Course Descriptions

SPA 303 - Advanced Grammar and Composition

Writing-intensive course. Review, expansion, and fine-tuning of grammatical knowledge; building and use of a growing body of vocabulary and idiomatic expressions. Conducted in Spanish.

Counts towards the major and minor in Hispanic Studies.

Prerequisites & Notes
Spanish 260 or its equivalent.  Placement exam may be required. (Not offered in 2015-16.)

SPA 304 - Spanish Sociolinguistics

This class explores language as a social and dynamic phenomenon that reflects the idiosyncrasies of those who produce it. Drawing on both theory and direct analysis of primary sources, we will study the linguistic behavior of Spanish speaking communities in Latin America, Spain and the United States as determined by sociocultural factors that influence linguistic production: historical, ethnic and cultural factors, contexts of production, and individual features such as gender, age, social class, economic status, or professional occupation. Conducted in Spanish.

Satisfies a major requirement in Hispanic Studies.
Satisfies a minor requirement in Hispanic Studies.

Prerequisites & Notes
Spanish 260 and Spanish 270. (Not offered in 2015-16)

SPA 311 - Teaching Spanish in the Elementary School

In this course, students will read theoretical material about language learning and language pedagogy as specifically related to children learning Spanish as a foreign language and put the readings into practice through participation in the Davidson FLES (Foreign Language in the Elementary School) program. Students will learn how to plan a curriculum, develop lesson plans, implement lessons, and assess their students’ learning. Teaching in the  Davidson FLES is required. Conducted in Spanish with readings in English and Spanish; counts toward the Major and Minor in Hispanic Studies. 

Prerequisites & Notes
SPA 260 or equivalent required. Students concurrently enrolled in SPA 260 are eligible.

SPA 320 - Spanish Literature Through the Golden Age

Major works from medieval times through the seventeenth century, studied against a background of historical developments and literary currents. Conducted in Spanish.

Satisfies Area I for the major in Hispanic Studies and counts towards the interdisciplinary minor in Global Literary Theory.
Students entering 2012 and after: satisfies the Literary Studies, Creative Writing, and Rhetoric distribution requirement.
Students entering before 2012: satisfies the Literature distribution requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Spanish 260 and 270 or their equivalents. (Spring)

SPA 321 - Theater of Spain’s Golden Age

Development of 16th and 17th century Spanish theater, including works by Lope de Vega, Cervantes, Tirso de Molina, Ruiz de Alarcón, and Calderón de la Barca. Conducted in Spanish.

Satisfies Area I for the major in Hispanic Studies and counts towards the interdisciplinary minor in Global Literary Theory.
Students entering before 2012: satisfies the Literature distribution requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Spanish 260 and 270 or their equivalents. (Not offered in 2015-16.)

SPA 322 - Cervantes

Advanced study of Don Quixote and the literary criticism it has generated. Other works by Cervantes may be included. Conducted in Spanish.

Satisfies Area I for the major in Hispanic Studies and counts towards the interdisciplinary minor in Global Literary Theory.
Students entering before 2012: satisfies the Literature distribution requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Spanish 260 and 270 or their equivalents. (Not offered in 2015-16)

SPA 323 - Spanish Picaresque Novel

This course principally examines Spain’s Golden Age Picaresque Novels in conjunction with specific socio-historico-cultural contexts.  We begin by defining genre and the picaresque, as well as by exploring the times in which these great works of social criticism were written by studying the circumstances of early modern Spain. Later, we read texts less often referred to as “picaresque” to explore the continuity of the picaresque in Hispanic Letters and in world literature. Conducted in Spanish.

Satisfies Area I for the major in Hispanic Studies and counts towards the interdisciplinary minor in Global Literary Theory.

Prerequisites & Notes
SPA 260 and 270 or equivalents. (Not offered in 2015-16.)

SPA 329 - Independent Study: Spanish Literature prior to 1700

Independent study under the direction and supervision of a faculty member who approves the course content, and the research project, and determines the means of evaluation.

SPA 330 - Modern Spain

Thematic introduction to the culture, literature, and fine arts of Spain since 1700. Conducted in Spanish.

Satisfies Area II for the major in Hispanic Studies and counts towards the interdisciplinary minor in Global Literary Theory.
Students entering 2012 and after: satisfies the Literary Studies, Creative Writing, and Rhetoric distribution requirement.
Students entering before 2012: satisfies the Literature distribution requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Spanish 260 and 270 or their equivalents. (Spring)

SPA 331 - Twentieth and Twenty-first Century Spain

Writers of the early decades, the Generation of 1927 and the Spanish Civil War, the Franco and democratic years, into the 1980s, 1990s, and the new century films.  Study and analysis of socio-historical, ideological, and cultural contexts. Conducted in Spanish.

Satisfies Area II for the major in Hispanic Studies and counts towards the interdisciplinary minor in Global Literary Theory.
Students entering 2012 and after: satisfies the Literary Studies, Creative Writing, and Rhetoric distribution requirement.
Students entering before 2012: satisfies the Literature distribution requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Spanish 260 and 270 or their equivalents. (Not offered in 2015-16)

SPA 339 - Independent Study: Spanish Literature since 1700

Independent study under the direction and supervision of a faculty member who approves the course content and the research project, and determines the means of evaluation.

Prerequisites & Notes
Spanish 260 and 270 or their equivalents.

