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Catalogue 2021-2022 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
Course Descriptions
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English: III. Advanced Prerequisite: Open to Juniors and Seniors with 2 units of 200-level work in English, or by permission of the instructor. |
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ENGL 378 - Brief Encounters: The Reading and Writing of Flash Fiction Semester Offered: Spring
0.5 unit(s)
In the short story “Snow” by Ann Beattie, the narrator recalls how her lover once declared of storytelling, “Any life will seem dramatic if you omit mention of most of it.” This course centers flash fiction, that is, narrative under 1,000 words–and the concentrated power brevity may afford. We adopt a surgical heuristic, teasing the textures of language, narrative time, the logic of eventhood, shape, and mood as we read stories written by Augusto Monterroso, Kim Chinquee, Yasunari Kawabata, Somerset Maugham, Robert Lopez, Lydia Davis, Luisa Valenzuela, Diane Williams, Robert Olen Butler, Naguib Mahfouz, Ed Park, and Deb Olen Unferth. Students are expected to write one story flash fiction week, which will be workshopped and carefully revised. Finally, we explore flash fiction literary journals such as NOON, Vestal Review, NANO Fiction, and Flash, with an eye toward submitting flash fiction for publication. Tracy O’Neill.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor. Offered to juniors and seniors who have taken ENGL 205 or ENGL 206 .
First six-week course.
One 2-hour period.
Course Format: INT
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ENGL 379 - The Research Intensive: Sources, Methods, Processes Semester Offered: Fall
0.5 unit(s)
This six-week intensive prepares students to write a thesis in English, or to undertake the kind of research required in many 300-level English seminars. In our weekly meetings, we focus on defining a research project, identifying appropriate resources, exploring different methodological approaches, and discussing what’s at stake in literary studies. The weekly meetings also provide a space for students to share ideas and to discuss the challenges of doing research in English. By the end of the Intensive, the students have produced a thesis or research project proposal, a 5-7 page literature review, and an annotated bibliography. Eve Dunbar.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor.
First six-week course.
One 2-hour period.
Course Format: INT
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ENGL 380 - English Seminar
1 unit(s)
One 2-hour period.
Not offered in 2021/22.
Course Format: CLS
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ENGL 382 - English Seminar
1 unit(s)
One 2-hour period.
Not offered in 2021/22.
Course Format: CLS
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ENGL 383 - English Seminar
1 unit(s)
Not offered in 2021/22.
Course Format: CLS
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ENGL 384 - English Seminar
1 unit(s)
Not offered in 2021/22.
Course Format: CLS
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ENGL 385 - English Seminar
1 unit(s)
One 3-hour period.
Not offered in 2021/22.
Course Format: CLS
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ENGL 399 - Senior Independent Work Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
0.5 to 1 unit(s)
Open by permission of the Chair.
One unit of credit given only in exceptional cases.
Course Format: OTH
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Environmental Studies: I. Introductory |
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ENST 107 - Global Change and Sustainability Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
This class offers an interdisciplinary introduction to the climate, ecosystem and sustainability principles needed to understand human impact on the natural environment. We discuss the issue of global change prediction and the scientific basis for global change assessments and policy measures. Key topics are the physical climate system and its variability, the carbon cycle and related ecosystem processes, land use issues, nutrient cycles, and the impact of global change on society. Common threads in all of these topics include the use of observations and models, the consideration of multiple scales (temporal and spatial), the interaction of human behaviors and choices with natural systems, and the linkages among aspects of the global change issue. Alison Keimowitz.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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ENST 124 - Essentials of Environmental Science Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
1 unit(s)
A lecture/laboratory course in which basic topics in environmental biology, geology, and chemistry are covered with examples from current environmental issues used to illustrate the application and interdisciplinary nature of these fields. This course treats the following topics: energy sources and waste products, atmospheric patterns and climate, biogeochemical cycles, properties of soils and water, and ecological processes. Using these topics as a platform, this course examines the impact humanity has on the environment and discusses strategies to diminish those effects. The laboratory component includes field trips, field investigations, and laboratory exercises. Kirsten Menking.
Two 75-minute periods; one 4-hour laboratory.
Course Format: CLS
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ENST 125 - Environmentalisms in Perspective Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
This multidisciplinary course examines significant approaches to the theory and practice of environmentalisms past and present. Students explore possible connections between the ethical, aesthetic, social, economic, historical, and scientific concerns that comprise environmental studies. The methods of inquiry we follow and the environmentalisms we consider vary among sections. Jeffrey Seidman.
Required of students concentrating in the program.
Course Format: CLS
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ENST 162 - Finding Your Place in the Climate Fight Semester Offered: Fall
0.5 unit(s)
This is an all-hands-on-deck moment in human history. Everyone is needed right now in the fight against climate change and for environmental justice – whatever their talents, skills, or interests. This intensive is designed to help students find their roles in the climate fight in their lives after Vassar. We have two central texts. All We Can Save is a collection of 41 essays and 17 poems, all by women. The essayists include journalists, farmers, lawyers, designers, activists, architects, scientists, policy-makers, entrepreneurs, ocean farmers, and more, each writing about a different way of contributing to the climate fight. Drawdown is a comprehensive and rigorous study of the potential impacts of one hundred climate solutions, from urban design to regenerative agriculture to alternative cement manufacturing to girls’ education in the developing world. Each student in the Intensive undertakes a research project centering on a climate career or climate solution of their choice. Jeffrey Seidman.
One 2-hour period.
Course Format: INT
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ENST 164 - Environmental History of Latin America Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as HIST 164 and LALS 164 ) This course explores the history of Latin America by centering the environment. Beginning with examples in the ancient Americas and continuing through the colonial and national periods, this course explores how human ideas about the environment, along with tangible regimes for exploiting “natural” resources, have shaped the history of Latin America. Class materials draw from a range of academic, literary, and primary sources, and class discussions cover topics such as: the flora and fauna of the ancient Americas; organisms and landscapes of the “Spanish Conquest”; ranching, farming, and export agriculture; mining, drilling, and extractivist industries; hurricanes, volcanoes, and “natural” disasters; urbanization, pollution, and climate change; and debates over environmental protections and human rights. Accordingly, this course addresses the questions: what discourses, representations, and ideas have shaped the meaning of the environment in Latin America? How has the environment shaped broader meanings of Latin America itself? And what is at stake today for the people of Latin America today as governments, corporations, and NGOs take different approaches to environmental issues?
Two 2-hour periods.
Course Format: CLS
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ENST 175 - Women’s Nature Writing
1 unit(s)
This course focuses on women writers who look to nature for stories, images and archetypes to help them make sense of their lived experience in a patriarchal world. Together we look at poetry, fiction, memoir, travel writing and film, and chart the different ways in which nature has inspired women in their creative explorations of positionality and place. We see nature’s wild fluidity reflected in the many roles it plays in these writers’ creative imaginations: some of them figure nature as teacher, a source of ancient wisdom aligned with the divine feminine; others see nature as mother and mirror, a female figure exploited for her resources by capitalist interests just as women are exploited for their various forms of labor; and still others see nature as a space of radical freedom from sexism, racism and other forms of systemic social oppression. Our goal is to chart the diverse ways in which women writers have used the natural world as an anchor and an ally to help name their struggles and joys, claim their space, and imagine more just futures for themselves and the planet. Our syllabus may include works by Annie Dillard, Gloria Anzaldúa, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Mary Oliver, Susan Griffin, Zora Neale Hurston, Chrystos, Adrienne Rich, Donna Haraway and others. This class fulfills the first-year writing requirement. In addition to critical essays, there are opportunities to write creatively about nature and keep a nature journal. This course is particularly suited to students interested in pursuing courses in English, creative writing, and environmental studies. Katie Gemmill.
Open only to first-year students; satisfies the college requirement for a First-Year Writing Seminar.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2021/22.
