Seminars for 2016

Seminars for 2016

1. China from Inside and Out. Mr. Barr. This course examines how Chinese society has been understood and depicted in a variety of narrative forms over the last fifty years by a range of authors both Chinese and Western. Readings include essays and commentaries by Yu Hua and Han Han (who live in China), short stories by Pai Hsien-yung, Ha Jin, and Li Yiyun (who were born in China but immigrated to the United States), accounts of life in China by Americans Peter Hessler and Mark Salzman, and a novel by Amy Tan (the daughter of Chinese immigrants to the United States). Among the questions to be addressed: How do we understand the shift from Cultural Revolution politics to the era of economic reform that began in 1978? How different is mainland society from Chinese communities in Taiwan and the United States? What potential for individual freedom exists within China’s authoritarian system? What are the key challenges to communication and understanding between China and the West? Writing assignments will involve a comparison paper, a close reading and analysis, and an independent research project.
2. Tolkien. Mr. Chinn. This course considers some of the major works of J.R.R. Tolkien, the ”classic of the 20th century,” from a variety of perspectives. For example, we will examine Tolkien’s narrative technique, his use of visual description, his invented languages, his legendarium, his ethics, as well as the historical context of the works. Writing assignments will include explanatory commentaries and interpretive essays based upon these commentaries. The final assignment will be a short (ca. 5 page) research paper based upon one of the interpretive essays.
3. Cold Places. Ms. Chu. From snow-covered peaks to the circumpolar tundra, from the Arctic sea ice to the frozen landscapes of Antarctica, cold places evoke images of rugged wilderness and vast spaces. Far from being pristine or empty, however, cold places have been the home of diverse communities as well as the setting for dramatic cultural, political, and environmental encounters. In the twentieth century, they became geostrategic locations and treasure troves of natural resources. In the twenty-first century, they are vulnerable places and indicators of the health of our planet. What draws people to cold places? What makes cold places unique, and how are they changing in light of global warming? How have cold places been affected by industrialization, imperialism, and modern science and technology? In this seminar, we explore the past and present of cold places through a variety of lenses. Our journey takes place through films and documentaries, memoirs and fiction, and works of history, sociology, and anthropology centered on indigenous livelihoods, exploration, and the environment. We exercise our creative muscles through critical essays and research into the human dimensions of cold places.
4. Songs In Context. Mr. Cramer. What can histories of song teach us about shifts in sociocultural attitudes, the influence of cross-cultural contact, the experiences of events grand and ordinary, and the powers and limits of human communication? Singing may be a spontaneous act, but for some reason, we want songs—packages of words and tones, meanings and emotions—to be made permanent and repeatable. Ages ago songs were inscribed in clay tablets, scrolls, and codices. In the modern era one recording medium after another has been used to preserve, transmit, and even commodify songs. All along, songs have been packaged in narratives, rituals, and theatrical productions. These diverse historical records will let us examine medieval love songs from Arabia and southwestern Europe, vividly expressive opera arias, American patriotic songs and songs of the civil-rights movement, speech-music hybrids such as religious chant, melodrama, or rap, and more. Some of your writing will explore the songs themselves from musical, literary, or psycholinguistic perspectives, some the songs’ origins, performance histories, and other background. Your final paper will examine a song of your choice. You will listen to many songs and (even if you don’t realize you’re a musician) you will join in the creation and performance of some.
5. I Disagree. Mr. de Silva. The most important skill in any relationship—personal, professional, political—is knowing how to disagree. Why? In this seminar, we consider the problem of living with difference. What does it take to be the one juror out of twelve who votes innocent? What are the dangers of living with people who agree with you? How does a scientific community confront troublesome new ideas? A religious community? Is it weak to compromise? Do you enjoy being right? Do you prefer being wrong? It is an unfortunate fact that the word “disagreeable” is usually taken to mean “unpleasant.” In this seminar, we will rehabilitate the word and revive the noble art of disagreement. Participants will be expected engage with the wider college community as we grapple with these questions.