SPA 340 - Latin American Literature I

Satisfies Area IV for the major in Hispanic Studies.
Counts towards Latin American Studies as well as the interdisciplinary minor in Global Literary Theory.
Students entering before 2012: satisfies the Literature distribution requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Spanish 260 and 270 or their equivalents. (Fall)

SPA 341 - Latin American Literature II

Ideas, aesthetics, and theoretical interpretations that have shaped modern Latin American literature and other cultural expressions from 1900 to the present. Conducted in Spanish.

Satisfies Area V for the major in Hispanic Studies.
Counts towards Latin American Studies as well as the interdisciplinary minor in Global Literary Theory.
Students entering 2012 and after: satisfies the Literary Studies, Creative Writing, and Rhetoric distribution requirement.
Students entering before 2012: satisfies the Literature distribution requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Spanish 260 and 270 or their equivalents. (Spring)

SPA 342 - The Latin American City: Historical Narratives & Cultural Representations

This course will study the Latin American city through historical and cultural perspectives. Students will learn about the history of select cities and then analyze the relationship between historical context and cultural production through texts offering historical, cultural and literary representations of the cities. The course will emphasize comparison of cities over time, with attention to the phehispanic city, the modern city and the contemporary Latin American City, as well as US cities with a strong Latino influence.

Satisfies Area III for the Hispanic Studies major and counts as an upper-level elective in Latin American Studies.

Prerequisites & Notes
Cross-listed with LAS 342. (Spring)

SPA 343 - Contemporary Latin American Novel

Most important literary works of major contemporary writers from Latin America studied against a background of recent history and relevant ideologies and theoretical interpretations. Conducted in Spanish.

Satisfies Area V for the major in Hispanic Studies.
Counts towards Latin American Studies as well as the interdisciplinary minor in Global Literary Theory.
Students entering before 2012: satisfies the Literature distribution requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Spanish 260 and 270 or their equivalents. (Not offered in 2014-15.)

SPA 344 - Latino Culture in the U.S.

This survey course explores the development of a distinctly Latina/o culture in the U.S. Topics covered include: the changing nature of geographic and economic borders from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century; the history and legacy of racism and xenophobia; the construction of canons; the politics of bilingualism; Chicana and Latina feminisms; culturally specific manifestations of gender and sexuality; and the exoticization and marginalization of Latina/o culture. Conducted in Spanish.

Satisfies Area III for the major in Hispanic Studies.
Satisfies the cultural diversity requirement.
Students entering 2012 and after: satisfies the Literary Studies, Creative Writing, and Rhetoric distribution requirement.
Students entering before 2012: satisfies the Literature distribution requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Spanish 260 and 270 or their equivalents. (Spring)

SPA 346 - Latin American Theatre

Study of the most important Latin American playwrights, plays, and performances within the ideologies and aesthetics that have shaped contemporary Latin American theatre. Conducted in Spanish.

Students entering before 2012: satisfies the Literature distribution requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Spanish 260 and 270 or their equivalents. (Not offered in 2015-16.)

SPA 347 - Imperial Cities

Focused study of the way urban space becomes the staging ground for the conquest of the New World, and ultimately, the administration and consolidation of global imperial order throughout the viceregal period. Although much of the semester focuses on Mexico City, this course develops a general vocabulary to talk about the ways urban literary and intellectual culture were inextricable from a discourse about empire and the increasingly urban character of imperial modernity. Conducted in Spanish.

Satisfies Area IV for the major in Hispanic Studies and counts towards Latin American Studies.

Prerequisites & Notes
SPA 260 and 270 or their equivalents. (Not offered in 2015-16)

SPA 348 - Hispanic Theatre and Performance

The course expands the communicative, interpretive, and analytical Spanish language skills of the students by using the most recent studies about contemporary Hispanic theatre theories and practices. Conducted in Spanish.

Students entering before 2012: satisfies the Literature distribution requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Spanish 260 and 270 or their equivalents. (Not offered in 2015-16.)

SPA 349 - Latin American Literature - Independent Study

Study under the direction and supervision of a faculty member who approves the course content and the research project, and determines the means of evaluation.

Students entering before 2012: satisfies the Literature distribution requirement.

SPA 350 - García Lorca and His Generation

Satisfies Area II for the major in Hispanic Studies and counts towards the interdisciplinary minor in Global Literary Theory.
Students entering before 2012: satisfies the Literature distribution requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Spanish 260 and 270 or their equivalents. (Fall)

SPA 352 - Contemporary Latin American Cinema

Exploration of the cinema and film-making traditions of Latin America since the 1950s with specific attention to the aesthetic media, political debates, and histories of national film industries.  Conducted in Spanish.

Satisfies Area III for the major in Hispanic Studies.
Counts towards the Film & Media Studies as well as Latin American Studies.
Students entering 2012 and after: satisfies the Visual and Performing Arts distribution requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Spanish 260 or 270 or their equivalents. (Not offered in 2015-16)

SPA 353 - Contemporary Spanish Film

Study of Spanish film from the 1950s into the new century, within the complex matrix that is twentieth- and twenty-first-century Spain.  Cinematic theory and the lexicon of film analysis.  Spain’s cinematic response to the Spanish Civil War and the subsequent exile and dictatorship years, gender definitions, and changing national identity during the democratic era. Conducted in Spanish.