Course Format: CLS
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ENST 177 - A Prehistoric Perspective on Climate Change Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
This course situates current climate change in the context of that which shaped the human species, from evolutionary and social perspectives. The course opens by reviewing how the Earth’s climate has changed over the past century, and the ecological consequences of this. We then review the history of climate change since our species’ origin, and how such instances have impacted the environments in which we evolved. We transition from this evolutionary perspective to a social one, asking, ‘at what point did human intelligence and technology mitigate the evolutionary consequences of climate change? At what points was climate change more than civilizations could handle?’ The latter half of the class examines archaeological and historical evidence of how human societies have handled environmental hardships resulting from climate change. We end by examining the parallels between past and present and asking what environmental, ecological and biological consequences might await our still short-lived species in the present climatic conundrum. Zachary Cofran.
Open only to first-year students; satisfies the college requirement for a First-Year Writing Seminar.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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Environmental Studies: II. Intermediate |
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ENST 201 - Class Without Walls in Nature
1 unit(s)
Considering the profound changes facing our globe, studying the environment is not only crucial but also extremely daunting. While it is more critical than ever that we understand environmental risks, studying issues that are seemingly out of our control is not sufficient for effectively confronting the global crises we face. This class aims to enhance experiential learning through the review of literature, evaluation of policy issues, and the interpretive assessment of complex social, political and economic conditions. This intensive learning/teaching experience integrates elements of agency and activism to academic reflection and critical analysis. We explore topics in Environmental Studies chosen to reflect the array of community organizations where students enrolled in the course are doing community-engaged learning placements. Pinar Batur.
Prerequisite(s): SOCI 151 or ENST 125 or ENST 124 .
One 2-hour period and individual conferences with the instructor.
Not offered in 2021/22.
Course Format: INT
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ENST 202 - Public Policy and Human Environments
1 unit(s)
(Same as ESCI 202 , ESSC 202 , GEOG 202 and URBS 202 ) This course combines the insights of the natural and social sciences to address a selected topic of global concern. Geographers bring spatial analysis of societal and political-ecological changes, while Earth Scientists contribute their knowledge of the diverse natural processes shaping the earth’s surface. Together, these distinctive but complementary fields contribute to comprehensive understandings of the physical limitations and potential, uses and misuses of the Earth’s natural resources.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2021/22.
Course Format: CLS
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ENST 213 - Indigenous Environmental Activism
0.5 unit(s)
(Same as ANTH 213 ) This intensive experience challenges us to consider who generates knowledge about the environment and how cultural perspectives define what “climate change” and “sustainability” look like. Students research and interact with indigenous environmental activists, review tribal climate action plans, and follow ongoing efforts to change policies and educate publics. Grand Challenges grant funding facilitates one or more field trips and guest lectures that students arrange. Therefore, enrollment is by special permission with preference going to those who are already involved in the Grand Challenges program. Insights gained are shared with the greater Vassar community through a weekly blog and podcast. April Beisaw.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor – open to students who are enrolled in or have taken other courses in the Grand Challenges learning community on climate change.
Not offered in 2021/22.
Course Format: INT
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ENST 230 - Research Methods: Studying Sustainability at Vassar Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as GEOG 230 ) Vassar now integrates sustainability planning as a core institutional mission, including the goal of carbon neutrality by 2030. This intensive course builds skills of social-science research through the tracking of institutional sustainability data. Such a campus-wide effort provides an ideal setting to examine the effectiveness of the measures taken, the existence of individual or institutional barriers, and the possible need for additional interventions. We discuss practices such as literature review, formulating a research question, methods design, the Institutional Review Board process, and other aspects of research design. Students then collect and analyze data to put Vassar’s experience into the context of sustainability debates. The class meets weekly for 2 hours for the first half of the semester, then biweekly afterward with an individual consultation with the instructor. The instructor arranges data sharing with the Vassar sustainability office, but students are encouraged to make their own contact with various other organizations for additional data collection, survey, and interview arrangements. Yu Zhou.
One 2-hour period and individual conferences with the instructor.
Course Format: INT
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ENST 234 - Race, Space and Nature Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as AFRS 234 and GEOG 234 ) Ideas about “race” and “nature” are intimately bound up with the production of space. Historically, essentialist theories about racial difference served to legitimize and naturalize oppression, dispossession, and enslavement. Racism and white privilege have also long been present in how non-human natures are understood and managed in rural and urban environments, and have contributed to the uneven socio-spatial distribution of environmental harms. This course draws on political ecology, environmental justice, and theories of racial capitalism to apprehend and deconstruct the historical and contemporary relationships between race, space, and nature. Potential topics may include: connections between race, property, and land; the plantation as a socio-ecological phenomenon; environmental racism; Eurocentric ideologies of nature; and racialized exclusion and eviction in the creation of National Parks in North America and Africa. Ashley Fent.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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ENST 238 - Environmental China: Nature, Culture, and Development Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as ASIA 238 , GEOG 238 and INTL 238 ) As environmental actions suffer setbacks in the United States, it becomes even more important to understand the dynamics in other nations. China has emerged as a leading player in the environmental field. China is not only the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases; it is also suffering from many acute environmental problems related to its air, water and soil, among others, all of which make China the world’s most important experimental site for environmental actions. How do the Chinese government and Chinese people view their environment problems? What are the geographical and historical conditions underlining the evolution of such problems? As the world oldest continuous civilization and the most populous nation, China has a deep history in dealing with its environment, thus has formulated ancient cultures and practices regarding nature, some of which have reemerged in the country’s headlong march into modernity. What can China teach the world? Employing a political-ecological approach, this course explores the roots of China’s environmental challenges as created by and mediated through historical, cultural, political, economic and social forces, both internal and external to the country, and especially instigated by the movements of global socialism and capitalism in the last one and a half centuries. It also examines some of the solutions that the Chinese government and the people are taking on. Lessons from China have profound implications for the future of our livable world. Yu Zhou.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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ENST 250 - Across Religious Boundaries: Understanding Differences Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
The study of a selected topic or theme in religious studies that cuts across the boundaries of particular religions, allowing opportunities for comparison as well as contrast of religious traditions, beliefs, values and practices.
Topic for 2021/22a: Spirituality, Ecology, and the Environment. (Same as RELI 250 ) This course investigates the many relationships between spirituality, religion, and nature. How do emerging ecological paradigms challenge conventional religious worldviews? How have conventional religious traditions (Buddhism, Christianity, etc.) responded to this? How can Earth based traditions (Native American, South American Shamanic, etc.), Eco-feminism, and other nature-informed discourses revision our spiritual understanding of the natural world? What spiritual paradigms may emerge from the environmental movements of the last fifty-plus years? How is this relevant to myself and my community? Topics covered include environmental ethics, science and religion, cosmologies of humanity and nature, relationship between humans, plants, and animals, practices of “the wild.” Rick Jarow.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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ENST 254 - Environmental Science in the Field Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
The environment consists of complex and often elegant interactions between various constituents so that an interdisciplinary approach is required to understand how human interactions may affect it. In this course, we study a variety of aspects of a specific environment by considering how biological, chemical, geological, and human factors interact. We observe these interactions first hand during a weeklong field trip. Some of the questions we may consider are: How does a coral polyp create an environment that not only suits its particular species, but also helps regulate the global climate? How has human development and associated water demands in the desert Southwest changed the landscape, fire ecology, and even estuary and fisheries’ health as far away as the Gulf of California? How have a variety of species (humans included) managed to survive on an island with the harsh environment of the exposed mid-ocean ridge of Iceland? The course is offered every other year, and topics vary with expertise of the faculty teaching the course. Stuart Belli.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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ENST 258 - Environment and Culture in the Caribbean
1 unit(s)
(Same as AFRS 258 ) The ecology of the islands of the Caribbean has undergone profound change since the arrival of Europeans to the region in 1492. The course traces the history of the relationship between ecology and culture from pre-Columbian civilizations to the economies of tourism. Among the specific topics of discussion are: Arawak and Carib notions of nature and conservation of natural resources; the impact of deforestation and changes in climate; the plantation economy as an ecological revolution; the political implications of the tensions between the economy of the plot and that of the plantation; the development of environmental conservation and its impact on notions of nationhood; the ecological impact of resort tourism; the development of eco-tourism. These topics are examined through a variety of materials: historical documents, essays, art, literature, music, and film. Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2021/22.
