FYSEM-110 First-Year Seminar

FYSEM-110AC African Cinema

Not Scheduled for This Year. Credits: 4

This seminar will explore the genesis, evolution, and different themes of African cinema. We will also discuss the current issues and challenges facing the production, distribution, and critique of films made by Africans in Africa and about Africa. Lectures will be coupled with screening of films.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
S. Gadjigo
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110AG The Lives and Afterlives of Antigone

Fall. Credits: 4

Antigone's confrontation with the power of the state and her political dissent have made her one of the central global literary figures for political struggle. Reading plays, novels, and poems from Ancient Greece to 20th century Germany, Ireland, and South Africa and 21st Century Britain, Pakistan, and the United States, we will explore the question of a person's conflicted relationship with the demands of state law, family bonds, individual conscience, and collective justice and think about the role of literary representation as a form of historical witness. Writers include Sophocles, Bertolt Brecht, Kamila Shamsie, and Judith Butler.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
N. Alderman
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110AM Art and Words

Fall. Credits: 4

True, a picture is worth a thousand words, but how do we know which words to use exactly? In this seminar, we will focus on the work of language in relation to the visual arts, and learn to distinguish between different kinds of writing, including art history, art criticism, poetry and fiction. We will visit the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum and the Skinner Museum, and develop provocative ideas about original works of art. We will practice critical thinking and writing on our own, and work collaboratively on various projects. We will find a deeper relationship between words and the arts by expanding our definition of writing to include speaking thoughtfully, listening actively, and cultivating leadership skills by striking idea-driven discussions on the arts.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
A. Sinha
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110AS Art and Society

Not Scheduled for This Year. Credits: 4

This course explores the interconnections between art and society using a sociological lens. We will examine topics such as the social construction of cultural authenticity; the relationship between cultural capital and group boundaries; and the legitimation of art forms.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
P. Banks
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110AV Women, Politics, and Activism in U.S. History

Not Scheduled for This Year. Credits: 4

From the founding of the United States to the present, how have women taken the lead to act on their visions of a just, righteous, or sustainable world? Where have they planted their feet on colonized ground and insisted on their own sovereignty, freedom, or citizenship? When have they agitated successfully for fundamental change, whether from homes, fields, and factory floors, or from the halls of power? This course addresses conflicting perspectives within women's politics, with attention to histories of racism, radicalism, feminism, and conservatism.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
M. Renda
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110BD Rooted Movements: Dance and Politics

Fall. Credits: 4

In this course, we will look at dance as a form of political activism, focusing particularly on Black Dance culture. This will be a literary, media-based, and technical exploration, offering students the opportunity to think analytically and critically as they hone both their writing and discussion skills. Our goal is to understand and appreciate the historical, political, cultural, and social contexts that influenced the creation of Black Dance culture and how the Africanist presence has shaped American dance culture. We will learn and explore dance movement together in the studio, but no previous experience needed!

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Speaking-Intensive, Writing-Intensive
S. Barron
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110BT Talking Robots

Fall. Credits: 4

Have you ever wondered why Siri or Alexa doesn't understand things you say? Or wondered if actual robots can understand language as well as the ones we see in movies? In this seminar we will learn about social robots and what it takes for robots to converse with humans. We will read research conducted by computer scientists, linguists, and psychologists, as well as investigate representations of social robots in popular media and literature.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
H. Pon-Barry
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110BX Where Are the Brain's Limits?

Fall. Credits: 4

How does the brain enable otherwise ordinary people to display extraordinary abilities? This course will challenge our understanding of ourselves and each other by using a collection of stories, peer-reviewed research, and podcasts to compare popular media's portrayal of these individuals against science's current understanding of the brain.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
A. White
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110BZ Bird Migration: The Spectacle and the Science

Fall. Credits: 4

This class will bring you face to face with one of the most remarkable phenomena of the natural world: bird migration. We will search for tiny Blackpoll Warblers, which migrate through our campus before making three-day, nonstop flights over the Atlantic Ocean from Massachusetts to South America. We will look for Chimney Swifts, which nest in chimneys on campus and spend their winters skimming through the mist and treetops of the Amazon Rainforest. We will learn how to identify birds visually and by song, study the science behind bird migration, practice ecological census techniques, and learn how these incredible creatures can be protected. This class will involve time spent outdoors.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
T. Gilliland
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110CB Cinema and the Brain

Fall. Credits: 4

Cinema is a form of art that uniquely captures and portrays the human mind. In this course we will explore how mental experience is encoded in the brain, using film as our object of study. Students will, through movies, analyze major topics in psychology and neuroscience such as memory, mental time travel, addiction, and empathy. Course readings and class discussion will further offer students the opportunity to develop their critical thinking skills in order to better understand the multiple layers of cognitive processes and behaviors depicted in movies.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Speaking-Intensive, Writing-Intensive
M. Sabariego
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110CL Representative Works of Modern Chinese Literature

Fall. Credits: 4

The twentieth century started with the downfall of the Chinese monarchy, numerous humiliations at the hands of Western countries, and the establishment of the Republic of China in 1911. In the spirit of reform and renaissance, a group of young writers, educated in both China and the West, spearheaded a new direction in Chinese literature. This group of writers abandoned the classical Chinese language, was keenly interested in social development and betterment, attacked Confucian tradition, and adopted Western ideals. The class will read representative works of these writers and try to understand their sociopolitical impact, while appreciating the artistic qualities of these writings.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Speaking-Intensive, Writing-Intensive
Y. Wang
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110CP What's to Be Done About Capitalism?

