Fall 2024
Note: this is page provides preliminary information about fall 2024 courses. Final course descriptions, including additional cbl courses, will be published shortly before the start of the semester.
AMST-111 - Global Valley
[Pre-1900] Drawing on a wide range of primary materials, and taking advantage of the ease of visiting the sites of many of the topics we study, this course offers an introduction to American Studies through an exploration of the Connecticut River Valley that stresses both the fascination of detailed local history and the economic, political, social, and cultural networks that tie this place to the world. Topics may include conflicts and accommodations between Native peoples and English settlers; changing uses of land and resources; seventeenth-century witchcraft trials; the American Revolution and Shays rebellion; religious revivalism of the Great Awakening; abolitionist and other nineteenth-century reform movements; tourism and the scenic including Thomas Cole's famous painting of the oxbow; immigration, industrialization and deindustrialization, especially in the cities of Holyoke and Springfield; educational institutions and innovations; the Cold War, the reach of the "military industrial complex" into local educational institutions, and "the bunker"; the sanctuary movement; feminist and gay activism; present environmental, mass incarceration, and other social equity issues; and of course, Emily Dickinson's poetry.
Limited to 20 students per section. 8 seats per section reserved for first-year students. Professors Brooks and Sánchez-Eppler.
AMST-210 - American Jewish Keywords
In its “Jewish Americans in 2020” analysis, the Pew Research Center reported that nearly three quarters of Jewish American adults felt that “being part of a Jewish community” was important to them. The study also found that definitions of Jewishness and Jewish communities extended beyond religion to include ancestry and culture. What terms have come to embody American Jewish experience? In what ways have Jewish communities been constituted? What fosters healthy and vibrant communities? This course offers an introduction to American Jewish Studies and community-engaged learning. Raymond Williams defines keywords as offering a “shared body of words and meanings.” Four keywords will frame the semester—Generations, Service, Community, and Place. In each of these units, we will probe a range of materials: historical writing, sociology, literature, statistical analyses, films/documentaries, and personal narratives. Course materials will offer background and context for our engagement with communities outside the classroom. We will visit the Yiddish Book Center, the Amherst Senior Center, Not Bread Alone, and other local organizations.
Limited to 20 students. Senior Lecturer Bergoffen.
AMST-331/ LLAS-234/ RELI-334 - The Sanctuary Movement: Religion, Activism, and Social Contestation
From sanctuary cities and states to sanctuary campuses and churches, declarations of sanctuary sites have swept the nation in recent years. The U.S. Sanctuary Movement, established in 1982 to harbor Central American asylum seekers fleeing civil wars, has today assumed broader social implementations in the New Sanctuary Movement. Beginning with an examination of antecedents to the U.S. Sanctuary Movement in global contexts, this course will offer students an in-depth study of the Sanctuary Movement since the 1980s with special attention to the New Sanctuary Movement which is active today throughout the country.
Professor Barba.
ARHA-246 Public Art and Collaborative Practices
Public Art and Collaborative Practices is a studio art course that is based on the premise that art is a form of care. It will focus on art in public space, collaborative art making practices, and activist art that addresses social and political issues. We will learn about artist collectives, socially engaged art, and practice working together in group projects. We will also analyze temporary and permanent public artworks and then make art with specific sites and communities in mind. Ultimately, we will dedicate the semester to thinking about art's potential for big and small change and participate in the transformation of our environment through making.
Professor Monge.
ENGL-120/ EDST-120 - Reading/ Writing/ Teaching
This course considers from many perspectives what it means to read and write and learn and teach both for ourselves and for others. As part of the work of this course, in addition to the usual class hours, students will serve as weekly tutors and classroom assistants in adult basic education centers in nearby towns. Thus this course consciously engages with the obstacles to and the power of education through course readings, through self-reflexive writing about our own varied educational experiences, and through weekly work in the community. Although this course presses participants to reflect a great deal about teaching, this course does not teach how to teach. Instead it offers an exploration of the contexts and processes of education, and of the politics and desires that suffuse learning. Course readings range across literary genres including essays, poems, autobiographies, and novels in which education and teaching figure centrally, as well as readings in ethnography, sociology, psychology, and philosophy. The writing assignments cross many genres as well.
