Fall 2021 First-Year Seminars | 2021 First-Year Seminars

The purpose of the First Year Seminar (FYS) is to help you make the transition to college by deepening your critical writing, reading, and research skills. Your FYS is the foundation upon which you will build the habits of mind that will enable you to participate in the community of inquiry. The First Year Seminars offerings present you with a wide array of interesting topics. As you read through your choices, challenge yourself to step outside your comfort zone, activate your curiosity, and explore an intriguing theme or exciting new questions.

1. Civil Disobedience in History

This seminar will discuss and define the concept of “civil disobedience” based on the writings of theorists, including Henry David Thoreau, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Our focus will be on non-violent resistance, but we will explore whether violence is ever justified. Case studies of civil disobedience in action will include Gandhi’s satyagraha (non-violent resistance) in South Africa and India; sit-ins organized by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC); occupation of federal land by Standing Rock Sioux and allies to block the Dakota Access pipeline; and the Black Lives Matter Movement. Students will research, write, and produce a documentary film about an act of civil disobedience.

Professor: Jeremy Ball, History
Time: MWF 11:30

2. Queer in Space (and Place)

New York’s Greenwich Village, San Francisco’s Castro district, and Seattle’s Capitol Hill—what do these neighborhoods have in common? The queer presence in these queer meccas is declining, and it is happening at the very same time as legal, political, and social conditions have improved for many lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, intersex and asexual persons. Does increasing social acceptance eliminate the need for local queer communities? What about the role of internet and social media--have online connections displaced physical ones? Or do these technologies liberate sexual and gender minorities? What can these shifts tell us about the relationship between identity, community, and space? As these “gayborhoods” become less and less gay, we will explore their historical role as safe-havens, examining how patterns of racial exclusion and transphobia have long complicated the notion of “community.” This course explores the history of sexualities with a sociological focus on place. It examines the racial, classed, and gendered tensions around the notion of place-based communities. Through classical historical texts by John D’Emilio and George Chauncey, and films such as Paris is Burning (1990) we will consider how modern sexual identities emerged within urban spaces. We will analyze primary documents from the Central Pennsylvania LGBT Oral History Project (1940s to the present) housed within Dickinson’s Archives, and trek to Philadelphia to investigate the city’s early gay and lesbian activism as well as its contemporary queer communities.

Professor: Amy Steinbugler, Sociology
Time: MF 11:30

3. Canceled

4. Black Horror: Black Spirituality and Literature and Culture of the Supernatural

This course explores supernatural themes in Black literature and culture as ways of resistance against imperialism and white supremacy. Using genres and mediums such as drama, fiction, poetry, music and film we will discuss how Black Islam, Black Christianity and indigenous African religions and cosmologies were deployed to improve the lives of the global Black diaspora. We will use both primary texts as well theoretical frameworks to create a nuanced vision of how Black peoples deployed spirituality and supernatural themes to resist and heal from the horrors of colonialism, slavery, and cultural erasure. The course seeks to develop research and writing skills as well as students’ creativity. It will require submission of both short research assignments as well as the performance of creative pieces. Some of the materials include films, novels and plays: Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror directed by Xavier Neal-Burgin, Beloved by Toni Morrison, Get Out directed by Jordan Peele, I Tituba, the Black Witch of Salem by Maryse Conde, Dutchman by Amiri Baraka. Students will work in groups to create an extensive bibliography of primary and secondary sources on the topic and create and develop a script for a podcast on their area of interest in Black spirituality and supernatural themes.

Professor: Nadia Alahmed, Africana Studies
Time: MF 11:30

5. From Babble to Babel: Becoming Bilingual

How many people in the world are bilingual? How does the bilingual brain work? Do we think differently in different languages? In what contexts do we switch languages? Is there a difference between being bilingual and bicultural? Should the state support bilingual education? This seminar explores what it means to be and become bilingual both from individual and societal perspectives. We will engage the intersections between language, identity and culture through scholarly, journalistic and artistic works spanning from scientific research articles to news stories, essays, language memoirs, fiction and poetry by authors who live across languages and cultures. Writers include James Baldwin, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Aimé Césaire, Edwidge Danticat, Eva Hoffman, Jack Kerouac, Jumpa Lahiri, Fernando Pessoa, Saint Augustine, Dai Sijie, and Voltaire. We will also discover Washington DC’s latest museum, Planet Word. Students will develop a range of writing, reading and speaking skills in relation to the seminar topic. Moreover, they will choose to fictionalize, document or translate the bilingual lives of others, through archives, interviews, and research about their own family history, their particular language and culture diaspora, or their local community members.