Course Format: CLS
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ENST 260 - Issues in Environmental Studies
1 unit(s)
The purpose of this course is to examine in depth an issue, problem, or set of issues and problems in environmental studies, to explore the various ways in which environmental issues are embedded in multiple contexts and may be understood from multiple perspectives. The course topic changes from year to year.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2021/22.
Course Format: CLS
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ENST 261 - “The Nuclear Cage”: Environmental Theory and Nuclear Power Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as SOCI 261 and INTL 261 ) The central aim of this course is to explore debates about the interaction between beings, including humans, animals, plants and the earth within the context of advanced capitalism by concentrating on the production, distribution, consumption, and disposal of nuclear power. The first question concerning the class is how does Environmental Theory approach nuclear power and its impact on the environment. The second question deals with how this construction interacts with other forms of debate regarding nuclear power, especially concentrating on the relation between science, market and the state in dealing with nature, and how citizens formulate and articulate their understanding of nuclear power through social movements. Pinar Batur.
Course Format: CLS
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ENST 264 - Apocalypse Now: Finding Agency and Hope in a Deteriorating World Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as AMST 264 ) The course is an exploration of how humans must confront the challenges of global climate change and the collateral hazards associated with it, e.g., the climate refugee crisis, the spread of new diseases that may be worsened by climate change, the disruption of governmental and other institutions, etc., not with dread or denial, but with a sense of hope and the realization that these are challenges that may be ameliorated if we move swiftly to confront them. The course does not shy away from taking a hard look at both the enormity of the problem of climate change and the little time left we have to do something about it. But its focus is on climate resilience and how humans have always been able to adapt to such problems and what we must do today to both adapt to them and to mitigate their effects. Randolph Cornelius.
Prerequisite(s): Any First-Year Writing Seminar.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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ENST 266 - Racism, Waste and Resistance
1 unit(s)
(Same as SOCI 266 ) The 21st century will be defined in the dramatic consequences of the current events and movements regarding our waste: global climate change, pollution, resource depletion, contamination and extinction. One of the most striking and consistent observations is that racism plays a major role in placing waste in close proximity to those racially distinct, economically exploited and politically oppressed. This class examines the destructive global dynamics of environmental racism and resistance, as struggles against it. Pinar Batur.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2021/22.
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ENST 270 - Topics in Environmental Studies Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
The purpose of this course is to take up topics relevant to environmental studies, and examine them through the perspectives of the humanities and the natural or social sciences.
Topic for 2021/22b: It’s Only Natural: Contemplation in the American Landscape. This course examines the ways in which Americans have approached the natural world as both a source of rev- elation and an object of contemplation. Drawing on a wide range of literary, environmental and religious texts, we explore the dynamic relations between concepts of the natural, the human, and the divine in the American and the Native American experience. We also consider the American landscape tradition in painting and photography, as well as certain forms of folk music. We take field trips to local sites, including parks, farms, museums and monasteries, and host class visits from educators and artists. Techniques of contemplation play a role in the course. Katie Gemmill.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor.
One 75-minute period and one 3-hour lab.
Course Format: CLS
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ENST 271 - Literature and the American Environment
1 unit(s)
This course considers the representations of nature and the environment in American literature, from the nineteenth century to the present, with special emphasis on contemporary experience and perception. Topics will include: the importance of sense of place (and displacement); multiple cultural discourses about nature; the rise of modern ecocriticism; indigenous understandings of the natural world; and the role of literature in environmental movements. Readings will be drawn from such authors as H. D. Thoreau, Mary Austin, Jean Toomer, Aldo Leopold, Gary Snyder, Barry Lopez, Leslie Silko, John Edgar Wideman, Annie Dillard, Mary Oliver, and Terry Tempest Williams, as well as from critical and scholarly sources.
(Not available to students who have taken ENST 270 .)
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2021/22.
Course Format: CLS
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ENST 278 - Environmental Political Thought Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as POLI 278 and STS 278 ) In the current, urgent context of eco-catastrophe, the high-stakes question of how to rethink the human and the nonhuman arises (together, in relation with one another, entangled as they are, distinct as they might be…). Many theorists from myriad disciplines and multidisciplinary areas have taken on this question, some stressing the “intrinsic value” of the natural world, some proclaiming the end of nature, some critiquing the concept of Nature as so all-encompassing that it inevitably allows human claims to mastery of the nonhuman. Though this course cannot exhaustively survey all these approaches, we will explore some of the key contemporary debates (regarding mass extinction, Gaia theories, the oft-cited “Anthropocene”) pertaining to deep ecology, social and political ecology, de-growth theory, object-oriented ontology, speculative realism, environmental justice, posthumanism, ecofeminism, (feminist) new materialisms. Claire Sagan.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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ENST 284 - Global Africa Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as AFRS 284 and GEOG 284 ) Africa often appears in the news and popular representations as a continent plagued by civil conflict and environmental crisis, left behind by increasing global integration, and in need of external aid. Such framings obscure the continent’s great cultural and ecological diversity and its deep yet highly unequal integration with the rest of the world economy, through the transatlantic slave trade, colonization, and the neoliberal prescriptions of the international development industry. This course examines critical geographic and political ecological scholarship on a range of topics pertinent to Africa’s historical and contemporary challenges, including agriculture, gender, the scramble for mineral resources and land, conservation, environmental justice, urbanization, and South-South investment. The course also examines African-led innovations and initiatives that work to build future prosperity, justice, and sustainability. Ashley Fent.
Three 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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ENST 285 - Anthropology and The Environment Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as ANTH 285 ) The question of climate change forces a revisiting of the traditions of anthropology’s engagements with the environment. This course introduces students to historical patterns and recent developments in approaches to the study of the environment across anthropology and other disciplines. Attention is paid to both empirical studies and to theoretical frameworks environmental anthropologists have brought to their research. Students will also learn about environmental anthropology’s relationships to race, power, colonialism and questions of justice. Kaushik Ghosh.
Prerequisite(s): ANTH 140 .
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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ENST 290 - Community-Engaged Learning Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
0.5 to 1 unit(s)
Individual or group field projects or internships. Prior approval of advisor and instructor supervising the work are required. May be taken during the academic year or during the summer. Participating faculty.
Course Format: INT
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ENST 291 - Field Experiences in the Hudson Valley
0.5 unit(s)
The course emphasizes project-based learning that, rather than beginning with established divisions or disciplines, focuses on problems or questions to which students can bring all the resources of their previous classes in a truly multidisciplinary fashion. The Department.
Prerequisite(s): CHEM 125 ; ENST 107 or ENST 124 or ESCI 151 .
Required for Environmental Studies majors. ENST 276 can be taken instead if 291 is not being offered.
Both first and second six-week course.
One 4-hour period.
Not offered in 2021/22.
Course Format: INT
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ENST 294 - Liquid Urbanscape in Climate Crisis Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as SOCI 294 ) The cities define our possibilities of co-existence in the age of climate change. The risks that we imagine and the policies that we debate and adapt affect our tomorrow. This intensive argues that climate change is now and the need to imagine the future is more important than ever. Pinar Batur.
One 2-hour period.
Course Format: INT
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ENST 298 - Independent Research Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
0.5 to 1 unit(s)
Individual or group project or study. Prior approval of advisor and instructor supervising the work are required. May be taken during the academic year or during the summer. Participating faculty.
Course Format: OTH
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Environmental Studies: III. Advanced |
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ENST 300 - Senior Project/Thesis Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
1 unit(s)
Recognizing the diverse interests and course programs of students in Environmental Studies, the program entertains many models for a senior project/thesis. Depending on their disciplinary concentration and interests, students may conduct laboratory or field studies, literary and historical analyses, or policy studies. Senior project/thesis proposals must be approved by the steering committee. The Department.
