ENROLL

Ross Elfline, Jessica Keating

An introduction to the art and architecture of various geographical areas around the world from the fifteenth century through the present. The course will provide foundational skills (tools of analysis and interpretation) as well as general, historical understanding. It will focus on a select number of major developments in a range of media and cultures, emphasizing the way that works of art function both as aesthetic and material objects and as cultural artifacts and forces. Issues include, for example, humanist and Reformation redefinitions of art in the Italian and Northern Renaissance, realism, modernity and tradition, the tension between self-expression and the art market, and the use of art for political purposes.

Baird Jarman

Concentration on painting of the colonial period (especially portraiture) and nineteenth century (especially landscape and scenes of everyday life) with an introduction to the modernism of the early twentieth century. The course will include analysis of the ways art shapes and reflects cultural attitudes such as those concerning race and gender.

Ross Elfline

This course is a survey of major artistic movements after 1945 as well as an introduction to significant tendencies in current art and craft production. The goal of this course is to develop a familiarity with the important debates, discussions, and critical issues facing artists today. By the end of the course, students will be able to relate their own work as cultural producers to these significant contemporary artistic developments. Students will read, write about, and discuss primary sources, artist statements, and theoretical essays covering a wide range of media with the ultimate goal of articulating their own artistic project.

Prerequisite: Any two studio art courses or permission from the instructor. Not open to students who have previously taken Art History 240

Extra Time Required

Jessica Keating

An intensive study of the nature of art history as an intellectual discipline and of the approaches scholars have taken to various art historical problems. Attention as well to principles of current art historical research and writing. Recommended for juniors who have declared art history as a major.

Dimitrios Pavlounis

This course offers a historical survey of American television from the late 1940s to today, focusing on early television and the classical network era. Taking a cultural approach to the subject, this course examines shifts in television portrayals, genres, narrative structures, and aesthetics in relation to social and cultural trends as well as changing industrial practices. Reading television programs from the past eight decades critically, we interrogate various representations of consumerism, class, race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, lifestyle, and nation in the smaller screen while also tracing issues surrounding broadcasting policy, censorship, sponsorship, business, and programming.

Extra Time Required

Jay Beck

American cinema from 1967-1979 saw the reconfiguration of outdated modes of representation in the wake of the Hollywood studio system and an alignment of new aesthetic forms with radical political and social perspectives. This course examines the film industry's identity crisis through the cultural, stylistic, and technological changes that accompanied the era. The course seeks to demonstrate that these changes in cinematic practices reflected an agenda of revitalizing American cinema as a site for social commentary and cultural change.

Extra Time Required

Stacy Beckwith

In Translation. Extra Time required. Evening Screenings.

Dimitrios Pavlounis

The purpose of this seminar is guide students in developing and consolidating their conceptual understanding of theories central to the field of cinema studies. Emphasis is on close reading and discussion of classical and contemporary theories ranging from Eisenstein, Kracauer, Balazs, Bazin and Barthes to theories of authorship, genre and ideology and trends in contemporary theory influenced by psychoanalysis, phenomenology and cognitive studies.

Prerequisite: Cinema and Media Studies 110 or instructor permission

Shaohua Guo

Extra Time required.

Shaohua Guo

This course introduces to students major milestones in the development of Chinese cinema since 1980, with additional materials including popular television shows and online materials. Emphasis will be on culturally appropriate language use, and on discussion of the social issues that are implicitly and explicitly addressed on the Chinese-language media. The course aims to increase students' fluency in all four aspects of Chinese language learning (listening, speaking, reading, writing) and to deepen students' understanding of China as a transitional society.

Prerequisite: Chinese 206 or equivalent

Chico Zimmerman

It would be difficult to overstate the importance of the early Greek epics for the classical world and the western literary tradition that emerged from that world. This course will study closely both the Iliad and the Odyssey, as well as Hesiod’s Theogony, and then consider a range of works that draw upon these epics for their creator’s own purposes, including Virgil’s own epic, the Aeneid. By exploring the reception and influence of ancient epic, we will develop an appreciation for intertextuality and the dynamics of reading in general as it applies to generations of readers, including our own.