Professor: Lucile Duperron, French & Francophone Studies
Time: MWF 11:30

6. Reality and Other Lies

In Prometheus Rising, science fiction author and cultural critic Robert Anton Wilson wrote: “We are all living in separate realities.” Philip K. Dick, in his short story collection I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon, argued: “Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.” Taking these two statements as our starting point, we will spend the semester questioning “reality.” This class will interrogate the distinction between what’s real and what we think is real, and whether we can ever tell the difference. We will discuss conspiracy theories, yellow journalism, deepfakes, the Mandela effect, fake news, and whether or not we live in a computer. Types of texts may include novels and short stories, movies, television episodes, popular music, and cultural criticism. Students will write a series of substantive essays based on research and may present their research in in-class presentations.

Professor: Stacey Suver, American Studies
Time: MF 11:30

7. Suffragettes, Radicals, and Riveters: British Women in The First World War

A century after World War I, we are accustomed to women having political and economic power. But when the war began for Britain in 1914 it was illegal for women to vote or work in the professions; using birth control could send you to prison. How did Britain “become modern”? In this seminar, we’ll use film and literature to explore how women catalyzed social change-- in politics, work, sexuality, and art. We'll read controversial texts (novels, films, social history) in dialog. Your writing will explore several genres: 1. an analytical close reading 2. a comparative analysis, placing a film or literary text in dialogue with a primary historical text 3. an exploratory essay on research process and 4. an editor’s preface to a critical edition. Using informal writing in class and reflective exercises on research and the drafting process, we'll focus on process (in research and writing) and content. COVID permitting, we will visit archives at the Army Heritage Education Center at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle.

Professor: Wendy Moffat, English
Time: MWF 11:30

8. Catastrophe and Care: The Past and Present of Mutual Aid

In the words of prison abolitionist and trans activist Dean Spade, mutual aid is “the radical act of caring for each other while working to change the world.” Mutual aid projects have proliferated over the past few years in response to climate disaster, mass incarceration, the global pandemic, and other crises. In this class, we’ll examine contemporary and historical examples of mutual aid—including the Black Panther Party’s Free Breakfast Program and ongoing responses to COVID-19—and we’ll analyze theories of mutual aid to help us understand how and why mutual aid projects differ from charity, legal and media advocacy, and non-profit organizations. Depending on availability, we may have guest speakers who are or have been involved in mutual aid projects.

Professor: Jeff Engelhardt, Philosophy
Time: MF 11:30

9. Magic, Mystery, and Mayhem: Imagining Witches

The image of the witch holds significant power historically and in contemporary culture. From the European witch hunts spurred by the Malleus Maleficarum, to the frightening witches of children’s fairy tales, to the Salem Witch Trials in the U.S., witches have been seen as powerful and terrifying. Contemporary Wiccan practice and pop culture representations of the witch show them as still powerful but, perhaps, less scary. Why does the image of the witch have such a hold on our imaginations? What cultural anxieties or concerns are uncovered by exploring the changing image of the witch? We will read historical documents, novels and poems, accounts of contemporary Wiccan practitioners, and watch selections from films and TV episodes as we wrestle with these questions. Students will write several short essays and engage in a sequenced research project throughout the semester.

Professor: Donna Bickford, Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies
Time: MF 11:30

10. Lies, Revenge, and Really Bad Ideas: How Behavioral Economics Explains Some of Our Most Human Moments

Have you ever worked late into the night on an assignment, promising yourself you will never procrastinate so much again, only to make exactly the same mistake a month later? Have you ever made a purchase you regretted almost immediately? (Worse, was the foolish nature of the purchase entirely predictable?) Do you get magazine subscriptions you do not read or have a membership to a gym you seldom visit? Economics is built around critical, emotionless analysis. People are said to maximize their happiness over the long term and respond quickly to changing conditions. Yet ‘real’ people make flawed decisions, seem to forget about the future, take revenge even when it hurts them to do so, and sometimes lie.

We will recreate economic experiments that illustrate some of the ideas of behavioral economics and explore how these “mistakes” of human behavior can lead to outcomes we wouldn’t always expect – and often do not want. We will evaluate some of the economic assumptions about human behavior and how well it fits what we see in the world around us. We will think about honesty and when (and under what circumstances) we tend to break from this ideal. We will look for common behavioral mistakes in our home community, Dickinson and Carlisle, and think creatively about ways to engineer our environment (our choice architecture) to nudge people to make better choices. And you will present your ideas to the class at the end of the term in creative ways.