Prerequisite(s): Senior Environmental Studies Major
Course Format: INT
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ENST 301 - Thesis Preparation: Sources, Theories, and Methods Semester Offered: Fall
0.5 unit(s)
Scheduled for the fall semester of the senior year, this seminar provides the opportunity for students to confront questions related to choosing a thesis topic, locating the work within the existing scholarship, and selecting sources. Through readings and workshops, students develop clear research ideas and questions, locate necessary sources, become acquainted with multidisciplinary methods, and discuss strategies for different stages of the process. The seminar also provides a community in which students share their experiences, approaches, and ideas about researching and writing their theses. Pinar Batur.
Senior majors.
Required of students concentrating in the program.
Open to other students by permission of the director and as space permits.
First six-week course.
One 2-hour period.
Course Format: CLS
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ENST 302 - The Blegen Seminar Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as GRST 302 ) Topic for 2021/22b: ‘As if Nature spoke:’ Thoreau, Ancient Greek Literature, and American Nature Writing. When Henry David Thoreau went to Walden Pond to ‘live deliberately,’ he took just one book with him: Homer’s Iliad. Why was this ancient war epic his literary companion in the experiment and experience that is now, through Thoreau’s own writings, a cornerstone of American thought on our relationship to the natural world? In addressing this question our seminar will range well beyond Homer and Walden, examining how Greek poetry informed Romantic emphasis on the value of ‘Nature’ in the early 19th century, also shaping Thoreau’s early writings and in particular his first book, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. Ideas found in both Romanticism and Thoreau – that human beings in modernity are out of step with the natural world, and that we could live better if we were closer to it – continue to hold sway in our own cultural imagination. This makes it perfectly appropriate to ask whether and how Greek literature shapes our thinking about current ecological crises, as well as what else these ancient texts might contribute to imagining a future that values humanity and ecology together. Luke Parker.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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ENST 303 - Thesis Semester Offered: Fall
0.5 unit(s)
Recognizing the diverse interests and course programs of students in Environmental Studies, the program entertains many models for a senior project/thesis. Depending on their disciplinary concentration and interests, students may conduct laboratory or field studies, literary and historical analyses, or policy studies. Senior project/thesis proposals must be approved by the steering committee. The Department.
Prerequisite(s): Senior Environmental Studies Major
Yearlong course 303-ENST 304 .
Course Format: INT
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ENST 304 - Thesis Semester Offered: Spring
0.5 unit(s)
Recognizing the diverse interests and course programs of students in Environmental Studies, the program entertains many models for a senior project/thesis. Depending on their disciplinary concentration and interests, students may conduct laboratory or field studies, literary and historical analyses, or policy studies. Senior project/thesis proposals must be approved by the steering committee. The Department.
Prerequisite(s): Senior Environmental Studies Major
Yearlong course ENST 303 -304.
Course Format: INT
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ENST 306 - Building Thoreau’s Cabin
1 unit(s)
An experiential investigation into carpentry, construction and environmental thinking. Paul Kane.
Not offered in 2021/22.
Course Format: INT
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ENST 310 - Entering the Labyrinth: Literature, Art & Eco-Contemplation Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as ENGL 310 ) Labyrinths have been a feature of the human landscape since ancient times, used for decoration, contemplation and ceremonies. Like gardens, they are an interface between the environment and human culture. This course studies the heritage, literature, and use of labyrinths, from its mythic origins to the present, and constructs a traditional labyrinth on the Vassar campus. In doing so, we learn much about labyrinths and the world in which we live. Paul Kane.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor.
One 2-hour period and individual conferences with the instructor.
Course Format: CLS
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ENST 321 - Advanced Topics in Environmental Geology Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
This course investigates fundamental geologic controls on environmental issues such as resource distribution and use, ground and surface water pollution, and atmospheric pollution. A specific topic is selected each year, and work in the class includes a survey of relevant literature, field visits to local sites, and development of a group project.
Topic for 2021/22b: Eocene Paleoceanography. (Same as ESCI 321 ) 56 million years ago, our planet was in a hothouse climate state with very high atmospheric CO2: crocodiles swam at the poles and Antarctica was covered in palm forests. Fossil fuel emission projections suggest that we may reach a similar CO2 concentration in the coming centuries. We use samples from a deep-sea sediment core, located close to Antarctica, to investigate the climate and ocean history of this warm period. Specifically, we use the fossils of tiny creatures called foraminifera to help us reconstruct ecosystem and ocean chemistry changes through time. Participants learn methods in sediment processing and preparation, microfossil identification, and geochemical method development and analysis. Along the way we learn about large scientific collaborations and what it’s like to work within the International Ocean Discovery Program. Laura Haynes.
Prerequisite(s): ESCI 221 .
One 4-hour period.
Course Format: INT
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ENST 333 - The Art of the Garden in Early Modern Italy
1 unit(s)
(Same as ART 333 ) Changing attitudes toward the relationship between art and nature were played out in the design of Italian villas and gardens, c. 1450- c. 1650. These large-scale estates generated by renowned architects and patrons established models for the Western landscape tradition. Their designs for buildings, hardscaping, plantings, waterworks, and decorations blurred distinctions among art, architecture and landscape, as well as between indoors and outdoors; city and country; and nature and artifice. We examine sites from Tuscany, Rome, the Veneto, and Naples, considering the inheritance of ancient Roman, medieval, and Islamic landscape traditions, and the later reception of Italian planning in France and England. We also explore the impact of new flora and fauna brought to Europe in the age of overseas exploration, trade, and conquest, as well as changing patterns of collecting and display. Readings explore villa ideology, the relation between city and country life, the garden as utopia, and human dominion over nature. During excursions to local landscapes, we experience the agency of the ambulatory spectator in constructing place and narrative, and consider the reception of the Italian garden in America. Yvonne Elet.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor.
One 3-hour period.
Not offered in 2021/22.
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ENST 335 - Paleoclimatology: Earth’s History of Climate Change
1 unit(s)
(Same as ESCI 335 ) In recent decades, record high temperatures and extreme weather events have led scientists and policy makers to grapple with the fact that human activities are affecting the climate system. At the same time, scientists have come to realize that climate is capable of dramatic shifts in the absence of human intervention. The science of paleoclimatology seeks to understand the extent and causes of natural climatic variability in order to establish the baseline on top of which anthropogenic changes are occurring. In this course we examine the structure and properties of the oceans and atmosphere and how the general circulation of these systems redistributes heat throughout the globe; study how cycles in Earth’s orbital parameters, plate tectonics, changes in ocean circulation, and the evolution of plants have affected climate; and explore the different lines of evidence used to reconstruct climate history. Weekly laboratory projects introduce students to paleoclimatic methods and to records of climatic change from the Paleozoic through the Little Ice Age. Kirsten Menking.
Prerequisite(s): 200-level work in Earth Science or permission of the instructor.
One 4-hour classroom/laboratory/field period.
Not offered in 2021/22.
Course Format: INT
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ENST 340 - Advanced Urban and Regional Studies Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as ESCI 340 and GEOG 340 ) Topic for 2021/22a: Renewable Energy and Climate Action. Climate action is a central issue of our time, and within this, plans for progress (including the Green New Deal) depend on reforming our energy systems. This course seeks to understand the shape of our rapidly changing landscapes of energy production, with a focus on New York City, New York State, and Vassar’s carbon neutrality goals. We use a variety of methods, including mapping, case studies, and readings, as we try to understand regions of production, leading technologies, the challenges and opportunities for developing them, and the environmental and social implications of these emerging systems. Can renewable energy produce a more equitable, and less exploitive energy regime? How are these shifting landscapes pushing us to rethink geographies of energy? What does it take to embrace these energy systems in a way that is more just—across communities, places, and generations—than we have seen historically? Mary Cunningham.
One 3-hour period.
