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Term
Time & Day Offered
Level
Credits
Course Duration

The Coming Community: Migration, Inclusion, and Obligation in the 21st Century — POL2204.01

Spring 2018
Instructor: John Hultgren
Credits: 4
What is the basis for granting someone membership within a political community? What obligations do we have toward those who are not formally members of our political community? Is “the nation” - today's dominant form of political community - capable of meeting the ethical challenges of a globalizing world? Is an alternative form of political community possible and/or desirable
CAPA Society Culture and Thought

The Concentrated Moment: The Art of Auditioning — DRA4103.01

Spring 2014
Instructor: Jenny Rohn
Credits: 4
Auditions are an opportunity to develop your artistic voice and your confidence in that voice through self-critique. In this class we will work to demystify the process of auditioning and understand how to prepare and present work under challenging circumstances. We will cover cold readings, monologue and prepared scenes, with an in depth look at each step of the process, from
Drama

The Costumes of "Wolf Hall" — DRA4121.01

Fall 2014
Instructor: charles schoonmaker
Days & Time: TBA
Credits: 4
This course will focus on an examination of Hilary Mantel's novel "Wolf Hall" from the vantage point of clothing. The novel details a dynamic period in history when King Henry VIII of England was attempting to annul his first marriage and marry Anne Boleyn. We will have the opportunity to study Tudor costume from both a historic and dramatic vantage point, and examine how this
Drama

The Courtly World: Lady Shonagon and Lady Murasaki — LIT2379.01

Spring 2020
Instructor: Anna Maria Hong
Credits: 4
Written in eleventh century, The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu is considered the world’s first full novel and a masterwork of classical literature. Sei Shonagon’s The Pillow Book is a memoir recounting life in the Japanese court of the same time, also regarded as a masterpiece of observation and wit in evoking natural and human worlds. Both authors were ladies in waiting at
Literature

The Creation of Spain's Image: Myths Archetypes — SPA4102.01

Fall 2013
Instructor: Sarah Harris
Days & Time: TBA
Credits: 4
The Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset once remarked of his compatriots, 'We prefer the lively sensation of things to the things themselves.' This course will focus on these 'lively sensations,' national myths of Spain that may or may not maintain much direct connection to the original 'things themselves.' National myths contain symbolic cultural significance and can
Languages

The Creation of Spain's Image: Myths and Archetypes — SPA4301.01

Fall 2016
Instructor: Sarah Harris
Credits: 4
The Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset once remarked of his compatriots, ‘We prefer the lively sensation of things to the things themselves.’ This course will focus on these ‘lively sensations,’ national myths of Spain that may or may not maintain much direct connection to the original ‘things themselves.’ National myths contain symbolic cultural significance and can
Languages

The Culinary Triangle and Ceramic Pot — APA2276.02

Fall 2020
Instructor: Yoko Inoue
Credits: 2
What is the transformative power of food and how did the invention of pottery contribute to innovations in cooking? We will look at how anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss’s culinary triangle analyzes three interrelated aspects of the food: raw, cooked and rotted and mechanisms of natural and cultural transformations of food. We will also examine how the evolution of ceramic pot
CAPA Visual Arts

The Culture of Italian Opera — ITA4215.01

Fall 2016
Instructor: Barbara Alfano
Credits: 4
This course explores Italian culture through one of its most celebrated traditions--opera. Students will discuss plots, settings, characters, and themes while strengthening their speaking skills and acquiring new vocabulary. Through the comparison of past and present cultural norms and habits, and through the relationship between those cultural norms and romantic love, students
Languages

The Curatorial: Multiple Variations — VA4208.01

Spring 2021
Instructor: Anne Thompson
Credits: 4
This class will curate an experimental exhibition of prints, photographs, artist books and other editions from Bennington College collections. In taking the multiple—or reproducible object—as a starting point, we open up a field that connects Crossett Library with campus art holdings and allows for strategizing about expanded exhibition structures. After an initial survey of
Visual Arts

The Curatorial: Your Top Ten — VA2230.02

Fall 2021
Instructor: Anne Thompson
Credits: 2
This class explores curatorial thinking through the process of compiling a Top Ten, a media staple that invites cultural producers to discuss ten things they like or recommend. Creating a Top Ten, like curating, involves making selections within parameters including (but not limited to) history, context, aesthetics, politics, style and preference. A good Top Ten is a cohesive
Visual Arts

The Curatorial: Your Top Ten — VA2230.01

Spring 2024
Instructor: Anne Thompson
Credits: 2
This class explores curatorial thinking through the process of compiling a Top Ten, a media staple that invites cultural producers to discuss ten things they like or recommend. Creating a Top Ten, like curating, involves making selections within parameters including (but not limited to) history, context, aesthetics, politics, style and preference. A good Top Ten is a cohesive
Visual Arts

The Curatorial: Your Top Ten — CUR2230.01

Spring 2025
Instructor: Carly Rudzinski
Credits: 2
This class explores curatorial thinking through the process of compiling a Top Ten, a media staple that invites cultural producers to discuss ten things they like or recommend. Creating a Top Ten, like curating, involves making selections within parameters including (but not limited to) history, context, aesthetics, politics, style and preference. A good Top Ten is a cohesive
Visual Arts