Professor: Tricia Hawks, Economics
Time: MF 11:30

11. Rise of the Machines: Representations of Artificial Intelligence in Science Fiction

What is Artificial Intelligence (AI)? How can the rise of AI benefit our society? What are the ethical issues and potential perils in the creation of AI? What can AI teach us about our own humanity? Science fiction novels and films have explored these questions in-depth and have fascinated and terrified audiences since the late 1800s. Writers and filmmakers have provided interesting perspectives on the role of AI in our future world with some taking a utopian vision while others take a dystopian one. But with the rise of AI in our modern society, from self-driving cars to face-recognition technology, how far away are we from the future that these visionaries have presented us? More importantly, how seriously should we consider the ethical issues and the dangers that these writers and filmmakers warn us of? In this course, we will first learn about what current AI technologies exist in our modern society and what contemporary intellectuals and thinkers, as well as the modern media, claim about the current and future state of AI. We will also read sci-fi short stories and novels and watch sci-fi films that explore the topic of AI. Readings and films will include, but are not limited to, Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Our film list will include some more modern depictions as well. Students will discuss and write about the different depictions of AI and its ethical implications and assess the importance and legitimacy of these authors’ fears and fascinations. Will the future machines be our friends, our enemies, or a mere reflection of who we are?

Professor: Eddie Tu, Mathematics & Computer Science
Time: MWF 12:30

12. Arguing about Politics, Society, and Culture in China, Vietnam, and Japan

One of the problems affecting the way we view Asian societies is a strong tendency to adopt normative ways of thinking. This means that we judge them based on our own expectations about what they should be doing or thinking. After reviewing the history of how certain normative notions were formed—for example, why we have assumed that Asian societies are more “harmonious” than the West —our seminar will shift course to take the opposite perspective, taking a close look at China, Vietnam, and Japan from their respective insides. In particular, we will focus on a variety of controversial topics that have engaged ordinary citizens there because they have an impact on their lives. What sort of arguments have Chinese and Vietnamese had amongst themselves about inequality, class, the role of law, nationalism, democracy, and corruption? What have Japanese said about low birth rates and phenomena such as “herbivore men” (ロールキャベツ男子)? What have Vietnamese veterans written about their war experiences? While the United States has served as a point of reference for some of these debates, we will see that we are not necessarily central to them. As a FYS, we will spend considerable time working on writing and research skills in individual and group projects. These will be applicable to other courses you are taking as well as those more relevant to East Asian Studies.

Professor: Neil Diamant, East Asian Studies
Time: MWF 12:30

13. The Design of Everyday Things: A Starter Kit for Good Design

As the title suggests, we will explore how and why everyday things are designed the way they are. After developing a foundation for understanding the principles of good design through reading and observation, we will all choose real products or services to design or improve and then develop a plan for bringing those better-designed things to market. The process of actualizing our designs will involve both product and market research. It will culminate with production of a written business plan and a 3-miniute “pitch” video, where each student explains both the design of their “thing” and the path envisioned to that design reality.

Professor: Jim Hoefler, Political Science
Time: MF 11:30

14. Canceled

15. Ideas That Have Shaped the World

Why do ideas matter? What is the relationship between the individual and the community? How can we define human nature? What is justice? Are there universal moral principles? Or are our actions considered moral according to the moment and place in which we find ourselves? Explore these and other fundamental issues of humanistic inquiry through a series of compelling and influential texts. Faculty members from several different disciplines will join with students to read and discuss the work of authors as diverse as Homer, Plato, Augustine, Shakespeare, Jefferson, Descartes, Marx, Darwin, Du Bois, Duras, and Achebe, among others. The reading list is focused around the question, “How do the ideas of these authors – all from different cultures and eras -- resonate across time and help us to understand our present experience within a global community?” Furthermore, studying carefully the work of outstanding thinkers, readers, and writers is one of the best ways to learn to read, think, and write well yourself. Because all sections of the course will read the texts simultaneously, conversations will extend beyond the classroom. The seminar also features six plenary lectures by visiting speakers and Dickinson faculty on themes and issues central to the readings. Students and faculty in all course sections will attend these plenary sessions together.

Professor: Hanna Roman, French & Francophone Studies
Time: MF 11:30

16. The Psychology of Living Your Best Life

The hashtag #liveyourbestlife on Instagram has close to 4 million posts, but what does it mean to actually live your best life? Amidst the global pandemic many have struggled to survive, much less thrive. The field of psychology has a long history of creating scientifically sound solutions to fixing human problems. This course provides students with a timely exploration of what new strategies the field of psychology, specifically positive psychology, has identified to enable people to live a more satisfying life, both on a local and global scale. Throughout the course, we will explore what psychological science can teach us about how to feel less stressed, how to be happier, and how to flourish. We will put these findings into practice by building the sorts of habits that will allow us to live a happier and more fulfilling life. We will also discuss how to apply these findings beyond our own lives to make our communities and the world better, too. Students will solidify their personal experiences through various writing assignments that allow them to process and translate their experiences into a personal narrative that can be shared easily with others in order to promote change not just at a personal level but at a community level as well.