Course Format: CLS
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ENST 352 - Conservation Biology Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as BIOL 352 Conservation Biology uses a multidisciplinary approach to study how to best maintain the earth’s biodiversity and functioning ecosystems. We examine human impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem function and discuss how to develop practical approaches for mitigating those impacts. We start the semester by assessing the current human footprint on global resources, asking questions about what we are trying to preserve, why we are trying to preserve it, and how we can accomplish our goals. We critically examine the assumptions made by conservation biologists throughout, using case studies from around the world to explore a range of perspectives. Discussion topics include conservation in an agricultural context, the efficacy of marine protected areas, the impact of climate change on individual species and preserve design, restoration ecology, the consequences of small population sizes, conservation genetics, the impacts of habitat fragmentation and invasive species, and urban ecology. Margaret Ronsheim. Margaret Ronsheim.
Prerequisite(s): Two units of 200-level biology or one unit of 200-level biology and one of the following: ESCI 221, ESCI 361, GEOG 224, GEOG 260, or GEOG 356, or permission of the instructor.
Recommended: BIOL 241 , BIOL 208 , or BIOL 226 , GEOG 260 , GEOG 224 , or GEOG 356 ; or permission of the instructor.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2021/22.
Course Format: CLS
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ENST 356 - Environment and Land-Use Planning Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
This seminar focuses on land-use issues such as open-space planning, urban design, transportation planning, and the social and environmental effects of planning and land use policies. The focus of the course this year is impacts of planning policies (such as transportation, zoning, or growth boundaries) on environmental quality, including open space preservation, farmland conservation, and environmental services. We begin with global and regional examples and then apply ideas in the context of Dutchess County’s trajectory of land use change and planning policies.
Topic 2021/22a: Re-Envisioning The North Side: From Automobility to Place. (Same as GEOG 356 and URBS 356 ) This seminar focuses on planning issues such as sustainable land use planning, urban design, transportation planning, and social/economic effects of urban planning policies. Using the City of Poughkeepsie as a laboratory, this seminar focuses on how transportation and land use planning decisions affect the social, economic, cultural, and environmental resources of neighborhoods and communities through an in-depth look at the City’s northern neighborhoods. We specifically examine the socio-economic, demographic, mobility and access issues, as well as environmental, and planning concerns surrounding the history of the downtown and the City’s transportation decision making historically and new revitalization initiatives underway. Through fieldwork, readings and exercises, we identify and explore key policy and planning challenges and opportunities and gain an understanding of the potential and limitations of various planning and regulatory frameworks. Susan Blickstein.
Prerequisite(s): One 200-level course in Geography, Urban Studies or Environmental Studies.
One 3-hour period.
Course Format: CLS
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ENST 361 - Modeling the Earth Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as ESCI 361 ) Computer models are powerful tools in the Earth and Environmental Sciences for generating and testing hypotheses about how the Earth system functions and for allowing simulation of processes in places inaccessible to humans (e.g., Earth’s deep interior), too slow to permit observation (e.g., orbitally controlled ice sheet growth and decay), or too large to facilitate construction of physical models (e.g., circulation of the world ocean). Taking readings from the scientific literature, we create and then perform experiments with simple computer models, using the STELLA iconographic box-modeling software package. The course emphasizes Earth’s climate system; topics include our planet’s radiative balance with the sun and resulting temperature, the flow of ice in glaciers, the role of life in moderating Earth’s climate, how temperature profiles in permafrost record the last two centuries of global warming, and the impacts of fossil fuel combustion on ocean acidification. Toward the end of the semester, students apply the skills they have acquired to a modeling project of their own devising. Kirsten Menking.
Prerequisite(s): One 200-level course in the natural sciences.
Satisfies the college requirement for quantitative reasoning.
One 4-hour period.
Course Format: INT
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ENST 368 - Toxic Futures: From Social Theory to Environmental Theory Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as INTL 368 and SOCI 368 ) The central aim of this class is to examine the foundations of the discourse on society and nature in social theory and environmental theory to explore two questions. The first question is how does social theory approach the construction of the future, and the second question is how has this construction informed the present debates on the impact of industrialization, urbanization, state-building and collective movements on the environment? In this context, the class focuses on how social theory informs different articulations of Environmental Thought and its political and epistemological fragmentation and the limits of praxis, as well as its contemporary construction of alternative futures. Pinar Batur
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ENST 370 - Feminist Perspectives on Environmentalism
1 unit(s)
(Same as ESSC 370 and WMST 370 ) In this seminar we explore some basic concepts and approaches within feminist environmental analysis paying particular attention to feminist theory and its relevance to environmental issues. We examine a range of feminist research and analysis in ‘environmental studies’ that is connected by the recognition that gender subordination and environmental destruction are related phenomena. That is, they are the linked outcomes of forms of interactions with nature that are shaped by hierarchy and dominance, and they have global relevance. The course helps students discover the expansive contributions of feminist analysis and action to environmental research and advocacy; it provides the chance for students to apply the contributions of a feminist perspective to their own specific environmental interests.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor; WMST 130 recommended.
One 2-hour period.
Not offered in 2021/22.
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ENST 375 - Aquatic Chemistry
1 unit(s)
(Same as CHEM 375 ) This course is a qualitative and quantitative treatment of chemical processes in aqueous environments. Geochemical cycles of major and trace elements are explored including the magnitude of anthropogenic perturbations. General topics include thermodynamics and kinetics, acid-base chemistry, oxidation reduction reactions, the chemistry of continental waters, and marine chemistry. Alison Keimowitz.
Prerequisite(s): CHEM 125 , CHEM 244 ; PHYS 113 , PHYS 114 ; MATH 121 , MATH 126 , and MATH 127 or the equivalent; or permission of the instructor.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2021/22.
Course Format: CLS
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ENST 376 - Ecological Catastrophe and Nietzsche’s Eternal Return Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as POLI 376 and STS 376 ) This course explores several sorts of texts together, for thought experiments pertaining to our times of ecological catastrophe. We critically engage: 1) theories concerned with ecological collapse, extinction, catastrophism, and the oft-cited and ill-named Anthropocene 2) literature on Nietzsche within environmental political thought 3) literature on Nietzsche and gender 4) selected primary texts by Nietzsche. Examining the latter in close readings and in the context of our compromised ecological futures, we ask ourselves to what extent the Nietzschean concepts of “eternal return” and “will to power” may help us think in these troubled times: what would a feminist Nietzschean ecology look like? Claire Sagan.
One 2-hour period.
Course Format: CLS
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ENST 381 - Topics in Ecosystem Ecology - Ecosystem Structure and Function Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as BIOL 381 ) Topic for 2021/22b: Structure and Function of Ecosystem. Ecosystems are complex systems, where biotic and abiotic factors interact to create the world we see around us. Understanding the nature of ecosystems is fundamental to understanding how disturbance and change in a dynamic world will influence ecosystem stability. This is especially critical as we enter the Anthropocene; a time in our planets history where one species, modern humans, dominate. Major changes brought about by increased human activity include changing climate regimes, invasive species spread and biodiversity loss. This course explores how ecosystems, both aquatic and terrestrial, are assembled (structured) and how different ecosystems process energy and matter (function). We use our understanding of structure and function to explore how different ecosystems respond to changes in the environment (including climate change, invasive species introductions, loss of biodiversity and pollution). A class project explores an ecosystem scale problem, and students develop a plan for effectively communicating the scientific understanding of the problem to multiple stakeholders. Lynn Christenson.
Prerequisite(s): One course in Ecology, e.g., BIOL 241 or BIOL 356 .
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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ENST 386 - Global Environmental Activism: Political Ecology, Liberation and Citizenship
1 unit(s)
(Same as GEOG 386 ) Environments are political and politicized in varied ways. Some environmental movements adopt militant tactics or use environmental grievances as part of broader political resistance, while in other cases, environmentalism serves as a powerful way of practicing citizenship or demanding rights and recognition from the state. In this seminar, we apply a political ecology framework to interrogate the complex relationships between local and global socio-ecologies, activists in the Global North and South, international environmental NGOs, and nation-states. Focusing on case studies from around the world—such as the Zapatistas, the Brazilian MST (Landless Workers Movement), Earth Liberation Front, the Chipko Movement, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, and the Green Belt Movement in Kenya—we seek to understand how, when, and why environmentalism intersects with political movements and demands. In examining these cases, we also consider ideas of “nature” and distinctive approaches to the environment. Overall, we interrogate processes through which radical ideas about ecological, social, and political life may be co-opted, formalized, or undermined.
