Creative representations can evoke powerfully the conditions of disenfranchisement, marginalization and survival that often mark people's displacement from familiar cultural contexts. Being attentive to the dislocations and challenges of re-anchoring in foreign cultural settings alerts us to complexities of migration - human realities behind how it is often evoked in political discourse and the media.

To quote artist and critic Catherine Elwes, "video is the default medium of the 21st Century." Today video screens and projections are everywhere from cell phones to the sides of buildings, and video has become one of the most prominent media in museum and gallery exhibitions. In particular, screens and projections are a prominent component of much contemporary sculpture and installation.

In this course, we will study the brilliant and diverse work of the poet Gwendolyn Brooks--her breadth, her rhyme, her meter, her syntax, her vibrant, living, lucid diction and imagery. Her range. Gwendolyn Brooks was, among other things, a highly prolific master of the form whose work might be compared to that of a documentary-maker or historian--deeply steeped in the social, political concerns of her time. We will study her life, artistic arc, and concerns as they relate to craft, social responsibility, and community.

In this course students will refine their technical and perceptual skills in response to the human form. The course will focus on the full figure allowing students to explore this challenging subject from multiple perspectives. Historical and contemporary issues and approaches to the figure will be elucidated through presentations, critiques, and independent research. Intermediate sculpture at the college level is recommended.

This course is for last-semester Division III students whose projects are, in some way, grounded in creative writing--whatever the genre. This course is an opportunity for these students to present and workshop their work while bringing their Division III projects to a successful close. Following last spring's Concentrators' Seminar with Professor Nell Arnold, this seminar will also be an opportunity for writers to (further) develop as a "community of writers" while reflecting on the possible meanings of the term.

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, both on campus and off. 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. able to sing on pitch).

Considered by many two of the most influential filmmakers working in the mid and late twentieth century, the course will survey the work of Krzysztof Kieslowski and Yasujiro Ozu, analyze the poetics of their respective cinema, discuss overlapping themes, and explore the cultural influences that informed both filmmakers. Ozu's "shomin geki" genre repeatedly conveyed the complexities of filial relationships within middle class families in pre and post WWII Japanese society. In turn, many of Kieslowski's films portrayed the psychological and emotional lives of Post WWII, Polish society.

This course continues exploration of the basic principles of dance movement: body alignment, coordination, strength, flexibility, and basic forms of locomotion. Designed to blend the practice of modern dance with explorations of topics in anatomy and the physics of movement, in-class exercises and phrase-work will incorporate study of biomechanics, posture, bones, muscles, joints, the nervous system, breathing, awareness, proprioception, and the body/mind.

In this course, we will read novels with protagonists who die young. How does early death shape plot? Why do abbreviated lives make the most fascinating stories? Is there a literary history of dying young? Though we often think literature contains the meaning of life, we don't ask whether it might give us the meaning of death. But what could be more meaningless than the death of someone cut off in the prime of life? Through a survey of European and American literature, this course will explore the pathos and desire that turn so many plots into death sentences for young men and women.

This course lays 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. The Film/Photo/Video Program is committed to a "theory/practice" model of teaching and learning. 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.