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Regulations & Requirements

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Five College Programs & Certificates

Five College Programs & Certificates

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FIVE COLLEGE FACULTY COURSE OFFERINGS

        

FIVE COLLEGE FACULTY COURSE OFFERINGS

 

Languages through the Five College Center for the Study of World Languages

 

The Five College Center for the Study of World Languages offers courses in less-commonly taught languages not available through regular Five College classroom courses. The Center also offers courses in Spoken Arabic, dialects for students who have learned Modern Standard Arabic in the classroom. The Center encourages students to embark on language study during their first year of college so that they can achieve the fluency needed to use the language for work in their major field.

Each language offered by the Center is available in one of three course formats depending upon the resources available for that language. Mentored courses provide the highest level of structured support for learning and cover all four primary language skills (speaking, listening, reading, and writing). Independent Plus courses focus on speaking and listening skills, plus the development of basic literacy in the language. Supervised Independent courses focus only on oral skills and rely on more independently organized learning than the other course formats.

All courses emphasize development of oral proficiency through weekly conversation practice sessions. Conversation sessions focus on using the language in the types of situations one might encounter in everyday life. Students commonly engage in role plays, question and answer activities, description, narration, and problem-solving exercises. More advanced students practice expressing opinions, giving reasons in arguments, and discussing current events and cultural issues.

Students in Mentored courses also have one-on-one tutorials with a professional language mentor trained in language pedagogy. The individual sessions allow each student to get help with his/her particular questions and concerns. The language mentor goes over written homework, explains grammatical concepts, and engages the student in skill-building activities. Language mentors also work with students who are already fluent speakers of a language but who need to learn to read and write in the language.

Students in Independent Plus courses have a modified version of the weekly individual tutorial that involves a one-on-one meeting with a peer-tutor who is a well-educated native speaker of the language. Peer-tutors help students identify and self-correct errors in speech and written homework and facilitate activities that practice basic literacy and communication in the language.

Supervised Independent courses offer students with excellent language skills an opportunity to study a variety of less commonly taught languages independently.  Students approved for Supervised Independent language study are highly motivated, have a record of past success in language learning, and demonstrate readiness to undertake independent work. Courses emphasize development of oral skills.

A standard course through the Center is a half course. Half courses require one hour a day (seven hours per week) of individual study plus weekly conversation and/or tutorial sessions. It takes four half courses (levels I, II, III, and IV) to complete the equivalent of one year of study in a traditional elementary-level classroom course. Some languages offered in the Mentored format are also available as full courses allowing students to progress at the same rate as in traditional classroom courses.  Full courses require two hours per day (14 hours per week) of individual study plus conversation and tutorial sessions.  

Students interested in studying a language through the Center should read the informational websites thoroughly and follow the application instructions. While the application process is handled by the Five College Center for the Study of World Languages, the tutorial and conversation sessions are held on all five campuses.

            For program information and application forms, go to http://fivecolleges.edu/fclang

For language resources produced by the Center, see http://langmedia.fivecolleges.edu

Language offerings change depending upon available resources. Please see the Center’s website for current information or contact the Center to find out about a language not listed here.

 

Currently Offered in Mentored Format: Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian, Hindi, Persian, Swahili, Turkish

 

Currently Offered in Independent Plus Format: Indonesian, Urdu.

 

Currently Offered in Supervised Independent Format:

African Languages: Afrikaans, Amharic, Shona, Twi, Wolof, Zulu.     

 

European Languages:  Albanian, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Georgian, Modern Greek, Hungarian, Icelandic, Modern Irish, Norwegian, Romanian, Ukrainian.

 

Asian Languages: Bangla/Bengali, Burmese, Dari, Filipino, Khmer, Malay, Mongolian, Nepali, Pashto, Sinhala, Thai, Tibetan, Vietnamese.

 

Languages of the Americas: Haitian Creole.

 

Spoken Arabic Courses in Mentored or Supervised Independent Format:Egyptian Arabic, Levantine Arabic, Moroccan Arabic, and other dialects.

 

 

African Studies

 Kim Yi Dionne, Assistant Professor of Government (at Smith College in the Five College Program).

 Politics 249.  African Politics.  This course covers African politics from the pre-colonial period to the contemporary era, examining local experiences of democracy, governance, and economic development in light of varied colonial experiences, independent movements, international political economy, and informal sources of political power.  Students will read closely historical, theoretical, and creative texts on African politics, and consult contemporary media coverage of Africa. 

Fall semester.  Mount Holyoke College.

Government 234. Colloquium: Comparative Responses to AIDS in Africa. Before AIDS became the international priority it is today, local communities and national governments experiencing the AIDS pandemic firsthand responded in diverse ways.  Why have some states been more active than others in responding to AIDS?  What has been tried in the fight against AIDS in Africa, and more importantly, what, if anything, is working?  What conditions are necessary for success?  In this course, we aim to learn about politics and policy in resource-constrained settings using the case study of responses to AIDS in Africa.  We start with learning the epidemiology of HIV/AIDS and the experience of AIDS in Africa.  We then explore the responses to AIDS by national and international actors.  The remainder of the course focuses on the interventions against HIV and AIDS, concluding with a close look at the local realities of the global intervention against AIDS.  

Limited to 20 students.  Spring semester.  Smith College.

Government 325. Seminar in Comparative Government: Same-Sex Politics in Africa. This seminar will explore same-sex politics in Africa. Drawing on recently published scholarship, we will discuss morality politics, social justice, transnational social movements, and political homophobia. We will also explore policy documents, public opinion data, and media coverage (both international and local). Students will write original case studies about the situation for same-sex practicing people in an African country of their choice. Some of the questions we will ask include: What makes some countries particularly active in legislating for further criminalization of same-sex acts? In what contexts do same-sex practicing peoples face greater violence? Under what conditions have local human rights organizations been successful in improving conditions for sexual minorities? 
            Spring semester.  Smith College.

 

Arabic

 

OLLA AL-SHALCHI, Five College Lecturer in Arabic.

 

Arabic 201. Second-Year Arabic I.  See ARAB 201.

Requisite:  ARAB 102 or the equivalent.  Fall semester.  Amherst College.

 

Arabic 200. Intermediate Arabic I.  According to the ACTFL standards, by the end of this course, students will be at the Intermediate Low-Mid proficiency level. It covers the four skills of the language. Writers at the Intermediate level are characterized by the ability to meet practical writing needs, such as simple messages and letters, requests for information, and notes. In addition, they can ask and respond to simple questions in writing. At the Intermediate level, listeners can understand information conveyed in simple, sentence-length speech on familiar or everyday topics while readers at the same level can understand information conveyed in simple, predictable, loosely connected texts. Readers rely heavily on contextual clues. They can most easily understand information if the format of the text is familiar, such as in a weather report or a social announcement. Speakers at the Intermediate level are distinguished primarily by their ability to create with the language when talking about familiar topics related to their daily life. They are able to recombine learned material in order to express personal meaning.

Students should expect text assignments as well as work with DVDs, audio and websites of Al-Kitaab series. Exercises include writing, social interactions, role plays, and the interplay of language and culture.

Requisite:  ARA 100Y or the equivalent.  Fall semester.  Smith College.

 

Arabic 202.  Second-Year Arabic II. This is a continuation of Second-Year Arabic I. See ARAB 202.

            Requisite: ARAB 201 or equivalent, or instructor’s permission.  Spring semester.  Amherst College.

 

Arabic 201. Intermediate Arabic II. This is a continuation of Second-Year Arabic I. Students will continue the study of the Al-Kitaab II book sequence along with additional instructional materials. In this course, students will continue perfecting knowledge of Arabic integrating the four skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing using a communicative-oriented, proficiency-based approach. By the end of this semester, students should have sufficient comprehension in Arabic to understand most routine social demands and most non-technical real-life conversations as well as some discussions on concrete topics related to particular interests and special fields of competence in a general professional proficiency level. Students will have broad enough vocabulary that will enable them to read within a normal range of speed with almost complete comprehension a variety of authentic prose material and be able to write about similar topics. Also by the end of this semester, students should have a wide range of communicative language ability including grammatical knowledge, discourse knowledge and sociolinguistic knowledge of the Arabic language. Students should expect text assignments as well as work with DVDs, audio and video materials and websites. Exercises and activities include essay writing, social interactions, role plays and in-class conversations, oral and video presentations that cover the interplay of language and culture, extra-curricular activities and a final project.

            Requisite: Arabic 201 or equivalent, or instructor’s permission.  Spring semester.  Smith College.

 

Arabic 301.  Advanced Arabic II. This course aims to help students reach Advanced proficiency in Arabic through language study and content work focused on Arabic themes in literature, history, film, and current events. Students continue to focus on developing truly active control of a large vocabulary through communicative activities. Grammatical work focuses on complex grammatical constructions and demands increased accuracy in understanding and producing complex structures in extended discourse. Preparation for class and active, cooperative participation in group activities are essential to students’ progress in this course. Requirements also include active participation in class, weekly essays, occasional exams and presentations and a final written exam. This course utilizes Al-Kitaab, Book 3, in addition to extra instructional materials. 