One 3-hour period.
Course Format: CLS
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ENST 399 - Senior Independent Research Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
0.5 to 1 unit(s)
Individual or group project or study. Prior approval of advisor and instructor supervising the work are required. May be taken during the academic year or during the summer. Participating faculty.
Course Format: OTH
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Film: I. Introductory |
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FILM 175 - Introduction to Screen Arts Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
An introductory exploration of central features of film and television aesthetics, including formal and stylistic elements, such as color, lighting, editing, sound, narrative structure, etc. Students are exposed to a wide spectrum of types of films and television shows, including: silent, abstract, non-narrative, foreign, and documentaries, and the artistic choices manifested by each. We look at issues pertaining to production, distribution, and exhibition. Subjects are treated topically rather than historically, and emphasis is placed on mastering key vocabulary and concepts. Alex Kupfer, Erica Stein.
Open only to first-year students.
Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.
Course Format: CLS
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Film: II. Intermediate |
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FILM 209 - World Cinema Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
1 unit(s)
An international history of film with a greater emphasis on world cinemas from the 1930s to the contemporary period. The course focuses on major directors, industrial organization, and the contributions of various national movements. In addition to the historical survey, this course introduces students to the major issues of classical and contemporary film theory. Sophia Harvey.
Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.
Course Format: CLS
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FILM 212 - Genre: The Musical
1 unit(s)
Examines the development of American film musicals from The Jazz Singer to the present day. The course looks at major stars such as Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Gene Kelly, and Judy Garland, and the contributions of directors such as Vincente Minnelli and Bob Fosse. Students examine the interrelationships between Broadway and Hollywood, the influence of the rise and fall of the Production Code, the shaping hand of different studios, the tensions between narrative and spectacle, sincerity and camp. Reading assignments expose students to a wide range of literature about film, from production histories to feminist theory. Sarah Kozloff.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 175 or FILM 209 and permission of the instructor.
Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.
Not offered in 2021/22.
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FILM 214 - Genre: The War Film
1 unit(s)
An examination of how American films have represented World War I, World War II, the Vietnam War and the Gulf Wars. Films chosen include both those made while the conflicts rages (Bataan, 1942), and those made many years later (Saving Private Ryan, 1998, and Three Kings, 1999). This class focuses on such issues as: propaganda and patriotism, pacifism and sensationalism, the reliance on genre conventions and the role of changing film technologies. For comparison, we look also at documentaries, television, “home front” stories at war-time poetry, posters, and music. Reading assignments cover topics such as the government’s Office of War Information, the influence of John Wayne, the racism of the Vietnam films, the ways in which the Iraq war movies have been influenced by the genre. Sarah Kozloff.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 175 or FILM 209 and permission of the instructor.
Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.
Not offered in 2021/22.
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FILM 215 - Genre: Science Fiction
1 unit(s)
The course presents a survey of global science-fiction cinema from its beginnings in the silent period to the advent of digital technologies. Topics include subgenres (end of the world, time travel, space exploration, cyborgs), the relation of science-fiction films to their socio-political context and their function in popular culture. We contextualize these topics within discourses of postmodernism, postcolonialism, and feminism. Screenings may include: Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927, Germany), Robocop (Paul Verhoeven, 1987, USA), Enthiran (S. Shankar, 2010, India), Cyber Wars (Kuo Jian Hong, 2004, Singapore) and Nuoc 2030 (Nghiem-Minh Nguyen-Vo, 2014, Vietnam). Sophia Harvey.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 175 or FILM 209 and permission of the instructor.
Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.
Not offered in 2021/22.
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FILM 216 - Genre: Romantic Comedy
1 unit(s)
This class studies the genre of romantic comedy in American film from the “screwball comedies” of the 1930s (It Happened One Night, Bringing Up Baby) to the resurgence of the genre in the 1990s and the 21st century. The course focuses on the work of major stars such as Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, and Meg Ryan, as well as the contribution of such directors as Ernst Lubitsch, George Cukor, Preston Sturges, Howard Hawks, Billy Wilder, or Nora Ephron. We place these films in the context of other representations of romance—such as Shakespeare’s comedies—and in the context of the changes in American culture, particularly in the role of women. Readings lead students to a deeper understanding of the history of American film, genre, and the star system. Sarah Kozloff.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 175 or FILM 209 and permission of the instructor.
Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.
Not offered in 2021/22.
Course Format: CLS
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FILM 217 - Video Art Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as ART 217 ) Video continues to document, illuminate, and instruct our lives daily. New channels of accessibility have opened it to a broad range of alternative practices, always in relation to its online or televised utility. In this studio, students make videos to better understand the affects and formal potential of video as an opportunity for critique. Technical experimentation covers the major tools of video production and post-production. Workshops examine set, keying, montage, sound, pacing, composition, and the cut. Regular assignments address a range of structural problems, at once conceptual and plastic (topics include the question of the subject, politics of visibility, satire, abjection, abstraction, psychedelia, performance and humiliation). Work by artists who have harnessed or perverted video’s components is screened bi-weekly. Abigail Gunnels.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor.
Two 2-hour periods.
Course Format: CLS
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FILM 218 - Genre: The Western
1 unit(s)
This course offers an historical and cultural exploration of the Western film genre. There is emphasis on the relationship between the Western and the central myths of the American experience. The changing nature of masculinity, the representation of violence, and the roles designated to women are addressed. The course examines Westerns directed by filmmakers D. W. Griffith, John Ford, Howard Hawks, George Stevens, John Huston, Fred Zinnemann, Sidney Poitier, Sam Peckinpah, and Clint Eastwood. Mia Mask.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 175 or FILM 209 and permission of the instructor.
Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.
Not offered in 2021/22.
Course Format: CLS
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FILM 222 - Curating Microcinemas
0.5 unit(s)
The course meets for a total of six weeks, two weeks in the first third of the semester, and the final four weeks of the semester. In this intensive component, students learn about microcinemas, a key exhibition site in contemporary American avant-garde film, and then develop and program their own at an off-campus site. Students have the responsibility of selecting, pitching, and securing the titles to be screened, developing the space, performing audience outreach, composing program notes, and introducing the films at the screening. The intensive component is configured as one hour of additional in-class workshop and consultations plus three hours of independent research, outreach, and pitching during the initial two weeks of the intensive. During the last four weeks, the intensive is configured as half-hour small-group check-ins with the professor every week, as well as independent, out-of-class work to financially and logistically assemble the microcinema, finalize programming, publicize the screening, and produce the program. Erica Stein.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 209 .
Corequisite(s): FILM 221 .
Required for students enrolled in FILM 221 American Avant-Garde Film .
Not offered in 2021/22.
Course Format: INT
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FILM 231 - Minorities in the Media
1 unit(s)
This course examines the dynamics of race, class, gender and sexuality as they are represented in American society. Throughout the semester, we analyze films, television programs, videos and advertisements, as well as other mediated discourse, to assess the way categories of “minority” identity have been constructed in mainstream society. In addition to examining images of those persons collective known as “minorities,” we consider the representation of those defined as “majority” Americans. In addition to scholarship by black British cultural theorists, African American scholars, critical race theorists and sociologists, this course enlists scholarship from the growing field of whiteness studies. Issues and topics may include “model minorities” (Henry Louis Gates, Jennifer Lopez, Rahm Emmanuel, Tiger Woods, Ellen DeGeneres, The Williams Sisters, Barack Obama), global advertising, racial profiling, police brutality (Rodney King, Abner Louima, Amadou Diallo, Sean Bell), Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice), the Proposition 209 conflict, the WNBA, gay marriage, Islamaphobia, and the representation of the Middle East. Readings, screenings and papers required. Mia Mask.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 175 or FILM 209 , and permission of the instructor.
Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.
Not offered in 2021/22.