The Dance Archive Project — DAN4105.01

Fall 2015
Instructor: Dana Reitz
Days & Time: TBA
Credits: 2
The Bennington Dance Archive holds significant photos, tapes, programs and curricula information that dates back to the early 1930's.  With great care, we will explore some of this material, help find missing links, catalog and categorize, and add our own research about those who have participated all these years. Students will be expected to find biographies, explore the
Dance

The Dance Archive Project — DAN4105.01

Fall 2016
Instructor: Dana Reitz
Credits: 1
The Bennington Dance Archive holds significant photos, tapes, programs and curricula information that dates back to the early 1930′s.  With great care, we will explore some of this material, help find missing links, catalog and categorize, and add our own research about those who have participated all these years. Students will be expected to find biographies, explore the
Dance

The Dangers of Econ 101 — PEC2262.01

Fall 2014
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 Daoist Tales — CHI4113.01

Fall 2021
Instructor: Ginger Lin
Credits: 4
If Confucianism is the Yang of Chinese culture, then Daoism is the Yin. Not only has Daoism had a profound influence on traditional Chinese art and thought, but this philosophy remains relevant to modern life in both the East and West. Students will be introduced to the main precepts of philosophical Daoism through modern Chinese interpretations of Taoist Tales. Students will
Cultural Studies and Languages

The Data Science Foundations — CS2132.01

Fall 2023
Instructor: Meltem Ballan
Credits: 4
The Data Science Foundations provides an interactive introduction to common algorithms and techniques in data science. This class covers data preprocessing, regression techniques, supervised and unsupervised learning algorithms, decision trees, neural networks, ensemble methods,  model evaluation techniques and ethics. Throughout the course, students are encouraged to
CAPA Science and Mathematics

The Death and Life of Ash Trees: Emerald Ash Borer on the Bennington Campus — ENV2210.01

Fall 2025
Instructor: Caitlin McDonough MacKenzie
Days & Time: TH 3:40pm-5:30pm
Credits: 1

The ash trees on campus are dying from an introduced beetle. Ash trees make up about 8% of Vermont’s forests and their foliage contributes to our iconic fall colors. They are culturally important trees with deep connections to art from Indigenous basket making to Beyonce’s Louisville slugger in Lemonade. The Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) beetle

Advancement of Public Action Environment

The Design Process: Concept - Analysis - Diagram - Presentation — ARC4212.01

Spring 2015
Instructor: Karolina Kawiaka
Credits: 4
In this class students will develop and refine their design process through a series of sketch problems and design exercises. They will become familiar with the work of important architects and architectural writing and its role in creating culture, which will give inspiration and a sense of context for their own work. Analysis, CAD, and presentation skills will be advanced
Visual Arts

The Devil — LIT2404.01

Spring 2020
Instructor: Phillip Williams
Credits: 4
The Devil has taken many shapes and sizes throughout history and around the world. His story of origin has inspired canonical works that delve into Judeo-Christian theological examinations of daily life, political life, and the metaphysical. Who we are as people on earth seems to depend heavily on how we view our relationship with "good" and "evil." This class will focus on
Literature

The Devil Finds Work — MS2108.01

Spring 2022
Instructor: Carly Rudzinski
Credits: 4
In 1976 James Baldwin wrote his short work of film criticism The Devil Finds Work while in self-imposed exile in France. The work presents a personal film historical narrative as well as an intervention into the politics of aesthetics and the politics of visual cultural life from the perspective of a writer grappling with the realities of living as Queer and  
Society Culture and Thought

The Digital Photo Book — PHO4130.01

Fall 2015
Instructor: Jonathan Kline
Days & Time: TBA
Credits: 4
From photography’s inception, photo books have been critical to the medium and have provided a way to understand our culture’s use of images. In 1844 William Henry Fox Talbot utilized the book form with the first lens-based book, ‘The Pencil of Nature’. In this course, students will explore the photo-based artist book as a vehicle for self-expression.  A variety of
Visual Arts

The Digital Photo Book — PHO4130.01

Fall 2013
Instructor: Jonathan Kline
Days & Time: TBA
Credits: 4
From photography's inception, photo books have been critical to the medium and have provided a way to understand our culture's use of images. In 1844 William Henry Fox Talbot utilized the book form with the first lens-based book, 'The Pencil of Nature'. In this course, students will explore the photo-based artist book as a vehicle for self-expression. A a variety of approaches
Visual Arts

The Don Juan Project — DRA4146.01

Spring 2015
Instructor: Jean Randich; Thomas Bogdan
Credits: 4
Seducer.  Atheist.  Rebel.  Scoundrel.  Hypocrite.  Don Juan, the most unrepentant libertine in all of literature, has dazzled and provoked for centuries.  This project interlaces two masterpieces: Moliere’s Don Juan, or the Feast of Stone (1682), with selections from Mozart’s opera, Don Giovanni (1787).  Don Juan’s furious drive to satisfy
Drama Music