Sun Yung Shin

Horror is a speculative genre of literature with ancient roots in storytelling. Contemporary horror finds source material in centuries-old religious narratives, medieval folklore, historical events, contemporary urban legends, and real-life crimes and violence. Horror has always been full of metaphors for society’s deepest fears and anxieties; studying and writing horror can yield limitless insight and inspiration for imagining different futures. How do writers use atmosphere, characterization, symbols, allusions, suspense, etc. to hold our attention and produce “horror” toward some larger thematic end? In this course, students will read, analyze, discuss, and write about various literary fictional texts that could fall under the rubric of “horror” and practice creative writing in this capacious and rebellious genre. Authors may include Lesley Arimah, Neil Gaiman, Shirley Jackson, Han Kang, and Victor LaValle. 

Kofi Owusu

Peter Balaam

An exploration of drama approached as literature and in performance. New digital resources enable us to take world-class productions from the National Theatre and elsewhere as our texts. Drawing examples both globally and across time, we will consider plays and recent productions in their historical and cultural contexts. Students will develop critical vocabularies, debate interpretations, and hone their interpretive and rhetorical skills in writing reviews and essays.

Arnab Chakladar

Indiana Jones has a pedigree. In this class we will encounter some of his ancestors in stories, novels and comic books from the early decades of the twentieth century. The wilds of Afghanistan, the African forest, a prehistoric world in Patagonia, the opium dens of mysterious exotic London--these will be but some of our stops as we examine the structure and ideology and lasting legacy of the imperial adventure tale. Authors we will read include Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Rudyard Kipling and H. Rider Haggard.

Peter Balaam

Jessica Leiman

The eighteenth and early nineteenth century saw the rise of the Gothic, a genre populated by brooding hero-villains, vulnerable virgins, mad monks, ghosts, and monsters. In this course, we will examine the conventions and concerns of the Gothic, addressing its preoccupation with terror, transgression, sex, otherness, and the supernatural. As we situate this genre within its literary and historical context, we will consider its relationship to realism and Romanticism, and we will explore how it reflects the political and cultural anxieties of its age. Authors include Horace Walpole, Ann Radcliffe, Matthew Lewis, Jane Austen, Mary Shelley, and Emily Bronte.

Kofi Owusu

Arnab Chakladar

Pierre Hecker

The course focuses on the relationship between literature and material culture during the Tudor and Stuart dynasties. This era of violence, plague, war, superstition, imperial expansion, and the slave trade also saw a flourishing of writing, science, technology, music, architecture, and the visual arts. Studying the literary works, theaters, historical sites, and artifacts of the period, students will explore what life was like in Elizabethan and Jacobean England.

Prerequisite: Participation in OCS London Program

Requires participation in OCS Program: Living London

Pierre Hecker

Students will attend productions of both classic and contemporary plays in London and Stratford-on-Avon and do related reading. Class discussions will focus on dramatic genres and themes, dramaturgy, acting styles, and design. Guest speakers may include actors, critics, and directors. Students will take backstage tours, keep a theater journal, and work on theater criticism and reviews.

Requires participation in OCS Program: Living London

Adriana Estill

Prerequisite: One English Foundations course and one prior 6 credit English course

Not open to first year students.

Susan Jaret McKinstry

Puzzled about nineteenth century novels, Henry James asks, 'But what do such large loose baggy monsters with their queer elements of the accidental and the arbitrary, artistically mean?'' (“Preface,” The Tragic Muse). What, indeed? Practicing close reading, surface reading, and distant reading, we will examine the prose, design, and illustrations of Victorian editions, and ask how big data might help us define and interpret the nineteenth century novel. Authors might include George Eliot, Charles Dickens, Emily Bronte, Charlotte Bronte, E.M. Forster, Lewis Carroll.

Prerequisite: One English foundations course and one additional 6 credit English course or instructor consent

Michael Kowalewski

An intensive study of the novels and short fiction of William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. The course will focus on the ethos of experimentation and the "homemade" quality of these innovative stylists who shaped the course of American modernism. Works read will be primarily from the twenties and thirties and will include The Sound and the Fury, In Our Time, Light in August, The Great Gatsby, The Sun Also Rises, and Go Down, Moses.

