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Only two cities in Spain have over one million inhabitants, and these same two cities often seem at odds with each other. One city is geographically and politically central, the seat of the royal family, while the other is on the periphery, with a government that is currently in exile. Architecturally, one is largely neoclassical and monumental, while the other can seem

Only two cities in Spain have over one million inhabitants, and these same two cities often seem at odds with each other. One city is geographically and politically central, the seat of the royal family, while the other is on the periphery. Architecturally, one is largely neoclassical and monumental, while the other can seem dreamlike and surreal. One speaks what Antonio

In the 1980s and early 1990s, the AIDS epidemic was regarded as a global catastrophe with no hope of remedy. For many, the disease was an uncomfortable subject, one that some at first refused to address by name and others chose to ignore entirely, an illness intertwined in the collective imagination with mainstream culture’s perceptions of, and fears of, gay culture. In this

Philosopher Theodor Adorno famously claimed that writing poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric. Adorno didn’t write this statement to silence poets. Specifically referencing the poet Paul Celan, he meant that poetry after the Holocaust would need to be radically different to account for these historic atrocities. We will begin by reading Franz Kafka’s unfinished novel, The Castle,

The literature of the European Renaissance did much to help shape the modern mind and the modern world. In this class we will begin in Italy with Petrarch and Boccaccio, then go on to works by Pico della Mirandola, Machiavelli, Castiglione, Erasmus, Wyatt, Sir Thomas More, Cervantes, Rabelais, Vasari, and Montaigne, discussing them in the context of their time and in terms of

"Hitherto, the rights and wrongs had seemed so beautifully simple." (George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia) Technically a Civil War, the Spanish Civil War (1936 to 1939) was also an intensely international conflict in a number of ways: though no other nations officially entered the war, German forces used it to rehearse the blitzkrieg tactics they would employ in World War II;

In this course, we will explore the representation of travel and discovery in a variety of genres (essay, theatre, novel, poetry, film, bande dessinée). By examining both fictive and real travel narratives, we will look at how reality is transformed into a text and how fictions help us to imagine and discover new ways of thinking and living. Central themes will include exile

In this course, we will explore the representation of travel and discovery in a variety of genres (essay, theatre, novel, poetry, film, bande dessinée). By examining both fictive and real travel narratives, we will look at how reality is transformed into a text and how fictions help us to imagine and discover new ways of thinking and living. Central themes will include exile

The First World War, 1914-18, was a cataclysm that left ten million dead and created the modern world. It was also a period of tremendous artistic innovation and activity. In this class we will read the work of writers who fought the war, on both sides: soldier-poets like Siegfried Sassoon, Rupert Brooke, Wilfred Owen, and Edmund Blunden; novelists like Henri Barbusse, Ernest

Students will learn all the ways the audio travels through cables, into processing equipment, through amplification and out of speakers. Processors will include compression, EQ, delay, reverb, and crossovers. Students will learn about different live sound contexts, from the band gig to theater sound, and will be setting up and breaking down small sound systems. There will be

This will be a hands-on, bare-bones, system-focused class on audio electronics. We will explore the smallest inputs to the largest outputs that are used in artistic performance. The class will focus on the technical applications of microphones, mixers, speakers and software for live productions such as plays, concerts, Dance performances and installations. Students will use

In this course we will undertake a comprehensive survey of the Transcendentalist movement through a close examination of the major writings from this tumultuous time in America's intellectual life. We will read the major figures (Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Henry David Thoreau), as well as a host of lesser known members of the Transcendental Club (Orestes Brownson,

In this course we will undertake a comprehensive survey of American Transcendentalism through a close examination of the major writings from this tumultuous period. We will read the major figures (Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Henry David Thoreau), as well as a host of lesser known members of the Transcendental Club (Orestes Brownson, Ellery Channing, poet Jones Very

This course, while rooted in Literature, is part of the Lexicons of Migration cluster. Taking as a point of departure Isabelle de Courtivron's touchstone Bilingual Lives: Writers and Identity, students will update, complicate, and enrich the binary orientation of this collection, originally published in 2003. We will delve into the personal, familial, communal, and political

Contemporary South American fiction is rife with urgency, politics, and history, as well as narrative mischief, layering and literary gamesmanship. In this course we will read a selection of novels and stories from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and El Salvador from such authors as Cesar Aira,  Roberto Bolano, Alicia Borinsky, Sergio Chefec, Claudia Hernandez,

Around the world, there is renewed interest in empowering institutions of local governance (county, city, town/township, municipal, village, or special-purpose local government, and non-governmental local associations) in order to promote political democracy, enhance socio-economic welfare, and accommodate subnational identities, among other goals. This course will examine the

Around the world, there is renewed interest in empowering institutions of local governance (county, city, town/township, municipal, village, or special-purpose local government, and non-governmental local associations) in order to promote political democracy, enhance socio-economic welfare, and accommodate subnational identities, among other goals. This course will examine the

Landscape ecology works across multiple scales in space and time to understand the drivers of ecosystem function and pattern in broad context. Can diversity and productivity of particular pieces of the landscape be better predicted given knowledge of spatial and historical context? How do parts of the landscape interact as sources and sinks in population dynamics of plants and

New England is one of the most heavily forested regions in the United States. 14,000 years ago it was covered by ice. When humans arrived about 11,000 years ago, they found extensive, well-established forests — and began reshaping the landscape through hunting and fire and, beginning about 2000 years ago, farming. European colonists caused further ecological change by expanding

This is a companion course to the 'classroom' section, "Local Landscape A", and will take place entirely in lab and field (primarily the latter). The class has two main aims: to deepen and reinforce understanding of ecological principles through experience and systematic observation in the field (along with use of some of the tools and instruments of the field researcher), and

Logarithms are one of the parts of mathematics that often remain a bit mysterious to people, even if they had no difficulty solving problems with them in school. In fact, logarithms are of far broader importance and interest than the narrow applications one usually sees; and seeing this broader picture helps in dispelling some of the mystery and in understanding what they are.

How do we know something “beyond a reasonable doubt”? What is the relationship of insight to logical argument? How can we have certain knowledge about concepts which are infinite? These questions are at the core of mathematics, but also at the core of liberal arts. In mathematics, people have found rather detailed answers to how much certainty is possible, and have found

How do we know something "beyond a reasonable doubt"? What is the relationship of insight to logical argument? How can we have certain knowledge about concepts which are infinite? These questions are at the core of mathematics, but also at the core of liberal arts. In mathematics, people have found rather detailed answers to how much certainty is possible, and have found

This introductory course will cover key foundations needed for more advanced mathematics; it should also be of interest to students not primarily studying mathematics. Topics will include symbolic logic and rules of inference; how to write mathematical proofs; the beginnings of abstract algebra, including Boolean algebras; extensions of high school polynomial algebra; and set