Satisfies Area III for the major in Hispanic Studies.
Counts towards Film & Media Studies.

Prerequisites & Notes
Spanish 260 and 270 or their equivalents. (Not offered in 2015-16)

SPA 354 - Dying of Love in Medieval Iberia

This course examines literary and iconographic representations of love and death during the Iberian Middle Ages, with special emphasis on the 15th century sentimental novel.  Within the artistic tradition of the cults of love and death that characterize the Iberian Middle Ages, this course reflects upon the ways in which authors and artists created a distinctive tradition depicting the attitudes towards love and death that have ultimately shaped the modern Hispanic collective imaginary of these concepts.  Interdisciplinary theoretical approaches.  Conducted in Spanish.

Satisfies Area I for the major in Hispanic Studies.
Students entering 2012 and after: satisfies the Literary Studies, Creative Writing, and Rhetoric distribution requirement.
Students entering before 2012: satisfies the Literature distribution requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Spanish 260 and 270 or their equivalents. (Fall)

SPA 356 - Seminar on Special Topics

Special Topics represent an area in literature or culture outside the content of other core courses.

 

Prerequisites & Notes
Spanish 260 and 270 or their equivalents. (Not offered in 2015-16)

SPA 357 - Contemporary Latin American/Latino Icons

This upper level interdisciplinary course examines Contemporary Latin American/Latino Women Icons. Considering canonical and non-canonical discourses we will explore performative subjects, gender, and the politics of representation. Life-writing, gender and sexualities, media and cultural studies readings will inform our understanding of celebrity and iconic representations.

Satisfies Area III for the major in Hispanic Studies,
Satisfies the Literary Studies Creative Writing and Rhetoric distribution requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Spanish 260 and 270 or the equivalents. (Spring)

SPA 358 - Empire and Indigenous Culture

This course examines the European imperial project in the Americas through the lens of Indigenous writing and cultural responses. By examining indigenous texts from throughout the Americas, we will trace the way native orality and writing has negotiated the impact of imperialism, as well as the various ways in which these responses have helped to shape hybrid, autochthonous cultures throughout the western hemisphere. Although the bulk of the materials will be from the 16^th through the 19^th centuries, we will also examine more contemporary texts and cultural artifacts.

Satisfies an area IV requirement for the major.
Satisfies the Literary Studies distribution requirement.

 

Prerequisites & Notes
(Spring)

SPA 359 - Contemporary Latin American /Latino Short Story

This upper level course is designed to engage the student in a complex process of critical thinking and cross cultural interpretation as we explore a relevant body of milenio Latin American/Latino short narratives. Concentrating on analytical, creative, and argumentative reading practices, we will identify relevant textual, ideological, and cultural representational strategies of postmodern short narratives, sudden fiction, micro-fiction, film and animation adaptations. Conducted in Spanish.

Satisfies Area V for the major in Hispanic Studies. Satisfies the Literary Studies, Creative writing, and Rhetoric distribution requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Spanish 260 and 270 or the equivalents. (Fall)

SPA 360 - Cultures of Southern Spain

Interdisciplinary seminar that examines the concept of the South in 21st Century Spain as an ideological construction of hierarchical dichotomies such as the real and the imagined, tradition and modernity, the native and the foreign, cliché and factual, the African-Oriental and the European: the old South and the new South. By the end of the semester students will have an appreciation of cultural nuances and distinctions that will allow them to understand why Spanish Southerners are the way they are, how they see the world and themselves, and how they are imagined by others. Additionally, we will adopt a comparative approach in order to uncover connections and patterns between the South in Spain and the South in the United States. Conducted in Spanish. 

Satisfies Area III for the major in Hispanic Studies and the cultural diversity requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
(Not offered in 2015-16)

SPA 361 - Civilization of Spain

Reading, discussion, visual representations, and student research on Spain’s social, economic, political, and religious life, and the fine arts. May follow a thematic or historical model. Conducted in Spanish.

Satisfies Area III for the major in Hispanic Studies.

Prerequisites & Notes
Spanish 260 and 270 or their equivalents. (Not offered in 2015-16.)

SPA 369 - Hispanic Cultures - Independent Study

Independent study under the direction and supervision of a faculty member who approves the course content and the research project, and determines the means of evaluation.

Prerequisites & Notes
Spanish 260 and 270 or their equivalents.

SPA 374 - Caribbean Peoples, Ideas, and Arts

Literature and arts, ideas, and socio-economic structures in the Caribbean islands and rimlands (Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Colombia, and Central America). Conducted in Spanish.

Satisfies Area III for the major in Hispanic Studies.
Students entering before 2012: satisfies the Literature distribution requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Spanish 260 and 270 or their equivalents. (Not offered in 2015-16.)

SPA 375 - Latin American Women Writers

An examination of genre, gender, and representation in women’s writing in Latin America from the 20th century to the present.  Latin American women’s textual and visual narratives: Practices and Theoretical Frameworks. Conducted in Spanish.

