In the fourth century BCE, Plato already anticipated the popular derogatory conception of myth as an imaginative fabrication--pseudos, "a lie." Throughout Western history, however, and particularly since the rise of Romanticism, thinkers from various disciplines have viewed the stories of antiquity in more constructive terms. What is "myth"? Deliberate falsehood or veiled truth? Is it a term applicable to or recognizable in non-Western cultures also? What is the relationship between myth and history, myth and literature, myth and ideology?

This is a performance-oriented course, culminating in a concert at the end of the semester. Each student will be challenged to develop her or his skills as an ensemble musician and as an improvising soloist. The course will require rehearsal time outside of the weekly class meetings. Two independent research projects will be assigned based on historical study and musical analysis. This semester, we will be focusing on the music of two seminal artists in the African-American musical continuum: Yusef Lateef and Eddie Palmeri.

This course investigates the imaginative, mythic, historical, and aesthetic meanings of "America," from its earliest incarnations through the mid-nineteenth century, and the ways in which the "national imaginary" has continually been challenged, shaped and pressured by the presence of radical and marginal groups and individuals. We will read both major and unfamiliar works of the colonial, revolutionary, early republic and antebellum years, and examine how these works embody, envision, revise, and respond to central concepts and tropes of national purpose and identity.

The post office, asserts the Chilean writer Jos Donoso, is a writer's true homeland. This assertion certainly describes the major novels of the Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez: Nobody Writes to the Colonel, One Hundred Years of Solitude, The Autumn of the Patriarch, A Crime Foretold, and Love in the Time of Cholera. Throughout his novels, letters constantly circulate. Anticipated letters are never written, although on demand letters can be purchased. If need be, there is special delivery to heaven. Even when delivered, some are never read.

In this research- and writing-intensive seminar, we will explore a range of contemporary issues pertaining to irony, crisis, and political culture in the U.S. from a critical media studies perspective. Together we will conceptually map salient moments of media irony, parody, and satire in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, addressing the significance of such comedic texts not only as sources of entertainment and catharsis, but also as essential components in political discourse and cultural engagement.

This course is designed to introduce students to the main trends and themes of British and United States women's history from 1820 through World War I and to trace the various "feminisms" that emerge as a result of capitalist development and responding labor movements in each county.

In America and around the world, new forms of religion are constantly developing to address changing spiritual needs and social conditions. New Religious Movements (NRMs) are often viewed with suspicion and labeled as "cults," but their proliferation demonstrates a widespread yearning for alternative forms of religion and spirituality.

Modern/Contemporary Dance Technique 4 is a high-intermediate level class, which will build on students' previous study of modern dance technique. The studio will be our laboratory for this semester-long exploration of a wide range of modern dance concepts with a focus on sensation, initiation, expansive use of space, efficiency, safety, connectivity and increasingly complex phrase work. Along the way we will give continued attention to alignment, spatial clarity, use of breath, increasing range of motion and the development of strength and stamina.

Modern/Contemporary Dance Technique 2 is an advanced-beginning level class, which will establish an foundational experience with modern dance technique. The studio will be our laboratory for this semester-long exploration of a wide range of modern dance concepts with a focus on sensation, initiation, expansive use of space, efficiency, safety, connectivity and embodiment of phrase work. Along the way we will also bring attention to alignment, spatial clarity, use of breath, increasing range of motion and the development of strength and stamina.

Group Improvisation: Introduction to Creative Dance: Dance Pioneer Barbara Mettler said, "To create means to make up something new." In this course students explore the elements of dance through a series of creative problems solved through improvisations by individuals and groups. Directed exercises are used to heighten awareness of the body and its movement potential. Studies using the sounds of voice, hands and feet develop skills in accompaniment.