Limited to 18 students. In the fall semester, eight seats reserved for first-year students. Professor Christoff.
ENST-270/ SOC-270 - Food and the Environment: Towards Global Health, Justice, and Sustainable Development
Food and farming make fundamental connections between humans and the earth. This course examines how agriculture, food systems, and rural development are entangled with environmental and social transformations around the world, and how we can cultivate solutions for global health, sustainability and social justice. Topics examined range from technological modernization and biotechnology to agroecology and food culture, malnutrition and obesity, food safety and environmental intoxication, land and labor struggles, race and gender issues in food systems, and from climate change to sustainable development. Readings draw from development studies and sociology, critical food and agrarian studies, political ecology and other interdisciplinary environmental studies. In addition to the lectures, students will cultivate critical thinking and improve skills in reading, writing, discussion, and creativity through dialogue, hands-on activities at the Book & Plow farm, creative exercises, and independent research.
Limited to 20 students. Assistant Professor Zhang. Eligibility: ENST-120 or ENST-226 or ANTH-339 or permission of instructor.
MUSI-238/ ANTH-239/ FAMS-312 - Soundscapes of the Connecticut River Valley
This course is about exploring, participating in, and documenting the musical communities and acoustic terrain of the Connecticut River Valley. The first part of the course will focus on local histories and music scenes, ethnographic methods and technologies, and different techniques of documentary representation. The second part of the course will involve intensive, sustained engagement with musicians and sounds in the Amherst vicinity (and beyond). Course participants will give weekly updates about their fieldwork projects and are expected to become well-versed in the musics they are studying. There will be a significant amount of work and travel outside of class meetings. The course will culminate in contributions to a web-based documentary archive of soundscapes projects. We will also benefit from visits and interaction with local musicians. Two class meetings per week. Visit http://www.valleysoundscapes.org/ for more information.
Limited to 12 students. Professor Engelhardt. Eligibility: Student has completed or is in process of completing any of the following course(s): MUSI 111 or MUSI 112 or has received instructor permission.
POSC-135/ EDST-135 - Justice
This course will explore the meaning of justice and its realization in everyday life. We will consider individuals’ perceptions of justice and the significance of the concept in the relationship between citizens and government. We will examine how social movements attempt to seek justice and how this quest for justice defines their strategies and goals. And finally we consider how efforts to seek justice are realized, delayed, or blocked in institutional settings, such as in workplace organizations, prisons, state bureaucracies, and the courts. The course will be taught in an “Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program” format, enrolling equal number of students from Amherst College and a Prison. This course will be taught at a local jail.
Limited to 12 students. Professor Bumiller. Instructor permission required.
POSC-201/ SWAG 201/ LLAS 202 - The Global Politics of Drug Trafficking
Drug trafficking is now a major aspect of international relations. This course approaches the international political economy of drug trafficking, from its trade routes on global markets to its influence in shaping nation-states. As governments declare “wars on drugs” from Colombia to the Philippines, narco-politics permeate local and national government, define international relations, and inspire pop culture. The course has three main goals:1) to offer an empirical overview of drug trafficking globally, 2) to analyze how it operates, from local recruitment to transnational alliances and mechanisms of money laundering in fiscal paradises, and 3) to understand how it shapes the current international system, from pop culture to sovereignty. We compare the different operating systems of Mexican drug cartels like Sinaloa and Jalisco Nueva Generación to the Albanian Mafia and gangs like Mara Salvatrucha in El Salvador and Los Choneros in Ecuador. In the process, we discuss their cultural impacts, from the “narco-corrido” music in Mexico to their relation to religion and sexuality. We also shed light on body politics to understand the nexus of drug trafficking with poverty, racialization, and colonial regimes of dispossession. This course navigates the labyrinths and complex pathways of drug trafficking from electoral politics to its investment in extractive industries like mining to understand how narco dynamics have come to de facto rule states and communities worldwide.
Limited to 30 students. Karl Lowenstein Senior Lecturer Picq.