Satisfies Area V for the major in Hispanic Studies.
Counts towards Gender & Sexualities Studies, the interdisciplinary minor in Global Literary Theory, and Latin American Studies.
Students entering 2012 and after: satisfies the Literary Studies, Creative Writing, and Rhetoric distribution requirement.
Students entering before 2012: satisfies the Literature distribution requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Spanish 260 and 270 or their equivalents. (Not offered in 2015-16)

SPA 390 - Course in Special Topics

This course will not only guide students in developing cultural analyses of key Spanish films, but also ask them to learn how film works by practicing some filmmaking techniques (equipment provided).  Our study of Spanish film will be enhanced by experiential travel that will deepen our understanding of several films’ cultural context.  Putting into practice the principle that creating is a means of understnading, we will reinforce and expand our understanding of film’s visual language by making short films. Our on-site experiences in different Spanish cities and towns will also give us several different opportunities to think about and arrange mise-enscène, and our use of iMovie will give us the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of film editing. Conducted in Spanish.

Counts as a course in residence towards the major and minor in Hispanic Studies.

Prerequisites & Notes
SPA 260 or its equivalent.  (Fall) González

SPA 393 - Advanced Language Seminar

(Summer Program in Cadiz, Spain) Advanced language and composition course. Students will take advantage of their immersion experience for their writing and discussion. Conducted in Spanish.

Counts as a course in residence towards the major and minor in Hispanic Studies.

Prerequisites & Notes
Spanish 260 and concurrent enrollment in Spanish 394.

SPA 394 - Advanced Seminar in Spanish Cultures

(Summer Program in Cadiz, Spain) An advanced course in Spanish culture studied through film, literature, music, and periodicals with a focus on contemporary culture. Conducted in Spanish.

Satisfies Area III for the major in Hispanic Studies.

Prerequisites & Notes
Spanish 260 and concurrent enrollment in Spanish 393.

SPA 395 - Spanish Art

(Semester Program in Madrid) The specific focus of this course on Spanish art will vary. Conducted in Spanish.

Satisfies Area III for the major in Hispanic Studies.

Prerequisites & Notes
SPA 260 or its equivalent.

SPA 396 - Cultures of Spain

(Semester Program in Madrid) This course explores the plural cultures of Spain and, depending on the semester, will vary in temporal perspective. Conducted in Spanish.

Satisfies Area III for the major in Hispanic Studies.

Prerequisites & Notes
SPA 260 or its equivalent.

SPA 400 - Seminar on Special Topics, SPA 401-410

Research-oriented advanced seminar in an area of literature or culture outside the content of other core courses. Specific topics listed as 401-410. A substantial final research project will be conducted.

Prerequisites & Notes
Any two literature or culture courses. Limited to juniors and seniors. Priority will be given to majors, then minors. (Fall and Spring)

SPA 401 - U.S.- Mex Border Cultures

US/Mexico Border Culture will explore the ways in which artists have depicted the diversity of experiences of crossing, settling or living in the border regions between the U.S. and Mexico.  We will focus on fiction poetry, essays, and films from the beginning of the 20^th century to the present. We will reflect on: How and why have representations of the border changed over time?  How are political, social and economic events influencing artistic representations of it? How does national identities are constructed in the border context? What alternative cultural discourses have emerged from the contemporary of border artists?

A substantial final research project will be conducted.  Conducted in Spanish.

Prerequisites & Notes
Any two literature or culture courses. Limited to juniors and seniors. Priority will be given to majors, then minors. (Fall)

SPA 402 - Transformation and Travel in Spain

This interdisciplinary seminar examines the concept of travel, migrations, and pilgrimages in Spain as transformational experiences for the individual. By the end of the semester students will have an appreciation of travel as a process through which an individual leaves the familiar and the comfortable and joins a liminal world of transition as he or she moves towards an experience which ultimately transforms the self. Interdisciplinary primary materials and theoretical approaches from the field of pilgrimage studies. A substantial final research project will be required. Conducted in Spanish.

Satisfies Area III for the major in Hispanic Studies and the cultural diversity requirement.
Students entering 2012 and after: satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Any two literature or culture courses. Limited to juniors and seniors. Priority will be given to majors, then minors. (Not offered in 2014-15.)

SPA 403 - Latino American Sexualities

This course explores theories of gender and sexuality from both North and South and their dialogue with transnational American cultural production. Throughout the semester, we will consider a diverse group of U.S. Latina/o and Latin American literary texts, films, and performances and investigate their construction of sexual, gendered, national, and ethnic identities.

A substantial final research project will be required. Conducted in Spanish.

Prerequisites & Notes
Any two literature or culture courses. Limited to juniors and seniors. Priority will be given to majors, then minors. (Spring)

SPA 404 - Writing and Rewriting the Hispanic Tradition

This course explores one of the most basic, yet complicated concepts of story-telling: re-telling. Using various literary theories–from Renaissance imitation to the neobarroco–this class examines two (or more) texts in tandem to better appreciate various interpretations of some of the foundational figures, texts, and myths of the Hispanic literary tradition. 

A substantial final research project will be required. Conducted in Spanish. 

Prerequisites & Notes
Any two literature or culture courses. Limited to juniors and seniors. Priority will be given to majors, then minors. (Not offered in 2015-16.)

SPA 405 - Law, Letters, and Empire

An exploration of the points of contact between humane letters and law, as disciplines that examine, shape and challenge normative claims about the world. Through close analysis of literary and theoretical texts, we will ask ourselves if justice is a faculty with identifiable structural, philosophical and aesthetic characteristics present in both literature and law, as well as how the underlying complementarity of the legal and literary shapes the emergence of the Atlantic early modern world.

