The Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes has asserted that the real historians in Latin America are its novelists. We will examine this premise by reading a number of novels in which the protagonists go in search of their roots. Our interest is in how these novelists dramatize the history of their regions and countries, and how their fictional versions illuminate our understanding of the "real" history of the continent. Novels by Carpentier, Rulfo, Vargas Llosa , Arguedas, Ferre, Danticat, Saer, and Eltit are likely.

This course is a survey of contemporary art since 1950 that examines the dissolution of high art as a concept, and how media, from ceramics and textiles to photography, video and media art, came to contest that notion even as they aspired to it. In light of the convergence of discipline-specific and other cultural histories with modernism, this course considers counter modernisms and the deconstruction and revision of Western art history.

Hampshire Media Arts: This course is the foundation for the core curriculum in media arts at Hampshire College in Film/Video, Photography, Performance and Installation art centering on the analysis and production of visual images. Students are expected to learn to read visual images by focusing on the development of art forms and their relationship to their historical and cultural context (economic, historical, political, intellectual and artistic) from which they came.

This course challenges commonplace assumptions about writing as a sedentary activity. Instead we traverse the literary history of writing while standing up, walking, and in conversation. Amid the contemporary fascination with standing desks and rising anxiety about the health implications of our deskbound lives, we ask a range of questions: What forms of writing put authors into motion or made them sit down? At what point in history did it become normal to compose in a chair? How does the physiology of writing affect what writers have to say and how they say it?

This course will serve as an introduction to major works in European fiction from the 19th to the early 20th century. We will be reading novels and short fiction from France, Germany, England, and Russia. As this is a comparative literature course, we will be reading works in translation, though students are encouraged to read the texts in the original wherever possible. As we read, we will examine the changing notions of representation and reality that inform the modes of fiction in different traditions at different times.

This course provides an historical overview of the changing religious landscape of the United States from the Puritan Age to the contemporary period through an examination of selected literary and historical representations. We will consider contributions of writers representing a wide range of religious and ethnic communities, as well as such issues as the literary impact of religious values and outlook, biblical texts and traditions, denominational change and conflict, changing conceptions of nature, Native American life-ways, and encounters with traditions of the East.

This beginning level modern dance technique course will introduce students to "modern" and other dance technique practices. By practicing in-class exercises and phrase-studies, students will refine bodily awareness and articulation, hone spatial and rhythmic clarity, develop facility in perceiving and interpreting movement, and practice moving with our dance musicians' scores. We'll also consider what movement principles and priorities underlie the techniques we employ, and compare them to those of other dance styles and cultures.

This course focuses on the broad fundamentals of western music and music theory, including music literacy (how to read western music notation). We will learn theoretical concepts such as pitch, rhythm, timbral nuances, texture, intervals, chords (triads and sevenths), harmony, etc. We will also develop our sense of aural music cognition through ear training. This course will connect music to theory by teaching students how to compose music and by performing on instruments the basic theoretical concepts covered throughout the course.

The Chorus is a performing ensemble in which students will learn skills of choral singing and sight-singing. They will be exposed to a wide variety of choral literature through rehearsal and performance, including a cappella and accompanied music, medieval through 20th century, ethnic, world music and folk. Several performances are given throughout the year. While this course is open to all and the ability to read music is not required, students are expected to have reasonable proficiency in aural learning (e.g. ability to sing on pitch).

This course is intended for concentrators and advanced students whose work involves mind, brain, behavior, or intelligent machines and who are studying disciplines such as cognitive science, psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, linguistics, computer science, animal behavior, education, and so on. The students in the course will select a number of current issues in this broad area, choosing recent journal articles, essays, or books in each area for discussion.