Studies of the Arts and Literature  

Modern and Contemporary Poetry
56:606:608
:01
Cross-Listed With: 56:350:593:01
Monday 6:00 pm – 8:50 pm
WRT-202
Hoffman

In this course we will read widely in American poetry of the modern and contemporary periods, stopping to pause over a few long poems (and poetic sequences) and a few poets whose body of work we will get to know intimately.

Special Topics Editing and Publishing in Print and Online
56:606:609:01
Cross-Listed With:  56:350:530:01
Tuesday 6:00 pm – 8:50 pm
BSB-108
Singley

Editors are the “hidden figures” of the publishing industry. Learn more about what they do in this course, which trains you in scholarly editing in particular and in theories and practices of editing texts in print and online generally. We also explore developments in the digital humanities and recent technologies such as Scalar, a digital publishing platform. Put theories into practice with hands-on editing of archival texts, including those in The Complete Works of Edith Wharton project (Oxford University Press), for which Dr. Singley is the General Editor; explore other modern editions; and edit a text of your choosing. Assignments include readings, one or two oral presentations, and at least two hands-on editing projects. 

Childhood and Sexuality
56:606:610:01
Cross-Listed With:  56:350:594:01
Thursday 6:00 pm – 8:50 pm
BSB-108
Blackford

This seminar will introduce you to Victorian and twentieth-century theories of and concerns with child/adolescent sexuality, from case studies to crusades to literature to digital representations. We will weed through Freud’s cases such as Dora and Little Hans, see how Victorians went nuts about masturbation, look at some of the stranger cases of Havelock Ellis, see how works like Where the Wild Things Are used the wolf-man, see how Radclyffe Hall used a transgender childhood case, look at how abuse shaped writers like Dorothy Allison and Maya Angelou, interpret children’s literature as presenting sexual tensions, and read a variety of works in which youth sexuality is situated in terms of race, class, sexual orientation, gender, and more diffuse symbolism like food, objects, and magic wands or chambers of secrets. Requirements include a presentation (including leading of discussion), two take-home close-reading exams, and a research project that may take the form of a traditional research paper or an electronic/multimodal/professional project.  

Literature and Culture of Childhood
56:606:611:01
Cross-Listed With:  56:163:580:01
Wednesday 6:00 pm – 8:50 pm
CS-202
Vallone

This course examines changing concepts of childhood as reflected in a range of literary and cultural texts from a variety of cultures and periods.  We consider the representations of children and childhood throughout literature and culture; the impact of the concept of childhood on intellectual and aesthetic traditions; the role of childhood in imagination and memory as well as in actuality; and the notion of childhood as a discursive category useful for understanding human subjectivity and the human condition.

Studies of Politics and Society 

Children’s Rights
56:606:621:01
Cross-Listed With:  56:163:521:01
Thursday 6:00 pm – 8:50 pm
CS-203
Wall

This course examines children’s rights from a range of theoretical, practical, historical, cultural, and global perspectives. It asks what it means to speak of children as having rights, how considerations of childhood challenge human rights groundings, how actual children’s rights have changed over time, what key struggles for rights are emerging today, how children participate in such struggles, and how children’s rights face issues of cultural difference, power, and implementation.

Studies of Culture and Criticism 

Material Cultural in America
56:606:632:01
Cross-Listed with:  56:512:588:01
Wednesday 6:00 pm – 8:50 pm
ATG-208
Mires

This course will introduce students to material culture from a variety of perspectives, spanning the colonial era to the present. We will talk about theoretical and methodological approaches to studying the physical world in addition to reading case studies exploring specific types of artifacts from the prosaic to the complex. Readings will include theories about consumer culture, commodities, and connoisseurship. We will also talk about the goods themselves, from axes, quilts, and beer cans to fashions, interiors, and machines. In addition, readings will cover more elusive but equally important aspects of the material world, such as gift cultures, recycling and reuse, collecting, aberrant relationships with things (such as hoarding), and the new minimalism.

A major goal is to expose students to a range of theories and methods for interpreting material artifacts. Another is to have students explore the relative importance of various kinds of material culture over time and the ways that goods reflected (and influenced) the economic, social, and cultural conditions of their time. A third goal is to have students better understand and use material artifacts as primary source material. And finally, students will come away with a better appreciation for the strengths and weaknesses of using objects as historical evidence to interpret the past.

Studies in Historical Analysis

US History:  1820-1898
56:606:671:01
Cross-Listed With:  56:512:506:01
Monday 6:00 pm – 8:50 pm
HPR-104 
Shankman

This course provides an advanced introduction to the primary economic, political, social, and cultural developments of the U.S. nineteenth century.

Colloquium in the United States, 1898 to 1945
56:606:672:01
Cross-Listed With:  56:512:507:01
Tuesday 6:00 pm – 8:50 pm 
HPR-104
Epstein

The period from 1898 to 1945 was one of profound transformation for the United States.  In the half century from the Spanish-American War through World War II, the United States became a great power, fought in two world wars, survived the Great Depression, established the modern welfare state, and experienced profound changes in race relations and gender roles.  While the unifying theme of the course is political economy, the readings will expose students to a variety of topics and approaches.  The course is divided into two-week units on a particular topic (examples include World War I and the New Deal), with the reading for the first week consisting of a monograph and the reading for the second week consisting of chapters and articles, so that students gain familiarity with multiple forms of scholarly discourse.  The writing assignments consist of book reviews and a historiographical essay.  The purpose of the course is to provide students with a firmer grounding in a pivotal period of US history, and to prepare them to write a research paper on a topic of their choosing in this era.

Readings in the 19th Century Europe
56:606:673:01
Cross-Listed With:  56:512:536:01
Wednesday 6:00 pm – 8:50 pm 
HPR-104 
Marker

This course provides an advanced survey of the historiography of modern Europe from the French Revolution to World War I. Key topics will include: historiographical debates about how to interpret the Revolution of 1789; the development of modern capitalism and its discontents; the changing role of religion in society; the rise of nation-states and modern empires; the relationship between art, politics and everyday life; and European relations with the wider world.

Capstone Research 

Research in Liberal Studies
56:606:689:01

Professor Stuart Charmé

Independent study of a special interest to the student, under supervision of an advisor chosen in consultation with the program director.

Research in Liberal Studies (Credits by Arrangement)

Research in Liberal Studies
56:606:690:01

Professor Stuart Charmé

Independent study of a special interest to the student, under supervision of an advisor chosen in consultation with the program director.

Matriculation Continued 

Matriculation Continued
56:606:800:01

Hours by Arrangement
Professor Stuart Charmé

Continuous registration may be accomplished by enrolling for at least 3 credits in standard course offerings, including research courses, or by enrolling in this course for 0 credits. Students actively engaged in study toward their degree who are using university facilities and faculty time are expected to enroll for the appropriate credits.