POSC-239 - Acceptable Prejudice: Age, Aging, Ageism
The course investigates the connections between the politics of aging and political discourses surrounding seniors from an intersectional and interdisciplinary perspective. The premise of the course highlights the fact that prejudice, stereotyping, and othering based on age (both towards the young, but primarily against the old) are "the last acceptable prejudice" in democratic societies. While there are many international conventions about the rights of children or women, there is little in international law that seeks to protect seniors. Some express frustration at what they perceive as unfairness created through seniority principles, and the disproportionate attention the elderly receive as voters (due to their high levels of participation). Others deplore the invisibility and exclusion seniors face in the labor market and society. The class reflects on the ways in which these dynamics overlap and interact with race and racism, gender discrimination, and exclusion of the poor. It considers the sources of empowerment and disempowerment of senior citizens of different racial backgrounds in the US and around the world, in contemporary politics and in historical perspective. It reflects on how age and aging are perceived in different cultures and in connection with different racial and ethnic identities. One of the case studies examines COVID-19 and the condition/agency of seniors during the pandemic around the world. A central question is: what can and should be done to create cross-generational solidarity in democratic societies that are so divided along age lines?
Limited to 15 students. Priority given to Sophomores. Assistant Professor Paul.
POSC-349/ BLST-349 [US] - Political Autobiography
This course introduces students to the world of autobiographical writing by reading some important autobiographies written in the twentieth century. These authors include: Booker T. Washington, James Baldwin, Malcolm X, and Barack Obama. In addition to reading these autobiographies, students will also begin writing their own. By the end of the course, students will have raised the following questions: what makes autobiography distinct from other approaches to examining the past? what is the relationship between self and community? How does the politics and social arrangements of the outside world shape self-realization? How do we remember our past? Does memory of events change over time and if so, how? Is autobiography necessarily "political"?
Limited to 12 students. Assistant Professor Loggins. Instructor permission required.
PSYC-206/ EDST-206 - Psychology of Play
This course will explore how children learn through play. The first part of the course will focus on defining play and exploring researchers’ differing perspectives on whether children can learn by playing. The second part of the course will involve visits to the Beneski Museum and Holyoke Children’s Museum to explore the role of museums in studying and advancing children’s playful learning. Students will learn about the unique strengths and weaknesses of museum-based research and how socio-economic, educational, ethnic, and racial factors affect how children and families interact with museum exhibits. The third part of the course will be devoted to designing interventions that will encourage playful learning goals established in cooperation with the director and administrators at Holyoke Children’s Museum in Holyoke, MA. These interventions will be designed in small groups and implemented in the museum. This class requires a significant amount of work and travel that takes place outside of class meeting time. This course fulfills the lab/research methods requirement for the Psychology major. Requisite: PSYC 100.
Limited to 15 students. Professor Palmquist. Instructor permission required.
SPAN-101 - Spanish I
SPAN101 is the first of a four-semester sequence in the Spanish Language Program. It is designed for students a) with no prior knowledge of Spanish, b) who have studied Spanish for one year or less in high school, and c) who have scored 1 or 2 on the AP Spanish Language exam. Students develop personal forms of expression and basic strategies for reading, listening, writing, and participating in everyday conversations. The course introduces students to the diverse cultures of the Spanish-speaking world through authentic materials (songs, films, poems, short stories, etc.), as well as activities that address a range of personal and immediate-needs topics and socio-cultural situations such as family life and daily routines. By the end of the semester, students can expect to have reached the Intermediate Low level of the ACTFL scale, and proceed to SPAN 102. The course consists of two 80-minute sessions per week with the lecturer and one 50-minute session with the language assistant. Limited to 16 students per section. This course may not be counted toward the Spanish Major. The class will be conducted entirely in Spanish.
Lecturer Piazza and assistants.