Fall. Credits: 4

From the writings of Adam Smith in the 18th century to present-day arguments by Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the benefits and costs of capitalism in human society have been hotly debated. Do the benefits of capitalism outweigh the costs? Is it possible or desirable to "tame" markets to maintain their good elements while minimizing the harm? How has a debate dominated by Europeans and North Americans considered or overlooked perspectives from the rest of the world? In exploring these questions, we will engage with some of the key thinkers on capitalism from Adam Smith and Karl Marx through major thinkers in both the developed and developing world to the present day.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
C. Mitchell
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110CT Concepts of Health: Historical and Ecological Exploration

Fall. Credits: 4

This course will use an ecological framework to investigate environmental and social factors impacting health-related behavior. Students will research historical social norms around food, drink, sleep, leisure behavior, and recreation. The ever-changing landscape of public health advice and policy will be analyzed through quantitative and qualitative methods of research. Students will critically analyze various modes of information exposure (research journals, blogs, podcasts, news outlets), and develop their written and oral skills in making arguments as to the impacts on health-related behaviors.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
J. Canfield
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110CU Introduction to Latin American Cultures

Fall. Credits: 4

Examines the confrontation, assimilation, and transformation of Indigenous, African, and European cultures in Latin America from the sixteenth century to the present. Focuses on the processes in which distinctive self-images emerged in the region and how these images have been challenged and changed over time. Uses films, literature, and folk traditions to complement scholarly analysis of the emergence of a New World mentality.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Speaking-Intensive, Writing-Intensive
A. Pitetta
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110CW Goodbye, Conventional Wisdom

Fall. Credits: 4

One of the hallmarks of a liberal arts education is to draw on a broad base of knowledge in order to interrogate common assumptions. No one exemplifies this critical approach better than French philosopher Michel Foucault. One of the most influential thinkers of recent times, Foucault revolutionized several academic disciplines and even questioned the very notion of a discipline itself. He did so by revealing the history and transformations of ideas now viewed as self-evident. This first-year seminar invites students to develop similar analytical skills. Following Foucault's lead, the course pays special attention to preconceptions about government, freedom, identity, and sexuality.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Speaking-Intensive, Writing-Intensive
J. Crumbaugh
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110DC Chinese Diasporic Communities Around the World: History, Identity, and Race

Not Scheduled for This Year. Credits: 4

How does a study of the Chinese diasporic communities in Southeast Asia, the U.S., and other parts of the world help us rethink concepts of 'Chinese-ness'? We seek to answer the question in this introductory history seminar on the Chinese diaspora. Coverage spans from the 1500s to the present. Readings focus on the question of Chinese-ness as constructed and negotiated by different groups and individuals. Themes include imperialism, race, ethnicity, gender, nationalism, transnationalism, orientalism, hegemony, and globalization.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Speaking-Intensive, Writing-Intensive
R. Chu
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110DR American Dreams

Not Scheduled for This Year. Credits: 4

In this First Year Seminar, students will focus on their critical thinking and writing skills by exploring the meaning of the American Dream. For many people, the United States signifies possibility and individual freedom -- indeed, these might be the very ideas and aspirations that bring students to Mount Holyoke! We will spend the semester exploring the history of this idea, thinking alongside classic works like The Autobiography of Ben Franklin and Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, as well as more contemporary texts like Slouching Toward Bethlehem by Joan Didion and Drear America by Jose Antonio Vargas. Students will have an opportunity to examine their own assumptions about the "American Dream," to learn to interpret and critically evaluate texts, and to formulate their own reasoned arguments in essay form.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
E. Markovits
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110DY Freedom Dreams and Historical Memory

Fall. Credits: 4

How do the stories we tell about the past shape our connection to one another and our ability to imagine emancipatory futures? This course will consider how people in -- and in relation to -- the United States have envisioned more just and inclusive communities, launched democratic initiatives, and reached for solidarity in the context of ongoing histories of harm. We will explore ways to mobilize such vision and initiative even as we work to reveal the histories of injustice obscured by nationalist narratives. What can we learn about the possibilities for achieving and sustaining democracy by reflecting on African American, Indigenous, immigrant, and working-class histories and cultures?