A substantial final research project will be required. Conducted in Spanish.

Prerequisites & Notes
Any two literature or culture courses. Limited to juniors and seniors. Priority will be given to majors, then minors. (Not offered in 2015-16)

SPA 406 - Life-writing, Gender, Performativity

Interdisciplinary research oriented seminar designed to engage students in the politics of unsettling modes of life-writing, gender, and representation. Life-writing theory and cultural analysis of contemporary Latin American/Latino fictional and non-fictional narratives.

A substantial final research project will be required. Conducted in Spanish.

Prerequisites & Notes
Any two literature or culture courses. Limited to juniors and seniors. Priority will be given to majors, then minors. (Not offered in 2015-16.)

SPA 407 - Memory, Sexuality and Medicine in Contemporary Spain

This course is designed to study a topic in depth aiming to model approaches to literary criticism and research methodology that will culminate in the students’ final research portfolio project. This fall we will be studying the interplay between history and memory, and the construction of gendered identities as represented in early 20^th century peninsular literature. We will focus the construction of gender and sexuality and its roots in the medical discourse during Spain’s Second Republic (1931-1939). We will consider both liberal and conservative viewpoints as well as contemporary perspectives. Finally, we will consider how political ideas change over time.

 

Prerequisites & Notes
Completion of Area II required prior to enrollment. Limited to juniors and seniors. Priority will be given to majors, then minors. (Not offered in (2015-16)

SPA 408 - Sem: Spain and the Holocaust

 

Prerequisites & Notes
(Spring) an Area II course from the Hispanic Studies Major, though a student need not be a Hispanic Studies major to enroll in the course. The course will be conducted in Spanish.

SPA 429 - Independent Study

Special topics, themes, genre, or a single figure in literature, history, or culture, outside the content of other courses under the direction and supervision of a faculty member who approves the topic(s), the research project, and determines the means of evaluation. Open to Senior Majors.

Prerequisites & Notes
Any two literature or culture courses, or approval of the chair and the instructor.

SPA 490 - Senior Seminar: Latin American Modernities, 1492-2010

Required of all majors in Hispanic Studies.

Prerequisites & Notes
Limited to senior majors in Hispanic Studies. (Fall)

SPA 498 - Senior Honors Thesis and Tutorial, SPA 498-499

Both SPA 498 and 499 are required to be eligible for Honors. Research and writing of the honors thesis begins in SPA 498 (in the spring of the junior year or the fall of the senior year) and is completed in SPA 499 during the last semester of the senior year. SPA 498 requires a thesis outline, annotated bibliography, progress reports, and an introductory chapter. An oral defense of the honors thesis proposal is held at the end of SPA 498. An oral presentation of the completed honors thesis is conducted at the end of SPA 499. Details of these requirements can be found on the department website.

THE 11 - Applied Theatre

THE 12 - Applied Theatre

THE 21 - Applied Theatre

THE 22 - Applied Theatre

THE 31 - Applied Theatre

THE 32 - Applied Theatre

THE 41 - Applied Theatre

THE 42 - Applied Theatre

THE 45 - Applied Theatre

THE 101 - Introduction to Theatre Arts

Students entering 2012 and after:  satisfies the Visual and Performing Arts distribution requirement.
Students entering before 2012:  satisfies the Fine Arts distribution requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
First-year and sophomore students only until first day of class.

THE 121 - Creating Devised Theatre and Performance

This course is an experiential and critical study of contemporary devised theater. Students will develop and create original theatre work in an ensemble setting through a series of exercises, documentary research, basic film techniques, acting and creative writing.

Students entering 2012 and after: satisfies the performing arts distribution requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Offered every other year.

THE 201 - Exercises in Playcrafting and Performance

Students entering 2012 and after:  satisfies the Visual and Performing Arts distribution requirement.
Students entering before 2012:  satisfies the Fine Arts distribution requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
(Fall)

THE 221 - Advanced Devised Theatre and Performance

The course is an experiential and critical study of contemporary devised theatre. Students will develop and create original theatre work in an ensemble setting through a series of exercises, documentary research, basic film techniques, acting and creative writing.
 

Prerequisites & Notes
Offered every other year

THE 242 - Women’s Work: 21st Century Female Playwrights

This course provides a close look at work created for the stage by women since 2000. The analysis of plays written and produced in the 21st century will be set in the context of feminist and queer theory which has offered insights into the cultural function of “women’s work.”

Prerequisites & Notes
(Fall) Offered every other year

THE 245 - Acting I

Study and application of the psycho-physical and emotional bases of performance. Emphasis on relaxation of the actor’s body, ensemble improvisation, freeing the natural voice, acting on impulse. The training will culminate in realistic scene work.

Students entering 2012 and after:  satisfies the Visual and Performing Arts distribution requirement.
Students entering before 2012:  satisfies the Fine Arts distribution requirement.

THE 248 - Acting in Multi-Cultural American Theatre

Exploration of and training in fundamental performance techniques utilizing texts from a variety of American cultural sources. Course work will focus on the study of current trends in multi-cultural performance and casting practices, as well as the acting of monologues and scenes drawn from contemporary plays, other literary forms, and students’ own compositions.

Satisfies the Visual and Performing Arts Distribution Requirement.

THE 250 - Play Analysis for Production

Examination of traditional methods of play analysis and their application in the development of production plans with a wide variety of theatrical scripts.

