First Year Seminar 191HFA41 - FYS- Topics in HFA

First-year (R1ST) Topic - Power of Storytelling: Leaning into African American Artists, Musicians and Writers
Many of the world's greatest artists, musicians and writers have called our Western Massachusetts, Connecticut River Valley area home. The stories they've given us in poems, paintings, songs, books, and performances are moving testaments to the human experience. These gifts have quite literally changed the world. From Chinua Achebe to Sonia Sanchez, Shirley Graham Du Bois to Max Roach, Nelson Stevens to James Baldwin, and others, this course explores the power of storytelling in many expressive forms. We will engage with masterpieces of oral, visual, written & digital storytelling and pay attention to the four principles of good storytelling: Curiosity, Contact, Complexity & Dynamic Conflict. You will have the opportunity to build your own storytelling skills: about yourself, or some place or thing you care deeply about.