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
M. Renda
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110EG Energy: Past and Future

Fall. Credits: 4

Revolutions in energy technology have habituated us to wonders our ancestors would have called magic -- air-conditioned deserts, intercontinental vacations, pocket-sized devices keeping us always online. The comforts of modern life are also destabilizing Earth's life support systems at an accelerating pace. Can advanced societies reengineer the energy systems on which they depend before it's too late? This course will probe the scientific and philosophical mysteries of energy, time travel through history from the dawn of civilization to the atomic age, trace how power is generated and delivered at scale today, and task students with imagining the innovations that will power humanity's future.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
R. Darrow
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110EL Politics of the Self

Fall. Credits: 4

In an era where Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are ubiquitous, self-presentation is a constant concern and practice. What are the politics of self-presentation and -cultivation, if any? Do the choices we make about diet, how to dress, where to shop, and our friends have any political valence? To what extent can these choices be thought of as a form of resistance to popular culture in an era where rebellion is marketed to us? This course will probe these questions by considering the connections among self, appearances, discipline, and the way these are dependent upon the recognition of others. Readings will include the Stoics, American transcendentalists, Rousseau, Nietzsche, and Foucault.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
A. Aslam
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110EQ Disaster Science: Earthquakes, Floods, and Volcanoes

Not Scheduled for This Year. Credits: 4

This course explores the sometimes catastrophic intersection of geology with people's lives. Earthquakes, volcanoes, and floods are geologic events; they are also natural hazards that pose significant challenges to communities in high risk areas. Where are these risky areas? Why? Is it possible to predict when and where catastrophic geologic events will occur? How do we assess geological risks? Using case studies from around the world, we explore these three natural hazards in the context of plate tectonics, climate change, and community preparednes and recovery.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
M. Markley
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110FE The Science of Food and Cooking

Not Scheduled for This Year. Credits: 4

This course is rooted in hands-on exploration (including a lab experience) of the science of food and cooking. After being introduced to the key chemical and biochemical molecules that comprise food, we will discover how to manipulate these molecules during cooking. The topics that we will discuss include taste, baking, fermentation, whips, and foams. Related cultural and historical approaches to food and cooking will be discussed throughout the course. Readings will complement our hands-on explorations and lab work. Be prepared to taste/eat food and work in small groups throughout the semester and to experiment in the kitchen!

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
K. McMenimen
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110GF God, Free Will, and Morality

Spring. Credits: 4

This first year seminar is a critical thinking boot camp. Students will learn to charitably interpret, logically reconstruct, and critically evaluate arguments. The arguments come from classic and contemporary readings in philosophy about God, free will, and morality. We will focus on questions such as: Does God exist? Is it rational to believe in God? What should I do if I want to do the right thing? When is it ok to criticize other cultures? How much do I owe to others? Do we have free will? Can we ever be held responsible for anything? Students will come out of the class better thinkers, better writers, and better equipped to tackle difficult questions like these with rigor and care.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Speaking-Intensive, Writing-Intensive
K. Vavova
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110GN South Asian Pasts Through Graphic Novels

Fall. Credits: 4

If news debates, Facebook posts, and WhatsApp forwards now form arenas for contesting historical claims -- once mainly a preserve of academic histories -- what might supposedly low-brow media such as comics or graphic novels tell us about how history is produced and consumed? This first-year-seminar shall introduce students to key topics in South Asian history through a selection of comics, graphic novels, and primary sources. We shall read comics and graphic novels as narrative histories and speculative accounts of the lives of ordinary people and their experience of world historical events. In placing them alongside primary sources, the course shall encourage students to ask historical questions.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Speaking-Intensive, Writing-Intensive
A. Medhi
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110GP Gender and Power in the History of Mount Holyoke College

Not Scheduled for This Year. Credits: 4

Mary Lyon, founder in 1837 of Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, held out to her students the possibility that they might transform the world around them -- a tall order for young women who were excluded from proper citizenship and political power. Duty, discipline, and economy would make it possible. What transformations ensued? And what can we learn from them about the complexities of gender and power in worlds shaped by racism, colonialism, capitalist development, national aspirations, Protestant dominance, and normative regimes of gender, sexuality, and bodily comportment? This course will introduce students to the richness of the College Archives and the possibilities of historical thinking.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
M. Renda
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110HD Childhood

Spring. Credits: 4

Did you really learn everything you needed to know in kindergarten? In this course we will explore how children's development, with a focus on early childhood (ages 0-8), is shaped by the family, school, community, cultural, and policy contexts in which they participate and live. We will read research conducted by psychologists, sociologists, and education researchers, as well as investigate representations of childhood in popular media and literature.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
J. Jacoby
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110HP Happiness and the Good Life

Fall. Credits: 4

This course introduces the skills needed to navigate college, with a focus on philosophical writing, analysis and argument. Our topic is happiness and 'the good life.' Happiness is something we all want but often struggle to define. We will look at what philosophers have said about the nature and importance of happiness in our lives, as well as recent positive psychology literature on what makes us happy and why. While we draw from multiple disciplines the emphasis of the class is on philosophical analysis and argument. Students will learn to integrate campus resources, such as LITS and the SAW Center, into their coursework, as they hone skills in clear, rigorously argued, analytic writing.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
L. Sizer
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110HY Hybrid Identities: Latin America, Latinx Communities, and Spain