Professor: Michele Ford, Psychology
Time: MF 11:30

17. Science vs. Religion: Discord or Accord?

Some renowned scientific thinkers such as Galileo Galilei, J.J. Thomson, and Francis Collins supported the idea of religion while others such as Stephen Hawking, Charles Darwin, and Richard Dawkins opposed it. Are religion and science compatible? In this seminar we will explore a variety of historical and contemporary perspectives on the compatibility of science and religion. Scientific literature does not support faith-based arguments, but do any of the major religious scriptures’ present scientific facts? Is science simply too young to understand all that religion has to say? What is the debate between creationism and evolution? Will an in-depth knowledge of science make one an atheist or will it lead one to spirituality? Are miracles real and, if yes, do they defy science? Through the course of the semester, we will read articles and possibly watch documentary films and talks representing a variety of viewpoints that will challenge your thinking and trigger new questions. We will share our opinions and argue standpoints through class discussions and writing assignments. Students will reflect on the diverse and complex ideas that they will encounter and contrast them with their own views. They will have the opportunity to complete an interview project with any scientist on or off campus by engaging in a conversation about their outlook on the coexistence of science and faith.

Professor: Farhan Siddiqui, Mathematics & Computer Science
Time: MWF 11:30

18. How the U.S. Institutionalized Racism

In recent years, racial justice activists, journalists and scholars have helped to create a national conversation about institutional, or systemic, racism in the United States. They have highlighted how institutional racism shapes housing, education, the criminal legal system, health outcomes and more. But systemic racism does not just appear; it takes work and intention to create places and systems that work for some and not for others. So how did the US institutionalize racism over time? How did race get used to shape the places we live and work, the systems and spaces that we move within, and our chances to live economically comfortable lives?

In this class, we will explore how racism became institutionalized throughout the 20th century in a number of key American systems related to criminal justice, education, health, work, housing, politics and state welfare. Secondary sources by historians like Ibram Kendi and Carol Anderson will provide broad overviews on the history of these systems. Then, by exploring red-lining maps, voter disenfranchisement legislation, oral histories, and other primary sources, we will work to understand how racism got “baked into” the US’s social fabric – usually without explicit racial exclusion. Our explorations will also take us into local archives, including the Dickinson College Archives and Special Collections. This class will focus on the ways in which institutional racism sought to marginalize or exclude African Americans in particular, yet we will also see the ways in which it affected a range of other peoples.

Professor: Say Burgin, History
Time: MF 11:30

19. The Evolution of a Cheeseburger

Why are so many of us captivated by television shows and podcasts about food? Cooking shows such as Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown and David Chang’s Ugly Delicious are more popular than ever while podcasts like De mi Rancho a tu Cocina and Farm to Table Talk are catching on like wildfire. Why? The answer may be embedded within our modern food industry which provides us with a cornucopia of prepared, prepackaged, and predigested food. Very few Americans cook at home in part due to our hectic lifestyles. As a result, we have forgotten what food is, where it comes from, and even how to prepare it. In this course we will uncover the origins of our food using Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel to find out where, when, and why we domesticated animals and plants. We will explore the modern (fast) food industry and its inevitable influence on our culture and health. Through hands-on field experiences at the Dickinson College Farm and elsewhere, we will participate in producing, harvesting, and processing our own food. Additional topics for collective study may include the advantages of cooked versus raw foods, the ethics of hunting, the butchering of wild game, and the challenges of living “off the grid.” An important portion of this course will be thoughtful, daily discussions of readings. This seminar will develop your writing skills by reflecting deeply upon the influence of culture on our eating habits, your analytical skills by synthesizing data on the environmental impacts of meat production, and your practical skills by physically engaging in food production and processing.

Professor: Scott Boback, Biology
Time: MWF 11:30

20. What? Now You Say We Have LOTS of Oil?

Everyone talks about converting to sustainable and renewable sources of energy, but for now we continue to burn oil and gas as the primary methods of energy generation, and in the last decade fracking has allowed the US to become a major player in energy production. Within that context, can we find common ground on what it means to be sustainable? Can we think critically about the tradeoffs that are necessary to commit to a world powered by sustainable energy? Is it even possible to create such a world? We will examine these issues as they relate to a complicated world governed by the overlap of energy and politics. We will use the unique power of various social media formats such as Twitter and Instagram to create text and video reports for a world in which we get our news and information increasingly on our phones. Note that this is NOT a course for discussion on whether fracking is a worthwhile or desirable process, but rather a forum for understanding its effects.