Requisite: ARA 301, or the equivalent.  Students must be able to use Formal Spoken Arabic as the medium of communication in the classroom.  Spring semester.  Smith College.

 

 

HEBA ARAFAH, Five College Lecturer in Arabic.

 

Asian 130f.  First-Year Arabic I.  This course introduces the basics of Modern Standard Arabic in addition to brief exposures to one of the Arabic dialects. It is aligned with the American Council on Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) proficiency guidelines. Following ACTFL proficiency standards, students should be at the Novice Mid-High level by the end of this course. The course begins with a focus on reading, pronouncing and recognizing Arabic sounds and progresses quickly toward developing beginner reading, writing, speaking and listening proficiency as well as cultural competence. It covers vocabulary for everyday use, and essential communicative skills relating to real-life and task-oriented situations (queries about personal well-being, family, work, and telling the time). Students will acquire vocabulary and usage for everyday interactions as well as skills that will allow them to read and analyze a range of texts at the Novice level. In addition to the traditional textbook exercises from Al-Kitaab series, students will write short paragraphs and participate in role plays, presentations and conversations throughout the year.

            Fall semester.  Mount Holyoke College.

 

Asian 232f. Second-Year Arabic I.  According to the ACTFL standards, by the end of this course, students will be at the Intermediate Low-Mid proficiency level. It covers the four skills of the language. Writers at the Intermediate level are characterized by the ability to meet practical writing needs, such as simple messages and letters, requests for information, and notes. In addition, they can ask and respond to simple questions in writing. At the Intermediate level, listeners can understand information conveyed in simple, sentence-length speech on familiar or everyday topics while readers at the same level can understand information conveyed in simple, predictable, loosely connected texts. Readers rely heavily on contextual clues. They can most easily understand information if the format of the text is familiar, such as in a weather report or a social announcement. Speakers at the Intermediate level are distinguished primarily by their ability to create with the language when talking about familiar topics related to their daily life. They are able to recombine learned material in order to express personal meaning.

Students should expect text assignments as well as work with DVDs, audio and websites of Al-Kitaab series. Exercises include writing, social interactions, role plays, and the interplay of language and culture.  

Requisite:  Asian 131 or the equivalent.  Fall semester.  Mount Holyoke College.

 

Arabic 301. Third-Year Arabic I. The goal of this course is to help students achieve an Upper-Intermediate level of proficiency in Modern Standard Arabic with an exposure to one Arabic colloquial variety using the four-skills (reading, writing, speaking, listening) approach.  Students will read within a normal range of speed, listen to, discuss and respond in writing to authentic texts by writers from across the Arab world.  Text types address a range of political, social, religious, and literary themes and represent a range of genres, styles, and periods.  All of these texts may include narration indifferent time frames, description, hypothesis, argumentation and supported opinions that will cover both linguistic and cultural knowledge. This continues Al-Kitaab series, in addition to extra instructional materials. 

Requisite: ARA 202, or its equivalent.  Students must be able to use Formal Spoken Arabic as the medium of communication in the classroom.  Fall semester.  University of Massachusetts.

 

Asian 131s.  First-Year Arabic II.  This is a continuation of First-Year Arabic I. Students will complete the study of the Elementary Arabic Al-Kitaab book series along with additional instructional materials. Emphasis will be on the integrated development of all language skills – reading, writing, listening and speaking – using a communicative-oriented, proficiency-based approach. By the end of this semester, students will acquire vocabulary, grammatical knowledge, and language skills necessary for everyday interactions as well as skills that will allow them to communicate with a limited working proficiency in a variety of situations, read and write about a variety of factual material and familiar topics in non-technical prose. In addition to the textbook exercises, students will write short essays, do oral and video presentations and participate in role plays, discussions, and conversations throughout the semester in addition to extra-curricular activities and a final project.

            Requisite: Asian 130 or equivalent.  Spring semester.  Mount Holyoke College.

 

Asian 233s.  Second-Year Arabic II. This is a continuation of Second-Year Arabic I. Students will continue the study of the Al-Kitaab II book sequence along with additional instructional materials. In this course, students will continue perfecting knowledge of Arabic integrating the four skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing using a communicative-oriented, proficiency-based approach. By the end of this semester, students should have sufficient comprehension in Arabic to understand most routine social demands and most non-technical real-life conversations as well as some discussions on concrete topics related to particular interests and special fields of competence in a general professional proficiency level. Students will have broad enough vocabulary that will enable them to read within a normal range of speed with almost complete comprehension a variety of authentic prose material and be able to write about similar topics. Also by the end of this semester, students should have a wide range of communicative language ability including grammatical knowledge, discourse knowledge and sociolinguistic knowledge of the Arabic language. Students should expect text assignments as well as work with DVDs, audio and video materials and websites. Exercises and activities include essay writing, social interactions, role plays and in-class conversations, oral and video presentations that cover the interplay of language and culture, extra-curricular activities and a final project.

            Requisite: Asian 232 or equivalent, or instructor’s permission.  Spring semester.  Mount Holyoke College.

 

MOHAMED HASSAN, Senior Lecturer in Arabic and Director of the Five College Arabic Language Program.

 

Arabic 101. First-Year Arabic I.  See ARAB 101.  

            Fall semester.  Amherst College.

 

Arabic 401.  Media Arabic. Media Arabic is an advanced language course at the 400 level. See ARAB 401.

Requisite: ARAB 302 or equivalent.  Limited to 18 students. Fall semester.  Amherst College.

 

Arabic 102.  First-Year Arabic II.  See ARAB 102. 

            Requisites: ARAB 101 or equivalent.  Spring semester.  Amherst College.

 

Arabic 402.  Topics in Arabic Language and Culture.  See ARAB 402. 

            Requisite: ARAB 302 or equivalent.  Limited to 18 students.  Spring semester.  Amherst College.

 

 

NAHLA KHALIL, Five College Lecturer in Arabic.

 

Arabic 101.  Elementary Four-Skilled Arabic I. This course introduces the basics of Modern Standard Arabic in addition to brief exposures to one of the Arabic dialects. It is aligned with the American Council on Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) proficiency guidelines. Following ACTFL proficiency standards, students should be at the Novice Mid-High level by the end of this course. The course begins with a focus on reading, pronouncing and recognizing Arabic sounds and progresses quickly toward developing beginner reading, writing, speaking and listening proficiency as well as cultural competence. It covers vocabulary for everyday use, and essential communicative skills relating to real-life and task-oriented situations (queries about personal well-being, family, work, and telling the time). Students will acquire vocabulary and usage for everyday interactions as well as skills that will allow them to read and analyze a range of texts at the Novice level. In addition to the traditional textbook exercises from Al-Kitaab series, students will write short paragraphs and participate in role plays, presentations and conversations throughout the year.

            Fall semester.  University of Massachusetts.

 

Arabic 201.  Intermediate Four-Skilled Arabic I. According to the ACTFL standards, by the end of this course, students will be at the Intermediate Low-Mid proficiency level. It covers the four skills of the language. Writers at the Intermediate level are characterized by the ability to meet practical writing needs, such as simple messages and letters, requests for information, and notes. In addition, they can ask and respond to simple questions in writing. At the Intermediate level, listeners can understand information conveyed in simple, sentence-length speech on familiar or everyday topics while readers at the same level can understand information conveyed in simple, predictable, loosely connected texts. Readers rely heavily on contextual clues. They can most easily understand information if the format of the text is familiar, such as in a weather report or a social announcement. Speakers at the Intermediate level are distinguished primarily by their ability to create with the language when talking about familiar topics related to their daily life. They are able to recombine learned material in order to express personal meaning.

Students should expect text assignments as well as work with DVDs, audio and websites of Al-Kitaab series. Exercises include writing, social interactions, role plays, and the interplay of language and culture.

Requisite: ARA 102 or the equivalent.  Fall semester.  University of Massachusetts.

 

Arabic 102. Elementary Four-Skilled Arabic II. This is a continuation of First-Year Arabic I. Students will complete the study of the Elementary Arabic Al-Kitaab book series along with additional instructional materials. Emphasis will be on the integrated development of all language skills – reading, writing, listening and speaking – using a communicative-oriented, proficiency-based approach. By the end of this semester, students will acquire vocabulary, grammatical knowledge, and language skills necessary for everyday interactions as well as skills that will allow them to communicate with a limited working proficiency in a variety of situations, read and write about a variety of factual material and familiar topics in non-technical prose. In addition to the textbook exercises, students will write short essays, do oral and video presentations and participate in role plays, discussions, and conversations throughout the semester in addition to extra-curricular activities and a final project.

            Requisite: Arabic 101 or equivalent.  Spring semester.  University of Massachusetts.

