual, bisexual, or heterosexual.” Of the 154 poems, most people know only one or two of the most innocent (“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”), but the series as a whole has scandalized prudish readers for centuries with its confessions of heterosexual lust, homoerotic love, envy, jealousy, misogyny, racism, abjection, pride, and some moping—all in some of the most exquisite verse ever composed in English. In this course we will examine, discuss, and write about the language of Shakespeare's sonnets and their literary historical context as well as the range of critical theories (and sometimes utterly wacky notions) about their mysterious contents, including those from the likes of Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, and William Wordsworth. This is a feminist, queer-friendly, sex-positive course.

Once Upon a Time – Folk Fairy Tales of the World Tell me a story! We will examine the complex, inter-connected folk fairy tale traditions found in every society. Comparing fairy tale variants from around the world, we will explore their convoluted and fertile relationships as observed in the rise of fairytale collections in 15th Century Europe, reaching a culmination in the Brothers Grimm collection, often synonymous with the fairy tale itself.  To attain a more dispassionate critical stance we will explore theoretical approaches to the fairy tales by such authers as Jack Zipes, Ruth Bottigheimer, Maria Tatar, and Kay Stone, and conclude by examining modern variants in prose, poetry, and film.

Refugee Stories “Stories are just things we fabricate,” says a character in Viet Nguyen’s The Refugees. “We search for them in a world besides our own, then leave them here to be found, garments shed by ghosts.” In this course students will find stories by and about a paradigmatic modern figure: the displaced refugee seeking asylum in unfamiliar lands. Highlighting literary and visual representations, we will also draw from history, sociology, anthropology, environmental studies, and feminist critique. Beginning with the Syrian refugee crisis, we will circle back to the Vietnam War and the lingering questions it poses to today’s social justice movement.

Literature and Moral Choice Literature’s subject is almost always morality; that is, how human beings treat one another. We will read and discuss difficult moral and ethical decisions made by characters in fiction and poetry, including works by Toni Morrison, Jane Austen, Mark Twain, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky among others. We will also acquaint ourselves with major theories of moral development and moral reasoning, and through reading, writing, discussion, and preparing oral presentations, we will explore how human beings, including those portrayed by writers who are great students of the human spirit, try to do the right thing in a complex modern and postmodern world.

Writer's Decathlon One of the best skills a writer can hope to cultivate is flexibility—the ability to write for different audiences, different situations, different media, and with different goals in mind. In this course we will develop our skills as flexible writers by tackling ten different writing exercises, including the op-ed, several sub-genres of the traditional academic paper, personal essays, creative fiction, the persuasive essay, business communications, modern tech-based genres, and more—we may even try our hand at writing an old-fashioned love letter with a quill pen. We will workshop our writings in class regularly, and examples of these various genres will be our course readings.

Who Owns Culture? History, Culture and Decolonization Modern European imperial states devoted considerable time and effort to creating the norms and forms of European life in their colonies. This involved establishing European schools, languages, literature, music, dress, and art as superior to the indigenous cultures of the colonies. During the era of decolonization many thinkers from the colonies began to argue that political emancipation would also require a cultural emancipation. To decolonize the state one had to decolonize one’s state of mind. How could this be achieved? Who “owns” culture? These and other questions will be pursued through the writings of Gandhi, Césaire, Fanon, Memmi, Thiong’o, and others.

Literary Borders In this course examines imaginative possibilities of the border in literary and visual texts. We will consider how writers portray cultural, national, temporal, and linguistic frontiers; how literature embodies the experience of crossing or dwelling within borderlands; how texts reinforce or transgress the boundaries at which we are positioned as readers; and how writing itself can construct and bridge differences. Reading poems and stories of liminal figures—em/immigrants, expatriates, exiles, animals, misfits, racial others, queers, and adventurers—we will analyze how borders challenge our ideas about place, body, identity, language, and text. In encounters with hybrid genres and multimedia texts that disrupt the way we read, we will explore the edges of language. For a broader picture of the border in the human imagination, we will also turn to films and other arts. Texts may include Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home, Justin Torres’ We the Animals, James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room, and Claudia Rankine’s Citizen, among others.

Literary and Filmic Protest of Environmental Racism Can Literature and Film Save the Planet?  This course focuses on literary and filmic responses to environmental racism. Bearing witness to those whose lives are most endangered, we will learn about environmental justice, economics, migration, globalization, and the anthropology of climate change through comparative study of works authored by Iraqi, Chinese, and African Americans, as well as by indigenous Latin Americans (Andean, Xavante, and Wayuu), Native Americans (Navajo and Sioux), Africans (Ogoni), Indians (Dalit and Adivasi), and Armenians. We will write literature and film reviews, and work incrementally toward the realization of activist essays.