Students entering 2012 and after:  satisfies the Visual and Performing Arts distribution requirement.
Students entering before 2012:  satisfies the Fine Arts distribution requirement.

THE 261 - Modern Drama (= ENG 261)

THE 285 - Performance & Politics in the 20th Century: World Theatre & Drama

The course is a study of plays and theatrical theory from a range of geographic regions.  The course explores ways practitioners experimented with form and content in articulating their reactions to the human condition of the 20th century.

Students entering 2012 and after: satisfies Visual and Performing Arts distribution requirement.
Students entering before 2012:  satisfies the Fine Arts distribution requirement.

THE 335 - Fundamentals of Stage Design

Students entering 2012 and after:  satisfies the Visual and Performing Arts distribution requirement.
Students entering before 2012:  satisfies the Fine Arts distribution requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Class includes a once a week lab.  (Fall)

THE 345 - Acting II

THE 355 - Directing I

Fundamentals of directing for the stage, focusing on text analysis, blocking principles, the director-actor relationship, the director-designer conceptual process and scene work.

Students entering 2012 and after:  satisfies the Visual and Performing Arts distribution requirement.
Students entering before 2012:  satisfies the Fine Arts distribution requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Theatre 245 (Fall)

THE 362 - Theatre and Social Justice

THE 371 - World Theatre History

Students entering before 2012:  satisfies the Fine Arts distribution requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
(Spring)

THE 380 - Special Topics in Theatre, THE 380-385

Students entering 2012 and after:  satisfies the Visual and Performing Arts distribution requirement.

 

THE 381 - Advanced Acting Seminar

Advanced acting seminar exploring a variety of dramatic forms.

Prerequisites & Notes
Theatre 245.

THE 383 - Contemporary Theatre and Performance: Trends in Theatre Studies

Offered every other year.

THE 386 - Voice and Movement for the Actor I

Foundations of vocal technique and movement analysis for the actor.  Provides a working knowledge of anatomical and kinesiological principles pertinent to strong and healthy vocal production.

Prerequisites & Notes
Theatre 245 (Offered every other year.)

THE 390 - Independent Study, THE 390-398

THE 391 - Independent Study - Advanced Acting

THE 392 - Independent Study - Advanced Directing

THE 393 - Independent Study - Advanced Design

THE 394 - Independent Study - Dramaturgy

THE 395 - Independent Study - Stage Management

THE 396 - Independent Study - Playwriting

THE 397 - Independent Study - Production Management and Advanced Design

THE 399 - Non-Profit Arts Management

THE 435 - Advanced Scene Design

Instructor
Gardner

Advanced study of the design and implementation of scenic design for the stage.  Continuation of principles covered in THE 335, with special emphasis on multi-scene solutions for specific plays.  Process work, including research and play analysis, will be emphasized. Rendering techniques will include scale models and computer graphics. THE 250 is highly recommended but not required. 

Prerequisites & Notes
THE 335 (Additional lab hours required.) (Offered every other Spring.)

THE 436 - Lighting Design and Technical Production

THE 445 - Acting III

THE 455 - Directing II

THE 486 - Voice and Movement for the Actor II

Advanced study of vocal technique and movement analysis for the actor. Provides an in-depth analysis of individual habits and fosters healthy expansion of movement vocabulary and vocal production.

Prerequisites & Notes
Theatre 245 and 386 (Meets for extra hours; please consult with the instructor.) 

THE 499 - Honors Tutorial and Thesis

WRI 101 - Course list for Writing in the Liberal Arts

Spring 2016 Writing 101 Courses

WRI 101 [A]: The Art of Prose

T/R 8:15 - 9:30

Nelson

This course helps students develop the skills of writing in the liberal arts: critical analysis of texts, exploration of and deliberation about public and intellectual issues; familiarity with research strategies; understanding the conventions for using with integrity the work of others; and crafting of inventive, correct, and rhetorically sophisticated prose.

WRI 101 [B]: Luck and Chance

T/R 8:15 - 9:30

McKeever

Our lives are shaped by luck and require us to manage chance and uncertainty.  Our talents and abilities are due to, among other things, our genetics, our parents, and the economic and social circumstances into which we are born.  Yet none of these things are within our control, nor can they be awarded on the basis of desert.  Those born healthy to loving parents and times of peace and plenty can count themselves lucky; not everyone is.    And however lucky we should count ourselves, navigating the world requires managing chance and uncertainty.   In this course, we will explore the practical significance of luck and chance; we will touch on issues of psychology, philosophy, ethics, mathematics, and public policy. 

WRI 101 [C]: Comics and Graphic Novels

T/R 9:40 - 10:55

Sample

Comics and graphic novels build on artistic and narrative traditions stretching back hundreds-if not thousands-of years. Boldly combining images and text, graphic novels of recent years have explored issues often considered the domain of “serious” literature: immigration, racism, war and trauma, dysfunctional families, sexual identity, and much more. Informed by literary theory and visual culture studies, we will learn to analyze and write about both mainstream and independent graphic narratives. In particular, we will be especially attentive to the unique visual grammar of the medium, exploring graphic novels that challenge the conventions of genre, narrative, and high and low culture.