 

Arabic 202. Intermediate Four-Skilled Arabic II. This is a continuation of Second-Year Arabic I. Students will continue the study of the Al-Kitaab II book sequence along with additional instructional materials. In this course, students will continue perfecting knowledge of Arabic integrating the four skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing using a communicative-oriented, proficiency-based approach. By the end of this semester, students should have sufficient comprehension in Arabic to understand most routine social demands and most non-technical real-life conversations as well as some discussions on concrete topics related to particular interests and special fields of competence in a general professional proficiency level. Students will have broad enough vocabulary that will enable them to read within a normal range of speed with almost complete comprehension a variety of authentic prose material and be able to write about similar topics. Also by the end of this semester, students should have a wide range of communicative language ability including grammatical knowledge, discourse knowledge and sociolinguistic knowledge of the Arabic language. Students should expect text assignments as well as work with DVDs, audio and video materials and websites. Exercises and active     ties include essay writing, social interactions, role plays and in-class conversations, oral and video presentations that cover the interplay of language and culture, extra-curricular activities and a final project.

            Requisite: Arabic 201 or equivalent, or instructor’s permission.  Spring semester. University of Massachusetts.

 

BRAHIM OULBEID, Visiting Five College Lecturer in Arabic.

LS 110.  Elementary Arabic II. This is a continuation of First-Year Arabic I. Students will complete the study of the Elementary Arabic Al-Kitaab book series along with additional instructional materials. Emphasis will be on the integrated development of all language skills – reading, writing, listening and speaking – using a communicative-oriented, proficiency-based approach. By the end of this semester, students will acquire vocabulary, grammatical knowledge, and language skills necessary for everyday interactions as well as skills that will allow them to communicate with a limited working proficiency in a variety of situations, read and write about a variety of factual material and familiar topics in non-technical prose. In addition to the textbook exercises, students will write short essays, do oral and video presentations and participate in role plays, discussions, and conversations throughout the semester in addition to extra-curricular activities and a final project.

Requisite: Arabic 101 or equivalent.  Spring semester.  Hampshire College.

 

JOHN WEINERT, Five College Lecturer in Arabic.

 

LS 110.  Elementary Arabic I. This course introduces the basics of Modern Standard Arabic in addition to brief exposures to one of the Arabic dialects. It is aligned with the American Council on Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) proficiency guidelines. Following ACTFL proficiency standards, students should be at the Novice Mid-High level by the end of this course. The course begins with a focus on reading, pronouncing and recognizing Arabic sounds and progresses quickly toward developing beginner reading, writing, speaking and listening proficiency as well as cultural competence. It covers vocabulary for everyday use, and essential communicative skills relating to real-life and task-oriented situations (queries about personal well-being, family, work, and telling the time). Students will acquire vocabulary and usage for everyday interactions as well as skills that will allow them to read and analyze a range of texts at the Novice level. In addition to the traditional textbook exercises from Al-Kitaab series, students will write short paragraphs and participate in role plays, presentations and conversations throughout the year.

            Fall semester.  Hampshire College.

 

Arabic 100Y. Elementary Arabic I. This course introduces the basics of Modern Standard Arabic in addition to brief exposures to one of the Arabic dialects. It is aligned with the American Council on Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) proficiency guidelines. Following ACTFL proficiency standards, students should be at the Novice Mid-High level by the end of this course. The course begins with a focus on reading, pronouncing and recognizing Arabic sounds and progresses quickly toward developing beginner reading, writing, speaking and listening proficiency as well as cultural competence. It covers vocabulary for everyday use, and essential communicative skills relating to real-life and task-oriented situations (queries about personal well-being, family, work, and telling the time). Students will acquire vocabulary and usage for everyday interactions as well as skills that will allow them to read and analyze a range of texts at the Novice level. In addition to the traditional textbook exercises from Al-Kitaab series, students will write short paragraphs and participate in role plays, presentations and conversations throughout the year.

            Fall semester.  Smith College.

 

Arabic 300.  Advanced Arabic I. The goal of this course is to help students achieve an Upper-Intermediate level of proficiency in Modern Standard Arabic with an exposure to one Arabic colloquial variety using the four-skills (reading, writing, speaking, listening) approach.  Students will read within a normal range of speed, listen to, discuss and respond in writing to authentic texts by writers from across the Arab world.  Text types address a range of political, social, religious, and literary themes and represent a range of genres, styles, and periods.  All of these texts may include narration indifferent time frames, description, hypothesis, argumentation and supported opinions that will cover both linguistic and cultural knowledge. This continues Al-Kitaab series, in addition to extra instructional materials. 

Requisite: ARA 202, or its equivalent.  Students must be able to use Formal Spoken Arabic as the medium of communication in the classroom.  Fall semester.  Smith College.

Arabic 100Y.  Elementary Arabic II. This is a continuation of First-Year Arabic I. Students will complete the study of the Elementary Arabic Al-Kitaab book series along with additional instructional materials. Emphasis will be on the integrated development of all language skills – reading, writing, listening and speaking – using a communicative-oriented, proficiency-based approach. By the end of this semester, students will acquire vocabulary, grammatical knowledge, and language skills necessary for everyday interactions as well as skills that will allow them to communicate with a limited working proficiency in a variety of situations, read and write about a variety of factual material and familiar topics in non-technical prose. In addition to the textbook exercises, students will write short essays, do oral and video presentations and participate in role plays, discussions, and conversations throughout the semester in addition to extra-curricular activities and a final project.

            Requisite: Arabic 101 or equivalent.  Spring semester.  Smith College.

 

Arabic 301. Advanced Arabic II. This course aims to help students reach Advanced proficiency in Arabic through language study and content work focused on Arabic themes in Literature, history, film, and current events. Students continue to focus on developing truly active control of a large vocabulary through communicative activities. Grammatical work focuses on complex grammatical constructions and demands increased accuracy in understanding and producing complex structures in extended discourse. Preparation for class and active, cooperative participation in group activities are essential to students’ progress in this course. Requirements also include active participation in class, weekly essays, occasional exams and presentations and a final written exam. This course utilizes Al-Kitaab, Book 3, in addition to extra instructional materials. 

Requisite: ARA 301, or the equivalent.  Students must be able to use Formal Spoken Arabic as the medium of communication in the classroom.  Spring semester.  Smith College.

 

 

Archaeology

 

ELIZABETH KLARICH, Assistant Professor of Anthropology (at Smith College in the Five College Program).

 

Anthropology 216 CA. Arts and Artifacts of the Ancient Americas. Early European explorers, modern travelers, collectors, curators, and archaeologists have contributed to the development of ancient Latin American collections in museums across the globe. This course traces the history of these collecting practices and uses recent case studies to demonstrate how museums negotiate—successfully and unsuccessfully—the competing interests of scholars, donors, local communities, and international law. Students will learn how archaeologists study a variety of artifact types within museum collections and will have the opportunity to conduct independent research projects using pre-Columbian pottery collections from the Mount Holyoke Art Museum.

Requisite: One course in archaeology, anthropology, history of Latin America, museum studies, or art history.  Not open to first-year students.  Fall semester.  Mount Holyoke College.

Anthropology 135/Archaeology 135.   Introduction to Archaeology. This course studies past cultures and societies through their material remains, and explores how archaeologists use different field methods, analytical technique, and theoretical approaches to investigate, reconstruct and learn from the past. Data from settlement surveys, site excavations and artifact analysis are used to address economic, social, political and ideological questions across time and space. This course is taught from an anthropological perspective, exploring key transitions in human prehistory, including the origins of food production, social inequality, and state-level societies across the globe. Relevance of archaeological practice in modern political, economic, and social contexts is explored.

Open to first-year students and sophomores.  Limited to 30 students.  Fall semester. Smith College.

 

Anthropology 224. Archaeological Method, Theory and Practice.  See ANTH 224. 

            Spring semester.  Amherst College.

 

Anthropology 347. Seminar: Topics in Archaeology. Topic: Prehistory of Food. This course explores how and why humans across the globe began to domesticate plant and animal resources approximately 10,000 years ago. The first half of the course presents the types of archaeological data and analytical methods used to study the "agricultural revolution." The second half examines case studies from the major centers of domestication in order to investigate the biological, economic and social implications of these processes. Special emphasis will be placed on exploring the relationship between agriculture and sedentism, food and gender, the politics of feasting, and methods for integrating archaeological and ethnographic approaches to the study of food.

  

            Spring semester.  Smith College.

 

 

Anthropology

 

FELICITY AULINO, Assistant Professor of Anthropology (at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the Five College program).

 

Natural Science 242. Case Studies in Global Health. This class is designed to provide an introduction to the field of global health. We will first acquire some historical and analytical tools, including a familiarity with a set of social theories, which will help us identify relevant issues and understand the complexity of situations we will examine over the course of the semester. We will then delve into particular case studies from around the world, using a biosocial approach that draws on a range of disciplines (including anthropology, clinical medicine, history, public health, economics, and delivery science) to understand global health problems and to design intervention strategies. With attention to historical precedent and a critical sociology of knowledge, we will explore how global health problems are defined and constructed, and how global health interventions play out in expected and unexpected ways.
            Fall semester.  Hampshire College.