Professor: Michael Holden, Chemistry
Time: MF 11:30

21. Outsider Performance: Creative Interventions Beyond the Empty Space

The last time America faced a pandemic that killed hundreds of thousands was with the AIDS crisis, during which Outsider Artist David Wojnarowicz made famous the phrase SILENCE = DEATH before he himself succumbed to the terrible disease. If we believe this prophetic phrase to be true, then the opposite must also hold true: EXPRESSION = LIFE. There has never been more of a need for connection, for creation, for the radical use and dissemination of expression, than now. The pandemic has pulled down the walls and the gatekeepers from institutions and societal structures around the world. Since Joseph Beuys shook the art world with his declaration of “insider” and “outsider” art, the fine arts have been trying to reconcile with the understanding that some of the most exciting work was happening on the streets and on the internet, well beyond the walls of the galleries and the market of commodities and the curators who dictate what’s in or what’s out. The performance world is now reckoning with this same realization and transformation. When we think about the performing arts, we tend to think of what is situated inside of a specific time and located in a specific space. The human impulse for performance, for rebellion, for expression, however, is much too great to be contained inside of the walls of performing arts centers or within the constraints of traditional evening and matinee performances. Street dancers, musicians, buskers, mummers, performative protest, poets, digital artists, and more, make up the world of performance that takes place outside of the formal constraints of a theater. This class will investigate those who intervene in the structures of civilization through outsider performances. We will analyze and experiment with what drives humans to create in spontaneous, less structured ways, and we will explore the processes of radical making within the cracks and crevices of society. As part of this class, conditions permitting, students will be expected to attend performances both on and off campus. This course will culminate with a creative project.

Professor: Sherry Harper-McCombs, Theatre & Dance
Time: MWF 11:30

22. Outsider Performance: Creative Interventions Beyond the Empty Space

Professor: Kent Barrett, Theatre & Dance
Time: MWF 11:30

23. Calling Bullshit: Fighting for Facts in a Post-Truth World

“The world is awash in bullshit, and we’re drowning in it.” – Carl Bergstrom & Jevin West

Despite the rise of fake news, it is relatively easy to refute outright lies. It is much harder to contend with the more insidious methods of deception that mix truth with sloppy reasoning. In this seminar, we’ll learn to detect and defuse bullshit. We will explore common and often subtle methods of bullshit used by those who wish to influence our thinking and behavior. We will begin with a taxonomy of bullshit and study the natural ecology of bullshit in the environment where it often grows best—the internet. Using readings and case studies from both policy and science, we will explore the many different types of bullshit, from the merely misleading to the dangerously disingenuous. Some examples include, but are not limited to, food stamp fraud, “99.9% caffeine-free” beverages, and musician mortality differentials by genre. The information skills fostered in this seminar – detecting, defusing, and refuting bullshit – will be developed through knowledge of causal fallacies, statistical traps, misleading data visualizations, and the crucial role of fake news and social media. After learning how to detect bullshit, understand its growth and development, and employ strategies to refute it, students will be asked to create logical fallacies, misrepresent data, and present partial truths to create their own flavor of bullshit.

Professor: Jason Gavenonis, Chemistry
Time: MWF 11:30

24. Calling Bullshit: Fighting for Facts in a Post-Truth World

(See above.)

Professor: Tony Underwood, Economics
Time: MWF 12:30

25. The Unending Crusades: Religion, Violence, Mythistory and its Legacy

The exciting challenge of studying the Crusades is that they are often used and misused in popular media platforms. In this seminar, we will consider how taking head-on the notion of mythistory – the mixing of history with myth -- can be an engaging learning experience. In so doing, we will learn to think historically, to understand the past on its own terms; learning about the Crusades helps us to do so because much of the crusading language turns on clichés and partial understanding of events. We will explore this topic without shying away from the sometimes unsettling issue of religion—especially the toxic combination of religion and violence about which there is so much misinformation and disinformation. We will give more attention to Judaism, often overlooked, in addition to Islam and Christianity. We will explore myths of the Crusades in Western European, Middle Eastern, and Jewish documents as well in as other writings about the Crusades and try to understand how different historians, as well as non-historians, see the Crusades. Ultimately, we will try to answer the question, “How many Crusades are there?” Finally, we will examine what we have done culturally with the vestiges we have inherited from the Crusades: present-day notions, film representations, political and cultural movements, even online gaming.

Professor: Abraham Quintanar, Spanish & Portuguese
Time: MWF 11:30

26. Pandemics: Past, Present, and Potential

COVID-19 has reminded us that disease pandemics are one of the most dramatic, dangerous and disruptive events that challenge human society. This seminar will explore the scientific and societal contexts of the COVID-19 pandemic and compare it to pandemics in the past as well as potential future pandemics. Some of the past pandemics we will consider are the 1918-19 H1N1 influenza pandemic, the polio pandemic, the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and the Ebola pandemic of 2014. Along the way, we will discuss aspects of infection, immunity, treatment, and prevention and the influence of politics, conspiracy theories, globalization, and climate change. Readings will include excerpts from John Barry’s The Great Influenza, David Oshinky’s Polio: An American Story, Laurie Garrett’s The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance, and David Quammen’s Ebola: The Natural and Human History of a Deadly Virus. We will also discuss a selection of readings from popular magazines and the primary scientific literature, and we will conduct a limited number of relevant laboratory exercises.