Fighting for Justice How do people overcome injustice? In this course, we will study historic justice movements, including abolition and the fight against Jim Crow. We will then analyze two contemporary movements: the fights against mass incarceration and against climate change. After comparing and contrasting these fights with past movements and with each other, we will study ideas for accelerating the pursuit of justice in our time. Our reading will include the work of Frederick Douglass, Ella Baker, Bryan Stevenson, Michelle Alexander, Van Jones, and Mary Robinson. During our final two weeks, students will present their ideas for overcoming current forms of injustice.

Gut Check: Exploring Microbiomes Imagine there were an organ in your body with a mass similar to that of your heart, which trained your immune system, affecting your weight and perhaps even your behavior. Wouldn’t you want to know? There is such an organ — your microbiome, the collection of microbes in and on your body.  You are not alone; corals, squid, beetles, and many other organisms harbor microbiomes that generate nutrients, produce light, and defend their host organisms in the environment. Increasingly, we also understand microbiomes to be intrinsically and deeply embedded within social and environmental (in)justice. We will read I Contain Multitudes by Ed Yong, as well as other popular science and research papers to investigate these fascinating microbes.

Globalization Interrupted Globalization is not inevitable, and in recent years, a wide variety of counterforces—from resurgent nationalisms to global pandemics—have worked to undermine the increased connectivity that has come with rapid technological change. In this seminar we will look at both broad concepts—such as identity formation, nationalism, and trade—and case studies—such as COVID-19, Brexit, and right-wing populism in Brazil—to understand the broad cultural, economic, and political forces at work in the current global context.

Native Presence and Performance: Reclaiming the Indigenous Narrative In this sminar we will respectfully engage with contemporary Native American and First Nations theatre makers representing the nations of the Kiowa/Delaware, Onieda/Ojibwe, Cherokee, and Kana/Rappahannock. Additionally, we will meet with Abenaki culture bearers to learn how cultural expression has contributed to their nation’s reclamation and decolonization in Vermont and the Northeast. Despite centuries of attempted erasure, the Indigenous of the Americas have survived and thrived in powerful ways. Conversations with Native leaders and artists, will deepen understanding while strengthening communication skills (including listening); writing assignments will strengthen critical, sensitive, and reflexive analysis.

Race, Body, and Spectacle Through an array of visual, aural, and literary materials, we will explore the many connections between racial discourses and corporeal imagery and their role in the reproduction of interwoven systems of racism, capitalism, patriarchy, cisgenderism, heterosexism, and ableism. To this end, we will pay particular attention to cultures of spectacle and performance in which the body is staged and codified in terms of race, gender, sexuality, and (dis)ability for particular audiences. Examples will include fitness culture and contests, beauty pageants, sporting events, music videos, minstrelsy, and other cultures of spectacle from around the globe. Furthermore, we will interrogate how the racial spectacle is embedded into visual arts and literature spanning different stages of empire and capitalism.

Rites of Passage: Buddhism In this course we will explore the topics of symbolic death and rebirth as expressed in rites of passage and initiation, especially in Buddhism and the Blues. We will draw upon sources from religions and cultures around the world, examining them from multiple perspectives: mythology, psychology, anthropology, religion, literature, and popular music. Since the transition from childhood to adulthood is one of the most celebrated and challenging rites of passage, students will make connections with their own lives. We will also consider larger, macro-level processes, such as the transition from traditional worldviews to modernism and postmodern worldviews.

Race and Representation In this seminar we explore cultural representations of race in popular and mass media. How are racial identity and racial difference represented in the media around us? What political, historical, and social contexts shape racial representations? Conversely, how might cultural representations of race shed light on its politics and histories? The foundational premise of this course is that popular culture has much to tell us about “serious” topics, such as capitalism, state violence, and structural inequities. We will commit to the idea that the pieces of culture we consume for fun or entertainment are worthy of critical study and rigorous critique. In this vein, we will critically analyze popular cultural texts that span a wide range of media, such as literature, television, film, and music.

The International Drug Trade This seminar examines the political economy of drug trafficking in the Western Hemisphere. How have transnational drug markets evolved, and why? How has narco-trafficking differentially affected the political, economic, legal, financial, and social systems of producer, consumer, and trans-shipment countries? What policy responses are available to combat it? How should we weigh alternative policy options? Our focus is the cocaine source countries in Latin America's Andean region, the chief trans-shipment country (Mexico), and the principal consumer country (the U.S.). We also will examine the drug trade's effects on America’s society and criminal justice system. 3 hrs. sem

Growth and its Limits What is economic growth? Is it limited in a world of finite resources? In this seminar we will explore these questions from a multidisciplinary perspective, drawing on readings from 18th century philosophers to 21st century research on climate change and artificial intelligence. Particular attention will be paid to the role of demography, agricultural productivity, and fossil fuels. We will develop simple mathematical models of growth and seek out relevant data to help inform our discussions and writing.