 

Anthropology 397CS. Case Studies in Global Health.

            Fall semester. University of Massachusetts.

 

 

Architectural Studies

 

GABRIEL ARBOLEDA, Assistant Professor of Environmental Design (at Hampshire [home campus] and Amherst colleges in the Five College program).

 

ARCH 208. The Architecture of Traditional Societies.  See ARCH 208.

Limited to 22 students.  Fall semester.  Amherst College.

HACU 127T. The Language of Architecture. This introductory course focuses on the tools used to communicate and discuss ideas in architectural practice and theory. We study both the practical tools, from sketching to parallel drawing, to the theoretical ones, from the historical to the critical perspectives. Connecting both, we cover the formal analysis elements necessary to “read” and critique built works. Class activities include field trips, guest presentations, sketching and drawing, small design exercises, discussion of readings, and short written responses. Through these activities, at the end of the semester the student will understand in general terms what the dealings and challenges of architecture as a discipline are.
            Fall semester.  Hampshire College.

ARCH 104. Housing, Urbanization, and Development.  See ARCH 104.

Limited to 25 students.  Priority to majors, then sophomores.  Spring semester.  Amherst College.

 

HACU 259. Capstone Architectural Design Studio. This is an advanced architectural studio for DIV III and other students with a design background, this including familiarity with architectural representation and principles of architectural design. Throughout this course students develop individual design projects of their selection. Their work is assessed every week through desk reviews and pin-up critiques. A considerable amount of self-directed work outside of class hours is expected.

            Spring semester.  Hampshire College.

 

NAOMI DARLING, Assistant Professor of Sustainable Architecture (at Hampshire College in the Five College Program).

HACU 280. Green Cities. Green Cities refers to nature within the urban environment - the integration of designed natural environments, the preservation and interpretation of nature, and the celebration of nature in public art.   Surrounding green spaces within our cities is an infrastructure of community support, outreach, and political action that are necessary for their survival.  “Green” also refers to the sustainable processes of cities in our evolving built environments. It is important for the language of this course that we look at Green Cities through the lens of the creators: architects, landscape architects, planners, artists and performers.  Critical analysis is a first step to understanding, assessing and developing creative solutions.  The seminar is structured through international case studies, both historical and contemporary.  Each case study will be investigated through three primary ideas: 1. transformation and evolution of the space 2. Context – physical, ecological, social and political and 3. Design approach, strategy and process. 
            Fall semester. Hampshire College.

ARCH-DES 403. Design V Studio. Projects developed to explore the principles and process of architectural design and the development of structure and enclosure. Design projects, sketch problems. Satisfies the Integrative Experience requirement for BFA-Arch majors.
            Fall semester.  University of Massachusetts.

 

HACU 208. Introduction to Architectural Design.  This is the first studio for those students interested in the design fields: architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, and product design.  These fields all share a studio based approach to problem solving that is at once spatial, material, conceptual and social.  Over the course of the semester, students will be given a series of projects that will introduce visual communication tools such as plans, elevations, and sections, projected drawings and model making.  Emphasis will be placed upon developing a conceptual approach to a problem and developing a design process that may lead to unexpected outcomes.  The specific projects will address issues of the body, light, comfort and materials.  All projects will be presented in a studio critique format with drawings and models conveying the intent of the design project.   

            Spring semester.  Hampshire College.

 

Architectural Studies 225. Intermediate Architecture: Environmental Principles. This will be a hybrid studio course addressing environmental issues and energy use with a focus on human comfort with lectures and problem work sessions integrated as a component of several design projects over the course of the semester.  We will start the semester with an in depth study of the world’s climate regions and the factors responsible – the sun, and the earth’s tilt and spin.   Primary methods of heat transfer will be investigated and students will research 2 architectural solutions (vernacular and contemporary) within each climate.  Daylight, the sun’s movement, and sun-path diagrams will be used to analyze when sun will be available on a site and students will be asked to design, draw and build a functioning solar clock.  Issues in day-lighting and thermal comfort will then be the drivers for a more extended design problem that will occupy the studio for the majority of the semester.  This year, we will work in collaboration with Imagine 1 Day, to design preschools for children in Ethiopia.  (http://www.imagine1day.org/)  Students will be asked to present design solutions using both architectural drawings and physical models. 

Requisite: introduction to architecture design studio.  Spring semester.  Mount Holyoke College.

 

THOM LONG, Associate Professor of Architecture and Design (at Hampshire College in the Five College Program), is on leave in 2015-16.

 

 

Art and Technology

 

JOHN SLEPIAN, Associate Professor of Art and Technology (at Hampshire [home campus] and Smith Colleges in the Five College Program).

ARS 361. Interactive Digital Multimedia. This course emphasizes individual and collaborative projects in computer-based interactive multimedia production.  Participants will extend their individual experimentation with time-based processes and development of media production skills (3D animation, video, and audio production) – developed in the context of interactive multimedia production for performance, installation, CD-ROM, or Internet.  Critical examination and discussion of contemporary examples of new media art will augment this studio course.  A required fee of $25 to cover group supplied materials will be charged at the time of registration.

Requisite:  ARS 162 and permission of the instructor.  Limited to 14 students.  Spring semester.  Smith College.

 

Art History

 

LORNE FALK, Five College Visiting Associate Professor of Contemporary Art, Theory and Criticism.

 

HACU 120. The Anatomy of Pictures. Images dominate our imaginations with such intensity cultural theorists describe their affect in pathological terms: "the hypertrophy of visual stimulation" (Martin Jay), "a topographical amnesia" (Paul Virilio), "excremental culture" (Arthur and Mary Louise Kroker), "our narcotic modernity" (Avital Ronell). Visual culture is so influential we risk remaining "forever trapped inside the image" (Jacques Ranciere). To challenge these causes and effects, this course will build students' conceptual rigor and visual literacy by devoting most of the course time to group analysis and discussion of a strategic selection of images from photography, video, new media and other visual media. By focusing on one or two images per class, students will experience and learn how to go deep in all the ways that images can be unpacked. Selected readings will support this process by addressing some of the theoretical, social and cultural issues influencing the formation of visual culture in 2015.

Fall semester.  Hampshire College.

 

HACU 292.  The Bioapparatus. The bioapparatus is a term coined by two Canadian media artists, Nell Tenhaaf and Catherine Richards, to cover a wide range of issues concerning the technologized body. This course will explore the relationship of the mind and body to technology in contemporary art and culture. We will consider the resonance and currency of the bioapparatus in relation to the cyborg, the posthuman, bionics, and transgenics. We will discuss issues such as the nature of the apparatus, re-embodiment, designing the social, natural artifice, cyborg fictions, subjectivities, perfect bodies, virtual environments, the real interface, art machines and bioart. Division II and III students will have the opportunity to develop an independent paper or portion of their thesis in this course.

            Fall semester.  Hampshire College.

 

CSI 297.  Border Culture: Globalization and Contemporary Art. This course will look at globalization and contemporary art through the lens of border culture, a term that refers to the "deterritorialized" experience of people when they move or are displaced from their context or place of origin. Their experience of belonging and understanding of identity are affected by borders within the realms of language, gender, ideology, race, and genres of cultural production as well as geopolitical locations. Border culture emerged in the 1980s in Tijuana/San Diego in a community of artists who had spent many years living outside their homelands or living between two cultures—an experience that in 2015 might well represent the nature of contemporary life as well as art praxis. Readings will include the voices of artists, critics, historians, theorists, anthropologists, and philosophers.

Spring semester.  Hampshire College.

  

ARHA 277.  The Culture and Idea of Photography.  See ARHA 277 

Requisite: At least one other course in the arts and humanities or consent of the instructor.  Limited to 24 students.   Spring semester.  Amherst College.

 

 Asian/Pacific/American Studies

 

RICHARD CHU, Associate Professor of History (at the University of Massachusetts in the Five College Program).

 

FYSEM 110DC. Chinese Diasporic Communities. 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.

Limited to new first-year and transfer students/FPs entering as first-years.  Fall semester. Mount Holyoke College.

History 247. “Empire,” “Race,” and the Philippines: Indigenous Peoples vs. the Spanish, U.S., and Japanese Imperial Projects. Is the United States an “empire”? Today, US political, military, and economic involvement in many parts of the world like the Middle East makes this an urgent and important question.  This course addresses the issue of American imperial power by examining the history of U.S. colonization of the Philippines, during the first half of the twentieth-century, and by comparing it with that of two other imperial powers—Spain and Japan. Themes to be discussed include imperialism, colonialism, religion, ethnicity, gender, orientalism, nationalism, post-colonialism, neo-colonialism, crony capitalism, globalization, and militarism.