Professor: John Henson, Biology
Time: MWF 11:30

27. From Peasants to Technocrats: The Nature of Work

As the post-industrial world expands with its service jobs and high-tech sector, people have lost a sense of what industrial or pre-industrial work was like. What did peasants, artisans, factory workers or domestic servants do and under what sorts of conditions? How did different peasants work the land, or what did the introduction of the steam engine or the assembly line mean? To find out, this seminar will read autobiographies, novels, and newspapers supplemented by the work of historians and sociologists. We will encounter a variety of experiences including those of women and immigrants. We will also take advantage of current representations of work such as episodes of How It’s Made and choose someone to interview in order to think about what has or has not changed. While our focus will be on the work itself, we will also discuss how work has defined class systems and contributed to political activism. This course will mainly take a European perspective but will also include some American experiences.

Professor: Reginal Sweeney, History
Time: MWF 12:30

28. I Am Not Who You Think I Am: Fictions of Self, Identity, and Difference in Literature, Film, Popular Culture

How do we embrace, fashion, and embody our identities and, particularly, our differences? In what ways are we compelled to wield our sameness and otherness towards belonging and/or resistance? Can others imitate and falsify these experiences? If so, what does this appropriation say about our authentic sense of self? On the one hand, our seminar will explore the ways in which individuals and groups accept, resignify, or reject their social categorizations. On the other, we will unpack how these individuals and groups perform and negotiate these subject positions. Our primary objects of study will be texts produced in the Caribbean, Latin America, Spain, and the United States. These include, but are not limited to, Calderón de la Barca’s Life is a Dream, Almodóvar’s Bad Education, Manzano’s Autobiography of a Slave, Larsen’s Passing, performances by Coco Fusco and Guillermo Gómez Peña, Anzaldúa’s Borderlands/La frontera, Livingston’s Paris is Burning, and Riggs’ Tongues Untied. RuPaul’s Drag Race, NPR’s Code Switch, and the Twitterverse will serve as supplements to our conversations. In closely analyzing these texts, we will address self-fashioning, crossdressing, passing, stereotyping, code-switching, and disidentification. Throughout this writing intensive class, we will explore the field of cultural studies in order to think and write about our various sources and to produce an autobiographical digital story. ***Please note that the material we will consider contains situations that may be emotionally challenging and/or disturbing.

Professor: Amaury Leopoldo Sosa, Spanish & Portuguese
Time: MF 11:30

29. Family Drama

Tolstoy said: "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Family is often at the center of our history, our hopes, our dreams, and our very understanding of the world. It is a source of love and joy, but also of pain and frustration. How do we reconcile the conflicting elements of family? How are we shaped by the relationships? What happens when the family unit is confronted with the flaws of the outside world? Or is confronted from within the family by the flaws of an individual? We will identify, define, and discuss issues both societal and personal as we look at specific families in plays from modern and contemporary American theatre. In class we will read and watch scenes, and watch some plays in part or whole. We will also discuss the craft of the playwright. We will look at how the writer defines character, develops relationships, and finally creates meaning in a play. For the final project of the semester, students will have the chance to research and write their own short plays. The reading list may include Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Death of a Salesman, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Fences, God of Carnage, Buried Child, August: Osage County or Sweat.

Professor: Sha’an Chilson, Creative Writing
Time: MWF 12:30

30. Seeing and Understanding the Human Place in Nature

This seminar explores the complex interactions between humans and the natural world through multiple and overlapping viewpoints, disciplines and “ways of knowing”. We will consider nature as something independent of human beings and as an entity that owes nothing to our species Homo sapiens. This biophysical “world out there” supports our existence and structures human societies. We will discuss how we construct ideas about nature. Since we all explore, perceive and divide the world around us (call it your “environment”) based on our worldviews and life experiences, nature is a social as well as physical entity. Finally, we will examine nature as something we work to create. Nature existed before humans arrived and will continue on after we disappear. But while we are here, we continually reshape, restructure and reorganize the world around us.

The seminar engages critically with topics that lie at the heart of today’s environmental issues and informs debates about sustainability. To help us in our quest to better understand the human place in nature, we will examine materials from the natural sciences, nature literature and prose, history, philosophy and ethics, economics, politics, religion, cultural studies, sociology and policy. In this sense, the class takes an interdisciplinary approach. We will also employ “found objects,” view photographs and paintings, watch films, engage with guest speakers, and take field trips to add to our understanding. The final project will have students writing a script and producing a podcast. Most importantly, we will discuss and analyze the topic collaboratively and have a chance to learn from each other.