Prerequisite: One English foundations course and one additional 6 credit English course

Pierre Hecker

The course focuses on the relationship between literature and material culture during the Tudor and Stuart dynasties. This era of violence, plague, war, superstition, imperial expansion, and the slave trade also saw a flourishing of writing, science, technology, music, architecture, and the visual arts. Studying the literary works, theaters, historical sites, and artifacts of the period, students will explore what life was like in Elizabethan and Jacobean England.

Prerequisite: One English foundations course and one other 6 credit English course or permission of instructor

For students pariticipating in OCS London Program

Nancy Cho

This course examines the rich and powerful tradition of political dissent in American literature. How does the complex interplay of text, esthetics, and reception shape the politics of dissent?  We will read several key texts from the nineteenthth century, and then explore selected works of fiction, graphic memoir, and drama from the early Cold War era. In this mid-twentieth century moment, we will focus in particular on Asian American, African American, and queer critique. Readings in criticism will be central to the course and students will complete a major research paper of their own design.

Prerequisite: English 295 and one 300 level English course

Sandra Rousseau

This class is an overview of French history through the analysis of ten cultural objects borrowed from different socio-political, geographic and aesthetic spaces. Starting with the Gauls, this class will take students across centuries and ask how cultural productions (the Vix Krater, the Versailles Palace, the guillotine, etc.) come to represent a mentalité and often become integrated in the French nationalist project.

Prerequisite: French 204

Scott Carpenter

Home of some of the finest and best known museums in the world, Paris has long been recognized as a center for artistic activity. Students will have the opportunity to study art from various periods on site, including Impressionism, Expressionism, and Surrealism. In-class lectures and discussions will be complemented by guided visits to the unparalleled collections of the Louvre, the Musée d'Orsay, the Centre Pompidou, local art galleries, and other appropriate destinations. Special attention will be paid to the program theme.

Prerequisite: French 204 or the equivalent and Participation in OCS Paris Program

Requires participation in OCS Program: French and Francophone Studies in Paris

Scott Carpenter

In this course, students will explore the historical, cultural, social, and religious traces of Islam as they have been woven over time into the modern fabric of French society. Through images drawn from film, photography, television, and museum displays, they will discover the important role this cultural contact zone has played in the French experience. The course will take advantage of the resources of the city of Paris and will include excursions to museums as well as cultural and religious centers.

Prerequisite: French 204 or the equivalent and participation in Paris OCS program

Requires participation in OCS Program: French and Francophone Studies in Paris

Scott Carpenter

Through literature, cultural texts, and experiential learning in the city, this course will explore the development of both the "Frenchness" and the hybridity that constitute contemporary Paris. Immigrant cultures, notably North African, will also be highlighted. Plays, music, and visits to cultural sites will complement the readings.

Prerequisite: French 204 or the equivalent and participation in OCS Paris program

Requires participation in OCS Program: French and Francophone Studies in Paris

Eva Posfay

In Beaumarchais’s oft-cited words, “Everything ends with songs.” This course will study the distinctiveness of French chanson (song) and its unique role in French history and culture from Montmartre’s cafés-concerts to the present. We will examine iconic performances in Parisian cabarets, music halls, and nightclubs; the rise of the singer-songwriter; the changing dynamics between lyrics (poetry), music, and performance over time; song categories such as yé-yé, the protest song, and the chanson about Paris; rap and slam’s poetic affiliation with chanson; musical hybridity and identity politics; and the clout of the music industry. No musical experience necessary. Conducted in French.

Prerequisite: One French course beyond French 204 or instructor permission

Scott Carpenter

Through literature, cultural texts, and experiential learning in the city, this course will explore the development of both the "Frenchness" and the hybridity that constitute contemporary Paris. Immigrant cultures, notably North African, will also be highlighted. Plays, music, and visits to cultural sites will complement the readings.

Prerequisite: French 230 or beyond and participation in OCS Paris program

Requires participation in OCS Program: French and Francophone Studies in Paris

Kiley Kost

In this course, taught in German, students explore nonhuman figures in literature and film. How do authors and filmmakers depict monsters, robots, cyborgs, and other nonhumans? And what do these figures reveal about what makes us human? By tracing the boundaries of the human through notable texts, we consider the cultural, psychological, and technological implications of these almost-human figures. Selected works include texts by E. T. A. Hoffmann, Franz Kafka, Sharon Dodua Otoo and films by Fritz Lang and F. W. Murnau.