Fall semester.  University of Massachusetts.

 

 

Computer Science

DANIEL SHELDON, Assistant Professor of Computer Science (at the University of Massachusetts Amherst [home campus] and Mount Holyoke College in the Five College program).

 

Computer Science 103.  Networks.  How do opinions, fads, and political movements spread through society? What makes food webs and financial markets robust? What are the technological, political, and economic forces at play in online communities? This course examines connections between the social, technological, and natural worlds through the lens of networks. Students will learn basics of graph theory and game theory and apply them to build mathematical models of processes that take place in networks.

            Fall semester.  Mount Holyoke College.

 

Computer Science 312. Algorithms. How does Mapquest find the best route between two locations? How do computers help to decode the human genome? At the heart of these and other complex computer applications are nontrivial algorithms. While algorithms must be specialized to an application, there are some standard ways of approaching algorithmic problems that tend to be useful in many applications. Among other topics, we will explore graph algorithms, greedy algorithms, divide-and-conquer, dynamic programming, and network flow. We will learn to recognize when to apply each of these strategies as well as to evaluate the expected runtime costs of the algorithms we design.
            Spring semester.  Mount Holyoke College.

 

 

Dance

 

CONSTANCE VALIS HILL, Professor of Dance (at Hampshire College in the Five College Program).

Black Studies 243/Theater and Dance 226.  Black Protest Traditions. See BLST 243/THDA 226.  Fall semester.  Amherst College.

Dance 377.  Advanced Study in the History and Aesthetics of Dance. This course explores a specific idea, concept, period, person or event important in the history and/or aesthetics of dance. Topics vary depending on the instructor's research and expertise. This course looks at the vast and diverse cultural and aesthetic landscape of dance performance in the millennium and the new breed of choreographers making cutting-edge work that pursue radically different methods, materials and strategies for provoking new ideas about dance, body and the corporeal aesthetics. Taking in the vast spectrum of new-age performance (live and virtualized), we will ask such questions as: How does non-narrative dance focus on the body as an instrument with unlimited possibilities, without the impetus of stories, emotions, ideas, specific external images? How do heterosexuality and androgyny constitute a gender spectrum in new works? How do we watch and evaluate dances from culturally specific traditions? How, in improvisational performance, do we watch people moving with each other and in space when there is no clear beginning, middle, or end; and how is the viewer challenged to see the point of people balancing, lifting, falling, and rolling? How do community-based performances constitute a distinct socio-political theme in dance works? How do site-specific works illuminate the thematic content of a work and various spaces for the viewer?  How do choreographers utilize technology, text, sets, and lighting in developing multi-disciplinary performance art works?  How have millennial dance artists instigated new frames and viewing positions from which to understand how dance communicates?  In essence, we are looking at a fresh new group of self-and-socially conscious artists/activists who insist on speaking directly to their own generation.
            Fall semester.  Smith College.

 

HACU TBD. Yoga: Philosophy and Practice. This class intertwines the philosophy and practice of yoga, and takes the form of a traditional yoga class that consists of opening chanting, asana, conscious breathing, and meditation, with an opening Dharma talk focusing on yogic history and philosophy. We will learn a style of yoga based on the vinyasa krama teachings of Tirumalai Krishnamarycharya, the so-called father of modern yoga who is credited with the revival of hatha yoga and with being the architect of vinyasa yoga, conjoining breath and movement. Students will be introduced to the universal connection of the flow of prana (life-force) and to a holistic, energetic approach to vinyasa as more than a technique or style of yoga but a way of guiding the flow of our body, practice, and life. Major texts will include: The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (translated by Sri Swami Satchidananda); The Secret Power of Yoga, by Nischala Joy Devi; Bhagavad Gita (translated by Stephen Mitchell); and The Heart of Yoga, T.K. V. Desikachar.

            Spring semester.  Hampshire College.

HACU TBD. Stomping the Blues: Black Musical Traditions in American Concert Dance. Embellishing upon Ralph Ellison’s astute remark that much in American life is “jazz shaped,” this course examines the influence of black musical traditions on American dance concert dance. We will focus on the relationship between jazz music and dance, looking at how jazz rhythm, improvisation, call-and-response patterning and elements of swing altered the line, attack, speed, weight, and phrasing of contemporary dance forms. Learning how to listen to the music will be crucial to recognizing how jazz became the motive and method for shaping a distinctly black modernist aesthetic.  We will focus in large part on the jazzographies of Alvin Ailey and his contemporaries. Ailey collaborated with such various classically-trained jazz musicians as Charles Mingus, Max Roach, Dizzy Gillespie, Alice Coltrane, Mary Lou Williams, and Keith Jarrett, but the bulk of his so-called jazz works were created to the music by Duke Ellington. While we will survey dance works created by numerous choreographers to the music of the blues, swing, bebop, cool jazz, and hard bop, we will also look at vocal choreographies to rhythm and blues (Motown) as well as to hip hop and jukin’, whose roots lie in the jazz tradition. 
            Spring semester.  Hampshire College.

PAUL MATTESON, Assistant Professor of Theater and Dance (at Amherst [home campus] and Mount Holyoke colleges in the Five College program), is on leave in 2015-16.

 

 

English

 

SCOTT BRANSON, Five College Visiting Assistant Professor of English and Comparative Literature.

 

HACU 157.  Masculinity and the American Novel. The history of the novel in America has always been intertwined with the production of an image of the American man. From Hawthorne's attempt to best the "mobs of scribbling women" to the idealized loner cowboy, from the hard-boiled journalistic prose of Hemingway to the misogynist rantings of Roth, we might say that the epitome of the American self-made man is the novelistic protagonist. In this course, we will combine literary study and gender theory to begin to examine the myth of the American man, considering both how it is constructed and undermined in American literature. We will pay particular attention to the function of sexual and racial difference--and its erasure--in the idealization of the male protagonist (and author).  Readings will draw from a range of texts from the 19th-century to the present, including short stories and novels by Melville, Hemingway, Cather, Wright, Baldwin, Roth, Diaz, Welch and Kushner.

            Fall semester.  Hampshire College.

 

ENGLISH 491BD. Stop Making Sense: The Experimental Novel in the 20th Century. How do we make sense of a meaningless world? How do we render meaninglessness in fiction without making it meaningful? Are we satisfied with literature that doesn't explain itself? Can we read without trying to explain? This course will examine novelists grappling with these questions as they try to find place for literature in the modern world. In a century marked by drastic technological advances in communication, transportation, and warfare - changes that also characterize our historical moment - modernist and post-modernist novelists experimented with incorporating meaninglessness into their work through innovation of the form of the novel as well as expansion of its content. We will read authors who try to incorporate the failure of meaning into their texts. Alongside novels, we read texts by the authors and critics to help us understand how literary conventions promise meaning and how the 20th-century experimental novel subverts this promise. Authors may include Gide, Stein, Beckett, Reed, Duras, Delany, Acker, and Cha.

Fall semester.  University of Massachusetts.

 

JANE DEGENHARDT, Associate Professor of English (at the University of Massachusetts in the Five College Program).

 

English 300.  Junior-Year Seminar English Studies: Fate, Fault, and Redemption. Young adult novelist John Green borrows a phrase from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar to create the title for his recent novel, The Fault in Our Stars, about the incomprehensibility of both falling in love and dying from cancer as a kid. Are “the stars” to blame for such seemingly baffling occurrences, or does the “fault” lie in ourselves? Where do fate and human agency meet and depart? And what happens when human beings overstep their bounds and attempt to “play God”? Bridging Shakespeare to the twentieth century, this course focuses on the broad themes of fate, human agency, and redemption. It places special emphasis on how these themes are animated by religion and science, as well as by the historical lessons of slavery, colonialism, and gender and sexual oppression. Texts include Machiavelli’s The Prince (1532), Shakespeare’s The Tempest (1612), Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon (1977), Chang-Rae Lee’s A Gesture Life (1999), and films such as Luc Besson's The Professional (1994), Woody Allen’s Matchpoint (2005), and Nicole Kassell’s The Woodsman (2004). The course aims to help students master the mechanics of argumentation, to acquire sensitivity to how formal characteristics shape a text’s meaning, and to examine their assumptions about the role and value of literature. Writing assignments include several short papers and a longer paper, with emphasis on revision.

Requisite: English 200 with a grade of ‘C’ or better Limited to junior and senior English majors.            Fall semester.  University of  Massachusetts.