WRI 101 [D]: Writing about Modern Physics and Technology

T/R 9:40 - 10:55

Yukich

In this course we will study the fundamentals of several areas of twentieth-century physics and related technologies, including quantum physics and nuclear energy, with attention to public and social ramifications of technologic advances. The course focuses on writing concisely and clearly for the educated public who are not experts in science and technology. Readings include a book, book reviews, news reports, and journal articles. We will examine readings with various degrees of formality and professional expertise, and critique texts of varying quality. We will consider how good science writing depends on the complexities of calibrating special language, data, and experimental findings to the level of expertise of the intended audience. Writing assignments include a book review, a science news report, an op ed article or argumentative essay, an historical narrative, and a research paper.

WRI 101 [E]: Writing about World Music

T/R 12:15 - 1:30

Weinstein

This course explores musical cultures from around the world through a focused study of how those cultures are represented in journalistic and ethnographic writing. While the course will obviously not be a comprehensive look at “world music”-this is not a survey course-it will nonetheless engage with a wide range of non-Western musical values and practices. Further, as a writing course, it aims to unpack the conventions of writing about musical cultures: how research is executed, how arguments are structured, and how the discourse of ethnomusicology unfolds historically and culturally. To that end, the course will be organized in four thematic units, each centered on an ethnographic monograph and supplemented with appropriate reading and writing assignments.

WRI 101 [F]: Thinking Girls, Thinking Boys

T/R 12:15 - 1:30

Fackler

What is girlhood, and what is boyhood? How are they different from one another? Likewise, how are girlhood and boyhood different from adulthood? And how do the relationships and differences among girlhood and boyhood, and adulthood change from one time, one place, or one philosophy to another? This course emphasizes such questions as we examine the histories, representations, and theorizations of childhood and adolescence in a variety of global contexts. We trace ideas and figures of girlhood and boyhood across sites including novels, poems, films, performances, scientific case studies, and material objects. We also consider the ways in which “thinking girls” and “thinking boys” have a stake in such categories of experience as class, gender, race, and sexuality, and how “thinking girls” and “thinking boys” may have a crucial impact on social justice and political change. As the title of the course suggests, we will create a context both for thinking upon girlhood and boyhood and for pushing the thinking of young women and men. Think you know what it means to think as a girl or a boy, or to think about a girl or a boy? Think again.

WRI 101 [G]: Slave Testimonies

T/R 8:15 - 9:30

Klehr

Historians have long struggled with how to interpret evidence about American slavery, not least because most slaves left no written records. In this course we will examine sources produced by slaves as well as sources through which voices of enslaved people can only be heard indirectly, including slave narratives, judicial records, and oral histories. Working with such documents, students will position themselves as critical researchers, commenting on the rhetorical strategies used in depicting slave life, identifying the rhetorical tensions found in the act of testimony, and exploring what these sources can, and can’t tell us about slavery in the United States. We will move past simple discussions of biased and non-biased sources to ask what these sources can tell us, how they may mislead us, and what we can learn from them. 

WRI 101 [I]: Undesirables: Otherness and Belonging 

T/R 3:05 - 4:20

Utkin

“I am alone, I thought, and they are everyone” is one of the many haunting utterances of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s most famous antihero, the Underground Man. Like him, the other protagonists of this course are outcasts, dissidents, and strangers - jaded office clerks and repressed misanthropes, queer activists and “enemies of the state” - who refuse to conform to societal norms, disrupt conventions by saying the unsayable, and write and make art from the margins, the realm of undesirables. Focusing mainly on Russia and Eastern Europe, we will analyze representations of otherness and belonging in fiction, non-fiction, film, and photography. We will explore narratives of undesirability through the thematic prisms of exile, immigration, and guest laborers; gender and sexuality; bodily disability; mental illness; prison writing; anti-Semitism and ethnic difference; religion; and unrequited love. The concept of undesirability will also be our point of entry for constructing arguments about community, privilege, and a society without outsiders.

WRI 101 [J]: Leisure and Play

M/W/F 8:30 - 9:20

Campbell, S.

Have you ever filliped a toad?  Been to a good bear baiting lately?  Probably not, but you have probably played on playgrounds, attended summer camp or an after school recreation program, and you all have preferences about how to spend your leisure.  In this writing class, we will explore the concepts of leisure and play as their definitions and manifestations have varied across time and culture.  We will consider who has been given or had the right to leisure and play as well as how these concepts are defined or constrained by age, class, race, and/or gender.  Readings will range from Plato and Aristotle to Thorstein Veblen and scenes from Parks and Recreation.  Major projects will consider commercial representations of leisure, visions for and structures of local parks, analysis of student leisure at the college in the early 20^th century, and non-profit attempts to “organize” leisure.

WRI 101 [L]: Writing In and Out of Place

T/R 1:40 - 2:55

Hillard

Who we are is in many ways a function of where we have been, where we are now, and where we long to be.  Each of us occupies a geography, an architecture, a natural or built environment that, if only temporarily, contextualizes our existence. We are spatial creatures to such an extent that our key metaphors for thought itself-wandering, ranging, prospecting, circling, settling in-depend on movement within, across or through an imagined territory.