Prerequisite: German 204 or equivalent or instructor consent

Noboru Tomonari

This course examines the extraordinary achievement of Japanese cinema, from the classic films of Mizoguchi, Ozu, and Kurosawa to the pop cinema of Kitano and the phenomenon of anime. The films will be studied for their aesthetic, cultural, and auteur contexts. Particular attention will be paid to the relationship of the film to traditional arts, culture and society. This course is conducted in English and all the course materials are in English translation or in English subtitles.

Brooke Okazaki

Pure pleasure or pure torture? Opera is said to be both. This course is an introduction to opera based on its 400-year history from 1600 to the present. Over the term, we will explore several topics including how music conveys characters’ feelings, singers and the allure of the voice, race, gender, and opera, opera in film, and the experience of live performance. We will deal with a wide variety of pieces and investigate the social and cultural functions of opera via creative research assignments. No previous musical experience necessary.

Prerequisite: None, ability to read music is not necessary

Sarah N Lahasky

In the last fifty years, governments and transnational entities such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) have increasingly called to safeguard cultural practices and historic buildings around the world. Through trial and error, social scientists and policymakers have realized that such cultural heritage preservation programs come with unforeseen consequences, especially regarding musical performance and the communities that practice such traditions. This course is divided into two sections. First, we will concentrate on case studies from around the world, considering the advantages, detriments, and best practices for recognizing and celebrating music as heritage. We will debate questions such as: What is heritage? How can something ephemeral such as music be ‘conserved’ for generations to come? What role does the West play in shaping musical practices around the world, and for who do we want to ‘save’ the music? Who makes decisions of what music should or should not be safeguarded, and what are the implications for local practitioners? Second, we will explore music festivals and other music heritage projects specifically in Minnesota. Learning from the mistakes of the past, the course will culminate with a collaborative class project that will contribute to a sensitive yet productive endeavor to document oral histories of musicians, or plan a festival/performance on campus that highlights musical life in and around Northfield.

Laura Goering

An introduction to the works of Dostoevsky. Readings include Poor Folk, Notes from the Underground, and The Brothers Karamazov. Conducted entirely in English.

Prerequisite: No prerequisites and no knowledge of Russian literature or history required.

1st 5 weeks

Laura Goering

Close reading and discussion of Tolstoy's magnum opus. Conducted entirely in English.

Prerequisite: No prerequisites and no knowledge of Russian literature or history required.

2nd five week

Humberto Huergo

Prerequisite: Spanish 204 or equivalent

Jorge Brioso

Prerequisite: Spanish 204 or equivalent

Jorge Brioso

An excellent opportunity to brush up your Spanish while learning about current issues in Spain and Latin America. The class meets only once a week for an hour. Class requirements include reading specific sections of Spain's leading newspaper, El País, everyday on the internet (El País), and then meeting once a week to exchange ideas over coffee with a small group of students like yourself.

Prerequisite: Spanish 204 or equivalent

Hector Melo Ruiz

This course focuses on contemporary short stories and short novels. We will read some of the most relevant living authors from Latin America including Carlos Gamerro, Pilar Quintana, Kike Ferrari, Yeniter Poleo, Antonio José Ponte, among others. This will expose students to the most pressing issues in today's Latin America, ranging from gender, violence, racism, and inmigration. We will interview at least one of the authors read during the term and discuss the social implications of their literature in today's world. 

Prerequisite: Spanish 204 or equivalent

Jorge Brioso

Prerequisite: Spanish 204 or equivalent

Silvia Lopez

This seminar will have Mexico City as protagonist, and will examine the construction of one of the largest urban centers of the world through fictional writing, cultural criticism, and visual/aural culture. We will critically engage the fictions of its past, the dystopias of its present, the assemblage of affects and images that give it continuity, but which also codify the ever-changing and contested view of its representation and meaning. From Carlos Fuentes to Sayak Valencia, in the company of Eisenstein and Cuarón, among others.

Prerequisite: Spanish 205 or above