Course Format: CLS
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FILM 232 - African American Cinema Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as AFRS 232 ) This course provides a survey of the history and theory of African American representation in cinema. It begins with the silent films of Oscar Micheaux and examines early Black cast westerns (Harlem Rides the Range, The Bronze Buckaroo, Harlem on the Prairie) and musicals (St. Louis Blues, Black and Tan, Hi De Ho, Sweethearts of Rhythm). Political debate circulating around cross over stars (Paul Robeson, Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge, Eartha Kitt, and Harry Belafonte) are central to the course. Special consideration is given to Blaxploitation cinema of the seventies (Shaft, Coffy, Foxy Brown, Cleopatra Jones) in an attempt to understand its impact on filmmakers and the historical contexts for contemporary filmmaking. The course covers “Los Angeles Rebellion” filmmakers such as Julie Dash, Charles Burnett, and Haile Gerima. Realist cinema of the 80’s and 90’s (Do the Right Thing, Boyz N the Hood, Menace II Society, and Set it off),is examined before the transition to Black romantic comedies, family films, and genre pictures (Coming to America, Love and Basketball, The Best Man, Akeelah and the Bee, 12 Years a Slave, The Great Debaters). Mia Mask.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 209 and permission of the instructor.
Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.
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FILM 233 - The McCarthy Era and Film
1 unit(s)
This class focuses both on the history of anti-communist involvement with the American film industry and on the reflection of this troubled era in post-war films. We trace the factors that led to The House on Un-American Activities Committee’s investigation of communist influence in Hollywood, the case of the Hollywood Ten, the operation of the blacklist and its final demise at the end of the 1950s. We look at films overtly taking sides in this ideological conflict, such as the anti-Communist I Was a Communist for the FBI and the pro-labor Salt of the Earth, as well as the indirect allegories in film noirs and science fiction. Reading assignments are drawn from a wide range of sources, including HUAC transcripts, government documents, production histories, and genre studies. The course concludes with a look at how more contemporary films such as Good Night and Good Luck have sought to frame our understanding of this era. Sarah Kozloff.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 175 or FILM 210 and permission of the instructor.
Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.
Not offered in 2021/22.
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FILM 234 - The Coen Brothers as Postmodern Auteurs
1 unit(s)
This class considers the career and work of Joel and Ethan Coen from Blood Simple (1984) to The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018) through the lenses of industry, culture, and aesthetics. We learn how the Coens came to typify the association of auteurism with festival-based promotional strategies and revisionist genre films in post-classical Hollywood. At the same time, we also discuss the two ways in which they question and destabilize the very notion of auteurism. First, as we explore the role adaptation, quotation, and genre mixing play in their acquisition and development of film properties, we ask how these prototypically postmodern qualities call the notion of the director as author into question. Second, as we investigate the formal aspects of their films, we ask how their work critiques the notion of any kind of authorial or authority figure being present or useful in modern life. Assignments include short reaction papers, a genre or adaptation presentation, and a final research paper. Erica Stein.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 175 or FILM 209 and permission of the instructor.
Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.
Not offered in 2021/22.
Course Format: CLS
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FILM 238 - Music in Film Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as MUSI 238 ) Why do films have music? How do music and sound influence (and sometimes even control) what we see and experience in film? This course delves into the terminology and methodologies for analyzing and interpreting the interaction between filmic image and sound. Tahirih Motazedian.
Prerequisite(s): One course in Music (not performance) or Film.
Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.
Course Format: CLS
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FILM 240 - Sculpting Images in Time Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
This course introduces students to the basic concepts and skills involved in digital film production such as camerawork and video editing. We begin with the image, exploring in great detail its formal qualities: composition, light, color, movement, mise-en-scène, juxtapositions and temporal dimensions. Sound is introduced as a way to complicate the image – first as sound design and finally as dialogue. Denise Iris.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 209 and permission of the instructor.
Corequisite(s): FILM 209 can be taken concurrently.
One 3-hour period; additional lab time required.
Course Format: CLS
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FILM 241 - Sound and Sight Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
The course introduces students to basic concepts and skills involved in film production but inverts the usual priority granted to the visual over the aural in film: here we focus on sound as the generative kernel behind a cinematic work. The course explores how sound can function as the driving force of story, character, and world-building, and the moving image is introduced as a way to extend the expressive possibilities of sound. Shane Slattery-Quintanilla.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 209 and permission of the instructor.
Corequisite(s): FILM 209 can be taken concurrently.
One 3-hour period; additional lab time required.
Course Format: CLS
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FILM 242 - Fragile Presence: The Ultra Short Film as Personal Cinematic Practice Semester Offered: Spring
0.5 unit(s)
Can we use filmmaking to cultivate attentiveness and a playful sense of presence in everyday life? How does having a cinematic practice — a laboratory of ongoing audiovisual exploration — help us to develop confidence in our own creative process while also acting as a form of journaling? In this intensive, we search for the poetry, whimsy and depth of meaning in the daily unfolding of our outer and inner lives. We privilege the joy of discovery over an evaluative mindset through site-specific shooting prompts around campus and improvisational editing experiences. Outside meeting times, students shoot and edit on their own, creating five 1 min. films in six weeks. Prior filmmaking experience is helpful, but passionate self-starters are equally welcome. Denise Iris.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor. Priority given to students with some shooting and editing experience.
Second six-week course.
One 2-hour period and individual conferences with the instructor.
Course Format: INT
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FILM 254 - Emotional Engagement with Film
1 unit(s)
(Same as MEDS 254 and PSYC 254 ) While movies engage our emotions in psychologically significant ways, scholarship on the psychological allure and impact of film has existed primarily at the interdisciplinary margins. This course aims to bring such scholarship into the foreground. We begin with a careful examination of the appeal and power of narrative, as well as processes of identification and imagined intimacy with characters, before taking a closer analytical look at specific film genres (e.g., melodrama, horror, comedy, action, social commentary) both in their own right and in terms of their psychological significance (e.g., why do we enjoy sad movies? How do violent movies influence viewer aggression? How might socially conscious films inspire activism or altruism?) In addition to delving into theoretical and empirical papers, a secondary goal of the course is to engage students as collaborators; brainstorm and propose innovative experimental methods for testing research questions and hypotheses that emerge in step with course materials. Dara Greenwood and Sarah Kozloff.
Prerequisite(s): For Psychology majors - PSYC 105 ; for Film majors - FILM 175 or FILM 209 ; for Media Studies majors - MEDS 160 .
Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.
Not offered in 2021/22.
Course Format: CLS
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FILM 255 - Four Italian Filmmakers (in English) Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as ITAL 255 ) Close analysis of the narrative and visual styles of Bernardo Bertolucci, Federico Fellini, Gianni Amelio and Nanni Moretti, in the context of post-war Italian cinema and culture. Theoretical literature on these directors and on approaches to the interpretation of film-such as psychoanalytic film theory, feminist theory, deconstruction, and post-colonial analyses of dominant discourses-aid us in addressing questions of style and of political and social significance. Cinematic interpretive skills are developed through visual and linguistic exercises, group projects, and film-making. Conducted in English. Rodica Blumenfeld.
Open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors. May be counted towards the Italian major.
Two 75-minute periods and two film screenings.
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FILM 256 - American Television History Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as MEDS 256 ) This course surveys the history of television in the United States from the 1940s to the present. It examines the social and industrial significance of television and its impact on issues such as class, race, gender, consumerism, and national identity. We investigate changes in televisual aesthetics and narrative paradigms and the ways that television responded to significant cultural, political and technological changes in American society. Throughout the semester we draw upon a range of critical frameworks including media industry studies, genre theory, and celebrity studies as we address topics such as the attempts to develop alternate models of broadcasting, networks’ efforts to bolster television’s cultural status, media convergence, and the formal characteristics of different television genres. Screenings include I Love Lucy, The Twilight Zone, Star Trek, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, The Simpsons, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Orange is the New Black. Alex Kupfer.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 175 or FILM 209 for students registering for FILM 256. MEDS 160 for students registering for MEDS 256.
Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.
