Social Science

Science as a History of the Present — APA2137.01

Instructor: David Bond

Credits: 4

This course builds on the premise that scientific practice is a meaningful form of public action. This premise challenges popular understandings of science as a cloistered or abstracted world, turning attention instead to the lively interface between scientific practices and pressing problems. We will approach science as a history of the present; that is, as a cultivated way of

CAPA Social Science

Seminar in Clinical/ Developmental Psychology — PSY4106.01

Instructor: David Anderegg

Credits: 4

This course serves as a platform for senior work in clinical or developmental psychology. Students will work together as a group and also independently under supervision of the instructor. The final product will be a research paper or other project which demonstrates critical thinking and research in psychology at an advanced level. Projects may be one-term projects or the

Social Science

Seminar in Clinical/Developmental Psychology — PSY4106.01

Instructor: David Anderegg

Credits: 4

This course serves as a platform for senior work in clinical or developmental psychology. Students will work together as a group and also independently under supervision of the instructor. The final product will be a research paper or other project which demonstrates critical thinking and research in psychology at an advanced level. Projects may be one-term projects or the

Social Science

Seminar in Political Leadership — POL4213.01

Instructor: Rotimi Suberu

Credits: 2

Political leadership is one of the most under-researched and under-theorized subjects in contemporary political science, despite an abundance of political biographies and a rich literature on organizational and managerial leadership. This 7-week seminar is devoted to exploring and analyzing leadership from a political perspective. We will examine different prescriptive and

Social Science

SHHH! The Social Construction of Silence — PSY4205.01

Instructor: Ronald Cohen

Credits: 4

***Time Change*** Silence is a central element of social life, but it has rarely been the focus of explicit research and theory. This may reflect a conception of silence as "absence," or mere ground for figures of speaking, utterance, and noise. This course reverses these conceptions: Silence is a presence, and a figure emerging from grounds of speech, utterance, and noise. It

Social Science

Spaces, Places, and Identities — PSY4190.01

Instructor: Ronald Cohen

Credits: 4

"Spaces" have geographical coordinates, "places" are territories of meaning, and "identities" are the senses we have of ourselves and others. This course will examine links among these through (1) reading theory and research in several social science disciplines, (2) writing short essays, and (3) completing one or two research papers.

Social Science

Special Projects — HIS4750.01

Instructor: Eileen Scully

Days & Time: TBA

Credits: 4

This course is an opportunity for students to pursue individual and collaborative interdisciplinary independent projects, whether in the exploratory phase or already underway. In early weeks, we workshop and finalize project ideas to produce individual contracts. These contracts include arrangements for each student to receive preliminary consultation on proposals and

Social Science

Special Projects — HIS4750.01

Instructor: eileen scully

Days & Time: TBA

Credits: 4

This course is an opportunity for students to pursue individual and collaborative interdisciplinary independent projects, whether in the exploratory phase or already underway. In early weeks, we workshop and finalize project ideas to produce individual contracts. These contracts include arrangements for each student to receive preliminary consultation on proposals and

Social Science

Special Projects — HIS4750.01

Instructor: Eileen Scully

Credits: 4

This course is an opportunity for students to pursue individual and collaborative interdisciplinary independent projects, whether in the exploratory phase or already underway. In early weeks, we workshop and finalize project ideas to produce individual contracts. These contracts include arrangements for each student to receive preliminary consultation on proposals and

Social Science

Studying Place by Metes and Bounds — ENV4232.01

Instructor: Valerie Imbruce; Miroslava Prazak

Credits: 4

***New Course Description*** In New England, parcels of land were traditionally described in reference to specific existing landscape features—a system called “metes and bounds.” This course, grounded in the ecology, history and culture of the Bennington region over its 250-plus year history, explores human interactions with the biophysical environment to produce livelihoods

Social Science Environment

Text Seminar: Plato's Erotic Dialogues — PHI4128.01

Instructor: Karen Gover

Credits: 4

In this course we will study in close detail Plato's two great dialogues on the subject of erotic love. In the first seven weeks, we will focus on The Symposium, and in the second seven weeks we will read The Phaedrus. Our engagement with the primary texts will be supplemented with readings on the history, cultural context, and interpretations of these works. In addition to the

Social Science

Text Seminar: Plato's Republic — PHI4244.01

Instructor: Karen Gover

Credits: 4

***Time Change New Description*** Plato's _Republic_ is not only a foundational work in the history of Western political philosophy, but also a fascinating and beautiful work of literature. It has provocative and even radical things to say about human nature, ethics, education, family, government, and art. We will work our way methodically through the primary text

Social Science

The Anthropology of Religion — ANT2108.01

Instructor: Noah Coburn

Days & Time: TBA

Credits: 4

This course takes an anthropological approach to the study of religion. It will look comparatively at how religion is understood in different cultures as well as studying different historical and theoretical approaches to religion. The course takes a holistic approach to religion and asks how religion is tied to such concepts as politics, kinship, gender and nationalism. It