6. “Flashpoints” in Rock & Roll History. Mr. Dettmar. Rock & roll has both endured and enjoyed a rocky public reception since its earliest days: Bill Haley & the Comet’s “Rock Around the Clock” (1954) provoked riots across the country and rock quickly developed a snarling public image. High-profile dust-ups continue to characterize rock’s relationship with its public; Beyoncé’s debut of “Formation” at the 2016 Superbowl is just one of the most recent installments. In this seminar, we will trace the “scandalous” history of rock ‘n’ roll through its public controversies: Bob Dylan “going electric” at Newport, Jimi Hendrix burning his guitar at Monterey, Sinead O’Connor tearing up a photo of the Pope on Saturday Night Live, Milli Vanilli revealed as frauds… . In such moments, we learn a great deal about what rock hopes to be, about its intrinsic contradictions and structural instability, and about the resistance it meets from its own fans.Writing assignments for the course will trace an arc of increasing complexity and more in-depth research, beginning with shorter, “close reading” exercises of musical and filmic moments in rock history and culminating in a sustained, well-researched exploration of the cultural history and significance one of rock’s significant “flashpoints.”
7. Language and Gender. Mr. Divita. In this course we will seek to answer the following question: how do patterns of speaking reflect and construct our experience of gender? We will begin by exploring foundational research on language and gender within the field of sociolinguistics, tracing its development from the 1970s to the present. We will examine the linguistic resources through which individuals perform gender identities today; we will also consider the ways in which grammar constrains how gender may be invoked, and how such constraints vary across languages and cultures. Throughout the semester we will engage with current debates about linguistic phenomena—such as uptalk, vocal fry, and the use of “like”—that are often gendered by popular media in problematic ways. We will also analyze how language can be used to challenge gender norms. During the course, students will collect original language data, which they will analyze in light of the concepts and issues examined in our readings and class discussions.
8. The Russian Soul? Ms. Dwyer. Outside observers labeled Russia “barbaric,” “profound,” and “irrational” long before Putin ever came to power. Russians themselves often speak of the “Russian soul” and of their nation’s “unfathomable” nature. In this class we will explore and challenge these notions by reading, viewing, and listening to a few of Russia’s most influential works of art, including Repin’s painting of Ivan the Terrible; avant-garde visual production; the art actions of Pussy Riot; Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin; stories by Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and Bulgakov; a play by Chekhov; Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker and Swan Lake. As we engage with the art and with interpretations of it by scholars, journalists, and memoirists, we will also do plenty of writing of our own. We will hone our interpretive and analytic skills in close readings of images and texts and in reviews of books and films. In the final essay, you will choose a single object of Russian culture and follow its journey across borders of space or time, analyzing how a work of art acquires new meanings in new settings.
9. Martin Luther King Jr.: From Montgomery to Memphis. Mr. Foster. On December 1, 1955 Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery City Bus to a white man. Mrs. Parks was arrested and charged with disturbing the peace. This one act of civil disobedience signaled the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement. This act thrust a young pastor into a role that he never thought was his calling: the leader of a secular civil rights movement. From December 1, 1955 until his death on April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. would by default become the “leader” of the modern civil rights movement. In this seminar, we will analyze the writings, speaking, and teaching of Martin Luther King, Jr., as well as the development and evolution of the Civil Rights Movement.
10. Los Angeles and the Natural Environment. Mr. Gorse. So you are going to college in California? What do you expect to find there? You are probably asking yourself that, like many before you. This course explores the myth and history of Los Angeles and the relationship of urban space to the natural environment by engaging with text, image, film and by taking field trips. We begin with Carey McWilliams’ classic, Southern California: An Island on the Land, on this modern “Eden” and its diverse histories. William Deverell and Greg Hise continue with Land of Sunshine: An Environmental History of Metropolitan Los Angeles, taking on the difficult issues of sustainability. Reyner Banham’s Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies takes us on the highways of the motor city; while Mike Davis, City of Quartz: Excavating the Future of Los Angeles delves into the dystopic world of the “City of (Fallen) Angels.” Through film, history, literature, architecture and urbanism, we critically analyze Los Angeles as a metropolis in the sun—past, present, and future.
