“Everything
I do is about getting students to think deeper, to think more, to engage, to
imagine.”
Austin Sarat,
William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science |
Erôs and Insight
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
5 | An
Introduction to Amherst: First-Year Seminars
An Introduction to Amherst: First-Year Seminars
Amherst offers 20 First-Year Seminars to introduce students
to the discussion, writing and research that marks intellectual life at the college.
The following highlights a few of these exceptional courses, many of which employ
the interdisciplinary learning, team teaching and
creative classroom activities that are so effective in Erôs and Insight.
Secrets and Lies, taught by Austin Sarat, the William Nelson
Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science, investigates how the
practices of politics are informed by the keeping and telling of secrets and
the telling and exposing of lies. Students consider whether there is
and should be a distinctive morality to political life and are brought face to
face with some of the most pressing issues
of contemporary politics. Sarat uses Socratic teaching techniques, role-playing
and spirited debate to help students connect topical issues with enduring philosophical
and moral concerns. “Everything I do,” he says, “is about getting
students to think deeper, to think more, to engage, to imagine.”
Science
and Gender, taught by Rose Olver, the L. Stanton Williams ’41 Professor
of Psychology and Women’s and Gender
Studies, and Catherine McGeoch, professor of computer science, explores scientific
theories of gender using materials drawn from biology, psychology and genetics.
Students consider issues of gender identity, sexual orientation, parenting, friendship,
moral development and gender in cyberspace. “The most important lesson
from the course,” Olver says, “is not to rely on our assumptions
about the‘naturalness’ of gender differences, or even about the objectivity
of science. Students are expected to read critically and dispute intelligently.” The
course has a collaborative developmental history that includes Sarah Turgeon,
assistant professor of psychology, and Caroline Goutte, assistant professor of
biology. Turgeon had the original idea for the course: she and Olver taught its
first version in 2001. Goutte and Olver taught a revision in 2002, and McGeoch
and Olver again revised the program for 2003. The course, according to Olver, “has
been a work in progress—growing richer with each additional disciplinary
perspective.”
The Arts of Spain, from the Siglo de Oro
to Saura brings together
the study of visual arts, poetry, music, dance and religious rituals. Taught
by Natasha Staller, chair and associate professor of fine arts, the course investigates
Spain’s
rich cultural diversity and addresses important issues of
regionalism, literary legacies (La Celestina), anthropology (machísmo)
and Spanish history. Students encounter great Spanish artists through readings,
discussions, field trips, viewings of films and guest lectures (the Samuel Williston
Professor of Greek and Hebrew, Robert Doran, presented mystical traditions, and
the Peter R. Pouncey Professor of Music, Lewis Spratlan, and Professor
of Spanish James Maraniss discussed their Pulitzer Prize-winning opera based
on Calderón de la Barca). “By writing multiple drafts,” Staller
reports, “students learn to think more rigorously. By working closely with
original
objects (including rare Goyas pulled specially for the class at the Boston Museum
of Fine Arts), they learn to see more acutely. By analyzing unpublished archival
materials, they’re introduced to the joy and excitement of scholarly discovery.”
The
Japanese Aesthetic: From Samurai to Sony, is taught by Professor of Fine Arts
Samuel Morse and Assistant Professor of Asian Languages and Civilizations Patrick
Caddeau. This course explores the intricacies of traditional Japanese culture
(and its influence on the West), along with contemporary Japanese literature
and art. Morse and Caddeau bring in guest lecturers, arrange field trips, show
films and assign small-group presentations. These techniques, according to Morse, “demonstrate
the value of dialogue and collaboration.” Caddeau says they also “help
students learn to productively engage with something unknown.” For both
professors, the opportunity to team-teach is inspiring and intellectually refreshing—an
approach that clearly benefits the students. “We have students from two
and three years ago,” Morse reports with a smile, “who still come
back to talk about the class.”
See the complete list of first-year
seminars offered during 2003-2004.
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