Social Science

The Dangers of Econ 101 — PEC2262.01

Instructor: robin kemkes

Days & Time: TBA

Credits: 4

Most introductory economics courses represent the economy as detached from history, institutions and the environment and rely on assumptions about human behavior that typically do not line up with what we know about how people make decisions. Strict adherence to the dominant neoclassical model of economics has led us to financial crisis, environmental damage and rising income

Social Science

The Ethnography of Things — ANT4108.01

Instructor: Noah Coburn

Credits: 4

***Title change from The Anthropology of Things Time change*** Most ethnographic studies begin by focusing on a group of people. This course asks what the implications are of reversing such an approach and beginning with a specific thing. In what ways do things create culture? By carefully analyzing a series of classic and more current ethnographies, students will look at the

Social Science

The History of Science: From Hippocrates to Newton — HIS4111.01

Instructor: carol pal

Days & Time: TBA

Credits: 4

History tells us that humans have always wondered about the natural world. For thousands of years, our ancestors gazed in wonder at the heavens, experimented with plants and medicines, and tried to comprehend their own mortality. But when did ""science"" actually begin to be its own field, separate from philosophy, astrology, or faith? Beginning with human origins and

Social Science

The History of the Book — HIS4109.01

Instructor: Carol Pal

Credits: 4

What is a book? For centuries, our ideas have been shaped by the rhythms and hierarchies inherent in the nature of the printed book. But what constitutes a ""book"" has actually changed enormously over time - from ancient Egyptian papyri to Mayan glyphs to the first products of Gutenberg's fifteenth-century printing revolution. Moreover, as these technologies have changed, so

Social Science

The Human Condition: Hannah Arendt — PHI4101.01

Instructor: Paul Voice

Days & Time: TBA

Credits: 2

Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) was a major political theorist whose work has become increasingly influential in recent years. A student of Martin Heidegger and Karl Jaspers, her extensive writings cover such topics as the nature of power, the meaning of the political and the problem of totalitariansim. This seven-week course is a critical exploration of some of her major works,

Social Science

The Politics of Freedom — POL2256.01

Instructor: crina archer

Days & Time: TBA

Credits: 4

This course examines competing conceptions of freedom in the tradition of Western political thought. Is political freedom about doing what you want, sharing power, or actively participating in political life? Is freedom a quality of individuals or an experience found in collective action? What conditions help to secure freedom and what conditions undermine its possibility? What

Social Science

The Social Life of Crude Oil — ANT4118.01

Instructor: David Bond

Credits: 4

Crude oil keeps the contemporary in motion. This basic fact has become as bland a platitude as it is an unexamined process. From plastic bags to electricity, from synthetic fertilizers to the passenger plane, from heat for our homes to fuel for our cars, our world is cultivated, packaged, transported, and consumed in the general momentum of hydrocarbon expenditures. These well

Social Science Environment

Theoretical Ethics: The Nature of Moral Judgments — PHI4114.01

Instructor: paul voice

Days & Time: TBA

Credits: 4

Theoretical Ethics aims to uncover the sources of moral knowledge and the foundations of moral obligation. You will engage in a detailed reading of two classical moral theories and study contemporary interpretations and applications of these theories. You will be expected to contribute substantially to class discussion, write two essays and present a draft of your final essay

Social Science

Theories of Psychotherapy — PSY4108.01

Instructor: david anderegg

Days & Time: TBA

Credits: 4

This course addresses the history of the "talking cure" with a systematic look at the links between psychological theory and therapeutic technique. The practice of psychoanalysis and analytic therapy is investigated through a reading of some of Freud's papers on technique. The historical development of psychotherapy, including later developments in analysis, behavior therapy,

Social Science

Thinking Like a Social Scientist — PSY2108.01

Instructor: David Anderegg

Days & Time: TBA

Credits: 2

This course introduces the method and materials of social science disciplines and focuses on how social scientists make arguments. The disciplines differ in their methods (for example experimental data analysis in psychology versus observational data in anthropology) but share a commitment to rigorous, non-prejudicial argument and a sometimes successful effort to transcend the

Social Science

Topics in Applied Philosophy: Privacy — PHI2126.01

Instructor: Paul Voice

Credits: 2

Privacy has long been regarded as important and yet claims to privacy have been frequently challenged and often overridden by political, economic, and technological considerations. Do we have a right to privacy? If so, what is its philosophical justification and what essential human goods and capacities does it protect? In what circumstances and for what reasons can we be asked

Social Science

Topics in Applied Philosophy: War — PHI2140.01

Instructor: paul voice

Days & Time: TBA

Credits: 2

This course examines philosophical debates concerning war. In particular, we will look at the distinction between just and unjust war, as well as moral issues concerning the use of military technologies such as drones, and arguments for humanitarian military interventions. This course will be offered the first seven weeks of term.

Social Science