11. Living with Pets and Among Wildlife. Ms. Grigsby. Connections between human and non-human animals vary across time and culture.  This seminar will begin with an exploration of the relationship between people and domesticated animals, particularly dogs and cats.  National parks and other protected lands offer an opportunity for people to interact with wildlife.  The seminar readings include memoirs, as well as scholarship from the biological and social sciences.  Writing assignments include informal reflections on the readings and discussions.  More formal textual analyses will comprise the bulk of the graded writing assignments. Students will have the opportunity to take a short hike on the local wilderness trail and meet individuals involved in animal rescue organizations.
12. Education and Its Discontents. Ms. Karaali. Thinking people have long debated what makes a good education and just what education is good for. In this course, we will tackle these two enduring questions, engaging with classical and contemporary arguments about education and clarifying our understanding of the goals of (a liberal arts) college. We will study the history of schooling in the United States, survey the philosophical underpinnings of education, and investigate the purposes of educating the young in the arts, the humanities and mathematics. We will read excerpts from the Western canon and other thinkers from around the world, as well as historical surveys and essay compilations arguing for diverse points of view. You will thus begin college with a critique of the notion and institutions of education, and develop a stance that will guide you as you consciously and purposefully move forward in your lives.
13. Muslim Literary Landscapes. Ms. Kassam. In western media, Muslims appear as volatile and angry, the kind of people who are prone to violent uprisings and terrorist attacks. Such representations rarely include the variety of factors—differing interpretations of religion, national identity, the impact of colonization, the struggle for gender justice—that shape the realities of Muslims in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In this seminar, we read literary works by Muslim authors of this period in order to better understand this range of factors. Critical literature such as Edward Said’s Culture and Imperialism will accompany our readings in order to inform our analysis and develop tools for research and writing. Through written projects including researched essays, wiki entries, book reviews, and letters, students will explore the socio-cultural, historical and political background of the issues taken up by the authors. The assignments include a drafting-and-revision process that incorporates feedback from peers and a Writing Fellow. By the end of the semester, students should have advanced their skills in conducting research, reading and writing clearly and critically, and have a better understanding of issues faced by Muslims.
14. The European Enlightenment. Mr. Kates. European society in the eighteenth century was riddled with inequalities of all kinds: religious bigotry and political despotism, as well as new forms of racism, slavery, and class strife. The writers and artists associated with the European Enlightenment suggested radical ways to address these problems. These proposals encompassed both the political and social realms, imagining new forms of friendship and marriage, as if those relationships might constitute analogies to politics itself. In doing so, they blurred the lines between the government and the social, the political and the private, and established a moral foundation for our modern era. Readings will include primary works from the period by such authors as Rousseau, Voltaire, Diderot, Montesquieu, and Richardson.
15. The TV Novel. Mr. Klioutchkine. How does a television series relate to our everyday experience and to our understanding of the culture we live in? How did a nineteenth-century serialized novel relate to its readers’ perception of the world around them? What can these genres tell us about ourselves? In this seminar, we will explore these questions as we understand the links between the serialized novel and the original television series, the novel’s present-day popular incarnation. We will read Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel The Idiot (1867) before focusing on the television series Mad Men.