 

HACU 232.  Luck and Fate in the Works of Lucretius, Machiavelli, and Shakespeare. Given powerful developments in scientific technology, probability, astrology, theology, and philosophy during the European Renaissance, ideas about what controlled events in the world were the source of deep and unresolved controversy. Were events ranging from unforeseen personal tragedies to economic investments to imperial rises and falls guided by chance or by an all-seeing God? Did supernatural forces exist, and if so, what form did they take? How was it possible to discern the difference between luck and God’s will? And what role did human agency play in controlling events in the world? In this course we will examine the Renaissance roots of many of the same questions that exist in our own world--which, despite its secularity, remains beholden to the forces of religion, astrology, superstition, and theories of the cosmos. We will consider the influence of proto-capitalist economics on beliefs about the role of fortune in the world. We will also examine Calvinist understandings of divine intervention, the influence of secularizing institutions such as the public theater, and the various cultural and political conditions that shaped popular beliefs in early modern England. Readings will include selections from Aristotle, Lucretius, Epicurus, Bacon, Machiavelli, Montaigne, Calvin, Greville, Spinoza, and Hakluyt; plays by Heywood, Marlowe, Shakespeare, and Fletcher; and recent historical and theoretical criticism.

            Spring semester.   Hampshire College.

 

      

Film/Video

 

BABA HILLMAN, Associate Professor of Video/Film Production (at Hampshire College in the Five College Program).

 

ENG 376/FAMS 350. Experimental Narrative Cinema in a Global Context.  See ENGL 376/FAMS 350. 

            Recommended prior coursework:  ENGL 287/FAMS 228, Introduction to Super 8 Film and Digital Video, or other introductory course in film and video, photography, or painting. Admission with consent of instructor. Please complete the questionnaire at https://www.amherst.edu/academiclife/departments/film/major/major-requirements/forms and submit to Prof. Hillman.  Limited to 13 students.  Fall semester.  Amherst College.

 

HACU 286. Performance and Directing for Film, Video and Installation. This is an advanced production/theory course for video and film students interested in developing and strengthening the element of performance in their work. How does performance for the camera differ from performance for the stage? How do we find a physical language and a camera language that expand upon one another in a way that liberates the imagination? This course will explore performance and directing in their most diverse possibilities, in a context specific to film and videomakers. The class will emphasize the development of individual approaches to relationships between performance, text, sound and image. We will discuss visual and verbal gesture, dialogue and voice-over, variations of approach with actors and non-actors, camera movement and rhythm within the shot, and the structuring of performance in short and long form works. Screenings and readings will introduce students to a wide range of approaches to directing and performance. We will study works by Vera Chytilova, Pedro Costa, Nagisa Oshima, John Cassavetes, Ousmane Sembene, Wong Kar Wai, Eija Liisa Ahtila and the Wooster Group among others. Students will complete three projects.

            Fall semester.  Hampshire College.

 

BERNADINE MELLIS, Lecturer in Film Studies (at Mount Holyoke College in the Five College Program).

 

Film Studies 210VP. Beginning Video Production. This course provides a foundation in the principles, techniques, and equipment involved in video production. Students will make several short videos over the course of the term as well as one final piece. We will develop our own voices while learning the vocabulary of moving images and gaining production and post-production skills. In addition to technical training, classes will include critiques, screenings, readings, and discussion.

            Fall semester.  Mount Holyoke College.

 

Communications 497VP. Video Production: Advanced Topics. Each student will take the skills and insights gained in introductory production courses and develop them through the creation of one short project. Students may choose to work in narrative, documentary, experimental, or hybrid forms, first developing a script or proposal and then moving into production and post.

Open to senior and junior communication majors only.  Requisite:  COMM 331 or a similar introductory video production course.  Fall semester.  University of Massachusetts.

 

Film Studies 310.  Advanced Projects in Video Production. In this class, students will take the skills and insights gained in introductory production courses and, working individually or in pairs, develop them over the length of the semester through the creation of one short project, 10 minutes long. Students may choose to work in narrative, documentary, experimental, or hybrid forms. We will learn by making work as well as by researching, reading, and watching films related to our projects. We may take this opportunity to delve into and learn the conventions of our chosen form. Or we may decide that our content demands formal experimentation and risk-taking. The course will be structured by the projects each student brings to it. We will begin the
semester with brainstorming, research, script or documentary proposal writing, and pre-production. Each student will develop a script or in-depth proposal to begin with. As we move into production, we will review and deepen our knowledge of camera, lighting (available & set), sound (location & studio), and editing principles and techniques. We will move between production and post-production in the second half of the semester, first developing sequences, then rough cuts and fine cuts, before ultimately completing our final cut.

Requisite: Film Studies 210 or its equivalent and permission of instructor.  Limited to 10 students.  Spring semester.  Mount Holyoke College.

 

FLS 280. Introduction to Video Production: Experiments in Adaptation. This course provides a foundation in the principles, techniques, and equipment involved in making short videos. Working with already existing texts (short stories, plays, poems, films, songs, news stories, paintings, etc.), students will develop their own projects. The course will introduce the following: developing a project idea from a pre-existing text; script/treatment writing; aesthetics and mechanics of shooting; the role of sound; and the conceptual and technical underpinnings of digital editing. We will do several short exercises early in the semester, working towards a longer final piece. By translating other media into cinematic terms, we will develop our proficiency in the language of moving images. 

Requisite: Introduction to Film Studies. Application and permission of instructor required.  Limited to 12 students.  Spring semester.  Smith College.

 

Geosciences

 

J. MICHAEL RHODES, Professor of Geochemistry (at the University of Massachusetts in the Five College Program)

 

Geo 591V.  Volcanology. A systematic discussion of volcanic phenomena, including types of eruptions, generation and emplacement of magmas, products of volcanism, volcanic impact on humans, and the monitoring and forecasting of volcanic events.  Case studies of individual volcanoes illustrate principles of volcanology, with particular emphasis on Hawaiian, ocean-floor and Cascade volcanism.

Each week deals with a particular topic in volcanism and includes a lecture, readings from the textbook, and class presentations.  For the class presentation, each student is required to select and read a paper from an appropriate journal, and come to class prepared to discuss the paper.

Honors students will “adopt” a currently active volcano.  They will report, on a regular basis, to the class what their volcano is doing during the semester, and prepare a final term report on their adopted volcano.

Spring semester.  University of Massachusetts.

 

Geosciences 597GM.  Geochemical/Magmatic Process. 
            Fall semester.  University of Massachusetts.

 

 

History

 

NADYA SBAITI, Assistant Professor of Middle Eastern History (at Smith [home campus] and Mount Holyoke colleges in the Five College Program), is on leave in 2015-16.

 

 

International Relations

 

MICHAEL T. KLARE, Professor of Peace and World Security Studies (at Hampshire College in the Five College Program).

 

Critical Social Inquiry 254.  Climate, Resources, War and Peace. This course will consider the impacts of climate change and resulting resource scarcities on international peace and security. It will identify the likely environmental impacts of climate change - rising sea levels, prolonged droughts, desertification, etc. - and consider how they will heighten the risk of internal and international discord and conflict. It will also consider actions that can be taken by governmental and non-governmental organizations to reduce the risk of disorder and conflict arising from climate change and resource scarcity. Students will read and discuss recent UN and related studies on these problems, and conduct individual or team research on a particular aspect of the larger problem. The course will involve lectures, class discussion, student presentations, and in-depth student research.

            Fall semester.  Hampshire College.

 

Political Science 392F. Global Energy Politics. Energy will play an ever-growing role in world politics as we move deeper into the 21st century, as global demand rises, supplies of certain fuels dwindle, and concern rises over the effects of climate change. This course will examine the global energy situation as it exists today and is likely to develop in the future, and will identify the ways in which energy issues are intruding into international politics. In particular, it will examine such concerns as the global supply and demand of oil and natural gas, the prospects for nuclear power, growing reliance on "unconventional" fuels, energy and climate change, energy geopolitics, and the prospects for energy alternatives. 

With this as background, the course will consider how various nations (especially the United States and China) are shaping their energy policies to best promote their national interests in a world of growing energy competition and accelerating climate change.

Spring semester.  University of Massachusetts.

 

 JON WESTERN, Professor of International Relations (at Mount Holyoke College in the Five College Program).

 

Political Science 482.  United States Foreign Policy:  Democracy and Human Rights.  See POSC 482. 

This course fulfills the requirement for advanced seminar in Political Science.  Admission with consent of the instructor.  Limited to 15 students.  Fall semester. Amherst College.

 

Political Science 351.  International Security Policies. This course examines major theories of war and international cooperation and their relationship to current trends in globalization and global governance. We will explore today's major international security challenges such as proliferation, terrorism, insurgency, ethnic conflict, failing states, environmental degradation, resource scarcity, demographic stress and migration, and global poverty. We will study the mechanisms and institutions designed to manage these threats and the challenges of integrating and coordinating multiple international actors such as international organizations, NGOS, states, and domestic actors. We will also study the potential effects of structural changes in the international system with the rise of China and the new strategic positions of regional powers such as Turkey, Brazil, Russia, and India.

      Spring semester. University of Massachusetts.

 

 

Japanese

 

FUMIKO BROWN, Five College Senior Lecturer in Japanese.

 

Japanese 301.  Introduction to Different Genres of Japanese Writing and Film. See JAPA 301. 