SPAN-201 - Spanish III
SPAN 201 is the third of a four-semester sequence in the Spanish Language Program designed for students who a) have successfully completed SPAN102, b) who have placed into the course via the Spanish Department placement exam, or c) who have scored 4 on the AP Spanish Language exam or 3 in the AP Spanish Literature Exam. The course develops students’ ability to narrate across various time frames, follow the main plot of narratives (including longer texts and feature-length films), and exchange basic descriptions, comparisons, and interpretations about authentic materials from the Spanish-speaking world. By the end of the semester, students can expect to have reached the Intermediate High level of the ACTFL scale, and be ready to proceed to SPAN 202. The course consists of two 80-minute sessions per week with the lecturer and one 50-minute session with the language assistant. Limited to 16 students per section. This course may not be counted toward the Spanish Major. The class will be conducted entirely in Spanish. Requisite: SPAN 102 or Spanish Placement Exam.
Lecturer Narváez-Burbano and assistants.
SPAN-202 - Spanish IV
SPAN 202 is the final course of the four-semester sequence in the Spanish Language Program. It is designed for students who a) have successfully completed SPAN 201, b) who have placed into the course via the Spanish Department placement exam, or c) who have scored a 4 on the AP Spanish Language exam. The course develops students’ ability to interact in culturally appropriate ways with native speakers of Spanish, negotiate situations that require problem solving, and exchange detailed descriptions, comparisons, and interpretations about authentic materials from the Spanish-speaking world. The course will use authentic texts from a variety of media, including film, literature, visual arts, music, and web-based texts. The course includes an online conversation partner program so students can practice their language skills with Spanish speakers around the world. By the end of the semester, students can expect to have reached the Advanced Low level of the ACTFL scale, and be ready to proceed to SPAN 301 (Introduction to Literary and Cultural Studies), or to an immersive study abroad experience in any of Amherst College’s pre-approved programs in the Spanish-speaking world. The course consists of two 80-minute sessions per week with the lecturer and one 50-minute session with the language assistant. This course may be counted toward the Spanish Major. The class will be conducted entirely in Spanish. Requisite: SPAN 201 or Spanish Placement Exam.
Senior Lecturer Granda, Lecturer Piazza and assistants.
SPAN-495 - Senior Seminar
The senior seminar is offered every fall semester and fulfills the capstone requirement. It is designed for Spanish majors to reflect, integrate, and apply what they have learned and accomplished in the major. At the beginning of the semester, students will prepare a portfolio of work created throughout the major, including during their study abroad experience, to share and discuss with classmates. The rest of the semester will be devoted to individual or collaborative projects. Projects can take a variety of forms, including but not limited to a performance, a service learning project, an internship, a thesis, or an exhibit. Students writing a thesis may designate their thesis as their individual project. In all cases, students will report on their projects in writing as well as in person with classmates and in a public forum. Conducted in Spanish.
Open only to senior majors. Professor Coráñez Bolton.
Spring 2024
AMST-120/ ENGL-120/ EDST-120 - Reading, Writing, Teaching
This course considers from many perspectives what it means to read and write and learn and teach both for ourselves and for others. As part of the work of this course, in addition to the usual class hours, students will serve as weekly tutors and classroom assistants in adult basic education centers in nearby towns. Thus this course consciously engages with the obstacles to and the power of education through course readings, through self-reflexive writing about our own varied educational experiences, and through weekly work in the community. Although this course presses participants to reflect a great deal about teaching, this course does not teach how to teach. Instead it offers an exploration of the contexts and processes of education, and of the politics and desires that suffuse learning. Course readings range across literary genres including essays, poems, autobiographies, and novels in which education and teaching figure centrally, as well as readings in ethnography, sociology, psychology, and philosophy. The writing assignments cross many genres as well.
Limited to 18 students. Fall semester: Professor Frank. Spring semester: Lecturer Reardon.
AMST-200/ EDST-200/ SOCI-200 - Race, Education & Belonging
Disproportionate numbers of students of color drop out or disengage from schools in America each year. Responding to the framework of “drop out,” critical educational scholars have argued that many school practices, policies, and cultures “push out” already marginalized students, or at the very least, do not take sufficient steps to create an inclusive culture that supports all students’ participation and sense of belonging. This course examines the ways in which race and racism influence political, social, cultural, and institutional belonging. This interdisciplinary course will draw on theory and research from the fields of education, sociology, and ethnic studies to examine the conditions of schooling that prompt students’ formal and less formal forms of school disengagement. We will explore how educational institutions, educators, and their community partners support students’ access to and engagement with education. We will examine educational reform practices that strive to cultivate a culture of belonging and community in schools. As part of this course, students will collaboratively work toward a community-engaged project centered on college access.