16. Philosophy Through Science Fiction. Mr. Kung. Alternate universes. Time travel. Robots. Immortality. Mind reprogramming. In some of the best science fiction, authors drop characters into worlds featuring intriguing technologies or wildly different scientific laws. Why? Because the way characters navigate that world dramatizes some previously hidden question about the nature of reality or the human condition. We might ask ourselves, for example, what makes me me? The question becomes more acute if I can endlessly customize my character, clone myself, and survive brain transplants; in what sense does the “real me” remain? Suppose a time traveler should reluctantly reveal the date and manner of my death. Am I really in control of my own fate? In what sense has the time traveler’s revelation robbed me of freedom to make of my life what I will? We’ll examine these sorts of questions through both philosophical readings and science fiction stories and movies by Ted Chiang, Philip K. Dick, Greg Egan, Terry Gilliam, Spike Jonze, and Ursula Le Guinn, among others. In your papers, you will craft arguments where you attempt to answer them. This will be fun.
17. Ecotopias. Mr. Los Huertos. In this course, we begin a journey to explore possible futures for this human-dominated world. From creation myths to visions of apocalypse, we cast our hopes and fears into stories that reflect the long and complex relationship between humans and the natural world. We will examine variety of ecological utopias and dystopias and consider how they use (or misuse) scientific knowledge and cultural fears using a wide range of sources, which include utopian narratives, visual arts, science fiction film, and concrete attempts to create utopian communities. Our sources include fictional works (e.g., More’s Utopia, Gilman’s Herland), film (e.g., On The Beach, The Day After Tomorrow, Children of Men, and The Hunger Games), various intentional community descriptions (e.g. communes, kibbutz). By drawing on these sources, we will evaluate how we might imagine the relationship between “us,” “them,” and “the world,” and how this triangle of actors continues to shape contemporary thought about our ecological context.
18. Mirroring Japan/ese America. Ms. Miyake. In this seminar, we will explore what Japan and/or Japanese America looks and feels like to a series of writers, dramatists, manga and anime writers and artists. You may be surprised by what you encounter; you may disagree with what they reveal; or you may resonate with what they say. In this course, we will read a range of texts, asking questions about how they represent the spaces and identities and Japan/ese America. Have you ever read a work by Murakami Haruki, Oe Kensabuto, or our own Pomona graduate Garrett Hongo? Or has the manga by CLAMP, Cardcaptor Sakura, “captured” your imagination? What about The Grave of the Fireflies? In addition to addressing issues of gender, sexuality, and orientalism, we will also consider what difference medium makes: do traditional literary forms, such as novels and plays, treat these questions differently than popular forms, such as manga and anime?
19. The Economics and Politics of Food. Ms. Novarro. You have heard the saying “you are what you eat”, but have you ever wondered what exactly you are about to eat and why you are eating it?  In the United States, the government has increasingly tried to pass legislation with the goal of getting people to eat healthier foods.  How effective are laws such as requiring calorie counts on menus, banning or taxing sugary beverages, and requiring schools to provide a “healthy” lunch?  On the other hand, the government has had a long-standing practice of protecting the sugar industry while subsidizing farmers growing corn and soy.  While the resulting higher sugar prices may support a goal of healthier eating, extremely cheap (and genetically modified) corn syrup would seem to do the opposite.  Finally, how have government regulations regarding what must be included and what can be left off food labels influenced the chemicals and ingredients used in food products? Food policy is really the confluence of many different
20. Science and the Public’s Health. Mr. & Ms. O’Leary. The relationship between science and health is complicated. Look no further than your refrigerator to find a story that illustrates this point. The development of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) by Midgley and co-workers in the late 1920s was a public health advance because these non-flammable and non-toxic compounds provided cheaper and safer home refrigeration. Only fifty years later was the environmental impact of these compounds revealed, when CFCs were identified by Rowland and Molina as causing depletion of global health-preserving ozone in the upper atmosphere. One advance led to a significant downstream unintended consequence. Coincidentally, Midgley was also involved in the development of the gasoline additive tetraethyl lead, an example where science advanced a technology in spite of known adverse health effects. Course materials will include books, journal articles, popular press and video. Critical analysis skills will be developed through close reading, active discussion and presentation, writing and peer review of writing. Specific writing assignments include one-page responses to the day’s readings, five-page position papers and a longer research paper. Class topics may include vaccination policy, cancer, pharmaceutical synthesis, HIV/AIDS, antibiotic resistance, lead contamination, and the science and ethics of the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology.