Requisite:  JAPA 203 or equivalent.  Fall and spring semesters.  Amherst College.

 Japanese 302. Moving from "Learning to Read" to "Reading to Learn" in Japanese.  See JAPA 302.

Requisite:  JAPA 301 or equivalent.  Fall and spring semesters.  Amherst College.

Asian Studies 324f. Third-Year Japanese I. This course helps students attain a higher level of proficiency in modern Japanese through the extended use of the language in practical contexts. The class will be conducted mostly in Japanese.

Fall semester.  Mount Holyoke College.

 

Asian Studies 326s. Third-Year Japanese II. This course continues Asian Studies 324, Third Year Japanese I. Emphasizes attaining a higher level of proficiency in modern Japanese through the extended use of the language in practical contexts. The class will be conducted mostly in Japanese.

            Spring semester.  Mount Holyoke College.

 

                Judaic Studies

 

ADI GORDON, Five College Assistant Professor of Judaic Studies.

 

History 204.  Jewish History in the Modern Age.   See HIST 204.

            Fall semester.  Amherst College.          

 

Judaic Studies 102. The Jewish People II. The life and history of the Jews in the medieval and modern worlds. Topics include Jewish-Christian relations; development of Jewish philosophy and mysticism; Jewish life in Eastern Europe; the Holocaust; State of Israel; Jews and Judaism in North America.

            Fall semester.  University of Massachusetts.

 

History 419.  On Nationalism.See HIST 419. 

Not open to first-year students.  Limited to 15 students.  Priority to history majors. Enrollment requires attendance at the first class meeting.  Spring semester.  Amherst College.

 

Jewish Studies 288.  History of Israel. Israel from the pre-state origins of Zionism in the late 19th century to the present.  Historical perspectives on ongoing challenges, such as the place of religion in civil life and Israel's relation to world Jewry.  The tension--real or imaginary--in the state's definition as both Jewish and democratic.  Special attention to contested identities, highlighting differing visions of a Jewish homeland, traditions of dissent and critical self-reflection.  Sources include documents, fiction and films.  Four credits.

            Spring semester.  Smith College.

 

                Korean

 

SUK MASSEY, Five College Lecturer in Korean.

 

Asian Studies 262 F. Second-Year Korean I. Second-Year Korean I is the first half of a two-semester intermediate course in spoken and written Korean for students who already have a basic knowledge of Korean. This course is designed to reinforce and increase students’ facility with Korean in the four language areas: speaking, listening, reading and writing. Students are encouraged to expand their knowledge and take confidence-inspiring risks through activities such as the followings:  expanding knowledge of vocabulary, role play in authentic contexts, in-depth study of grammar, students mini- presentations, various types of writing, Korean film reviews, skits and Korean film making.

            Fall semester.  Mount Holyoke College.

 

Korean 101.  Korean I. Beginning Korean I is the first half of a two-semester introductory course in spoken and written Korean for students who do not have any previous knowledge of Korean. This course is designed to improve students’ communicative competence in daily life, focusing on the four language skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing. Some of the activities include oral dialogue journals (ODJ), expanding knowledge of vocabulary, conversation in authentic contexts, in-depth study of grammar, listening comprehension, pronunciation practice, mini-presentations , Korean film reviews and Korean film making.

            Fall semester.  Smith College.

 

Korean 201. Korean II. Intermediate Korean I is the first half of a two-semester intermediate course in spoken and written Korean for students who already have a basic knowledge of Korean. This course is designed to reinforce and increase students’ facility with Korean in the four language areas: speaking, listening, reading and writing. Students are encouraged to expand their knowledge and take confidence-inspiring risks through activities such as the followings:  expanding knowledge of vocabulary, role play in authentic contexts, in-depth study of grammar, students mini- presentations, various types of writing, Korean film reviews, skits and Korean film making. 

            Fall semester.  Smith College.

 

Korean 102.  Korean I. Beginning Korean II is the second half of a two-semester introductory course in spoken and written Korean for students who have some previous knowledge of Korean. This course is designed to improve students’ communicative competence in daily life, focusing on the four language skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing. Some of the activities include vocabulary-building exercises, conversation in authentic contexts, in-depth study of grammar, listening comprehension and pronunciation practice, mini-presentations, Korean film reviews and Korean film making.

            Spring semester.  Smith College.

 

Korean 202.  Korean II. Intermediate Korean II is the second part of a one-year intensive course for students who have already completed the intermediate-level Korean course, Intermediate Korean I, or who have the equivalent language competence in Korean. Designed for students seeking to become bilingual (or multilingual), this course provides numerous and varied opportunities to develop and practice speaking, listening, reading and writing skills. Activities include expanding vocabulary, conversing in authentic contexts (conversation cafe), studying grammar intensively, reading stories and news articles, reviewing Korean films and Korean film making.

            Spring semester.  Smith College.

 

CHAN YOUNG PARK, Five College Lecturer in Korean.

 

Asian Studies 160.  First-Year Korean I. First-Year Korean I is the first half of a two-semester introductory course in spoken and written Korean for students who do not have any previous knowledge of Korean. This course is designed to improve students’ communicative competence in daily life, focusing on the four language skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing. Some of the activities include oral dialogue journals (ODJ), expanding knowledge of vocabulary, conversation in authentic contexts, in-depth study of grammar, listening comprehension, pronunciation practice, mini-presentations, Korean film reviews and Korean film making.

            Fall semester.  Mount Holyoke College.

 

Asian 197B.  Beginning Korean I. This is an introductory Korean course, which is designed to help students acquire fundamental skills to read, write, listen and speak in elementary level Korean. Students will learn Korean writing system, Hangul, simple sentence patterns, and basic everyday conversations. By the end of the class, students will be able to carry a short conversation about people's backgrounds, likes and dislikes, attributes, as well as location, numbers and counters. Students will also be able to talk about present, past and future events in straightforward social situations. In addition to the classroom instruction, students will meet with a TA to practice speaking.

            Fall semester.  University of Massachusetts.

 

Asian Studies 161s. First-Year Korean II. This course is the second part of the Beginning Korean, which is designed to teach the fundamental skills to read, write, listen and speak in elementary level Korean. Prior to take this course, students are expected to read Hangul and to be able to talk about simple daily activities and carry a limited conversation with memorized phrases.  Compared to the first semester, more advanced vocabulary and grammar patterns will be introduced, and the students will learn how to integrate them into developed forms of application. By the end of the course, students will be able to handle a number of uncomplicated communicative tasks successfully in straightforward social situations and will be able to ask a few formulaic questions. In addition to the textbook study in classroom, audio-visual materials and activities will be used in class. In accordance with the national standards in foreign language education, all Five Cs (Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities) will be emphasized in the course.

            Spring semester.  Mount Holyoke College.

 

Asian 497C. ST- Korean Language and Literature.  In this course, students will learn advanced level Korean through Korean literature. Students will achieve deeper understanding of Korean culture and society through the lens of literature. Students will read the various genres of literature texts, write reflection journals, and discuss them in class. Assignments will include creative writing and literary translation. Developing academic reading and writing skills will be the major learning goal, however, formal speaking and listening will be emphasized as well. By the end of the course, students will be able to describe, narrate, compare, and report a paragraph level discourse in a coherent manner. Students will also be able to talk about abstract concepts.

      Spring semester.  University  of Massachusetts.

 

 

Music

 

BODE OMOJOLA, Professor of Music (at Mount Holyoke College in the Five College Program).

 

Music 226.  World Music. This course is a survey of selected musical traditions from different parts of the world, including Africa, Indonesia, Indian, the Caribbean, and the United States. The course adopts an ethnomusicological approach that explains music as a cultural phenomenon, and explores the social and aesthetic significance of musical traditions within their respective historical and cultural contexts. It examines how musical traditions change over time, and how such changes reflect and relate to social and political changes within a given society. Weekly reading and listening assignments provide the basis for class discussions. Students are expected to undertake a final project in music ethnography.

            Fall semester.  Mount Holyoke College.

 

Music 593R.  African Popular Music. This course focuses on twentieth-century African popular music. It examines musical genres from different parts of the continent, investigating their relationship to the historical, political and social dynamics of their respective national and regional origins.  Regional examples like "highlife", "soukous", and "mbaganga" will provide the basis for assessing the significance of popular music as a creative response to the colonial and postcolonial environment in Africa. The course also discusses the growth of hip-hop music in selected African countries by exploring how indigenous cultural tropes and the social dynamics of postcolonial Africa have provided the basis for its local appropriation. Themes explored in this course include the use of music in the construction of identity, the interaction of local and global elements, and the political significance of musical nostalgia.

            Fall semester.  University of Massachusetts.

 

Black Studies 204 /Music 105. African Popular Music. See BLST 204/MUSI 105.

Limited to 30 students.  Spring semester.  Amherst College.

 

Physics

 

COURTNEY LANNERT, Associate Professor of Physics (at Smith College [home campus] and the University of Massachusetts in the Five College Program), is on leave in 2015-16.