Great Ideas in Economics The current 4th industrial revolution is changing lives in mundane and profound ways. The set of cooperative and competing interactions among humans, machines, and nature will shape lives in ways that we have just begun to comprehend. There has been “production, buying, selling, and trading” of goods and services since time immemorial –- why then does the formal study of “economics” as a discipline start only from around the 17th century with the onset of the 1st Industrial Revolution?  This course introduces students to our most influential economists, their ideas, and their impact upon economics, policy, and intellectual history. We will engage in serious thinking, writing, and discussion about the great economics questions of our age.

Schools and Inequality In this course we will explore fundamental questions about the relationship between schools and society. What should be the normative goals of education? How do we explain educational disparities? We will look at theories on race, class, disability, gender, and sexuality to examine the role that schools play in reproducing or circumventing inequality in society. Drawing upon both domestic and international contexts, we will incorporate theories and methods from across the social sciences.

Activism and the U.S. AIDS Crisis * The history of HIV/AIDS has much to teach us about the politics of late twentieth-century and early twenty-first century American life. Building on foundations laid by earlier generations, people with AIDS in the 1980s organized against government neglect, homophobia, and a profit-driven pharmaceutical industry to demand treatment and care. Using historical scholarship, oral history, digitized archival collections, and film, we will explore a rich yet hidden history of grassroots activism, and consider how race, sexuality, gender, and class shaped responses to HIV/AIDS. In addition to readings-based discussion, students will conduct multi-staged research projects to explore AIDS activism in historical perspective.

The Body in Question What does literature have to say about the fact that we are “embodied” beings?—that our consciousness interacts with the world through an envelope of flesh that both weighs us down with its mundane requirements and propels us forward with its remarkable abilities and insistent desires?  We know that the world at large cares deeply about our bodies, for it continually categorizes us along the lines of race, gender, age, and “normality,” but who gets (or should get) the last word about what our skin and bones declare about us?  In this class we will investigate what novelists, playwrights, and poets have to say about our ability to either make peace with our flesh or to transcend it, and whether such outcomes can best be accomplished through religion, imagination, drugs, sexuality, or political action.  The works we address will include Shelley’s Frankenstein, Morrison’s Sula, Beckett’s Happy Days, Silko’s Ceremony, Coetzee’s Waiting for the Barbarians, and others.

Imagining a Better Tomorrow In this class we will study some of the ways in which filmmakers, artists, activists, thinkers, and ordinary people have envisioned and/or strived to create a better future for humanity. We will watch and read fictional narratives in parallel with real-world examples of equitable societies, life-altering technology, sustainable living, and others. We will cover various aesthetic, political, and ideological frameworks and movements, such as Afrofuturism, ecofeminism, environmental activism, pacifism, etc. Texts include films (Metropolis, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind), television series (Star Trek), architecture (ecovillages and intentional communities), writers such as Marge Piercy, Samuel R. Delany, Octavia Butler, and others.

Architectures of Intimacy: Family in Contemporary Japan The Japanese terms for family, kazoku, and house, ie, both contain the same Chinese character, a pictogram that registers the connection between a family and the physical dwelling it inhabits. In this course, that connection will be a central framework through which we consider the changing conditions of intimacy and family in Japan since the mid-twentieth century. We will use fiction, film, legal documents, and ethnographic studies to examine the relationship between intimacy and home, architecture and family in a rapidly transforming sphere of Japanese society.

Growing Up Other in the Americas Who am I and how do others see me? How do I see myself? This seminar will focus on the growing up and educational experiences of individuals from a number of marginalized groups throughout the Americas. Through novels, memoirs, essays and films from the U.S. and Latin America we will look at such questions as: What does it mean to be "othered"? What does "American" mean? Where and how does one find one's voice? What is the importance of place in one's identity? We will touch on issues of race, gender, ethnicity, ability, sexual orientation, and more.

Writing Women's Truths In this course we will examine how women’s lived experiences—their personal truths—have led to greater societal change. We will consider history, literature, psychology, and feminist theory as we analyze the lives and writings of creative women who have examined themselves as subject since the eighteenth century, including Mary Wollstonecraft, Kate Chopin, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Adrienne Rich, bell hooks, Maya Angelou, Isabel Allende, Amy Tan, and others. We will see how their life experiences, choice of genre, and intended audience shaped their rhetorical message, and we will examine the impact those messages had on the societies in which these women lived. 3 hrs sem.

How Money Makes the World Go Round Our society is structured around money – how to get it, how to spend it, how to amass it.  Power comes easily to those with more than their fair share of it, and powerlessness plagues those without it.  In this seminar we will study key aspects of the financial system, while examining the inherent biases, inequity, and unfairness within the institutions we rely on.  We will explore ideas about how to address those impediments through readings devoted to current events, personal memoirs, and essays.  Our discussions will illuminate the problematic way that money makes the world go round, while we also learn to navigate our own personal financial journey.