21. Composing a Nation: Music in Paris, 1900-1925. Mr. Peterson. In this course we will explore musical life in Paris in a pivotal 25-year period.  Specifically, we’ll investigate how national identity was defined through musical expression.  In considering works by composers such as Debussy, Ravel, Saint-Saëns, Lili Boulanger, Satie, Milhaud, and Poulenc, we will pay close attention not only to the important musical genres (symphonic music, piano music, opera, song, and chamber music), but also to broader cultural movements such as Impressionism and Exoticism.  We will investigate two notable performances of works by Stravinsky presented by the Russian Ballet in pre-war Paris.  And we will explore the disruption caused by World War I and the wartime debates about national identity.  Finally, we will examine emerging themes in post-World War I Paris, including the formulation of a post-war neo-classicism and the appropriation of jazz in the 1920s.  In writing assignments we will explore themes relating to music and national identity: students will write reflections on compositions as well as short research papers based on different models (the “program note,” for one example).  One writing assignment will focus on national anthems (considered from an interdisciplinary perspective). 
22. Lose Thyself. Mr. Quetin. You have just committed to four years of a liberal arts education, the expressed purpose of which is to free your mind and soul. But what happens if it doesn’t work out that way? Or what if your education serves you too well and your freedom takes you to unknown or perilous places? In this course we will explore the art of being lost. We will place ourselves in the midst of the perennial effort to create order and harmony in the cosmos and the natural and societal forces tearing these world views apart. By learning how to communicate our own experiences of being lost we will join a greater conversation with a variety of lost souls over the last few millennia and examine the extraordinary transformations that can occur to those who find themselves adrift. In addition to learning how to navigate the night sky and exploring the nature of the big bang, we’ll be immersing ourselves in epic poetry, autobiographical sketches, philosophical essays, short stories, theater, film and music.
23. Crime Fiction of Los Angeles and New York. Ms. Raff. This course will survey the American hardboiled tradition of crime and detective fiction. We will be asking what cultural work this genre does, where it stands with respect to the broader culture, and what it can teach us about how to construct a good story. Other topics will include the noir aesthetic, the problem of evil, the city as landscape, the ethically unreliable narrator, the antihero(ine), the distance between law and justice, and the place of formulas and conventions in literature. Readings may include fiction by Horace McCoy, James Cain, Raymond Chandler, Jim Thompson, Ross Macdonald, Walter Mosley, Dashiell Hammett, Chester Himes, and Patricia Highsmith as well as nonfiction by Mike Davis, Luc Sante, W. H. Auden, Susan Neiman, Caroline Levine, and Tzvetan Todorov. The course will invite students to write parody, pastiche, and informal reading responses as well as analytical essays.
24. The Problem of Form: Sonnet, Still Life, Life. Ms. Rosenfeld. The English poet Ben Jonson likened the sonnet to an instrument of torture, a “tyrant’s bed,” where the poet strapped down his thoughts and “some who were too short were racked and others too long, cut short.”  By contrast, T.S. Eliot suggested that the sonnet “is not merely such and such a pattern, but a precise way of thinking.”  Paradoxically referring to both an essential shaping principle and mere outward shape or appearance, the concept of form (as well as the informe, the formless, and deformity) has been central to disciplines in the humanities with respect to both how these disciplines conceive of and describe their distinct objects of knowledge and how they conceive of and describe their central methods for producing knowledge. In this seminar, we will explore the question of the relation of form to thinking across several different disciplines, including literature, art history, architecture, and the history of science.  Our readings will range from Plato’s Timaeus and Ovid’s Metamorphoses to Shakespeare’s Sonnets and Italo Calvino’s Cosmicomics and we will grapple with the insights of theorists including Adorno and Bruno Latour.  We will think about the forms of peculiar objects (e.g. crystals, seashells, miniatures and souvenirs), we will think about the forms of art (e.g. the sonnet and still life paintings), and we will think about the central form of our own writing practice: the essay.