Limited to 18 students. Spring semester. Visiting Professor Luschen.
AMST-309/ BLST-309/ SWAG-311 - Island Bodies
This course explores Black women’s health and activism through an Africa diasporic lens that bridges intellectual work, grassroots action, and community-based learning. Grounded in faculty-student collaborations, it engages a range of materials and methodologies that explore historical and contemporary experiences of reproductive justice, cultural politics, debt and inequality, tourism, citizenship, and agency in the Caribbean. This course combines interdisciplinary coursework with practical work in communities drawing on examples from the United States, Jamaica, and the broader Caribbean region to activate learning in action that prioritizes the lived experiences and indigenous expertise of local actors and grassroots organizations. A Spring Break study abroad trip to reproductive justice sites and networks in the Caribbean region will provide an experiential component that grounds our inquiries and supports efforts to take collective actions. This course prioritizes critical reflection and reciprocity as central values in our collective learning experiences: Students and the faculty will build mutually beneficial and equity-based relationships with community leaders and organizations foregrounding reciprocity between the needs and outcomes of communities by fostering collaboration, respect, and attentiveness to power dynamics. Reflection that will support critical thinking, meaning-making, and hands-on activities to help students connect their community engagement experience with the learning objectives of the course and to their lived experiences is a central component of this course. Ultimately, students will start to think about ways to combine their personal reflections and on-site experiences in order to start to challenge different systems of oppression.
Limited to 10 students. Spring semester. Prof. Jolly
AMST-313/ BLST-410/ SWAG-409 - Black Feminist Health
This research tutorial will explore a diverse archive of contemporary and historical texts that foregrounds Black feminist health science studies (BFHSS) which focuses on a social justice science that understands the health and well-being of marginalized groups to be its central purpose. This course enables students to contribute to the robust interdisciplinary and transnational research agenda of the Black Feminist Reproductive Justice, Equity, and HIV/AIDS Activism (BREHA) Lab that bridges the medical humanities, social sciences, and hard sciences. In this shared research project, students will be able to more clearly define new modes of inquiries on racism, gender, class, sexuality, and health that engage intersecting arenas of scholarship and activism, including the medicalization of race, feminist health studies, reproductive justice, and disability studies. To this end, we explore several questions: What is a black feminist approach to health among Afro-diasporic peoples and communities? What are the key terms, methodologies, theoretical frameworks, and political stakes associated with a BFHSS field? How can BFHSS expand our collective research inquiries on wellness, inequality, and society? Finally, how can this field contribute to broader efforts for social justice concerning the health, wellness, and longevity of the most vulnerable communities? Open to sophomores and juniors.
Limited to 6 students. Spring Semester. Professor Jolly. Pending faculty approval.
AMST-352/ EDST-352/ HIST-352/ SOCI-352 - Politics of Education
Focusing on the United States, this course introduces students to foundational questions and texts central to Education Studies. We will explore the competing goals and priorities Americans have held for primary, secondary and post-secondary education and ask how and why these visions have influenced—or failed to influence—classrooms, schools, and educational policy. We will pay particular attention to sources of educational stratification; the tensions between the public and private purposes of schooling; and the relationship between schooling and equality.
In the first part of the course, students will reflect on how Americans have imagined the purpose of self-education, literacy, public schooling, and the liberal arts. Among the questions we will consider: What do Americans want from public schools? Does education promote liberation? Has a liberal arts education outlived its usefulness? How has the organization of schools and school systems promoted some educational objectives in lieu of others? In the second section of the course, we will concentrate on the politics of schooling. Here, we will pay particular attention to several issues central to understanding educational inequality and its relationship to American politics, culture, and society: localism; state and federal authority; desegregation; and the complicated relationship between schooling and racial, linguistic, class-based, gender, and ethnic hierarchies. Finally, we will explore how competing ideas about the purpose and politics of education manifest themselves in current policy debates about privatization, charters, testing, and school discipline. Throughout the course, students will reflect on both the limits and possibilities of American schools to challenge and reconfigure the social order.
