This course is designed to introduce Francis Perkins scholars and other transfer students to Mount Holyoke's intellectual community and liberal arts curriculum. It will develop the academic skills required for intellectual confidence and success through a series of close readings, analytic writing exercises, and longer research projects. Thematically, course material will focus on some of the primary thinkers whose ideas form the basis of many areas of the curriculum.

A course about journeys: some real, most fictional, all metamorphic. We will focus on the ways that a change of location, especially a move from or to home, is marked not only by encounters with place, but also by new understandings of others, and by reshapings of the self. Readings will be selected for historical, cultural, and thematic range, likely including works by Homer, Shakespeare, Lewis Carroll, Eugene O'Neill, Doris Lessing, Charles Johnson, Jamaica Kincaid, Kazuo Ishiguro, Lan Cao, and Annie Proulx.

Certain American films stand out as works of art by combining strong narrative structure with striking visual presence. Ten of those films, from the silent era to the present, will be studied. In addition to weekly discussion, students will be responsible for analyzing opening sequences. Among the films to be considered are: The Grapes of Wrath, It's a Wonderful Life, Sunset Boulevard, Touch of Evil, Vertigo, Chinatown, Blade Runner, Do the Right Thing, and Beasts of the Southern Wild.

This two-credit independent study course, which is the culminating experience of the educational studies minor, requires analysis and synthesis of key ideas that emerged during focused study in the minor. Students will work with a faculty advisor of the Educational Studies Program Committee as they plan, write, and present a capstone paper.

In this course we will trace the representation of teenage girls in television and film from the 1950s to the present as a way to better understand how moving images shape culture. We will look closely at the notion of "entertainment" and at the ways in which moving image texts create ways of seeing and meaning.

In the summer and fall of 1888, a series of gruesome murders captured the attention of Londoners and brought questions of class, gender, race and social-economic change to the forefront of public debate. Though the culprit was never identified, Jack the Ripper became synonymous with the perceived dangers of late-Victorian London.

The seminar will introduce and discuss various musical works and genres that fall under rock critic Ann Powers' definitions of 'Violator Art,' exploring them within the context of their wanton and disturbing appeal, as well as their often scandalous social impact. Topics will include the Second Viennese School, free jazz, protest music, punk rock, hip-hop, works such as J. S. Bach's 'Cantata No.

This first-year seminar explores short stories from American, Irish, New Zealand, Indian, and Canadian writers. The range of stories allows students to experience the diverse writing of many traditions, as well as exploring why short story traditions might be more prevalent in particular cultures. The course includes discussion on the influence of oral storytelling traditions, the concept of the short story collection, and the notion of the narrative voice. Texts include stories by James Joyce, Claire Keegan, Katherine Mansfield, Patricia Grace, Margaret Atwood, and Jhumpa Lahiri.

We associate play with childhood, a time of spontaneous and creative activity, in contrast to the boring routine of adult responsibilities. And yet play is more than just fun and games. It is through play that children develop lasting cognitive and social skills. For adults too, there can be serious play--play that has real consequence--play that shapes the intimate lives of individuals, as well as entire social formations. In this course, we will explore play cross culturally, from the Balinese cockfight to American football, from gambling to role playing.

The course explores comparative racial and ethnic politics in the U.S. during the twentieth century. We will analyze the creation and maintenance of structural inequalities through laws and policies targeted at persons of color in the areas of healthcare, transportation, immigration, labor, racial segregation, and education. Through readings, lectures and films, we will discuss critical histories of community struggle against social inequality, registering the central impact that race, class, gender, sexuality, and citizenship have had on efforts toward social justice.