Not Scheduled for This Year. Credits: 4

With a historical and transnational approach, this course will explore bi/multicultural identities and communities in the Spanish-speaking world, primarily of the 20th and 21st centuries. Mestizos, Cuban-Americans, Chinese-Argentinians, Afro-Puerto Ricans, Chicanos, Moroccans and West Africans in Spanish cities... Is Catalonia Spain? Through literary, visual, and theoretical texts, we will put a wide range of ethnic and linguistic encounters in dialogue with one another and examine how hybrid communities and identities, particularly in an era of global homogenization, reclaim rights and space, are represented, aspired to, separated, and often slip away when we try to define them.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
M. Saltzman
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110ID Shapeshifting and the Idea of Change

Not Scheduled for This Year. Credits: 4

How do we change? What happens when we cannot change and want to, or change when we would rather not? How can we induce changes, individually, collectively, environmentally to occur? This seminar examines the figure of shapeshifting -- bodies and beings that change their shapes- -- to think about how we alter our material reality and language, or how it alters us. Special attention will be given to fiction and creative nonfiction narratives of transition, illness/disability, environmental disaster, and afro-futurism.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
K. Singer
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110IP Gender and Nation in Irish Poetry

Not Scheduled for This Year. Credits: 4

In this first-year seminar, we will read Irish poetry from 1798 to the contemporary moment, examining how a variety of poets engage with urgent questions of gender and nation as well as the gendered tropes of nationalism. We will pay particular attention to interventions by feminist and queer poets and Irish poets of color who resist and in some cases revolutionize dominant poetic traditions and forms. Poets will include Lady Jane Wilde, James Clarence Mangan, W.B. Yeats, Oscar Wilde, Seamus Heaney, Eavan Boland, Nuala Ni Domhnaill, Mary Dorsey, Doireann Ní Ghríofa, Nyaradzo Masunda, and Sinead Morrisey.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
A. Martin
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110LG Slang: Community/Power/Language

Fall. Credits: 4

Language is a living system. It grows and changes, despite efforts to preserve it. This course examines how slang participates in these changes. What separates slang from standard language, and who sets the standard? Through readings in linguistics and literature, this course examines how we use language to connect, create, and control.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
M. Shea
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110LR Language as a Source of Identity

Not Scheduled for This Year. Credits: 4

Have you ever wondered how a language's socio-historical and political context shape our everyday language? Would you like to explore how a language or linguistic variation may have shaped experiences in your life and the lives of the ones around you? In this course, we'll explore how language ideologies, at different historical times and places, have an impact on our current language identities and community belonging. We'll first focus on Spanish in contact with indigenous languages, then Spanish in the U.S., and we'll finish by exploring your own language experience.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Speaking-Intensive, Writing-Intensive
E. García Frazier
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110MG Myth, Magic, and Vibration: Exploring the Human Bond to the Natural World

Not Scheduled for This Year. Credits: 4

Humans could simply view nature as a repository of material resources for our use. Many would argue that this is the primary perspective of modern society. And yet mythology, history, and science show that there is a much deeper connection to the natural world -- one that provides spiritual and psychological sustenance as well as multiple forms of physical support. In this first-year seminar, we will explore the human bond to nature through readings from a wide variety of sources and disciplines, and also through short field trips out into the local landscape.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
T. Farnham
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110MK Race in the Marketplace

Not Scheduled for This Year. Credits: 4

This course looks at the central concerns of consumer culture through the lens of race and ethnicity. Through exploring issues such as multicultural marketing and advertising, discrimination in e-commerce, consumer boycotts, and urban food deserts, students will gain theoretical and empirical insight on the ways that racial and ethnic boundaries shape, and are shaped by, consumption.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
P. Banks
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110ML U.S. Multiethnic Literatures: Refracting America

Not Scheduled for This Year. Credits: 4

This course examines African American, Asian American, Chicana/o-Latina/o, and Native American literature and cultural politics. Examining the historical intersection of race, gender, and sexuality, we will explore themes of cultural identity, segregation and community formation, citizenship, labor, class, and family. Authors may include Toni Morrison, Danzy Senna, Josefina López, Sherman Alexie, Junot Díaz, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Joy Kogawa.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
I. Day
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110MM Women and Music: Sounding Community

Not Scheduled for This Year. Credits: 4

This course surveys music in a range of women's, and womxn's, communities and ensembles--from medieval convents and "all-girl" swing bands to Cuba's Ibbu Okun and the Transcendence Gospel Choir. While the focus will be on Western art music, we will also encounter music from Afghanistan and the First Nations, working songs and playground songs, and rock/pop groups and DJ collectives. Performers will visit the class, and we will learn about the history of music ensembles at Mount Holyoke College. You do not need to be a musician or know how to read music; listening across cultures and genres, we will contemplate the opportunities and challenges of womxn-only spaces for music in the twenty-first century.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
A. Mueller
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110MZ Music and Childhood