Limited to 20 students. Spring semester. Visiting Professor Luschen.
ARHA-324 - Sculpture II
Symbiosis is a close biological interaction between living organisms. It can be temporary or permanent; positive, neutral, or parasitic; and involve two or thousands of individuals. In this class we will explore a variety of relationships with and within nature through sculpture. Conceptual prompts will be accompanied by material experimentation with “biomaterials”: materials that are grown, cooked, or processed through collaborations with fungi, plants, and bacteria.
Requisite: ARHA 214 or consent of the instructor.
Limited to 12 students. Spring semester 2024. Professor Monge.
EDST-121/ ENGL-121 - Writing the College Experience
This course considers belonging and community in the college context, with a focus on reading and writing as part of a practice of making meaning of the college experience. Students will learn about the history of higher education as they research and reflect on the contemporary college landscape. They will analyze learning as a process: how it is understood by scholars and teachers; how it is shaped by cultural and rhetorical contexts; and how students engage with it. The course will consider equity and access and how students’ intersectional identities (i.e.: how class, race, gender, and disability, among others) impact the way they navigate college. As part of the work of this course, students will collaboratively work toward a community-engaged project centered on college access.
Assigned texts will include a range of sources (books, articles, podcasts, videos) from literature and education studies. As they read, listen, and view materials, students will examine not only their content but also how they are constructed. Specifically, they will study rhetorical features (ex: audience awareness and genre expectations), as well as the structures of argument and analysis, with an eye on developing reading and writing skills they can use in other courses across the College. Ultimately, students will come together as a community of writers who support one another as they reflect on their experiences and develop their own academic writing voices.
Preference given to first-year Amherst College students. Admission with consent of the instructor. Limited to 15 students. Spring semester. Lecturer Reardon.
EDST-160/ BIOL-160 - Elements of Life
Promoting public understanding of science has become more critical than ever in our society. In particular, there is a strong need for basic science education for young audiences. This course will discuss fundamental concepts in life science and skills for science literacy, while exploring challenges in youth science education. Students will read science articles on landmark biological discoveries, as well as literature on science education, science communication, and next generation science standards for the target grade level to acquaint themselves with the science background of their audience. Working in small groups under the guidance of the instructor and the Center for Community Engagement, students will develop a hands-on module to effectively convey life science concepts to school-age children. As a Community-based Learning (CBL) experiential course, students will directly engage with the local community by leading science activities at local public schools. Ultimately, this course aims to enhance students’ understanding of scientific and educational topics through community-based work, and to allow students to reflect in constructive ways on their experience working in the community and communicating science.
Limited to 20 students. Spring semester. Professor Jeong.
POSC-135/ EDST-135 - Justice
This course will explore the meaning of justice and its realization in everyday life. We will consider individuals’ perceptions of justice and the significance of the concept in the relationship between citizens and government. We will examine how social movements attempt to seek justice and how this quest for justice defines their strategies and goals. And finally we consider how efforts to seek justice are realized, delayed, or blocked in institutional settings, such as in workplace organizations, prisons, state bureaucracies, and the courts. The course will be taught in an “Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program” format, enrolling equal number of students from Amherst College and a Prison. This course will be taught at a local jail.
Admission with consent of the instructor. Limited to 12 students. Spring semester. Professor Bumiller.
PSYC-206/ EDST-206 - Psychology of Play
This course will explore how children learn through play. The first part of the course will focus on defining play and exploring researchers’ differing perspectives on whether children can learn by playing. The second part of the course will involve visits to the Beneski Museum, the Holyoke Children’s Museum, and Amelia Park Children’s Museum to explore the role of museums in studying and advancing children’s playful learning. Students will learn about the unique strengths and weaknesses of museum-based research and how socio-economic, educational, ethnic, and racial factors affect how children and families interact with museum exhibits. To extend this understanding, the class will travel to the University of California-Irvine during spring break to explore how researchers there are creating community-based learning opportunities for children and families from diverse backgrounds living in the Santa Ana community. The third part of the course will be devoted to designing interventions that will encourage playful learning goals established in cooperation with the director and administrators at Amelia Park Children’s Museum in Westfield, MA. These interventions will be designed in small groups and implemented in the museum. This class requires a significant amount of work and travel that takes place outside of class meeting time. Enrollment will be decided via an interview process during preregistration. This course fulfills the lab/research methods requirement for the Psychology major.
