This course examines the various ways the multicultural family in contemporary American, British, European, and South African culture is imagined by writers and filmmakers. Issues to be explored include: generational conflict, the struggle to 'break away,' and the claims of memory and nostalgia. Above all, the course seeks to explore the range of cultural forms in which these themes find expression.

This course examines African American, Asian American, Chicana/o-Latina/o, and Native American literature and cultural politics. Examining the historical intersection of race, gender, and sexuality, we will explore themes of cultural identity, segregation and community formation, citizenship, labor, class, and family. Authors may include Toni Morrison, Danzy Senna, Josefina López, Sherman Alexie, Junot Díaz, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Joy Kogawa.

Language is a living system. It grows and changes, despite efforts to preserve it. This course examines how slang participates in these changes. What separates slang from standard language, and who sets the standard? Through readings in linguistics and literature, this course examines how we use language to connect, create, and control.

Paleontological art brings ancient organisms back to life. In this course we will consider the role that art itself plays as a mode of scientific discovery. We will examine how artists can uncover key information about prehistoric life well in advance of its recognition by the scientific community. Coursework will track the evolution of paleoart from 1830s representations of Mary Anning's fossil discoveries to the emergence of digital art and CGI.

This course examines explanations for the underrepresentation of women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) with an eye to identifying how to increase the participation of women in science. The course will address questions about gender differences in cognition and ability, the role of stereotyping, as well as the "leaky pipeline" issue, that is, the rate and timing of the departure of women from scientific fields. Course readings will explore the psychology of gender, as it relates to STEM.

This course will introduce students to philosophy and its methods by looking at what philosophers, past and present, have said about three important and interrelated topics: God, morality, and freedom. We will ask questions such as: Does God exist? Is it rational to believe in God? What should I do if I want to do the right thing? When is it ok to criticize other cultures? How much do I owe to others? Do we have free will? Can we ever be held responsible for anything?

This course looks closely at short fiction of a number of American writers.

This First Year Seminar will discuss the impact of political and social change on the fashion and decorative art movements of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Students will study how and why fashions were created, explore the meaning and significance of style, and examine the role of design in the popular imagination and cultural memory of the period.

Drawing on archival records and other documents, including Dickinson's letters and poems, students in this seminar will explore what Dickinson's year at Mary Lyon's Mount Holyoke might have meant to her as student and poet. We will also examine Lyon's vision of women's education, as well as contrasting visions of education in 'Old New England' from such writers and thinkers as Emerson, Thoreau, and Stowe.

Designed for students with or without prior musical experience, 'Adventures in Music' explores the materials of music. Through reading, hands-on interaction with instruments and their players, discussions and recordings, students will explore concepts of pitch, time, space, structure and timbre, thereby enriching their perception of the world of sound. The best way to access the indescribable in music is often to make music.