Fall. Credits: 4

Unlike many other categories of identity, childhood is both universal and temporary. That simultaneous omnipresence and transience makes it easy to overlook the role played by children in the history of music. This course surveys significant instances of children as creators, performers, consumers, and subjects of music: from Mozart to Michael Jackson, playgrounds to orphanages, street musicians and choristers to the prodigies of TikTok. We will trace the enlisting of children, childhood, and the childlike across a range of musical traditions and pedagogical, aesthetic, commercial, and cultural-political agendas. Students will also contextualize their own memories of childhood musicking.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
A. Mueller
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110NC Identity, Science, and the Politics of Difference

Fall. Credits: 4

What is an identity? Who gets to declare its "truth?" What role do science and social movements play in categorizing human beings? How has the notion of difference structured our modern political world? In pursuit of answers to these questions, we will explore the twists and turns of history that led us from oppressive race-based scientific ideas of the past century to today's celebration of "born this way" queer identities. We will also consider the role that ideas about "doubt" and "scientific uncertainty" play in conflicts over identity today. In all, we will interrogate the ethics of theories of difference as well as their impact on citizenship and equal rights.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
J. Wuest
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110ND Nomads!

Not Scheduled for This Year. Credits: 4

In this first year seminar, we will learn how to use primary textual and visual sources to critically analyze everyday life of the nomadic communities living in Central Eurasian and Inner Asia steppes, such as the Mongols and the Scythians; and of the Lakota and the Comanche peoples in the Great Plains in North America. Their histories are often told against the rise of their rival powers, mostly sedentary ones. Students will listen to interviews, speak with leading historians on these subjects, study art, and read accounts by and about these nomads. Taken together, we study how certain communities came to be represented and misrepresented in the history and contemporary imagination of others.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
L. Wu
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110NN The Nonhuman

Not Scheduled for This Year. Credits: 4

This course will examine representations of figures not considered human, focusing on the nonhuman animal, with attention to the monster and the machine. We will analyze the literary and visual techniques with which these figures are depicted, the social and political concerns they address, and the tenuous boundary between human and nonhuman. Authors and filmmakers may include Cronenberg, Fowler, Hitchcock, Hurston, Kafka, London, Martel, Poe, Reichardt, Sewell, Spiegelman, Wells, and Woolf.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Speaking-Intensive, Writing-Intensive
E. Young
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110NP New American Opera

Not Scheduled for This Year. Credits: 4

Since 1980 more than 300 operas have been premiered in the United States. These works collectively represent a major change in creative direction, creating new opportunities for hitherto unrepresented and underrepresented voices. New development processes have allowed the art form to be newly responsive to the issues of our time. We will attend at least one performance of a new opera during the course, practice critical thinking and writing on our own, and work collaboratively on various projects thus exploring this new and rapidly evolving scene, listening deeply, and exploring texts that are shaping a brave new world of music.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Speaking-Intensive, Writing-Intensive
T. Ng
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110PD The Politics of Disruption

Not Scheduled for This Year. Credits: 4

Uber, Twitter, Facebook, Google -- smart technologies have transformed our world, disrupting old patterns of life, communication, work, and politics. As new technologies push us into an uncertain future, thinking critically about the positive and the negative effects of disruption has never been more important. Using a variety of materials, ranging from political philosophy and historical case studies to popular articles, podcasts, television and film, this course will help students develop their college-level critical thinking skills through exploratory and argumentative writing, personal reflection, engaged learning, and analytical discussion.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
A. Hilton
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110PE Performing the Self

Fall. Credits: 4

How do we represent ourselves as we document our lives and communicate with others? In this seminar we will move beyond critiques of selfie culture, instead analyzing self-representation as an important avenue for forming identities. We will study forms of self-representation across history and will focus on visual and new media as platforms for performing selfhood. Students will discuss the politics and aesthetics of self-fashioning across these media forms, and will execute multiple forms of self-expression, including the argumentative essay, the op-ed, the blog post, and the tweet.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Speaking-Intensive, Writing-Intensive
H. Goodwin
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110PP Pop Science: Science and Culture

Fall. Credits: 4

Pop science is the term for science communication that distills scientific discoveries for a general audience. Some of these scientific ideas can have striking cultural influence. For example, the "butterfly effect" as an explanation of the mathematical definition of chaos led to a cultural change from belief in a predictable universe to one where small changes can have big effects. Through a range of books, news articles, and social media from the 1980s until today, we will examine the cultural influences of scientific advances in popular understanding. In addition, we will consider critiques of pop science, including concerns about its accuracy and the effects of racism and sexism on science communication.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
A. Hoyer-Leitzel
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110PQ Politics of Inequality: Social Movements in the U.S.