 

 

Russian, East European, Eurasian Studies

 

EVGENY DENGUB, Five College Lecturer in Russian.

 

Russian 220Y.  Intermediate Russian. The course is designed to address the needs of both second language learners (those who completed Elementary Russian) and heritage students (who speak Russian at home). Students will practice all four language modalities: reading, listening, writing, and speaking. The course incorporates a variety of activities that are based on a range of topics, text types, and different socio-cultural situations. Authentic texts (poems, short stories, TV programs, films, songs and articles) will be used to create the context for reviewing and expanding on grammar, syntax and vocabulary. This is a full-year course.
            Fall semester.  Smith College.

 

Russian 110.  Elementary Russian I.  Beginning of four-skill language course. Russian spoken in class, grammar introduced gradually. Regular written assignments and language lab exercises to develop proficiency in all four language skills.

            Fall semester.  University of Massachusetts.

 

Russian 230. Intermediate Russian I.  Emphasis on grammar, simple conversation and readings. Conducted primarily in Russian.

Requisite: Russian 120 or equivalent.  Fall semester.  University of Massachusetts.

 

Russian 221.  Intermediate Russian. The course is designed to address the needs of both second language learners (those who completed Elementary Russian) and heritage students (who speak Russian at home). Students will practice all four language modalities: reading, listening, writing, and speaking. The course incorporates a variety of activities that are based on a range of topics, text types, and different socio-cultural situations. Authentic texts (poems, short stories, TV programs, films, songs and articles) will be used to create the context for reviewing and expanding on grammar, syntax and vocabulary. This is a full-year course.
            Spring semester.  Smith College.

 

Russian 120. Elementary Russian II. Continuation of RUSS 110.

Requisite: RUSS 110 or equivalent.  Spring semester. University of Massachusetts.

 

Russian 240. Intermediate Russian II. Continuation of RUSS 230.

Requisite: RUSS 230 or equivalent.  Spring semester.  University of Massachusetts.   

 

SERGEY GLEBOV, Assistant Professor of History (at the Smith [Home Campus] and Amherst colleges in the Five College Program).

 

History 236/ EUST 238. The USSR During the Cold War. See HIST 236/EUST 238.

            Fall semester.  Amherst College.

 

History 240. Colloquium: Stalin and Stalinism. Joseph Stalin created a particular type of society in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution. Stalinism became a phenomenon that influenced the development of the former Soviet Union and the Communist movement worldwide. This course will cover the period on the eve of and during the Russian Revolution, Stalinist transformation of the USSR in the 1930s, WWII, and the onset of the Cold War. We will consider several questions about Stalinism: Was it necessary result of Communist ideology or a deviation? Did it enjoy any social support? To what extent was it a product of larger social forces and in what degree was it shaped by Stalin's own personality? Did it have total control over the people's lives? Why hasn't there been a de-Stalinization similar to de-Nazification? How is Stalinism remembered? The course will be a combination of lectures and class discussions.
            Fall semester.  Smith College.

 

History 239.  Imperial Russia, 1650–1917. The emergence, expansion and maintenance of the Russian Empire to 1929. The dynamics of pan-imperial institutions and processes (imperial dynasty, peasantry, nobility, intelligentsia, revolutionary movement), as well as the development of the multitude of nations and ethnic groups conquered by or included into the empire. Focus on how the multinational Russian empire dealt with pressures of modernization (nationalist challenges in particular), internal instability and external threats. 
            Spring semester.  Smith College.

 

SUSANNA NAZAROVA, Five College Lecturer in Russian.

 

RES 101. Elementary Russian. The four-skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) introduction to the Russian Language with the focus on communicative skills development. Major structural topics include pronunciation and intonation, all six cases, basic conjugation patterns, and verbal aspect. By the end of the course the students will be able to initiate and sustain conversation on basic topics, write short compositions, read short authentic texts and comprehend their meaning, develop an understanding of the Russian culture through watching films and listening to songs.
            Fall semester.  Mount Holyoke College.

 

Russian 100Y.  Elementary Russian. The four-skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) introduction to the Russian language with the focus on communicative skills development. Major structural topics include pronunciation and intonation, all six cases, all tenses, and verbal aspect. By the end of the course, students will be able to sustain conversation on basic topics, write short compositions, read short authentic texts, as well as develop an understanding of Russian culture through watching, discussing, and writing on movies, short stories, folk tales, and poems. This is a full-year course. Year-long courses cannot be divided at midyear with credit for the first semester.
            Fall semester.  Smith College.

 

RES 102.  Elementary Russian. Continuation of Russian 101. A four-skills course, with increasing emphasis on reading and writing, that completes the study of basic grammar. Major topics include: predicting conjugation patterns, unprefixed and prefixed verbs of motion, complex sentences, time expressions, and strategies of vocabulary building. Students watch Russian films, read and discuss authentic texts.

            Spring semester.  Mount Holyoke College.

 

Russian 100Y. Elementary Russian. The four-skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) introduction to the Russian language with the focus on communicative skills development. Major structural topics include pronunciation and intonation, all six cases, all tenses, and verbal aspect. By the end of the course, students will be able to sustain conversation on basic topics, write short compositions, read short authentic texts, as well as develop an understanding of Russian culture through watching, discussing, and writing on movies, short stories, folk tales, and poems. This is a full-year course.
            Spring semester.  Smith College.

 

 

Women’s Studies

 

ANGELA WILLEY, Assistant Professor of Women’s Studies (at the University of Massachusetts in the Five College program).

CSI 256.  Postcolonial Feminist Science Studies. Science was a central force in the ideologies of colonialism and the successes of colonial expansion. Postcolonial studies suggests that this colonial legacy lives on in postcolonial nations. In what ways does this colonial legacy shape postcolonial conceptions of the state and its citizens and subject formation? We will explore recent work in postcolonial feminist science studies by examining a range of postcolonial sites and a variety of scientific disciplines. Some of the questions we will explore are: postcolonial development, bioprospecting and biopiracy, pharmaceutical testing in postcolonial contexts, colonial sexual science and the history of sexuality, surrogacy, the rise of genomic sovereignty in postcolonial nations, GMOs and industrialized agriculture, and climate change. Throughout the course, students will engage with postcolonial feminist critiques of scientific epistemologies (theories of knowledge) and the universalizing metaphysics (theories of existence/reality/nature) they engender. This class will be team taught by Professors Jennifer Hamilton, Angie Willey, and Banu Subramaniam. We will combine with another section of the class based at UMass. Classes will meet at UMass from 4-6:30pm.
            Fall semester.  Hampshire College.

Women’s Studies 391Q/691Q.  Monogamy: Queer Belonging and Feminist Community.

Grounded in queer and feminist concerns with marriage and coupled forms of social belonging, this class will consider "monogamy" from a range of disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives. From the history of marriage to the science of mating systems to the politics of polyamory, the class will explore monogamy's meanings. Students will become familiar with these and other debates about monogamy, a variety of critical approaches to reading and engaging them, and fields of resistance to a variety of "monogamy stories" within and beyond the academy. The course will draw in particular on feminist critiques of the nuclear family, queer historicizations of sexuality, and science studies approaches to frame critical questions about what monogamy is and what discourses surrounding it can do. Through historical analysis and critical theory, the class will foreground the racial and national formations that produce "monogamy" as we know it. Students will develop skills in critical science literacy, interdisciplinary and collaborative research methodologies, and writing in a variety of modalities.

            Fall semester.  University of Massachusetts.

 

Gender Studies 201. Methods and Practices in Feminist Scholarship. How do scholars produce knowledge? What can we learn from differences and similarities in the research process of a novelist, a biologist, an historian, a sociologist, and a film critic? Who decides what counts as knowledge? We will examine a range of methods from the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences, including visual analysis, archival exploration, interviewing, and ethnography, as we consider the specific advantages (and potential limitations) of diverse disciplinary approaches for feminist inquiry. We will take up numerous practical questions as well as larger methodological and ethical debates. This course provides a foundation for advanced work in the major.

Requisite:  Gndst-101 and 4 credits from a natural or physical science course with lab.  Spring semester.  Mount Holyoke College.

 

WOMENSST 290C.  History of Sexuality and Race in the United States. This course is an introduction to the interdisciplinary feminist study of sexuality.  Its primary goal is to provide a forum for students to consider the history of sexuality and race in the U.S. both in terms of theoretical frameworks within women’s and gender studies, and in terms of a range of sites where those theoretical approaches become material, are negotiated, or are shifted.  The course is a fully interdisciplinary innovation.  It will emphasize the links rather than differences between theory and practice and between cultural, material, and historical approaches to the body, gender, and sexuality. Throughout the course we will consider contemporary sexual politics—from the science of sex and sexuality to marriage debates—in light of histories of racial and sexual formations.
            Spring semester.  University of Massachusetts.

 

 

 

 

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