25. Arabesque: The Arts and Aesthetics of the Islamic Middle East. Mr. Shay. What we today term Islamic art did not appear overnight with the advent of Islam as a faith, but rather took several centuries of artists and craftsmen developing and creating designs and elements. Islamic art arose largely from the societies that proceeded it, borrowing selectively from Byzantine and Sasanian traditions in order to bring a new tradition into existence. Through readings, visual examples, videos, and other media, class discussions will examine the spectrum of Islamic art and architecture to identify elements such as geometric design and improvisation that form the basis of Islamic art. Students are encouraged to bring samples of Islamic art or performance to class to share and discuss. The class will examine in detail clothing—especially the sensitive topic of the veil—, calligraphy, music, and dance. Of these, dance is perhaps the most important aesthetic form, making a striking visual impression on any visitor to a Middle Eastern city. This is a writing-intensive course. There will be three formal papers, and abstracts and responses in each class for each of the readings (see syllabus).
26. The Sacred Alias. Mr. Smith. Sacred language has long harbored the idea that the personal name is an intrinsic part of the self. As such, its advertisement threatens exposure to forces that might undo its bearer. From Homer’s Odysseus to the Rumpelstiltskin of the Brothers Grimm, from Superman’s Mr. Mxyzptlk to Ursula K. Le Guin’s Sparrowhawk, from St. Olaf’s troll to Ralph Ellison’s Little Man at Chehaw Station, true names and their association to power are of timeless importance. In this seminar, we will explore the (super)natural link between naming and empowerment: How do the weak—through naming work—reverse their condition? Comparing gambits by the socially vulnerable to various games of insight, we’ll seek relationships between the detection of tells in gambling and that of so-called true names within social struggle. Through mystical theology’s and post-colonial theory’s understanding of the use of light to hide things, we will also consider the relationship between concealing and revealing, basic to both tell-reading and true-naming.
27. Our Troubled World Imagined: Theatre and the Environment. Mr. Taylor. What does the theatre have to tell us about mankind’s symbiotic and ever-evolving relationship with our environment? How have dramatists throughout history observed, analyzed, and ad-dressed environmental concerns through their work? How can the theatre of today help us re-imagine our relationship to and existence in a rapidly changing environment? And how can the theatre catalyze and/or inspire activism in our immediate (and urgent) environmental future? This course is a open-ended exploration of the answers to these and other questions central to two fascinating, dynamic, and multi-dimensional human endeavors: the theatre and the study of the environment. Readings, writing, and oral presentations will focus on text-based representations of environmental issues as well as devised and/or non-scripted environmental theatre performances. The course will culminate in the creation of student conceived environmental theatre projects. No theatre experience is required…
28. Reasons, Actions and Events. Mr. Thielke. There seems to be a clear distinction between actions that are done for a reason—your decision to attend Pomona College, say—and mere events like a landslide striking a tree, or food being digested in your alimentary tract. But what explains the difference between these cases? Are actions free and events causally determined, or are actions rationally grounded while events are not? Are we always aware of the reasons for our behaviors? In this class, we will look at a variety of materials drawn from fields such as philosophy, neuroscience, psychology, and behavioral economics, in an attempt to make sense of what, if anything, is distinctive about rational agency, and how it might differ from other events in the world. Topics will include the question of what motivates us to act, whether we have free will, what role moral considerations play in our decisions, moral luck, implicit bias, and to what extent unconscious factors guide our behavior.
