Recycle, Reuse, Reimagine: A Transformation Journey
In this course students will explore the process and possibilities that non-traditional and recycled found objects offer to create meaningful and imaginative works of art. Our main goal will be to look beyond the original function of objects and to creatively combine, arrange, and transform. With a strong focus on experimentation, students will complete several projects using different relief, assemblage, and construction techniques. No previous experience is necessary. Each student will be required to purchase their own tools and materials, costing approximately $120.

The Alienated Man
The alienated man has figured prominently in Western thought, challenging not simply received truths but the very foundations of philosophy and literature. In this course we will examine the role played by the alienated man from the ancient world to the modern age. Texts will include Augustine's Confessions, Shakespeare's Hamlet, Dostoevsky's Notes From Underground, and Camus' The Stranger. Norman Mailer's essay "The White Negro: Superficial Reflections on the Hipster," will provide the basis for a final discussion on violence, insanity, and Lee Harvey Oswald.

Craft in the Digital Age
Modern digital technologies offer new platforms for designing, testing, and fabricating the physical world. Design technology has become more user-friendly, allowing individuals to use and manipulate the ever-increasing amount of available data. Rapid prototyping and digital fabrication methods have modernized the way people design and make. In this course we will survey the history of craft and how the recent shift from analogue methods to digital production alter our understanding of our world.

Introduction to Literary Journalism
Literary journalism is a genre of nonfiction writing that combines hard facts and credible research with a narrative voice that expresses emotion and opinion. Pioneers of this field include Norman Mailer, Tom Wolfe, Joan Didion, John McPhee, and Gay Talese. Today, you can find literary journalism in popular periodicals such as Harper’s, The Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker and Esquire, as well as in many major newspapers and online magazines. In this course we will examine the antecedents of literary journalism and discuss selected examples of this genre (“New Journalism”) in order to understand the research techniques and aspects of craft that make them well written and resonant. This course counts as an introductory creative writing elective for the ENAM major.

Health Disparities in the United States
In this course we will explore the growing conversation surrounding health inequities in the United States. We will examine how health and wellness are affected—and often determined—by race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender, sexual orientation, geography, and ability. We will examine current policies, health determinants, and possible solutions to health inequities by reading works by experts such as David Williams and Ichiro Kawachi. Students will write short responses to the readings and a health autobiography that reflects on how their identities impact their health status.

Political Violence, Memory and Cultural Representation
In this course we will study cultural and human responses to the violence of genocide politics and the political repression of terrorist state in Latin America. Central to the theoretical and critical corpus of the course is the multidisciplinary work of scholars writing in response to historical violence, with questions regarding social trauma, the links between mourning and memory, and the social and cultural role of artistic creation. In order to introduce students to the complex issues of memory and violence in its subjective and social dimension, we will analyze a variety of sources, such as literature, film, art, oral history, journalism, and popular music. This course is taught in English

The Dutch Maritime Empire in the Long Seventeenth Century
In this course we will learn about various aspects of the Dutch Golden Age, 1588-1712, and related maritime material culture. We will examine the establishment of the Dutch Republic, its rise as a major maritime power rivaled only by England, and the artistic preeminence of the Netherlands in this period. The focus will be on the institutional, colonial, and economic rise of this small but important nation. This interdisciplinary course will be of particular interest to students of History, Art History, Literature, and International and Global Studies. This course counts as elective credit towards the History major.

The Recipients of Aid
Despite international and domestic development efforts, poverty and inequity continue to characterize our world, and vastly different theories abound about how to eliminate them. In this course we will examine how development interventions might support empowerment and, more frequently, how development has reduced the capability of its recipients to address their own needs in the future. We will look at these impacts through a psychological lens, applying theories from social psychology to better understand the effects of external development efforts. We will also analyze the role that a changing global economy plays in marginalizing good development practice. We will consider how to improve development practice using techniques developed from a social psychological perspective.

Contemporary Teaching in the Liberal Arts
This course is for students working with faculty participants of the winter term pedagogy workshop: Contemporary Teaching in Liberal Arts. (Approval required, Honors Pass/Fail).

The China Boom: The Historical Routes of China’s Current Economic Dynamism
In this course we will look backward into Chinese history to the mid-19th century through the series of essayist portraits of prominent officials, intellectuals, reformers and revolutionaries (Wei Yuan, Feng Guifen, the Empress Dowager, Liang Qichao, Sun Yat-sen, Chen Duxiu, Chiang Kai-shek, Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Zhu Rongji, and Liu Xiaobo). Our goal will be to better understand how China, once “the sick man of Asia” managed to reincarnate itself in the 1980s to become the economic powerhouse of today. Using intellectual and politically history as seen through the lives and works of these iconic Chinese thinkers and activists, we will seek to delineate the singular evolutionary pattern that, contrary to all western developmental theories, enabled China to transform itself into the superpower that it has become.