(Offered as ARHA 112 and ARCH 112) This introductory course teaches students how to read, write, and research the buildings, landscapes, and social spaces that comprise our world. Over the course of the semester, the Amherst College campus will be our guide. We will begin with visits to familiar locales like the town common and the buildings where students live, eat, and socialize. Students will embark upon exploratory writing exercises, sharing their thoughts on such spaces, while also refining their analytical skills.
Roughly 90 percent of today’s earthquakes and 75 percent of active volcanoes reside along the Ring of Fire, a nearly 25,000-mile stretch wrapped around the edges of the Pacific Ocean. The Ring of Fire is ground zero for some of the deadliest earthquakes and volcanic eruptions in human history, recorded in writings, traditions, and legends. These catastrophic events often have global repercussions.
Incipit vita nova: The Implications of Origins. Why do cultures seek to understand or to articulate beginnings? What cultural significance is to be attached to a given representation of a beginning? This course will study texts that purport to describe cosmic, natural, historical, political or personal origins. In addition, the course will investigate the cultural implications of the desire to seek or to establish origins. Readings will be drawn from Plato, the Bible, Bernardus Silvestris, Virgil, Dante, the anonymous Roman d’Eneas, Galileo, Rouss