29. Walking Toward Freedom: Ending Colonization With Poems and Novels. Mr. Traoré. This course examines the global development of early twentieth century Black cultural movements. Using novels, poetry, manifestos, as well as historical sources, we analyze the multi-faceted interconnectedness between America, the Antilles, France, and nations of Francophone West Africa, and South Africa. One such movement is the Harlem Renaissance, which originated in the United States, blossomed in Paris, and deeply influenced several African nationalist movements in their struggle for independence from European colonial domination. Through close and critical reading, students will analyze the power of the word in ending colonial domination and establishing the national identities of modern Africa. In addition to short response papers on particular readings and documentaries, students will write a final paper with a graded first draft.
30. The Allure of the Image. Mr. van Ginhoven Rey. We live in a historical moment marked by a frantic circulation of images. The media, the culture industry, and the technologies that allow us to share our daily lives with others systematically saturate our mental, emotional, and physical selves with a phantasmagoria that addresses us in complex ways, turning us into subjects as it elicits our fascination, repulsion, and indifference. This seminar will explore the image as both a cultural object and a philosophical concept. Starting with Plato and with the earliest cave paintings, it will consider the ways in which artists and thinkers have tried to understand the imaginary realm and its power. Exploring the image as an entity situated at the intersection of art, magic, technology, and ideology, seminar sessions will stage creative dialogues between complex philosophical and fictional texts and an inclusive range of images from various dimensions of life: paintings, photography, cinema, TV, crime scene photography, and pornography. Writing assignments will expand upon these dialogues and are geared towards developing a capacity to reflect critically upon visual culture.
31. First Person Americas. Ms. Wall. Thanksgiving Day tells us a story of life in early America, but there was no single early America and no one story to represent it. It was a kaleidoscopic world, full of different individuals and peoples building lives and families and communities amid wrenching, sometimes shattering, social change. This course uses personal narratives from the many worlds of early America—indigenous, Spanish, English, French, African, multicultural—to explore the messy, multifaceted America they made, sometimes together, sometimes in opposition. In autobiographies, testimonies, travel accounts, captivity narratives, legal documents and other original sources, we can glimpse early Americans trying to make sense of their own lives; and we can follow, imperfectly, the tracks of large social transformations, including conquest, colonialism, disease, the development of racial thinking, economic and territorial expansion and competition, warfare, enslavement, religious conversion, gender relations, environmental change, cultural loss and cultural adaptation. We can never fully understand the past but we can try to listen to the stories people told about themselves and to take seriously what they meant in the telling. Students will write two shorter essays and one longer essay with a graded first draft. The main burden of work is in analyzing primary sources and class discussion.
32. The Essay as Problem. Ms. Wittman. An incomplete list of words and phrases that have described the essay: euphoric, experimental, errant, youthful, argumentative, anti-fascist, or melancholy; as a proposition, a prison-house, an “unequivocal symptom of maturity,” “a hostile act,” “a passage along the edge of an abyss,” a “haven for the private voice,” a “search for proof,” the “fruit of passion,” a wheelbarrow, or a hamburger. That these words and phrases have almost nothing in common reveals the form of the essay as internally contradictory, paradoxical, difficult. Only the most complex of forms can be both a prison house and a haven, both the fruit of passion and a hamburger. And yet, we’re all asked to write essays, and from early in our schooling—the five-paragraph or the admissions essay, the argument, the personal—as if the form were settled, simple. How can such an experimental form be also so institutional? We’ll spend the semester considering two sides of this problem. One: we’ll consider the social, aesthetic, and cultural history of the essay, reading (and discussing) for complexity and consequence. Authors here may include Montaigne and Malcolm X; Frederick Douglass and Joan Didion. Two: we’ll consider what it takes to write our own essays (academic and personal, empirical and theoretical), what similar difficulties and costs—intellectual, personal, political, institutional—we come up against as we essay, as we try.

Other courses offered by the Writing Program