An introduction to the New Testament and its many genres (Gospel, Parable, Epistle, Apocalypse), its ancient Jewish and Greco-Roman contexts, and to an array of modern methods (historical criticism, sociological and ideological analysis, feminist approaches) for studying perhaps the most influential set of books in the Western world. Enrollment limited to 35.

In the contemporary world, democracy is often considered not merely a form of government or one type of regime among many, but the very condition of political legitimacy. But what exactly does democracy entail? Is it an institution, a practice, a value, a virtue? This lecture course provides a survey of different historical and theoretical answers to these questions, from the foundations of self-government in ancient Athens through the present day.

To act, to perform is to speculate with your body. Theatre is a transformative experience that takes performer and audience on an extensive journey in the playground of the imagination beyond the mundane world. Theatre asks us to be other than ourselves. We can for a time inhabit someone else’s skin, be shaped by another gender or ethnicity, become part of a past epoch or an alternative time and space similar to our own time but that has yet to come. As we enter this “imagined” world we investigate the normative principles of our current world.

This course examines a range of interlocking cultural, sociopolitical, and/or environmental factors that galvanize attention in Portuguese-­speaking countries. Themes might include, among others, post-­colonial debates in Lusophone Africa, street children in urban Brazil, or heritage language communities in Massachusetts. Materials draw from literary and journalistic texts, as well as art, music and film. Conducted in Portuguese. Prerequisite: POR 100, POR 125 or POR 200, or the equivalent.

Topics course.: This class investigates cinema and its relationship to other 20th and 21st century art, especially visual culture. Working with the premise that film has been the most influential, powerful and central creative medium of the age, the course examines how film has critiqued, defined, influenced, interacted with and been defined and influenced by other media; how film has moved from a marginal to a mainstream art form while maintaining a very active avant-garde practice; and how cinema has consistently and trans-historically grappled with certain fundamental issues and themes.

A half-semester introduction to the design and creation of interactive environments on the world wide web. Focus on three areas: (1) Website design, (2) JavaScript, (3) Embedded multimedia objects. Enrollment limited to 35. Prerequisites: CSC 102 or equivalent competency with HTML.

The undergraduate culmination of concentrator’s work in poetry, this course features a rigorous immersion in creative generation and revision. Student poets write a chapbook manuscript with thematic and/or stylistic cohesion (rather than disparate poems, as in prior workshop settings); students who choose one of the other strands—translation, teaching, book arts, or writing about poetry—complete a project beyond the scope of prior coursework in their area (with additional oversight/advice from faculty with relevant expertise, when necessary).

Prerequisite: a course in composition. Admission by permission of the instructor. May be repeated for credit.

An introduction to a broad range of vocal music, from the Middle Ages to the present, and an investigation of such issues as text setting, interpretation, extended vocal techniques and the use of technology as it relates to vocal performance. Topics of study include chant, 19th-century art song, opera and experimental music. Composers to be considered include Hildegard of Bingen, Mozart and Wagner as well as such recent and contemporary figures as Meredith Monk, Pauline Oliveros and Julius Eastman, and popular artists including Beyoncé and Björk.

Music may not be a “universal language,” but it is a universal phenomenon; every culture has something that we recognize as music. This course introduces you to a number of musical systems—traditional, classical and popular—from around the world and uses case studies to explore the complex relationships between music and culture. By engaging with music analytically, as musicologists (paying attention to the sounds you hear) and ethnographically, as anthropologists (paying attention to the cultural context), you learn basic principles that enhance your understanding of music globally speaking.