This course uses descriptive and conceptual writing to represent and to interrogate our relationship to place. Because most of us tend to take both natural and built environments for granted, we will use creative and critical techniques designed to defamiliarize the known, to bring the unseen into full view, and to recover the felt sense of being in place. We will read philosophers, cultural theorists, architects, naturalists, and anthropologists, all of whom theorize the experience of place. We will turn to the peripatetic tradition, where walking, wandering, and getting lost are thought to be liberating to the mind and body. We will also attend to the flâneur, the walker in the city who has come to represent a position of some abandon, at home in public space.  The course reveals the techniques, sensibilities, and dispositions associated with academic writing, and invites students to fashion themselves as critical readers and engaged writers of intellectual discourse.

This is a special writing course taught across Davidson and Wellesley Colleges. Once a week, the course will be simulcast to Davidson and Wellesley. Writers at both sites will discuss the reading and writing assignments and will be given opportunities to comment on one another’s written drafts so that students may experience the rewards of writing for a larger public. This special arrangement is supported by a grant from the Mellon Foundation.

WRI 101 [M]: Immigration in the Americas

M/W/F 11:30 -12:15

Crandall, B.

Immigration from Latin America to the United States has consistently captured public attention and framed political debate. Latin American immigrants comprise approximately one-half of U.S. immigrants, and have historically served as political lightning rods for their controversial contribution to national identity and economic development. Gaining an exhaustive expertise on all aspects of Latin-U.S. immigration is not the goal of the course. Rather, it is to dive into various aspects of immigration to gain a deeper understanding of the root causes, effects, and responses to this economic, social, and political phenomenon. The course will pay specific attention to the cases of immigration from Mexico and Honduras. It will cover historical as well as contemporary immigration policymaking by the United States government. Finally, the course looks at other issues related to immigration, such as the contemporary anti-immigration movement, immigration enforcement, and the immigrant experience in the United States. Films and novels will be used to supplement the themes of the course. 

WRI 101 [O]: What Is a Body?

M/W/F 12:30 - 1:20

Horowitz

This course examines the ways in which we bring our own life experiences to bear on the texts we read and interpret, the topics we choose to study, and the manner in which we write.  We will explore these issues through a guiding question that, like the acts of reading, writing, and research, may at first seem neutral or obvious but on further inspection gives rise to a more nuanced set of questions: Is the body a biological fact, a social production, or some combination of the two?  Is it a subject, an object, or both?  How do race, gender, class, sexuality, and disability affect the way a person experiences his or her own body, makes assumptions about other bodies, and is perceived by other people?  Whose or what kind(s) of bodies are at stake in a given text?  Why those bodies and not others?  What are the ethics of writing about others’ bodies?  How do different academic disciplines think and write about the body?  By negotiating these and other questions together, we will challenge each others’ viewpoints; expand our socio-cultural knowledge bases; and become more thoughtful, informed, and responsible scholars.

WRI 101 [P]: What is a Body?

M/W/F 1:30 - 2:20

Horowitz

This course examines the ways in which we bring our own life experiences to bear on the texts we read and interpret, the topics we choose to study, and the manner in which we write.  We will explore these issues through a guiding question that, like the acts of reading, writing, and research, may at first seem neutral or obvious but on further inspection gives rise to a more nuanced set of questions: Is the body a biological fact, a social production, or some combination of the two?  Is it a subject, an object, or both?  How do race, gender, class, sexuality, and disability affect the way a person experiences his or her own body, makes assumptions about other bodies, and is perceived by other people?  Whose or what kind(s) of bodies are at stake in a given text?  Why those bodies and not others?  What are the ethics of writing about others’ bodies?  How do different academic disciplines think and write about the body?  By negotiating these and other questions together, we will challenge each others’ viewpoints; expand our socio-cultural knowledge bases; and become more thoughtful, informed, and responsible scholars.

WRI 101 [Q]: Burden of Evidence

M/W/F 2:30 - 3:20

Fernández

A civil society depends, in part, on participants’ ability to acknowledge their intellectual limitations and approach evidence with an open mind. Yet in our age of increasing polarization, appeals to reason often go unheard. How do we come to know what we know? What kind of evidence do we privilege? Why do we struggle to accept evidence that does not conform to our expectations? What is the role of error and failure in the process of knowing? In this course, we will examine these and other related questions through scholarly and public writings on important debates of our time. By the end of the course, students will be able to conduct a well-researched and analyzed case study on an error with far-reaching public consequences.

WRI 101 [R]: The Ethical Diet

T/R 3:05 - 4:20

Jankovic

What is good food? The first thing that comes to mind is that good food is simply food that is tasty and healthy. However, our dietary choices have wide ranging consequences. Our eating habits affect non-human animals, local and non-local economies, the environment, and other people. We should seriously consider the idea that in deciding what to eat we make important moral choices.

In this course, we will aim to acquire tools and information that will help us think clearly about our food choices. We will ask questions such as: Does the suffering involved in the industrial farming of animals make it immoral to consume animal products? Do we have moral obligations to non-human animals? To what extent do our food habits contribute to social injustice? Is the amount of food waste produced in rich countries immoral, given that billions of people are hungry? We will look at several contemporary movements that try to address the ethical problems with the standard American diet: vegetarianism, veganism, locavorism, urban foraging (dumpster diving), and the anti-GMO movement. We will aim to clearly articulate and assess the conception of good eating developed by these movements. We will consider whether, given the different cultural and religious values that influence our food choices, there can be a reasonable food policy that would apply to a large number of people.

I hope that by writing and thinking about these issues you will come appreciate the variety of esthetic, cultural, and moral values that can be reflected in our conceptio