This course, an introduction to media studies, examines the relationship between contemporary media forms and the environment with an emphasis on media’s role in the ongoing global environmental crisis. We will analyze the environmental aspects of a range of media objects including science-fiction films, documentary photographs, reality TV shows, video games, and others. But we will also explore the environmental impact of broader media technologies like video streaming platforms and fiber-optic cable networks.

(Offered as ENGL 120 and EDST 120) This course considers from many perspectives what it means to read and write and learn and teach both for ourselves and for others. As part of the work, in addition to the usual class hours, students will serve as weekly tutors and classroom assistants in adult basic education centers in nearby towns. This course consciously engages with the obstacles to and the power of education through course readings, through self-reflexive writing about our own varied educational experiences, and through weekly work in the community.

(Offered as SOCI 337 and EDST 337) In this course, we will focus on the diversification of higher education. We will pay particular attention to efforts made by selective liberal arts colleges and universities to open their doors to students disadvantaged by barriers of racial discrimination and excluded by the means of class privilege. We will critically interrogate the concept of diversity and its implementation, paying attention to both successes and problems. Among these problems is the gap between a diversity promised and a diversity delivered.

(Offered as SOCI 337 and EDST 337) In this course, we will focus on the diversification of higher education. We will pay particular attention to efforts made by selective liberal arts colleges and universities to open their doors to students disadvantaged by barriers of racial discrimination and excluded by the means of class privilege. We will critically interrogate the concept of diversity and its implementation, paying attention to both successes and problems. Among these problems is the gap between a diversity promised and a diversity delivered.

This course functions as an introduction to academic writing at Amherst College. As an intensive
writing course, the main topic of the course is writing itself. In this class, students will examine
the way that journalists present the written word in print and digital spaces to inform, analyze,
and present opinions–as we do the same in our own writing. We will pay close attention to the
way that reporter teams explicitly and implicitly build arguments, use evidence, organize texts,

This course functions as an introduction to academic writing at Amherst College. As an intensive
writing course, the main topic of the course is writing itself. In this class, students will examine
the way that journalists present the written word in print and digital spaces to inform, analyze,
and present opinions–as we do the same in our own writing. We will pay close attention to the
way that reporter teams explicitly and implicitly build arguments, use evidence, organize texts,

(Offered as ECON 416, BLST 416 and SWAG 416) Economics is fundamentally about both efficiency and equity.  It is about allocation, welfare, and well-being.  How, then, can we use this disciplinary perspective to understand hierarchy, power, inequity, discrimination, and injustice?  What does economics have to offer?

(Offered as ECON 416, BLST 416 and SWAG 416) Economics is fundamentally about both efficiency and equity.  It is about allocation, welfare, and well-being.  How, then, can we use this disciplinary perspective to understand hierarchy, power, inequity, discrimination, and injustice?  What does economics have to offer?

(Offered as CLAS 420 and SWAG 420)  While the gender binary and the concept of homo- and heterosexuality are nineteenth-century European and colonial constructs, the literature and art of ancient Greece and Rome abound with representations of gender and sexuality that defy both ancient and modern norms. At a time when queer and trans identities are facing multiple political threats, it feels ever more urgent to remember that queer people have always existed: both within and outside the confines of the so-called “classical” world.

(Offered as BLST 349 [US] and POSC 349) This course introduces students to the world of autobiographical writing by reading some important autobiographies written in the twentieth century. These authors include: Booker T. Washington, James Baldwin, Malcolm X, and Barack Obama. In addition to reading these autobiographies, students will also begin writing their own. By the end of the course, students will have raised the following questions: what makes autobiography distinct from other approaches to examining the past? what is the relationship between self and community?