Adirondack Park: Conversations about Conservation The Adirondack Park in northern New York is considered one of the world’s greatest experiments in conservation. Throughout its ~130 year history, this experiment has attempted to balance rigorous environmental protections for millions of wilderness acres with the economic realities of residents who live in the park. We will undertake an interdisciplinary approach to explore how park conservation is affected by climate change, rural economies, recreation, tourism, slow food, and political action. Building upon course readings and discussions, and direct engagement with the Adirondack landscape, stakeholders, and local industries, students will develop practical policy recommendations to address pressing conservation issues in the park.

Skull Wars: Sordid True Tales of Rapacity, Revenge, and Racism in the Search for Human Origins Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey. Richard Leakey and Don Johanson. Lee Berger and Tim White. In this course we will examine how jealousy, competition, and racism drive knowledge production and sabotage in the hunt for human ancestors. We’ll do so by exploring how these personalities, and others, have leveraged the media, from the New York Times to National Geographic, to push forward their vision and status in science. Through scientific articles, popular books, and film, we will also explore how settler colonialism and racism have plagued, and continue to plague, the science of paleoanthropology. 3 hrs. Sem

You're the Expert: Being a Public Scientist A scientist’s work is not complete until their findings are shared. But who tells the story of science and who gets to be called a scientist?  In this course we will learn the theory and practice of communicating science to public audiences. We will explore the roles of social media, comics, citizen science and science cafés in getting the public engaged with STEM learning. Through learning about audience, visual design, and storytelling, we will craft our own stories about science. Students will develop the science literacy skills necessary to research the world around us and to communicate Science to others.

The Poetics of Lullaby In his lecture on the art of Spanish lullaby, poet Federico García Lorca observed that, “In melody…history’s emotion finds refuge.” The situation of lullaby, as a transitional gesture between waking life and sleep, has made it a natural depository for human wishes, terrors, and fantasies across centuries and cultures. We will investigate the seemingly universal language of lullaby in its folk and literary traditions around the world. Learning will be both research-based and experiential. Readings and papers will include scholarship on individual songs and poems within their contexts, and field work will explore lullaby as a living folk tradition.

Allison Stanger

Amit Prakash

Amy Collier

Amy Morsman

Anne-Marie Magri

Antonia Losano

Benjamin Graves

Brett Millier

Carolyn Dash

Carrie Wiebe

Cates Baldridge

Chris Herdman

Christian Keathley

Christopher Star

Claudio Medeiros

Cynthia Packert

Daniel Silva

Darien Davis

David Stoll

David West

Diane DeBella

Don Wyatt

Edward Vazquez

Elizabeth Morrison

Eliza Garrison

Elsa Mendoza

Erin Eggleston

Genie Giaimo

Gregory Pask

Hang Du

Holly Allen

Ian Barrow

Jacob Tropp

James Berg

Jane Chaplin

Jason Mittell

Jeff Howarth

Jeff Munroe

Jeffrey Cason

Jennifer Ortegren

Jennifer Wang

Jeremy Ward

Jessica Holmes

Jon Isham

Karin Gottshall

Katherine O'Brien

Kemi Fuentes-George

Kyle Brudvik

Lana Povitz

Laura Lesta Garcia

Laurel Jenkins

Linda White

Lindsay Repka

Linsey Sainte-Claire

Maggie Clinton

Marc Witkin

Maria Hatjigeorgiou

Marion Wells

Mark Williams

Martha Woodruff

Matthew Dickerson

Matthew Taylor

Matthew Walker

Megan Mayhew-Bergman

Melissa Hammerle

Mez Baker-Medard

Michael Sheridan

Michelle Leftheris

Miguel Fernandez

Nadia Horning

Nikolina Dobreva

Noah Graham

Obie Porteous

Olga Sanchez Saltveit

Paul Monod

Pavlos Sfyroeras

Phani Wunnava

Rachael Joo

Roberto Lint

Roger Russi

Roman Graf

Ryan Sheldon

Samuel Liebhaber

Sandra Carletti

Sarah Lohnes Watulak

Shawna Shapiro

Spring Ulmer

Stacie Cassarino

Stefano Mula

Steven Viner

Sunder Ramaswamy

Susan Burch

Susan Watson

Suzanne Gurland

Tara Affolter

Thomas Van Order

Timothy Billings

Trinh Tran

William Waldron

Yumna Siddiqi

Read 53 reviews for First Year Seminar courses at Middlebury College. Find the best First Year Seminar professors and courses.  Discover your new major today!

My experience with this course was about just right. Though I am not a humanity person and I got placed to the bottom choice from my FYSE class preference list, I got to enjoy the class and learn a lot from the class materials and discussions. The readings and writings were definitely helpful, tho I think they could have been structured more logically.