Professor: Michael Beevers, Environmental Studies
Time: MF 11:30

31. Ideas That Have Shaped the World

Professor: Carol Ann Johnston, English
Time: MF 11:30

32. Polar Opposites? Global Warming at Earth’s Extremes

The North and South poles of Earth are the front lines of climate change where temperatures are changing the fastest and where, arguably, global warming is already having drastic impacts. But how similar are these two extremes ends of the earth? What drove early people and explorers to places with such extreme cold and deathly perils? In modern times, who will feel the effects of global warming and the resulting climate change in the Arctic or Antarctic, and why should we care? Who owns these faraway places, anyway? Are they governed by international laws? We will explore two of the last frontiers on Earth from the perspectives of literature, science, and policy while practicing a variety of communication modes (verbal and written) to think critically about polar issues. We will also learn/be introduced to basic concepts of spatial literacy, including beginner (Google Earth) and advanced (GIS) geospatial tools. We may have guest visits from Dickinson alumni who do research in the Arctic, or visit the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History to view their Arctic collections, or even check out Dickinson’s own Arctic art collection. Students projects may include podcasts chronicling polar expeditions or how global warming is impacting arctic communities.

Professor: Ben Edwards, Earth Science
Time: MWF 11:30

33. Ideas That Have Shaped the World

34. But Is It Art?

That a thing is a work of art seems to give it a special claim: we may believe that works of art should not be destroyed, and perhaps that they have a special claim against censorship or limits on free expression. In various situations, in other words, the concept is important, and we have an intuitive sense (or several) of its meaning, or at any rate we have rough ways of trying to sort out the art from the non-art. But many controversial cases arise. Is hip hop or country music art, or some of it? Could a Tik Tok video or a series of Tweets be a work of art? Is a monument to a Confederate general a work of art, or could it be under certain circumstances? And if it were, would that indicate that it should be preserved? Using some fundamental reflections on this matter from the likes of Aristotle, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and John Dewey and many case studies from the contemporary arts, crafts, and media, we'll try to figure out whether “art” can be defined, “and if so whether it ought to be, and if so, how it can be.

Professor: Crispin Sartwell, Philosophy
Time: MF 11:30

35. Calling Bullshit: Fighting for Facts in a Post-Truth World

“The world is awash in bullshit, and we’re drowning in it.” – Carl Bergstrom & Jevin West

Professor: Jacqueline Campbell, Mathematics & Computer Science
Time: MF 11:30

36. Philosofood: Making Sense of Ourselves through Our Relationships with Food

Some say you are what you eat. From preferences and tastes (New York slice or Chicago deep dish?) to etiquette and hospitality (when, where, and how do you eat?) to expressions of belief and identity (vegetarianism, keeping kosher, ritual fasting) to political tools (hunger strikes, taxing soda, locavorism), how we interact with food says a lot about us as individuals and a society. In this seminar, we will read, write, think, and talk about food (and perhaps even eat some!). We’ll critically examine restaurant reviews and recipes. We’ll consider the cultural significance of foods, diets, and culinary techniques. Fusing flavors is fun, but are we respecting the intellectual property and cultural traditions of others? Once we have a good grip on food and its value to us, we’ll explore the complex worlds of food ethics, food injustice, and using food in political action. Is it ethical to consume animals? Do you eat sustainably? Do you have the luxury of caring? What should we consider in preventing and relieving famine? What should companies be obligated to tell us about processed food? Why might someone think a hunger strike is a compelling form of protest? How should we treat hunger strikers? You will develop your argumentative writing and oral debate skills by challenging yourself to articulate, defend, and object to a wide range of views on food and what we do with it.

Professor: Emily Kelahan, Philosophy
Time: MWF 11:30

37. Calling Bullshit: Fighting for Facts in a Post-Truth World

(See above.)

Professor: Alyson Thibodeau, Earth Science
Time: MF 11:30

38. Process and Invention in the Arts: Investigating the Nature of Creative Practice

This seminar will investigate the nature of creative practice and the working process of artists. We will grapple with the notion of artistic genius through an examination of the idiosyncratic and unconventional approaches artists utilize in the process of making. This will include a range of approaches that are steeped in rigor, inventiveness, and risk-taking. Assessment within the process, including the role of critical analyses and the ability to confront seeming failure will be a defining characteristic of the artists we study. The class will have workshops in various mediums, including printmaking, digital process, and drawing as a way for students to actively explore what they learn from other artists towards the development of their own creative practice. Though this course will focus on visual and conceptual art practice, the approaches to inventiveness, problem-solving, and critical thinking can be usefully applied to a range of disciplines.