Fall. Credits: 4

The course explores comparative racial and ethnic politics in the U.S. during the twentieth century. We will analyze the creation and maintenance of structural inequalities through laws and policies targeted at persons of color in the areas of healthcare, transportation, immigration, labor, racial segregation, and education. Through readings, lectures and films, we will discuss critical histories of community struggle against social inequality, registering the central impact that race, class, gender, sexuality, and citizenship have had on efforts toward social justice.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
D. Hernández
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110PS Self-Portraiture

Not Scheduled for This Year. Credits: 4

How do we represent ourselves? How can the self -- that is to say, subjective experience, private life, identity, consciousness -- be translated into written form? How, in turn, does writing fashion and construct the self? Throughout history, authors and thinkers have engaged these questions in countless texts and textual forms -- in essays, confessions, autobiographies, and poetry. This seminar will sample influential and innovative works of literary self-portrayal from around the world, exploring how a wide variety of writers have rendered themselves in language, narrative, and text. Authors may include Augustine, Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Joyce, Nabokov, and Plath.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
S. Roychoudhury
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110PT Politics and Truth

Fall. Credits: 4

What is the relationship between truth and politics? Does democracy require truth or pervert it? Can truth thrive in any type of government? What's really at stake here? In this course, we will explore a variety of classic texts, ranging from such authors as Plato to Karl Marx to Hannah Arendt to Martin Luther King, Jr. to contemporary feminist theorists. We will focus on developing the ability to reflect on your own beliefs, analyze authors' arguments, and to articulate and defend your own perspective.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
R. Darrow
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.
Advisory: for students in their first two semesters at the College only

FYSEM-110PX Philosophy Through Science Fiction

Not Scheduled for This Year. Credits: 4

This course introduces the skills needed to navigate college, with a focus on philosophical writing,analysis, and argument. We will pair classical and contemporary readings in philosophy with science fiction films and short stories in order to explore philosophical issues such as the nature of reality, free will, personal identity, artificial intelligence and the nature of mind. While science fiction will be used to animate and explore these issues, the emphasis of the class is on philosophical analysis and argument. Students will learn to integrate campus resources, such as LITS and the SAW Center, into their coursework, as they hone skills in clear, rigorously argued, analytic writing.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
L. Sizer
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110PY Anthropology of Play

Not Scheduled for This Year. Credits: 4

We associate play with childhood, a time of spontaneous and creative activity, in contrast to the boring routine of adult responsibilities. And yet play is more than just fun and games. It is through play that children develop lasting cognitive and social skills. For adults too, there can be serious play--play that has real consequence--play that shapes the intimate lives of individuals, as well as entire social formations. In this course, we will explore play cross culturally, from the Balinese cockfight to American football, from gambling to role playing. We will design games based on the anthropological readings in order to appreciate the game-like qualities of many domains of life.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
J. Roth
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110PZ Interweaving Themes in Physics and Art

Fall. Credits: 4

Physics and art represent the world in seemingly different ways. They share, however, many common themes: the guiding role of symmetry, the tension between order and disorder, and the emergence of structure from many simple constituents. We will explore some of the big ideas in physics, including quantum mechanics, relativity, entropy, and chaos theory, by looking at how these underlying themes are represented in the visual arts. Islamic tessellations, Japanese Suminagashi paper marbling, and works by contemporary artists will guide us toward an intuitive understanding of some of the most exciting ideas in physics, without the need for any prior physics background.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
S. Smith
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110RE Religion and Climate Change

Fall. Credits: 4

Religion and climate change might seem to be an odd combination. After all, we tend to imagine religion as the domain of faith, emotion, and the otherworldly and the climate as the realm of science, objective knowledge, and the here and now. Nevertheless, this course investigates their sometimes surprising connections. For example, how do religious communities work to promote or oppose political action on climate change? How do religious conceptions about God's relationship with nature or with humanity impact adherents' views on climate change? How might the futures predicted by climate models and those prophesied in sacred texts affect people's actions today?

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Speaking-Intensive, Writing-Intensive
W. Girard
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110RJ Explorations in Restorative and Transformative Justice

Not Scheduled for This Year. Credits: 4

This course is a first year seminar on the principles and practices of restorative justice. Restorative justice is a movement that seeks to reimagine justice by building on indigenous theories and practices of human community. Students examine principal restorative justice models and programs for how they understand and respond to harm, especially as they reflect the accountability of key stakeholders (victims, offenders, communities and justice systems). Restorative justice approaches are contrasted with conventional western ways of addressing harm, be they small or large ruptures in the social fabric. The ideas of key activists and theorists in restorative justice circles are critically engaged in institutional settings ranging from schools to prisons.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Speaking-Intensive, Writing-Intensive
L. Wilson
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110RT Reproductive Rights and the State

Fall. Credits: 4

What is the role of governments in regulating human reproduction? How has this changed throughout the 20th and 21st century? Is reproduction an area of our private lives that should be left outside the realm of government? Or is the state actually needed to safeguard our reproductive rights? This course analyzes the history of reproductive policies in the US and compares it with cases from the global South. From family planning to population control, from woman's right to reproductive justice, we will analyze the evolution of language to name this policy arena and the way this has affected policy design. Through the use of a variety of primary and secondary sources, this course will help students improve their critical thinking, argumentative writing, and analytical skills.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
C. Fernandez Anderson
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110RV Embodied Archives: Movement as a Way of Knowing