Course Format: CLS
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FILM 260 - Documentary: History and Aesthetics Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
This course explores the history, theory, and aesthetics of documentary cinema from its emergence to the present day. We examine the ways that cultural, political and technological factors have shaped the development of non-fiction film. In addition, the interrelationships between documentary and narrative cinema as well as other media including photography, comic books, and television are considered. The class places documentary in its broader contexts to include forms such as sponsored, experimental, scientific, and amateur films. Throughout the semester, students read primary historical sources along with scholarly approaches to the development, uses, and meanings of documentary cinema. Screenings include films by Michael Moore, George Stoney, Robert Drew, Agnes Varda, Chick Strand, Errol Morris, and many others. Alexander Kupfer.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 175 or FILM 209 , and permission of the instructor.
Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.
Course Format: CLS
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FILM 266 - Genre: Asian Horror
1 unit(s)
(Same as ASIA 266 ) This course examines contemporary Asian horror. Using a variety of critical perspectives, we deconstruct the pantheon of vampires, monsters, ghosts, and vampire ghosts inhabiting such diverse regions as Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, and the Philippines to explore constructions of national/cultural identity, gender, race, class, and sexuality. We ground these observations within a discussion of the nature of horror and the implications of horror as a trans/national genre. Sophia Harvey.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 175 or FILM 209 , and permission of the instructor.
Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.
Not offered in 2021/22.
Course Format: CLS
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FILM 282 - Media Industries: Fox and Disney Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as MEDS 282 ) This course explores the history of Twentieth Century-Fox and Fox Broadcasting Company from its emergence in the 1910s to its present day position as one of the world’s largest media conglomerates. In light of Disney’s recent acquisition of most of Fox’s assets, about one-third of the class is also devoted to the history of Disney as a way of considering the relationship of independent producers to major studios as well as the changing conceptions of collaboration and convergence. The course uses Fox and Disney to examine changes in aesthetic paradigms, storytelling techniques, and the ways that media industries engage with important cultural, political and technological changes in American society. Throughout the semester, we draw upon different critical frameworks including media industry studies, genre and auteur theory, and celebrity studies and apply these to a series of historical case studies. Screenings include Sunrise, M*A*S*H, Deadpool, My Darling Clementine, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, In Living Color, and Star Wars. Alexander Kupfer.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 175 or FILM 209 for students registering for FILM 282. MEDS 160 for students registering for MEDS 282.
Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.
Course Format: CLS
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FILM 283 - Race and Gender in Sports Media Fandom Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as MEDS 283 ) This course examines representations of race and gender in North American sports media. It considers the ways in which different media (fiction films, documentary, and television) construct, reinforce, and/or challenge conceptions of race and gender. The definitions of sports media as a generic and industrial label are explored as are transformation of audiences into fan communities. Throughout the semester, we examine the role that conceptions of race, class, sexual identity, and gender have played in the historical and cultural development of sports media and fandom. We also consider more recent forms of cultural production and participation that engage the varied social, cultural, and political practices associated with fandom. Special attention is paid to the connections between media consumption and performances of identity and community. Screenings include A League of their Own, Girlfight, Raging Bull, Love & Basketball, Minding the Gap, and O.J.: Made in America. Since this course focuses on the relationship between media and fandom, students do not need to have any knowledge of sports to enroll. This course is not open to first-year students. Alexander Kupfer.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 209 or MEDS 160 .
Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.
Course Format: CLS
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FILM 284 - The Liberation Arts Semester Offered: Spring
0.5 unit(s)
What does it really mean to be free? Does one need to learn it? If so, how? In this intensive we reimagine the liberal arts as the arts of liberation: over the course of the semester, various students, staff, faculty, and guests will introduce us to the practices that best serve them in their pursuit of freedom, however they choose (or refuse) to define it. In addition to participating in the workshops, students can play a role in documenting, through sound, image, and text, the various perspectives and practices we encounter. This documentation culminates in the collaborative process of weaving these materials into works of art that reflect upon our shared experiences and discoveries. This intensive foregrounds experiential, interdisciplinary, and non-hierarchical collaborative practices. Shane Slattery-Quintanilla.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor.
Two hours every other week.
Course Format: INT
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FILM 286 - Creative Development Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as MEDS 286 ) This course explores various approaches to the conception and development of works of screen art, with special attention to the short form. Students explore the often unheralded role that research plays in the artistic process, as well as the types of critical and creative thinking across disciplines that can support us in the early stages of a creative project.
While different forms of writing remain central to the work of development, we also explore non-textual traditions and techniques that have long been crucial to filmmakers and more broadly to artists of all kinds, including inspiration boards, mood reels, and various improvisational and collaborative exercises that can aid in the genesis of original artistic ideas. Students learn through practice, study, and reflection how these creative methodologies provide the foundation for later stages of development and pre-production. Open to students at all levels, including first-years with permission of the instructor. Shane Slattery-Quintanilla.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor.
One 3-hour period and additional lab time required.
Course Format: CLS
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FILM 298 - Independent Work Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
0.5 to 1 unit(s)
To be elected in consultation with the adviser.
Course Format: OTH
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Film: III. Advanced |
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FILM 300 - Film Research Thesis Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
1 unit(s)
An academic thesis in film history or theory, written under the supervision of a member of the department. Since writing a thesis during fall semester is preferable, film majors should talk to their advisers spring of junior year. In Film, a research thesis is recommended but not required, especially for those students not writing a FILM 301 or enrolled in FILM 327 Senior Project: Fiction or FILM 326 Senior Project: Non-Fiction . The Department.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 209 , two additional courses in film history and theory, and permission of the instructor.
Course Format: OTH
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FILM 301 - Film Screenplay Thesis Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
1 unit(s)
The creation of a feature-length original screenplay. Open only to students electing the concentration in film. Senior status required. Students wishing to write a screenplay instead of a research thesis must have produced work of distinction in FILM 317 Introduction to Screenwriting and FILM 319 Advanced Screenwriting . No correlates are eligible to write a screenplay thesis. The Department.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor.
Course Format: OTH
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FILM 310 - Film Authorship
1 unit(s)
This course examines the complications of authorship in film by analyzing various competing theoretical models. Then it tests these models against the work on an auteur. Students are expected to attend screenings, conduct independent research, and keep up with wide variety of historical and theoretical readings. Sarah Kozloff.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 209 .
Note that this class does not replace the major requirement of FILM 392 .
One 2-hour period plus outside screenings.
Not offered in 2021/22.
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FILM 324 - Cinema Modes Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
The course exposes students to narrative, documentary, and experimental approaches and explores how these modes mutually inform and fertilize one another. Prepares students for senior-level work as they create one narrative, one documentary, and one experimental film. The course culminates in a final project that can be any of the three modes or hybrid that fruitfully overlaps or evades these categories. Denise Iris.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 240 or FILM 241 and permission of the instructor.
One 3-hour period.
Course Format: CLS
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FILM 325 - Writing the Short Film Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
A screenwriting course that explores and celebrates the possibilities of the short form, not simply as subordinate or preliminary to the work of feature filmmaking, but as its own vital approach to the moving arts.
Those wishing to take FILM 327 are strongly encouraged to take FILM 325. Denise Iris.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 240 or FILM 241 and permission of the instructor. This course is closed to Film correlates.
One 3-hour period.
Course Format: CLS
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FILM 326 - Senior Project: Non-Fiction Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
Students create short nonfiction films, from concept to final delivery. Participants offer reciprocal support of their peers’ projects by filling crew positions. Students wishing to enroll in the course must submit a project proposal in the preceding semester. Shane Slattery-Quintanilla.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 240 or FILM 241 and permission of the instructor. Strong preference given to students who have completed FILM 324 Cinema Modes . This course is closed to Film correlates.
One 3-hour period.
Course Format: CLS
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FILM 327 - Senior Project: Fiction Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
Students create short fiction films, from concept to final delivery. Participants offer reciprocal support of their peers’ projects by filling crew positions. Students wishing to enroll in the course must submit a project proposal in the preceding semester. Those wishing to make narrative films are strongly encouraged to take FILM 325 Writing the Short Film . Denise Iris.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 240 or FILM 241 and permission of the instructor.
This course is not open to Film correlates.
One 3-hour period.
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