Limited to 15 students. Spring semester. Professor Palmquist.
SPAN-101 - Spanish I
SPAN 101 is the first of a four-semester sequence in the Spanish Language Program. It is designed for students a) with no prior knowledge of Spanish, b) who have studied Spanish for one year or less in high school, and c) who have scored 1 or 2 on the AP Spanish Language exam. Students develop personal forms of expression and basic strategies for reading, listening, writing, and participating in everyday conversations. The course introduces students to the diverse cultures of the Spanish-speaking world through authentic materials (songs, films, poems, short stories, etc.), as well as activities that address a range of personal and immediate-needs topics and socio-cultural situations such as family life and daily routines. By the end of the semester, students can expect to have reached the Intermediate Low level of the ACTFL scale, and proceed to SPAN 102. The course consists of two 80-minute sessions per week with the lecturer and one 50-minute session with the language assistant. Limited to 16 students per section. This course may not be counted toward the Spanish Major. The class will be conducted entirely in Spanish.
Spring semester: Lecturer Narváez-Burbano and assistants.
SPAN-102 - Spanish II
SPAN 102 is the second of the four-semester sequence in the Spanish Language Program. It is designed for students who a) have successfully completed SPAN 101 or b) who have placed into the course via the Spanish Department placement exam. Students further develop strategies for reading, listening, writing, and participating in everyday conversations. The course expands students’ ability to engage with the cultural diversity of the Spanish-speaking world through authentic materials and through activities that address a range of topics such as sports, pastimes, food, health, professions, clothing, and the environment. By the end of the semester, students can expect to have reached the Intermediate Mid level of the ACTFL scale, and proceed to SPAN 201. The course consists of two 80-minute sessions per week with the lecturer and one 50-minute session with the language assistant. This course may not be counted toward the Spanish Major. The class will be conducted entirely in Spanish.
Spring Semester: Visiting Professor Ferrari, Lecturer Narváez-Burbano and assistants.
SPAN-201 - Spanish III
SPAN 201 is the third of a four-semester sequence in the Spanish Language Program designed for students who a) have successfully completed SPAN102, b) who have placed into the course via the Spanish Department placement exam, or c) who have scored 4 on the AP Spanish Language exam or 3 in the AP Spanish Literature Exam. The course develops students’ ability to narrate across various time frames, follow the main plot of narratives (including longer texts and feature-length films), and exchange basic descriptions, comparisons, and interpretations about authentic materials from the Spanish-speaking world. By the end of the semester, students can expect to have reached the Intermediate High level of the ACTFL scale, and be ready to proceed to SPAN 202. The course consists of two 80-minute sessions per week with the lecturer and one 50-minute session with the language assistant. Limited to 16 students per section. This course may not be counted toward the Spanish Major. The class will be conducted entirely in Spanish.
Limited to 16 students. Spring semester: Lecturer Piazza and assistants.
THDA-248 - Socially Engaged Performance
How do the arts play a role in society? How does performing produce a community’s collective experience that involves forms of social engagement? How does an artist consider social practice through the lens of performance? This course focuses on exploring a socially engaged art practice that creates collaborative and participatory processes with specific communities and their social and civic issues. In this course we will put theory into practice from engagement with various theoretical developments in relation to social practice in art to movement practices into creative projects. Class work will center on student-led projects and the classes’ role as a collaborative team. The course will consist of in-class movement practices, readings, viewings, discussions, site visits, community engagement and performance creation. We will study scholars, practitioners and artists whose creative research and works engage in social practice, socially engaged art and community-based work. Examples include Pablo Helguera, Claire Bishop, Paul Chan, Shaun Leonardo, Miwon Kwon and among others. Limited to 22 students. The course is open to everyone. No previous background is presumed but a willingness to collaborate and experiment with generosity are essential.
Limited to 22 students. Spring semester. Visiting Professor Kim.