Not Scheduled for This Year. Credits: 4

This course explores the premise of our bodies as archives, through which movement can become a means of knowing, learning, and deepening connections across varied disciplines and modes of thought. The course asserts that the body can be a critical site of knowledge production and discovery, shaping the ways in which we engage in creative and scholarly work. We will study theoretical concepts prevalent in dance research, and analyze those ideas at work in both the choreography of contemporary artists and our own creative bibliographies. In order to contextualize and challenge our thinking, guest speakers are woven into the course, providing varied perspectives on dance, movement and the notion of archive. The course is designed for anyone interested in embodied and creative practice. Dance experience may be useful, but is not required.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
B. Diewald
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110RY Sex, Drugs, and Psychopaths

Not Scheduled for This Year. Credits: 4

The prevalence of misinformation and disinformation has weakened the public's trust in science. This course will challenge media's coverage of three major topics -- sex, drugs, and psychopaths -- against the latest findings from neuroscience research. Through readings, podcasts, movies, and class discussions, students will challenge common misconceptions about our brains, by examining the science behind infidelity, gender identity, addiction, mental health, and murder.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
J. Schwartzer
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110SD Performing the Self: Shakespeare and Identity

Not Scheduled for This Year. Credits: 4

Best known as one of the literary canon's pillars, Shakespeare has also provided multiple templates for artists and storytellers who wish to challenge traditional concepts of literature, theatre, and history. Our class will explore four of Shakespeare's plays through the lens of identity, both those forms extant in Shakespeare's own time and those articulated in various contemporary adaptations, both stage and screen. In particular, we will focus on BIPOC, postcolonial, and LGBTQ adaptations.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
A. Rodgers
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110SR Stress and Resilience

Not Scheduled for This Year. Credits: 4

Is it true that what does not kill us makes us stronger? What is stress management? What is "stress culture"? This first year seminar will explore these questions, focusing on the relationship between stress and resilience. We will consider different ideas about stress, adaptive coping, psychological and resilience and their relationship to psychological and physical well-being. We will consider cultural differences in approaches to stress, as well as explore the impact of stress on our lives and society.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
A. Douglas
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110SV Sustainable Development and Its Discontents

Fall. Credits: 4

Sustainable development has been the leading paradigm linking economic growth, poverty reduction, and environmental sustainability for decades. Yet, global inequality metrics are scarcely improving, and environmental issues like climate change and biodiversity loss are reaching extreme levels. This course examines the concept of sustainable development and various attempts to put it into practice around the world, as well as the limitations and contradictions of predominant approaches to sustainability and economic development. We will then explore alternatives to mainstream development advanced by global social movements, including food sovereignty, degrowth, and climate justice.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
K. Surprise
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110SX Sexuality and Society

Not Scheduled for This Year. Credits: 4

What is the impact of what is included and excluded in formal sex education programs? What does it mean to maintain good sexual health? How does sexual identity relate to behavior and attraction? As a class, we will explore sexuality at an individual, interpersonal, community, and societal level. Primary topics will include sex education, sexual identity, health, consent, relationships, and media portrayals of sexuality.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
C. Flanders
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110TC Why Are We Divided: Inequality, Politics, and Populism

Fall. Credits: 4

This course explores the intersection of inequality and politics in the United States. We begin the course with an examination of racial, gender, and class inequalities in the U.S. The next section of the class considers the ways in which these inequalities both reflect and influence political divisions in the U.S. today. We end the course with an analysis of populism. While focusing primarily on the Trump campaign and presidency, we will also examine populist movements throughout the globe.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
K. Tucker
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110TG Transgressive Music

Fall. Credits: 4

The seminar will introduce and discuss various musical works and genres that fall under rock critic Ann Powers' definitions of 'Violator Art,' exploring them within the context of their wanton and disturbing appeal, as well as their often scandalous social impact. Topics will include the Second Viennese School, free jazz, protest music, punk rock, hip-hop, works such as J. S. Bach's 'Cantata No. 179,' Strauss's 'Salome,' Stravinsky's 'Le Sacre du printemps,' Billie Holiday's 'Strange Fruit,' George Crumb's 'Black Angels,' and artists such as Laurie Anderson, the Sex Pistols, Missy Elliot, and Nirvana.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
D. Sanford
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.
Notes: Students should be prepared for mature themes and some coarse language.