Professor: Todd Arsenault, Art & Art History
Time: MF 11:30

39. How to Avoid High-Tech Dystopia? The Promises and Perils of Digital Technology for Humanity, Economy, and Society

In the past four decades, the rise of digital technology has radically changed every aspect of our daily life, our economy, our society, and our politics. With the advancement of artificial intelligence, we will soon witness unprecedented changes in human conditions. While digital technology afforded us great conveniences and almost unlimited access and reach that our ancestors could never have enjoyed, it has also caused unintended negative consequences when it interacted with human nature and human agency, possibly undermining the health of individuals, society, economy, and politics. For many, the initial technological optimism has turned into an unnerving fear of the possibility of high-tech dystopia. The question of how to avoid the possibility is of utmost importance for the future of humanity.

While the benefits of digital technology are taken as a given, we will discuss and write about those unintended consequences and elaborate on ways to overcome them. In so doing, we will read Nicholas Carr’s The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brain, Sherry Turkle’s Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age, Shoshana Zuboff’s The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power, and Cathy O’Neil’s Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy. We will each design a questionnaire to survey peers at Dickinson on a topic of our choosing and analyze our findings in a written report.

Professor: Dengjian Jin, International Business & Management
Time: MWF 11:30

40. Ideas That Have Shaped the World

Professor: Christopher Bilodeau, History
Time: MF 11:30

41. A State of Denial: Understanding and Responding to Climate Change Denialism

We will be critically examining the phenomenon of denialism, which can be described as denial of the validity of scientific claims despite overwhelming evidence and expert consensus. Although the origins of contemporary denialism can be traced to efforts since the 1950’s by large tobacco companies to obscure the health effects of smoking, denialism has since come to take a major role in the political debate over climate change in the US, and has been a major factor limiting the prospects of meaningful climate action. This seminar will examine some of the reasons why this kind of “post-truth” argument persists: the rise of political polarization, a changing media landscape, cognitive biases in human psychology, and the nature of scientific inquiry itself. Members of the class will also learn to recognize the various forms that post-truth arguments about climate change can take, while strategizing ways to respond effectively, in both public and personal discourse.

Professor: John Katunich, Writing Program
Time: MWF 12:30

42. Political Economy of Gender, Race, and Class

Gender, race/ethnicity, class, nationality, and other characteristics are interconnected designations that influence human experience and options in society. For instance, in the U.S. individuals of different ethnic and racial backgrounds often work different jobs, earn different incomes, hold different levels of wealth, and live in different neighborhoods. Men and women are clearly concentrated in different kinds of jobs and their earnings and their likelihood of living in poverty differs. There are large and growing differences in the social circumstances of the rich and poor, and one’s socioeconomic status is clearly affected by one’s gender, race, ethnicity, social class, and other characteristics. Inequalities exist across as well as within nations. In a world of unprecedented wealth, the average life expectancy in some parts of the world is 52.8 years. Women on average earn considerably less than men. This course is concerned with the economic analysis and interpretation of these kinds of inequality within and across nations.

This course aims to challenge you to think critically about and develop the ability to analyze gender, race, and class issues that can become invisible or get denied, trivialized, or ignored in our daily lives. We will examine the diversity of experiences, the mechanisms that support the status quo, the consequences of gender, class and race differences, the historical political economic and legal underpinnings of contemporary inequalities, selected contemporary issues, and the strategies to restructure self and society. Since the main concerns of the course are in the news every day, nationally and locally, the classroom will provide a forum for relating current events to the course.

Professor: Ebru Kongar, Economics
Time: MF 11:30

43. Wicked Problems/Virtuous Solutions: Strategies for the Greater Good

Psssst! Want to change the world? Wonder if humanity can eliminate issues like poverty? Or disease? Or barriers to quality education? In this first-year seminar, students will explore entangled, “wicked problems.” What are they, why are they so hard to deal with, and how can people develop plans to tackle them? Spoiler alert: There’s no right answer. Wicked problems are social or cultural issues that defy simple solutions because of complexity, interdependence, expense, competing interests, and unintended consequences. Rather than “true or false” solutions, wicked problems often involve “better or worse” strategies, and they are unlikely ever to disappear. Students’ final projects will include a casebook documenting their experience in the course, a presentation pitched to a general audience about a wicked problem of their choice, and a written report aimed at relevant decision-makers. Come prepared to voice your opinions, experiment with design thinking techniques, advocate, listen, and collaborate.

Professor: Damon Yarnell, Advising, Internships & Career Center
Time: MF 11:30

44. Philosofood: Making Sense of Ourselves through Our Relationships with Food

Professor: Emily Kelahan, Philosophy
Time: MWF 12:30

45. Family Drama

Professor: Sha’an Chilson, Creative Writing
Time: MWF 11:30

46. Canceled