(Offered as ENGL 117 and EUST 117) [Before 1800] Knights, monsters, quests, and true love: these are the things we associate with King Arthur and tales of his court. Why has Arthurian literature proved so enchanting to centuries of poets, novelists, and recently, filmmakers? In this introductory English course, we will read and watch Arthurian legends from Chaucer to Monty Python, examining the ways in which they have been represented in different eras. Beginning with the historical foundations of the King Arthur legend, we will examine how it blossomed and took form in later eras.

This course functions as an introduction to academic writing at Amherst College. As an intensive
writing course, the main topic of the course is writing itself. In this class, students will examine
the way that journalists present the written word in print and digital spaces to inform, analyze,
and present opinions–as we do the same in our own writing. We will pay close attention to the
way that reporter teams explicitly and implicitly build arguments, use evidence, organize texts,

This course functions as an introduction to academic writing at Amherst College. As an intensive
writing course, the main topic of the course is writing itself. In this class, students will examine
the way that journalists present the written word in print and digital spaces to inform, analyze,
and present opinions–as we do the same in our own writing. We will pay close attention to the
way that reporter teams explicitly and implicitly build arguments, use evidence, organize texts,

EDST 306/HIST 306/AMST 306: 

(Offered as EDST 258 and AMST 258.) All too often, when we think of education we think of the grammar of schooling—desks, the classroom, a teacher lecturing—but some of the most exciting and creative educational work is happening in museum spaces. Museums are educational institutions in that they seek to preserve and disseminate knowledge, culture, aesthetics, and scientific insight. Museums are innovators in expanding the modes of conveying information beyond reading and writing—the written text. They have worked hard to be sites of experiential learning for students of all ages.

The United States is in an unprecedented period of rising inequality. This course begins by examining the history of inequality in the U.S. since the start of the twentieth century. It then uses cutting-edge and detailed national data to document and explore the current state of inequality and intergenerational mobility in the U.S. We consider inequality by various metrics, such as race, gender, and geography, and in various outcomes, such as income, wealth, health, educational attainment, and incarceration.

(Offered as ARHA 432 and CLAS 432) Sicily holds a special place in the ancient Mediterranean world, geographically and culturally. It’s location as a stopover point in the Western Mediterranean made it into a site of fierce colonization by Greeks, Carthaginians, and eventually Romans, demonstrating along the way the complexities of cultural interactions among these rival groups. Rome in essence learned to become an empire there, in and after the First Punic War (264-241 BCE).

(Offered as BLST 286 [US], EDST 286 and HIST 286; or may be included in AF concentration, but not AF for distribution in the History major.) This course traverses African American history from the beginnings of the transatlantic slave trade through the close of the American Civil War. Focusing on the Black freedom struggle, we will explore questions including: What are the origins of American slavery and how and why did it expand in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries?

(Offered as BLST 286 [US], EDST 286 and HIST 286; or may be included in AF concentration, but not AF for distribution in the History major.) This course traverses African American history from the beginnings of the transatlantic slave trade through the close of the American Civil War. Focusing on the Black freedom struggle, we will explore questions including: What are the origins of American slavery and how and why did it expand in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries?

(Offered as BLST 277 [CLA], LLAS 277 and HIST 277 [LA/TS/TR])  The Haitian Revolution began in 1791 with a slave revolt on a single plantation and, after more than a decade of total war, destroyed slavery forever and resulted in the independence of the world's first Black republic. By the end of 1804, the white planter class had been killed or exiled and Black men ruled the island. Before it happened, white slave masters could never imagine that tens of thousands of enslaved Africans would one day break their chains and succeed in defeating French, British, and Spanish armies.