FYSEM-110TS Translate This Page

Fall. Credits: 4

Smartphones -- that superpower in our back pockets -- allow us to talk with someone in many languages we don't know, to read unfamiliar character sets and to translate pages from other highly resourced languages. In this seminar, we will explore the implications of the communication revolution powered by artificial intelligence translation tools. How, in the face of digital disparities, should a commitment to language justice shape our use of these technologies? How does Mount Holyoke's mission of "purposeful engagement in the world" depend on the work of translation on campus and globally? We will discuss the translations we do and live regularly in our scholarly, professional and everyday activities. We will explore translation studies scholarship and reflect on our own linguistic and translation experiences through individual, artisanal translation projects.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
C. Shread
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110UA Adolescence in the U.S. Today

Fall. Credits: 4

What does it mean to be an adolescent? Popular culture has a lot to say about this life stage, not all of it rooted in evidence. In this course, we will examine the range of adolescent experiences in the United States and critically question common assumptions. We will consider how social context and relationships influence youth as they navigate school, college and career expectations, extracurricular activities, and social media. Our interdisciplinary approach will draw on readings from psychology, sociology, history, education as well as media resources.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
K. O'Carroll
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110UF The Agency of Things: Reflections on Stuff and Material Culture

Fall. Credits: 4

What is a thing? What is stuff? Water bottles, trash, smartphones, photos, dirt, a broken printer, your favorite socks... Where do they come from and where are they going? In this course we'll gain an understanding of the political, historical, philosophical, ecological, and affective agency of objects and non-human things. We will study how artists, writers, collectors, environmentalists, and migrants engage with the stuff around us. Our study will be enlightened by several excursions to see collections of non-human things, such as the MHC Skinner Museum and the Botanic Gardens. Students will also have a chance to decipher the meaning and global trajectories of their own stuff, in addition to making things in Mount Holyoke's Fimbel Maker & Innovation Lab.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
M. Saltzman
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110UN Underworlds (and Otherworlds)

Not Scheduled for This Year. Credits: 4

Associated with darkness, disorder, and death, the underworld can seem like a realm of punishment. But beneath its darkness, literary underworlds are sites for a character's evolution. This term, we'll see how narratives variously adapt the underworld topos. Underworlds and otherworlds connote supernatural encounters and obstacles, but they also represent realms of heightened rationalism or optimistic possibility. We'll ask what happens in a hero's passage through an underworld or otherworld that cannot happen anywhere else? How do underworlds expose challenging historical, social, psychological, and philosophical problems? And what happens when the underworld is not an exterior locus but an interior condition? Our principal method of analysis will be the close reading of texts and film.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Speaking-Intensive, Writing-Intensive
W. Yu
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110UW Awakenings

Not Scheduled for This Year. Credits: 4

An exploration of writing, primarily fiction, by U.S. women from around 1900 to now, focusing on the theme of awakenings. We will examine how women writers represent political awakenings, transformations of physical embodiment and psychological consciousness, and discoveries of new literary forms. We will read a diverse group of writers and and foreground interpretive frameworks of race, gender, and sexuality. Authors may include Bechdel, Chang, Chopin, Cisneros, Davis, Dunbar-Nelson, Egan, Far, Gilman, Hurston, Larsen, McCullers, Morrison, Stein, Truong, Wharton, and Yamamoto.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
E. Young
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110VT Jack the Ripper and the Making of Late-Victorian London

Fall. Credits: 4

In the summer and fall of 1888, a series of gruesome murders captured the attention of Londoners and brought questions of class, gender, race and social-economic change to the forefront of public debate. Though the culprit was never identified, Jack the Ripper became synonymous with the perceived dangers of late-Victorian London. Using newspapers, periodicals, police archives, and other sources from the period, this course will set students on an historical investigation of the "Whitechapel Murders," seeking to understand the event, its historical context, and the way historians have interpreted its meaning.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Speaking-Intensive, Writing-Intensive
D. Fitz-Gibbon
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110WK Women and Work in the Global Economy

Fall. Credits: 4

The reorganization of production across national borders has transformed labor markets around the world, with profound effects on workers' lives. What role have social constructions of gender played in shaping employment outcomes in different countries? What has been the impact of these employment dynamics on gender relations? This course will engage with these questions by examining the impact of labor market transformations on women's work in the global economy. Students will learn to engage critically with multiple perspectives and to formulate and articulate their own arguments in writing.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
L. Pickbourn-Smith
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110WR The West and the Rest: Muslims in Post-9/11 Europe and the U.S.

Fall. Credits: 4

This course traces the administrative and popular categorizations of Muslim populations in Europe and the United States following the events of September 11, 2001. The course examines the mechanisms through which Muslims are designated as a coherent, timeless category associated with backwardness, violence, and an urgent threat. By the end of the semester, the students will gain a critical, comparative perspective to identify and analyze some common mechanisms such as racialization, securitization, and gendering, as well as practices of border-making and border-crossing that travel across time and space to define certain groups as "dangerous others."

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
E. Babül
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.

FYSEM-110XT 1619: U.S. Slavery and Its Legacy

Not Scheduled for This Year. Credits: 4

This seminar will examine The New York Times' 1619 Project -- an examination of slavery in the historical and ongoing political and social development of the United States -- from many sides. Beginning our approach of this work as a body of scholarly and popular writing, we will critically scrutinize how these arguments are presented and why they do or do not work in their current forms, questions that will include the criticism of the series voiced by professional historians. The seminar is geared for students not only interested in learning about how slavery has shaped diverse aspects of American life, such as its arts, music, economics and politics, but also how authors, write and make arguments for the reading public.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Other Attribute(s): Writing-Intensive
A. Aslam
Restrictions: Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.